The association between common mental disorders and tuberculosis: a case-control study from Guinea-Bissau.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to explore the association between tuberculosis (TB) and common mental disorders (CMD), in an area with high prevalence of TB. METHODS: We performed a case-control study of TB patients and unmatched healthy controls, from a demographic surveillance site in Guinea-Bissau. Screening for CMD was performed once for controls and at inclusion and follow-up for TB patients. Kessler 10 (K-10) and a brief version of Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 (SCL-8d) were used as screening instruments. RESULTS: 571 controls were interviewed and 416 interviews were performed for 215 TB cases. Estimated CMD prevalence at the time of diagnosis of TB was 33.6 % (SCL-8d) and 46.2 % (K-10), compared with 6.8 % (SCL-8d) and 6.7 % (K-10) among controls; adjusted OR 7.18 (95 % CI 4.07 to 12.67) and 14.52 (95 % CI 8.15 to 25.84), respectively. No significant difference in CMD prevalence rates was observed between TB patients, after 6 months of treatment, and controls. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress and common mental disorders were more prevalent among TB patients at the time of diagnosis compared with the background population, but after completion of TB treatment no increased prevalence of psychological distress was found.

It's not just what we don't know: The mapping problem in the acquisition of negation.

How do learners learn what no and not mean when they are only presented with what is? Given its complexity, abstractness, and roles in logic, truth-functional negation might be a conceptual accomplishment. As a result, young children's gradual acquisition of negation words might be due to their undergoing a gradual conceptual change that is necessary to represent those words' logical meaning. However, it's also possible that linguistic expressions of negation take time to learn because of children's gradually increasing grasp of their language. To understand what no and not mean, children might first need to understand the rest of the sentences in which those words are used. We provide experimental evidence that conceptually equipped learners (adults) face the same acquisition challenges that children do when their access to linguistic information is restricted, which simulates how much language children understand at different points in acquisition. When watching a silenced video of naturalistic uses of negators by parents speaking to their children, adults could tell when the parent was prohibiting the child and struggled with inferring that negators were used to express logical negation. However, when provided with additional information about what else the parent said, guessing that the parent had expressed logical negation became easy for adults. Though our findings do not rule out that young learners also undergo conceptual change, they show that increasing understanding of language alone, with no accompanying conceptual change, can account for the gradual acquisition of negation words.

Incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in suburban Bissau, Guinea-Bissau between 2004 and 2020: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have found declining incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. This study aimed to report incidence rates of TB for the period 2004-2020, stratifying by sex, smear-status, and HIV-status, as well as describe developments in TB case fatality rate and diagnostic delay. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data from the Bandim Health Project HDSS and the TB registry from Jan 1st, 2004 to Dec 31st, 2020 were used. Incidence rates were calculated for each year and for smear-positive, smear-negative, HIV-positive, HIV-negative, and unknown HIV-status. Incidence rate ratio and test for trend were done using a one-step Newton approximation to the log-linear Poisson regression coefficient. RESULTS: Overall TB incidence declined only slightly over the period from 294 per 100,000 in 2004 to 273 in 2020. TB/HIV coinfection declined from 108 in 2004 to 14 in 2020, as did incidence among females and smear-negative cases. CONCLUSIONS: Incidence of PTB in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau is declining slowly, if at all. TB incidence among females, smear-negative TB, TB case fatality rate, and TB/HIV coinfection and diagnostic delay are declining.

Evaluation of the ionization of noble gases under the effect of an electric field for the generation of useful energy.

This work originated from the demand presented by an electric power transmission company and addresses a possible solution for the sector by exploring alternatives to extend the flight time of drones in the inspection of transmission lines. This original article demonstrates the use of the electromagnetic field of a transmission line to generate useful electrical power at the terminals of a bulb containing argon gas. It is an unprecedented application in power transmission. In this work, the tests based on a proof of concept are documented, where the results obtained were satisfactory and still allowed to connect an LED through the constructed arrangement. It is observed that the continuity of this research can provide scalability for applications whose main source of ion excitation is given from the energy dissipated as electric field loss in high-voltage lines.

High acidity of bracatinga honeydew honey: A new regulatory limit proposal.

