Jugo de pomelo y drogas

Indexación: ScieloCarta al Editor: "En octubre del año 2004, la revista Medical Letter advirtió sobre la interacción del jugo de pomelo con varias drogas usadas frecuentemente. Este artículo fue seleccionado para los médicos obstetras. Otras publicaciones recientes han puesto el tema en la actualidad. Considerando que el jugo de pomelo se está consumiendo bastante en nuestra población y que las interacciones descritas con las drogas pueden ser peligrosas, parece interesante difundir el tema"http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-98872006000500017&nrm=is

Eutanasia y derecho a morir

Indexación: ScieloCarta al editor de Alexis Lama: "Recientemente han aparecido algunos artículos en la Revista Médica de Chile, que colocan en la actualidad un tema tan importante como lo es la eutanasia. Me he permitido realizar algunos breves comentarios, a fin de aportar mas elementos a la reflexión acerca del mismo. En primer lugar, me referiré al concepto de eutanasia... Mi segundo comentario y que me parece más importante, se refiere al derecho a morir"http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-98872006000100019&nrm=is

Conflictos de intereses: Una propuesta académica

Indexación: ScieloCarta al editor: "Sr. Editor: El tema de los conflictos de intereses en la práctica médica, recibe cada vez más la atención de instituciones médicas y los médicos. El Colegio Médico de Chile (AG) ha incorporado en la nueva versión de su Código de Etica un capítulo específico sobre el tema. La Asociación de Sociedades Científicas-Médicas de Chile ha difundido recomendaciones para el control de estos conflictos y diversos médicos se han pronunciado sobre los mismos. Sin embargo, los conflictos de intereses siguen presentes y los que guardan relación con la industria farmacéutica han alcanzado notoriedad pública"http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-98872006000600020&nrm=is

Physical disruption of intervertebral disc promotes cell clustering and a degenerative phenotype

© 2019, The Author(s). To test the hypothesis that physical disruption of an intervertebral disc disturbs cell-matrix binding, leading to cell clustering and increased expression of matrix degrading enzymes that contribute towards degenerative disc cell phenotype. Lumbar disc tissue was removed at surgery from 21 patients with disc herniation, 11 with disc degeneration, and 8 with adolescent scoliosis. 5 μm sections were examined with histology, and 30-µm sections by confocal microscopy. Antibodies were used against integrin α5beta1, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 1, MMP-3, caspase 3, and denatured collagen types I and II. Spatial associations were sought between cell clustering and various degenerative features. An additional, 11 non-herniated human discs were used to examine causality: half of each specimen was cultured in a manner that allowed free ‘unconstrained’ swelling (similar to a herniated disc in vivo), while the other half was cultured within a perspex ring that allowed ‘constrained’ swelling. Changes were monitored over 36 h using live-cell imaging. 1,9-Di-methyl methylene blue (DMMB) assay for glycosaminoglycan loss was carried out from tissue medium. Partially constrained specimens showed little swelling or cell movement in vitro. In contrast, unconstrained swelling significantly increased matrix distortion, glycosaminoglycan loss, exposure of integrin binding sites, expression of MMPs 1 and 3, and collagen denaturation. In the association studies, herniated disc specimens showed changes that resembled unconstrained swelling in vitro. In addition, they exhibited increased cell clustering, apoptosis, MMP expression, and collagen denaturation compared to ‘control’ discs. Results support our hypothesis. Further confirmation will require longitudinal animal experiments

15N tracing to elucidate links between biodiversity and nitrogen cycling in a grassland experiment

