Profilaxis de los puentes óseos fisarios mediante interposición de injerto autólogo de periostio. Estudio experimental en conejos

Se ha realizado un trabajo experimental sobre la profilaxis de los puentes óseos epifisometafisarios mediante la interposición de injerto autólogo de periostio, planteando los siguientes objetivos: 1) Conseguir una barrera epifisometafisaria que impida la comunicación de los vasos epifisarios y metafisarios y 2) Estudiar la capacidad condrogénica del periostio. Se han utilizado 48 conejos, distribuidos en dos Series de cuatro Grupos cada una, según el momento del sacrificio a la 1a, 2a, 4a y 8a semanas. En la serie Control, se procedió a la extirpación de 1/3 de la fisis distal externa, mientras que en la Experimental se interpuso un injerto Ubre de periostio. Todos los especímenes se estudiaron macroscópica, radiológica e histológicamente. Las conclusiones han sido, que el periostio como injerto Ubre: 1) Actúa como barrera pasiva en las lesiones fisarias en las primeras semanas. 2) Tiene capacidad condrogénica en las primeras semanas. 3) A largo plazo no es un material efectivo en la profilaxis de los puentes óseos epífiso-metafisarios.An experimental work has been carried out on prevention of fiseal bone bridges formation by means of interposing autologus periosteum graft, bringing up the following objetives: 1) To achieve a barrier which can prevent the communication between epiphyseal and metaphyseal vessels, and 2) To study the condrogenic potencial of periosteum. A total of 48 rabbits have been used, arranged in three series of four groups each, acording to the moment of sacrifice in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8 t h weeks. They were all operated on the right femur. In the control serie an extirpation of 1/3 of the outer and distal growth plate was carried out, while in the experimental series the created defect was filled up with a free periosteum graft. All the specimens were studied macroscopically, radiologically and histologically. As conclusions, the periosteum used as a free graft: 1) In the first weeks act like a pasive barrier in physeal lesions, 2) It has also condrogenic capacity in the first weeks and, 3) On large follow-up studies, the periosteum do not seems to be a efective material to prevent physeal bone bridges

Reparación del cartílago articular con injerto libre de pericondrio estudio experimental

Ante la incapacidad de regeneración espontánea de lesiones profundas y amplias del cartílago articular, estudiamos la reparación cartilaginosa con plastias de pericondrio tomadas de la región condro-costal e implantándolas con su cara condrogénica sobre una lesión osteocondral realizada en la superficie articular rotuliana. Macroscópica e histológicamente, a la octava semana, el neocartílago formado tenía igual apariencia que el cartílago hialino normal, no existiendo separación entre el cartílago remanente y el neoformado a partir de la plastia. Estos resultados corroboran el gran potencial condrogénico del pericondrioFaced with the incapacity of spontaneous regeneration of deep and extensive lesions of the articular cartilage we studied the cartilaginous repair with pericondrium grafts taken from the chondro-costal region. Grafts were implanted with their condrogenic face over an osteochondral defect located at the surface of the patella. At the 8th week, the neocartilage formed had macroscopically and histologically, the same appearance as the normal hyaline cartilage, with no separation between the remaining cartilage and the neocartilage induced by the graft. These results corroborate the high chondrogenic potential of the perichondrium

Update on Dihydropteroate Synthase (DHPS) Mutations in Pneumocystis jirovecii

A Pneumocystis jirovecii is one of the most important microorganisms that cause pneumonia in immunosupressed individuals. The guideline for treatment and prophylaxis of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) is the use of a combination of sulfa drug-containing trimethroprim and sulfamethoxazole. In the absence of a reliable method to culture Pneumocystis, molecular techniques have been developed to detect mutations in the dihydropteroate synthase gene, the target of sulfa drugs, where mutations are related to sulfa resistance in other microorganisms. The presence of dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) mutations has been described at codon 55 and 57 and found almost around the world. In the current work, we analyzed the most common methods to identify these mutations, their geographical distribution around the world, and their clinical implications. In addition, we describe new emerging DHPS mutations. Other aspects, such as the possibility of transmitting Pneumocystis mutated organisms between susceptible patients is also described, as well as a brief summary of approaches to study these mutations in a heterologous expression system

Conflictos epistémicos al hacer transformaciones en las representaciones de una función

En este trabajo se tuvo como objetivo analizar los conflictos epistémicos que tienen los estudiantes del grado once al realizar transformaciones con los elementos de una función. La muestra la constituyeron 85 estudiantes del grado once, con edades entre 16 y 18 años. La investigación se desarrolló en cuatro etapas: revisión documental, diseño, validación y aplicación de instrumentos y análisis e interpretación de resultados. Los resultados evidencian serias dificultades relacionadas con: el reconocimiento de los elementos de una función y sobre cómo éstos se relacionan y en el establecimiento de congruencias entre los elementos de dos o más representaciones. Los principales conflictos epistémicos que se han encontrado se relacionan con el reconocimiento de la función en contextos académicos, no reconocen las representaciones gráficas ni tabulares como representaciones de una función y por tanto pocos las usan como apoyo para dar sus respuestas, el uso indistinto de la letra como magnitud y como variable generalizada, la construcción de intervalos inapropiado donde se tenían en cuenta sólo uno de los límites de éstos, la construcción de gráficos apropiados, pero no convencionales, en los cuales se tomó al revés, la orientación del eje X y el reconocimiento sólo de la representación analítico aritmética y la analítico algebraica, como representaciones de una función