The free acidity of bracatinga honeydew honey (BHH) was monthly monitored over short-term storage (four months) until all the samples exceeded 50 mEq kg-1 - the maximum value allowed by the international regulatory honey standards. In addition, BHH quality was also investigated through moisture content, water activity, electrical conductivity, pH, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and aliphatic organic acids (AOA) analyses. According to our results, most of the parameters investigated presented significant differences during the short storage period studied; however, the quality parameters (except acidity) did not exceed the limits established by the international regulatory honey standards. Therefore, the high free acidity observed in the BHH samples did not affect its quality. Moreover, the total AOA concentration decreased as the free acidity increased, indicating that the high acidity is not related to postharvest fermentation. Since all BHH samples exceeded the established limit of 50 mEq kg-1 after four months of storage (up to 62.7 mEq kg-1), this data corroborates that this type of honey does not comply with the regulatory honey standards, which represents an obstacle to its commercialization. Therefore, our data reinforce the need for a future reassessment of the international regulatory honey standards regarding the free acidity limit for BHH. In this sense, taking together all the studies developed by our research group since 2014, a new free acidity value of 65 mEq kg-1 is proposed, which may discourage fraud practices and negative impacts on the BHH beekeeping chain.

TBscore II: refining and validating a simple clinical score for treatment monitoring of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND: The TBscore, based on simple signs and symptoms, was introduced to predict unsuccessful outcome in tuberculosis patients on treatment. A recent inter-observer variation study showed profound variation in some variables. Further, some variables depend on a physician assessing them, making the score less applicable. The aim of the present study was to simplify the TBscore. METHODS: Inter-observer variation assessment and exploratory factor analysis were combined to develop a simplified score, the TBscore II. To validate TBscore II we assessed the association between start score and failure (i.e. death or treatment failure), responsiveness using Cohen's effect size, and the relationship between severity class at treatment start and a decrease < 25% in score from the start until the end of the second treatment month and subsequent mortality. RESULTS: We analyzed data from 1070 Guinean (2003-2012) and 432 Ethiopian (2007-2012) pulmonary tuberculosis patients. For the refined score, items with less than substantial agreement (κ ≤ 0.6) and/or not associated with the underlying constructs were excluded. Items kept were: cough, dyspnea, chest pain, anemia, body mass index (BMI) < 18 kg/m(2), BMI < 16 kg/m(2), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) < 220 mm, and MUAC < 200 mm. The effect sizes for the change between the start of treatment and the 2-month follow-up were 0.51 in Guinea-Bissau and 0.68 in Ethiopia, and for the change between the start of treatment and the end of treatment were 0.68 in Guinea-Bissau and 0.74 in Ethiopia. Severity class placement at treatment start predicted failure (p < 0.001 Guinea-Bissau, p = 0.208 Ethiopia). Inability to decrease at least 25% in score was associated with a higher failure rate during the remaining 4 months of treatment (p = 0.063 Guinea-Bissau, p = 0.008 Ethiopia). CONCLUSION: The TBscore II could be a useful monitoring tool, aiding triage at the beginning of treatment and during treatment.

BCG is protective against death in male but not female patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Guinea-Bissau.

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence supports the existence of a sex difference in immunity to tuberculosis (TB). This is most often to the detriment of males. This study aimed to assess the association between scar size from bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and mortality risk stratified by sex. METHODS: Kaplan-Meier survivor functions and Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess mortality risk by sex and scar size. Groups were further compared by clinical and epidemiological characteristics. RESULTS: Between 2003 and 2019, 2944 eligible patients were identified, of whom 1003 were included in the final analysis. Males with BCG scars, particularly large scars, were less likely to die within 1 y of diagnosis than males with no scar (adjusted hazard ratio 0.36 [95% confidence interval 0.15 to 0.88]). In contrast, females with small scars trended towards higher mortality than females with no scars or females with large scars. CONCLUSIONS: BCG protects against death in male but not female patients with TB. More research is needed to determine the mechanisms underpinning these sex differences and whether they are generalizable beyond this setting.

Life expectancy among patients with pulmonary tuberculosis is less than one-third of life expectancy in the background population in Guinea-Bissau-an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have assessed life expectancy of patients with tuberculosis (TB) against a comparable background population, particularly in low-income, high-incidence settings. This study aimed to estimate the life expectancy (LE) of patients with TB in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau and compare it with the LE of the background population. METHODS: This study used data from the Bandim TB cohort from 2004-20 as well as census data from the capital of Guinea-Bissau. LE was estimated using a bootstrapped Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for patients with TB and the background population, stratifying by age of entry and various patient subgroups. The analysis was further stratified by diagnosis period and length of schooling (an indicator of socioeconomic status), to assess their influence on LE. A sensitivity analysis was performed assuming death at loss to follow-up. RESULTS: The analysis included 2278 patients and a background population of 169 760 individuals. Overall median LE among 30-year-old patients with TB was 10.7 years (95% CI: 8.7-12.6), compared with 35.8 (95% CI: 35.1-36.5) in the background population. LE was shorter in HIV-infected patients and those who had unsuccessful treatment outcome; however, even among those who were both uninfected with HIV and experienced successful treatment outcome, LE was 20% shorter than in the background population. Longer schooling appeared to decrease mortality. CONCLUSIONS: TB substantially shortens LE. This effect is present even in patients who are uninfected with HIV and who have successful treatment outcome.

