Modulation of D3R Splicing, Signaling, and Expression by D1R through PKA→PTB Phosphorylation.

The D1R and D3R receptors functionally and synergistically interact in striatonigral neurons. Dopaminergic denervation turns this interaction antagonistic, which is correlated with a decrement in D3nf isoform and an increment in D3R membranal expression. The mechanisms of such changes in D3R are attributed to the dysregulation of the expression of their isoforms. The cause and mechanism of this phenomenon remain unknown. Dopaminergic denervation produces a decrement in D1R and PKA activity; we propose that the lack of phosphorylation of PTB (regulator of alternative splicing) by PKA produces the dysregulation of D3R splicing and changes D3R functionality. By using in silico analysis, we found that D3R mRNA has motifs for PTB binding and, by RIP, co-precipitates with PTB. Moreover, D1R activation via PKA promotes PTB phosphorylation. Acute and 5-day D1R blockade decreases the expression of D3nf mRNA. The 5-day treatment reduces D3R, D3nf, and PTB protein in the cytoplasm and increases D3R in the membrane and PTB in the nucleus. Finally, the blockade of D1R mimics the effect of dopaminergic denervation in D1R and D3R signaling. Thus, our data indicate that through PKA→PTB, D1R modulates D3R splicing, expression, and signaling, which are altered during D1R blockade or the lack of stimulation in dopaminergic denervation.

Characterization of Beta-Lactam Resistome of Escherichia coli Causing Nosocomial Infections.

Nosocomial infections caused by Escherichia coli pose significant therapeutic challenges due to the high expression of genes encoding antimicrobial drug resistance. In this study, we investigated the conformation of the beta-lactam resistome responsible for the specific pattern of resistance against beta-lactam antibiotics. A total of 218 Escherichia coli strains were isolated from in-hospital patients diagnosed with nosocomial infections, obtained from various sources such as urine (n = 49, 22.48%), vaginal discharge (n = 46, 21.10%), catheter tips (n = 14, 6.42%), blood (n = 13, 5.96%), feces (n = 12, 5.50%), sputum (n = 11, 5.05%), biopsies (n = 8, 3.67%), cerebrospinal fluid (n = 2, 0.92%) and other unspecified discharges (n = 63, 28.90%). To characterize the beta-lactam resistome, all strains were subjected to antibiotic dilution tests and grown in beta-lactam antibiotics supplemented with Luria culture medium. Subsequently, multiplex PCR and next-generation sequencing were conducted. The results show a multi-drug-resistance phenotype, particularly against beta-lactam drugs. The primary determinant of this resistance was the expression of the blaTEM gene family, with 209 positive strains (95.87%) expressing it as a single gene (n = 47, 21.6%) or in combination with other genes. Common combinations included blaTEM + blaCTX (n = 42, 19.3%), blaTEM + blaCTX + blaSHV (n = 13, 6%) and blaTEM + blaCTX + blaBIL (n = 12, 5.5%), among others. The beta-lactam resistome of nosocomial Escherichia coli strains isolated from inpatients at the "October first" Regional Hospital of ISSSTE was predominantly composed of members of the blaTEM gene family, expressed in various configurations along with different members of other beta-lactamase gene families.

Children who sleep more may have longer telomeres: evidence from a longitudinal population study in Spain.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate sleep duration has been suggested as a chronic stressor associated with changes in telomere length (TL). This study aimed to explore the association between sleep duration and TL using the INMA birth cohort study data. METHODS: A total of 1014 children were included in this study (cross-sectional: 686; longitudinal: 872). Sleep duration (h/day) was reported by caregivers at 4 years and classified into tertiles (7-10 h/day; >10-11 h/day; >11-14 h/day). Leucocyte TL at 4 and 7-9 years were measured using quantitative PCR methods. Multiple robust linear regression models, through log-level regression models, were used to report the % of difference among tertiles of sleep duration. RESULTS: In comparison to children who slept between >10 and 11 h/day, those in the highest category (more than 11 h/day) had 8.5% (95% CI: 3.56-13.6) longer telomeres at 4 years. Longitudinal analysis showed no significant association between sleep duration at 4 years and TL at 7-9 years. CONCLUSION: Children who slept more hours per day had longer TL at 4 years independently of a wide range of confounder factors. Environmental conditions, such as sleep duration, might have a major impact on TL during the first years of life. IMPACT: Telomere length was longer in children with longer sleep duration (>11 h/day) independently of a wide range of confounder factors at age 4 and remained consistent by sex. Sleep routines are encouraged to promote positive child development, like the number of hours of sleep duration. Considering the complex biology of telomere length, future studies still need to elucidate which biological pathways might explain the association between sleep duration and telomere length.

