Radioprotection and contrast agent use in pediatrics: what, how, and when. / Radioprotección y uso de contrastes en pediatría: qué, cómo y cuándo.

It is essential to minimize exposure to ionizing radiation in children for various reasons. The risk of developing a tumor from exposure to a given dose of radiation is greater in childhood. Various strategies can be used to reduce exposure to ionizing radiation. It is fundamental to avoid unnecessary tests and tests that are not indicated, to choose an alternative test that does not use ionizing radiation, and/or to take a series of measures that minimize the dose of radiation that the patient receives, such as avoiding having to repeat tests, using the appropriate projections, using shields, adjusting the protocol (mAs, Kv, or pitch) to the patient's body volume, etc… When contrast agents are necessary, intracavitary ultrasound agents can be used, although the use of ultrasound agents is also being extended to include intravenous administration. In fluoroscopy, contrast agents with low osmolarity must be used, as in CT where we must adjust the dose and speed of injection to the patient's weight and to the caliber of the peripheral line, respectively. In MRI, only three types of contrast agents have been approved for pediatric use. It is sometimes necessary to use double doses or organ-specific contrast agents in certain clinical situations; the safety of contrast agents for these indications has not been proven, so they must be used off label.

3D evaluation of maxillary arches in unilateral cleft lip and palate patients treated with nasoalveolar moulding vs. Hotz's plate.

To compare the three-dimensional changes occurring in the maxillary arch during the use of modified pre-surgical nasoalveolar moulding (PNAM) and Hotz's plate. A clinical trial including 32 children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), 16 treated with Hotz's plate and 16 with PNAM, was performed. Impressions of the maxillary arches were taken: A. prior to pre-surgical orthopaedics, B. before cheiloplasty and C. after cheiloplasty. Models were digitised using a stereophotogrammetric instrument, and geodesic distances were calculated: anterior, canine and posterior widths of the arch, and lengths and cleft depths of the larger and shorter segments. The time and treatment effects were assessed by two-factor anova. A significant effect of treatment was found for cleft depth at the larger segment: children treated with Hotz's plate had significantly deeper cleft than children treated with PNAM. All distances significantly changed during time: the anterior and canine widths decreased, while the posterior width, the lengths and depths of the cleft segments increased. Significant treatment per time interactions was found. The anterior and canine widths reduced more with PNAM between time points A and B while Hotz's treatment was more effective between B and C. The shorter segment depth increased more between B and C with PNAM, and between A and B with Hotz's plate. During pre-surgical orthopaedics, therapy with PNAM obtained the best results in reducing the width at the anterior segment of the cleft. This treatment gave a lower increase in cleft depth than treatment with Hotz's plate.

Un estudio completo sobre la obtención de 99mTc-UBI 29-41 y su comportamiento in vitro e in vivo: su potencial uso en imágenes de infecciones / A complete study about the procurement of 99mTc-UBI 29-41 and its in vitro and in vivo behaviour: potential use in infection imaging

El objetivo del presente trabajo es investigar como se modifica el comportamiento in vitro e in vivo (localización de sitios de infección experimental con Staphilococcus aureus (S.a.)) del UBI 29-41 cuando es marcado con 99mTc por cuatro métodos distintos: a) con borohidruro de potasio y pirofosfato de estaño, b) con hidróxido de sodio y cloruro estañoso (métodos directos), c) con NHS-MAG3 y d) con NHS-HYNIC (métodos indirectos). En segundo lugar comparar los valores PI/PN (Pata Infectada / Pata Normal) del 99mTc-UBI 29-41 (método a), con el 99mTc-scrambled (Sc) UBI 29-41 (péptido control) y con 99mTc-IgG (radiofármaco no específico para infecciones) en ratones infectados con S.a. viables; y los valores pata inflamada/ PN del 99mTc-UBI 29-41 99mTc (método a) con 99mTc-IgG en ratones con inflamación estéril. Cuando el 99mTc-UBI 29-41 fue obtenido por el método a, se obtuvieron los mejores resultados in vitro y las biodistribuciones mostraron la máxima acumulación en sitios con S.a. viables y muy baja acumulación en sitios con inflamación estéril, demostrando su potencial uso en el diagnóstico de infecciones.