Tobacco smoking impact on tuberculosis treatment outcome: an observational study from West Africa.

OBJECTIVE: Both tuberculosis (TB) and tobacco smoking are preventable health hazards. Few studies have examined the relationship between TB and tobacco smoking in an African setting, where the two health burdens collide heavily. This study aimed to describe the severity of TB disease and treatment outcomes among smokers with TB compared with nonsmokers with TB in Guinea-Bissau. METHODS: We conducted a prospective follow-up study between 2003-2017 in Guinea-Bissau, enrolling adult patients with TB classified as nonsmokers or smokers. Disease severity was assessed using the Bandim TBscore. Multivariate logistic and Cox proportional hazard regressions were used to analyse treatment outcomes. RESULTS: Of 1780 included patients, 385 were smokers who had smoked for a median 10 years (interquartile range [IQR] 5-20). No difference in disease severity at the time of diagnosis was observed. Smokers were not significantly more prone to a nonsuccessful treatment outcome, although a trend was seen (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91-1.70), and smokers tended to be more often lost to follow-up, but this also was not a significant finding (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 2.09, 95% CI 0.89-4.94). CONCLUSION: In a TB high-endemic setting with few tobacco smokers, smoking was not associated with disease severity or worse outcome, possibly because of socioeconomic confounders.

Impact of tuberculosis exposure at home on mortality in children under 5 years of age in Guinea-Bissau.

OBJECTIVE: To assess mortality related to exposure to tuberculosis (TB) at home among children in urban areas of Guinea-Bissau. METHODS: In four suburban areas included in the demographic surveillance system of the Bandim Health Project in Bissau, the mortality of children aged <5 years living with an adult with TB was compared with the mortality of children in the general population. RESULTS: Children <5 years of age exposed to an adult with intrathoracic TB had 66% higher mortality than unexposed children (HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.3). The risk was higher for children living in the same family as a TB case (HR 2.15, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.7) than for children living in the same house but not belonging to the same family as the TB case (HR 1.51, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.2). For children whose mother had TB, mortality was increased eightfold (HR 7.82, 95% CI 2.1 to 30). The risk of death was particularly increased from 6 months following exposure (HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.5 to 3.2) and the highest rate of excess mortality was found in children aged 3­4 years. Excess mortality was highest among children with close contact with an adult with sputum-positive pulmonary TB (HR 1.90, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.2), but contact with a sputum-negative case was also associated with increased mortality (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.3). Adjusting for potential confounding factors did not change these results. The mortality among children living in the same houses 3 years earlier was not increased (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.6 to 1.3). CONCLUSION: Intimate family contact with a TB case represents a significant risk factor for child mortality in a low-income country.

The extract of the jellyfish Phyllorhiza punctata promotes neurotoxic effects.

Phyllorhiza punctata (P. punctata) is a jellyfish native to the southwestern Pacific. Herewith we present the biochemical and pharmacological characterization of an extract of the tentacles of P. punctata. The tentacles were subjected to three freeze-thaw cycles, homogenized, ultrafiltered, precipitated, centrifuged and lyophilized to obtain a crude extract (PHY-N). Paralytic shellfish poisoning compounds such as saxitoxin, gonyautoxin-4, tetrodotoxin and brevetoxin-2, as well as several secretory phospholipase A(2) were identified. PHY-N was tested on autonomic and somatic neuromuscular preparations. In mouse vas deferens, PHY-N induced phasic contractions that reached a peak of 234 ± 34.7% of control twitch height, which were blocked with either 100 µ m of phentolamine or 1 m m of lidocaine. In mouse corpora cavernosa, PHY-N evoked a relaxation response, which was blocked with either L-N(G) -Nitroarginine methyl ester (0.5 m m) or 1 m m of lidocaine. PHY-N (1, 3 and 10 µg ml(-1) ) induced an increase in tonus of the biventer-cervicis neuromuscular preparation that was blocked with pre-treatment of galamine (10 µ m). Administration of 6 mg kg(-1) PHY-N intramuscularly produced death in broilers by spastic paralysis. In conclusion, PHY-N induces nerve depolarization and nonspecifically increases neurotransmitter release.

