Induced liver injury after high-dose methylprednisolone in a patient with multiple sclerosis

A 33-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis, medicated with high doses of methylprednisolone, cyclophosphamide and glatiramer acetate, was referred to our department due to acute liver injury. The laboratory investigation was normal except for weakly positive antinuclear antibodies. Cyclophosphamide and glatiramer acetate were suspended, and intravenous immunoglobulin with maintenance of high doses of methylprednisolone was initiated. The patient developed another episode of acute hepatitis so the immunoglobulin was stopped. After that, she had three more episodes of elevation of liver enzymes with no hepatic insufficiency while medicated only with high doses of methylprednisolone. At this time, liver biopsy showed focal centrilobubar hepatocyte necrosis with minimal interface hepatitis. After the high doses of methylprednisolone were suspended, the patient remained asymptomatic, with normal hepatic enzymes. This case emphasises that, although rare, induced liver injury after high doses of methylprednisolone can occur.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Histórias de Vida em Educação: A Construção do Conhecimento a partir de Histórias de Vida

[spa] Esta publicación recoge los trabajos presentados en las III Jornadas de Historias de Vida en Educación – La construcción del conocimiento a partir de las historias de vida, celebradas en la Facultad de Psicología y Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Porto en los días 8 y 9 de noviembre 2012, y organizadas por el Centro de Investigación e Intervención Educativas. En las diferentes contribuciones se profundiza la reflexión sobre el uso de las historias de vida en educación como proceso de investigación y de construcción de conocimiento insustituible, específico y pertinente para la formación y mejora de los docentes y los investigadores y para explorar relaciones y procedimientos particulares derivados de cada ejemplo presentado Esta publicación ofrece un retrato del debate que tuvo lugar en la Universidad de Porto y da muestras de la vitalidad de esa comunidad que integra docentes e investigadores universitarios y estudiantes de master y doctorado de España, Portugal, México, Chile, Suiza, Argentina y Brasil.[por] Esta publicação recolhe os trabalhos apresentados nas III Jornadas de Histórias de Vida em Educação – A construção do conhecimento a partir das histórias de vida, realizadas na Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto nos dias 8 e 9 de novembro de 2012, e organizadas pelo Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Educativas. Nas diferentes comunicações aprofunda-se a reflexão sobre o uso das histórias de vida em educação enquanto processo de investigação e de construção de um conhecimento insubstituível, específico e pertinente para a formação e o desenvolvimento dos docentes e investigadores, assim como para explorar relações e procedimentos particulares derivados de cada exemplo apresentado. Esta publicação oferece um retrato do debate que teve lugar na Universidade do Porto e demonstra a vitalidade dessa comunidade, que integra docentes e investigadores universitários, assim como estudantes de mestrado e de doutoramento, de Espanha, de Portugal, do México, do Chile, da Suíça, da Argentina e do Brasil.[cat] Aquesta publicació recull els treballs presentats a les III Jornades d’Històries de Vida en Educació – La construcció del coneixement a partir de les històries de vida, celebrades a la facultat de Psicologia i Ciències de l’Educació de la Universitat de Porto els dies 8 i 9 de novembre de 2012 i organitzades pel Centre d’Investigació i Intervenció Educatives. A les diferents contribucions es profunditza en la reflexió sobre l’ús de les històries de vida en educació com a procés d’investigació i de construcció de coneixement insubstituïble, específic i pertinent per la formació i millora dels docents i dels investigadors i per explorar relacions i procediments particulars derivats de cada exemple presentat. Aquesta publicació ofereix un retrat del debat que va tenir lloc a la Universitat de Porto i dóna mostres de vitalitat d’aquesta comunitat que integra docents i investigadors universitaris i estudiants de màster i doctorat d’Espanya, Portugal, Mèxic, Xile, Suïssa, Argentina i Brasil.[eng] This publication collects the papers presented at the III Conference on Life Stories in Education - Knowledge construction from life stories, held at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto on 8 and 9 of November 2012, and organized by the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education. The various papers expand the reflection on the use of life stories in education as a process of research and of the construction of an irreplaceable, specific and relevant kind of knowledge for professional training and development of teachers and researchers, as well as to explore relationships and procedures coming from each one of the presented examples. This publication provides a picture of the debate that took place at the University of Porto and shows the vitality of that community, which includes university teachers and researchers as well as master and doctoral students from Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, Switzerland, Argentina and Brazil

Prevenció d'RNM causats per PRM de seguretat: ajust posològic de medicaments en ancians polimedicats amb funció renal disminiuïda atesos a les farmàcies comunitàries

