Distrofia muscular de Duchenne, una causa infrecuente de miocardiopatía dilatada / Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare cause of dilated cardiomyopathy

Neuromuscular diseases represent a rare cause of dilated myocardiopathy, among them Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common. Transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging can assess cardiac involvement early. The case of a patient diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who develops cardiac involvement during cardiology follow-up is presented below.

Arabidopsis thaliana: A model host plant to study plant-pathogen interaction using Chilean field isolates of Botrytis cinerea

One of the fungal pathogens that causes more agriculture damage is Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis is a constant threat to crops because the fungus infects a wide range of host species, both native and cultivated. Furthermore, Botrytis persists on plant debris in and on the soil. Some of the most serious diseases caused by Botrytis include gray mold on vegetables and fruits, such as grapes and strawberries. Botrytis also causes secondary soft rot of fruits and vegetables during storage, transit and at the market. In many plant-pathogen interactions, resistance often is associated with the deposition of callose, accumulation of autofluorescent compounds, the synthesis and accumulation of salicylic acid as well as pathogenesis-related proteins. Arabidopsis thaliana has been used as a plant model to study plant-pathogen interaction. The genome of Arabidopsis has been completely sequenced and this plant serves as a good genetic and molecular model. In this study, we demonstrate that Chilean field isolates infect Arabidopsis thaliana and that Arabidopsis subsequently activates several defense response mechanisms associated with a hypersensitive response. Furthermore, we propose that Arabidopsis may be used as a model host species to analyze the diversity associated with infectivity among populations of Botrytis cinerea field isolates...

Anatomía cuantitativa del ductus arteriosus. Período fetal humano(100-1 500g de peso somático) patrones de normalidad(I) / Quantitative anatomy of ductus arteriosus fetal human period (100-1500 g of somatic weight) pattern of normality

Se estudiaron 193 corazones humanos, pertenecientes a fetos cuyos pesos somáticos oscilaban desde 100 hasta 1 500 gramos inclusive, de los cuales 114 eran varones y 79 hembras; todos ellos fueron diagnosticaron de anatómicamente normales y con este material se ha estudiado la anatomía cuantitativa del ductus arteriosus. Se obtuvieron 4 parámetros cuyos patrones de normalidad en sus valores mínimos,medio y máximo son expuestos. La configuración anatomogeométrica de esta estructura es comparable con un tronco de cono. Los patrones han sido agrupados en intervalos de 100 gramos y son considerados de utilidad para establecer estudios comparativos con las medidas obtenidas por las técnicas ecocardiográficas actuales, que permiten poder realizar la cirugía fetal con grandes posibilidades de éxito.