Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating condition with significant personal, societal, and economic burden. The highest proportion of traumatic injuries occur at the cervical level, which results in severe sensorimotor and autonomic deficits. Following the initial physical damage associated with traumatic injuries, secondary pro-inflammatory, excitotoxic, and ischemic cascades are initiated further contributing to neuronal and glial cell death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtypical chemokine receptor-1 (ACKR1), previously known as the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines, is a widely conserved cell surface protein that is expressed on erythrocytes and the endothelium of post-capillary venules. In addition to being the receptor for the parasite causing malaria, ACKR1 has been postulated to regulate innate immunity by displaying and trafficking chemokines. Intriguingly, a common mutation in its promoter leads to loss of the erythrocyte protein but leaves endothelial expression unaffected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Reducing long length of stay (LLOS, or inpatient stays lasting over 30 days) is an important way for hospitals to improve cost efficiency, bed availability and health outcomes. Discharge delays can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per patient, and LLOS represents a burden on bed availability for other potential patients. However, most research studies investigating discharge barriers are not LLOS-specific.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a potential for improved efficacy of neural stimulation if stimulation levels can be modified dynamically based on the responses of neural tissue in real time. A neural model is developed that describes the response of neurons to electrical stimulation and that is suitable for feedback control neuroprosthetic stimulation. Experimental data from NZ white rabbit retinae is used with a data-driven technique to model neural dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Acute liver failure (ALF) usually develops in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and carries a high mortality risk in patients after cardiac surgery. Artificial liver support devices aim to remove albumin-bound and water-soluble toxins arising as a result of liver failure. The currently most used devices combine haemodialysis with albumin dialysis (MARS) or plasma separation and adsorption (Prometheus).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Retinal prosthetic devices aim to restore sight in visually impaired people by means of electrical stimulation of surviving retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). This modelling study aims to demonstrate that RGC inhibition caused by high-intensity cathodic pulses greatly influences their responses to epiretinal electrical stimulation and to investigate the impact of this inhibition on spatial activation profiles as well as their implications for retinal prosthetic device design. Another aim is to take advantage of this inhibition to reduce axonal activation in the nerve fibre layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of The Study: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of selective lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-adsorption therapy using polymyxin B immobilised fibre cartridges in adult patients complicated with severe sepsis after cardiac surgery.
Methods: 105 patients received extracorporeal LPS-adsorption procedures using Toraymyxin columns--PMX (Toray, Japan) in addition to the standard treatment according to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guideline study group. For control group we selected 40 patients, comparable by PMX group in age, body weight, severity of illness, and the duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, received only standard therapy.
The article deals with an experience of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in preterm infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia during postoperative period in the perinatal center.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study deals with assessment of LPS-adsorption and haemodialysis with EMiC2-filters use in the complex treatment in cardio-surgery patients with heavy sepsis. 64 adult patients included in the study were divided into two groups. 26 patients of the main group with heavy sepsis (EEA > 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: In this study we investigated the feasibility of quasi-monopolar (QMP) electrical stimulation for retinal implant devices, using a computational model of the retinal ganglion cell layer.
Approach: When used with hexagonally arrayed multiple electrodes, QMP stimulation is a hybrid of hexapolar and conventional monopolar stimulus modes. In hexapolar mode, each active electrode is surrounded by six guards which collectively return the stimulus current, whereas in monopolar mode the injected stimulus current is returned through a distant return electrode.
Unlabelled: Purpose of the study was to define prognostic ability of presepsin (sCD14-ST) as a predictor of complications in cardiac surgical patients during perioperative period.
Methods: Patients operated for acquired heart valvular diseases with cardiopulmonary bypass were involved in the study (n = 51, age 58 +/- 11 years). Following parameters were studied; demographic data, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, time of aorta clamping, severity-of-disease by APACHE II scale before surgery, on 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th day after surgery, routine clinical laboratory data and sCD14-ST.
Medical technologies development and recent approaches in management of patients with septic complications during the early postoperative period present new obstacles to the laboratory service. Endotoxin is a main agent in the systemic inflammatory cascade and plays important role in sepsis pathogenesis. Recent express methods of diagnostics allow determining blood activity of endotoxin during 30-50 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
August 2013
In retinal prosthetic devices an electrode array is used for electrical stimulation of retinal neurons to induce phosphene perception. The shape and size of the evoked phosphenes are in part dependent on the spatial patterns of retinal activation. In this study, a computational model of a cat beta retinal ganglion cell (RGC) excitation following simulated electrical stimulation was investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA continuum mathematical model of retinal electrical stimulation is described. The model is represented by a passive vitreous domain, a thin layer of active retinal ganglion cell (RGC) tissue adjacent to deeper passive neural layers of the retina, the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and choroid thus ending at the sclera. To validate the model, in vitro epiretinal responses to stimuli from 50 µm disk electrodes, arranged in a hexagonal mosaic, were recorded from rabbit retinas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to epiretinal electrical stimulation delivered by hexagonally arranged bipolar (Hex) electrodes, in order to assess the feasibility of this electrode arrangement for future retinal implant devices. In vitro experiments were performed using rabbit retinal preparations, with results compared to a computational model of axonal stimulation. Single-unit RGC responses to electrical stimulation were recorded with extracellular microelectrodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly in the new millennium, sepsis remains one of the most urgent problems of modern reanimatology. Endotoxin, a component of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria is of paramount importance in the pathogenesis of sepsis. Complex intensive care for severe sepsis involves selective endotoxin hemoperfusion with Polymyxin B and Alteco LPS adsorber, which has been performed in 2 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnd-stage of chronic renal failure (CRF) is frequently associated with cardiac and vascular comorbidities requiring cardiosurgical interventions. Over 9 years, from 2000 to 2009, the A. N.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
March 2011
A hexagonal electrode configuration has been proposed as an advantageous alternative to conventional electrode arrangements used in retinal prosthesis design. In the present study, the aim was to characterize retinal ganglion cell axonal responses to epiretinal electrical stimulation. 50 and 125 microm disk electrodes, arranged in a hexagonal configuration, were tested using in vitro rabbit retinal preparations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly in the new millennium, sepsis remains one of the most urgent problems of modern medicine as before in view of a steady tendency for a rise of morbidity rates and for stably high mortality rates in patients (from 30 to 70%). The endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria plays the most important role in the pathogenesis of sepsis. This paper assesses the first experience in using endotoxin-selective sorption technologies within complex intensive care of critically ill patients with infectious and septic complications after cardiac surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficiency of peritoneal dialysis (PD) was evaluated in newborns and infants with multiple organ dysfunction (MOD) after cardiosurgery. In 1996-2001 at A. N.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Investigation of postaggressive reaction of metabolism on intermitten hemofiltration (IHF) in patients with acute renal failure (ARF). The speed of generation of urea, creatinine and oligopeptides was estimated in the course of (IHF) and in interval between the procedures. Hormonal stress was evaluated by concentration of hydrocortisone in plasma and and filtrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModified ultrafiltration (MUF) was used in radical correction of complex congenital heart disease in 61 newborns and infants. The children were divided into 2 groups: group 1, 46 patients subjected to MUF, and group 2, 15 children operated on without MUF. Hemodynamic, hematological, biochemical, and immunological parameters were monitored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficacy of continuous methods of renal substitute therapy (RST) in patients with multiple organ failure is assessed. The patients were divided in 2 groups administered different types of PST. Group 1 were 16 patients subjected to RST by peritoneal dialysis, in group 2 (n = 16) GP and/or GDP were used.
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