Short-term treatment of iron deficiency anemia after cardiac surgery

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is frequent after cardiac surgery and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In a retrospective study, we analyzed 106 patients with IDA (hemoglobin [Hb] ≤ 12 g/dl in women and ≤ 13 g/dl in men, transferrin saturation [TSAT] ≤ 20%) on admission to a Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit after cardiac surgery. The patients were divided into two groups, one was treated with oral sucrosomial iron (SI) and the other with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM). Patients received a single 1000 mg dose of FCM from the day after admission to rehabilitation (T1), or a 120 mg/day dose of SI from T1 until discharge (T2); after discharge, SI was reduced to 30 mg/day until the end of follow-up (T3). Hb was evaluated at T1, T2 and T3; the other hematological parameters at T1 and T3; natriuretic peptides at T1, T2 and T3; 6-minute walk test (6MWT) at T1 and T2. Folate, vitamin B12 and reticulocytes were sampled on admission. Folate deficiency was documented in 60.4% of patients. Hb increased in both groups with no significant differences between the two treatments (p = 0.397). The other iron metabolism parameters (sideremia, transferrin, TSAT) displayed similar behavior, showing a significant increase at T3 (p < 0.001) with both therapies, although the increase was faster with FCM. Ferritin - high on admission - decreased at T3 in the SI group and rose significantly in the FCM group (SI 219.5 vs. FCM 689 ng/ml p < 0.0001). The 6MWT increased significantly at T2, with an overlap between SI and FCM. In conclusion, the results of this study show that SI and FCM exhibit the same effectiveness on IDA; the response time to therapy of both treatments is also equally fast. SI and FCM induce a similar increase in functional capacity. The study shows that SI can be a viable alternative to FCM after cardiac surgery in terms of effectiveness and tolerability

Telemonitoring Devices and Systems: Current Status and Future Trends

In the future, the number of elderly and chronically ill will be quite large. Additionally, pathologies will in many cases be in comorbidity. Alongside this reality, the health care resources will be insufficient for the population, thus the current research for solutions that can be fully implemented in the future. There are available several telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases. Massive use of these devices will be essential to address the current and future lack of health system resources. Research on telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases was con-ducted in academic and scientific databases. The technical specifications were collected in the manufacturers’ web page. The gathered data was analysed and compared in order to propose scenarios for the future trend of technical specifi-cations required in telemonitoring devices/system is performed. Telemonitoring for chronic diseases can bring great benefits to patient and health systems. Widening this practice will be a reality in the near future. This procedure will be fostered by the promotion and regulation of interoperability between de-vices/systems, as well as of front-end programs providing the link between health support systems. Interoperability issues are the main flaw of tedevicesring devices/systems on the market today.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Telemonitoring Devices and Systems: Current Status and Future Trends

In the future, the number of elderly and chronically ill will be quite large. Additionally, pathologies will in many cases be in comorbidity. Along with this reality, the health care resources will be insufficient for the population, thus the current research for technological solutions needs to be implemented in the future. There are available several telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases. Massive use of these devices will be essential to address the current and future lack of health system resources. Research on telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases was conducted in academic and scientific databases. The technical specifications were collected from the manufacturers’ web page. The collected data was analysed and compared in order to propose scenarios for the future trend of technical specifications required in telemonitoring devices/system. Telemonitoring for chronic diseases can bring great benefits to patient and health systems. Widening this practice will be a reality in the near future. This procedure will be fostered by the promotion and regulation of interoperability between devices/systems, as well as of front-end programs providing the link between health support systems. Interoperability issues are the main flaws of telemonitoring devices/systems on the market today.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Carboxylic ester hydrolases from hyperthermophiles

