Emergency emicolectomy for intestinal primary Aspergillosis in acute myeloid leukemia

ntestinal aspergillosis is an infection with a very high death rate especially in leukemic patients. Here we describe a case of a 46 years old woman with acute myeloid leukemia (LAM M5) who developed intestinal primary aspergillosis. This patient was diagnosed with LAM M5 through bone marrow aspiration and bone biopsy in March 2004. Symptoms of the disease were slight persistent fever, weight loss, asthenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia,and leukocytosis with high number of blasts in peripheral blood. After induction chemotherapy with ICE (Ifosfamide, Carboplatin, Etoposide), she developed neutropenia and high fever without apparent infective foci. She was treated with empiric antibiotic therapy, nevertheless she developed an intense diarrhea and ileo-cecal distention. Diagnostic exams didn’t show signs of a focal lesion. Despite the change in antibiotic treatment and the transfusions of granulocytes and blood cells, the patient developed extremely critical conditions with persistence of neutropenia and abdominal distention. A surgical treatment was decided at the time. We treated the patient with a two steps surgical procedure. The first step was a right abdominal ileostomy followed by improvement of general conditions and then the second step a right colectomy. The histological morphology confirmed necrotizing colitis with Aspergillus ife. At that time , treatment with voriconazole was started. The general conditions of the patient improved rapidly and we were able to treat the patient with other medical anti-leukemic therapies. The patient is now cured and in healthy state. We obtained a good clinical result as only in other few cases described in literature.

Laparoscopic treatment of mucinous adenocarcinoma of jejunum associated with celiac disease. Case report

Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the small bowel is very rare, and only few cases have been described in the literature. Association of this tumor with celiac disease has never been published. The authors report a unique case of jejunal mucinous adenocarcinoma in which a concomitant celiac disease has been histologically recognized. The difficult diagnosis, the role of laparoscopic surgery and the relationship between small bowel tumors and celiac disease are discussed. A 49-year-old man presented with recurrent melena, nausea, vomiting and anemia. A stenosis of the jejunum was documented by means of CT scan and video capsule enteroscopy. A laparoscopy was scheduled. A tumor, found in the first jejunal loop, was removed by laparoscopic surgery. Histopathology revealed a rare mucinous adenocarcinoma associated with epithelial changes secondary to celiac disease. Although small bowel tumors are rare entity, in patients with celiac disease complaining of symptoms related to altered intestinal transit or occult bleeding, an appropriate work-up should be planned for diagnosis. Mucinous type intestinal adenocarcinoma, even if never published before, could be observed. Laparoscopic surgery is often essential for the diagnosis and treatment.

A case of extraovarian primary peritoneal carcinoma in an oophorectomized-hysterectomized patient: a diagnostic dilemma

Extra Ovarian Primary Peritoneal Carcinoma (EOPPC) is a rare type of adenocarcinoma of the pelvic and abdominal peritoneum. The objective examination and the histological aspect of the neoplasia virtually overlaps with that of ovarian carcinoma. The reported case is that of a 72 year-old patient who had undergone a total hysterectomy with bilateral annessiectomy surgery 20 years earlier subsequently to a diagnosis for uterine leiomyomatosis. The patient came to our attention presenting recurring abdominal pain, constipation, weight loss, severe asthenia and fever. Her blood test results showed hypochromic microcytic anemia and a remarkable increase CA125 marker levels. Instrumental diagnostics with Ultrasound (US) and CT scans indicated the presence of a single peritoneal mass (10-12 cm diameter) close to the great epiploon. The patient was operated through a midline abdominal incision and the mass was removed with the great omentum. No primary tumor was found anywhere else in the abdomen and in the pelvis. The operation lasted approximately 50 minutes. The post-operative course was normal and the patient was discharged four days later. The histological exam of the neoplasia, supported by immunohistochemical analysis, showed a significant positivity for CA 125, vimentin and cytocheratin, presence of psammoma bodies, and cytoarchitectural pattern resembling that of a serous ovarian carcinoma even in absence of primitiveness, leading to a final diagnosis of EOPPC. The patient later underwent six cycles of chemotherapy with paclitaxel (135 mg/m2/24 hr) in association with cisplatin (75mg/m2). At the fourth year follow-up no sign of relapse was observed. .

