Glycolytic pathway candidate markers in the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Molecular changes that affect mitochondrial glycolysis have been associated with the maintenance of tumor cells. Some metabolic factors have already been described as predictors of disease severity and outcomes. This systematic review was conducted to answer the question: Is the glycolytic pathway correlated with the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)? A search strategy was developed to retrieve studies in English from PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science using keywords related to squamous cell carcinoma, survival, and glycolytic pathway, with no restriction of publication date. The search retrieved 1273 publications. After the titles and abstracts were analyzed, 27 studies met inclusion criteria. Studies were divided into groups according to two subtopics, glycolytic pathways and diagnosis, which describe the glycolytic profile of OSCC tumors. Several components of tumor energy metabolism found in this review are important predictors of survival of patients with OSCC.

Glycolytic pathway candidate markers in the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Molecular changes that affect mitochondrial glycolysis have been associated with the maintenance of tumor cells. Some metabolic factors have already been described as predictors of disease severity and outcomes. This systematic review was conducted to answer the question: Is the glycolytic pathway correlated with the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)? A search strategy was developed to retrieve studies in English from PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science using keywords related to squamous cell carcinoma, survival, and glycolytic pathway, with no restriction of publication date. The search retrieved 1273 publications. After the titles and abstracts were analyzed, 27 studies met inclusion criteria. Studies were divided into groups according to two subtopics, glycolytic pathways and diagnosis, which describe the glycolytic profile of OSCC tumors. Several components of tumor energy metabolism found in this review are important predictors of survival of patients with OSCC.

Non-Contact Tissue Ablations with High-Speed Laser Scanning in Endoscopic Laser Microsurgery.

The use of laser scanners in soft tissue microsurgery results in high quality ablations with minimal thermal damage to surrounding tissue. However, current scanner technologies for microsurgery are limited to free-beam lasers, requiring direct line-of-sight from outside the patient to the surgical site. Developing compact laser manipulation systems is crucial to introduce laser scanning capabilities in hard-toreach surgical sites. Recently, we developed a magnetic laser scanner as a tip module of an endoscopic system. The device provides 2D position control and fast scanning of a laser beam. In this work, the previous prototype is revised to enable its use with a CO2 laser source. The advantages of non-contact tissue ablations with fast scanning are discussed with comparative tissue ablation experiments coupling the system with a $CO_{2$ laser source. Results show that the magnetic laser scanner provides narrower ablations and less thermal damage compared to ablations performed with a bare flexible waveguide. These results highlight the potential of the proposed technology to improve soft tissue ablation quality in hard-to-reach surgical sites.

Denoising and segmentation of the second heart sound using matching pursuit.

We propose a denoising and segmentation technique for the second heart sound (S2). To denoise, Matching Pursuit (MP) was applied using a set of non-linear chirp signals as atoms. We show that the proposed method can be used to segment the phonocardiogram of the second heart sound into its two clinically meaningful components: the aortic (A2) and pulmonary (P2) components.

DigiScope--unobtrusive collection and annotating of auscultations in real hospital environments.

Digital stethoscopes are medical devices that can collect, store and sometimes transmit acoustic auscultation signals in a digital format. These can then be replayed, sent to a colleague for a second opinion, studied in detail after an auscultation, used for training or, as we envision it, can be used as a cheap powerful tool for screening cardiac pathologies. In this work, we present the design, development and deployment of a prototype for collecting and annotating auscultation signals within real hospital environments. Our main objective is not only pave the way for future unobtrusive systems for cardiac pathology screening, but more immediately we aim to create a repository of annotated auscultation signals for biomedical signal processing and machine learning research. The presented prototype revolves around a digital stethoscope that can stream the collected audio signal to a nearby tablet PC. Interaction with this system is based on two models: a data collection model adequate for the uncontrolled hospital environments of both emergency room and primary care, and a data annotation model for offline metadata input. A specific data model was created for the repository. The prototype has been deployed and is currently being tested in two Hospitals, one in Portugal and one in Brazil.