Effect of anesthetic technique on the quality of anesthesia recovery for abdominal histerectomy: a cross-observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Spinal anesthesia combined with sedation and general anesthesia combined with epidural are two techniques often used for patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy. There is no consensus that one of these techniques is superior regarding the perception of patients towards the quality of postoperative recovery. This observational cross-sectional study aimed to assess the quality of postoperative recovery in women undergoing open abdominal hysterectomy by comparing both anesthetic techniques. METHOD: We recruited 162 women aged between 30 and 74 years to be submitted to abdominal hysterectomy. The anesthetic technique used followed the preference of the attending anesthesiologist without interference of the investigators. After applying the exclusion criteria, 80 patients underwent spinal anesthesia combined with sedation (Group 1) and 62 women underwent epidural anesthesia combined with general anesthesia (Group 2). The quality of postoperative recovery was evaluated using the questionnaire Quality of Recovery-40 (QoR-40) completed 24 hours after the end of the surgery. RESULTS: Eighty patients in Group 1 answered the QoR-40 questionnaire with an average rating of 179.4 points, median of 186.5, standard deviation of 17.4 and a confidence interval of 3.8. The 60 patients in Group 2 answered the QoR-40 with an average of 174.9 points, median of 178 points, standard deviation of 16 points and a confidence interval of 4.0 (p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Women who received spinal anesthesia combined with sedation considered quality of postoperative recovery better.

Assessing gender differences among presumed and diagnosed patients with pulmonary TB: observations from Guinea-Bissau.

BACKGROUND: Globally, more males than females are diagnosed with pulmonary TB (PTB); however, the cause of this gender disparity remains unknown. We aimed to assess gender differences in an observational cohort of patients with presumed PTB (prePTB) at the Bandim Health Project, Guinea-Bissau. METHODS: Adult patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of PTB seeking medical care were invited to participate and were referred to comprehensive diagnostic work-up. RESULTS: We included 2020 patients with prePTB; 54.6% were female. Females were younger than males and more often infected with HIV. More male patients with prePTB were diagnosed with PTB and the proportion of smear-positive cases was greater among males. There was no gender difference in loss to follow-up during the diagnostic process. Of 219 patients with PTB, 205 started treatment, with no difference between genders regarding pretreatment loss to follow-up or treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: More women sought help for symptoms indicative of PTB, yet more men were diagnosed. Women did not have more clinically severe disease at presentation, did not drop out of diagnostic procedures more frequently and did not experience a worse outcome than men. This suggests that the gender gap in PTB is unlikely to be due solely to differences in care-seeking behaviour or diagnostic procedures in our setting.

Multi-purpose Disinfecting Solutions only Partially Inhibit the Development of Ocular Microbes Biofilms in Contact Lens Storage Cases.

PURPOSE: Certain ocular resident or pathogenic microbes may remain viable in the presence of multi-purpose disinfectant solutions (MPDSs), subsequently developing biofilms inside contact lens storage cases (CLSCs) which pose a risk of infection to wearers. This study evaluated the formation of ocular microbiota biofilms exposed to three top selling MPDS. METHODS: Crystal violet assay was carried out for the verification of biofilm formation. The in vitro assays evaluated Pseudomonas aeruginosa UFPEDA 416 and Staphylococcus aureus UFPEDA 02 exposure of 48 h to MPDS, as well as the use of 40 KHz ultrasound at the beginning and with 24 h immersion in the MPDS. Subsequently, in vivo assays evaluated the formation of microbial biofilms on the CLSC walls containing silicone-hydrogel contact lenses immersed in MPDS from 15 healthy volunteer patients, who had been wearing the lenses for 7 days. RESULTS: Biofilms were inhibited by 26%-98% in the in vitro assays, with a statistically significant difference only for P. aeruginosa UFPEDA 416 exposed to diluted MPDS. Most inhibitions occurred moderately and weakly. In addition, adherent cells were detected in more than 90% of the tests. Biofilm was not inhibited in more than one third of the results, nor was it disturbed, especially with the ultrasound treatments. The average of obtained optical densities at 590 nm was between 0.6 and 0.8 in the in vivo assays. The results were similar between the CLSC right and left wells. There was a correlation between microbial biofilm formation and the type of MPDS tested, with statistical difference between the three treatments. CONCLUSION: MPDS promoted a partial inhibition of microbial biofilm formation but only one MPDS proved to be more effective in vitro and in vivo. This study, however, could not distinguish the effect of possible errors in the good hygiene practices of the users.