El creixement constant de la població de gent gran ha portat un increment de l'ús dels medicaments i ha originat la denominada polimedicació, principalment a causa del nombre de malalties cròniques associades a aquesta franja d'edat i del deteriorament fisiològic i natural de l'organisme. (1) El càlcul és que l'any 2015, a Catalunya, el percentatge de persones de més de 65 anys superarà el 18,5% i les persones de més de 80 anys seran aproximadament un 5,6% de la població. (2) La mitjana del nombre de medicaments utilitzats per les persones grans oscil·la entre 2 i 5 i pot augmentar si tenim en compte els medicaments que no necessiten prescripció mèdica. (3) Es calcula que un 65% de la gent gran té prescrits tres o més medicaments i un 30% més de cinc. (4) Si bé els medicaments estan formulats amb criteris de protecció i seguretat, els riscos associats a la utilització sempre són presents. La utilització correcta requereix un balanç favorable i individual de la relació benefici i risc que aquests medicaments poden produir. La seguretat n'és una part primordial i defineix en sentit positiu l'absència de toxicitat o de riscos. (5) Actualment, la seguretat del pacient es considera un tret essencial de la qualitat assistencial i la manca d'aquest tret podria comprometre negativament dimensions com l'efectivitat terapèutica..

Phytoplankton diversity and strategies in regard to physical disturbances in a shallow, oligotrophic, tropical reservoir in Southeast Brazil

The IAG Lake is a small, oligotrophic, and shallow reservoir located in the Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga Biological Reserve, south of Municipality of Sao Paulo, southeast Brazil. The study of the phytoplankton community dynamics is based on samples collected along the vertical profile of the water column in the pelagic region of the reservoir (Zmax = 4.7 m), 3 times a day (7 h, 13 h, and 19 h) during 7 consecutive days of the dry period (20-26 August 1996) and of the rainy period (22- 28 January 1997), but at 5 depths during the dry period and at 4 depths during the rainy one. The relationships among species richness, diversity, evenness, and dominance were discussed within the Connell's Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH). The responses of the descriptive species in the community and C-R-S strategies were studied. The variation of the mixing zone was the main factor responsible for the changes in the community structure as well as for the maintenance of the diversity during both climate periods. The disturbance was considered of high frequency during the dry period and of intermediate frequency during the rainy one. The diversity was higher during the rainy period, confirming the IDH, at least during the present study. Peridinium gatunense Nygaard was dominant in most sample units during the dry period. During the rainy one, Chlamydomonas debaryana Goroschankin and Oocystis lacustris Chodat were the species that contributed the most. Regarding the functional groups, S-strategists dominated the dry period, differing from the rainy one, when the functional diversity was higher. In conclusion, changes in the phytoplankton community structure were well explained by Connell's IDH.El lago IAG es un embalse pequeño, oligotrófico y somero, ubicado en la Reserva Biológica del Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga, Sur de la Municipalidad de Sao Paulo, sureste del Brasil. El estudio de la dinámica de la comunidad fitoplanctónica está basado en muestras colectadas al largo del perfil vertical de la columna de agua en la región pelágica del embalse (Zmax = 4.7 m), 3 veces al día (7 h, 13 h y 19 h) durante 7 días consecutivos de los períodos seco (20-26 Agosto 1996) y húmedo (22-28 Enero 1997), pero en 5 profundidades durante el período seco y en 4 durante el húmedo. Las relaciones entre riqueza de especies, diversidad, equitabilidad y dominancia fueron discutidos dentro de la Hipótesis de Connell de la Perturbación Intermedia (HPI). Las respuestas de las especies descriptoras de la comunidad y estrategias C-R-S fueron estudiadas. La variación de la zona de mezcla fue el factor más importante en los cambios en la estructura de la comunidad así como para el mantenimiento de la diversidad durante los dos períodos climáticos. La perturbación fue considerada de frecuencia alta durante el período seco y de frecuencia intermedia durante el húmedo. La diversidad fue más alta durante el período de lluvias, confirmando la HPI, por lo menos en este estudio. Peridinium gatunense Nygaard fue dominante en la mayoría de las unidades de muestreo durante el período seco. Durante el período húmedo, Chlamydomonas debaryana Goroschankin y Oocystis lacustris Chodat fueron las especies que más contribuyeron. Considerando los grupos funcionales, los estrategas S dominaron el período seco, a diferencia del período húmedo, cuando la diversidad funcional fue más alta. Concluyendo, los cambios en la estructura de la comunidad del fitoplancton fueron bien explicados por la HPI de Connell

Electrospun nanosized cellulose fibers using ionic liquids at room temperature

Aiming at replacing the noxious solvents commonly employed, ionic-liquid-based solvents have been recently explored as novel non-volatile and non-flammable media for the electrospinning of polymers. In this work, nanosized and biodegradable cellulose fibers were obtained by electrospinning at room temperature using a pure ionic liquid or a binary mixture of two selected ionic liquids. The electrospinning of 8 wt% cellulose in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate medium (a low viscosity and room temperature ionic liquid capable of efficiently dissolving cellulose) showed to produce electrospun fibers with average diameters within (470 ± 110) nm. With the goal of tailoring the surface tension of the spinning dope, a surface active ionic liquid was further added in a 0.10 : 0.90 mole fraction ratio. Electrospun cellulose fibers from the binary mixture composed of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate and 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquids presented average diameters within (120 ± 55) nm. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric assays were used as core methods to evaluate the structural integrity, morphology and crystallinity of the raw, electrospun, and regenerated samples of cellulose. Moreover, the photoluminescence spectra of both raw and electrospun fibers were acquired, and compared, indicating that the cellulose emitting centers are not affected by the dissolution of cellulose in ionic liquids. Finally, the use of non-volatile solvents in electrospinning coupled to a water coagulation bath allows the recovery of the ionic fluid, and represents a step forward into the search of environmentally friendly alternatives to the conventional approaches