Hypothalamic A11 Nuclei Regulate the Circadian Rhythm of Spinal Mechanonociception through Dopamine Receptors and Clock Gene Expression.

Several types of sensory perception have circadian rhythms. The spinal cord can be considered a center for controlling circadian rhythms by changing clock gene expression. However, to date, it is not known if mechanonociception itself has a circadian rhythm. The hypothalamic A11 area represents the primary source of dopamine (DA) in the spinal cord and has been found to be involved in clock gene expression and circadian rhythmicity. Here, we investigate if the paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) has a circadian rhythm, as well as the role of the dopaminergic A11 nucleus, DA, and DA receptors (DR) in the PWT circadian rhythm and if they modify clock gene expression in the lumbar spinal cord. Naïve rats showed a circadian rhythm of the PWT of almost 24 h, beginning during the night-day interphase and peaking at 14.63 h. Similarly, DA and DOPAC's spinal contents increased at dusk and reached their maximum contents at noon. The injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the A11 nucleus completely abolished the circadian rhythm of the PWT, reduced DA tissue content in the lumbar spinal cord, and induced tactile allodynia. Likewise, the repeated intrathecal administration of D1-like and D2-like DA receptor antagonists blunted the circadian rhythm of PWT. 6-OHDA reduced the expression of Clock and Per1 and increased Per2 gene expression during the day. In contrast, 6-OHDA diminished Clock, Bmal, Per1, Per2, Per3, Cry1, and Cry2 at night. The repeated intrathecal administration of the D1-like antagonist (SCH-23390) reduced clock genes throughout the day (Clock and Per2) and throughout the night (Clock, Per2 and Cry1), whereas it increased Bmal and Per1 throughout the day. In contrast, the intrathecal injection of the D2 receptor antagonists (L-741,626) increased the clock genes Bmal, Per2, and Per3 and decreased Per1 throughout the day. This study provides evidence that the circadian rhythm of the PWT results from the descending dopaminergic modulation of spinal clock genes induced by the differential activation of spinal DR.

Calf circumference is an independent predictor of mortality in older adults: An approach with generalized additive models.

BACKGROUND: There is a wide variation in the cutoff points of body mass index (BMI) and calf circumference (CC) , and it is necessary to assess their adequacy in predicting mortality, especially in the older adults in the community. This study aimed to investigate the association of low muscle mass and underweight with mortality in older adults, comparing different cutoff points. METHODS: This was a prospective study that included 796 older adults, not institutionalized, from a Brazilian city. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to identify cutoff points for CC and BMI, which were compared with values available in the literature. Survival analysis using Cox regression models was used to assess the independent association between these nutrition indicators and mortality. RESULTS: Over the 9 years of follow-up, 197 deaths (24.7%) occurred. Cutoff points established for CC and BMI as predictors of mortality were, respectively, <34.5 cm and <24.5. In the adjusted Cox models, older adults with a BMI <18.5 showed a significant increase in the risk of death (hazard ratio [HR], 2.57; 95% CI, 1.23-5.35). Higher mortality was observed among older adults with CC <34.5 cm (HR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.27-2.33) and CC <31 cm (HR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.44-3.10). CONCLUSION: CC was an independent predictor of mortality, and the cutoff point identified by GAMs was higher than recommended by literature (31 cm). This study suggests a review of cutoff points for CC currently adopted to assess low muscle mass in older adults.

The Beta-Lactam Resistome Expressed by Aerobic and Anaerobic Bacteria Isolated from Human Feces of Healthy Donors.

