Refractory Thrombocytopenia Responds to Octreotide Treatment in a Case of Evans Syndrome with Gastric Neuroendocrine Tumor

A 37-year-old woman with history of Evans Syndrome with poor response to high-dose corticoid treatment presented to the emergency department with gastrointestinal and vaginal bleeding. The patient was later diagnosed with severe thrombocytopenia and a stage G1, well-differentiated gastric neuroendocrine tumor, confirmed by a biopsy. A total gastrectomy was performed to eradicate the tumor. After being treated with a total splenectomy for her Evans Syndrome with no clinical or laboratory improvement, she began regular treatment with octreotide on the basis of a possible hepatic metastasis. Days after the initiation of the octreotide, an increase in the platelet count was evidenced by laboratory findings, from 2,000 platelets/mm3 to 109,000 platelets/mm3 . Weeks later, the hepatic metastasis is discarded by a negative octreotide-body scan, and the octreotide treatment was interrupted. Immediately after the drug interruption, a progressive and evident descent in the platelet count was evidenced (4000 platelets/mm3 ). The present case report highlights the possible association between octreotide treatment and a severe thrombocytopenia resistant to conventional treatment.Revisión por pare

A New Tool to Study Parkinsonism in the Context of Aging: MPTP Intoxication in a Natural Model of Multimorbidity

The diurnal rodent Octodon degus (O. degus) is considered an attractive natural model for Alzheimer's disease and other human age-related features. However, it has not been explored so far if the O. degus could be used as a model to study Parkinson's disease. To test this idea, 10 adult male O. degus were divided into control group and MPTP-intoxicated animals. Motor condition and cognition were examined. Dopaminergic degeneration was studied in the ventral mesencephalon and in the striatum. Neuroinflammation was also evaluated in the ventral mesencephalon, in the striatum and in the dorsal hippocampus. MPTP animals showed significant alterations in motor activity and in visuospatial memory. Postmortem analysis revealed a significant decrease in the number of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral mesencephalon of MPTP animals, although no differences were found in their striatal terminals. We observed a significant increase in neuroinflammatory responses in the mesencephalon, in the striatum and in the hippocampus of MPTP-intoxicated animals. Additionally, changes in the subcellular expression of the calcium-binding protein S100 beta were found in the astrocytes in the nigrostriatal pathway. These findings prove for the first time that O. degus are sensitive to MPTP intoxication and, therefore, is a suitable model for experimental Parkinsonism in the context of aging

Malaria falciparum y síndrome nefrótico: nuestras experiencias. Falciparum malaria and nephrotic Síndrome: Our experience

Las especies de Plasmodium que infectan al hombre son: P. vivax, P. Malariae, P. Ovale y P. Falciparum. En Mozambique, como en la mayor parte de la llamada África Subsahariana, la especie predominante es P. falciparum cloroquina resistente. La infección por P. falciparum es potencialmente mortal, tiende a manifestarse como una enfermedad febril sin signos localizados o específicos. En los casos más graves, sin embargo puede presentarse asociada a variados síndromes clínicos que plantean serios retos terapéuticos.Es reconocido que la malaria o paludismo puede asociarse a síndrome nefrótico y se han dado explicaciones de esta relación patogénica. En Mozambique, en un período de seis meses, tuvimos la oportunidad de tratar tres casos de Malaria falciparum grave, asociado a síndrome nefrótico.Divulgar y trasmitir las experiencias prácticas y consideraciones teóricas a propósito de uno de estos casos es la motivación de los autores de este trabajo. Palabras clave: PALUDISMO- MALARIA - Síndrome nefrÓtico ABSTRACT Plasmodiumspecies infecting man are the following: P.vivax, P. Malariae, P. Ovale and P. Falciparum. In Mozambique, like the biggest area from the so called Subsaharian Africa,the resistent-chloroquine P. Falciparum is the predominating specie in this area. The P. Falciparum infection is potentially fatal, with a trend to show as a febrile condition with no localized or specific signs. In more severe cases, however, it may be presented in association with different clinical syndromes which represent serious therapeutic challenges. It is not unknown that Malaria or Paludism may be associated with the Nephrotic Syndrome, and many explanations have been given on this pathogenic relatioship. In a sixth month's period in Mozambique we had the chance to test three severe cases of Falciparum Malaria associated with a Nephrotic Syndrome. Spreading the practical experience and theoretic considerations on one of these cases is the aim of this work. Key words: MALARIA, NEPHROTIC SYNDROM

Proposing to use artificial neural Networks for NoSQL attack detection

[EN] Relationships databases have enjoyed a certain boom in software worlds until now. These days, with the rise of modern applications, unstructured data production, traditional databases do not completely meet the needs of all systems. Regarding these issues, NOSQL databases have been developed and are a good alternative. But security aspects stay behind. Injection attacks are the most serious class of web attacks that are not taken seriously in NoSQL. This paper presents a Neural Network model approach for NoSQL injection. This method attempts to use the best and most effective features to identify an injection. The features used are divided into two categories, the first one based on the content of the request, and the second one independent of the request meta parameters. In order to detect attack payloads features, we work on character level analysis to obtain malicious rate of user inputs. The results demonstrate that our model has detected more attack payloads compare with models that work black list approach in keyword level

From national monopoly to Multinational Corporation: how regulation shaped the road towards telecommunications internationalization

