Loss of hepatitis A virus antibodies after bone marrow transplantation.

Reimmunization guidelines have recommended the inactivated HAV vaccine for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients living in or traveling to areas where hepatitis A is endemic. As a shift from high to medium hepatitis A endemicity has been observed in several countries in Latin America, we conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis A pre-bone marrow transplant (BMT) and the loss of specific antibodies in consecutive stored serum samples from 77 BMT recipients followed up from 82 to 1530 days. The prevalence of HAV antibodies was 92.2% before BMT. As vaccine was not available in Brazil when the samples were taken, it was assumed that this prevalence reflects natural infection. Survival analysis showed that the probability of becoming seronegative was 4.5% (+/-2.6%), 7.9% (+/-3.4%), 10.1% (+/-4.0%), 23.4% (+/-9.6%) at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years after transplant, respectively. The loss of HAV antibodies was significantly associated with longer follow-up (P=0.0015), younger age (P=0.049) and acute graft-versus-host disease (P=0.035). As most reimmunization protocols start around day +365, in developing countries with similar HAV endemicity, BMT recipients should have serological screening before HAV vaccination and the inactivated vaccine should be advised to those seronegative.

[Risk factors management in 5708 ambulatory patients suffering from peripheral vascular disease followed in urban practices]. / Contrôle des facteurs de risque dans une population de 5 708 artériopathes des membres inférieurs vus en médecine de ville.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: we examined the management of risk factors in patients suffering from obliterating peripheral arterial disease (OPAD), in urban medical practice. METHODS: PRISMA, ECLAT1 and APRES are surveys based on urban medicine in France. These 3 studies have allowed a compilation of data pertaining to the control of risk factors in patients suffering from one or more clinical manifestations of atherothrombosis, including cerebral vascular accident, coronary insufficiency or OPAD. The study population was divided among patients with isolated OPAD, versus OPAD associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), versus OPAD associated with cerebral vascular disease. RESULTS: a total of 5 708 patients with stable OPAD were included among the 3 studies. Risk factors were not managed in the majority of patients, including 62.6% of hypercholesterolemic patients, 71.1% of diabetics, and 77.4% of hypertensive patients. Overall, the control of risk factors was less satisfactory in patients with OPAD than in patients with CAD. Smoking (70.6% current or past smokers) remains a major risk factor in OPAD. The proportion of current smokers was significantly higher is the group with isolated OPAD than in the other 2 groups of patients (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The control of risk factors in patients with OPAD is suboptimal, mainly because of failure to reach the therapeutic goals, rather than because of poor medical management. It is important that recent recommendations be implemented in medical practice. Awareness of the primary physicians will be key in the optimisation of treatment prescriptions and, above all, in the achievement of a higher level of clinical performance.

[Mesoscopic study of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring]. / Estudo mesoscópico da valva mitral e do seu anel fibroso.

PURPOSE: To study the spatial arrangement of the fibrous elements that form the leaflets of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring. METHODS: The study of 20 human adult hearts, of both sexes, fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution was made. The mitral valves with their fibrous rings and small parts of the adjacent atrial and ventricular muscles were removed. Part of this material was embedded in paraffin and cut serially at a thickness of 40 microns and stained by Azan's trichrome and by resorcin-fuccin and another was dissected under stereoscope in order to verify the arrangement of the myocardial bundles at the level of the fibrous ring. RESULTS: It was observed that the fibrous ring is consisted of collagenous fibers which involved in an incomplete form the atrioventricular ostium, as they were absent in the anteromedial region of the ostium. The leaflets were made of collagenous fibers disposed parallel to the long axis of the valve. This collagenous fibers were covered by atrial and ventricular endocardium. The collagenous fibers of the leaflets were continuous, by their base, into the fibrous ring. It was observed, in a few cases, the presence of atrial muscle fibers into the anterior leaflet of the mitral, mainly in its central area. CONCLUSION: The leaflets of the mitral valve and its fibrous ring have a structural continuity suggesting that elements would act synchronously in the closure of the atrioventricular ostium during ventricular systole. The contraction of the myocardial bundles fixed in the fibrous ring contributes to decrease the diameter of the mitral ring.