Antibiotic resistance is a major health problem worldwide, causing more deaths than diabetes and cancer. The dissemination of vertical and horizontal antibiotic resistance genes has been conducted for a selection of pan-resistant bacteria. Here, we test if the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria from human feces samples in health conditions are carriers of beta-lactamases genes. The samples were cultured in a brain-heart infusion medium and subcultured in blood agar in aerobic and anaerobic conditions for 24 h at 37 °C. The grown colonies were identified by their biochemical profiles. The DNA was extracted and purified by bacterial lysis using thermal shock and were used in the endpoint PCR and next generation sequencing to identify beta-lactamase genes expression (OXA, VIM, SHV, TEM, IMP, ROB, KPC, CMY, DHA, P, CFX, LAP, and BIL). The aerobic bacterias Aeromonas hydrophila, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus mirabilis, Providencia rettgeri, Serratia fonticola, Serratia liquefaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pantoea agglomerans, Enterococcus faecalis, and Enterobacter cloacae, the anaerobic bacteria: Capnocytophaga species, Bacteroides distasonis, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides fragilis, Eubacterium species, Eubacterium aerofaciens, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Fusobacterium species, Bacteroides species, and Bacteroides vulgatus were isolated and identified. The results showed 49 strains resistant to beta-lactam with the expression of blaSHV (10.2%), blaTEM (100%), blaKPC (10.2%), blaCYM (14.3%), blaP (2%), blaCFX (8.2%), and blaBIL (6.1%). These data support the idea that the human enteric microbiota constitutes an important reservoir of genes for resistance to beta-lactamases and that such genes could be transferred to pathogenic bacteria.

Transcriptional Identification of Related Proteins in the Immune System of the Crayfish Procambarus clarkii.

The freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii is an animal model employed for physiological and immunological studies and is also of great economic importance in aquaculture. Although it is a species of easy husbandry, a high percentage of its production is lost annually as a result of infectious diseases. Currently, genetic information about the immune system of crustaceans is limited. Therefore, we used the abdominal nerve cord from P. clarkii to obtain its transcriptome using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify proteins that participate in the immune system. The reads were assembled de novo and consensus sequences with more than 3000 nucleotides were selected for analysis. The transcripts of the sequences of RNA were edited for annotation and sent to the GenBank database of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). We made a list of accession numbers of the sequences which were organized by the putative role of the immune system pathway in which they participate. In this work, we report on 80 proteins identified from the transcriptome of crayfish related to the immune system, 74 of them being the first reported for P. clarkii. We hope that the knowledge of these sequences will contribute significantly to the development of future studies of the immune system in crustaceans.

Strategic procedure in three stages for the selection of variables to obtain balanced results in public health research.

Multidisciplinary research in public health is approached using methods from many scientific disciplines. One of the main characteristics of this type of research is dealing with large data sets. Classic statistical variable selection methods, known as "screen and clean", and used in a single-step, select the variables with greater explanatory weight in the model. These methods, commonly used in public health research, may induce masking and multicollinearity, excluding relevant variables for the experts in each discipline and skewing the result. Some specific techniques are used to solve this problem, such as penalized regressions and Bayesian statistics, they offer more balanced results among subsets of variables, but with less restrictive selection thresholds. Using a combination of classical methods, a three-step procedure is proposed in this manuscript, capturing the relevant variables of each scientific discipline, minimizing the selection of variables in each of them and obtaining a balanced distribution that explains most of the variability. This procedure was applied on a dataset from a public health research. Comparing the results with the single-step methods, the proposed method shows a greater reduction in the number of variables, as well as a balanced distribution among the scientific disciplines associated with the response variable. We propose an innovative procedure for variable selection and apply it to our dataset. Furthermore, we compare the new method with the classic single-step procedures.

Expression of Gas1 in Mouse Brain: Release and Role in Neuronal Differentiation.

