Treatment of hypertension in rural Cambodia: results of a 6-year programme

This study was aimed to describe the outcomes of a hypertension treatment programme in two outpatient clinics in Cambodia. We determined proportions of patients who met the optimal targets for blood pressure (BP) control and assessed the evolution of mean systolic and diastolic BP (SBP/DBP) over time. Multivariate analyses were used to identify predictors of BP decrease and risk factors for LTFU. A total of 2858 patients were enrolled between March 2002 and June 2008 of whom 69.2% were female, 30.5% were aged >/=64years and 32.6% were diabetic. The median follow-up time was 600 days. By the end of 2008, 1642 (57.4%) were alive-in-care, 8 (0.3%) had died and 1208 (42.3%) were lost to follow-up. On admission, mean SBP and DBP were 162 and 94 mm Hg, respectively. Among the patients treated, a significant SBP reduction of 26.8 mm Hg (95% CI: 28.4-25.3) was observed at 6 months. Overall, 36.5% of patients reached the BP targets at 24 months. The number of young adults, non-overweight patients and non-diabetics reaching the BP targets was more. Older age (>64 years), uncontrolled DBP (>/=90 mm Hg) on last consultation and coming late for the last consultation were associated with LTFU, whereas non-diabetic patients were 1.5 times more likely to default than diabetics (95% CI: 1.3-1.7). Although the definite magnitude of the BP decrease due to antihypertension medication over time cannot be assessed definitely without a control group, our results suggest that BP reduction can be obtained with essential hypertension treatment in a large-scale programme in a resource-limited setting

Control of bovine mastitis: old and recent therapeutic approaches

Mastitis is defined as the inflammatory response resulting of the infection of the udder tissue and it is reported in numerous species, namely in domestic dairy animals. This pathology is the most frequent disease of dairy cattle and can be potentially fatal. Mastitis is an economically important pathology associated with reduced milk production, changes in milk composition and quality, being considered one of the most costly to dairy industry. Therefore, the majority of research in the field has focused on control of bovine mastitis and many efforts are being made for the development of new and effective anti-mastitis drugs. Antibiotic treatment is an established component of mastitis control programs; however, the continuous search for new therapeutic alternatives, effective in the control and treatment of bovine mastitis, is urgent. This review will provide an overview of some conventional and emerging approaches in the management of bovine mastitis infections.F. Gomes acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through the Grant SFRH/BPD/84488/2012 and for financial support to the CEB research center

Experimental Gastric Carcinogenesis in Cebus apella Nonhuman Primates

The evolution of gastric carcinogenesis remains largely unknown. We established two gastric carcinogenesis models in New-World nonhuman primates. In the first model, ACP03 gastric cancer cell line was inoculated in 18 animals. In the second model, we treated 6 animals with N-methyl-nitrosourea (MNU). Animals with gastric cancer were also treated with Canova immunomodulator. Clinical, hematologic, and biochemical, including C-reactive protein, folic acid, and homocysteine, analyses were performed in this study. MYC expression and copy number was also evaluated. We observed that all animals inoculated with ACP03 developed gastric cancer on the 9th day though on the 14th day presented total tumor remission. In the second model, all animals developed pre-neoplastic lesions and five died of drug intoxication before the development of cancer. The last surviving MNU-treated animal developed intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma observed by endoscopy on the 940th day. The level of C-reactive protein level and homocysteine concentration increased while the level of folic acid decreased with the presence of tumors in ACP03-inoculated animals and MNU treatment. ACP03 inoculation also led to anemia and leukocytosis. The hematologic and biochemical results corroborate those observed in patients with gastric cancer, supporting that our in vivo models are potentially useful to study this neoplasia. In cell line inoculated animals, we detected MYC immunoreactivity, mRNA overexpression, and amplification, as previously observed in vitro. In MNU-treated animals, mRNA expression and MYC copy number increased during the sequential steps of intestinal-type gastric carcinogenesis and immunoreactivity was only observed in intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer. Thus, MYC deregulation supports the gastric carcinogenesis process. Canova immunomodulator restored several hematologic measurements and therefore, can be applied during/after chemotherapy to increase the tolerability and duration of anticancer treatments