New hybrid approach for NOTES transvaginal cholecystectomy: preliminary clinical experience.

Objectives: Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) represents the first step toward scar-less surgery. The objective of this study is to evaluate early clinical results of transvaginal cholecystectomy using a new technique.

Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained and transvaginal NOTES cholecystectomy was performed in 12 women for cholelithiasis.

Transumbilical laparoscopic urological surgery: are special devices strictly necessary?

Objective: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of transumbilical laparoscopic surgery using conventional laparoscopic instruments and ports.

Patients And Methods: Since January 2008 we have been using laparoscopic transumbilical procedures. Patient selection was determined by any situation, pathological or not, for which laparoscopy was deemed appropriate as the standard of care in our practice.

Transvaginal endoscopic tubal sterilization.

Background: Tubal sterilization is one of the most widely used options for female contraception. It can be performed by laparotomy, minilaparotomy, colpotomy, laparoscopy, and hysteroscopy. In this paper, we report the use of the transvaginal endoscopic approach to perform tubal ligation.

Totally endoscopic mitral valve repair: a case report.

Minimum incision techniques in cardiac surgery have been on the rise after their inclusion in videothoracoscopy. Video-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery is considered by many centers in the world to be the approach of choice for treatment of mitral and aortic valve diseases. The aim of this is study is to report a case of valve repair in a patient with mitral restenosis after surgical repair 12 years before.

A comparison of hand-assisted and pure laparoscopic techniques in live donor nephrectomy.

Purpose: To compare hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy techniques in live donor nephrectomy.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we included all patients submitted to hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy between May 2002 and December 2007. The operative data and post-operative courses were reviewed.

Standardization of video-assisted cardiac surgery technique: initial experience.

Introduction: Minimally invasive cardiac surgery has been performed in major worldwide centers, including procedure such as valves, coronary and congenital surgery.

Objective: To demonstrate our first works with noninvasive cardiac surgery by mean of the experience gained with general and thoracic surgery.

Methods: Whenever possible to carry out a minimally invasive cardiac surgery, this was the approach of choice.

Sanguinarine cytotoxicity on mouse melanoma K1735-M2 cells--nuclear vs. mitochondrial effects.

Sanguinarine (SANG) is an alkaloid recognized to have anti-proliferative activity against various human tumour cell lines. No data is available on the susceptibility of advanced malignant melanoma to SANG, although this disease has a very poor prognosis if not detected in time due to the resistance to conventional chemotherapy. The present work was designed to study the nuclear and mitochondrial involvement in the pro-apoptotic effect of SANG in an invasive mouse melanoma cell line.

Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) transvaginal cholecystectomy in a morbidly obese patient.

Transvaginal natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a new diagnostic and potentially therapeutic method of surgical endoscopy. The first case of NOTES transvaginal cholecystectomy in a morbid obese patient in the literature is described. IRB approval was obtained at the institution for transvaginal NOTES clinical trials.

Assessment and nutritional aspects of wound healing.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of this study is to review the physiopathology and the nutritional aspects of wound healing.

Recent Findings: Wound healing consists of a perfect and coordinated cascade of events that result in tissue reconstitution. The healing process is common to all wounds, independent of the agent that has caused it.

A paper-based electroelution system for protein recovery from stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels.

Electroelution is a widely used methodology for protein purification. In this study, a practical and low-cost system for protein electroelution from stained polyacrylamide gels was developed. For this, a horizontal protein electroelution cuve was constructed with glass plates, 1.

Effect of feeding yeast culture on performance, health, and immunocompetence of dairy calves.

Objectives were to determine effects of feeding a culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on performance, health, and immunocompetence of calves in the first 70 d of age. Holstein calves (n = 512) at 2 +/- 1 d of age were randomly assigned to yeast culture (YC, 218 females and 37 males) or control (223 females and 34 males). Yeast culture was fed at 2% of the grain dry matter.

Hybrid transvaginal nephrectomy.

This case study reports one case of transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) in a 23-yr-old woman with right flank pain and recurrent urinary tract infection due to a nonfunctional right kidney. She underwent nephrectomy by transvaginal NOTES using the endoscope by vaginal access and two additional 5-mm trocars in the abdomen. Total procedure time was 170 min and estimated blood loss was 350 cc.

Cultural complexities and scientific development.

Methodological issues in psychology consist of a key aspect for the scientific development of the discipline. In this paper I elaborate on the reasons why I partially agree with Toomela's ideas, and why I also disagree with some of his arguments. The convergence refers to the need for a radical change concerning the widespread use of methodologies that has been typical of mainstream psychology, which still flavors too positivist and pseudo-quantitative, overlooking the central relevance of theory for scientific development.

Laparoscopic running urethrovesical anastomosis with posterior fixation.

