Liver transplantation using University of Wisconsin or Celsior preserving solutions in the portal vein and Euro-Collins in the aorta.

INTRODUCTION: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is today the gold standard treatment of the end-stage liver disease. Different solutions are used for graft preservation. Our objective was to compare the results of cadaveric donor OLT, preserved with the University of Wisconsin (UW) or Celsior solutions in the portal vein and Euro-Collins in the aorta. METHODS: We evaluated retrospectively 72 OLT recipients, including 36 with UW solution (group UW) and 36 with Celsior (group CS). Donors were perfused in situ with 1000 mL UW or Celsior in the portal vein of and 3000 mL of Euro-Collins in the aortia and on the back table managed with 500 mL UW or Celsior in the portal vein, 250 mL in the hepatic artery, and 250 mL in the biliary duct. We evaluated the following variables: donor characteristics, recipient features, intraoperative details, reperfusion injury, and steatosis via a biopsy after reperfusion. We noted grafts with primary nonfunction (PNF), initial poor function (IPF), rejection episodes, biliary duct complications, hepatic artery complications, re-OLT, and recipient death in the first year after OLT. RESULTS: The average age was 33.6 years in the UW group versus 41 years in the CS group (P = .048). There was a longer duration of surgery in the UW group (P = .001). The other recipient characteristics, ischemia-reperfusion injury, steatosis, PNF, IPF, rejection, re-OLT, and recipient survival were not different. Stenosis of the biliary duct occured in 3 (8.3%) cases in the UW group and 8 (22.2%) in the CS (P = .19) with hepatic artery thrombosis in 4 (11.1%) CS versus none in the UW group (P = .11). CONCLUSION: Cadaveric donor OLT showed similar results with organs preserved with UW or Celsior in the portal vein and Euro-Collins in the aorta.

Studying taxis in real time using optical tweezers: applications for Leishmania amazonensis parasites.

Beads trapped by an optical tweezers can be used as a force transducer for measuring forces of the same order of magnitude as typical forces induced by flagellar motion. We used an optical tweezers to study chemotaxis by observing the force response of a flagellated microorganism when placed in a gradient of attractive chemical substances. This report shows such observations for Leishmania amazonensis, responsible for leishmaniasis, a serious disease. We quantified the movement of this protozoan for different gradients of glucose. We were able to observe both the strength and the directionality of the force. The characterization of the chemotaxis of these parasites can help to understand the mechanics of infection and improve the treatments employed for this disease. This methodology can be used to quantitatively study the taxis of any kind of flagellated microorganisms under concentration gradients of different chemical substances, or even other types of variable gradients such as temperature and pressure.

Migration of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt to the right atrium: complications in the intraoperative period of liver transplantation.

This article reports the case of a patient who underwent transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, which migrated to the right atrium. During liver transplantation, the extracardiac portion was sectioned and the portion adherent inside the atrium was managed expectantly.

Efficacy of pentavalent antimony, amphotericin B, and miltefosine in Leishmania amazonensis-infected macrophages under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

Recently, our group demonstrated that mouse lesions infected with Leishmania amazonensis are hypoxic. Evidence indicates the negative impact of hypoxia on the efficacy of a variety of chemotherapeutic agents against tumors, fungi, bacteria, and malaria parasites. In the present study, comparison of the effect of antileishmanial drugs on L. amazonensis-infected macrophages under normoxic and hypoxic conditions was performed. We compared the effect of 5% oxygen tension with a tension of 21% oxygen on peritoneal murine macrophage cultures infected with the parasite and treated with glucantime, amphotericin B, or miltefosine. Analysis of the infection index (percentage of infected macrophages x number of amastigotes per macrophage), dose-dependent efficacy of drugs, and IC(50) values demonstrated that hypoxia conferred a small, but significant, resistance to all 3 antileishmanial drugs. The present finding suggests that in vitro assays under hypoxia should not be neglected in drug studies.

Destruction of polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins.

The release of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol (2,4,5-T) containing 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) at Sèveso highlighted the need for an efficient control procedure for the highly toxic dioxin. The concomitant formation of the dioxin and the trichlorophenol during hydrolysis of sym-tetrachlorobenzene has lead to demands for restrictions on the use of 2,4,5-T and related herbicides. An environmental hazard is also presented by pentachlorophenol which includes the more highly chlorinated dioxins, is particular octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD). The use of pholychlorophenol formulations has been banned in Sweden on the grounds that heat-stable chlorodioxins are formed during incineration; this also points to the need for degradation by chemical means. Dehalogenation of polychlorodibenzodioxins (PCDD) can be accomplished by photolysis in laboratory conditions, but material adsorbed on soil is little affected. Cleavage of the ether linkages with the formation of halophenols may be achieved by treatment with strong acids or quaternary ammonium salts. The dibenzodioxin nucleus, is however, rather resistant to chemical attack and in the absence of a suitable control procedure the use of 2,4,5-T has been restricted in the US by the Environmental Protection Agency. I now report the oxidative degeneration of TCDD and related compounds by ruthenium tetroxide.