Enteral administration of bacteria fermented formula in newborn piglets: A high fidelity model for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Objective: To develop an animal model which replicates neonatal NEC and characterizes the importance of bacterial fermentation of formula and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in its pathogenesis.

Background: NEC is a severe form of intestinal inflammation in preterm neonates and current models do not reproduce the human condition.

Methods: Three groups of newborn piglets: Formula alone (FO), Bacteria alone (E.

Heller myotomy with esophageal diverticulectomy: an operation in need of improvement.

Background: This study was undertaken to evaluate the outcomes after laparoscopic Heller myotomy with anterior fundoplication and diverticulectomy for patients with achalasia and esophageal diverticula.

Methods: 634 patients undergoing laparoscopic Heller myotomy and anterior fundoplication from 1992 to 2015 are prospectively followed up; patients were stratified for those undergoing concomitant diverticulectomy. Patients graded symptom frequency and severity before and after myotomy, using a Likert scale (0 = never/not bothersome to 10 = always/very bothersome).

A Single Institution's First 100 Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Anti-Reflux Fundoplications: Where Are They 20 Years Later?

Although anti-reflux surgery has been used liberally over the past decades for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), few studies report follow-up after 10 years. This study was undertaken to report follow-up on 100 consecutive GERD patients up to 22 years after utilizing a laparoscopic fundoplication. Hundred consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic fundoplication for GERD were prospectively followed beginning in 1992.

Distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy: a robotic or LESS approach.

Introduction: The role and application of robotic surgery are debated, particularly given the expansion of laparoscopy, especially laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) surgery. This cohort study was undertaken to delineate differences in outcomes between LESS and robotic distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy.

Methods: With Institutional Review Board approval, patients undergoing LESS or robotic distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy from September 1, 2012, through December 31, 2014, were prospectively observed, and data were collected.

Jack of all trades: pleiotropy and the application of chemically modified tetracycline-3 in sepsis and the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Sepsis is a disease process that has humbled the medical profession for centuries with its resistance to therapy, relentless mortality, and pathophysiologic complexity. Despite 30 years of aggressive, concerted, well-resourced efforts the biomedical community has been unable to reduce the mortality of sepsis from 30%, nor the mortality of septic shock from greater than 50%. In the last decade only one new drug for sepsis has been brought to the market, drotrecogin alfa-activated (Xigris™), and the success of this drug has been limited by patient safety issues.