Direct procurement of donor heart with normothermic regional perfusion of abdominal organs.

PURPOSE: To evaluate if direct procurement of heart is possible in combination with normothermic regional perfusion of abdominal organs in donors after circulatory death. DESCRIPTION: A donation after circulatory death pathway was utilized for a 41-year-old female following an irreversible brain injury. After meeting criteria for the organ donation, heart was retrieved and re-animated on ex-situ perfusion system while abdominal organs were perfused using normothermic regional perfusion. EVALUATION: All the donated organs and their recipients had excellent short-term outcome. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated a successful combination of direct procurement of the heart and normothermic regional perfusion of the abdominal organs

Pores Formed by Baxα5 Relax to a Smaller Size and Keep at Equilibrium

AbstractPores made by amphipathic cationic peptides (e.g., antimicrobials and fragments of pore-forming proteins) are typically studied by examining the kinetics of vesicle leakage after peptide addition or obtaining structural measurements in reconstituted peptide-lipid systems. In the first case, the pores have been considered transient phenomena that allow the relaxation of the peptide-membrane system. In the second, they correspond to equilibrium structures at minimum free energy. Here we reconcile both approaches by investigating the pore activity of the α5 fragment from the proapoptotic protein Bax (Baxα5) before and after equilibrium of peptide/vesicle complexes. Quenching assays on suspensions of large unilamellar vesicles suggest that in the presence of Baxα5, the vesicles maintain a leaky state for hours under equilibrium conditions. We proved and analyzed stable pores on single giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in detail by monitoring the entrance of dyes added at different times after incubation with the peptide. When the GUVs came in contact with Baxα5, leakage started stochastically, was delayed for various periods of time, and in the majority of cases proceeded rapidly to completion. After hours in the presence of the peptide, the same individual GUVs that refilled completely at first instance maintained a porated state, which could be observed in subsequent leak-in events for serially added dyes. However, these long-term pores were smaller in size than the initial equilibration pores. Stable pores were also detected in GUVs made in the presence of Baxα5. The latter pores can be considered equilibrium states and may correspond to structures measured previously in bilayer stacks. Although pore formation may occur as a kinetic process, equilibrium pores may also be functionally relevant structures, especially in highly regulated systems such as the apoptotic mitochondrial pores induced by Bax

A constellation of horrors: analysis and visualization of the #Cuéntalo movement

In this work, we analyze content and structure of the Twitter trending topic #cuentalo with the purpose of providing a visualization of the movement. A supervised learning methodology is used to train the classifying algorithms with hand-labeled observations. The methodology allows us to classify each tweet according to its role in the movement.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Departamentos del Magdalena, Cesar y Córdoba

En este documento se presenta un análisis de diferentes escenarios de violencia como consecuencia del conflicto armado en Colombia que ha marcado en nuestro país una historia de tragedia y dolor cambiando la vida de muchas personas, donde la guerra es sinónimo de imponer a fuerza la voluntad del hombre para hacer parte de un conflicto que vulnera los derechos humanos y trae como consecuencias emergentes psicosociales que alteran la seguridad individual y colectiva. En este artículo se realiza una reflexión crítica de diferentes casos que tuvieron que vivir experiencias dolorosas como Carlos Arturo con la explosión de granada de las FARC en su vecindario que cambio su proyecto de vida y la población de Peñas Coloradas con el desplazamiento masivo que desintegra a esta comunidad afectando aspectos a nivel social y cultural, además de la experiencia foto voz en diferentes escenarios de violencia comunitaria. Por otra parte, el proceso de reconocimiento de las necesidades psicosociales en cada uno de estos contextos que han padecido violencia directamente ha requerido de un proceso de indagación con la utilización de recursos como la foto voz como herramienta para la reflexión crítica y preguntas adecuadas que permitan al psicólogo contextualizar la realidad de la víctima para la elaboración de estrategias de intervención que mitiguen el impacto psicosocial que deja la violencia afectando las dinámicas sociales. Finalmente se realizan conclusiones generales desde la mirada del psicólogo como agente de cambio y facilitador de recursos de afrontamiento para la recuperación de la memoria histórica con nuevas perspectivas de reconciliación en los procesos de paz desde un enfoque narrativo para generar participación y construcción de nuevos escenarios que den cuenta de los aspectos subjetivos inmersos en cada realidad social.This document presents an analysis of different scenarios of violence as a consequence of the armed conflict in Colombia that has marked in our country a history of tragedy and pain changing the lives of many victims, where war is synonymous with forcibly imposing the will of man to be part of a conflict that violates human rights and brings as psychosocial consequences that alter individual and collective security. This article makes a critical reflection of different cases that had to live painful experiences such as Carlos Arturo with the FAR grenade explosion in his neighborhood that changed his life project, and the population of Peñas Coloradas with the massive displacement that disintegrates this community affecting the social and cultural aspects, in addition to the photo-voice experience in different scenarios of community violence. On the other hand, the process of recognition of psychosocial needs in each of these contexts that have suffered violence directly has required a process of inquiry with the use of resources such as the photo voice as a tool for critical reflection and appropriate questions that allow the psychologist to contextualize the reality of the victim for the development of intervention strategies to mitigate the psychosocial impact of violence affecting social dynamics. Finally, general conclusions are drawn from the psychologist's point of view as an agent of change and facilitator of coping resources for the recovery of historical memory with new perspectives of reconciliation in peace processes from a narrative approach to generate participation and construction of new scenarios that account for the subjective aspects immersed in each social reality

Healthcare workers hospitalized due to COVID-19 have no higher risk of death than general population. Data from the Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Aim To determine whether healthcare workers (HCW) hospitalized in Spain due to COVID-19 have a worse prognosis than non-healthcare workers (NHCW). Methods Observational cohort study based on the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, a nationwide registry that collects sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data on patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Spain. Patients aged 20-65 years were selected. A multivariate logistic regression model was performed to identify factors associated with mortality. Results As of 22 May 2020, 4393 patients were included, of whom 419 (9.5%) were HCW. Median (interquartile range) age of HCW was 52 (15) years and 62.4% were women. Prevalence of comorbidities and severe radiological findings upon admission were less frequent in HCW. There were no difference in need of respiratory support and admission to intensive care unit, but occurrence of sepsis and in-hospital mortality was lower in HCW (1.7% vs. 3.9%; p = 0.024 and 0.7% vs. 4.8%; p<0.001 respectively). Age, male sex and comorbidity, were independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality and healthcare working with lower mortality (OR 0.211, 95%CI 0.067-0.667, p = 0.008). 30-days survival was higher in HCW (0.968 vs. 0.851 p<0.001). Conclusions Hospitalized COVID-19 HCW had fewer comorbidities and a better prognosis than NHCW. Our results suggest that professional exposure to COVID-19 in HCW does not carry more clinical severity nor mortality