Plasma proteomic analysis makes it possible to develop a map of the protein isoforms that are expressed in plasma during an ACS.

We prospectively evaluated 61 patients treated arthroscopically for anterior instability of the shoulder at a mean follow-up of 44.5 months (24 to 100) using the Rowe scale. Those with post-operative dislocation or subluxation were considered to be failures. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify patients at increased risk of recurrence in order to develop a suitable selection system. The mean Rowe score improved from 45 pre-operatively to 86 at follow-up (p < 0.001). At least one episode of post-operative instability occurred in 11 patients (18%), although their stability improved (p = 0.018), and only three required revision. Subjectively, eight patients were dissatisfied. Age younger than 28 years, ligamentous laxity, the presence of a fracture of the glenoid rim involving more than 15% of the articular surface, and post-operative participation in contact or overhead sports were associated with a higher risk of recurrence, and scored 1, 1, 5 and 1 point, respectively. Those patients with a total score of two or more points had a relative risk of recurrence of 43% and should be treated by open surgery.

The relationship between Streptococcus pyogenes resistance to erythromycin and macrolide consumption in Spain was studied. Erythromycin resistance was highly correlated with the consumption of total macrolides (r = 0.88, P<0.01). When macrolides were grouped into posological subgroups according to their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties and analysed separately, erythromycin resistance appeared to be related mainly to those macrolides taken twice daily (bd) (r = 0.86, P<0.01) and those taken once daily (od) (r = 0.87, P<0.01), but not to those taken four (qds) or three times a day (tds) (r = -0.04, P: = 0.90). A progressive increase in the erythromycin resistance curve was seen after the consecutive introduction of both bd and od macrolides, which contributed to the increase in the total macrolide consumption, replacing tds macrolide prescription. Although this ecological analysis cannot establish an unequivocal causal relationship between antibiotic consumption and S. pyogenes resistance, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that widespread use of macrolides, mainly of bd and od macrolides, resulted in an increased prevalence of S. pyogenes resistant to erythromycin in Spain.

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are responsible for a high proportion of familial breast cancer; germline mutations in these genes confer a lifetime risk of about 70% for developing breast cancer. Most of the described deleterious mutations are small deletions or insertions that originate a truncated protein; however, in many cases, they are amino acid changes whose significance is unknown. In these cases, there are some tests that can analyze the meaning of these variants, but most remain unclassified. The BRCA genes are tumor supressors and it is beleived that complete loss of the wild-type allele is a common mechanism of inactivation in tumors from patients carrying a germline deleterious mutation in these genes; if this is true, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis in the tumor sample could help to distinguish if a rare variant is either a deleterious mutation or a common polymorphism. In the present study, we performed LOH analysis at the BRCA loci in 47 tumors from patients who belonged to highrisk breast cancer families and were carriers of any type of alteration in these genes. Our results suggest that (i) loss of the wild-type allele is the most common mechanism of inactivation in tumors from patients who carry a deleterious mutation in any of the genes, (ii) this loss is not common when we analyze familial tumors not associated with mutations in BRCA and (iii) LOH can be used to clarify variants of unknown significance in the BRCA genes.