Aim: This work aims to develop a mannosylated nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) loaded with rifampicin to improve tuberculosis treatment. Materials & methods: An active targeting strategy was used and the nanoparticles were characterized. Effects on cell viability and the antimycobacterial activity of the nanoformulations were evaluated. Results: The nanoparticles developed exhibited a size of about 315 nm and polydispersity <0.2. The drug encapsulation efficiency was higher than 90% and its release was sensitive to pH. The mannosylated NLCs showed efficient uptake by bone marrow derived macrophages. Further, rifampicin-loaded mannosylated NLCs were more efficient in inducing a decrease of intracellular growth of mycobacteria. Conclusion: The NLCs developed can be used as a promising carrier for safer and efficient management of tuberculosis.

Monoecious species provide a comprehensive system to study the developmental programs underlying the establishment of female and male organs in unisexual flowers. However, molecular resources for most monoecious non-model species are limited, hampering our ability to study the molecular mechanisms involved in flower development of these species. The objective of this study was to identify differentially expressed genes during the development of male and female flowers of the monoecious species Quercus suber, an economically important Mediterranean tree. Total RNA was extracted from different developmental stages of Q. suber flowers. Non-normalised cDNA libraries of male and female flowers were generated using 454 pyrosequencing technology producing a total of 962,172 high-quality reads with an average length of 264 nucleotides. The assembly of the reads resulted in 14,488 contigs for female libraries and 10,438 contigs for male libraries. Comparative analysis of the transcriptomes revealed genes differentially expressed in early and late stages of development of female and male flowers, some of which have been shown to be involved in pollen development, in ovule formation and in flower development of other species with a monoecious, dioecious or hermaphroditic sexual system. Moreover, we found differentially expressed genes that have not yet been characterised and others that have not been previously shown to be implicated in flower development. This transcriptomic analysis constitutes a major step towards the characterisation of the molecular mechanisms involved in flower development in a monoecious tree with a potential contribution towards the knowledge of conserved developmental mechanisms in other species.

To study the practical applicability of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines in suspected cases of choledocholithiasis. This was a retrospective single center study, covering a 4-year period, from January 2010 to December 2013. All patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for suspected choledocholithiasis were included. Based on the presence or absence of predictors of choledocholithiasis (clinical ascending cholangitis, common bile duct (CBD) stones on ultrasonography (US), total bilirubin > 4 mg/dL, dilated CBD on US, total bilirubin 1.8-4 mg/dL, abnormal liver function test, age > 55 years and gallstone pancreatitis), patients were stratified in low, intermediate or high risk for choledocholithiasis. For each predictor and risk group we used the χ(2) to evaluate the statistical associations with the presence of choledocolithiasis at ERCP. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 21.0. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 268 ERCPs were performed for suspected choledocholithiasis. Except for gallstone pancreatitis (P = 0.063), all other predictors of choledocholitiasis (clinical ascending cholangitis, P = 0.001; CBD stones on US, P ≤ 0.001; total bilirubin > 4 mg/dL, P = 0.035; total bilirubin 1.8-4 mg/dL, P = 0.001; dilated CBD on US, P ≤ 0.001; abnormal liver function test, P = 0.012; age > 55 years, P = 0.002) showed a statistically significant association with the presence of choledocholithiasis at ERCP. Approximately four fifths of patients in the high risk group (79.8%, 154/193 patients) had confirmed choledocholithiasis on ERCP, vs 34.2% (25/73 patients) and 0 (0/2 patients) in the intermediate and low risk groups, respectively. The definition of "high risk group" had a sensitivity of 86%, positive predictive value 79.8% and specificity 56.2% for the presence of choledocholithiasis at ERCP. The guidelines should be considered to optimize patients' selection for ERCP. For high risk patients specificity is still low, meaning that some patients perform ERCP unnecessarily.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common canine prostatic disorder. Although most or even all intact male dogs may develop BPH by 5–8 years of age, many show no clinical signs. Taking into account the non-specific character of clinical and ultrasonographic findings, a new diagnostic approach has recently been proposed based on the augmentation of blood canine prostate-specific arginine esterase (CPSE) in hyperplasic dogs. The aim of the present study was to verify CPSE levels in negative controls and hyperplasic dogs, considering cytological findings as the reference method and taking into account the fact that controls were middle-aged intact dogs (median of 5.0 years), contrarily to previous studies carried out with very young control dogs. Significant differences of median CPSE levels were found between controls and hyperplasic dogs (29.1 versus 160.7 ng/mL, respectively); and significant positive correlations were found between median CPSE levels and age or prostatic volume (r = 0.549 and 0.448, respectively; p < 0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios put into evidence the good performance of the test. The agreement between methods was found to be very high, notably between CPSE levels and cytological results (Cohen’s kappa coefficients above 0.8). Considering the results all together, measurement of CPSE is confirmed as a useful and accurate method and should be considered as an alternative or complementary tool to conventional methods for the diagnosis of BPH in middle-aged dogs.