Development of a tele-stethoscope and its application in pediatric cardiology.

Over the years, many attempts have been made to develop special stethoscopes for the teaching of auscultation. The objective of this article is to report on the experience with the development and implementation of an electronic stethoscope and a virtual library of cardiac sounds. There were four stages to this project: (1) the building of the prototype to acquire, filter and amplify the cardiac sounds, (2) the development of a software program to record, reproduce and visualize them, (3) the testing of the prototype in a clinical scenario, and (4) the development of an internet site, to store and display the sounds collected. The first two stages are now complete. The prototype underwent an initial evaluation in a clinical scenario within the Unit and during virtual out-patient clinical sessions. One hundred auscultations were recorded during these tests. They were reviewed and discussed on-line by a panel of experience cardiologists during the sessions. Although the sounds were considered "satisfactory" for diagnostic purposes by the cardiology team, they identified some qualitative differences in the electronic recorded auscultations, such as a higher pitch of the recorded sounds. Prospective clinical studies are now being conducted to further evaluate the interference of the electronic device in the physicians' capability to diagnose different cardiac conditions. An internet site (www.caduceusvirtual.com.br/ auscultaped) was developed to host these cardiac auscultations. It is set as a library of cardiac sounds, catalogued by pathologies and already contains examples from auscultations of the majority of common congenital heart lesions, such as septal defects and valvar lesions.

Capacity of mercury volatilization by mer (from Escherichia coli) and glutathione S-transferase (from Schistosoma mansoni) genes cloned in Escherichia coli.

A study was carried out to evaluate the capacity for mercury volatilization by genetically engineered strains that express the mer and glutathione S-transferase genes from Escherichia coli and Schistosoma mansoni, respectively. This method enabled strains containing simultaneously mer and glutathione S-transferase genes to grow in high concentrations of mercuric chloride (30 microg/ml) and to volatilize part of the mercury (248 microg/g cell dry wt.) present in the culture medium, while strains bearing only a single gene, did not have the same behavior. Up to 70% of the total mercury of bacterial volatilization occurred in the first 4 h. Although the findings were preliminary, the genetically engineered strain containing simultaneously the mer and glutathione S-transferase genes show a great potential for bioremediation. It may be used in a closed system to remove by volatilization, and recover mercury (Hg0) from contaminated effluents, such as industrial effluent, for instance.

[Management of tricuspid atresia in neonates. Report of three cases and review of literature]. / Manuseio da atresia tricúspide em neonatos. Relato de três casos e revisão da literatura.

The present article describes the management of three neonates with tricuspid atresia and duct dependent pulmonary circulation referred to the Instituto de Coração de Pernambuco in November 1992. A brief literature review of the condition is added. Full diagnosis was established with echocardiography at the neonatal ICU; all of them were intubated, mechanically ventilated and started on PGE1 and Dopamine infusions. Within 10h to 24h of hospitalization, all were submitted to surgery. One patient died on the third postoperative day the other two were discharged in good clinical condition. Despite the small our experience shows that clinical and surgical management of tricuspid atresia with duct dependent pulmonary circulation can reach satisfactory results in our region providing that early diagnosis of cyanotic heart disease is established by the pediatrician with timely transferal of the neonate to a reference center in paediatric cardiology.

[Atrial septostomy at the intensive care unit under echocardiographic monitoring. Initial experience of the Heart Institute of Pernambuco]. / Atrioseptostomia em unidade de terapia intensiva sob monitorização ecocardiográfica. Experiência inicial do Instituto do Coração de Pernambuco.

