Potential effects on Rhipicephalus microplus tick larvae fed on calves immunized with a Subolesin peptide predicted by epitope analysis.

The cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus economically impacts cattle production in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The recombinant R. microplus Subolesin antigen has been shown to protect cattle against tick infestations. In this study, we searched in silico protective epitopes in the subolesin gene and a recombinant peptide containing the predicted epitopes was expressed, and evaluated against a tick challenge. Two different epitope types, linear B-cells and conformational discontinuous epitopes, were predicted using bioinformatics strategies, in order to synthesize the recombinant peptide. Two Eightmonth-old calves European crossbred were immunized with two subcutaneous doses of the subolesin recombinant peptide, emulsified with Montanide ISA 50 V as an adjuvant, at 30-day intervals. The tick challenge was conducted with 5 000 R. microplus larvae/animal. ELISA test was used to evaluate the IgG immune response elicited against the peptide. After tick challenge, reduction in the number of engorged females (79%), and reduction in egg hatching (30%) was observed in tick population fed on immunized calves with regards to an untreated control group. The results showed a potential higher effect on tick reproduction for the recombinant peptide compared to other studies reported with Subolesin protein, demonstrating that the use of bioinformatics strategies to predict protective epitopes may lead to improve the immune response elicited against tick recombinant peptides and therefore to prevent cattle tick infestations.

Traqueotomía percutánea asistida con fibrobroncoscopio a través del dispositivo supraglótico I-gel / No disponible

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Polymorphisms of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor gene promoters and cardiorespiratory function following liver transplantation: a preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: The interindividual variability in cardiorespiratory function during liver transplantation (OLT) has been attributed to various factors, including polymorphisms in immunity genes known to affect the circulation levels of cytokines. AIM: To evaluate polymorphisms of genes encoding for interleukin-6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in association with cardiorespiratory function in OLT. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 62 consecutive patients who had OLT performed in our hospital between 2004 and 2005. Polymorphisms at positions -308 and -409 of TNF gene, as well as those at -174 and -574 of IL6 gene were determined in all patients by means of PCR-RFLPs. Associations were carried out using chi-square tests and analysis of variance. A bilateral P < .05 was accepted as significant. RESULTS: No statistically significant associations were observed. CONCLUSIONS: A relationship between the polymorphisms studied and respiratory function in OLT was lacking. These results must be interpreted with caution due to the limited sample size.

Roles played by esterase activity and by a sodium channel mutation involved in pyrethroid resistance in populations of Boophilus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from Yucatan, Mexico.

Pyrethroid resistance in Boophilus microplus (Canestrini) (Acari: Ixodidae) was studied by correlating discriminating-dose (DD) bioassay results and esterase activity or the frequency of a sodium channel mutation known to be involved in pyrethroid resistance in nine field strains of B. microplus from Yucatan, Mexico. Two tick strains (P67 and B74) were identified as susceptible to cypermethrin, deltamethrin, and flumethrin by DD, one strain (P65) was susceptible to cypermethrin and resistant to deltamethrin and flumethrin, and six strains were resistant to cypermethrin, delta-methrin, and flumethrin (T11, M10, C54, R49, B71, and T66). By using polymerase chain reaction, only 6.0 and 6.2% of resistance allele (R) was found in the susceptible strains (P67 and B74, respectively). In the T66 strain, with 100% of larval survival to the DD of pyrethroids as measured by the larval packet test (LPT), 98.0% of the gene pool contained the R allele. Positive correlations between the larval survival and the percentage of the R allele were found (deltamethrin r2 = 0.8875, P < 0.01; cypermethrin r2 = 0.8563, P < 0.01; and flumethrin r2 = 0.8491, P < 0.01). There were no significant correlations between the level of larval survival and esterase-based hydrolytic activity. It was concluded that within the B. microplus populations studied, resistance to flumethrin, deltamethrin, or cypermethrin was because of the novel sodium channel mutation (Phe-->Ile amino acid substitution in the S6 transmembrane segment of domain III), and there was a correlation between tick mortality by pyrethroid exposure (larval survival) and the presence of R allele. It was not determined whether enhanced esterase-based hydrolytic activity was involved in pyrethroid resistance in the populations tested.

Embolismo en bifurcación ilíaca secundario a mixoma auricular / Iliac bifurcation embolism secondary to an atrial myxoma

Una paciente de 63 años presentó un cuadro de isquemia aguda bilateral de miembros inferiores. Tras la embolectomía se practicó una ecocardiografía transtorácica donde se apreció una tumoración en la aurícula izquierda. El cuadro clínico se complicó por la instauración de un síndrome compartimental de extremidades inferiores, que requirió la realización de una fasciotomía descompresiva. Finalmente la tumoración auricular fue extirpada resultando ser un mixoma cardíaco. El mixoma auricular es el tumor cardíaco benigno más frecuente y que puede ocasionar clínica sistémica, cardíaca y embólica. Entre las técnicas diagnósticas utilizadas, la ecocardiografía transtorácica es la más importante, pudiéndose usar para los tumores más pequeños la ecocardiografía transesofágica. Estas técnicas también pueden emplearse durante la intervención quirúrgica, sobre todo en los casos en los que la evaluación preoperatoria ha dejado dudas en lo referente a la localización del tumor. Defendemos también el empleo temprano, ante un embolismo arterial periférico, de la ecocardiografía transtorácica para localizar un foco cardíaco como origen del cuadro clínico (AU)

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[Embolism at the iliac bifurcation secondary to an atrial myxoma]. / Embolismo en bifurcación ilíaca secundario a mixoma auricular.

A 73-year-old woman presented a clinical picture of bilateral acute ischemia of the lower limbs. After embolectomy, transthoracic echocardiography revealed left atrial tumor. The picture was complicated by the onset of compartment syndrome in the lower extremities requiring decompressive fasciotomy. The excised atrial tumor proved to be a cardiac myxoma. Atrial myxoma, the most common benign cardiac tumor, leads to systemic, cardiac and embolic sequelae. Transthoracic echocardiography is the main diagnostic technique available, proving more useful than transesophageal echocardiography for small tumors. Such techniques can also be used during surgery, particularly in cases where preoperative assessment has left doubts about tumor location. We also argue in favor of early use of transesophageal echocardiography when peripheral arterial embolism is the diagnosis, in order to locate a cardiac focus as the cause of the clinical picture.