Enhanced recovery after surgery improves clinical outcomes in adolescent bariatric surgery.

Background: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are evidence-based, multimodal approaches to optimize patient recovery and minimize complications.

Objectives: Our team evaluated clinical outcomes following the implementation of an ERAS protocol for adolescents undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Setting: Academic hospital, New York, NY, USA.

Transamniotic Stem Cell Therapy for Experimental Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Structural, Transcriptional, and Cell Kinetics Analyses in the Nitrofen Model.

Purpose: We examined select pulmonary effects and donor cell kinetics after transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) in a model of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

Methods: Pregnant dams (n = 58) received nitrofen on gestational day 9.5 (E9) to induce fetal CDH.

Initial Mechanistic Screening of Transamniotic Stem Cell Therapy in the Rodent Model of Spina Bifida: Host Bone Marrow and Paracrine Activity.

Purpose: Transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can induce spina bifida coverage with neoskin. We initiated a mechanistic analysis of this host response.

Methods: Pregnant dams (n = 28) exposed to retinoic acid to induce fetal spina bifida were divided into an untreated group and 2 groups receiving intra-amniotic injections on gestational day 17 (E17; term = E21-22) of either amniotic fluid-derived MSCs (afMSCs; n = 105) or saline (n = 107).

Hematogenous Donor Cell Routing Pathway After Transamniotic Stem Cell Therapy.

Donor mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been documented in fetal and maternal circulations after plain intra-amniotic injection, with diverse therapeutic effects. We sought to determine the pathway of this unique cell kinetic route. Rat fetuses ( = 226) were divided into two groups based on the content of intra-amniotic injections performed on gestational day 17 (E17): either a concentrated suspension of luciferase-labeled syngeneic amniotic fluid-derived MSCs (afMSCs;  = 111), or acellular luciferase ( = 115).

Postnatal fate of donor mesenchymal stem cells after transamniotic stem cell therapy in a healthy model.

Purpose: We sought to examine donor mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) fate after birth following transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) in a healthy model.

Methods: Lewis rat fetuses (n = 91) were divided into two groups based on the content of volume-matched intraamniotic injections performed on gestational day 17 (term = 21-22 days): either a suspension of amniotic fluid-derived MSCs (afMSCs) labeled with luciferase (n = 38) or acellular luciferase only (n = 53). Infused afMSCs consisted of syngeneic Lewis rat cells phenotyped by flow cytometry.

Donor mesenchymal stem cell kinetics after transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) in a rodent model of gastroschisis.

Purpose: We sought to comprehensively scrutinize donor mesenchymal stem cell kinetics following transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) in experimental gastroschisis.

Methods: A gastroschisis was surgically created in 102 rat fetuses at gestation day 18 (term = 22 days), immediately followed by volume-matched amniotic injections of either amniotic fluid mesenchymal stem cells (afMSCs) labeled with a luciferase reporter gene (n = 58), or luciferase protein alone (n = 44). Samples from multiple anatomical sites from survivors were screened for luciferase activity via microplate luminometry at term.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia as a potential target for transamniotic stem cell therapy.

Purpose: We sought to determine whether TRASCET could impact congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

Methods: Twelve pregnant dams received Nitrofen on gestational day 9.5 (E9; term = 22 days) to induce fetal CDH.

Pediatric sternal fractures: A single center retrospective review.

Purpose: We sought to investigate the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of pediatric sternal fractures.

Methods: We used ICD codes to search our trauma registry and Hound Dog software to search the hospital data warehouse for all cases of radiologically confirmed sternal fracture in patients <21 years from January 1, 1997 to July 1, 2017. We extracted demographics, mechanism of injury, diagnostic modality, associated injuries, and clinical outcomes.

A comparison between placental and amniotic mesenchymal stem cells in transamniotic stem cell therapy for experimental gastroschisis.

Purpose: We compared placental and amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells (pMSCs and afMSCs, respectively) in transamniotic stem cell therapy for experimental gastroschisis.

Methods: Gastroschisis was surgically created in 126 rat fetuses at gestational day 18 (term = 22 days), immediately followed by volume-matched intraamniotic injections of suspensions of afMSCs (n = 32), pMSCs (n = 33), or normal saline (NS) (n = 33). Untreated fetuses served as controls (n = 28).

Transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) in a rabbit model of spina bifida.

Purpose: Transamniotic stem cell therapy (TRASCET) with select mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been shown to induce partial or complete skin coverage of spina bifida in rodents. Clinical translation of this emerging therapy hinges on its efficacy in larger animal models. We sought to study TRASCET in a model requiring intra-amniotic injections 60 times larger than those performed in the rat.

The specification of glycinergic neurons and the role of glycinergic transmission in development.

Glycine's role as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult vertebrate nervous system has been well characterized in a number of different model organisms. However, a full understanding of glycinergic transmission requires a knowledge of how glycinergic synapses emerge and the role of glycinergic signaling during development. Recent literature has provided a detailed picture of the developmental expression of many of the molecular components that comprise the glycinergic phenotype, namely the glycine transporters and the glycine receptor subunits; the transcriptional networks leading to the expression of this important neurotransmitter phenotype are also being elucidated.