Advances in diagnosis of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock and companion animals.

Diagnosis of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock and companion animals has been neglected for years and there has been an historical underinvestment in the development and improvement of diagnostic tools, undermining the undoubted utility of surveillance and control programmes. However, a new impetus by the scientific community and the quickening pace of technological innovations, are promoting a renaissance of interest in developing diagnostic capacity for nematode infections in veterinary parasitology. A cross-cutting priority for diagnostic tools is the development of pen-side tests and associated decision support tools that rapidly inform on the levels of infection and morbidity. This includes development of scalable, parasite detection using artificial intelligence for automated counting of parasitic elements and research towards establishing biomarkers using innovative molecular and proteomic methods. The aim of this review is to assess the state-of-the-art in the diagnosis of helminth infections in livestock and companion animals and presents the current advances of diagnostic methods for intestinal parasites harnessing (i) automated methods for copromicroscopy based on artificial intelligence, (ii) immunodiagnosis, and (iii) molecular- and proteome-based approaches. Regardless of the method used, multiple factors need to be considered before diagnostics test results can be interpreted in terms of control decisions. Guidelines on how to apply diagnostics and how to interpret test results in different animal species are increasingly requested and some were recently made available in veterinary parasitology for the different domestic species.

Local microarchitecture affects mechanical properties of deposited extracellular matrix for osteonal regeneration.

Multiple biomimetic approaches have been attempted to accelerate the regeneration of functional bone tissue. While most synthetic scaffolds are designed to mimic the architecture of trabecular bone, in the current study, cortical bone-like extracellular matrix was regenerated in vitro within organized structures. Biphasic calcium phosphate (BCaP) and hydroxyapatite (HAp) scaffolds were developed with longitudinal microchannels (250 µm diameter) that resembled native osteons in cortical bone. BCaP and HAp scaffolds had a compressive strength of 7.61±1.42 and 9.98±0.61 MPa respectively. The constructs were investigated in vitro to evaluate the organization and stiffness of the extracellular matrix (ECM) formed by human fetal osteoblasts (HFObs) cultured inside the microchannels. The ECM deposited on the BCaP scaffolds was found to have a higher micro-hardness (h) (1.93±0.40 GPa) than the ECM formed within the HAp microchannels (h=0.80±0.20 GPa) (p<0.05) or native bone (h=0.47-0.74 GPa). ECM deposition within the microchannels resembled osteoid organization and showed a significant increase in both osteoid area and thickness after 24 days (p<0.001). These observations indicate that controlled microarchitecture, specifically cylindrical microchannels, plays a fundamental role in stimulating the appropriate cellular response aimed at recreating organized, cortical bone-like matrix. These findings open the door for researchers to develop a new generation of cortical bone scaffolds that can restore strong, organized bone.

A comparative analysis of chromosome pairing at metaphase I in interspecific hybrids between durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) and the most widespread Aegilops species.

Homoeologous metaphase I (MI) associations in hybrids between durum wheat and its wild allotetraploid relatives Aegilops neglecta, Ae. triuncialis and Ae. ventricosa have been characterized by a genomic in situ hybridization procedure that allows simultaneous discrimination of A, B and wild species genomes. Earlier results in equivalent hybrids with the wild species Ae. cylindrica and Ae. geniculata have also been considered to comparatively assay the MI pairing pattern of the durum wheat x Aegilops interspecific combinations more likely to occur in nature. The general picture can be drawn as follows. A and B wheat genomes pair with each other less than the 2 wild constituent genomes do in any of the hybrid combinations examined. Interspecific wheat-wild associations account for 60-70% of total MI pairing in all hybrids, except in that derived from Ae. triuncialis, but the A genome is always the wheat partner most frequently involved in MI pairing with the wild homoeologues. Hybrids with Ae. cylindrica, Ae. geniculata and Ae. ventricosa showed similar reduced levels of MI association and virtually identical MI pairing patterns. However, certain recurrent differences were found when the pattern of homoeologous pairing of hybrids from either Ae. triuncialis or Ae. neglecta was contrasted to that observed in the other durum wheat hybrid combinations. In the former case, a remarkable preferential pairing between the wild species constituent genomes U(t) and C(t) seems to be the reason, whereas a general promotion of homoeologous pairing, qualitatively similar to that observed under the effect of the ph1c mutation, appears to occur in the hybrid with Ae. neglecta. It is further discussed whether the results reported here can be extrapolated to the corresponding bread wheat hybrid combinations.

