Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) blockade is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other inflammatory diseases, but in patients, it is associated with reduced resistance to the infectious agents Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes, among others. Our goal was to model infection and arthritis in mice and to compare etanercept, a currently used anti-TNF-α in...

OBJECTIVE The most recent systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the analgesic efficacy and side effects of paravertebral and epidural blockade for thoracotomy was published in 2006. Nine well-designed randomized trials with controversial results have been published since then. The present report constitutes an updated meta-analysis of this issue. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND Thoracotomy is a...

BACKGROUND Epidural anaesthesia is one of the most commonly used locoregional techniques in ruminants. The lumbosacral epidural technique is reasonably easy to perform and requires low volumes of local anaesthetic drug to allow procedures caudal to the umbilicus. However, surgical procedures in the flank of the animal would require an increased volume of drugs. The anaesthetized area provided b...

Transgenic rats with high expression of HLA-B27 and human β(2) -microglobulin (B27TR) develop a multisystem inflammatory disease resembling human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and spondyloarthropaties (SpA). Tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) has a crucial role in sustaining chronic inflammation in the gut and joints. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether TNF-α blockade could prevent or...

lumen endotracheal tube or bronchial blocker with general anesthesia is the first anesthetic choice in thoracic surgery. However, general anesthesia with mechanical ventilation carries a risk of side-effects related to tracheal intubation and general anesthesia, such as airway complications, ventilation-induced lung injury, and residual neuromuscular blockade [1-3]. Thanks to advances in minima...

The pronounced activation of sympathetic nervous system is a necessary prerequisite for the development of neurogenic pulmonary edema (NPE) in rats with balloon compression of spinal cord. In this study we examined whether this is a consequence of rapid activation of spinal pathways leading to sympathetic venoconstriction, blood pressure rise, and reflex bradycardia. We found that NPE developme...

Surgical pneumothorax allows obtaining comfortable surgical space for minimally invasive thoracic surgery, under spontaneous ventilation and thoracic epidural anesthesia, without need to provide general anesthesia and neuromuscular blockade. One lung ventilation (OLV) by iatrogenic lung collapse, associated with spontaneous breathing and lateral position required for the surgery, involves patho...

Bacterial peritonitis is a severe complication in patients with cirrhosis and ascites and despite antibiotic treatment, the inflammatory response to infection may induce renal dysfunction leading to death. This investigation evaluated the effect of TNF-α blockade on the inflammatory response and mortality in cirrhotic rats with induced bacterial peritonitis treated or not with antibiotics. Spra...