Carboxylic ester hydrolyzing enzymes constitute a large group of enzymes that are able to catalyze the hydrolysis, synthesis or transesterification of an ester bond. They can be found in all three domains of life, including the group of hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea. Esterases from the latter group often exhibit a high intrinsic stability, which makes them of interest them for various biotechnological applications. In this review, we aim to give an overview of all characterized carboxylic ester hydrolases from hyperthermophilic microorganisms and provide details on their substrate specificity, kinetics, optimal catalytic conditions, and stability. Approaches for the discovery of new carboxylic ester hydrolases are described. Special attention is given to the currently characterized hyperthermophilic enzymes with respect to their biochemical properties, 3D structure, and classification

Intrinsic Disorder in Male Sex Determination: Disorderedness of Proteins from the Sry Transcriptional Network

Sex differentiation is a complex process where sexually indifferent embryo progressively acquires male or female characteristics via tightly controlled, perfectly timed, and sophisticatedly intertwined chain of events. This process is controlled and regulated by a set of specific proteins, with one of the first steps in sex differentiation being the activation of the Y-chromosomal Sry gene (sexdetermining region Y) in males that acts as a switch from undifferentiated gonad somatic cells to testis development. There are several key players in this process, which constitute the Sry transcriptional network, and collective action of which governs testis determination. Although it is accepted now that many proteins engaged in signal transduction as well as regulation and control of various biological processes are intrinsically disordered (i.e., do not have unique structure and remain unstructured, or incompletely structured, under physiological conditions), the roles and profusion of intrinsic disorder in proteins involved in the male sex determination have not been accessed as of yet. The goal of this study is to cover this gap by analyzing some key players of the Sry transcriptional network. To this end, we employed a broad set of computational tools for intrinsic disorder analysis and conducted intensive literature search in order to gain information on the structural peculiarities of the Sry networkrelated proteins, their intrinsic disorder predispositions, and the roles of intrinsic disorder in their functions

THE NOSE AND SINUS MANOMETRY: A BIO-PHYSICAL MODEL APPLIED TO FUNCTIONAL ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY

The effectiveness of sinus ventilation is due to a regular anatomy of inner nose structures such as the maxillary sinus ostium. With the aid of nose and sinus manometric measurements, it is possible to show that better functional results can be achieved using a conservative surgical technique. The present study compared 30 patients subdivided in two groups. Group A underwent conservative endoscopic sinus surgery whereas group B was operated on using non-conservative endoscopic sinus surgery. Thirty days later, both groups underwent a manometric survey of the maxillary sinus ostium by means of the digital manometry system. The pressure values obtained by nasal and sinus manometry in Group A or Group B patients were referred to those obtained in a Standard Group without nasal-sinus pathologies, calculating a percentage index of functional efficacy (maxillary sinus functional efficacy). The average percentage of the maxillary sinus functional efficacy was 98,35 percent for group-A patients, and 49,73 percent for group-B patients. Student t test revealed a statistical difference only between group B patients and standard group patients (p less than 0.4). Patients submitted to a more aggressive endoscopic approach showed inadequate sinus ventilation when compared to the standard reference group

The nose and sinus manometry: a bio-physical model applied to functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

The effectiveness of sinus ventilation is due to a regular anatomy of inner nose structures such as the maxillary sinus ostium. With the aid of nose and sinus manometric measurements, it is possible to show that better functional results can be achieved using a conservative surgical technique. The present study compared 30 patients subdivided in two groups. Group A underwent conservative endoscopic sinus surgery whereas group B was operated on using non-conservative endoscopic sinus surgery. Thirty days later, both groups underwent a manometric survey of the maxillary sinus ostium by means of the digital manometry system. The pressure values obtained by nasal and sinus manometry in Group A or Group B patients were referred to those obtained in a Standard Group without nasal-sinus pathologies, calculating a percentage index of functional efficacy (maxillary sinus functional efficacy). The average percentage of the maxillary sinus functional efficacy was 98,35% for group-A patients, and 49,73% for group-B patients. Student t test revealed a statistical difference only between group B patients and standard group patients (p<0.4). Patients submitted to a more aggressive endoscopic approach showed inadequate sinus ventilation when compared to the standard reference group