The effects of male aging on semen quality,sperm DNA fragmentation and chromosomal abnormalities in an infertile population

Purpose  

To investigate the effects of male aging on semen quality, DNA fragmentation and chromosomal abnormalities in the spermatozoa of infertile patients and fertile men.     

Glutamate receptor-dependent increments in lactate, glucose and oxygen metabolism evoked in rat cerebellum in vivo

Neuronal activity is tightly coupled with brain energy metabolism. Numerous studies have suggested that lactate is equally important as an energy substrate for neurons as glucose. Lactate production is reportedly triggered by glutamate uptake, and independent of glutamate receptor activation. Here we show that climbing fibre stimulation of cerebellar Purkinje cells increased extracellular lactate by 30% within 30 s of stimulation, but not for briefer stimulation periods. To explore whether lactate production was controlled by pre- or postsynaptic events we silenced AMPA receptors with CNQX. This blocked all evoked rises in postsynaptic activity, blood flow, and glucose and oxygen consumption. CNQX also abolished rises in lactate concomitantly with marked reduction in postsynaptic currents. Rises in lactate were unaffected by inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase, suggesting that lactate production was independent of glycogen breakdown. Stimulated lactate production in cerebellum is derived directly from glucose uptake, and coupled to neuronal activity via AMPA receptor activation.     

Plasmodium falciparum infection transmitted by transfusion: A cause of hemophagocytic syndrome after bone marrow tranplantation in a non‐endemic country

A 27‐year‐old man with severe aplastic anemia underwent bone marrow transplantation from his HLA identical brother in July 2016. Conditioning included ATGAM 30 mg/kg for 3 days and Cyclophosphamide 50 mg/kg for 4 days. The patient received several platelet and red blood cell transfusions before and after the conditioning. The patient received broad spectrum antibiotics and caspofungin because persistant febrile neutropenia without bacteriological or mycological documentation. Hemophagocytic syndrome was diagnosed on day +12. Steroids at 1 mg/kg were started on day +12. Fever resolved the same day but resumed 3 days later associated to intravascular hemolysis with no schizocytes on blood smears and negative DAT. Thick blood film smears performed on day +26 revealed Plasmodium falciparum parasites (parasitemia = 20%). Except the level of parasitemia, there were no signs of gravity. Quinine was started on day 26 at a loading dose of 15 mg/kg followed by 8 mg/kg three times a day for 20 doses. Fever vanished after 2 days. Parasitemia cleared in 3 days and remained negative thereafter. Investigations revealed that the patient was transfused by a red cell unit harvested in a voluntary donor native of a malaria endemic country. PCR for P. falciparum performed in this donor in the frame of investigations was positive. The patient is alive with a normal blood count 1 year after BMT.