Gac Med Mex
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Biography Historical Article
"The books and the night", neurological perspective on Jorge Luis Borges' blindness.
The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view. ⋯ On his autobiography, he recounts how, during an episode of septicemia, he suffered hallucinations and loss of speech; in addition, in some poems and essays he describes data that suggest "phantom chromatopsia", a lesion of cortical origin. After that accident, Borges survived with a radical change in literary style. Although a precise diagnosis is impossible, his literary work allows recognizing some elements in favor of concomitant brain involvement.
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In Mexico, there is an alarming increase in the number of cases of Mycobacterium bovis infection on pulmonary and extrapulmonary presentations. The lack of timely identification triggers complications and increases mortality. ⋯ M. bovis is not currently thought of a causative agent of tuberculosis, which could be the cause of pharmacological treatment failure. In this study, the main extrapulmonary form was observed to be cervical lymphadenopathy.
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Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the main symptomatic primary immunodeficiency and is associated with complex immune disorders. Gut microbiota interacts closely with the immune system, and intestinal dysbiosis is related to multiple diseases. ⋯ Unlike healthy subjects' gut microbiota, where Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes predominate, the microbiota of the patients with CVID considered in this study was abundant in Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. The low presence of Bacteroidetes and high abundance of Firmicutes might indicate the existence of intestinal dysbiosis in these patients.
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Gaceta Médica de México, official journal of the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico, began its circulation on September 15, 1864, and continues to be positioned as the oldest medical periodical publication. However, its publication was temporarily interrupted. The present study analyzes the interruption suffered by Gaceta in 1916, its resumption in 1919, and the causes that originated that discontinuity. The consequences of the so-called Mexican revolution and the enthusiasm and commitment of the academy and its editors to continue working for the progress of national medicine are discussed.
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Observational Study
Classification of fundus autofluorescence abnormal patterns in diabetic macular edema.
Patients with diabetic macular edema can develop fundus autofluorescence alterations; thus far, these alterations have been more widely studied with scanning or confocal laser systems. ⋯ Different fundus autofluorescence phenotypic patterns are observed with flash camera systems in patients with diabetic macular edema. A more accurate phenotypic classification could help establish prognostic factors for visual loss or for the design of clinical trials for diabetic macular edema.