Carbohydrate antigen 125 predicts pulmonary congestion in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) has long been used as an ovarian cancer biomarker. However, because it is not specific for ovarian cells, CA125 could also be used to monitor congestion and inflammation in heart disease. Acute heart failure (HF) is used to identify patients with a worse prognosis in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We aimed to determine the association of CA125 with acute HF in STEMI and to compare CA125 with N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) with a cross-sectional study. At admission, patients were examined to define Killip class and then underwent coronary angioplasty. Blood samples, preferably taken in the hemodynamic ward, were centrifuged (1500 g for 15 min at ambient temperature) and stored at −80°C until biomarker assays were performed. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of congestion. Patients in Killip class ≥II were in the congestion group and those with Killip <II in the absence of congestion group. We evaluated 231 patients. The mean age was 63.3 years. HF at admission was identified in 17.7% of patients. CA125 and NTproBNP levels were higher in patients with Killip class ≥II than those with Killip class <II (8.03 vs 9.17, P=0.016 and 772.45 vs 1925, P=0.007, respectively). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.60 (95%CI 0.53−0.66, P=0.024) for CA125 and 0.63 (95%CI 0.56−0.69, P=0.001) for NTproBNP. There was no statistical difference between the curves (P=0.69). CA125 has similar use to NTproBNP in identifying acute HF in patients presenting with STEMI.

Calidad de vida en pacientes con enfermedad cardiovascular: análisis de trayectorias por sexo y síntomas depresivos / Quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease: trajectory analysis by sex and depression symptoms

OBJETIVOS:evaluar la trayectoria de la Calidad de Vida (CV) en pacientes con enfermedad cardiovascular (ECV), analizando la influencia que tienen el sexo y la depresión. METODOLOGIA:i se tomó una muestra de 100 pacientes con la enfermedad y se les aplicó el sf36 durante su hospitalización y cada seis meses durante dos años. Mediante análisis multinivel, se evaluó la trayectoria de la CV de estos pacientes y se analizó la influencia de la depresión, medida con el Cuestionario de salud del Paciente (PHQ-9) y el sexo, en el componente físico de la calidad de vida. RESULTADOS el componente físico de la CV tiende a mejorar en los pacientes con ECV a lo largo del tiempo, en el cual los hombres presentan mayores niveles que las mujeres. Los síntomas depresivos se asocian con menores puntuaciones en el momento del evento cardíaco, pero también afectan la trayectoria, produciendo un declive significativo en este componente, en comparación con los pacientes sin depresión. CONCLUSION la CV de los pacientes con ECV tiende a mejorar en los meses posteriores al evento cardíaco para luego estabilizarse. Esta trayectoria tiende al declive en pacientes depresivos y presenta diferencias por sexos, en la cual las mujeres presentan menores niveles de CV.

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate Quality of Life (QOL) trajectory in Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) patients by analyzing the influence of variables such as gender and depression. METHODOLOGY the sf-36 was administered to a sample of 100 CHD inpatients. Additionally, the same instrument was administered to them every 6 months for two years following hospital discharge. Multilevel analyses were used to analyze the QOL trajectory of these patients. Similarly, the influence of depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and patient sex was included in the physical component of the QOL. RESULTS : the physical component of the QOL of CHD patients tended to improve overtime, with men showing higher scores than women. Moreover, depression symptoms were associated with lower scores at the moment of the cardiac event, but they also affected trajectory by producing a significant decline in this component in comparison to patients without depression. CONCLUSION: the QOL of patients with CHD had a tendency improve and stabilize itself some months after the cardiac event. This trajectory tends to decline for depressed patients and is different for each sex, since women had lower levels of QOL.

Estudo experimental da resposta imune na vacinaçäo anti-rábica / Experimental study of immune responses in rabies vaccination

Este trabalho teve o objetivo de estudar a resposta imune, humoral e celular, em coelhos vacinados contra raiva, em esquema de sete doses consecutivas e dois reforços. A avaliaçäo da resposta imune humoral foi feita através da prova de soroneutralizaçäo e a resposta imune celular através da reaçäo intradérmica

Tumores intracavitarios del corazón / Intracavitary tumors of the heart

Se analizaron los cuadros clínicos y los signos ecocardiográficos de los 12 casos con tumores intracavitarios del corazón, estudiados en el Laboratorio de Ecocardiografía del Hospital de Clínicas en los últimos 10 años. Sobre la base de su localización se describieron los hallazgos y se confrontaron con los de la literatura mundial. Finalmente se puso énfasis en la contribución del ecocardiograma para su diagnóstico, pronóstico y conducta terapéutica