Metabolite collision cross section prediction without energy-minimized structures.

Matching experimental ion mobility-mass spectrometry data to computationally-generated collision cross section (CCS) values enables more confident metabolite identifications. Here, we show for the first time that accurately predicting CCS values with simple models for the largest library of metabolite cross sections is indeed possible, achieving a root mean square error of 7.0 Å2 (median error of ∼2%) using linear methods accesible to most researchers. A comparison on the performance of 2D vs. 3D molecular descriptors for the purposes of CCS prediction is also presented for the first time, enabling CCS prediction without a priori knowledge of the metabolite's energy-minimized structure.

Asian genotypes of dengue virus 4 in Brazil.

Dengue virus, commonly transmitted by mosquitoes, causes a human disease of significant social impact and presents a serious public health problem in Brazil. This report describes the unusual emergence of DENV-4 in northern Brazil after a nearly 30-year-long absence. DENV-4 genotype I is of Asian origin and was identified in the serum of patients receiving treatment at a hospital serving the Salvador area (Brazilian state of Bahia). The identification of dengue virus serotypes through molecular and phylogenetic analysis is essential for predicting disease severity or fatal illness, principally in endemic countries such as Brazil.

Case report: A rare case of cyclodialysis after cataract surgery managed exclusively with medical therapy.

We present the case of a 68-year-old female who presented with a substantial cyclodialysis after phacoemulsification identified by anterior segment optical coherence tomography and ultrasound biomicroscopy. Gonioscopy is challenging because of its shallow anterior chamber. Due to lack of response to topical steroids and refusal by the patient for surgical treatment, topical steroids were tapered, and cycloplegic was initiated. After two weeks, the cyclodialysis cleft was closed on optical coherence tomography persisting residual subchoroidal fluid, topical treatment was mantained. Despite of this, visual acuity and hypotony were restored. Finally at 2 months visit subchoroidal fluid was reabsorbed and patient was discharged. Clinics should consider the possibility of cyclodialysis in cases of unjustified hypotony during postoperative period. In addition, we recommend performing anterior segment imaging which includes ultrasound biomicroscopy and optical coherence tomography, when the evaluation of angular structures is unfeasible. Finally, we propose medical management for severe cyclodialysis as the first option considering anti-inflammatory drugs could perpetrate the separation between scleral spur and ciliary muscle.

[Analysis of unofficial consultations in a tertiary-level hospital]. / Estudio de las consultas extraoficiales en un hospital de tercer nivel.

BACKGROUND: Dermatologists are regularly consulted in their place of work by patients without an official appointment (individuals accompanying other patients, doctors from other specialties, hospital workers, etc). OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of consulting patients, reasons for consultation, severity of complaint, diagnostic and therapeutic approach taken, and level of care provided by the consulted professionals. RESULTS: The typical patient would be a middle-aged female nurse consulting for the first time for a benign melanocytic lesion. In general, the dermatologist will take an empirical or informative therapeutic approach and consider the care provided to be similar to that offered to patients with an official appointment. CONCLUSIONS: Unofficial appointments, although commonly for trivial complaints, represent an additional workload in daily clinical practice.

Chronic fluid misdirection syndrome of aqueous humor after phacoemulsification: diagnosis, treatment and asscociated factors. / Síndrome de mala dirección del humor acuoso crónico tras facoemulsificación: diagnóstico, tratamiento y factores a tener en cuenta.

The chronic fluid misdirection syndrome of aqueous humor is a rare and serious condition if not treated promptly. The case is presented of a woman attending the emergency department with an intraocular pressure of 43.00mmHg and shallow anterior chamber in her left eye. As clinical history of interest, she had cataract surgery in that eye several weeks before. Following the suspicion of malignant glaucoma, a capsulotomy and iridotomy were performed with an unfavourable outcome. For this reason, it was decided to perform a central vitrectomy, but the patient did not respond to this surgical treatment either. A second surgery was then performed with peripheral vitrectomy, anterior hyaloidectomy, zonulectomy, and iridectomy, obtaining good results. Finally, a decrease in intraocular pressure, and an opening of camerular angle were achieved. Thus, if malignant glaucoma is not resolved in medical consultation with iridotomy and capsulotomy, a vitrectomy, creating a unique chamber that restores the fluid mechanics of the aqueous humor, will be needed.

Collision cross section predictions using 2-dimensional molecular descriptors.

Traditional methods for deriving computationally-generated collision cross sections for comparisons with ion mobility-mass spectrometry data require 3-dimensional energy-minimized structures and are often time consuming, preventing high throughput implementation. Here, we introduce a method to predict ion mobility collision cross sections of lipids and peptide analogs important in prebiotic chemistry and other fields. Using less than 100 2-D molecular descriptors this approach resulted in prediction errors of less than 2%.

A link between lead and cadmium kinetic speciation in seawater and accumulation by the green alga Ulva lactuca.