Nitrogen (N) cycling is a fundamental ecosystem function of high complexity because N undergoes many transformations in soil and vegetation. The effect of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functions in general, and on N cycling in particular, was studied in several manipulative field experiments. To generate a comprehensive view of the influence of species richness on all major N transformations, we conducted laboratory incubations, in which we added 15N-labeled ammonium and nitrate to soil samples of the “Jena Experiment”, a manipulative large scale, long-term biodiversity experiment in grassland. The experimental site is located in Jena, Germany. The design consists of 4 blocks and 82 plots with 1-60 species and 1-4 functional groups (grasses, legumes, small herbs, tall herbs). Approx. 400 g of field-fresh soil was sampled from each plot of one of the 4 blocks and divided into three aliquots of 100 g each. In order to trace N turnover, we amended the incubations (in triplicate) either with 15N-labelled (98 at%) ammonium, nitrate, or with a mixture of both. The samples were incubated for two months at 20°C. Soil solution was extracted 1, 2, 4, 9 and 16 days after 15N application by percolating 100 mL of nutrient solution through each vessel. Concentrations of NH4-N, NO3-N and total N in the extracts were determined with colorimetric methods. The N-isotopic composition in nitrate was analyzed by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) using the denitrifier method. Ammonium N isotope ratios were determined using the “hypobromite oxidation” method, in which ammonium-N is converted to nitrite followed by azide reaction to nitrous oxide and IRMS analysis. The results will be comprehensively evaluated in a quantitative context using the modelling approach of Müller et al. (2007) to determine the size of six N pools and the rates of nine N transformations. Links between N transformation rates, N-pool size and plant species richness will be verified with the help of ANOVA

FACTORS AFFECTING METFORMIN AND CLOMIPHENE’S REPRODUCTIVE EFFICACY IN PCOS WOMEN

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous multifactorial disorder in which the ovarian dysfunction is the main cause of an ovulatory infertility. Metformin and Clomiphene Citrate (CC) are two effective drugs to induce ovulation in these patients. The study aimed to ascertain the effect of obesity, serum insulin and free testosterone levels on fertility success with metformin and CC as first line approaches in PCOS. This clinical study was a retrospective multicenter cohort study conducted in nine gynecology and endocrinology clinics. It included (61) PCOS women, aged (18-32) years, having desire to conceive, and free from the study medications for more than six months. Patients were divided to metformin receiving and CC receiving groups. Main outcomes of measure were; pregnancy rate, and improvement in PCOS as detected by ultrasound on their second visit. Results showed that CC was more effective in non-obese users (P0.05). Overall improvement was affected by Serum Free Testosterone (SFT) in both study groups (P\u3e0.05). Metformin was effective regardless of patient’s SFT levels, while CC was effective in patients with high SFT levels. There was a significant association between obesity and pregnancy rate in metformin users (P0.05). However, CC was less effective than metformin in overall improvement (OR=0.53, P\u3e0.05,) suggesting metformin as the possible drug of choice regardless to obesity, serum insulin and SFT levels

Actividad antibacteriana de quince antibióticos frente a enterobacterias aisladas en otitis externas caninas crónicas

Hemos estudiado la sensibilidad a quince antimicrobianos de las enterobacterias aisladas en otitis externas caninas crónicas. Se analizaron 20 cepas: 10 Proteus mirabilis, 9 Eseheriehia coli y 1 Klebsiella oxytoca. Se observaron diferencias en sensibilidad en función del género. Todas las cepas de enterobacterias fueron sensibles a ceftazidima, cefoxitina, gentamicina y netilmicina. Todas las cepas de Proteus mirabilis fueron sensibles además a amikacina, cefotaxima, piperacilina, ticarcilina, ciprofloxacina, enrofloxacina y marbofloxacina. En el caso de E. coli, todas las cepas fueron sensibles a tobramicina, además de a los 4 antibióticos descritos para el totaí de entero bacterias. La cepa de Klebsiella oxytoea fue sensible a 13 de los antibióticos estudiados, presentando una sensibilidad intermedia a piperacilina y siendo resistente a ticarcilina. Se realizaron encuestas alos veterinarios clínicos sobre los tratamientos que utilizaban para comparar nuestros resultados con la práctica clínica. Nuestros resultados apoyan la importancia de los ensayos de sensibilidad a antimicrobianos en las infeccionesen animales y sugieren que la gentamicina podría ser, en nuestra área, el antibiótico de elección para otitisexternas caninas crónicas causadas por enterobacterias