Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a common retinal neovascular disorder of premature infants. It is of variable severity, usually heals with mild or no sequelae, but may progress to blindness from ...retinal detachments or severe retinal scar formation. This is a preliminary report of the effectiveness and safety of a new and original use of topical ketorolac in preterm newborn to prevent the progression of ROP to the more severe forms of this disease.
From January 2001 to December 2002, all fifty nine preterm newborns with birthweight less than 1250 grams or gestational age less than 30 weeks of gestational age admitted to neonatal intensive care were eligible for treatment with topical ketorolac (0.25 milligrams every 8 hours in each eye). The historical comparison group included all 53 preterm newborns, with the same inclusion criteria, admitted between January 1999 and December 2000.
Groups were comparable in terms of weight distribution, Apgar score at 5 minutes, incidence of sepsis, intraventricular hemorrhage and necrotizing enterocolitis. The duration of oxygen therapy was significantly longer in the control group. In the ketorolac group, among 43 children that were alive at discharge, one (2.3%) developed threshold ROP and cryotherapy was necessary. In the comparison group 35 children survived, and six child (17%) needed cryotherapy (Relative Risk 0.14, 95%CI 0.00 to 0.80, p = 0.041). Adjusting by duration of oxygen therapy did not significantly change these results. Adverse effects attributable to ketorolac were not detected.
This preliminary report suggests that ketorolac in the form of an ophthalmic solution can reduce the risk of developing severe ROP in very preterm newborns, without producing significant adverse side effects. These results, although promising, should be interpreted with caution because of the weakness of the study design. This is an inexpensive and simple intervention that might ameliorate the progression of a disease with devastating consequences for children and their families. We believe that next logical step would be to assess the effectiveness of this intervention in a randomized controlled trial of adequate sample size.
There is a paucity of knowledge on the long-term outcome in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. We describe a cohort of patients with a constellation of symptoms occurring four weeks after diagnosis ...causing different degrees of reduced functional capacity. Although different hypothesis have been proposed to explain this condition like persistent immune activation or immunological dysfunction, to date, no physiopathological mechanism has been identified. Consequently, there are no therapeutic options besides symptomatic treatment and rehabilitation.
We evaluated patients with symptoms that persisted for at least 4 weeks after COVID-19. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected. Blood tests, including inflammatory markers, were conducted, and imaging studies made if deemed necessary. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in plasma, stool, and urine were performed. Patients were offered antiviral treatment (compassionate use).
We evaluated 29 patients who reported fatigue, muscle pain, dyspnea, inappropriate tachycardia, and low-grade fever. Median number of days from COVID-19 to positive RT-PCR in extra-respiratory samples was 55 (39-67). Previous COVID-19 was mild in 55% of the cases. Thirteen patients (45%) had positive plasma RT-PCR results and 51% were positive in at least one RT-PCR sample (plasma, urine, or stool). Functional status was severely reduced in 48% of the subjects. Eighteen patients (62%) received antiviral treatment. Improvement was seen in most patients (p = 0.000) and patients in the treatment group achieved better outcomes with significant differences (p = 0.01).
In a cohort of COVID-19 patients with persistent symptoms, 45% of them have detectable plasma SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Our results indicate possible systemic viral persistence in these patients, who may benefit of antiviral treatment strategies.
El aseguramiento surge en un contexto de cambios en la contabilidad y la auditoría. Tambiénemerge ante la pérdida de legitimidad tanto de la profesión como del ejercicio de evaluación de la ...información financiera. Por ello es importante preguntarse: ¿cómo ha evolucionado históricamente la auditoría y qué argumentos teóricos se han usado para explicar su función y transformación? Este artículo tiene como objetivo comprender y sistematizar la evolución histórica y algunas de las fuentes teóricas sobre el papel de la auditoría y el aseguramiento. Retomando el método arqueológico planteado por Foucault (1977), este trabajo sistematiza la evolución histórica de la auditoría e integra y evalúa las fuentes teóricas más representativas sobre su función, para bosquejar algunas de las condiciones de posibilidad que impulsan su transformación y expansión a campos como la auditoría social y ambiental y el aseguramiento.
Protein homeostasis, proteostasis, is essential to understand cell function. Protein degradation is a crucial component of the proteostatic mechanisms of the cell. Experiments on protein degradation ...are nowadays present in many investigations in the field of molecular and cell biology. In the present paper, we focus on the different experimental approaches to study protein degradation and present a critical appraisal of the results derived from steady-state and kinetic experiments using detection of unlabelled and labelled protein methodologies with a proteostatic perspective. This perspective allows pinpointing the limitations in interpretation of results and the need of further experiments and/or controls to establish “definitive evidence” for the role of protein degradation in the proteostasis of a given protein or the entire proteome. We also provide a spreadsheet for simple calculations of mRNA and protein decays for mimicking different experimental conditions and a checklist for the analysis of experiments dealing with protein degradation studies that may be useful for researchers interested in the area of protein turnover.
