Medicina
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Case Reports
[Failure of the treatment with penicillin in a case of Neisseria meningitidis meningitis].
Most Neisseria meningitidis are susceptible to penicillin with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) < or = 0.6 mg/L and mortality related to meningococcal meningitis has been low. In recent years, however, N. meningitidis moderately susceptible to penicillin (MIC 0.12-1 mg/L) has been isolated in South Africa, England, USA, and mainly Spain. We report a case of a 16-year old male patient, who was admitted with a diagnosis of meningitis. ⋯ A third lumbar puncture performed on the eighth day after admission showed a negative bacteriological culture. The patient was discharged without neurological sequelae after 14 days of treatment. This case report shows that small changes in N. meningitidis sensitivity may be of clinical relevance.
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Editorial Biography Historical Article
[The unexpected complexity of eukaryotic genes. Nobel Prize of Medicine or Physiology 1993, Philip Sharp and Richard Roberts].
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Case Reports
[Seropositive polyarthritis as a presentation form of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy].
We present a 59-year-old male who was admitted due to fever and generalized lymphadenopathy. The patient had polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, Coombs-positive anemia, positive rheumatoid factor (latex 1:1280-SCAT 1:128), hypocomplementemia, negative LE cells and FAN negative. He had a 2 months history of a rheumatoid arthritis-like polyarthritis with poor response to non-steroid antiinflammatory drugs. ⋯ Thus, this patient fulfills the morphologic criteria of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy (AILD) (Fig. 1 and 2). Our purpose was to describe the association of seropositive polyarthritis with AILD as a presentation sign. Whether this represents a case of a rheumatoid arthritis with AILD or the polyarthritis which has been described as part of the clinical picture or AILD is difficult to say due to the short time evolution of the disease.
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The use of surgical implants and prosthetic devices to replace the original function of different components of the human biological system is a well established tradition in the history of medicine. Currently, one of the most prevalent points of view in dealing with this subject, is that of biocompatibility of materials of construction and methods of fabrication of these devices, in order to avoid negative impacts on the patient due to failure of implants through degradation mechanisms such as corrosion. This article presents a current general review of the relationship between biocompatibility and deterioration of metallic implants and prosthetic devices, emphasizing the specific forms that corrosion adopts in biological media. ⋯ As a result of this conclusion, an interdisciplinary treatment of the subject of biodeterioration of metallic implants and prosthetic devices is proposed. In practical terms, this proposal can be understood as the integration of an expert in materials science and engineering to the medical team. Thus, quality and reliability of the implant, as well as maximization of its useful life, would be achieved through the implementation of technical specifications, accepted standards, and pertinent testing as recommended by the above mentioned expert, who will be the person of the team more able to grasp the novelties that the dynamic field of biomaterials constantly offers.