Open Access DOI:10.23937/2572-3308.1510001
The Anti-IgE Therapy: From the Known and the Unknown
Arzu Didem Yalcin
Article Type: Editorial | First Published: February 16, 2015
Asthma is described as a complex disease arising from the contribution of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Asthma is caused by multiple interacting genes, some having a protective effect and others contributing to the disease pathogenesis, with each gene having its own tendency to be influenced by the environment. At the end of 2010, 100 genes including IL-1R1,1RN, 3, 4, 5, 8RA, 9, 10, 12, 13, CTLA-4, and ADAM33, among others had been associated with asthma in six or more separate pop...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3656/1410065
Steal Syndrome in a Patient with Heart and Kidney Transplantation Caused by Arterio-Venous Fistula
Lugo-Baruqui Jose A, Burke George W, Guerra Giselle, Salsamendi Jason and Ciancio Gaetano
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: October 28, 2015
Steal syndrome is an infrequent complication of arteriovenous fistulas (AV) graft for patients on hemodialysis. We report a case of a patient with history of orthotopic heart transplant with end-stage renal disease that subsequently underwent real transplant from a living donor that developed delayed graft function due to steal syndrome of a thigh AV fistula. We discuss the presentation, diagnosis and treatment....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3658/1510004
Incidence of Hospital Acquired Multidrug Resistant Organisms in a Tertiary Care Facility
Kamran Baig, Shaikh Muhammad Saif Din, Noura A Elkhizzi and Daifallah J Al Nakhli
Article Type: Original Research Article | First Published: November 18, 2015
Background: Irrational use of antimicrobials and gaps in infection control practices have resulted in alarmingly high prevalence of multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO) globally. The objective of our study was to highlight the incidence of hospital acquired MDROs in our facility. Method: A retrospective analysis of surveillance data collected from January - December 2013 in a tertiary care hospital of Saudi Arabia. The Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) surveillance definitions were...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2474-3658/1510003
HIV-1 Prevention and Cure: Where Do We Stand?
Marc P Girard
Article Type: Editorial | First Published: September 28, 2015
As of 2014, UNAIDS estimated that some 35 million people were living with HIV-1 worldwide, of whom more than 25 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is no doubt that the use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in a preventative manner has allowed to at least partially limit the extension of the disease. The best example is the major success that was achieved with the implementation of ART in HIV-1-infected pregnant mothers to prevent the infection of their baby....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2572-4045.1510011
Management of Bipolar Disorder in Liver Transplantation: A Single Center Experience
Humberto C Gonzalez, Paige E Morgan, Sheila Jowsey, Laura J Myhre, Adriana Vasquez and Kymberly D Watt
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: November 09, 2015
Bipolar disorder and end stage liver disease commonly intersect and their management may include evaluation for liver transplantation. Psychiatric illness may impair adherence to medical regimens jeopardizing the allograft, thus, generating divided opinions by liver transplant selection committees whether transplantation is even possible in this scenario. There is very limited data about the optimal management of bipolar disorder before and after liver transplantation. We analyze a case series o...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2572-4045.1510010
A Complicated Case of Transplant Renal Artery Stenosis: A Case Report and Literature Review
Gregor Mlinsek, Alexander Jerman, Damjan Kovac, Jelka Lindic, Miro Mihelic, Nikola Lakic, Aljosa Kandus and Jernej Pajek
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: October 22, 2015
Transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) is a well recognized complication of kidney transplantation. Hypertension with or without an increasing creatinine level is the most common presentation. Recognition of TRAS is important because it represents a potentially reversible cause of hypertension, allograft loss and adverse patient outcome. Here we report a demanding case of TRAS in a kidney transplant recipient who received a pediatric kidney. The complicated course included conservative therapy,...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5726/1510023
Fatigue in Patients with Early-Stage Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Before Receiving Corticosteroid Therapy: A Prospective Cross-Sectional Study
Katsuji Nishimura, Masako Omori, Yasuhiro Katsumata, Eri Sato, Yasushi Kawaguchi, Masayoshi Harigai, Hisashi Yamanaka and Jun Ishigooka
Article Type: Original Article | First Published: October 31, 2015
Objective: Fatigue has been intensively studied in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, previous studies have mostly included patients with long-term disease who have been treated with corticosteroids. We investigated fatigue in corticosteroid-naive patients with early-stage SLE. Methods: Forty-three SLE inpatients without neuropsychiatric SLE manifestations and 30 healthy control subjects with similar demographic characteristics participated in this study. The Profile of M...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5769/1510010
Characteristics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in a Tertiary Neonatal Unit
Efrant Harnaen, Tejas N Doctor and Atul Malhotra
Article Type: Case Series | First Published: October 19, 2015
It is a rare cause of neonatal blood stream infections in developed countries and most studies report its occurrence in the setting of an outbreak. We present data from a busy tertiary neonatal intensive care unit in Australia, over a 12-year period. During the study period, we found 6 cases of P. aeruginosa blood stream infection (0.5% of total positive blood culture episodes and 4.2% of total gram-negative culture episodes)....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5769/1510009
Folic Acid and Iron Supplementation in Children with Insufficient Diets in a Developed Country, a Randomised Controlled Trial
E J van der Gaag, N Bolk-van Droffelaar, J van der Palen and R Baarsma
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: October 13, 2015
In developed countries, dietary intake of pre-schoolers is sometimes inadequate. Not because of insufficient provisions, but due to picky eating and behavioural feeding problems. Micronutrient deficiency could be a result, but is most of the time difficult to detect due to failing laboratory evaluations. Iron deficiency is the most common detected nutritional deficiency in children; other deficiencies may be present but are also hidden because they cannot always be found in routine evaluations. ...