In this work, studies on the bioaccumulation of Cd and Pb by Ulva lactuca at different sites of Gulf San Jorge (Patagonia, Argentina) are presented. Higher values of bioaccumulated Cd were found in Punta Maqueda - a site believed to serve as a control - in comparison to those in Punta Borja, a place highly exposed to urban and industrial activities. Consequently; the labile fractions of Cd and Pb in seawater were determined with a flow injection-preconcentration manifold interfaced to a graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrometer (FI-GFAAS). The results obtained by kinetic speciation showed that the variable that correctly explains heavy metals accumulation in the alga, is the labile metal fraction in seawater. We propose to use an enhancement ratio - on the basis of the kinetically labile metal fraction - for calculation of the metal accumulated by the alga relative to its environment.

[Equine herpesvirus 2: A study on the relation between viral excretion and respiratory disease in thoroughbred horses]. / Herpesvirus equino 2: estudio de la relación entre excreción viral y enfermedad respiratoria en equinos deportivos pura sangre de carrera.

Equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2) was isolated from healthy animals; therefore, the association between EHV-2 infection and respiratory disease raises the question of the role of this agent in this pathology. To date, there are no reports that relate viral excretion to health, this study then analysed 153 nasal swabs from horses in different age groups (older and younger than 1 year old) and state of health (clinically healthy and with respiratory symptoms). Results showed that the percentage of horses with viral excretion was higher within the clinically healthy group, being significative (p < 0.05) in the younger than 1 year old group, whereas the percentage of animals with respiratory symptoms did not show significant differences (p > 0.05) between age groups.

Effect of sequence length, sequence frequency, and data acquisition rate on the performance of a Hadamard transform time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

Various factors influencing the performance of a Hadamard transform time-of-flight mass spectrometer (HT-TOFMS) have been investigated. Using a nitrogen corona discharge to produce an ion stream of N2+, N3+, and N4+, it is found for spectra containing only N4+ that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) closely approaches the value calculated from the ion background by assuming that the ion background follows a Poisson distribution. In contrast, for a more intense beam containing N2+, N3+, and N4+, the SNR is less than its theoretical value because of the appearance of discrete spikes in the mass spectrum caused by deviations in the actual modulation sequence from the ideal one. These spikes can be reduced, however, by decreasing the modulation voltage. Under these optimized conditions, the pseudo-random sequence length is varied to understand how it alters SNR, mass resolution, and scan speed. When the length of the pseudo-random sequence is doubled, the SNR increases by the square root of 2 while the time necessary to record a mass spectrum also doubles. Mass resolution can be varied between 500 and 1200 at m/z = 609 as the sequence length, modulation speed (10 MHz, 25 MHz), and acquisition rate (up to 50 MHz) are changed. Scan speeds of 6000 passes per s can be obtained using a sequence containing 4095 elements modulated at 25 MHz. The capability to tailor the HT-TOFMS to increase the scan speed and resolution with a constant 50% duty cycle makes the technique extremely appealing as a mass analyzer for measuring rapid changes in the composition of an ion stream.

Reconstitution of immunosuppression mice with mononuclear cells from donors sensitized to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV).

Passive transfer experiments were performed to serve as a basis for analyzing the immune response of adult mice to FMDV infection. Animals were irradiated (750 rad: 1 lethal dose 50%) and reconstituted with allogeneic mononuclear cells from blood, spleen, thymus and peritoneal cavity from donors 2 and 8 days post-inoculation (p.i.). Donors were primed with 10 000 suckling mouse 50% lethal doses of FMDV strain O1 Campos. The following parameters were studied in recipient mice challenged with 10 000 suckling mouse 50% lethal doses of the same virus: (1) viremia; (b) FMDV neutralizing antibody titres; (c) sheep red blood cell (SRBC) hemagglutinating antibody titres. Viremia was substantially prolonged in irradiated control mice, which did not produce detectable antibodies to FMDV or SRBC. In contrast, the span of viremia was markedly shorter in animals reconstituted with cells obtained 8 days p.i. and its eclipse coincided with the onset of neutralizing antibody production. An equally efficient antibody response to the inoculation of SRBC was observed in these animals. No effect was detected after the transfer of cells obtained 2 days p.i. It is concluded that the humoral immune response plays a predominant role in the recovery from FMDV experimental infection in adult mice.

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) experimental infection: susceptibility and immune response of adult mice.

Adult mice are susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) infection only under some experimental conditions. This paper report the results of pathogenesis studies on 4 different strains of mice (CF1, C3H, NIH-nude, BALB-c/J) infected with the cloned and uncloned 0(1)C strain of FMDV. High virus titers were detected in blood and pancreas 12-24 h after infection (p.i.); these persisted for up to 48 h p.i. in CF1 and BALB-c/J mice and 72 h p.i. in the two other mouse strains. Virus titers observed in other organs were lower than those found in blood. In pancreas, and occasionally in salivary glands, oropharynx, heart and testicles, viral antigen was detected by direct immunofluorescent assay. Circulating neutralizing antibodies appeared in CF1 and C3H mice at 72 and 96 h p.i. respectively, and their titers remained unchanged during the 30-day experimental period. Antibodies against viral infection-associated antigen (VIA) were detected for a shorter period. In animals irradiated with 1 LD 50 (total body irradiation), viremia persisted up to 14 days p.i. and a low antibody response was observed which began at the end of viremia. No differences in the response of mice to cloned or uncloned FMDV were observed.

