[Use of methylphenidate in palliative patients with asthenia: a review]. / Revisión sobre el uso del metilfenidato para el tratamiento de la astenia en pacientes paliativos.

Asthenia (or fatigue) is one of the most common symptoms in palliative patients. Methylphenidate is currently being assessed for treating this condition. A review of related literature published to date was performed, revealing methylphenidate to be a safe drug which could decrease fatigue in palliative patients with a tolerable side-effects profile.

Revisión sobre el uso del metilfenidato para el tratamiento de la astenia en pacientes paliativos / Use of methylphenidate in palliative patients with asthenia: a review

La astenia o fatiga es uno de los síntomas más frecuentes en el paciente paliativo. Uno de los tratamientos, actualmente en evaluación, para combatir la misma es el metilfenidato. Este hecho, nos llevó a realizar una revisión de la bibliografía publicada hasta la fecha sobre su manejo, hallando al metilfenidato como un fármaco seguro que, globalmente, puede reducir la fatiga en el paciente paliativo, con un perfil de efectos secundarios tolerable (AU)

Asthenia (or fatigue) is one of the most common symptoms in palliative patients. Methylphenidate is currently being assessed for treating this condition. A review of related literature published to date was performed, revealing methylphenidate to be a safe drug which could decrease fatigue in palliative patients with a tolerable side-effects profile (AU)

Cellulose nanocrystals/polyurethane nanocomposites. Study from the viewpoint of microphase separated structure.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) successfully obtained from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were dispersed in a thermoplastic polyurethane as matrix. Nanocomposites containing 1.5, 5, 10 and 30 wt% CNC were prepared by solvent casting procedure and properties of the resulting films were evaluated from the viewpoint of polyurethane microphase separated structure, soft and hard domains. CNC were effectively dispersed in the segmented thermoplastic elastomeric polyurethane (STPUE) matrix due to the favorable matrix-nanocrystals interactions through hydrogen bonding. Cellulose nanocrystals interacted with both soft and hard segments, enhancing stiffness and stability versus temperature of the nanocomposites. Thermal and mechanical properties of STPUE/CNC nanocomposites have been associated to the generated morphologies investigated by AFM images.

Cellular organization and appearance of differentiated structures in developing stages of the parasitic platyhelminth Echinococcus granulosus.

Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of hydatidosis, a major zoonoses that affects humans and herbivorous domestic animals. The disease is caused by the pressure exerted on viscera by hydatid cysts that are formed upon ingestion of E. granulosus eggs excreted by canine. Protoscoleces, larval forms infective to canine, develop asynchronously and clonally from the germinal layer (GL) of hydatid cysts. In this report, we describe the cellular organization and the appearance of differentiated structures both in nascent buds and developed protoscoleces attached to the GL. Early protoscolex morphogenesis is a highly complex and dynamic process starting from the constitution of a foramen in the early bud, around which nuclei are distributed mainly at the lateral and apical regions. Similarly, distribution of nuclei in mature protoscoleces is not homogenous but underlies three cellular territories: the suckers, the rostellar pad, and the body, that surrounds the foramen. Several nuclei are associated to calcareous corpuscles (Cc), differentiated structures that are absent in the earlier bud stages. The number of nuclei is similar from the grown, elongated bud stage to the mature protoscolex attached to the GL, strongly suggesting that there is no significant cellular proliferation during final protoscolex development. The amount of DNA per nucleus is in the same range to the one described for most other platyhelminthes. Our results point to a sequential series of events involving cell proliferation, spatial cell organization, and differentiation, starting in early buds at the GL of fertile hydatid cysts leading to mature protoscoleces infective to canine.

Inhibition of gene expression in Entamoeba histolytica with antisense peptide nucleic acid oligomers.

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) may be a potent tool for gene function studies in medically important parasitic organisms, especially those that have not before been accessible to molecular genetic knockout approaches. One such organism is Entamoeba histolytica, the causative agent of amebiasis, which infects about 500 million people and is the cause of clinical disease in over 40 million each year, mainly in the tropical and subtropical world. We used PNA antisense oligomers to inhibit expression of an episomally expressed gene (neomycin phosphorotransferase, NPT) and a chromosomal gene (EhErd2, a homolog of Erd2, a marker of the Golgi system in eukaryotic cells) in axenically cultured trophozoites of E. histolytica. Measurement of NPT enzyme activity and EhErd2 protein levels, as well as measurement of cellular proliferation, revealed specific decreases in expression of the target genes, and concomitant inhibition of cell growth, in trophozoites treated with micromolar concentrations of unmodified antisense PNA oligomers.