Growth arrest-specific 1 (Gas1) is a pleiotropic protein that induces apoptosis of tumor cells and has important roles during development. Recently, the presence of two forms of Gas1 was reported: one attached to the cell membrane by a GPI anchor; and a soluble extracellular form shed by cells. Previously, we showed that Gas1 is expressed in different areas of the adult mouse CNS. Here, we report the levels of Gas1 mRNA protein in different regions and analyzed its expressions in glutamatergic, GABAergic, and dopaminergic neurons. We found that Gas1 is expressed in GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the Purkinje-molecular layer of the cerebellum, hippocampus, thalamus, and fastigial nucleus, as well as in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. In all cases, Gas1 was found in the cell bodies, but not in the neuropil. The Purkinje and the molecular layers show the highest levels of Gas1, whereas the granule cell layer has low levels. Moreover, we detected the expression and release of Gas1 from primary cultures of Purkinje cells and from hippocampal neurons as well as from neuronal cell lines, but not from cerebellar granular cells. In addition, using SH-SY5Y cells differentiated with retinoic acid as a neuronal model, we found that extracellular Gas1 promotes neurite outgrowth, increases the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase, and stimulates the inhibition of GSK3ß. These findings demonstrate that Gas1 is expressed and released by neurons and promotes differentiation, suggesting an important role for Gas1 in cellular signaling in the CNS.

Strategic procedure in three stages for the selection of variables to obtain balanced results in public health research / Procedimiento estratégico en tres fases para la selección de variables, con el fin de obtener resultados equilibrados en investigación sobre salud pública / Procedimento estratégico em três estágios de seleção de variáveis para a obtenção de resultados equilibrados na pesquisa em saúde pública

Multidisciplinary research in public health is approached using methods from many scientific disciplines. One of the main characteristics of this type of research is dealing with large data sets. Classic statistical variable selection methods, known as "screen and clean", and used in a single-step, select the variables with greater explanatory weight in the model. These methods, commonly used in public health research, may induce masking and multicollinearity, excluding relevant variables for the experts in each discipline and skewing the result. Some specific techniques are used to solve this problem, such as penalized regressions and Bayesian statistics, they offer more balanced results among subsets of variables, but with less restrictive selection thresholds. Using a combination of classical methods, a three-step procedure is proposed in this manuscript, capturing the relevant variables of each scientific discipline, minimizing the selection of variables in each of them and obtaining a balanced distribution that explains most of the variability. This procedure was applied on a dataset from a public health research. Comparing the results with the single-step methods, the proposed method shows a greater reduction in the number of variables, as well as a balanced distribution among the scientific disciplines associated with the response variable. We propose an innovative procedure for variable selection and apply it to our dataset. Furthermore, we compare the new method with the classic single-step procedures.

La investigación multidisciplinaria en salud pública se enfoca usando métodos de muchas disciplinas científicas. Una de las principales características de este tipo de investigación es lidiar con conjuntos voluminosos de datos. Los métodos clásicos estadísticos de selección de variables, conocidos como "screen and clean", y utilizados en un solo paso, seleccionan las variables con mayor peso explicativo en su modelo. Estos métodos, comúnmente usados en investigación pública en salud, pueden inducir a enmascarar la multicolinealidad, excluyendo variables relevantes para los expertos en cada disciplina y sesgando el resultado. Se usan algunas técnicas específicas para resolver este problema, como las regresiones penalizadas y estadísticas bayesianas, que ofrecen resultados más equilibrados entre subconjuntos de variables, pero con umbrales menos restrictivos de selección. Usando la combinación de métodos clásicos, se propone en este trabajo un tercer paso en el procedimiento, recogiendo variables relevantes de cada disciplina científica, minimizando la selección de variables en cada una de ellas y obteniendo una distribución equilibrada que explica la mayor parte de la variabilidad. Este procedimiento fue aplicado en un conjunto de datos de una investigación en salud pública. Comparando los resultados con los métodos de un solo paso, el método propuesto expone una gran reducción en el número de variables, así como la distribución equilibrada entre las disciplinas científicas asociadas con la variable de respuesta. Proponemos un procedimiento innovador para la selección de variables y aplicarlo a nuestro conjunto de datos. Asimismo, comparamos el nuevo método con los procedimientos clásicos de un solo paso.