99mTc-UBI 29-41: biodistribución y autoradiografía digital en ratones con S.a. viables, S.a. no viables obtenidos por irradiación gamma y S.a. muertos por calor / 99mTc-UBI 29-41: biodistribution and digital autoradiography in mices with viable S.a., non viable S.a. obtained from gamma irradiation and heat killed S.a

El objetivo del presente trabajo es evaluar la capacidad del 99mTc-UBI 29-41 marcado por un método directo en la localización de sitios de infección experimental con Staphilococcus aureus (S.a.). En segundo lugar comparar los valores PI/PN (Pata Infectada / Pata Normal) de las biodistribuciones en ratones portadores de S.a. viables, S.a. no viables obtenidos por irradiación gamma y por calentamiento y en sitios de inflamación estéril y cuantificar las relaciones sitio infectado / sitio normal (SI / SN) através de autorradiografía digital. El UBI 29-41 es un fragmento sintético de la ubiquicidina y el scrambled (Sc) UBI 29-41 es el péptido control. 99mTc-IgG fue el control positivo para inflamaciones estériles. Cuando el 99mTc-UBI 29-41 fue obtenido por este método rápido y reproducible, se visualizaron sitios de infección a 2h p.i.. Las biodistribuciones mostraron mayor acumulación en sitios con S.a. viables que con S.a. irradiados y no hubo acumulación en inflamaciones estériles.

Micro-machined planar field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometer as a gas chromatographic detector.

A planar high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometer (PFAIMS) with a micro-machined drift tube was characterized as a detector for capillary gas chromatography. The performance of the PFAIMS was compared directly to that of a flame ionization detector (FID) for the separation of a ketone mixture from butanone to decanone. Effluent from the column was continuously sampled by the detector and mobility scans could be obtained throughout the chromatographic analysis providing chemical inforrmation in mobility scans orthogonal to retention time. Limits of detection were approximately I ng for measurement of positive ions and were comparable or slightly better than those for the FID. Direct comparison of calibration curves for the FAIMS and the FID was possible over four orders of magnitude with a semi-log plot. The concentration dependence of the PFAIMS mobility scans showed the dependence between ion intensity and ion clustering, evident in other mobility spectrometers and atmospheric pressure ionization technologies. Ions were identified using mass spectrometry as the protonated monomer and the proton bound dimer of the ketones. Residence time for column effluent in the PFAIMS was calculated as approximately 1 ms and a 36% increase in extra-column broadening versus the FID occurred with the PFAIMS.

Performance-enhanced "tunable" capillary microwave-induced plasma mass spectrometer for gas chromatography detection.

Improvements in the stability and performance of a capillary microwave-induced plasma-mass spectrometer (MIP-MS) were achieved by optimizing power transfer to the cavity using a tunable coaxial MIP. The MIP, operating at atmospheric pressure, was sustained with 30 mL/min He and 60 W of power. Measurement precision and sensitivity for the standard waveguide and coaxial systems were determined using 16 organochlorine pesticide solutions separated by gas chromatography (GC). The linear dynamic range obtained with the tunable MIP-MS extended over 3 orders of magnitude, a 10 time improvement with respect to the standard MIP. Detection limits were between 3 and 19 pg of Cl mol(-1) s(-1), 7 times lower than the detection limits obtained with the nontunable MIP-MS. Analysis of pesticides containing sulfur atoms was also possible, further demonstrating multielement MIP-MS detection. Excellent accuracy (10% recovery) and precision (5% RSD) were found for the detection of the pesticides in a petroleum-contaminated reference soil. By placing the GC column at the plasma expansion stage, molecular fragmentation of a mixture of volatile organic compounds was also demonstrated. With the MS operated in the selected ion monitoring mode, measurement sensitivity was approximately 500 pg/s per compound.

Short-term homeostasis of active sleep and the architecture of sleep in the rat.

