Primary Cardiac Lymphoma

Primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) has rarely been reported in Chinese populations. PCL mostly occurs in the right atrium. The clinical manifestations may be variable and are attributed to its location, the presence of congestive heart failure, pericardial effusion, arrhythmia, and cardiomegaly. The prognosis is usually poor because it is usually found too late and therefore, clinicians should be aware of PCL. Imaging examinations are the best methods for initial diagnosis and include echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and radioisotope scan. However, the final diagnosis is made by pathology, such as cytologic examination of the effusive fluid and tissue biopsy. Because the tumors are difficult to resect, the main treatment for the disease is chemotherapy, which can be successful. Here, we report a 58-year-old man who had a tumor measuring 8 × 5 cm in the right atrium. By clinical staging, including chest X-ray, echocardiography, CT scan of the abdomen, MRI of the heart, whole body tumor Gallium scan, and gastrointestinal series, no metastatic lesion or involvement was found in other parts of the body. Pathologic findings including cytology of pericardial effusion and heart tumor biopsy revealed the case as a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. After chemotherapy with COP (cyclophosphamide + vincristine + prednisone) and CHOPBE (COP + doxorubicin + bleomycin + etoposide) regimens, the intracardiac tumor had disappeared, but the patient survived for 12 months in total, despite additional radiotherapy over the pericardial lesions. It was presumed that because the tumor was very large and involved all 3 layers of the heart, it did not respond as well to the therapy as expected

Lobocrassins A–E: New Cembrane-Type Diterpenoids from the Soft Coral Lobophytum crassum

Five new cembrane-type diterpenoids, lobocrassins A–E (1–5), were isolated from the soft coral Lobophytum crassum. The structures of cembranes 1–5 were established by spectroscopic and chemical methods and by comparison of the spectral data with those of known cembrane analogues. Lobocrassin A (1) is the first cembranoid possessing an α-chloromethyl-α-hydroxy-γ-lactone functionality and is the first chlorinated cembranoid from soft corals belonging to the genus Lobophytum. Lobocrassins B (2) and C (3) were found to be the stereoisomers of the known cembranes, 14-deoxycrassin (6) and pseudoplexaurol (7), respectively. Lobocrassin B (2) exhibited modest cytotoxicity toward K562, CCRF-CEM, Molt4, and HepG2 tumor cells and displayed significant inhibitory effects on the generation of superoxide anion and the release of elastase by human neutrophils

Natural Product Chemistry of Gorgonian Corals of Genus Junceella—Part II

The structures, names, bioactivities, and references of 81 new secondary metabolites obtained from gorgonian corals belonging to the genus Junceella are described in this review. All compounds mentioned in this review were obtained from sea whip gorgonian corals Junceella fragilis and Junceella juncea, collected from the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific Ocean

The Effect of Raw Soybean on Oxidative Status of Digestive Organs in Mice

The present study was undertaken to specify the effect of raw soybean on oxidative status of digestive organs in mice. For this purpose, thirty male (C57BL/6J) mice were randomly divided into three groups and fed on different diets as follows: Group 1 was fed on control diet, Group 2 was fed on raw soybean diet and Group 3 was fed on raw soybean diet supplemented with 30 mg/kg cysteamine. After two weeks of feeding, duodenum, liver and pancreas samples were collected to measure oxidative and antioxidative parameters. The results show that ingestion of raw soybean markedly increased contents of superoxide anion and malondialdehyde (MDA) and activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), decreased activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), T-AOC and content of reduced glutathione (GSH) in digestive organs of mice (P < 0.05). In the group fed with raw soybean diet supplemented with cysteamine, oxidative stress was mitigated. However, oxidative parameter levels were still higher than those of control diet-fed group. The present study indicates that ingestion of raw soybean could result in an imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant, and thus induce oxidative stress in digestive organs of mice

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake