Cell morphology impact on the set-up of electroporation protocols for in-suspension and adhered breast cancer cells.

In order to establish cancer-type-specific electroporation protocols for breast cancer, electroporation was performed in vitro in two modalities: in-suspension and adhered cells. Electroporation of cell suspensions was carried out through commercial electroporation cuvettes whereas a novel electrode for electroporation of adhered cells was designed and manufactured aimed to preserve cell structure, to provide a closer model to an in vivo scenario, and as a means to visualize the mechanical effects of electroporation on the cell membrane by using scanning electron microscopy. Electroporation protocols and electric field thresholds were predicted in silico and experimentally tuned through propidium iodide uptake and cell viability. Three breast-cancer cell lines (BT-20, MCF-7 and HCC1419) and a non-cancerous cell line (BEAS-2B) were used. Cancerous cells responded differently to electroporation depending on the electric parameters, cell histology, the cell culture modality, and the cell morphology (membrane thickness mainly), which was evaluated trough confocal and transmission electron microscopy. Particularly, it was found that electrochemotherapy may represent a promising alternative as an adjuvant treatment of metastatic breast tumours, and as a neoadjuvant therapy for Her2/neu tumours. Oppositely, triple negative breast tumours may show a high sensitivity to electroporation and therefore, they could be efficiently treated with irreversible electroporation. On the other hand, noncancerous cells demanded the highest voltage in both cell culture modalities in order to be electroporated. Hence, these cells in suspension may provide a reliable, easy-to-perform, low-cost model for the development of electroporation protocols for eradication of healthy tissue around a tumour in a safety margin.

Duplicate coverage and demand for health care. The case of Catalonia.

An individual has duplicate coverage when he enjoys a compulsory medical public insurance, and in addition he has purchased a private one. This paper studies the implications of duplicate coverage on both demand for visits to specialists and on the selection process of the private insurance market. Econometric models, estimated by the generalized method of moments, accommodate both the endogeneity of insurance choice decision and the non-negativity of the variable number of visits. The choice of instrumental variables is motivated within a theoretical model of demand for health care. The results shows that endogeneity is important for the subsample of heads of household, but not for the subsample of non-heads of household. For the subsample of non-heads of household, a positive effect of duplicate coverage on the number of visits to specialists is found. Health related variables, education and income are also important. Results are consistent with the idea that heads of household that buy private insurance are the ones with poor unobservable health conditions. It is argued that this last result is related to the existence of a compulsory public insurance.

[Excretion of uric aid, sodium, and potassium in preeclampsia patients and its behavior in acute hyperglycemia-hyperinsulinemia]. / Excreción de ácido úrico, sodio y potasio en la paciente con preeclampsia y su comportamiento ante un estado agudo de hiperglucemia-hiperinsulinemia.

The aim of the present research was to compare the uric acid, sodium and potassium excretions among patients with mild preeclampsia and normotensive pregnancy and to determine their behavior towards an acute physiologic state of hyperglycemia-hyperinsulinemia. It was carried out a cuasi-experimental study with parallel group in 25 patients with mild preeclampsia and in 25 patients with normotensive pregnancy all of them in the third trimester of gestation. The intervention consisted in administering an oral load of 50 grams of glucose in order to achieve a physiologic state of hyperglycemia-hyperinsulinemia. The seric levels of glucose, insulin, creatine, uric acid, sodium and potassium were measured, as well as the last four in urine before the oral load (with at least 6 hours fasting) and 60 minutes after the load, besides that, the urinary excretions of solutes were calculated with standard formulas. The urinary excretions of uric acid, sodium and potassium in fasting, and so after the oral glucose load were lower in the group of preeclampsia patients than in the normotensive gestation group. Upon analyzing the influence of a physiologic state of hyperglycemia-hyperinsulinemia, after the oral glucose load on determined solutes and their urinary excretion, we found that there was a significant decrease in the seric potassium level, without modifying its urinary excretion, as much as in the preeclampsia group as in the normotensive group. The seric uric acid and sodium levels diminished in the preeclampsia group and in normotensive group respectively, without modifying their urinary excretion. In conclusion, in the current study the urinary excretion of sodium, potassium and uric acid were lower in the preeclampsia patients than the women with normotensive pregnancy and a physiologic state of hyperglycemia-hyperinsulinemia didn't modify these excretions.

Quiste dermoide con imagem ultraecosonografica de embarazo ectopico.Presentacion de un caso. / Dermoid cyst with ultraechosonographic image of ectopic pregnancy. Report of a case

Se informa el caso clinico de una paciente con tumoracion ovarica (quiste dermoide), con imagem ultraecosonografica de embarazo ectopico. En la trompa contralateral existia un embarazo ectopico roto y organizado que no fue diagnosticado mediante el estudio ultraecosonografico. Este caso confirma una vez mas la importancia de la clinica y ubica perfectamente a la ultraecosonografia como auxiliar de diagnostico a la vez que demuestra el inconveniente de aceptar imagenes patognomonicas