Factores de riesgo relacionados con complicaciones durante el embarazo en adolescentes de 15 a 19 años, Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, Cuenca, junio 2006-septiembre 2007

Se procedió a identificar a las pacientes adolescentes que ingresaron en trabajo de parto, que cumplían los criterios de inclusión obteniéndose su consentimiento y el de sus familiares, se realizó la toma de las muestras de sangre y orina; se procedió posteriormente a la toma de datos y su registro en la encuesta. Posteriormente se clasificó cada paciente de acuerdo a caso o control según corresponda, para finalmente realizar el análisis estadístico. RESULTADOS: Los factores de riesgo se encuentran presentes tanto en las pacientes que corresponden a casos (96) como en controles (87), mostrando relación estadísticamente significativa con la aparición de complicaciones durante el embarazo, el parto y en el recién nacido (OR: 3.58, IC: 1.12-11.41). En el análisis por grupos de factores de riesgo, encontramos una diferencia estadísticamente significativa en el grupo de factores de riesgo sociales (OR: 2.25. IC: 1.13-4.46). La complicación más frecuente fue infección de vías urinarias durante el embarazo (37) y la anemia identificada durante el trabajo de parto (46). El 21de recién nacidos presentaron bajo peso al nacer. CONCLUSIONES: identificamos la presencia de un mayor porcentaje de complicaciones en el grupo de adolescentes con factores de riesgo que conformaron el grupo de casos

Estudio comparativo entre el alumbramiento dirigido y el alumbramiento expectante. Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso. Cuenca 2006

Se procedió a identificar a las pacientes adolescentes que ingresaron en trabajo de parto, que cumplían los criterios de inclusión obteniéndose su consentimiento y el de sus familiares, se realizó la toma de las muestras de sangre y orina; se procedió posteriormente a la toma de datos y su registro en la encuesta. Posteriormente se clasificó cada paciente de acuerdo a caso o control según corresponda, para finalmente realizar el análisis estadístico. RESULTADOS: Los factores de riesgo se encuentran presentes tanto en las pacientes que corresponden a casos (96) como en controles (87), mostrando relación estadísticamente significativa con la aparición de complicaciones durante el embarazo, el parto y en el recién nacido (OR: 3.58, IC: 1.12-11.41). En el análisis por grupos de factores de riesgo, encontramos una diferencia estadísticamente significativa en el grupo de factores de riesgo sociales (OR: 2.25. IC: 1.13-4.46). La complicación más frecuente fue infección de vías urinarias durante el embarazo (37) y la anemia identificada durante el trabajo de parto (46). El 21de recién nacidos presentaron bajo peso al nacer. CONCLUSIONES: identificamos la presencia de un mayor porcentaje de complicaciones en el grupo de adolescentes con factores de riesgo que conformaron el grupo de casos

Tiempo de alumbramiento con drenaje y sin drenaje de sangre del cordón umbilical en pacientes anémicas y no anémicas en el Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, Cuenca-Ecuador 2007

Con un diseño experimental se realizó un estudio clínico, controlado, aleatorizado La muestra incluyó 200 pacientes, el grupo experimental comprendió 100 pacientes en las que se drenó la sangre de cordón umbilical 50 anémicas y 50 no anémicas, y el grupo de control con pinzamiento del cordón lo integraron 100 pacientes, 50 anémicas y 50 no anémicas. Resultados: al comparar la duración del tercer período del parto del grupo con drenaje se obtuvo una media de 4,6 ñ 1,4 min y en el grupo con pinzamiento 9,07 ñ 2,5 min. La diferencia fue significativa (P = 0,0001).Cuando se comparó la duración del tercer período del parto de 1 a 5 min vs 6 a 10 min, la mayoría de las pacientes del grupo con drenaje, estuvo entre 1 a 5 min, con un RR 0.239 (IC 95: 0.188 - 0.358), RRA 70.1, RRR 76.1, NNT 1.426, en las anémicas, y un RR 0.250 (IC 95: 0.179 - 0.383), RRA 66.1, RRR 75, NNT 1.513 en las no anémicas. El volumen de drenaje en el grupo de estudio, tuvo una media de 60.3 ñ 19.5 ml en las anémicas y 56.9 ñ 18 ml en las no anémicas (P = 0.369). La hemorragia del tercer período del parto del grupo con drenaje tuvo una media de 197.6 ñ 36 ml vs el grupo con pinzamiento 277.4 ñ 49 ml con un valor (P = 0,0001) lo cual es estadísticamente significativo a favor del drenaje. Cuando se comparó la hemorragia del tercer período del parto de menor que 250 ml vs 250 a 500 ml la mayoría de las pacientes del grupo con drenaje, estuvo en menor que 250 ml, con un RR 0.070 (IC 95: 0.025 - 0.168), RRA 80, RRR 93, NNT 1.25, en las anémicas, y un RR 0.074 (IC 95: 0.020 - 0.246), RRA 50, RRR 92.6, NNT 2 en las no anémicas. Conclusiones. La maniobra del drenaje de sangre del cordón umbilical reduce el tiempo y la hemorragia del tercer período del parto en pacientes con anemia leve y no anémicas sin producir efectos deletéreos

