Emergency stent graft implantation for ruptured visceral artery pseudoaneurysm.

Background: Literature series that include visceral artery pseudoaneurysms rarely separate them from true aneurysms, although they address different issues. Guidelines for optimal management of these lesions are lacking. We report our experience of stent graft treatment of these lesions with midterm results.

Historical perspective on the use of animal bioassays to predict carcinogenicity: evolution in design and recognition of utility.

The animal testing protocols used today to evaluate the carcinogenicity of chemicals are very different from those used in the earlier part of the 20th century. To explore how cancer bioassays have changed over time, we surveyed the literature discussing test design and interpretation from the 1930s to the present. We also analyzed compendia of bioassays published by the US Public Health Service (US PHS) from 1938 to 1978, and evaluated the data to understand the evolution of testing methodology (e.

Prenatal and postnatal diagnosis of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2, the most common human deletion syndrome encompasses a wide spectrum of abnormalities. Many clinical or ultrasonographic findings may support deletion studies, either in utero or in the post-natal period.

Transgenic BDNF induces nerve fiber regrowth into the auditory epithelium in deaf cochleae.

Sensory organs typically use receptor cells and afferent neurons to transduce environmental signals and transmit them to the CNS. When sensory cells are lost, nerves often regress from the sensory area. Therapeutic and regenerative approaches would benefit from the presence of nerve fibers in the tissue.

Unexpected oligomeric structure of the FocA formate channel of Escherichia coli : a paradigm for the formate-nitrite transporter family of integral membrane proteins.

FocA is a predicted formate channel with a deduced mass of 31 kDa that catalyzes the bidirectional movement of formate across the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli and is the archetype of the formate-nitrite transporter (FNT) family. Overproduced FocA variants with either an N- or a C-terminal Strep-tag increased formate import into anaerobic E. coli cells as determined by the enhanced activity of a single-copy formate-dependent fdhF::lacZ fusion.

Defects in neural stem cell proliferation and olfaction in Chd7 deficient mice indicate a mechanism for hyposmia in human CHARGE syndrome.

Mutations in CHD7, a chromodomain gene, are present in a majority of individuals with CHARGE syndrome, a multiple anomaly disorder characterized by ocular Coloboma, Heart defects, Atresia of the choanae, Retarded growth and development, Genital hypoplasia and Ear anomalies. The clinical features of CHARGE syndrome are highly variable and incompletely penetrant. Olfactory dysfunction is a common feature in CHARGE syndrome and has been potentially linked to primary olfactory bulb defects, but no data confirming this mechanistic link have been reported.

Synthesis, characterization, and in vitro cytotoxic activities of benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone derivatives and their palladium (II) and platinum (II) complexes against various human tumor cell lines.

The palladium (II) bis-chelate Pd (L(1-3))(2) and platinum (II) tetranuclear Pt(4)(L(4))(4) complexes of benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone derivatives have been synthesized, and characterized by elemental analysis and IR, FAB(+)-mass and NMR ((1)H, (13)C) spectroscopy. The complex Pd(L(2))(2) [HL(2) = m-CN-benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone] shows a square-planar geometry with two deprotonated ligands (L) coordinated to Pd(II) through the nitrogen and sulphur atoms in a transarrangement, while the complex Pt(4)(L(4))(4) [HL(4) = 4-phenyl-1-benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone] has a tetranuclear geometry with four tridentate ligands coordinated to four Pt(II) ions through the carbon (aromatic ring), nitrogen, and sulphur atoms where the ligands are deprotonated at the NH group. The in vitro antitumor activity of the ligands and their complexes was determined against different human tumor cell lines, which revealed that the palladium (II) and platinum (II) complexes are more cytotoxic than their ligands with IC(50) values at the range of 0.

Correlation of point-of-care International Normalized Ratio to laboratory International Normalized Ratio in hemodialysis patients taking warfarin.

Background And Objectives: To determine whether point-of-care (POC) International Normalized Ratio (INR) test results correlate with plasma INR measures in intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) patients on warfarin. Anemia is thought to reduce the accuracy of POC INR assay results. Whether POC INR testing could be implemented for hemodialysis patients on chronic warfarin, who are often anemic despite hematopoietic therapy, has not been established.

Spontaneous hair cell regeneration in the mouse utricle following gentamicin ototoxicity.

Whereas most epithelial tissues turn-over and regenerate after a traumatic lesion, this restorative ability is diminished in the sensory epithelia of the inner ear; it is absent in the cochlea and exists only in a limited capacity in the vestibular epithelium. The extent of regeneration in vestibular hair cells has been characterized for several mammalian species including guinea pig, rat, and chinchilla, but not yet in mouse. As the fundamental model species for investigating hereditary disease, the mouse can be studied using a wide variety of genetic and molecular tools.

Accuracy of capillary whole blood international normalized ratio on the CoaguChek S, CoaguChek XS, and i-STAT 1 point-of-care analyzers.

We evaluated the accuracy of capillary whole blood international normalized ratio (INR) on the CoaguChek S (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN), CoaguChek XS (Roche Diagnostics), and i-STAT 1 (i-STAT, East Windsor, NJ) point-of-care (POC) analyzers compared with venous plasma INRs determined by a reference laboratory method. Overall agreement between POC and laboratory plasma INR was very good, with median bias between capillary whole blood and laboratory plasma INRs varying from 0.0 to -0.

