Pleural plaques by inhalation of asbestos fibers.

INTRODUCTION: Asbestos fiber pleural plaque is characterized by lesions composed of fibrous tissue that are located in the parietal pleura. They usually appear in up to 3 to 58% of workers who were exposed to asbestos fiber, and 0.5 to 8% in the general population. The objective of this article is to present a case report of a patient whose chest x-ray showed pleural changes associated with exposure to asbestos fibers. CASE REPORT: A 49-year-old male patient, construction worker with a history of exposure to asbestos fibers, underwent a chest x-ray performed according to International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, which revealed focal pleural changes. Subsequently, the presence of pleural plaques was confirmed by computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest. DISCUSSION: Chest x-ray with ILO technique is the basic instrument for the identification of diseases related to asbestos fiber exposure. The study should be completed with a CT scan of the chest, whose sensitivity is greater, allowing early detection of pleural abnormalities. It is essential to obtain a detailed occupational history, since it is the most reliable and practical method to measure asbestos fiber exposure.

A Polygenic Risk Score Suggests Shared Genetic Architecture of Voice Break With Early Markers of Pubertal Onset in Boys.

CONTEXT: Voice break, as a landmark of advanced male puberty in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), has revealed that pubertal timing is a highly polygenic trait. Although voice break is easily recorded in large cohorts, it holds quite low precision as a marker of puberty. In contrast, gonadarche and pubarche are early and clinically well-defined measures of puberty onset. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a polygenic risk score (PRS) of alleles that confer risk for voice break associates with age at gonadarche (AAG) and age at pubarche (AAP) in Chilean boys. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Longitudinal study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 401 boys from the Growth and Obesity Chilean Cohort Study (n = 1194; 49.2% boys). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Biannual clinical pubertal staging including orchidometry. AAG and AAP were estimated by censoring methods. Genotyping was performed using the Multi-Ethnic Global Array (Illumina). Using GWAS summary statistics from the UK-Biobank, 29 significant and independent single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with age at voice break were extracted. Individual PRS were computed as the sum of risk alleles weighted by the effect size. RESULTS: The PRS was associated with AAG (ß=0.01, P = 0.04) and AAP (ß=0.185, P = 0.0004). In addition, boys within the 20% highest PRS experienced gonadarche and pubarche 0.55 and 0.67 years later than those in the lowest 20%, respectively (P = 0.013 and P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variants identified in large GWAS on age at VB significantly associate with age at testicular growth and pubic hair development, suggesting that these events share a genetic architecture across ethnically distinct populations.

In vivo biocompatibility of the PLGA microparticles in parotid gland.

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles are used in various disorders for the controlled or sustained release of drugs, with the management of salivary gland pathologies possible using this technology. There is no record of the response to such microparticles in the glandular parenchyma. The purpose of this study was to assess the morphological changes in the parotid gland when injected with a single dose of PLGA microparticles. We used 12 adult female Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus) that were injected into their right parotid gland with sterile vehicle solution (G1, n=4), 0.5 mg PLGA microparticles (G2, n=4), and 0.75 mg PLGA microparticles (G3, n=4); the microparticles were dissolved in a sterile vehicle solution. The intercalar and striated ducts lumen, the thickness of the acini and the histology aspect in terms of the parenchyma organization, cell morphology of acini and duct system, the presence of polymeric residues, and inflammatory response were determined at 14 days post-injection. The administration of the compound in a single dose modified some of the morphometric parameters of parenchyma (intercalar duct lumen and thickness of the glandular acini) but did not induce tissue inflammatory response, despite the visible presence of polymer waste. This suggests that PLGA microparticles are biocompatible with the parotid tissue, making it possible to use intraglandular controlled drug administration.

Utilidad clínica de multitest en la evaluación de inmunidad celular / Usefulness of multitest in the assessment of cell immunity

The aim of this work was to assess cellular immunity using the Multitest CMI and relate its results with lymphocyte counts and lymphocyte subpopulations determined using monoclonal antibodies against CD4 and CD8 and fluorescence microscopy. We studied 51 patients (31 males), 20 infected with HIV, 18 with recurring infections, 5 with cancer, 2 with tuberculosis and 6 with miscellaneous diagnoses. According to Multitest results, patients were classified as normal, hypoergic or anergic. Twenty five percent of patients were normal, 65 percent hypoergic and 10 percent anergic. Eighty percent of anergic patients were infected with HIV. No differences in total lymphocyte count were observed between the 3 groups. CD4 lymphocyte count was lower in anergic patients when compared with the other groups. All patients with CD4 counts below 200 cells/mmü were anergic. It is cincluded that Multitest CMI is useful for the assessment of cellular immunity and complements the determination of lymphocyte subpopulations

Angioplastía por balón en 10 pacientes con estenosis de ramas pulmonares / Balloon angioplasty in 10 patients with pulmonary branch stenosis

Se presentan los resultados de angioplastía por balón en estenosis de ramas pulmonares en 10 pacientes (edad promedio: 5 años, 10 meses), 9 de ellos habían sido previamente corregidos quirúrgicamente de su patología de base. En los 10 pacientes, se efectuaron 12 dilataciones, 8 procedimientos (7 pacientes) se estimaron exitoso, aumentando el diámetro de 6,7 mm (2-15 mm) a 13,9 (5-40 mm) y disminuyendo el gradiente de presión de 80 mmHg (50-120) a 36 (20-58 mmHg). En ninguno de ellos hubo complicaciones. La técnica es segura y está especialmente indicada en lesiones estenóticas de las ramas pulmonares residuales a la cirugía