A pesquisa multidisciplinar em saúde pública emprega métodos provenientes de diversas disciplinas científicas. Uma das principais características desse tipo de pesquisa é o fato de lidar com conjuntos de dados grandes. Os métodos clássicos de seleção de variáveis estatísticas, conhecidos como "screen and clean" (filtrar e limpar), e aplicados a partir de um passo único, selecionam as variáveis com o maior peso explanatório no modelo. Esses métodos, amplamente disseminados na pesquisa em saúde pública, podem induzir ao mascaramento e à multi-colinearidade, excluindo variáveis que seriam relevantes para os especialistas em cada disciplina e enviesando os resultados. Algumas técnicas específicas usadas para resolver esse problema, como regressões penalizadas e estatísticas Bayesianas, oferecem resultados mais equilibrados entre subconjuntos de variáveis, porém com limiares de seleção menos restritivos. O artigo propõe um procedimento com três passos, usando uma combinação de métodos clássicos, captando as variáveis relevantes de cada disciplina científica, minimizando a seleção de variáveis em cada disciplina e obtendo uma distribuição equilibrada que explica a maior parte da variabilidade. O procedimento foi aplicado a um conjunto de dados de uma pesquisa em saúde pública. Ao comparar os resultados com os métodos que utilizam um único passo, o método proposto demonstra maior redução no número de variáveis, assim como, uma distribuição equilibrada entre as disciplinas científicas relacionadas à variável dependente. Propomos um procedimento inovador para a seleção de variáveis, que aplicamos depois ao nosso conjunto de dados. Além disso, comparamos o método novo com os procedimentos clássicos de apenas um estágio.

Percepción de la calidad de vida y satisfacción con la asistencia sanitaria recibida en un grupo de pacientes oncológicos terminales que reciben cuidados paliativos en un hospital de Zaragoza, España / Perceived quality of life and satisfaction with health care received in a group of terminal cancer patients receiving palliative care in a hospital in Zaragoza, Spain

Fundamento y objetivo: Mediante este estudio se buscó conocer la calidad de vida percibida por pacientes oncológicos terminales que reciben cuidados paliativos, así como la influencia que tiene la satisfacción con la asistencia sanitaria en la calidad de vida de estos pacientes. Se utilizaron escalas de la EORTC para conseguir esta información. Material y método: Estudio descriptivo transversal con 47 pacientes oncológicos terminales con cuidados paliativos en la unidad de hospitalización de oncología del Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa de Zaragoza (España), durante febrero, marzo y abril de 2014. Se evaluó la calidad de vida y la satisfacción con la asistencia sanitaria a través de los cuestionarios EORTC QLQ C15-PAL y EORTC INPATSAT32. Resultados: Los participantes fueron en un 57,4% hombres, con 64 años de edad media, y todos tuvieron una persona principal de apoyo, siendo la pareja sentimental en un 74,5%. Los diagnósticos más frecuentes fueron: cáncer de pulmón, mama y colon. Los pacientes consideraron que tenían una calidad de vida buena con una media de 51,77 puntos, medida con el cuestionario EORTC QLQ C15-PAL. La satisfacción con la asistencia sanitaria medida con el cuestionario EORTC INPATSAT32 mostró una satisfacción media con la asistencia de medicina, enfermería y con los servicios y organización con 57,78, 57,54 y 52,2 puntos respectivamente. En general, los pacientes estuvieron muy satisfechos con la asistencia, con una media de 83 puntos. Conclusiones: Los pacientes obtuvieron una calidad de vida buena, y estuvieron muy satisfechos con la asistencia sanitaria en general, sin establecer relación entre esta y la calidad de vida.

Background and objective: The aim of this study is to determine the perceived quality of life of terminal cancer patients receiving palliative care, and the influence of health care satisfaction in the quality of life of these patients. EORTC scales were used to collect this information. Patients and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 47 terminal cancer patients on palliative care in the Oncology Unit of the «Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa¼, Zaragoza (Spain), during February, March and April 2014. The quality of life and the satisfaction with the health care were evaluated using the EORTC QLQ C15-PAL and EORTC INPATSAT32 questionnaires. Results: The participants had a mean age of 64 years, and included 57.4% males. All participants had a main support person, being their partner in 74.5% of cases. The most frequent diagnoses were lung, breast and colon cancer. Patients considered they had a good quality of life with a mean of 51.77 points, calculated with EORTC QLQ C15-PAL questionnaire. The satisfaction with health care, calculated with EORTC INPATSAT32, showed a good satisfaction with the medication and nursing care, as well as with the services and organisation, with 57.88, 57.54, and 52.2 points, respectively. In general, patients were very satisfied with the health care provided, with a mean score of 83 points. Conclusions: The patients obtained a good quality of life, and they were very satisfied with the health care in general, although there was no relationship between the two.