One of the consequences of major regulatory reform of the telecommunications sector from the end of the 1970s – particularly, privatization, liberalization and deregulation – was the establishment of a new business environment which permitted former national telecommunications monopolies to expand abroad. From the 1990s, a number of these firms, particularly those based in Europe, joined the rankings of the world’s leading Multinational Corporations. Their internationalization was uneven, however: while some firms internationalised strongly, others ventured abroad much slower. This article explores how the regulatory framework within which telecommunications incumbents evolved over the long-term shaped their subsequent, uneven, paths to internationalization. Two case studies representing ´maximum variation´ are selected: Telefónica, whose early and unrelenting expansion transformed it into one of the world’s most international of Multinational Corporations, and BT, whose overseas ventures failed and, with eroding domestic market share, forced the firm to partially retreat, becoming the least international of the large European incumbents. Long-term ownership, access to capital, management style and exposure to liberalization strongly influenced firms’ approaches to internationalizatio

TOMO-ETNA experiment at Etna volcano: Activities on land

In the present paper we describe the on-land field operations integrated in the TOMO-ETNA experiment carried out in June-November 2014 at Mt. Etna volcano and surrounding areas. This terrestrial campaign consists in the deployment of 90 short-period portable three-component seismic stations, 17 broadband seismometers and the coordination with 133 permanent seismic station belonging to Italy’s Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). This temporary seismic network recorded active and passive seismic sources. Active seismic sources were generated by an array of air-guns mounted in the Spanish oceanographic vessel “Sarmiento de Gamboa” with a power capacity of up to 5200 cubic inches. In total more than 26,000 shots were fired and more than 450 local and regional earthquakes were recorded. We describe the whole technical procedure followed to guarantee the success of this complex seismic experiment. We started with the description of the location of the potential safety places to deploy the portable network and the products derived from this search (a large document including full characterization of the sites, owners and indication of how to arrive to them). A full technical description of the seismometers and seismic sources is presented. We show how the portable seismic network was deployed, maintained and recovered in different stages. The large international collaboration of this experiment is reflected in the participation of more than 75 researchers, technicians and students from different institutions and countries in the on-land activities. The main objectives of the experiment were achieved with great success.PublishedS04272SR. VULCANI - Servizi e ricerca per la SocietàJCR Journalope

A horizon scan exercise for aquatic invasive alien species in Iberian inland waters

As the number of introduced species keeps increasing unabatedly, identifying and prioritising current and potential Invasive Alien Species (IAS) has become essential to manage them. Horizon Scanning (HS), defined as an exploration of potential threats, is considered a fundamental component of IAS management. By combining scientific knowledge on taxa with expert opinion, we identified the most relevant aquatic IAS in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., those with the greatest geographic extent (or probability of introduction), severe ecological, economic and human health impacts, greatest difficulty and acceptability of management. We highlighted the 126 most relevant IAS already present in Iberian inland waters (i.e., Concern list) and 89 with a high probability of being introduced in the near future (i.e., Alert list), of which 24 and 10 IAS, respectively, were considered as a management priority after receiving the highest scores in the expert assessment (i.e., top-ranked IAS). In both lists, aquatic IAS belonging to the four thematic groups (plants, freshwater invertebrates, estuarine invertebrates, and vertebrates) were identified as having been introduced through various pathways from different regions of the world and classified according to their main functional feeding groups. Also, the latest update of the list of IAS of Union concern pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 includes only 12 top-ranked IAS identified for the Iberian Peninsula, while the national lists incorporate the vast majority of them. This fact underlines the great importance of taxa prioritisation exercises at biogeographical scales as a step prior to risk analyses and their inclusion in national lists. This HS provides a robust assessment and a cost-effective strategy for decision-makers and stakeholders to prioritise the use of limited resources for IAS prevention and management. Although applied at a transnational level in a European biodiversity hotspot, this approach is designed for potential application at any geographical or administrative scale, including the continental one

GWAS for Systemic Sclerosis Identifies Multiple Risk Loci and Highlights Fibrotic and Vasculopathy Pathways

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease that shows one of the highest mortality rates among rheumatic diseases. We perform a large genome-wide association study (GWAS), and meta-analysis with previous GWASs, in 26,679 individuals and identify 27 independent genome-wide associated signals, including 13 new risk loci. The novel associations nearly double the number of genome-wide hits reported for SSc thus far. We define 95% credible sets of less than 5 likely causal variants in 12 loci. Additionally, we identify specific SSc subtype-associated signals. Functional analysis of high-priority variants shows the potential function of SSc signals, with the identification of 43 robust target genes through HiChIP. Our results point towards molecular pathways potentially involved in vasculopathy and fibrosis, two main hallmarks in SSc, and highlight the spectrum of critical cell types for the disease. This work supports a better understanding of the genetic basis of SSc and provides directions for future functional experiments.Funding: This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant ref. SAF2015-66761-P), Consejeria de Innovacion, Ciencia y Tecnologia, Junta de Andalucía (P12-BIO-1395), Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte through the program FPU, Juan de la Cierva fellowship (FJCI-2015-24028), Red de Investigación en Inflamación y Enfermadades Reumaticas (RIER) from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RD16/0012/0013), and Scleroderma Research Foundation and NIH P50-HG007735 (to H.Y.C.). H.Y.C. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. PopGen 2.0 is supported by a grant from the German Ministry for Education and Research (01EY1103). M.D.M and S.A. are supported by grant DoD W81XWH-18-1-0423 and DoD W81XWH-16-1-0296, respectively