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The feasibility to eradicate Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in a conventional PCV2 infected farm by vaccinating both sows and piglets using a commercially subunit vaccine was assessed. Vaccination strategy implied that all sows, boars and gilts of the farm were vaccinated every four months, and all piglets vaccinated and revaccinated with the same vaccine at 4 and 7 weeks of age, respectively. This vaccination strategy was applied during 12 consecutive months. Blood samples from 15 piglets of 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks of age and 15 sows were taken monthly PRE, DURING and POST mass vaccination strategy. From all the collected sera (n=1796), a representative proportion of them (n=1235, 69%) were analysed (n=1121 from piglets and n=114 from sows). All these samples were tested by PCV2 ELISA and PCV2 PCR (and quantitative-PCR when PCR positive). All tested sows were negative by PCR but seropositive. ELISA mean OD values of sows decreased throughout the study. Percentages of PCV2 PCR positive samples in piglets were 8% (12/150), 0.9% (6/659) and 3.5% (11/312) PRE, DURING and POST application of the mass vaccination program, respectively. ELISA mean OD values of PCV2 seropositive animals progressively decreased until the end of the mass vaccination period, but a clear seroconversion was observed after stopping such strategy. In conclusion, one year period of mass PCV2 vaccination (without implementing further farm management practices or biosafety measures) was not able to clear out PCV2 infection, and the virus became detectable again when vaccination was stopped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Diffuse neonatal hemangiomatosis is a rare entity and is a serious disorder in which multiple cutaneous and visceral hemangiomas are widely distributed and sometimes may be fatal. Complications include heart failure, bleeding, and liver failure, among others. Treatment is aimed at avoiding adverse effects and complications. Case report. We report the case of a 53-day-old male patient who presented to the hospital for skin lesions and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. During his hospital stay, visceral hemangiomas were found in the lung, spleen and gastric mucosa. He was treated with interferon alpha-2b corticosteroids and hemangiomas of gastric mucosa were treated with argon plasma coagulation. Conclusions. Disseminated neonatal hemangiomatosis is a rare entity and can be fatal if untreated. Our patient experienced a satisfactory evolution and is currently asymptomatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this work we studied the effects of the melatonin receptor-antagonist luzindole (1 μM-50 μM) on isolated mouse pancreatic acinar cells., Methods: Changes in intracellular free-Ca 2+ concentration, reactive oxygen species production and trypsin secretion were analyzed., Results: Luzindole induced increases in [Ca 2+ ] i that diminished CCK-8 induced Ca 2+ mobilization, compared with that observed when CCK-8 was applied alone. Treatment of cells with thapsigargin (1 μM), in the absence of Ca 2+ in the extracellular medium, evoked a transient increase in [Ca 2+ ] i . The additional incubation of cells with luzindole (10 μM) failed to induce further mobilization of Ca 2+ . In the presence of luzindole a concentration-dependent increase in ROS generation was observed that decreased in the absence of Ca 2+ or by pretreatment of cells with melatonin (100 μM). Incubation of pancreatic acinar cells with luzindole (10 μM) impaired CCK-8-induced trypsin secretion. Melatonin was unable to revert the effect of luzindole on CCK-8-induced trypsin secretion., Conclusion: The melatonin receptor-inhibitor luzindole induces Ca 2+ -mediated pro-oxidative conditions and impairment of enzyme secretion, which creates a situation in pancreatic acinar cells that might compromise their function., General Significance: The effects of luzindole that we have observed, might be unspecific and could mislead the observations when it is used to study the actions of melatonin on the gland. Another possibility is that melatonin receptors exhibit a basal or agonist-independent activity in pancreatic acinar cells, which might be modulated by melatonin or luzindole., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

New palladium and platinum metallocycles have been synthesized by reacting 4,4'-bipyridinium-based ligands with PdII and PtII complexes. Strict thermodynamic self-assembly of 1 and [M(en)(NO3)2] (M=Pd, Pt) 6 a,b afforded metallocycles 7 a,b. However, the synthesis of 8 a,b and 9 a,b required a self-assembly process that used sodium p-phenylenediacetate (12) as a template. Finally, metallocycles 10 a,b were synthesized under high dilution conditions from ligand 4. The formation of inclusion complexes between metallocycles 7-10 and substrates 13 and 14 were studied by low-temperature 1H NMR, and the association constants were determined in nitromethane and water by following the characteristic charge-transfer band that these metallomacrocycles show in their UV-visible absorption spectra. A clear correlation between the affinity for a substrate and the dimensions of the metallocycle was observed. Metallocycles 8 b and 9 b exhibited the highest binding constants in water and nitromethane. This observation is in agreement with the DFT (B3LYP)-optimized geometries obtained for the different metallomacrocycles, which indicate that only macrocycles 8 and 9 possess a cavity with a width larger than 3.5 A. The insertion of hydroquinone or diol 13 into the cavity of metallocycle 11 a was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.