scholarly journals HISTORIA NATURAL DE LA ESPONJA DISCODERMIA DISSOLUTA (PORIFERA: DEMOSPONGIAE: LITHISTIDA) EN SANTA MARTA, CARIBE COLOMBIANO

Author(s):  
César Augusto Ruiz ◽  
Sven Zea

The marine sponge Discodermia dissoluta is a source of the polyketide discodermolide, a potent antitumoral agent that has reached clinical trials in humans. In Santa Marta, where this species occurs at shallower depths than in other Caribbean areas, for the first time it was possible to study by SCUBA its ecological characteristics, distribution and abundance. By searching the base of the reefs (12-25 m in depth) it was found that this species is restricted to sites or bays with relatively low wave-exposure, dwelling predominantly in hard, horizontal to inclined substrata, generally exposed to light. Censuses carried out in 4 m-radius circles in sectors where this sponge occurs showed moderate densities (about 2-5 ind/50 m2) that, although not very low, do not support its commercial exploitation to obtain discodermolide. By locating individuals in the sampling space and using the point pattern distribution functions F, G and K, it was determined that individuals of D. dissoluta are aggregated in patches at scales from decimeters to a few meters. This pattern possibly arises from short-distance larval dispersal or fragmentation, both common in sponges. Size of censused individuals was estimated as projected area from digital photos, and expressed in volume by a regression calculated from the real volume of 30 collected individuals. In the population, small individuals (<50 mL) predominate, while several very large ones (reaching 2000 mL) persist, indicating high mortality in small and medium sizes. This population is viable for individual marking and follow-up studies and application of in situ and biotechnological cultures techniques in order to develop sustainable methods for production and supply of discodermolide.

Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danica W. Y. Liu ◽  
A. Kate Fairweather-Schmidt ◽  
Richard Burns ◽  
Rachel M. Roberts ◽  
Kaarin J. Anstey

Abstract. Background: Little is known about the role of resilience in the likelihood of suicidal ideation (SI) over time. Aims: We examined the association between resilience and SI in a young-adult cohort over 4 years. Our objectives were to determine whether resilience was associated with SI at follow-up or, conversely, whether SI was associated with lowered resilience at follow-up. Method: Participants were selected from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project from Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia, aged 28–32 years at the first time point and 32–36 at the second. Multinomial, linear, and binary regression analyses explored the association between resilience and SI over two time points. Models were adjusted for suicidality risk factors. Results: While unadjusted analyses identified associations between resilience and SI, these effects were fully explained by the inclusion of other suicidality risk factors. Conclusion: Despite strong cross-sectional associations, resilience and SI appear to be unrelated in a longitudinal context, once risk/resilience factors are controlled for. As independent indicators of psychological well-being, suicidality and resilience are essential if current status is to be captured. However, the addition of other factors (e.g., support, mastery) makes this association tenuous. Consequently, resilience per se may not be protective of SI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman Chowdhury ◽  
Rifat Zaman ◽  
Md Amanur Rasul ◽  
Akm Shahadat Hossain ◽  
Shafiqul Alam Chowdhury ◽  
...  

Introduction and objectives: Congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) is the most common cause of hydronephrosis. Management protocols are based on the presence of symptoms and when the patient is asymptomatic the function of the affected kidney determines the line of treatment. Percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) became a widely accepted procedure in children in the 1990s. The aim of the study was to evaluate the results of performing percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) in all patients with UPJO and split renal function (SRF) of less than 10% in the affected kidney, because the management of such cases is still under debate. Methods:This prospective clinical trial was carried out at Dhaka Medical College Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016. Eighteen consecutive patients who underwent PCN for the treatment of unilateral UPJO were evaluated prospectively. In these children, ultrasonography was used for puncture and catheter insertion. Local anesthesia with sedation or general anesthesia was used for puncture. Pig tail catheters were employed. The PCN remained in situ for at least 4 weeks, during which patients received low-dose cephalosporin prophylaxis. Repeat renography was done after 4 weeks. When there was no significant improvement in split renal function (10% or greater) and PCN drainage (greater than 200 ml per day) then nephrectomies were performed otherwise pyeloplasties were performed. The patients were followed up after pyeloplasty with renograms at 3 months and 6 months post operatively. Results: All the patients had severe hydronephrosis during diagnosis and 14 patients with unilateral UPJO were improved after PCN drainage and underwent pyeloplasty. The rest four patients that did not show improvement in the SRF and total volume of urine output underwent nephrectomy. In the patients with unilateral UPJO who improved after PCN drainage, the SRF was increased to 26.4% ±8.6% (mean± SD) after four weeks and pyeloplasty was performed. At three and six months follow-up, SRF value was 29.2% ±8.5% and 30.8.2% ±8.8% respectively. Conclusion: Before planning of nephrectomy in poorly functioning kidneys (SRF < 10%) due to congenital UPJO, PCN drainage should be done to asses improvement of renal function. Bangladesh Journal of Urology, Vol. 20, No. 2, July 2017 p.61-64