[Reference Intervals for total triiodothyronine (TT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and thyrotropin (TSH) by chemiluminescence immunoassay in children younger than six years old from northeastern Mexico]. / Valores de referencia de triyodotironina total (TT3), tiroxina libre (FT4) y tirotropina (TSH) obtenidos por quimioluminiscencia en niños menores de seis años del noreste de México.

BACKGROUND: Reference values according to age groups for each population are needed for the diagnosis and follow-up of pediatric patients with thyroid diseases. Such values are unknown for Mexican infants and children younger than six years. OBJECTIVE: To determine the reference values of total TT3, FT4 and TSH by chemiluminescence immunoassay in infants and children younger than six year old in Northeastern Mexico. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thyroid hormone serum levels were determined by chemiluminescence immunoassay in healthy infants and children younger than six years old. RESULTS were analyzed according to gender in seven age groups: Newborns (NB), 1 to 6, 7 to 12, 13 to 18, 19 to 23, 24 to 35, and 36 to 71 months. RESULTS: A total of 405 infants and children were included, 209 male and 196 female, 1.6 ± 1.4 years of age (4 days to 5.6 years). Thyroid hormones: Although there were not significant differences according to gender, in NB TSH and FT4 serum levels were higher (p = 0.001 and p = 0.000, respectively) and TT3 levels were lower (p = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of TSH and TT4 were higher and TT3 lower in newborns, which has been previously reported even for other measurement methods and other populations. These results allow counting with reference values of these hormones for this region.

Dopaminergic D2-like agonists produce yawning in the myelin mutant taiep and Sprague-Dawley rats.

Systemic administration of D2-like dopaminergic-receptor agonists increases yawning behavior. However, only a few studies have been done in animals with pathological conditions. The taiep rat is a myelin mutant with an initial hypomyelination followed by progressive demyelination, being the brainstem one of the most affected areas. In our experiments, we analyzed the effects of systemic administration of the D2-family agonists and antagonists on yawning behavior, and correlated them with the lipid myelin content in the brainstem and other areas in the central nervous system (CNS) in 8 month old male taiep and Sprague-Dawley rats. Subjects were maintained under standard conditions in Plexiglas cages with a 12:12 light-dark cycle, lights on at 0700 and free access to rodent pellets and tap water. Drugs were freshly prepared injected ip at 0800 and subjects were observed for 60 min. When antagonists were used it was administered 15 min before the agonist. Sprague-Dawley and taiep rats significantly increased their yawning frequency after systemic injection of (-)-quinpirole hydrochloride, R(+)-7-Hydroxy-2-(dipropylamino)tetralin hydrobromide (7-OH-DPAT) or trans-(±)-3,4,4a,10b-tetrahydro-4-propyl-2H,5H-[1]benzopyrano [4,3-b]-1,4-oxazin-9-ol hydrochloride ((±)-PD 128,907). Among D2-like agonists used higher effects are obtained with (-)-quinpirole. The effects caused by (-)-quinpirole can be reduced by (-)-sulpiride; and yawning caused by 7-OH-DPAT was decreased by tiapride only in taiep rats. In Sprague-Dawley only (-)-sulpiride is able to decrease (-)-quinpirole-caused yawning. In conclusion, dopaminergic D2-like agonists are still able to cause yawning despite the severe myelin loss in taiep rats. Similarly, patients with various CNS illnesses that affect myelin, such as stroke or multiple sclerosis, are able to yawn suggesting that trigger neurons are still able to command this innate behavior.

Presynaptic dopaminergic agonists increased gripping-generated immobility episodes in the myelin-mutant taiep rat.