Vitamin D as supplementary treatment for tuberculosis: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

RATIONALE: Vitamin D has been shown to be involved in the host immune response toward Mycobacterium tuberculosis. OBJECTIVES: To test whether vitamin D supplementation of patients with tuberculosis (TB) improved clinical outcome and reduced mortality. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in TB clinics at a demographic surveillance site in Guinea-Bissau. We included 365 adult patients with TB starting antituberculosis treatment; 281 completed the 12-month follow-up. The intervention was 100,000 IU of cholecalciferol or placebo at inclusion and again 5 and 8 months after the start of treatment. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome was reduction in a clinical severity score (TBscore) for all patients with pulmonary TB. The secondary outcome was 12-month mortality. No serious adverse effects were reported; mild hypercalcemia was rare and present in both arms. Reduction in TBscore and sputum smear conversion rates did not differ among patients treated with vitamin D or placebo. Overall mortality was 15% (54 of 365) at 1 year of follow-up and similar in both arms (30 of 187 for vitamin D treated and 24 of 178 for placebo; relative risk, 1.19 [0.58-1.95]). HIV infection was seen in 36% (131 of 359): 21% (76 of 359) HIV-1, 10% (36 of 359) HIV-2, and 5% (19 of 357) HIV-1+2. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D does not improve clinical outcome among patients with TB and the trial showed no overall effect on mortality in patients with TB; it is possible that the dose used was insufficient. Clinical trial registered with www.controlled-trials.com/isrctn (ISRCTN35212132).

Neonatal BCG vaccination and child survival in TB-exposed and TB-unexposed children: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between neonatal BCG vaccination and mortality between 28 days and 3 years of age among tuberculosis (TB)-exposed and TB-unexposed children. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Bandim Health Project runs an urban Health and Demographic Surveillance site in Guinea-Bissau with registration of mortality, vaccination status and TB cases. PARTICIPANTS: Children entered the analysis when their vaccination card was inspected after 28 days of age and remained under surveillance to 3 years of age. Children residing in the same house as a TB case were classified as TB-exposed from 3 months prior to case registration to the end of follow-up. METHODS: Using Cox-proportional hazards models with age as underlying time scale, we compared mortality of children with and without neonatal BCG between October 2003 and September 2017. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: HR for neonatal BCG compared with no neonatal BCG by TB-exposure status. RESULTS: Among the 39 421 children who entered the analyses, 3022 (8%) had observation time as TB-exposed. In total, 84% of children received neonatal BCG. Children with neonatal BCG had lower mortality both in TB-exposed (adjusted HR: 0.57 (0.26 to 1.27)) and in TB-unexposed children (HR: 0.57 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.69)) than children without neonatal BCG. Children exposed to TB had higher mortality than TB-unexposed children if they had not received neonatal BCG. CONCLUSION: Neonatal BCG vaccination was associated with lower mortality among both TB-exposed and TB-unexposed children, consistent with neonatal BCG vaccination having beneficial non-specific effects. Interventions to increase timely BCG vaccination are urgently warranted.

Acute undifferentiated leukemia: data on incidence and outcomes from a large population-based database.

Acute undifferentiated leukemia (AUL) is rare and defined by the absence of bona fide myeloid and lymphoid markers. Little is known about its incidence, survival and optimal management in the recent time period. Based on a case observed in our clinic, we queried the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2000 and 2016. A total of 1,888 cases of AUL were diagnosed (1.34 per million person-years). The incidence of AUL has significantly decreased over time. Compared to other acute leukemias, patients with AUL have the highest median age (74 years); in contrast to acute myeloid leukemia (AML, 65) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, 12). Excluding patients with preexisting malignancies, 1,444 patients with AUL were analyzed for survival. Only 35% of AUL patients had received chemotherapy. Comparatively, 94% of ALL and 71% of AML cases received chemotherapy. Among AUL patients who received chemotherapy, the median survival was 12 months as opposed to 1 month in the group who did not receive chemotherapy (or unknown status). Among adults, AUL patients had the worst prognosis, with a median overall survival (OS) of 9 months, compared to 27 months in ALL and 13 months in AML. Among children, the median OS was superior for all three groups of leukemias, the OS of AUL patients being better than in AML and very similar to ALL. On multivariate analysis, older age and time period were associated with worse outcome. We describe here the largest series of cases with AUL published to date.