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Lundin

This study explores the use of a new protocol in hypertension care, in which continuous patient-generated data reported through digital technology are presented in graphical form and discussed in follow-up consultations with nurses. This protocol is part of an infrastructure design project in which patients and medical professionals are co-designers. The approach used for the study was interaction analysis, which rendered possible detailed in situ examination of local variations in how nurses relate to the protocol. The findings show three distinct engagements: (1) teasing out an average blood pressure, (2) working around the protocol and graph data and (3) delivering an analysis. It was discovered that the graphical representations structured the consultations to a great extent, and that nurses mostly referred to graphs that showed blood pressure values, which is a measurement central to the medical discourse of hypertension. However, it was also found that analysis of the data alone was not sufficient to engage patients: nurses' invisible and inclusion work through eliciting patients' narratives played an important role here. A conclusion of the study is that nurses and patients both need to be more thoroughly introduced to using protocols based on graphs for more productive consultations to be established. 


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine A. Kelly ◽  
Judith E. Houston ◽  
Rachel Evans

Understanding the dynamic self-assembly behaviour of azobenzene photosurfactants (AzoPS) is crucial to advance their use in controlled release applications such as<i></i>drug delivery and micellar catalysis. Currently, their behaviour in the equilibrium <i>cis-</i>and <i>trans</i>-photostationary states is more widely understood than during the photoisomerisation process itself. Here, we investigate the time-dependent self-assembly of the different photoisomers of a model neutral AzoPS, <a>tetraethylene glycol mono(4′,4-octyloxy,octyl-azobenzene) </a>(C<sub>8</sub>AzoOC<sub>8</sub>E<sub>4</sub>) using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We show that the incorporation of <i>in-situ</i>UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy with SANS allows the scattering profile, and hence micelle shape, to be correlated with the extent of photoisomerisation in real-time. It was observed that C<sub>8</sub>AzoOC<sub>8</sub>E<sub>4</sub>could switch between wormlike micelles (<i>trans</i>native state) and fractal aggregates (under UV light), with changes in the self-assembled structure arising concurrently with changes in the absorption spectrum. Wormlike micelles could be recovered within 60 seconds of blue light illumination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the degree of AzoPS photoisomerisation has been tracked <i>in</i><i>-situ</i>through combined UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy-SANS measurements. This technique could be widely used to gain mechanistic and kinetic insights into light-dependent processes that are reliant on self-assembly.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Boyko ◽  
Christopher Huck ◽  
David Sarlah

<div>The first total synthesis of rhabdastrellic acid A, a highly cytotoxic isomalabaricane triterpenoid, has been accomplished in a linear sequence of 14 steps from commercial geranylacetone. The prominently strained <i>trans-syn-trans</i>-perhydrobenz[<i>e</i>]indene core characteristic of the isomalabaricanes is efficiently accessed in a selective manner for the first time through a rapid, complexity-generating sequence incorporating a reductive radical polyene cyclization, an unprecedented oxidative Rautenstrauch cycloisomerization, and umpolung 𝛼-substitution of a <i>p</i>-toluenesulfonylhydrazone with in situ reductive transposition. A late-stage cross-coupling in concert with a modular approach to polyunsaturated side chains renders this a general strategy for the synthesis of numerous family members of these synthetically challenging and hitherto inaccessible marine triterpenoids.</div>


