Multicentric Study of the Andalusian Experience in Polycystic Liver Disease as Indication for Liver Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the morbidity and survival in patients with polycystic liver disease (PLD) undergoing liver transplantation (LT) in 4 Spanish hospitals. METHODS: A multicentric retrospective study using a prospective database was designed including 19 LTs after PLD diagnosis performed from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2016. Pediatric patients were excluded from the analysis. RESULTS: Of the included patients, 63.2% were female, the overall average age was 52.16 ± 11.276 years, median time on the waiting list was 394 days (interquartile range [IQR], 96.25-464.50) and most of them were classified with Model for End-Stage Liver Disease scores of ≤17. Eleven patients received isolated LT, 1 patient had a previous kidney transplantation (KT), and 7 patients received combined liver-kidney transplantation, 4 of them with a previous nephrectomy. Complications include hepatopulmonary syndrome in 10.5%, paralytic ileus in 10.5%, transient renal dysfunction in 10.5%, and hepatorenal syndrome in 5.3%. The most common surgical complication was bleeding (15.8%). Three patients presented graft rejection, which was treated by means of immunosuppressive optimization (15.8%), with corticosteroid addition needed in 1 of them. Thrombosis of the hepatic artery occurred in 3 patients, requiring retransplantation in 2 of them. Most of the patients had improved renal function after the procedure. The mortality rate was 15.8%, related to tumors or sepsis, with an estimated 86% 5-year graft survival. CONCLUSIONS: PLD as indication of LT presents a low complications rate and better graft survival and renal function, especially when KT is associated with LT.

¿Qué pacientes politraumatizados graves se benefician de la realización de un total-body CT? / Which multi-trauma patients benefit from performing a total-body CT?

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Cannabis and bipolar disorder: does quitting cannabis use during manic/mixed episode improve clinical/functional outcomes?

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether bipolar disorder patients who stop cannabis use during a manic/mixed episode have better clinical and functional outcomes than continued use or never use. METHOD: Data from the European Mania in Bipolar Longitudinal Evaluation of Medication (EMBLEM), a 2-year prospective observational study in adults with a manic/mixed episode of bipolar disorder, was used. Three cannabis use groups were: current use (between 12-week and 24-month visits); no current but previous use (during first 12 weeks); and never use. Associations between cannabis use and outcomes were analyzed using regression models. RESULTS: Of 1922 patients analyzed, 6.9% were current users, 4.6% previous users, and 88.5% never users. Clinical outcomes differed between groups (P<0.019): previous users had highest rates of remission (68.1%) and recovery (38.7%), and lowest rates of recurrence (42.1%) and relapse (29.8%). Logistic regression showed previous users had similar outcomes to never users (all P>0.05), whereas current users had lower recovery (P=0.004) and remission (P=0.014), higher recurrence (P=0.014), greater work impairment (P=0.016), and were more likely not to be living with partner (P=0.006) than never users. CONCLUSION: Bipolar patients who stop using cannabis during manic/mixed episode have similar clinical and functional outcomes to never users, while continued use is associated with higher risk of recurrence and poorer functioning.

Neuropsychological evidence for abnormal neurodevelopment associated with early-onset psychoses.

BACKGROUND: The longitudinal neuropsychological study of first-episode early-onset psychosis (EOP) patients, whose brain maturation is still in progress at the time of illness onset, provides a unique opportunity to compare their cognitive development with that of healthy subjects, in search of specific patterns resulting from the interaction between neurodevelopmental processes and the presence of psychotic disorders. Method Seventy-five first-episode EOP patients (schizophrenia n = 35; bipolar disorder n = 17; other forms of psychosis n = 23) with a mean age of 15.53 years were assessed with a neuropsychological battery that included measures of attention, working memory, memory and executive functions within 6 months following the onset of the first psychotic symptom (baseline) and 2 years later. Psychotic symptoms were assessed at both times with the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS). Seventy-nine healthy subjects matched for age and education served as controls. RESULTS: EOP patients showed significant cognitive impairment at both baseline and the 2-year follow-up, with no significant differences between diagnostic groups at either time. Both healthy controls and EOP patients improved in all cognitive measures, except for patient working memory. Improvement in patient attention lost significance after controlling for psychotic symptom reduction. No significant time/diagnosis interaction was found among patients (p > 0.405). CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive impairment in EOP is already present at the first episode, and cognitive development seems to be arrested early in EOP patients compared to their healthy peers, at least for some cognitive functions. These and previous similar results support the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of psychosis.

Inflammatory biomarker profile in children with cystic fibrosis: preliminary study.