The taiep rat is a myelin mutant whose immobility episodes (IEs) can be caused by gripping them by the tail. Electroencephalographic recordings during IEs show a rapid-eye movement sleep-like pattern, similar to narcolepsy-cataplexy in canines. Systemic administration of alpha(2)-adrenoceptor agonists and the alpha(1) antagonist increase gripping-generated IEs. Furthermore, adrenergic alpha(2) antagonists decrease them. Serotonin receptors are also involved in the regulation of IEs, because the 5-HT(1A)-5-HT(1B) serotonin-receptor agonists decrease the IE frequency, as do the postsynaptic-serotonergic 5-HT(2A-2C) agonists. The rats were maintained under standard conditions with a 12:12h light:dark cycle, lights on at 0700, with free access to rodent pellets and tap water. Drugs were freshly prepared using sterile water and administered intraperitoneally at 0800 with the observation lasting 90 min. The IEs were caused by gripping the rat's tail every 5 min. Systemic injection of (-)-quinpirole, R(+)-7-hydroxy-2-(dipropylamino)tetralin (7-OH-DPAT), or trans-(+/-)-3,4,4a,10b-Tetrahydro-4-propyl-2H,5H-[1]benzopyrano[4,3-b]-1,4-oxazin-9-ol ((+/-) PD 128,907) increased both the frequency and mean duration of the IEs. The IEs produced by (-)-quinpirole were blocked by the previous administration of (-)-sulpiride and those by 7-OH-DPAT were blocked by tiapride. Systemic injection of sulpiride reduced gripping-generated IEs, but not the changes with either tiapride or U-99194, two other antagonists. In canine narcolepsy, systemic administration of D(2)-dopaminergic agonists increases the frequency of cataplexies and decreased them by using (-)-sulpiride similar to the pharmacological profile in taiep cataplexies. Because of this evidence, we proposed taiep rats as an adequate model of this sleep illness and for the evaluation of anticataplexic drugs.

Extubación temprana en pacientes sometidos a revascularización coronaria / Early extubación of patients undergoing coronary by pass

La extubación temprana permite disminuir la morbimortalídad cardiorrespiratoria, así como acortar la estancia en la unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI) y hospitalaria. Esta técnica se basa en la combinación de narcótico, benzodíazepinas, agentes inhalatorios a concentraciones variables con buena respuesta hemodinámica, permitiendo la extubación entre 4 y 8 h posteriores a la llegada a la UCI. Se estudiaron 40 pacientes de ambos exos, elegidos al azar. Programados para revascularización coronaría, divididos en dos grupos: Grupo I, recibí, midazolam, fentanilo, sevofluorano. Grupo II, recibió diazepam, fentanilo, isoflurano. Los criterios de inclusión fueron: Pacientes con fracción de expulsión de ventrículo izquierdo (FEVI) mayor a 50 por ciento; tiempo de circulación extracorpórea (CEC) entre 50 a 80 minutos, estabilidad hemodinámica, cirugia electiva, sin apoyo de inotrópicos. Tíempo quirúrgico menor de 6 h, ritmo sinusal, gasto urinario 0.5-1 ml/kg/h. No se presentaron variaciones significativas en los grupos, de edad, sexo, talla, peso. Las constantes hemodinámicas, frecuencia cardiaca, presión arterial y presión venosa central mostraron pequeñas diferencias, significativas. Los pacientes se progresaron reuniendo condiciones necesarias para extubación dentro de las primeras 6 h, a su llegada a la UCI. La técnica anestésica actualmente es segura y disminuye costos intrahospitalarios.

Proyecto de ley estableciendo un régimen especial de protección ambiental en relación a las formas de comercialización y disposición final de pilas y baterías recargables o reciclables, a fin de minimizar los daños que ellas puedan producir al medio ambiente y la salud de las personas

En este proyecto de ley se tienen en cuenta las formas de comercialización y disposición final de pilas y baterías, excluyéndose a las pilas de plomo ácido no pequeñas, las de carbón-zinc sin agregado intencional de mercurio, y las alcalinas sin este agregado. Se incluyen las modificaciones introducidas por la Comisión de Ecología, Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Humano al aconsejar su aprobación

Proyecto de ley estableciendo un régimen especial de protección ambiental en relación a las formas de comercialización y disposición final de pilas y baterías recargables o reciclables, a fin de minimizar los daños que ellas puedan producir al medio ambiente y la salud de las personas

En este proyecto de ley se tienen en cuenta las formas de comercialización y disposición final de pilas y baterías, excluyéndose a las pilas de plomo ácido no pequeñas, las de carbón-zinc sin agregado intencional de mercurio, y las alcalinas sin este agregado. Se incluyen las modificaciones introducidas por la Comisión de Ecología, Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Humano al aconsejar su aprobación