1. Sixteen rats were recorded continuously for 3 days using an automated system that detected, quantified, and stored the incidence of cortical delta waves, cortical sigma spindles, hippocampal theta rhythm, and electromyographic activity. A time series then was constructed wherein 15-s epochs were ascribed to one behavioral state: wakefulness (W), quiet sleep (QS), or active sleep (AS, a state also referred to as REM sleep). From those series, AS episodes and non-AS intervals could be determined. Episodes and intervals were defined as lasting at least two epochs and the one-epoch episodes and intervals were incorporated to the ongoing state. 2. Having established the length of each AS episode and non-AS interval, pairings were made, on the one hand between episodes and their preceding intervals, and on the other, between episodes and the intervals that followed. 3. Highly significant correlations were found between the length of AS episodes and the length of the non-AS intervals that followed. Correlations were also significant when calculated separately versus the amount of QS and of W within the following interval. Correlations improved when they were performed against the log of the interval and when only intervals with a predominance of QS were selected. 4. No significant correlation was found between the length of AS episodes and the length of the preceding non-AS intervals, except for a negative one that was present only when the statistical analysis was performed in the unsmoothed array where the one-epoch episodes and intervals were preserved. 5. These results suggest that there is a short-term homeostasis operating within the spontaneous architecture of sleep in rats. This homeostatic mechanism is not manifested by the regulation of the length of AS episodes. Instead, there is a forward regulatory mechanism that, given the duration of an AS episode, permissively controls the interval that the animal may abstain from AS, and hence the timing of the triggering of a new AS episode.

Measures of location and dispersion of sleep state distributions within the circular frame of a 12:12 light: dark schedule in the rat.

Distributions within a 12:12 light:dark schedule of wakefulness (W), active sleep (AS), quiet sleep (QS) and of QS rich in delta (QSD) and in spindle (QSS) activities were evaluated for 52 days from 15 rats. Angular statistics were applied for each state by equating their hourly incidence to data distributed around a circle. Measures of location (mean angle, median angle, mode angle, maximum semicircle), dispersion (mean vector, standard deviation, quartile deviation), skewness and kurtosis were computed and their intra- and interindividual variabilities were compared. Mean angles (in hours and after lights-on) averaged 5.5 for QS, 8.6 for AS, 18.4 for W, 1.9 for QSD and 10.6 for QSS. Length of vectors, representing concentration around the mean angle, averaged 0.22 for QS, 0.36 for AS, 0.22 for W, 0.38 for QSD and 0.23 for QSS. Distributions of QS and W were closely related to the light-dark step function. QSD had a leptokurtic distribution, sharply rising at the beginning of the sleep-predominant phase, whereas AS and QSS had smoother distributions reaching maxima in its second half. In rodents as in humans, QSS and AS have opposite distributions to QSD. QSS may contribute to maintain sleep through the resting phase of the light-dark schedule after restorative function associated with delta activity has been fulfilled.

Mutagenicity of antiamebic and anthelmintic drugs in the Salmonella typhimurium microsomal test system.

4 amebicides (chloroquine diphosphate, diiodohydroxyquin, iodochlorohydroxyquin and dehydroemetine) and 6 anthelmintics (bephenium hydroxynaphthoate, 4-hexylresorcinol, mebendazole, niclosamide, pyrantel pamoate and pyrvinium pamoate) were tested for mutagenicity in the Salmonella typhimurium microsomal test system. Frameshift mutations were induced by dehydroemetine and niclosamide following activation by microsomal enzymes, while pyrvinium pamoate induced both frameshift and base-pair substitution mutations with or without metabolic activation. The urine of mice treated with dehydroemetine or pyrvinium pamoate showed no mutagenic activity. However, urine obtained from mice treated with niclosamide was mutagenic in strains TA98 and TA1538. The fluctuation assay showed chloroquine diphosphate to be mutagenic in TA1537, a strain which detects frameshift mutations.

Effects of centrally applied thiamenidine on pressure response to central nervous system stimulation.

Rise in blood pressure and heart rhythm disorders were provoked in rabbits submitted to electrical stimulation of the central nervous system. When injected into the cisterna magna, the hypotensive agent thiamenidine at a single dose of 100 microgram caused a fall in blood pressure and heart rate; this was not the case when the same dose was applied intravenously. Thiamenidine did not hinder the pressor response following stimulation of subthalamic zones, yet a reduction of rhythm disorders was obtained when the drug was administered by either route. The results suggest a central nervous action of thiamenidine.