A novel imaging technology to assess oxygen saturation of the gastric conduit in thoracic esophagectomy.

Background: Real-time evaluation of blood perfusion is important when selecting the site of anastomosis during thoracic esophagectomy. This study investigated a novel imaging technology that assesses tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) in the gastric conduit and examined its efficacy.

Methods: Fifty-one patients undergoing thoracic esophagectomy for esophageal cancer who underwent intraoperative StO2 endoscopic imaging to assess the gastric conduit for the optimal site of anastomosis were examined.

The Innate Immune Receptors TLR2/4 Mediate Repeated Social Defeat Stress-Induced Social Avoidance through Prefrontal Microglial Activation.

Repeated environmental stress has been proposed to induce neural inflammation together with depression and anxiety. Innate immune receptors, such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), are activated by exogenous or endogenous ligands to evoke inflammation. Here we show that the loss of TLR2 and TLR4 (TLR2/4) abolished repeated social defeat stress (R-SDS)-induced social avoidance and anxiety in mice.

Prevention of doxorubicin (adriamycin)-induced cardiomyopathy by simultaneous administration of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor assessed by acoustic densitometry.

The purpose of our study has to determine the myocardial protective effects of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor temocapril (TEM, 7 mg/kg/day) simultaneously administered with doxorubicin (Adriamycin). Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were intraperitoneally administered a cumulative dose of 15 mg/kg of doxorubicin (each dose of 1.0 mg/kg x 15) for 3 weeks, and divided into TEM-untreated and -treated rats.