Synthesis, characterization and antitumor activity of copper(II) complexes, [CuL2] [HL1-3=N,N-diethyl-N'-(R-benzoyl)thiourea (R=H, o-Cl and p-NO2)].

The copper (II) complexes (CuL(2)) were prepared by reaction of Cu(CH(3)COO)(2) with the corresponding derivatives of acylthioureas in a Cu:HL molar ratio of 1:2. Acylthiourea ligands, N,N-diethyl-N'-(R-benzoyl) thiourea (HL(1-3)) [R=H, o-Cl and p-NO(2)] were synthesized in high yield (78-83%) and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. The complexes CuL(2) were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, FAB(+)-MS, magnetic susceptibility measurements, EPR and cyclic voltammetry.

Synthesis, characterization and antitumor activity of cis-bis(acylthioureato) platinum(II) complexes, cis-[PtL(2)] [HL=N,N-diphenyl-N'-benzoylthiourea or HL=N,N-diphenyl-N'-(p-nitrobenzoyl)thiourea].

A low-molecular weight chromium-containing fraction of the material resulting from dichromate reduction by bovine liver homogenate was investigated by NMR and ES-MS. The ES-MS spectrum showed a readily detectable peak at m/z 786.1.

Effects of MTBE on the reported incidence of Leydig cell tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats: range of possible Poly-3 results.

An increased Leydig cell tumor (LCT) incidence has been reported in a study of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats exposed via gavage to 1000 (but not 250)mg/kgday MTBE; it is unclear, however, if this finding was indeed dose-related or due to the statistical analyses not having adequately accounted for the increased survival rate in the high-dose animals and/or for multiple statistical comparisons. To address this question, we conducted Hoel-Walburg and Poly-3 analyses, using p-values of 0.01 for pair-wise comparisons and 0.

Dietary thyroid hormone replacement ameliorates hearing deficits in hypothyroid mice.

Thyroid hormone (TH) insufficiency causes variable hearing impairment and mental deficiency in humans. Rodents lacking TH have congenital hearing deficiency that has been attributed to physiologic, morphologic, and developmental abnormalities of the auditory system. We examined four genetically defined strains of hypothyroid mice for development of hearing and response to TH replacement initiated during late gestation and continued through six weeks of age.

Defects in vestibular sensory epithelia and innervation in mice with loss of Chd7 function: implications for human CHARGE syndrome.

CHD7 is a chromodomain gene mutated in CHARGE syndrome, a multiple anomaly condition characterized by ocular coloboma, heart defects, atresia of the choanae, retarded growth and development, genital hypoplasia, and ear defects including deafness and semicircular canal dysgenesis. Mice with heterozygous Chd7 deficiency have circling behavior and semicircular canal defects and are an excellent animal model for exploring the pathogenesis of CHARGE features. Inner ear vestibular defects have been characterized in heterozygous Chd7-deficient embryos and early postnatal mice, but it is not known whether vestibular defects persist throughout adulthood in Chd7-deficient mice or whether the vestibular sensory epithelia and their associated innervation and function are intact.

Whirler mutant hair cells have less severe pathology than shaker 2 or double mutants.

MYOSIN XV is a motor protein that interacts with the PDZ domain-containing protein WHIRLIN and transports WHIRLIN to the tips of the stereocilia. Shaker 2 (sh2) mice have a mutation in the motor domain of MYOSIN XV and exhibit congenital deafness and circling behavior, probably because of abnormally short stereocilia. Whirler (wi) mice have a similar phenotype caused by a deletion in the third PDZ domain of WHIRLIN.

The role of bone morphogenetic protein 4 in inner ear development and function.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 (BMP4) is a member of the TGF-beta superfamily and is known to be important for the normal development of many tissues and organs, including the inner ear. Bmp4 homozygous null mice die as embryos, but Bmp4 heterozygous null (Bmp4(+/-)) mice are viable and some adults exhibit a circling phenotype, suggestive of an inner ear defect. To understand the role of BMP4 in inner ear development and function, we have begun to study C57BL/6 Bmp4(+/-) mice.

Age-related changes in cochlear gene expression in normal and shaker 2 mice.

The vertebrate cochlea is a complex organ optimized for sound transduction. Auditory hair cells, with their precisely arranged stereocilia bundles, transduce sound waves to electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain. Mutations in the unconventional myosin XV cause deafness in both human DFNB3 families and in shaker 2 (sh2) mice as a result of defects in stereocilia.

The fate of outer hair cells after acoustic or ototoxic insults.

In epithelial sheets, clearance of dead cells may occur by one of several routes, including extrusion into the lumen, phagocytic clearance by invading lymphocytes, or phagocytosis by neighboring cells. The fate of dead cochlear outer hair cells is unclear. We investigated the fate of the "corpses" of dead outer hair cells in guinea pigs and mice following drug or noise exposure.

Transgene correction maintains normal cochlear structure and function in 6-month-old Myo15a mutant mice.

The shaker2 (sh2) mouse is a murine model for human non-syndromic deafness DFNB3. The mice have abnormal circling behavior suggesting a balanced disorder, and profound deafness. The insertion of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgene containing the Myo15a gene into sh2/sh2 zygotes confers hearing capability and abolishes the circling behavior in 1-month-old transgenic animals.