Transoesophageal echocardiography during orthotopic liver transplantation. / Ecocardiografía transesofágica durante el trasplante ortotópico hepático.

Despite the importance of haemodynamic management in patients undergoing liver transplantation, there is currently no consensus on the most appropriate type of monitoring to use. In this context, transoesophageal echocardiography can provide useful information to professionals, although their use constraints prevent further spread today.

[Perioperative management for liver transplant in a patient with familial amyloid polyneuropathy with heart involvement]. / Manejo perioperatorio del trasplante hepático en la polineuropatía amiloidótica familiar con afectación cardíaca.

Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) is a systemic amyloidosis caused by mutated transthyretin. Cardiac amyloidosis, the major prognostic determinant in systemic amyloidosis, is characterized by infiltration of the myocardium, leading to cardiomyopathy and conduction disturbances. Liver transplantation is the only curative option for patients with FAP. The case is presented of a 36-year-old patient with type i FAP with cardiac involvement, proposed for liver transplant surgery, which was successfully performed without any preoperative event of interest.

[Perioperative treatment for the urgent orbital decompression surgery in a 30-weeks pregnant woman with Graves' orbitopathy]. / Tratamiento perioperatorio para la cirugía urgente de descompresión orbitaria en una paciente gestante de 30 semanas con orbitopatía de Graves.

Thyroid ophthalmopathy is a rare extra-thyroid complication usually associated with Graves' disease. This disease can occur in the euthyroid pregnant patient. Graves' orbitopathy is characterized by eyelid retraction, proptosis, extraocular muscle dysfunction, and periorbital edema. In some cases an emergency surgical repair may be required to avoid irreversible vision loss. We present the case of a 35-year-old woman in her 30th gestational week, who suffered from Graves' ophthalmopathy, severe exophthalmia, and visual acuity decrease. Following consultations among anesthesiologists, ophthalmologists, maxillofacial surgeons, endocrinologists, obstetricians and the patient, it was decided to perform a surgical orbital wall decompression. The anesthetic and perioperative implications associated with gestational age and the considerations for this surgical procedure, and how to avoid increasing intraocular pressure are discussed.

The predatory capability of three nematophagous fungi in the control of Haemonchus contortus infective larvae in ovine faeces.

The effect of oral administration of three different nematode-trapping fungi, in aqueous suspension containing either Dactylaria sp. or Arthrobotrys oligospora conidia or Duddingtonia flagrans chlamydospores, on the number of Haemonchus contortus infective larvae in sheep faeces, was evaluated. The three selected species of fungi produce three-dimensional adhesive nets in the presence of nematodes. Sixteen Creole sheep were divided into four groups of four animals each. Groups 1 and 2 were orally drenched with a suspension containing 2x10(7) conidia of either A. oligospora or Dactylaria sp. Group 3, received a similar treatment, with D. flagrans chlamydospores, instead of conidia, being administered, at the same dose. Group 4 acted as control, without any fungi. Faecal samples were collected directly from the rectum of each sheep and faecal cultures were prepared and incubated at 15 and 21 days. Larvae were recovered from faecal cultures and counted. The highest reduction of the nematode population occurred in the D. flagrans group, reaching reductions of 96.3% and 91.4% in individual samplings in plates incubated for 15 and 21 days, respectively. Arthrobotrys oligospora showed moderate reductions in the faecal larval population, ranging between 25-64% at 15 days incubation. In general, Dactylaria sp., was less efficient in its trapping ability. Despite the inconsistent results with Dactylaria sp., reduction percentages of 73.4% and 80.7% were recorded in individual samplings during the first and second days, in plates incubated for 15 days. Duddingtonia flagrans, was shown to be a potential biological control agent of H. contortus infective larvae.

[In vitro predatory activity of 8 fungal isolates against the nematode Panagrellus redivivus]. / Acción depredadora in vitro de ocho aislados de hongos contra el nematodo Panagrellus redivivus.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predacious capacity in vitro of eight isolates of nematophagous fungi: four of Arthrobotrys sp., one of Arthrobotrys oligospora, one of Duddingtonia flagrans, one of Dactylaria sp. and one Monacrosporium eudermatum. Nine groups of Petri dishes with 13 repetitions each were set up. The fungi were seeded in fluor-corn-agar media, following this each Petri dish was added with 150 larvae of the free living nematode Panagrellus redivivus. Five days after larval addition these were collected by Baermannization and were quantified. A significant difference (p < 0.05) between all treated group was observed respect with the control. Isolates FTHO-8 D. flagrans, R6 M. eudermatum, DAC Dactylaria sp. as well as FTHO-4 and FTHO-6 Arthrobotrys sp., showed an excellent predatory activity (> 90%) and they could be considered as potential bio-control agents in future field trials.