Reduction in morbidity due to diarrhea in nursing beef calves by use of an inactivated oil-adjuvanted rotavirus-Escherichia coli vaccine in the dam.

An outbreak of neonatal diarrhea occurred among beef calves (2000 animals) from one large Argentinian farm in 1985. Rotavirus was detected in 78% (106/136) and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in 1.5% of the samples (2/136) obtained from sick calves. In comparison rotavirus was identified in only 1.6% (1/63) of the samples from clinically healthy calves. The rotavirus strain responsible for the outbreak was characterized as serotype 6 belonging to group A. In the following three years the protective capacity of a combined rotavirus-E. coli inactivated vaccine administered to the dams during the last third of the gestation period was evaluated on this farm by comparison of morbidity due to diarrhea in calves from vaccinated vs. placebo cows within the same year. The morbidity due to diarrhea among calves from dams in the vaccinated and placebo groups was 34% and 77%, respectively in 1986; 23% and 47% in 1987, and 15% and 34%, in 1988. In 1987 morbidity of diarrhea in calves born from vaccinated heifers was 54% and 74% in calves from placebo heifers. In 1988 morbidity from diarrhea was 41% and 54%, respectively among calves in these two groups. In all experiments, calves from heifers showed significantly greater morbidity than calves from cows. Differences in diarrhea morbidity between the vaccinated and placebo groups were statistically significant (P less than 0.05). Additional studies showed that the diarrhea had a significant influence (P less than 0.05) on the average live weight of the calves at weaning (5 to 7 months) with an average weight loss of 7.8 kg per calf among the calves affected with diarrhea.

Immune response to foot-and-mouth disease virus in an experimental murine model. II. Basis of persistent antibody reaction.

A murine model was used to study the mechanisms involved in the prolonged immune response to live and inactivated foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The antibody response elicited by the infection persisted throughout the entire life of the animal, while immunization with inactivated virus induced a transient response. The administration of inactivated virus in a water-in-oil emulsion increased antibody titres to values as high as those obtained by infection. There was a high correlation between neutralizing antibody titre and transfer of immunity with primed cells, and the protection afforded against challenge with infectious virus. It appears that the mechanism involved in the induction of prolonged immune memory in infected animals is not due to viral persistence. Nude mice infected with FMDV also evidenced a prolonged immune response, showing marked differences in antibody levels but equal effectiveness against challenge when nu/nu and nu/+ animals were compared. Furthermore, athymic and euthymic littermates were efficient in conferring protection when cells were transferred to irradiated animals. It is concluded that there is an effective, T-cell-independent, prolonged immune memory against FMDV in this murine model, and that the difference in the immune responses to live and inactivated virus is due mainly to differential antigenic processing rather than to a difference in the degree of sensitization of effector cells.

Domestic violence: effect on pregnancy outcome.

A predominantly white, suburban, indigent population of pregnancy women were followed up to determine the incidence of domestic violence and its effect on preterm delivery, low birth weight, and outcome of pregnancy (infant admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. A total of 489 gravidas were screened for domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. Patients were assigned to the control group if they had no substance abuse and no domestic violence and to the study group if they had no substance abuse but were victims of domestic violence. Of the total study population, 20% were victims of domestic violence. Among patients suffering domestic violence, 22% had preterm deliveries as compared with 9% of patients without domestic violence (P = .002). Sixteen percent of patients in the study group had low-birth-weight babies compared with 6% of women in the control group (P = .002). No significant relationship was found between domestic violence and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. Therefore, domestic violence is a risk factor for preterm delivery and low-birth-weight infants.

Indirect immunofluorescence and immunodiffusion tests in the detection of antibodies to foot-and-mouth disease virus.

The antibody response detected by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) as well as that directed against 140 S and virus infection associated antigen (VIA), as detected by agar immunodiffusion, was studied in three mammal species susceptible to Foot and Mouth Disease Virus, after challenge with living virus, immunization and hyperimmunization with inactivated virus, and immunization followed by challenge. By spot indirect immunofluorescence, antibodies were detected only in animals undergoing an active infection, and were not detected in immunized or hyperimmunized animals. This behaviour was similar to that of the anti-VIA antibodies in the same groups of animals and differed from that of anti-140 S antibodies. It appeared that spot indirect immunofluorescence for the detection of VIA antigen is comparable to the immunodiffusion test, but the speed of IIF and the possibility of handling many samples make it more practical.