The optical counterpart of the bright X-ray transient Swift J1745-26

We present a 30-day monitoring campaign of the optical counterpart of the bright X-ray transient Swift J1745-26, starting only 19 minutes after the discovery of the source. We observe the system peaking at i' ~17.6 on day 6 (MJD 56192) to then decay at a rate of ~0.04 mag/day. We show that the optical peak occurs at least 3 days later than the hard X-ray (15-50 keV) flux peak. Our measurements result in an outburst amplitude greater than 4.3 magnitudes, which favours an orbital period < 21 h and a companion star with a spectral type later than ~ A0. Spectroscopic observations taken with the GTC-10.4 m telescope reveal a broad (FWHM ~ 1100 km/s), double-peaked H_alpha emission line from which we constrain the radial velocity semi-amplitude of the donor to be K_2 > 250 km/s. The breadth of the line and the observed optical and X-ray fluxes suggest that Swift J1745-26 is a new black hole candidate located closer than ~7 kpc.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Paediatric HIV infection in the 'omics era: defining transcriptional signatures of viral control and vaccine responses

Modern technologies and their increased accessibility have shifted 'benchtop' medical research to the larger dimension of 'omics. The huge amount of data derived from gene expression and sequencing experiments has propelled physicians, basic scientists and bioinformaticians towards a common goal to transform 'big data' into predictive constructs that are readily available and will offer clinical utility. Although most of the studies available in the literature have been performed on healthy subjects and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), which are a heterogenous and extremely variable pool of cells, scientists are now trying to address mechanistic questions in purified cell subsets in pathological conditions. In the field of HIV, few attempts have been made to comprehensively evaluate gene-expression profiles of infected patients with different disease status. With the view of discovering a path towards remission or viral eradication, perinatally HIV-infected children represent a unique model. In fact the well-defined time of infection and the resulting opportunity to start early treatment, thereby generating a smaller size of viral reservoir and a more intact immune system, allow for investigation of therapeutic strategies to defeat the virus. In this scenario, 'transcriptomic' or gene expression technologies and supporting bioinformatics applications need to be strategically integrated to provide novel information about immune correlates of virus control following treatment interruption. Here we review modern techniques for gene expression analysis and discuss the best transcriptomic strategies applicable to the field of functional cure in paediatric HIV infection

Importance of tissue sampling, laboratory methods, and patient characteristics for detection of Pneumocystis in autopsied lungs of non-immunosuppressed individuals

To understand the epidemiological significance of Pneumocystis detection in a lung tissue sample of non-immunosuppressed individuals, we examined sampling procedures, laboratory methodology, and patient characteristics of autopsy series reported in the literature. Number of tissue specimens, DNA-extraction procedures, age and underlying diagnosis highly influence yield and are critical to understand yield differences of Pneumocystis among reports of pulmonary colonization in immunocompetent individuals.publishersversionpublishe

Multilocus Genotyping of Pneumocystis jirovecii from Deceased Cuban AIDS Patients Using Formalin-Fixed and Paraffin-Embedded Tissues

The results of the genotypic characterization of Pneumocystis jirovecii are described in lung tissue samples from 41 Cubans who died of AIDS with pneumocystosis between 1995 and 2008. Histological sections of the lung preserved as formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue were examined. PCR amplification and nucleotide sequencing of the two mitochondrial genes (large and small) of the pathogen allowed verification of a predominance of genotype 3 (85T/248C) of the large mitochondrial gene and genotype 3 (160A/196T) of the small mitochondrial gene over a period of 14 years (1995–2008). These results suggest that the 85T/248C//160A/196T genotype circulates with the highest frequency (81.3%) among AIDS patients in Cuba. Multilocus analysis indicates a limited circulation of pathogen genotypes on the island with the existence of a clonal genotype with an epidemic structure. Furthermore, it appears that circulating strains of P. jirovecii have not developed mutations related to sulfonamide resistance. Taken together, the data in this study revealed important elements about pneumocystosis in Cuban patients dying of AIDS and the usefulness of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples to carry out molecular epidemiology studies of P. jirovecii

Lixiviação e contaminação das águas do rio Corumbataí por herbicidas.

A avaliação, em corpos hídricos, de resíduos de herbicidas empregados em áreas agrícolas para controle de plantas consideradas daninhas, tem encontrado uma grande variação na concentração dos produtos originais e de seus metabólitos. Tem sido sugerido que estas variações são devidas às propriedades químicas dos compostos, somadas às condições hidrogeológicas e climáticas locais e aos sistemas de cultivo, uma vez que são condições que influenciam o comportamento de lixiviação. Em estudo na bacia hidrográfica do rio Corumbataí, que abastece principalmente as cidades de Rio Claro e Piracicaba-SP, foram quantificados sazonalmente por CG/NPD e HPLC, os resíduos de herbicidas em amostras de água e sedimentos em diversos locais, durante os anos de 2004-2005. A área é cultivada principalmente com cana-de-açúcar, citrus e pastagens. A escolha dos herbicidas baseou-se em trabalho de levantamento dos herbicidas mais utilizados e época de aplicação na região. Dos 63 produtos registrados, foram analisados 24 i.a.. Os herbicidas que apresentam alto risco de lixiviação, como ametrina, atrazina e simazina foram os encontrados em concentrações superiores aos níveis do padrão de 2 ?g L-1 da Portaria do Ministério da Saúde MS - 518/2004. A freqüência e nível de concentração foram maiores na época do início das chuvas intensas