Introduction: Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is a minimally invasive approach for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. The most technically demanding and time-consuming part of this procedure is the urethrovesical anastomosis. Here we describe our technique for the urethrovesical anastomosis with a posterior fixation, using a running suture with two monofilament absorbable sutures.

Antimicrobial activity of wax and hexane extracts from Citrus spp. peels.

Antibacterial and antifungal properties of wax and hexane extracts of Citrus spp. peels were tested using bioautographic and microdilution techniques against three plant pathogenic fungi (Penicillium digitatum, Curvularia sp., and Colletotrichum sp.

Mitochondrially targeted effects of berberine [Natural Yellow 18, 5,6-dihydro-9,10-dimethoxybenzo(g)-1,3-benzodioxolo(5,6-a) quinolizinium] on K1735-M2 mouse melanoma cells: comparison with direct effects on isolated mitochondrial fractions.

Berberine [Natural Yellow 18, 5,6-dihydro-9,10-dimethoxybenzo(g)-1,3-benzodioxolo(5,6-a)quinolizinium] is an alkaloid present in plant extracts and has a history of use in traditional Chinese and Native American medicine. Because of its ability to arrest the cell cycle and cause apoptosis of several malignant cell lines, it has received attention as a potential anticancer therapeutic agent. Previous studies suggest that mitochondria may be an important target of berberine, but relatively little is known about the extent or molecular mechanisms of berberine-mitochondrial interactions.

Laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy in patients surgically treated for morbid obesity.

In the past, morbid obesity was considered a relative contraindication to renal donation; however, more recent publications have shown that laparoscopic renal surgery is safe and effective for obese donor nephrectomy. We report the performance of a bariatric surgery before the kidney donation in 2 patients in order to improve their medical condition and to reduce their surgical risk to the transplantation procedure. After bariatric surgery, both donors lost more than 30% of their initial corporal weight and their donation procedure was successfully performed, with uneventful postoperative courses.

Complete 1H and 13C NMR assignments and anti fungal activity of two 8-hydroxy flavonoids in mixture.

A mixture of the two new flavonols 8-hydroxy-3, 4', 5, 6, 7-pentamethoxyflavone (1) and 8-hydroxy-3, 3', 4', 5, 6, 7-hexamethoxyflavone (2) was isolated from a commercial sample of Citrus aurantifolia. An array of one- (1HNMR, {1H}-13C NMR, and APT-13C NMR) and two-dimensional NMR techniques (COSY, NOESY, HMQC and HMBC) was used to achieve the structural elucidation and the complete 1H and 13C chemical shift assignments of these natural compounds. In addition, the antifungal activity of these compounds against phytopathogenic and human pathogenic fungi was investigated.

Production performance and milk composition of dairy cows fed whole or ground flaxseed with or without monensin.

Eight multiparous Holstein cows averaging 570 +/- 43 kg of body weight and 60 +/- 20 d in milk were used in a double Latin square design with four 21-d experimental periods to determine the effects of feeding ground or whole flaxseed with or without monensin supplementation (0.02% on a dry matter basis) on milk production and composition, feed intake, digestion, blood composition, and fatty acid profile of milk. Intake of dry matter was similar among treatments.

Follow-up of the health conditions of an urban colony of free-roaming cats (Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Similar to other urban areas where food and shelter are abundant, the zoological garden of Rio de Janeiro has dealt for years with a colony of feral or semi-feral domestic cats. A survey was conducted during 2002-2004 as a follow-up to a previous study in 2001 of the cat colony to identify pathogens circulating among the population and to annually follow the status of the cats to analyze morbidity coefficients and associations among infections and infestations identified in the colony. During the 3 years of the present study, 75 cats were sampled at least once, including 44 that were caught and examined only once, 14 that were examined twice, and 17 that were examined three times.

Radical scavenging, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of Brazilian Caatinga plants.

Extracts of 32 plants from the Brazilian northeastern semi-arid region called Caatinga were evaluated through DPPH radical scavenging assay, beta-carotene bleaching, and brine shrimp lethality tests (BST). Among the extracts studied Byrsonima cf. gardneriana, Mascagnia coriacea, Cordia globosa, Diodia apiculata and Hypenia salzmannii showed the highest activities in DPPH radical scavenging test.

The newborn pain cry: descriptive acoustic spectrographic analysis.

Introduction: Study the characteristics of pain vocal emission of newborns during venepuncture through acoustic analysis and relate it to NIPS pain scale and some variables of the newborns.

Methods: Emissions of 111 healthy term newborns were recorded, whose lifetime varied from 24 to 72 h. The acoustic analysis was realized with GRAM 5.

Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding a cowpea seed defensin and analysis of its expression.

We have previously isolated a cowpea seed defensin with potent antifungal activity. Here we report the cloning of its cDNA obtained from RT-PCR. The sequence of the deduced protein VUDEF exhibited homology to plant defensins.