No abstract

The morbidity rates, particularly for intraabdominal abscesses, were less for laparoscopic appendectomy in complicated appendicitis than those reported in the literature for open appendectomy, whereas operating times and hospital stays were similar.

No abstract

There are several studies on inguinal hernias that give some clues about the association between this type of hernia and certain risk factors. This association was suspected long ago but had not been demonstrated. The present study tries to correlate the origin of inguinal hernias and the physical effort of the subjects in accordance with their work activity. The results of this study show that physical effort, as a risk factor, is closely related to the appearance of inguinal hernias. A person whose work involves lifting or other strenuous exertion has a higher risk than those whose jobs are less strenuous (p less than 0.05). This conclusion was reached after taking into account not only the weight lifted but also the number of years in this activity.

Mycobacterium bovis is the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle but also infects other animals, including humans. Previous studies in cattle have demonstrated that the protection induced by BCG is not complete. In order to improve the protection efficacy of BCG, in this study we overexpressed Ag85B in a BCG Pasteur strain, by using an expression system based on the use of an auxotrophic strain for the leucine amino acid, and complementation with leuD. We found that vaccination of cattle with BCG overexpressing Ag85B induced higher production of IL-17 and IL-4 mRNA upon purified protein derivative (PPDB) stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) than vaccination with BCG. Moreover, the IL-17 mRNA expression after vaccination negatively correlated with disease severity resulting from a subsequent challenge with M. bovis, suggesting that this cytokine is a potential biomarker of cattle protection against bovine tuberculosis. Importantly, vaccination with the recombinant BCG vaccine protected cattle better than the wild-type BCG Pasteur.

No abstract

The evaluation of disseminated epithelial tumor cells in breast cancer patients has generated considerable interest due to its potential association with disease recurrence.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy causes less impairment of lung function than cholecystectomy through an upper midline incision.