In recent years, the concern derived from the presence of emerging contaminants in the environment and the possible effects on the One Health trilogy has increased. This study determined the ...concentration of pharmaceutical contaminants of emerging concern and their relationship with the extracellular enzymatic activity of microbial communities from two rivers in western Cuba. Two sampling stations were analyzed; one in the Almendares River (urban) and the other in the San Juan River (rural), taking into account the pollution sources that arrive at these stations and previous physicochemical characterizations. Extracellular protease, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lipase, and catalase activities in water and sediments were determined and correlated with contaminants of emerging concern determined by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. This study evidenced the presence of different pharmaceutical contaminants found in the categories of antihypertensives, stimulants, anti-inflammatories, and antibiotics in both rivers. Concentrations of contaminants of emerging concern were greater in the Almendares River compared to the San Juan River. In addition, through the canonical redundancy analysis, the influence of these contaminants on the extracellular enzymatic activities of microbial communities was documented, where in most cases they inhibit protease, phosphatase, and lipase activities and enhance catalase activity in response to oxidative stress. The present investigation constitutes the first report in Cuba of the presence of pharmaceutical contaminants of emerging concern and one of the few works that exist in the Latin American region.
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•First determination of pharmaceutical emerging contaminants in Cuban rivers.•Antihypertensives, stimulants, antiinflammatories and antibiotics where detected.•Contaminants of emerging concern inhibit protease, phosphatases and lipase activity.•Contaminants of emerging concern enhance catalase activity.
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Este trabajo analiza la movilidad social en Tucuman durante el periodo 1869-1895, utilizando una metodología que permite comparar niveles de vida de individuos en dos etapas diferentes del ciclo de vida. Los resultados sugieren la presencia de movilidad pero de una magnitud considerablemente menor a la que retratan las visiones impresionistas de estadistas y viajeros de la época y a la sugerida por la historiografía para el caso del Litoral. Creemos que a pesar del gran crecimiento económico experimentado por la provincia a fines del siglo XIX, la mayor presencia de rasgos tradicionales en relación con los modernos, en el espacio provincial, podría haber moderado los beneficios de este proceso. Tanto la singular distribución de las variables educativas como las particularidades de la migración recibida por la provincia constituyen algunos elementos de este rezago.
RESUMEN El color del órgano dental viene determinado desde el nacimiento, estando determinado por la tonalidad de la dentina aunada a la transparencia y capacidad de refracción de la luz del esmalte. ...Las descoloraciones den tales son un cambio en el tono, chroma, valor o en la translucidez del diente, puesto que el tejido adamantino es permeable, poco a poco se va tiñendo a causa de diferentes factores externos como pueden ser pigmentos (cromóforos) contenidos en alimentos o bebidas como los tomates, zanahorias, café, té o infusiones varias, que tienden adherirse a los tejidos orgánicos que ocupan los espacios interprismáticos mediante unión química a sus grupos hidroxilo y amino. Además la unión entre estas sustancias pigmentadas y los iones calcio forma nuevas moléculas que varían en tamaño y efecto óptico. Por otro lado numerosos estudios confirman que el tabaco es otro de los factores que alteran el color natural de los dientes, ya sea en cigarrillo, puros, pipa y aún no existe suficiente evidencia sobre el vapor de tabaco. El mecanismo de acción para la decoloración por el tabaco es similar al de los alimentos, salvo que en estos casos se trata de la nicotina, el grupo de alquitranes y el furufral, los cuales se depositan en la superficie dental o incluso llegan a penetrar en los túbulos dentinarios, siendo muy difícil su eliminación. Este tipo de decoloraciones se denominan extrínsecas. Técnicas de blanqueamiento en diferentes formas de aplicación, tiempo, compuestos y su concentración, han demostrado ser suficientes, aunque sin una suficiente evidencia clara y concisa, como vía de mejora del color del diente y lo que esto acarrea.
It is well established that proteins and peptides can release sulfur under alkaline treatment, mainly through the β-elimination of disulfides with the concomitant formation of persulfides and ...dehydroalanine derivatives. In this study, we evaluated the formation of glutathione persulfide (GSSH/GSS-) by exposure of glutathione disulfide (GSSG) to alkaline conditions. The kinetics of the reaction between GSSG and HO- was investigated by UV–Vis absorbance, reaction with 5,5′-dithio-bis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB), and cold cyanolysis, obtaining an apparent second-order rate constant of ∼10-3 M-1 s-1 at 25 °C. The formation of GSSH and the dehydroalanine derivative was confirmed by HPLC and/or mass spectrometry. However, the mixtures did not equilibrate in a timescale of hours, and additional species, including thiol and diverse sulfane sulfur compounds were also formed, probably through further reactions of the persulfide. Cold cyanolysis is frequently used to quantify persulfides, since it measures sulfane sulfur. This method involves a step in which the sample to be analyzed is incubated with cyanide at alkaline pH. When cold cyanolysis was applied to samples containing GSSG, sulfane sulfur products that were not present in the original sample were measured. Thus, our results reveal the risk of overestimating the amount of sulfane sulfur compounds in samples that contain disulfides due to their decay to persulfides and other sulfane sulfur compounds at alkaline pH. Overall, our study highlights that the β-elimination of disulfides is a potential source of persulfides, although we do not recommend the preparation of GSSH from incubation of GSSG in alkali. Our study also highlights the importance of being cautious when doing and interpreting cold cyanolysis experiments.
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•Glutathione disulfide and HO- form persulfide and dehydroalanine derivatives.•They react by a β-elimination mechanism with a rate constant of ∼10-3 M-1 s-1.•Additional species formed include thiol and diverse sulfane sulfur compounds.•We do not recommend preparing persulfides by incubating disulfides in alkali.•Overestimations in cold cyanolysis can occur when the samples contain disulfides.
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