2011 ◽  
pp. 100-104
Author(s):  
Thi Thu Nguyen ◽  
Viet Hien Vo ◽  
Thi Em Do

The study use intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection proceduce for chalazion treatment.1. Objectives: To evaluate results of intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection for chalazion treatment. 2. Method: This noncomparative prospective interventional trial included 72 chalazions of 61 patients. 3. Results: 61 patients (72 chalazions) with 19 males (31.1%) và 42 females (68.9%), the mean age was 24 ± 9,78 years. 31.1% patients was the first time chalazion and 68.9% patients was more than one times chalazion including 78.6% patients was recurrent at the first position and 21.4% patients occur at new position. 72 chalazions with 16 (22.2%) chalazions was treated before and 56 (77.8%) chalazions wasn’t done that. 72 chalazions with 49 chalazions (68.1%) are local in upper eyelid and 23 chalazions (31.9%) are local in lower eyelid. The mean of chalazion diameter is 6.99 ± 3.03mm. Intralesional triamcinolone acetonide is injected to treat 72 chalazions with 16 (22.2%) chalazions are injected through the route of skin and 56 (77.8%) chalazions are injected through the route of conjunctiva. After 2 weeks follow-up, the success rate was 93.1% and 6.9% failed. 4. Conclusion: intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection for chalazion treatment is really effective. Key words: chalazion, intralesional triamcinolone acetonide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1157
Author(s):  
Saverio Capodiferro ◽  
Giuseppe Ingravallo ◽  
Luisa Limongelli ◽  
Mauro Mastropasqua ◽  
Angela Tempesta ◽  
...  

Aims: To report on the clinico-pathological features of a series of 14 intra-oral mucoepidermoid carcinomas showing exclusive intra-cystic growth. Materials and methods: All mucoepidermoid carcinomas diagnosed in the period 1990–2012 were retrieved; the original histological preparations were reviewed to confirm the diagnosis and from selected cases, showing exclusive intra-cystic neoplastic components, additional sections were cut at three subsequent 200 m intervals and stained with Hematoxylin–Eosin, PAS, Mucicarmine and Alcian Blue, to possibly identify tumor invasion of the adjacent tissues, which could have been overlooked in the original histological preparations. Additionally, pertinent findings collected from the clinical charts and follow-up data were analyzed. Results: We identified 14 intraoral mucoepidermoid carcinomas treated by conservative surgery and with a minimum follow up of five years. The neoplasms were located in the hard palate (nine cases), the soft palate (two), the cheek (two) and the retromolar trigone (one). In all instances, histological examination revealed the presence of a single cystic space, containing clusters of columnar, intermediate, epidermoid, clear and mucous-producing cells, the latter exhibiting distinct intra-cytoplasmic mucin production, as confirmed by PAS, Mucicarmine and Alcian Blue stains. The cysts were entirely circumscribed by fibrous connective tissue, and no solid areas or infiltrating tumor cell clusters were detected. Conservative surgical resection was performed in all cases, and no recurrences or nodal metastases were observed during follow up. Conclusions: Mucoepidermoid carcinomas showing prominent (>20%) intra-cystic proliferation currently are considered low-grade tumors. In addition, we also unveil the possibility that mucoepidermoid carcinomas, at least in their early growth phase, may display an exclusive intra-cystic component and might be considered as in situ carcinomas, unable to infiltrate adjacent tissues and metastasize.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Basiri ◽  
Iman Ghanaat ◽  
Hamidreza Akbari Gilani

Abstract Background Although involvement of the urinary system is not uncommon, endometriosis in the kidneys is rare. To date, laparoscopic partial nephrectomy has been the preferred approach for managing renal endometriosis. Here, we report for the first time the results of laparoscopic removal of a renal capsular endometriosis in a malrotated kidney in an attempt to save the whole kidney parenchyma, in terms of feasibility and safety. Case presentation A 37-year-old female presented with periodic right flank pain associated with her menstrual cycle. On imaging, a malrotated right kidney and a hypodense irregular-shaped lesion measuring 30 * 20 * 15 mm were seen in the superior portion of the right perinephric space. Histologic evaluation of the ultrasound-guided biopsy was consistent with renal capsular endometriosis. The patient underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the capsular mass while preserving the normal renal parenchyma. Pathological examination of the biopsy obtained during surgery was in favor of renal endometriosis. At 6-month follow-up, the patient’s pain had completely disappeared and no complications had occurred. In addition, imaging did not show any remarkable recurrence. Conclusion Renal endometriosis should be strongly considered as a differential diagnosis in female patients with a renal capsular mass and exacerbation of flank pain during menstruation. Based on our experience, with preoperative needle biopsy and clearing the pathology, laparoscopic removal of the mass in spite of renal anatomic abnormality is feasible and safe and thus could be considered as a possible treatment option.


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