Conclusion: this website This study is the first to document the sensitivity of P. falciparum parasites to CQ and SP in Brazilian field samples. The importance of these findings is discussed.”
“Background: Given the association of depression with poorer cardiac outcomes, an American Heart Association Science Advisory has advocated routine screening
of cardiac patients for depression using the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) “”at a minimum.”" However, the prognostic value of the PHQ-2 among HF patients is unknown.
Methods and Results: We screened hospitalized HF patients (ejection fraction [EF] <40%) that staff suspected may be depressed with the PHQ-2, and then determined vital status at up to 12-months follow-up. At baseline, PHQ-2 depression screen positive patients (PHQ-2+; n = 371), compared with PHQ-2 screen negative patients (PHQ-2; n = 100), were younger (65 vs 70 years) and more likely to report New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV than class II symptoms (67% vs. 39%) and lower levels of physical and mental health related quality of life (all P <=.002); they were similar in other characteristics MS-275 (65% male, 26% mean EF). At 12 months, 20% of PHQ-2+ versus 8% of PHQ-2 patients had died (P = .007) and PHQ-2 status remained associated with both all-cause (hazard ratio [HR] 3.1, 95% confidence
interval [CI] 1.4-6.7; P =.003) and cardiovascular (HR 2.7, 95% CI 1.1-6.6; P = .03) mortality even after adjustment for age, gender, EF, NYHA functional class, and a variety of other covariates.
Conclusions: Among hospitalized HF patients, a positive PHQ-2 depression screen is associated with an elevated 12-month mortality
ON-01910 purchase risk. (J Cardiac Fail 2012;18:238-245)”
“Acinetobacter baumannii has few known virulence factors and yet causes a variety of opportunistic infections. Many gram-negative bacteria are directly killed by complement, but we hypothesized that A. baumannii would be resistant to serum killing. A serum bactericidal assay assessed the resistance of seven A. baumannii isolates to serum killing, and C2-deficient serum was used to examine its activation of the alternative pathway. Flow cytometry was utilized to determine whether complement regulator factor H (FH) was bound by A. baumannii, and to assay C3 deposition on cells. A microtiter biofilm assay compared biofilm production among isolates. Of seven isolates, four were serum sensitive and three were serum resistant. The C2-deficient serum demonstrated that A. baumannii can activate the alternative pathway. None of the isolates bound FH. Serum-resistant strains accumulated little C3 when exposed to human serum, while sensitive strains had a high amount of surface C3 deposition. Biofilm production varied extensively among strains. Most serum-resistant isolates formed a substantial amount of biofilm, while sensitive isolates produced negligible amounts of biofilm. Our data indicate that some strains of A.