No abstract

No abstract

BackgroundObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological and animal models studies generate hypotheses for innovative strategies in OSA management by interfering intermediates mechanisms associated with cardiovascular complications. We have thus initiated the Epigenetics modification in Obstructive Sleep Apnea (EPIOSA) study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02131610).Methods/designEPIOSA is a prospective cohort study aiming to recruit 350 participants of caucasian ethnicity and free of other chronic or inflammatory diseases: 300 patients with prevalent OSA and 50 non-OSA subjects. All of them will be follow-up for at least 5 years. Recruitment and study visits are performed in single University-based sleep clinic using standard operating procedures. At baseline and at each one year follow-up examination, patients are subjected to a core phenotyping protocol. This includes a standardized questionnaire and physical examination to determine incident comorbidities and health resources utilization, with a primary focus on cardiovascular events. Confirmatory outcomes information is requested from patient records and the regional Department of Health Services. Every year, OSA status will be assessed by full sleep study and blood samples will be obtained for immediate standard biochemistry, hematology, inflammatory cytokines and cytometry analysis. For biobanking, aliquots of serum, plasma, urine, mRNA and DNA are also obtained. Bilateral carotid echography will be performed to assess subclinical atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis progression. OSA patients are treated according with national guidelines.DiscussionEPIOSA will enable the prospective evaluation of inflammatory and epigenetics mechanism involved in cardiovascular complication of treated and non-treated patients with OSA compared with non OSA subjects.

No clear differences among the activity of antifungals against Alternaria alternata and Alternaria infectoria were detected, except for echinocandins.

There is a large individual variation in human spinal cord and canal size, even in patients of different series studied by the same modality, and no authorized standard method has been established. A comparative study of sagittal diameters of the cervical spinal cord and canal using myelography and MRI is presented. The purposes of this paper are (a) to establish the correction factor (CF) needed for quantitative comparison of the two imaging modalities, and (b) to determine the different factors that may modify the measurement of these diameters. We studied 45 patients with clinical findings compatible with cervical spondilotic myelopathy. In our experience, the CF for accurate correlation of MRI and myelography measurements is 1.32 and depends almost entirely on the radiographic geometry of the myelographic procedure. In addition, there is a variability in the group of MRI results due to imprecision of the pressure-pad measuring/input device of the instrument itself and the sequence performed.

We report a case of cardiac rhabdomyosarcoma the initial clinical features of which were pericardial effusion, clinical symptoms of congestive heart failure and probable pulmonary thromboembolism, in which echocardiography constituted the first approach to the diagnosis of cardiac tumor and MRI confirmed it, precisely delimiting the tumoral extension and possible infiltration of pericardiac structures. A brief literature review of this entity is given, the MRI findings obtained in our case are described, and we discuss the advantages and limitations of this technique as compared with other alternatives of image diagnosis.

Candiduria detection in hospitalized or immunocompromised patients is of great clinical significance. The aim of our study was to describe the isolation frequency of significant species of yeasts in urine samples processed in our hospital during the period 2010- 2013, and to analyze their susceptibility to commonly used antifungal agents. Species identification was performed by seeding on a chromogenic medium, the filamentation test and automated systems (ASM Vitek and MALDI Biotyper), while susceptibility was determined using the ASM Vitek system. Of the 632 yeast isolates in urine, 371 were Candida albicans species and 261 non-C. albicans Candida spp. The species with the highest number of resistant isolates were Candida glabrata and Candida krusei. Based on the results obtained, we believe that species identification and the susceptibility study should be current practice in the laboratories when species other than C. albicans are isolated.

No abstract