Amputations in patients with diabetic foot ulcer: a retrospective study from a single centre in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Background: Lower extremity amputations (LEAs) in diabetic patients are common in the indigenous population. There is no published data from the Northern Territory.

Methods: All patients with diabetic foot ulcer, presenting for the first time to the multi-disciplinary foot clinic at Royal Darwin Hospital, between January 2003 and June 2015, were included.

Mortality in patients with diabetic foot ulcer: a retrospective study of 513 cases from a single Centre in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are a common problem in longstanding diabetes. However, mortality outcomes in Australian patients with DFU are still unclear.

Methods: All patients with DFU presenting for the first time to the Multi-Disciplinary Foot Clinic (MDFC) at Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Australia, between January 2003 and June 2015 were included in this study.

Severe bilateral renal artery stenosis after transluminal radiofrequency ablation of renal sympathetic nerve plexus.

Percutaneous renal sympathetic denervation is an evolving therapy for resistant hypertension. Evidence to date demonstrates a reduction of blood pressure in the short term to medium term. Reported complications relate to problems with vascular access vessels and dissection of the renal artery.

Beyond the snare: technically accessible large en bloc colonic resection in the West: an animal study.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and circumferential submucosal incision endoscopic mucosal resection (CSI-EMR) are techniques for en bloc excision of large sessile colonic lesions. Our aims were to compare the efficacy, safety and learning curve of colonic hybrid knife (HK) ESD versus CSI-EMR for en bloc excision of 50 mm diameter hemi-circumferential artificial lesions in a porcine model.

Patients And Methods: Two separate 50 mm diameter areas of normal recto-sigmoid mucosa were marked out in each of ten pigs.

Colour duplex ultrasound accurately identifies focal stenoses in dysfunctional autogenous arteriovenous fistulae.

Aims: The aims of this study is to correlate colour duplex ultrasonography (US) with contrast fistulography for the detection of functional stenoses in the autogenous AVF (arterio-venous fistula) circuit.

Methodology: Colour duplex US scans of 93 dialysis patients with dysfunctional AVF were compared with fistulograms performed within 6 weeks of the US. The AVF circuit was divided into six zones: inflow artery; anastomosis; distal vein; mid vein; proximal vein; and central vein.

Requirement of MyD88 for macrophage-mediated islet xenograft rejection after adoptive transfer.

Background: Porcine antigen primed and CD4+ T-cell activated macrophages are able to migrate to and destroy porcine xenografts. However, the specific signaling mechanisms involved remain to be identified.

Methods: In this study macrophages which lack the universal toll-like receptor (TLR) adaptor MyD88 were used to investigate the role of TLR in the recognition and activation of macrophages in islet xenograft rejection.

Association between islet xenograft rejection mediated by activated macrophages and upregulated chemokines.

Objective: Our previous study has shown that porcine antigen-primed and CD4+ T cells activated macrophages are capable of the Recognition and rejection of porcine xenografts but not mouse allografts, and therefore suggested the involvement of signaling between the graft and macrophages in this specific graft recognition and destruction.

Methods: NOD-SCID mice were transplanted with fetal pig pancreatic fragment (FPP) before adoptive transfer with exogenous macrophages isolated from rejecting FPP xenografts of BALB/c recipient mice. The exogenous macrophages were tracked by Ly5.

Chemokine and toll-like receptor signaling in macrophage mediated islet xenograft rejection.

Background: Adoptive transfer of antigen-primed T-cell-activated macrophages into NOD-SCID mice within 14 days of foetal porcine pancreatic fragment (FPP) or foetal porcine skin (FPS) transplantation had been shown to cause xenograft rejection. In the present study, it was proposed that signaling between the graft and macrophages promoted specific graft recognition and destruction in this setting.

Methods: Exogenous macrophages isolated from rejecting FPP xenografts were transferred to NOD-SCID FPP recipients and tracked by Ly5.

Involvement of CCR5 signaling in macrophage recruitment to porcine islet xenografts.

Background: Porcine antigen primed and CD4+ T-cell-activated macrophages are capable of both recognition and rejection of porcine xenografts. However, the specific signaling mechanisms involved remains to be addressed. The aim of this study was to examine the role of chemokine receptor and CD40 signaling in macrophage recruitment and graft destruction.

Overexpression of glutathione peroxidase with two isoforms of superoxide dismutase protects mouse islets from oxidative injury and improves islet graft function.

Primary nonfunction of transplanted islets results in part from their sensitivity to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during the isolation and transplantation process. Our aim was to examine whether coexpression of antioxidant enzymes to detoxify multiple ROS increased the resistance of mouse islets to oxidative stress and improved the initial function of islet grafts. Islets from transgenic mice expressing combinations of human copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD), extracellular SOD, and cellular glutathione peroxidase (Gpx-1) were subjected to oxidative stress in vitro.

Fate of alphaGal +/+ pancreatic islet grafts after transplantation into alphaGal knockout mice.

Background: Important phylogenetic differences between pig and human tissues prevent xenotransplantation from becoming a clinically feasible option. Humans lack the galactose-alpha1,3-galactose (alphaGal) epitope on endothelial cell surfaces and therefore have preformed anti-alphaGal antibodies. The role of these antibodies in rejection of non-vascular xenografts remains controversial.