Demographic and socioeconomic profiles of patients admitted with diabetic foot complications in a tertiary hospital in Belem - Para.

OBJECTIVE: to assess the socioeconomic and demographic profiles of patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of diabetic foot in a tertiary hospital in Belem-PA, Brazil, as well as to evaluate risk factors for lower limb amputations in such patients, classifying them according to the Wagner and PEDIS classifications. METHODS: we conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional, unicentric, and analytical study carried out through a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: the study consisted of 57 patients, aged between 48 and 84 years old, 66.7% being male. The average income ranged between one and three (61.4%) minimum wages and below one minimum wage (31.6%). Type II Diabetes Mellitus was predominant (86.0%). Concerning comorbidities, arterial hypertension displayed the highest proportion (62.3%), followed by dyslipidemia (52.8%). Smokers comprised 35.1% of the sample. Infectious diabetic foot (50.9%) and mixed diabetic foot (49.1%) were the most common. Of the 20 patients with previous amputation, 90% had undergone minor amputation, and 10%, major ones. Callosity (92.6%) was the most prevalent deformity. Fifty-four (94.7%) patients underwent surgery, those being debridement (24.1%), minor amputation (37.0%) and major amputation (38.9%). During hospitalization, 78.9% of individuals did not require ICU stay. Hospitalization time varied between three and 59 days, and 78.9% of hospitalized patients did not progress to death, but 43.1% of patients submitted to major amputations died. CONCLUSION: patients with diabetic foot followed-up have a low socioeconomic profile; most of them underwent surgical procedures, whether major or minor, due to the higher prevalence of infectious diabetic foot and/or non-adherence to non-operative treatment.

Antihypertensive potential of cis-[Ru(bpy)2(ImN)(NO)]3+, a ruthenium-based nitric oxide donor.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antihypertensive properties of cis-[Ru(bpy)2ImN(NO)]3+ (FOR0811) in normotensive and in Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced hypertensive rats. Vasorelaxant effects were analyzed by performing concentration response curve to FOR0811 in rat aortic rings in the absence or presence of 1H-[1,2,4]-oxadiazolo-[4,3,-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), L-cysteine or hydroxocobalamin. Normotensive and L-NAME-hypertensive rats were treated with FOR0811 and the effects in blood pressure and heart rate variability in the frequency domain (HRV) were followed. FOR0811 induced relaxation in rat aortic rings. Neither endothelium removal nor L-cysteine altered the FOR0811 effects. However, the incubation with ODQ and hydroxocobalamin completely blunted FOR0811 effects. FOR0811 administered intravenously by bolus infusion (0.01-1 mg/bolus) or chronically by using subcutaneous implanted osmotic pumps significantly reduced the mean arterial blood pressure. The effect was long lasting and did not induce reflex tachycardia. FOR0811 prevented both LF and VLF increases in L-NAME hypertensive rats and has antihypertensive properties. This new ruthenium complex compound might be a promising nitric oxide donor to treat cardiovascular diseases.

High mortality risk among individuals assumed to be TB-negative can be predicted using a simple test.

OBJECTIVES: To determine mortality among assumed TB negative (aTBneg) individuals in Guinea-Bissau and to investigate whether plasma levels of soluble urokinase receptor (suPAR) can be used to determine post-consultation mortality risk. METHODS: This prospective West-African cohort study included 1007 aTBneg individuals who were enrolled from 2004 to 2006; 4983 age-matched controls were followed for comparison. Plasma suPAR levels were measured using the suPARnostic ELISA. Survival was analysed using Cox regression, ROC curves and Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: After 3 months of follow-up, mortality was 21 per 100 person-year-observation (PYO) among aTBneg individuals and three per 100 PYO among the control population [mortality rate ratio (MRR) = 6.92 (95% CI 4.48-10.7)]. SuPAR values ranged between 0.9 and 45 ng/ml in aTBneg individuals. A log-linear relationship was found between suPAR levels <15 ng/ml and mortality. In the log-linear range, a 1 ng/ml increase was associated with a 46% increase in the mortality rate: MRR = 1.46 (95% CI 1.34-1.59). The area under the ROC curves was 0.88 for HIV-positive individuals and 0.79 for HIV-negative individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed a high mortality rate among aTBneg individuals and demonstrated that suPAR measurements can provide prognostic information on mortality among individuals without disease diagnosis. Measuring suPAR is a technically simple method for determining mortality risk in individuals that are assumed to be TB-negative.