[In vitro nematophagous capacity of Duddingtonia flagrans maintained under 2 conditions of preservation]. / Capacidad nematófaga in vitro de Duddingtonia flagrans Mantenido en dos Condiciones de Preservación.

One trial was carried out to evaluate the nematophagous capacity of two Duddingtonia flagrans cultures, one maintained during one year at laboratory temperature and the other one was a recent culture, twelve Petri dishes with flour-corn-agar media were seeded with the 1YC another 12 Petri dishes were inoculated with the RC. Both were added with 150 larvae/dish of the free living nematode Panagrellus redivivus and 12 fluor-corn-agar dishes only with the free living nematode were used as a control. The results showed that the nematophagous capacity of both cultures were similar but it was statistically different (p < 0.05) with respect to the control group. It was concluded that the nematophagous capacity of D. flagrans was not affected in spite of being kept one year at laboratory temperature.

Biological control of Haemonchus contortus infective larvae in ovine faeces by administering an oral suspension of Duddingtonia flagrans chlamydospores to sheep.

A single oral dose of an aqueous suspension containing 11,350,000 chlamydospores of a Mexican isolate of Duddingtonia flagrans (FTHO-8) given to sheep, resulted in a maximum reduction of 88% (range 86.7-90.4%) of the population of Haemonchus contortus infective larvae in the faeces. The effect of this treatment continued for 4-5 days after administration of the suspension. The possible use of this treatment as a method of control of ovine haemonchosis is discussed.

Ex vivo expansion of human peripheral blood progenitors.

Culture of human hematopoietic progenitors on a large scale could lead to several clinical applications within the near future, including the production of differentiated and functional cells, the increase in the number of early progenitors, especially stem cells, with such use as gene transfer, or the improvement of grafts used to limit the hematological toxicity associated with high-dose chemotherapy. In this case, one can still distinguish different objectives: improvement of grafts that contain low numbers of progenitors because of prior chemotherapies or because of marrow involvement for example, and qualitative changes in the graft content that would allow to envision the disappearance, or the further reduction, in the duration of absolute neutropenia that follows delivery of high dose chemotherapy ("nadir rescue"), despite substitution of mobilized blood cells to marrow cells and the in vivo use of hematopoietic growth factors. Additional advantages may be related to tumor purging in autologous expanded cells, and to the change in the ratio between hematopoietic progenitors and immunocompetent cells in allogeneic expanded populations. Therefore it appears that in vitro expansion currently raises two types of questions: the first ones are related to the definition of clinical or biological endpoints to be achieved, the second ones are related to "bioengineering", and deal with the efficiency and safety of progenitor cell cultures to be used for clinical applications. We here present preliminary results preparing future pilot clinical studies with ex vivo cultured human hematopoietic cells.

Interaction between the nematode-destroying fungus Arthrobotrys robusta (Hyphomycetales) and Haemonchus contortus infective larvae in vitro.

In an in vitro trial, the effect of the nematode-destroying fungus Arthrobotrys robusta on Haemonchus contortus infective larvae was evaluated in petri dishes containing corn meal agar. After seven days incubation at 25 degrees C, 92.33% (+/- 4.1) predation was recorded.

Efficacy of ivermectin against the abomasal nematode mecistocirrus digitatus in naturally infected zebu calves.

Anthelmintic efficacy of ivermectin against Mecistocirrus digitatus was evaluated in 10 naturally infected zebu calves. Group 1 (n = 5) was not treated, and group 2 (n = 5) was treated SC with 200 micrograms of ivermectin/kg of body weight. Calves were euthanatized 14 or 15 days after treatment. There was 100% overall reduction of M digitatus in treated calves, which was significant (P = 0.0079) compared with reduction in controls. Cooperia punctata, Haemonchus similis, and Trichostrongylus axei were found in controls. Efficacy against these parasites in treated calves was 100%.