Articles

Bariatric Surgery (BS) from the Greek bari = weight and iatrein = cure) treats obesity and began in Spain in 1973. Its greatest development occurs after the founding of SECO (Spanish Society of Obesity Surgery) in 1997. The purpose of this work is to reflect the changes that have occurred in these 22 years. Obesity is a multifactorial epidemic ailment of environmental origin, affecting subjects from all countries, and whose origins are not in the stomach or intestine. It represents a unique case of surgery to operate healthy organs, which are not the cause of the disease and do not improve after the operation. Henryson [1] initiated Obesity Surgery (OS) in 1952. Kremen & Linner [2] and Varco & Buchwald in Minneapolis, MN teams began the malabsorptive intestinal diversion (ID) in 1954. Payne [3] and Scott [4] developed these ID techniques in the 1960s leaving only 14-4 inches (35-10 cm) as an absorptive zone and those were abandoned in the 1970s because of their serious metabolic (malnutrition) and hepatic (liver failure) complications. Buchwald [5] initiated the ID of the last third of the intestine for hypercholesterinemia (POSCH) and showed its protective role at 25 years in the development of atherosclerosis. Now it has also been abandoned, not because of lack of effectiveness, but because of the development of nystatin in the medical control of cholesterol. Dr. Henry Buchwald remains active 67 years later, and in 2012 Barcelona was appointed as Honorary Member of the Spanish Society of Obesity Surgery (SECO) and he will participate in Madrid-IFSO 2019. Baltasar [6] published in 1991 the only three ID in Spain for hypercholesterinemia. First spanish experienceProf. Sebastián García Díaz of Seville carried out the 1st Scott-type Jejune-ileal diversion (JID) in the Virgen Macarena Hospital on 11.19.1973. He began bariatric surgery in Spain with 12 cases [7-10] and then published 20 more, the 1st work in English by a Spanish author [7] in the World Journal of Surgery in 1981. For this 2nd work he received the award by the Seville Hospital of the Five Sores in 1979 (Figure 1). His work went unnoticed for 40 years until we rescued them in 2013 [11].

To facilitate understanding some issues of cochlear implantation for new beginners we wrote 1- “The Instruction for audiologists and cochlear implanted patients” and created 2-Demo-program MIMIC. Here are opinions of readers of “The Instruction” and participants of MIMIC. All the ratings are from positive to enthusiastic.

Levels of electrically evoked stapedial reflex thresholds (eESRTs) are frequently used as most comfortable levels (MCL) in cochlear implant fitting. The problem of routine one-channel-technique of reflexometry is long duration of this procedure. In order to “compress the time” we suggest method of consecutive stimulation of all electrodes of implant with simultaneous registration of stapedial reflexes-SWEEP-session. Practical implementation of the SWEEP-session is described here. This method has been successfully used in several hundred CI patients. Registration of evoked electrical stapedial reflex thresholds (eESRTs) during CI fitting is long procedure. In order to “compress the time” we suggest our SWEEP-session method. Practical implementation of this SWEEP-session is described here in accordance with the patent of Russian Federation.

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. The subject combines various disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, systems biology, biophysics, computer engineering, and genetic engineering. Synthetic biology aims to understand whole biological systems working as a unit, rather than investigating their individual components and design new genome. Significant advances have been made using systems biology and synthetic biology approaches, especially in the field of bacterial and eukaryotic cells. Similarly, progress is being made with ‘synthetic approaches’ in genetics and animal sciences, providing exciting opportunities to modulate, genome design and finally synthesis animal for favorite traits.

Objective:To report findings of improvement in patient tinnitus intensity and changes in frequency using a novel suppressive noise spectrum. Design: Single-subject; each subject served as his or her own control. Each patient received treatment, and changes were measured over time. Setting: Tertiary referral via university otolaryngology and hospital audiology as well as audiology clinics in the region. Patients: Fifteen tinnitus ears in 8 patients. Interventions: Therapeutic and rehabilitative. Main Outcome Measures:: Tinnitus frequency, tinnitus intensity, and tinnitus questionnaire. Results (Findings): After 3 months of exposure to the customized suppressive noise spectrum therapy, patients showed a shift in tinnitus frequency in addition to a significant decrease in tinnitus intensity from the pre-treatment to post-treatment condition (p<0.05). Typically, improvement was gradual based on comparing 3 sets of data collected at baseline, 1.5 months and 3 months. Conclusion: Using suppression in tinnitus is novel. Based on our findings, using a customized suppressive noise spectrum is effective in shifting the frequency, reducing the intensity of subjective tonal tinnitus, and improving the handicap based on THQ test. From this seminal report, factors related to maximizing its effectiveness (e.g., length of listening time, level of hearing loss, and application for alternative tinnitus types) may be considered for future research.