The Two Faces of Anomaly Mediation

Anomaly mediation is a ubiquitous source of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking which appears in almost every theory of supergravity. In this paper, we show that anomaly mediation really consists of two physically distinct phenomena, which we dub "gravitino mediation" and "Kahler mediation". Gravitino mediation arises from minimally uplifting SUSY anti-de Sitter (AdS) space to Minkowski space, generating soft masses proportional to the gravitino mass. Kahler mediation arises when visible sector fields have linear couplings to SUSY breaking in the Kahler potential, generating soft masses proportional to beta function coefficients. In the literature, these two phenomena are lumped together under the name "anomaly mediation", but here we demonstrate that they can be physically disentangled by measuring associated couplings to the goldstino. In particular, we use the example of gaugino soft masses to show that gravitino mediation generates soft masses without corresponding goldstino couplings. This result naively violates the goldstino equivalence theorem but is in fact necessary for supercurrent conservation in AdS space. Since gravitino mediation persists even when the visible sector is sequestered from SUSY breaking, we can use the absence of goldstino couplings as an unambiguous definition of sequestering.Comment: 21 pages, 1 table; v2, references added, extended discussion in introduction and appendix; v3, JHEP versio

Constraints on Finite Soft Supersymmetry-Breaking Terms

Requiring the soft supersymmetry-breaking (SSB) parameters in finite gauge-Yukawa unified models to be finite up to and including two-loop order, we derive a two-loop sum rule for the soft scalar-masses. It is shown that this sum rule coincides with that of a certain class of string models in which the massive string states are organized into N=4 supermultiplets. We investigate the SSB sector of two finite SU(5) models. Using the sum rule which allows the non-universality of the SSB terms and requiring that the lightest superparticle particleis neutral, we constrain the parameter space of the SSB sector in each model.Comment: 34 page

Concomitant Retrograde Coronary Venous Infusion of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Enhances Engraftment and Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Cardiac Repair after Myocardial Infarction.

AIM: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) increases the migration and viability of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro. Retrograde coronary venous infusion can provide both increased regional bFGF concentrations and homogeneous cell dissemination. We determined whether retrograde delivery of bFGF enhances the potency of transplanted MSCs for cardiac repair in a canine infarct model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Under hypoxic conditions, cellular migration was significantly increased in MSCs co-cultured with bFGF compared to vascular endothelial growth factor or insulin-like growth factor, and bFGF promoted MSCs differentiation into a cardiomyocyte phenotype. A canine infarct model was employed by coronary ligation. One week later, animals were subjected to retrograde infusion of combination bFGF (200ng/mL) and MSCs (1×10(8) cells) (n=5), MSCs (1×10(8) cells, n=5), bFGF (200ng/mL, n=5), or placebo (phosphate-buffered saline, n=3). Four weeks after infusion, only the bFGF+MSCs therapy exhibited significantly increased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiography (p CONCLUSIONS: Retrograde coronary venous bFGF infusion augments engraftment and differentiation capacity of transplanted MSCs, recovering cardiac function and preventing adverse remodeling. This novel combined treatment and delivery method is a promising strategy for cardiac repair after ischemic injury

Mechanisms of Psychological Distress following War in the Former Yugoslavia: The Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This study was funded by a grant from the European Commission, contract number INCO-CT-2004-509176. AN was supported by a Clinical Early Career Research Fellowship (113295) and a Project Grant (104288

Over-pressurized bioreactors : application to microbial cell cultures

In industrial biotechnology, microbial cultures are exposed to different local pressures inside bioreactors. Depending on the microbial species and strains, the increased pressure may have detrimental or beneficial effects on cellular growth and product formation. In this review, the effects of increased air pressure on various microbial cultures growing in bioreactors under moderate total pressure conditions (maximum, 15 bar) will be discussed. Recent data illustrating the diversity of increased air pressure effects at different levels in microbial cells cultivation will be presented, with particular attention to the effects of oxygen and carbon dioxide partial pressures on cellular growth and product formation, and the concomitant effect of oxygen pressure on antioxidant cellular defense mechanisms.The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and the Project "BioInd-Biotechnology and Bioengineering for improved Industrial and Agro-Food processes, REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000028," cofunded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2-O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. A special aknowledgement is given to FCT for the support to the improvement of infrastructures awarded by the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462)