The present article describes the initial experience of the Instituto do Coração de Pernambuco, at the neonatal intensive care unit, with the performance of Rashkind atrioseptostomy under two-dimensional echocardiographic control, through percutaneous venous approach (right femoral vein catheterization), under local anaesthesia, in three cases, two neonates with transposition of the great arteries and one with tricuspid atresia. In two children the procedure was successful both technically and haemodynamically. In the third child, aged 36 days, the atrial septum was thickened not allowing for satisfactory withdraw. In none of the three cases significant complications were observed during the procedure. Despite of the small number of patients, our experience showed that this new approach to the performance of Rashkind atrioseptostomy is feasible without major complications to the neonate and with advantages over the conventional technique.

[Tricuspid valve endocarditis in children]. / Endocardite da valva tricúspide em crianças.

Four children, three males, with ages 5, 1, 16 and 6 years, presented with isolated tricuspid valve endocarditis. Two of them were submitted to surgical treatment. Sepsis, cardiac murmur and heart failure were present in all of them. Three presented pulmonary embolism. Echocardiography demonstrated vegetation in the tricuspid valve in all cases. Two patients, one of them submitted to surgery, died. Tricuspid valve endocarditis in children with sepsis, heart failure and pulmonary embolism is a severe condition and early surgical treatment may diminished the high mortality.

Unusual opening of coronary sinus in atrioventricular septal defects.

The coronary sinus is an important landmark for the position of the atrial component of the atrioventricular conduction axis and, thus, assumes special relevance to the surgeon in the operating room. We describe here 2 patients with atrioventricular septal defect characterized by an unusual termination of the coronary sinus within the left atrium. We discuss the potential importance of this finding to the disposition and surgical avoidance of the conduction tissues.

Survival after balloon atrial septostomy for complete transposition of great arteries.

Mortality before surgery must be taken into account when comparing the surgical mortality of atrial redirection procedures (Mustard's or Senning's operation) and the arterial switch operation for patients with complete transposition. This is because the switch operation is usually performed within the neonatal period or early infancy but Mustard's or Senning's operation usually after 4 months of age. The outcome of balloon atrial septostomy was therefore assessed in all 102 infants with transposition of the great arteries (plus or minus associated anomalies) who underwent the procedure at our hospital in the 10 years from January 1975 to December 1984. We considered the procedure to have been unsuccessful if the patient died from any cause (including other surgical procedures) between the septostomy and subsequent interatrial repair (Mustard's operation) or arterial switch operation. Eighteen patients died, although in only two was this as a direct result of the septostomy. Statistical analysis showed that low weight, presence of a persistent arterial duct, and coarctation of the aorta were significant risk factors. Early survival of infants with transposition of the great arteries has been dramatically improved after the introduction of balloon atrial septostomy. Nevertheless, there is considerable attrition before definitive repair, which must be included in the prediction of overall outcome.

Anatomical correction for complete transposition and double outlet right ventricle: intermediate assessment of functional results.

Thirty three patients were followed up after anatomical correction of transposition of the great arteries or double outlet right ventricle and subpulmonary ventricular septal defect (Taussig-Bing anomaly). There were no late deaths and clinical progress was excellent. Cardiac catheterisation was performed in 17 patients two weeks to 44 months after operation. There were six patients with simple transposition, six with complete transposition and large ventricular septal defect, and five with the Taussig-Bing anomaly. Pressure gradients across the right ventricular outflow tract ranged from 5 to 72 mm Hg, being greater than 40 mm Hg in five patients. No patient was shown to have important valvar regurgitation and in 15 patients the coronary anastomoses were widely patent. Left ventricular function was assessed from digitised ventriculograms. Ventricular volume, shape, and ejection fraction were all normal for the group although patients with complex transposition showed a significantly lower mean (SD) ejection fraction than those with simple transposition (62(9) vs 77(9]. Analysis of regional wall motion showed a totally normal pattern in four patients; however, in seven patients a characteristic abnormality of anterior hypokinesis with delayed onset of inward wall motion was seen. Anatomical correction of transposition of the great arteries and the Taussig-Bing anomaly can be performed with satisfactory anatomical and functional results. The implications of the left ventricular wall motion abnormalities is unknown.