The aim of this preliminary study was to determine specific proteins, related to inflammation process and nutritional status as well as to total antioxidant capacity, in children suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). The study was performed on 17 nonhospitalized children (12 boys and 5 girls) with CF aged 3 months to 10 years, who were assisted at the Nutrition Service from Pedro de Elizalde Hospital. Transferrin, transthyretin, ceruloplasmin (Cp), haptoglobin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen were measured by single radial immunodiffusion techniques. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was determined by a decolorization assay. Statistical analyses were performed by the Student's t test. Transferrin and transthyretin values were lower in CF patients in comparison with data obtained from healthy children (reference group, RG). The decreased transferrin concentration and the tendency towards low plasma transthyretin values suggested an abnormal nutritional status. However, higher Cp and haptoglobin levels were shown in patients than in RG. The fact that 23 and 50% of patients exceeded the desirable values for fibrinogen (<285.0 mg/dl) and CRP (<0.2 mg/dl), respectively, should be highlighted. The TAC (mM; Trolox equivalents) was shown to be lower in the CF group than in RG. The diminished TAC concomitant with an increased plasma Cp concentration would exacerbate the inflammatory status and could explain the depression of the immune system. These preliminary results could explain the need to include biochemical and functional parameters in the early nutritional status evaluation in CF patients in order to use appropriate nutritional and pharmacological therapies and consequently to improve their survival and quality of life.

In-patient care costs of patients with bipolar I disorder: a comparison between two European centers.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a disabling disease with high morbidity rates. An international (Spain, France) comparative study about hospitalizations and in-patient care costs associated with BPD I was performed. Centers were included if they had access to a database of computerized patient charts exhaustively covering a defined catchment area. METHODS: Economic evaluation was performed by multiplying the average cumulated annual length of stay (LOS) of hospitalized bipolar patients by a full cost per day of hospitalization in each center to obtain the corresponding annual costs. RESULTS: Hospitalization rates per annum and per 100,000 individuals (general population aged 15+) were similar between France (43.6) and Spain (43.1). There were only slight differences in relation to length of stay (LOS) per patient hospitalized with 18.1 days in Spain and 20.4 days in France. The overall estimated annual hospitalization costs were in the same order of magnitude after adjustment to an adult population of 100,000: euro 232,000 (Spain) and euro 226,500 (France). Mixed episodes had the longest LOS followed by depressive episodes, while manic episodes had the shortest ones. Mania was the most costly disorder representing 53.7% of annual BPD in-patient care costs. CONCLUSIONS: BPD I care requires large resources and frequent hospitalizations, especially during manic episodes. Depressive and mixed episodes require longer hospital stays than manic episodes. Out-patient costs should now be evaluated.

Evaluación nutricional de pacientes pediátricos críticos: estudio preliminar / Nutritional evaluation of critical pediatric patients: Preliminary study

El objetivo del trabajo es evaluar el estado nutricional con respecto a hierro en un grupo de niños con diferentes patologías, al ingreso en terapia intensiva, a través de la determinación de hematocrito, concentración de hemoglobina, protoporfirinas eritrocitarias libres y analizar los niveles de fracciones séricas específicas: transferrina, proteína C reactiva y ceruloplasmina. En treinta y un pacientes (entre tres y cuarenta y ocho meses de edad) internados en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos con diferentes patologías, se determina hematocrito (Hto), la concentración de hemoglobina (g/dL) (Hb) por colorimetría, FEP por método Piomelli expresándose los resultados como FEP/Hto y FEP/Hb y transferrina, ceruloplasmina y preoteína C reactiva sérica (mg/dL) por inmunodifusión radial cuantitativa sobre placas...

Evaluación nutricional de pacientes pediátricos críticos: estudio preliminar / Nutritional evaluation of critical pediatric patients: Preliminary study

El objetivo del trabajo es evaluar el estado nutricional con respecto a hierro en un grupo de niños con diferentes patologías, al ingreso en terapia intensiva, a través de la determinación de hematocrito, concentración de hemoglobina, protoporfirinas eritrocitarias libres y analizar los niveles de fracciones séricas específicas: transferrina, proteína C reactiva y ceruloplasmina. En treinta y un pacientes (entre tres y cuarenta y ocho meses de edad) internados en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos con diferentes patologías, se determina hematocrito (Hto), la concentración de hemoglobina (g/dL) (Hb) por colorimetría, FEP por método Piomelli expresándose los resultados como FEP/Hto y FEP/Hb y transferrina, ceruloplasmina y preoteína C reactiva sérica (mg/dL) por inmunodifusión radial cuantitativa sobre placas...(AU)