Trombosis venosa profunda del miembro superior en un paciente con cetoacidosis diabética / Deep venous thrombosis of the upper limb in a patient with diabetic acidosis

La Trombosis Venosa de Miembros Superiores (TVP – Ms Ss) profunda es una enfermedad poco frecuente y de difícil diagnóstico. Sin historia de esfuerzo físico de miembros superiores, las trombofilias suelen ser la condición más frecuentemente relacionada. La cetoacidosis diabética puede tener relación con la TVP por varias razones. Se presenta un caso de un hombre de 26 años con cetoacidosis diabética e infección respiratoria baja; tenía instalado un catéter venoso central y presentó una TVP en miembro superior derecho

Deep Vein Thrombosis of upper limbs is not common and sometimes, of difficult diagnosis. Risk factors, in absence of physical strain include thrombophylia, as is found in diabetic ketoacidosis . We present a 26 year-old man who was admitted with diabetic acidosis and a lower respiratory infection. A central vein catheter was installed and TVP of right upper limb was diagnosed and treated

A study of alternative metal particle structures and mixtures for dental amalgams based on mercury additions.

The perception that mercury in dental amalgam is toxic to the human organism has prompted worldwide efforts by the scientific community to develop alternative amalgam-like materials that utilize little or no mercury. In this investigation, an attempt is made to develop a new dental alloy system by adding liquid mercury to silver-coated Ag4Sn intermetallic particles in lesser amounts than are used in conventional amalgam alloys. An effort to precipitate the important eta-prime (Cu6Sn5) phase was made by adding pure Cu and Sn powders to the alloy formulation during trituration. Tytin a popular Ag-Sn-Cu single-composition, spray-atomized conventional dental alloy was used as the control to obtain baseline data for comparisons of microstructures and mechanical properties. Amalgamation of the coated particles with mercury, with or without the addition of Cu and Sn powders, mostly produced specimens with chemically non-coherent microstructures that were relatively weak in compression. These results were due, in part, to mercury's inability to chemically wet the Ag-coated particles and Cu and Sn powders because of naturally occurring surface oxide films. The strongest specimens tested had silver dendritic coatings, resulting in compression strength values up to 40% of the control's. Their higher strength is attributed to mechanical interlocking at the particle/matrix interfaces.

Surgical experience with 168 primary liver cell carcinomas treated with hepatic resection.

Liver resections were performed in 168 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) over the past 10 years; 116 were cirrhotics. Operative mortality was 7.7% (8.6% in the cirrhotic group and 5.8% in non-cirrhotics). In the years 1987-1992 the operative mortality decreased from 15.6% to 4.9% (P < .05). A statistical analysis of survival was made with the data of 155 patients with a follow-up of more than 1 month after curative resection: 56 (36.1%) died, while 99 (63.8%) are currently alive, with a follow-up varying from 2 to 76 months. The actuarial survival rate is 56.7% after 3 years and 36.3% after 5 years (59% and 35.2% for cirrhotics; 52.2% and 37.7% for non-cirrhotics, respectively). Satisfactory results can be obtained after liver resections in HCC, even in the presence of cirrhosis. Further efforts are needed in the early diagnosis of HCC, to prevent the formation of satellite nodules and the intrahepatic tumoral spread, which represent the major cause of exclusion from surgical therapy.

Transabdominal radical nephrectomy in ninety-one consecutive patients with Wilms' tumor.

Ninety-one children that were subjected to transabdominal radical nephrectomy are reviewed. The patients' ages ranged from 20 days to 10 years. Forty cases had a right side tumor and 44 a left side tumor; bilateral tumor incidence was 7.70% (7 cases). The tumor weight incidence was 75% for greater than or equal to 500 g and 37.5% for greater than or equal to 1,000 g. Incidence of local extension of the disease was 21.98%. Intraoperative complications were 12 ruptures of the kidney capsule, 1 laceration of the cecum, 1 opening of the pleura, 1 section of the superior mesenteric artery, and 1 section of the right common iliac artery. The mortality rate in unilateral surgery, because of intraoperative massive hemorrhage, was 3/83 (3.61%). One patient with bilateral tumor died because of acute renal insufficiency and sepsis. One patient with caval thrombus which extended up to the right atrium died because of intraoperative massive pulmonary embolism.