[Uretero-arterial fistula secondary to renal artery aneurysm. Unusual complication of a low prevalence disease.] / Fistula ureteroarterial por aneurisma de arteria renal. Una complicación inusual de una enfermedad poco prevalente.

To review the presentation, diagnosis and treatment of the renal artery aneurysms. Also, to report a non-described complication like the presence of an ureteroarterial fistula, its diagnosis, treatment and complications. METHODS: We report the case of a patient with a renal artery aneurysm that presents a ureteroarterial microfistula on a CT scan, his presenting symptoms, the diagnosis, treatment and management of the subsequent complications. RESULTS: Ureteroarterial fistula is an unusual complication of renal artery aneurysms. Currently, by the application of minimally invasive techniques and the use of new biodegradable materials we can treat a wide range of diseases endovascularly, although we often don´t know the complications that can result. CONCLUSIONS: Renal artery aneurysms are not a prevalent disease and sometimes not described complications like ureteroarterial fistula may occur. There is no clear consensus on the management and treatment, but minimally invasive endovascular techniques could represent the gold standard nowadays.

Fistula ureteroarterial por aneurisma de arteria renal. Una complicación inusual de una enfermedad poco prevalente / Uretero-arterial fistula secondary to renal artery aneurysm. Unusual complication of a low prevalence disease

OBJETIVO: Revisar la presentación, diagnóstico y tratamiento de los aneurismas renales. Así como, reportar una complicación no descrita anteriormente de dicha patología como sería la presencia de una fistula ureteroarterial con su diagnóstico, tratamiento y complicaciones. MÉTODOS: Presentamos el caso de una paciente con un aneurisma renal que presenta microfistulización ureteroarterial, su clínica de debut, diagnóstico, tratamiento y manejo de las posteriores complicaciones. RESULTADOS: La fístula ureteroarterial es una complicación inusual de los aneurismas de la arteria renal. Actualmente, mediante la aplicación de técnicas mínimamente invasivas y la utilización de nuevos materiales biodegradables se puede realizar el tratamiento de un amplio abanico de enfermedades de forma endovascular, a pesar de que muchas veces desconocemos las complicaciones que pueden conllevar. CONCLUSIONES: Los aneurismas renales son una enfermedad poco prevalente y en ocasiones se puede presentar alguna complicación no descrita anteriormente como es el caso de una fistula ureteroarterial. No existe un consenso claro en cuanto a su manejo y tratamiento pero las técnicas mínimamente invasivas de forma endovascular representan el gold estándar actualmente

OBJECTIVE: To review the presentation, diagnosis and treatment of the renal artery aneurysms. Also, to report a non-described complication like the presence of an ureteroarterial fistula, its diagnosis, treatment and complications. METHODS: We report the case of a patient with a renal artery aneurysm that presents a ureteroarterial microfistula on a CT scan, his presenting symptoms, the diagnosis, treatment and management of the subsequent complications. RESULTS: Ureteroarterial fistula is an unusual complication of renal artery aneurysms. Currently, by the application of minimally invasive techniques and the use of new biodegradable materials we can treat a wide range of diseases endovascularly, although we often don ́t know the complications that can result. CONCLUSIONS: Renal artery aneurysms are not a prevalent disease and sometimes not described complications like ureteroarterial fistula may occur. There is no clear consensus on the management and treatment, but minimally invasive endovascular techniques could represent the gold standard nowadays

Cost-effectiveness of using small vertebrates as indicators of disturbance.

In species-rich tropical forests, effective biodiversity management demands measures of progress, yet budgetary limitations typically constrain capacity of decision makers to assess response of biological communities to habitat change. One approach is to identify ecological-disturbance indicator species (EDIS) whose monitoring is also monetarily cost-effective. These species can be identified by determining individual species' responses to disturbance across a gradient; however, such responses may be confounded by factors other than disturbance. For example, in mountain environments the effects of anthropogenic habitat alteration are commonly confounded by elevation. EDIS have been identified with the indicator value (IndVal) metric, but there are weaknesses in the application of this approach in complex montane systems. We surveyed birds, small mammals, bats, and leaf-litter lizards in differentially disturbed cloud forest of the Ecuadorian Andes. We then incorporated elevation in generalized linear (mixed) models (GL(M)M) to screen for EDIS in the data set. Finally, we used rarefaction of species accumulation data to compare relative monetary costs of identifying and monitoring EDIS at equal sampling effort, based on species richness. Our GL(M)M generated greater numbers of EDIS but fewer characteristic species relative to IndVal. In absolute terms birds were the most cost-effective of the 4 taxa surveyed. We found one low-cost bird EDIS. In terms of the number of indicators generated as a proportion of species richness, EDIS of small mammals were the most cost-effective. Our approach has the potential to be a useful tool for facilitating more sustainable management of Andean forest systems.

Computer-aided design of fragment mixtures for NMR-based screening.

Fragment-based drug discovery is widely applied both in industrial and in academic screening programs. Several screening techniques rely on NMR to detect binding of a fragment to a target. NMR-based methods are among the most sensitive techniques and have the further advantage of yielding a low rate of false positives and negatives. However, NMR is intrinsically slower than other screening techniques; thus, to increase throughput in NMR-based screening, researchers often assay mixtures of fragments, rather than single fragments. Herein we present a fast and straightforward computer-aided method to design mixtures of fragments taken from a library that have minimized NMR signal overlap. This approach enables direct identification of one or several active fragments without the need for deconvolution. Our approach entails encoding of NMR spectra into a computer-readable format that we call a fingerprint, and minimizing the global signal overlap through a Monte Carlo algorithm. The scoring function used favors a homogenous distribution of the global signal overlap. The method does not require additional experimental work: the only data required are NMR spectra, which are generally recorded for each compound as a quality control measure before its insertion into the library.