Prevalencia y factores de riesgo en amenaza de parto pretérmino en las pacientes atendidas en el Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso en el año 2006

Se realizó un estudio observacional de tipo transversal. Se analizaron como factores de riesgo asociados: parto pretérmino previo, infección de vías urinarias, anemia, embarazo múltiple, trastornos hipertensivos, control prenatal y edad. La muestra fue propositiva, no aleatoria (728 mujeres) se calculó mediante Epi Info v 3.2.2 con los siguientes criterios: tamaño poblacional 4000 partos, prevalencia esperada 10, precisión 2, nivel de confianza 95La información fue obtenida directamente de las pacientes por medio de encuestas y exámenes clínicos y de laboratorio correspondientes. Los datos se procesaron en Epi Info. Resultados: la prevalencia de Amenaza de Parto pretérmino fue del 13. Los factores de riesgo asociados fueron: parto pretérmino previo (RP 3.05, IC 951.8-4.9), infección de vías urinarias (RP 3.99 IC 952.7-5.8); anemia (RP 1.70 IC 951.17-2.47). El control prenatal (RP 1.41 IC 950.96-2.08), embarazo múltiple (RP 2.34 IC 950.89-6.15), son factores asociados pero no estadísticamente significativa. En tanto que los trastornos hipertensivos (RP 0.45 IC 950.19-1.07) y la edad menor de 19 o mayores de 35 años (RP 0.92 IC 950.60-1.42) son factores protectores pero no estadísticamente significativa. Conclusiones: la prevalencia de APP en el HVCM es de 13. Los factores asociados son: el antecedente de parto pretérmino, la infección de vías urinarias y la anemia

Prevalencia de ferropenia y factores de riesgo asociados en niños de 6 a 24 meses de edad en el Hospital de Girón-Azuay 2007

Se realizó un estudio transversal en el que se incluyeron 160 niños de 6 a 24 meses de edad, seleccionados aleatoriamente, en el período comprendido de abril a septiembre del 2007. Se efectuaron determinaciones de ferritina sérica mediante el método de quimioluminiscencia y Hb mediante la técnica de la cianometahemoglobina. Además a través de una encuesta se recogió la información referente a los factores de riesgo estudiados. Resultados: los principales resultados obtenidos fueron: prevalencia de ferropenia 49%, prevalencia de anemia por déficit de hierro 52.6%. Los factores de riesgo asociados a ferropenia que mostraron significancia estadística en nuestro estudio son ingesta de leche de vaca >750 ml/día RP 1.54 (IC 1.10-2.15 p=0.04) y consumo inadecuado de vegetales verdes RP 1.42 (IC 1.01-2.01 p=0.03).Conclusiones: 1. La tasa de prevalencia de ferropenia encontrada en los lactantes estudiados fue de 49%. 2. La prevalencia de anemia con ferropenia fue de 52,6%, confirmándose que la principal causa de anemia en este grupo etáreo es la carencia de hierro como se afirma a nivel mundial. 3. La determinación de ferritina sérica es una prueba útil para detectar ferropenia en etapa temprana antes del desarrollo de anemia. 4. Los factores de riesgo que mostraron asociación estadísticamente significativa con ferropenia fueron: la ingestión de leche de vaca mayor a 750 ml /día y una dieta insuficiente en vegetales verdes

Small bowel pseudomelanosis and oral iron therapy

Small bowel pseudomelanosis is a rarely reported clinical entity characterized by brown pigmentation of small bowel mucosa. The authors describe two cases, both with iron deficiency anemia, one of an 81-year-old female patient submitted for capsule endoscopy that revealed a brown pigmentation of all small bowel mucosa and another of an 81-year-old male whose retrograde double-balloon enteroscopy revealed a diffuse brown pattern of small bowel mucosa. Ileal biopsies confirmed intense iron deposition in the macrophages of the lamina propria. Both patients were on oral iron therapy and the second one had a previous double-balloon enteroscopy, 2 years earlier, which revealed only ileal angiodysplasias. These two cases demonstrate the importance of two new endoscopic methods for diagnosis of small bowel pseudomelanosis, the rarity of such an entity and its close relation with oral iron therapy.