Objective: To describe the presenting clinical findings of patients with acute appendicitis and compare them with those described in the medical literature. To corroborate a common medical myth among Hispanic physicians regarding the presentation of acute appendicitis. Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter chart review of patients diagnosed post-operatively with appendicitis after presenting to five different Emergency Departments in Southern Puerto Rico (PR). Results: A total of 1,540 patients with pathologically confirmed cases of appendicitis were enrolled in our study. Of the study population, 45% were female, and 55% were male, and 43% were over 21 years old. Reported symptoms in our study showed that 98% of the patients had abdominal pain, 47% had nausea, and only 17.6% presented with anorexia. Conclusion: It was our main objective to compare the presenting signs and symptoms of patients with acute appendicitis in our Hispanic population in southern PR with those found in primary medical textbooks and literature. We gathered information regarding signs and symptoms, as well as laboratory and radiographic data of patients with positive pathologic exams for appendicitis. Of the 1,540 patients with confirmed appendicitis, only 17.6% presented with anorexia. Our findings demonstrate that the rate of anorexia in the studied population is significantly lower when compared to current literature. The absence of anorexia, once considered a hallmark of appendicitis, must not lead the physician to rule out this diagnosis in the Hispanic population.

Research is the process of searching for knowledge. It is systematic search pertinent information on specific topic of interest. It is a careful investigation or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge [1]. It is a scientific way of getting answers for research questions and testing hypothesis. The research question is based on uncertainty about something in the population. This can be formulated by searching different literatures from index and non index journals, books, internet, and different unpublished research work etc. A good research question should follow the FINER criteria i.e. Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical and Relevant [2].

The current situation of bioethics illustrates what has become known as “the anthropological halt”, described with great lucidity by C. S. Lewis in his book The Abolition of Man as the neglect of the “Tao”, a not very extensive body of basic axioms which enable the overall integrity of reason, both in theory and practice. One of these principles, visible to everyone and which provide the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian tradition, is the sanctity of human life.

According to literature, about 90% of death from cancer is related to metastasis. Metastatic process present many similarity to some other biological processes. Once we have examined some relevant biomedical literature, by understanding the real causes of metastasis, it would become much more possible to introduce new therapeutic strategies to delay or in some cases even to stop this kind of killer process. Breast cancer, as an example, produces metastasis to different organs, which seems to be related to the subtype. We believe that a deep understanding of the roles of breast cancer cells and their interactions with the liver microenvironment in early breast cancer metastasis could be a crucial factor for the design and development of effective BCLM breast cancer liver metastases therapeutic strategies and to better understand the general process. Let’s suppose the secondary organ or organs can be considered as incubator/s for the primary metastatic cells. What kind of consequences we can have in therapy field if there is an active regulating role in determining the location of secondary cancers? Let’s observe the role played by liver, bone marrow, CNS central nervous system, lungs, lymphocytes and other secondary locations/organs a little bit closer or maybe from a different angle let’s suppose we try to come up with just a hypothesis. Just let’s take this as a possibility, and we take the thread to see where it takes us.

Introduction: Burning mouth syndrome, oral sub mucous fibrosis, leukoplakia, etc are the different manifestations of a common disease as per the surmise of various authors. There is no known cause and no specific treatment. Attempt is made in this study to find a cause and if possible, a treatment. Materials and methods: 38 such cases were taken up in this study. It was found, that the cardinal signs of paucibacillar indeterminate form of Hanseniasis, as per the definition of WHO, are present in all these cases. Also they are found to respond well to the anti-leprotic drugs prescribed by WHO for the Hanseniasis. Conclusion: It is recommended for multicentre trial and further research on this score which would relieve the suffering millions of the world populations.