Publications (2)0 Total impact
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Article: Tricuspid regurgitant velocity elevation in a three-year old child with sickle cell anemia and recurrent acute chest syndromes reversed not by hydroxyurea but by bone marrow transplantation.
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ABSTRACT: Elevated Tricuspid Regurgitant Velocity (TRV) has been related to higher mortality in adults and to hemolysis, lower oxygen saturation during 6-minute walk test and acute chest syndrome (ACS) in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). Hydroxyurea (HU) has reduced TRV value in children and adults. We describe a three year old HbSS child with recurrent ACS, hypoperfusion of the left lung, mild hemolysis and persistent TRV elevation. TRV did not normalize after HU, despite improvement in clinical conditions and in baseline laboratory parameters related to hemolysis and blood viscosity, but normalized after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Our experience suggests that in young patients, TRV reduction can be a positive concomitant effect of BMT.Hematology reports. 08/2011; 3(2):e12. -
Article: AZT dilates rat cardiac intercalated discs, and the effect is prevented by vitamin C.
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ABSTRACT: We investigated whether chronic zidovudine (AZT) administration in rats could impair cardiac function by affecting intercellular junctions and whether vitamin C could prevent these possible effects. Rats were treated for 8 months with AZT, vitamin C, and AZT plus vitamin C. Cardiac fractional shortening (FS) was assessed by echocardiographic examination, intercellular junctions morphology was detected by electron microscopy (EM) and immunocytochemistry (ICC). AZT-treated rats showed a reduced FS that was not prevented by vitamin C. EM revealed that AZT treatment did not affect coronary endothelial intercellular junctions whereas it caused an enlargement of fascia adherens of the intercalated discs that was prevented by vitamin C. AZT treatment did not induce either alterations of gap junctions morphology or distribution of connexin-43, the major protein expressed in the gap junctions. We conclude that AZT treatment may be potentially deleterious to the heart by inducing a ROS-mediated damage of cardiac intercalated discs.Environmental toxicology and pharmacology. 11/2009; 28(3):425-9.
