Correlation between dermoscopy and direct microscopy in Tineabarbae.

Tineabarbae is a rare form of dermatophytosis that affects hair follicles of the beard and moustache. Dermoscopy could prove useful to identify parasitism of hair of the beard, just as it has proven useful in the diagnosis of Tineacapitis. We present the first fully documented case series of T. barbae with clinical, dermoscopic and mycological features.

Vaginal lactic acid elicits an anti-inflammatory response from human cervicovaginal epithelial cells and inhibits production of pro-inflammatory mediators associated with HIV acquisition.

Inflammation in the female reproductive tract (FRT) is associated with increased HIV transmission. Lactobacillus spp. dominate the vaginal microbiota of many women and their presence is associated with reduced HIV acquisition. Here we demonstrate that lactic acid (LA), a major organic acid metabolite produced by lactobacilli, mediates anti-inflammatory effects on human cervicovaginal epithelial cells. Treatment of human vaginal and cervical epithelial cell lines with LA (pH 3.9) elicited significant increases in the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1RA. When added simultaneously or prior to stimulation, LA inhibited the Toll-like receptor agonist-elicited production of inflammatory mediators IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, RANTES, and MIP3α from epithelial cell lines and prevented IL-6 and IL-8 production by seminal plasma. The anti-inflammatory effect of LA was mediated by the protonated form present at pH≤3.86 and was observed with both L- and D-isomers. A similar anti-inflammatory effect of LA was observed in primary cervicovaginal cells and in an organotypic epithelial tissue model. These findings identify a novel property of LA that acts directly on epithelial cells to inhibit FRT inflammation and highlights the potential use of LA-containing agents in the lower FRT as adjuncts to female-initiated strategies to reduce HIV acquisition.

[Severe sepsis as a cause of acute renal failure]. / Sepsis severa como causa de falla renal aguda.

INTRODUCTION: The most common causes of acute renal failure in the intensive care units are severe sepsis and septic shock. Mortality reported in this kind of patients is about 70%. The pathophysiology of acute renal failure in severe sepsis includes systemic hypotension, direct renal vasoconstriction, infiltration of the kidney by inflammatory cells, renal ischemia, intraglomerular thrombosis and intratubular obstruction. OBJECTIVE: To show the incidence, mortality and histopathological etiology of acute renal failure in severe sepsis. TYPE STUDY: Retrospective, transversal and descriptive. METHODS: We study 332 cases of patients with severe sepsis, who were hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of Hospital General del Centro Médico Nacional, during five years. From these patients 107 developed acute renal failure due to severe sepsis. This group recived two differet kind of treatment, medical management (70%) and hemodyalisis (30%). Renal biopsy was taken in 40 patients after six or seven days of the diagnosis of acute renal failure caused by severe sepsis. RESULTS: In the group of 332 patients with severe sepsis 107 developed acute renal failure, this represents the 32.22%. The group of patients with renal biopsy presented the following results: 50% had acute tubular necrosis, 27.5% presented glomerular and tubular lesion, the rest 22.5% had glomerular and vascular lesion. The mortality for patients treated with medical management was of 69.3%, and for those treated with hemodyalisis was of 28.1%. DISCUSSION: Nowadays, and due to the high incidence and mortality of this disease, is very important to generate more concise knowledge about the genesis and development of acute renal failure in the septic patient.

Enantiomerically pure chiral coordination polymers: synthesis, spectroscopy, and electrochemistry in solution and on surfaces.

The two enantiomerically pure bridging ligands (+/-)-[ctpy-x-ctpy] have been prepared employing a two-fold stereospecific alkylation reaction of the enantiomerically pure, chiral terpyridyl-type ligands (+/-)-ctpy. The reaction of each of the enantiomerically pure bridging ligands with Fe(2+) gives rise to chiral coordination polymers whose formation and stoichiometry were followed spectrophotometrically. An assignment of the absolute configuration of the formed helical polymeric structures was carried out on the basis of circular dichroism studies. Highly ordered domains (as determined from STM imaging) of the enantiomerically pure chiral redox polymers could be prepared via the interfacial reaction, over an HOPG substrate, of the bridging ligand in CH(2)Cl(2) and FeSO(4) in water. The degree of polymerization was estimated to be up to 60 from analysis of the STM images of the highly ordered domains on HOPG. The helicality of the domains was compared to the configuration obtained from the circular dichroism studies. The electrochemical properties of the polymers were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and the results compared to those of the respective monomeric complexes. The redox behavior of the iron centers in the polymer was comparable to that of the monomeric complex [Fe((-)-ctpy)(2)](PF(6))(2) as well as to that of [Fe(tpy)(2)](PF(6))(2). The polymeric materials undergo electrodeposition following the two-electron reduction of each bridging ligand unit (one electron per terpyridine group). No ligand-mediated metal-metal interactions were evident from the cyclic voltammetric measurements, suggesting that the metal centers act independently. Moreover, oxidation of the metal centers within the polymeric materials did not give rise to electrodeposition.

Cobaltocenium-functionalized poly(propylene imine) dendrimers: redox and electromicrogravimetric studies and AFM imaging.

The first four generations of cobaltocenium-functionalized, diaminobutane-based poly(propylene imine) dendrimers DAB-dend-Cb,(PFb)x (x = 4, 8, 16, and 32; Cb=[Co(eta5-C5H4CONH)(eta5-C5H5)] (1-4) have been synthesized and characterized. The redox activity of the cobaltocenium centers in 1-4 has been characterized by using cyclic voltammetry and the electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance (EQCM). All of the dendrimers exhibit reversible redox chemistry associated with the cobaltocenium/cobaltocene redox couple. Upon reduction. the dendrimers exhibit a tendency to electrodeposit onto the electrode surface, which is more pronounced for the higher generations. Pt and glassy carbon electrodes could be modified with films derived from 1-4,exhibiting a well-defined and persistent electrochemical response. EQCM measurements show that the dendrimers adsorb, at open circuit, onto platinum surfaces at monolayer or submonolayer coverage. Cathodic potential scanning past -0.75 V at which the cobaltocenium sites are reduced, gave rise to the electrodeposition of multilayer equivalents of the dendrimers. The additional material gradually desorbs upon re-oxidation so that only a monolayer equivalent remains on the electrode surface. Changes in film morphology as a function of dendrimer generation and surface coverage were studied by using admittance measurements of the quartz-crystal resonator on the basis of its electrical equivalent circuit, especially in terms of its resistance parameter. In general, we find that films of the lower dendrimer generation 1 behave rigidly, whereas those of the higher generation 4 exhibit viscoelastic behavior with an intermediate behavior being exhibited by 2 and 3. Using tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). we have been able to obtain molecularly resolved images of dendrimer 4 adsorbed on a Pt(111) electrode.