Tiempo de estancia prolongado en los pacientes ingresados por insuficiencia cardiaca aguda

Objetivo: Identificar los factores asociados al tiempo de estancia hospitalaria prolongado en pacientes ingresados/as por insuficiencia cardiaca aguda. Método: Estudio observacional de cohorte multipropósito que incluyó pacientes del registro EAHFE (Epidemiology Acute Heart Failure in Emergency) ingresados/as por insuficiencia cardiaca aguda en 25 hospitales españoles. Se recogieron variables demográficas y clínicas, el día y el lugar del ingreso. La variable resultado principal fue el tiempo de estancia hospitalaria mayor que la mediana. Resultados: Se incluyeron 2400 pacientes con una edad media de 79,5 (±9,9) años, de los cuales 1334 (55,6%) eran mujeres. Quinientos noventa (24,6%) ingresaron en la unidad de corta estancia (UCE), 606 (25,2%) en cardiología y 1204 (50,2%) en medicina interna o geriatría. La mediana del tiempo de estancia hospitalaria fue de 7,0 (intervalo intercuartílico: 4-11 días). Cincuenta y ocho (2,4%) pacientes fallecieron y 562 (23,9%) sufrieron un reingreso a los 30 días tras el alta. Los factores independientes asociados a un tiempo de estancia hospitalaria prolongado fueron la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica, ser portador de un dispositivo, tener un factor precipitante desconocido o no común, la presencia en urgencias de insuficiencia renal, hiponatremia y anemia, no ingresar en una UCE o no disponer de dicha unidad e ingresar un lunes, martes o miércoles; y los asociados a un tiempo de estancia hospitalaria ≤7 días fueron la hipertensión arterial y tener como factor precipitante una crisis hipertensiva o la falta de adherencia al tratamiento. El área bajo la curva del modelo mixto ajustado al centro fue de 0,78 (intervalo de confianza del 95%: 0,76-0,80; p <0,001). Conclusiones: Hay una serie de factores asociados con un tiempo de estancia hospitalaria prolongado que deben ser considerados para la gestión del proceso de la insuficiencia cardiaca aguda.

Efectos adversos producidos por la administración de los antirretrovirales en pacientes que se encuentran en el programa de vih /sida en el Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso 2007-2008

Se realizó un estudio descriptivo; en un universo de 96 pacientes pertenecientes a la clínica de SIDA del hospital. Los datos demográficos se obtuvieron por entrevista directa y los resultados de los exámenes de laboratorio fueron copiados de la historia clínica. Estos se analizaron con la ayuda del Software Epi-Info. Resultados: la mayoría fueron hombres, con edad menor a 45 años, casados, solteros y con ocupación de obreros y quehaceres domésticos. Los fármacos más utilizados fueron zidovudina, lamivudina y efavirenz: zidovudina produjo anemia en el 15.5de los casos y depresión medular en el 2.4; lamivudina provocó miositis en el 31, neuropatía periférica en el 4y efavirenz ocasionó elevación de las transaminasas, glutámico pirúvico y glutámico oxalacético, en el 51.2. En la evaluación de las transaminasas, creatinfosfoquinasa, creatinina, glucosa, colesterol total, triglicéridos, hemoglobina, carga viral y los linfocitos TCD4 no hubo diferencia significativa entre la valoración inicial y en la de control. Conclusión: efavirenz produjo la más alta frecuencia de efectos colaterales se relaciono con la elevación de transaminasas, seguido por zidovudina que produjo anemia y depresión medular; lamivudina provoco miositis y neuropatía periférica

Crise de retenção esplénica major num adulto com drepanocitose

A crise de retenção esplénica é uma complicação, frequentemente, fatal da drepanocitose. É rara em adultos, pela elevada incidência de autoesplenectomia durante a infância. Heterozigóticos com traços de drepanocitose e de beta-talassémia têm fenótipos menos graves, podendo manter um baço funcional até à idade adulta. Descrevemos um caso de crise de retenção esplénica num homem de 19 anos, com concentração mínima de hemoglobina de 2,9g/dL, que resolveu após esplenectomia emergente. Os poucos casos descritos na literatura acarretam uma mortalidade elevada. Um diagnóstico rápido e actuação imediata são necessários para garantir a sobrevivência. É apresentada uma revisão da fisiopatologia e da abordagem terapêutica desta entidade.

