Coarctation of Aorta in Turner Mosaicism.

The prevalence of hypertension in the pediatric age range is estimated at 1-5% worldwide, with higher rates in adolescence. Although primary hypertension is more common, due to the increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome among adolescents, secondary hypertension should be always considered and excluded. We present the case of an adolescent with secondary hypertension and a challenging diagnosis associated with coarctation of aorta and Turner Mosaicism.

Potential Anti-Obesity, Anti-Steatosis, and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Extracts from the Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorococcum amblystomatis under Different Growth Conditions.

Microalgae are known as a producer of proteins and lipids, but also of valuable compounds for human health benefits (e.g., polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs); minerals, vitamins, or other compounds). The overall objective of this research was to prospect novel products, such as nutraceuticals from microalgae, for application in human health, particularly for metabolic diseases. Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorococcum amblystomatis were grown autotrophically, and C. vulgaris was additionally grown heterotrophically. Microalgae biomass was extracted using organic solvents (dichloromethane, ethanol, ethanol with ultrasound-assisted extraction). Those extracts were evaluated for their bioactivities, toxicity, and metabolite profile. Some of the extracts reduced the neutral lipid content using the zebrafish larvae fat metabolism assay, reduced lipid accumulation in fatty-acid-overloaded HepG2 liver cells, or decreased the LPS-induced inflammation reaction in RAW264.7 macrophages. Toxicity was not observed in the MTT assay in vitro or by the appearance of lethality or malformations in zebrafish larvae in vivo. Differences in metabolite profiles of microalgae extracts obtained by UPLC-LC-MS/MS and GNPS analyses revealed unique compounds in the active extracts, whose majority did not have a match in mass spectrometry databases and could be potentially novel compounds. In conclusion, microalgae extracts demonstrated anti-obesity, anti-steatosis, and anti-inflammatory activities and could be valuable resources for developing future nutraceuticals. In particular, the ultrasound-assisted ethanolic extract of the heterotrophic C. vulgaris significantly enhanced the anti-obesity activity and demonstrated that the alteration of culture conditions is a valuable approach to increase the production of high-value compounds.

Psicofármacos y riesgo de caídas en ancianos: resultados preliminares del estudio piloto casocontrol anidado en una residencia de ancianos portuguesa / Psychopharmaceuticals and the risk of falls among elderly people: preliminary results of the nested case-control pilot study in a Portuguese care home

Introducción: Las caídas son frecuentes entre los ancianos, los cuales toman muchos medicamentos y algunos de ellos, como los psicofármacos, pueden aumentar el riesgo de caídas. Objetivos: Investigar la relación entre el uso de psicofármacos y la aparición de caídas en pacientes ancianos institucionalizados e identificar los fármacos más utilizados en estos pacientes. Además, se estudió el riesgo asociado al número de psicofármacos que el paciente estaba tomando y el riesgo de caídas que provocaron. Material y métodos: Se realizó un estudio caso-control anidado a partir de una cohorte de pacientes polimedicados internados en una residencia. Los casos fueron pacientes con caídas, entre agosto de 2014 y diciembre de 2015, y los controles aquellos que no cayeron. La exposición a psicofármacos fue investigada en los 2 grupos retrospectivamente. La información fue recogida de la base de datos de la residencia por personal sanitario. El análisis se centró en las OR de caídas por grupo terapéutico, usando un IC de 95%. Resultados: Se analizó una muestra de 22 pacientes, 9 casos y 13 controles: mayoría mujeres, y edad media 82,3 años (DE=6,5). Cada residente tomó una media de 11 medicamentos (DE=4,6). El grupo farmacoterapéutico y el fármaco más utilizados fueron antipsicóticos y quetiapina (59,1%, n=13; 45,5%, n=10, respectivamente). Los OR calculados demuestran no haber ninguna asociación estadísticamente significativa entre los subgrupos terapéuticos y/o fármacos con un elevado riesgo de caídas (p. ej. quetiapina: OR=4.5; IC=0,730-27,739; antipsicóticos atípicos: OR=3,2; IC=0,540-18,980). Conclusión: Como los resultados fueron obtenidos de una muestra limitada, no se demostraron relaciones significativas, aunque sí una clara relación entre el uso de psicofármacos y el riesgo de caídas, identificando aquellos grupos farmacoterapéuticos más influyentes en caídas (AU)

Introduction: Falls are frequent in the elderly, because they take medication that may increase the risk of falls, including psychotropic drugs. Aims: To explore the relationship between the use of psychotropic drugs and the occurrence of falls in institutionalized patients, and to identify the most used drugs in these patients. In addition, it was studied the risk associated with the psychotropic drugs and the risk of falls that they caused. Methods: A nested case-control study was performed from a cohort of polypharmacy patients residing in a nursing home. Cases were those having suffered a fall from August 2014 to December 2015, and controls were those without falls recorded. The exposure of psychoactive drugs was explored retrospectively in both groups. Information was collected in the database of the nursing home. Analysis focused on the odds ratio of falling per pharmacotherapy group, using confidence intervals set at 95%. Results: A sample of 22 patients, 9 cases and 13 controls, was analyzed: most patients were women, and the mean age was 82.3 years (SD=6.45). Residents used a mean of 11 medicines (SD=4.64). The most used pharmaceutical group and drug respectively were antipsychotics and quetiapine (59.1%, n=13; 45.5%, n=10). The OR determined in this study did not evidence any statistically significant association between the pharmacotherapeutic subgroups and/or drugs and increased risk of falling (quetiapine: OR=4.5; IC=0.730-27.739; atypical antipsychotics: OR=3.2; IC=0.540-18.980). Conclusion: Results were obtained in a restricted sample, leading to the incapacity of demonstrating significant associations. However, a trend between the use of psychotropic drugs and the risk of falls in the elderly was shown, identifying the most influential pharmacotherapeutic groups in falls (AU)

Susceptibilities of Candida albicans mouth isolates to antifungal agents, essentials oils and mouth rinses.

Forty Candida albicans strains isolated from patient's mouth with fixed orthodontic appliances were analyzed to their susceptibilities to antifungal agents, mouth rinses and essential oils. Susceptibility to fluconazole, econazole, miconazole and ketoconazole, amphotericin B and nystatin was assessed by the disk diffusion (DD) method based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute M44-A protocol, and by Etest (fluconazole and amphotericin B). The susceptibilities to mouth rinses and essential oils were also determined by the DD technique. All isolates tested were susceptible (S) to amphotericin B, nystatin and fluconazole. The overall concordance between the DD and the Etest was 100% for amphotericin and fluconazole. One isolate was resistant to econazole (2.5%) and the other to ketoconazole (2.5%). Econazole and ketoconazole had the highest percentages of susceptible dose dependent (SDD), 55 and 95%, respectively. Regarding to the susceptibility isolates profile, seven phenotypes were detected, and the 3 more represented (90% of the isolates) of them were SDD to one, two or three azoles. The study of mouth rinses showed a high variability of efficacy against C. albicans. The results showed that the isolates susceptibility to essential oils differed (P < 0.05). The profile activity was: cinnamon > laurel > mint > eucalyptus > rosemary > lemon > myrrh > tangerine. The main finding was that the susceptibility to cinnamon and laurel varied among the three more representative antifungal phenotypes (P < 0.05). The susceptibility of econazole-SDD isolates to cinnamon and lemon was higher than those of the econazole-S yeasts (P < 0.05). In contrast, econazole-SDD isolates were less affected by laurel than econazole-S counterparts (P < 0.05).