Microfluidic platforms for the characterization of in meso membrane protein crystallization

Membrane proteins, which reside in the membranes of cells, play a critical role in many important biological processes including cellular signaling, immune response, and material and energy transduction. Because of their key role in maintaining the environment within cells and facilitating intercellular interactions, understanding the function of these proteins is of tremendous medical and biochemical significance. Indeed, the malfunction of membrane proteins has been linked to numerous diseases including diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, cystic fibrosis, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension, epilepsy, cataracts, tubulopathy, leukodystrophy, Leigh syndrome, anemia, sensorineural deafness, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.1-3 However, the structure of many of these proteins and the changes in their structure that lead to disease-related malfunctions are not well understood. Additionally, at least 60% of the pharmaceuticals currently available are thought to target membrane proteins, despite the fact that their exact mode of operation is not known.4-6 Developing a detailed understanding of the function of a protein is achieved by coupling biochemical experiments with knowledge of the structure of the protein. Currently the most common method for obtaining three-dimensional structure information is X-ray crystallography. However, no a priori methods are currently available to predict crystallization conditions for a given protein.7-14 This limitation is currently overcome by screening a large number of possible combinations of precipitants, buffer, salt, and pH conditions to identify conditions that are conducive to crystal nucleation and growth.7,9,11,15-24 Unfortunately, these screening efforts are often limited by difficulties associated with quantity and purity of available protein samples. While the two most significant bottlenecks for protein structure determination in general are the (i) obtaining sufficient quantities of high quality protein samples and (ii) growing high quality protein crystals that are suitable for X-ray structure determination,7,20,21,23,25-47 membrane proteins present additional challenges. For crystallization it is necessary to extract the membrane proteins from the cellular membrane. However, this process often leads to denaturation. In fact, membrane proteins have proven to be so difficult to crystallize that of the more than 66,000 structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank,48 less than 1% are for membrane proteins, with even fewer present at high resolution (< 2Å)4,6,49 and only a handful are human membrane proteins.49 A variety of strategies including detergent solubilization50-53 and the use of artificial membrane-like environments have been developed to circumvent this challenge.43,53-55 In recent years, the use of a lipidic mesophase as a medium for crystallizing membrane proteins has been demonstrated to increase success for a wide range of membrane proteins, including human receptor proteins.54,56-62 This in meso method for membrane protein crystallization, however, is still by no means routine due to challenges related to sample preparation at sub-microliter volumes and to crystal harvesting and X-ray data collection. This dissertation presents various aspects of the development of a microfluidic platform to enable high throughput in meso membrane protein crystallization at a level beyond the capabilities of current technologies. Microfluidic platforms for protein crystallization and other lab-on-a-chip applications have been well demonstrated.9,63-66 These integrated chips provide fine control over transport phenomena and the ability to perform high throughput analyses via highly integrated fluid networks. However, the development of microfluidic platforms for in meso protein crystallization required the development of strategies to cope with extremely viscous and non-Newtonian fluids. A theoretical treatment of highly viscous fluids in microfluidic devices is presented in Chapter 3, followed by the application of these strategies for the development of a microfluidic mixer capable of preparing a mesophase sample for in meso crystallization at a scale of less than 20 nL in Chapter 4. This approach was validated with the successful on chip in meso crystallization of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin. In summary, this is the first report of a microfluidic platform capable of performing in meso crystallization on-chip, representing a 1000x reduction in the scale at which mesophase trials can be prepared. Once protein crystals have formed, they are typically harvested from the droplet they were grown in and mounted for crystallographic analysis. Despite the high throughput automation present in nearly all other aspects of protein structure determination, the harvesting and mounting of crystals is still largely a manual process. Furthermore, during mounting the fragile protein crystals can potentially be damaged, both from physical and environmental shock. To circumvent these challenges an X-ray transparent microfluidic device architecture was developed to couple the benefits of scale, integration, and precise fluid control with the ability to perform in situ X-ray analysis (Chapter 5). This approach was validated successfully by crystallization and subsequent on-chip analysis of the soluble proteins lysozyme, thaumatin, and ribonuclease A and will be extended to microfluidic platforms for in meso membrane protein crystallization. The ability to perform in situ X-ray analysis was shown to provide extremely high quality diffraction data, in part as a result of not being affected by damage due to physical handling of the crystals. As part of the work described in this thesis, a variety of data collection strategies for in situ data analysis were also tested, including merging of small slices of data from a large number of crystals grown on a single chip, to allow for diffraction analysis at biologically relevant temperatures. While such strategies have been applied previously,57,59,61,67 they are potentially challenging when applied via traditional methods due to the need to grow and then mount a large number of crystals with minimal crystal-to-crystal variability. The integrated nature of microfluidic platforms easily enables the generation of a large number of reproducible crystallization trials. This, coupled with in situ analysis capabilities has the potential of being able to acquire high resolution structural data of proteins at biologically relevant conditions for which only small crystals, or crystals which are adversely affected by standard cryocooling techniques, could be obtained (Chapters 5 and 6). While the main focus of protein crystallography is to obtain three-dimensional protein structures, the results of typical experiments provide only a static picture of the protein. The use of polychromatic or Laue X-ray diffraction methods enables the collection of time resolved structural information. These experiments are very sensitive to crystal quality, however, and often suffer from severe radiation damage due to the intense polychromatic X-ray beams. Here, as before, the ability to perform in situ X-ray analysis on many small protein crystals within a microfluidic crystallization platform has the potential to overcome these challenges. An automated method for collecting a "single-shot" of data from a large number of crystals was developed in collaboration with the BioCARS team at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory (Chapter 6). The work described in this thesis shows that, even more so than for traditional structure determination efforts, the ability to grow and analyze a large number of high quality crystals is critical to enable time resolved structural studies of novel proteins. In addition to enabling X-ray crystallography experiments, the development of X-ray transparent microfluidic platforms also has tremendous potential to answer other scientific questions, such as unraveling the mechanism of in meso crystallization. For instance, the lipidic mesophases utilized during in meso membrane protein crystallization can be characterized by small angle X-ray diffraction analysis. Coupling in situ analysis with microfluidic platforms capable of preparing these difficult mesophase samples at very small volumes has tremendous potential to enable the high throughput analysis of these systems on a scale that is not reasonably achievable using conventional sample preparation strategies (Chapter 7). In collaboration with the LS-CAT team at the Advanced Photon Source, an experimental station for small angle X-ray analysis coupled with the high quality visualization capabilities needed to target specific microfluidic samples on a highly integrated chip is under development. Characterizing the phase behavior of these mesophase systems and the effects of various additives present in crystallization trials is key for developing an understanding of how in meso crystallization occurs. A long term goal of these studies is to enable the rational design of in meso crystallization experiments so as to avoid or limit the need for high throughput screening efforts. In summary, this thesis describes the development of microfluidic platforms for protein crystallization with in situ analysis capabilities. Coupling the ability to perform in situ analysis with the small scale, fine control, and the high throughput nature of microfluidic platforms has tremendous potential to enable a new generation of crystallographic studies and facilitate the structure determination of important biological targets. The development of platforms for in meso membrane protein crystallization is particularly significant because they enable the preparation of highly viscous mixtures at a previously unachievable scale. Work in these areas is ongoing and has tremendous potential to improve not only current the methods of protein crystallization and crystallography, but also to enhance our knowledge of the structure and function of proteins which could have a significant scientific and medical impact on society as a whole. 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TAFRO Syndrome in a Patient of South-American Descent

A 31-year-old Caucasian woman of South-American descent was diagnosed with a variant of multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) that has been reported in Japan as Castleman-Kojima disease. This is a systemic inflammatory disorder known as TAFRO Syndrome which includes thrombocytopenia, polyserositis (ascites/pleural effusion), microcytic anemia, myelofibrosis, fever, renal dysfunction and organomegaly, with immunologic disorder, polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, and elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the vascular endothelial growth factor present in serum and/or effusions. Optimal therapies are not well established. The patient was treated with methylprednisolone and rituximab. Following the start of treatment, the patient has been asymptomatic for over 8 months.