Specific gravity and creatinine as corrections for variation in urine concentration in humans, gorillas, and woolly monkeys.

Hormones excreted in the urine are widely used to assess the physiological and psychological condition of unrestrained animals. In order to control for variation in the water concentration of urine samples, the hormone concentration is often indexed to the concentration of creatinine. Because there are several problems with using creatinine, we have investigated the efficacy of specific gravity as an alternative basis for adjusting the hormone concentration in humans, gorillas, and woolly monkeys.

Management of complex abdominal wall defects using acellular porcine dermal collagen.

Multiple techniques have been used for the repair of complex abdominal wall defects after recurrent incisional hernias with varying rates of success. Primary repair has been associated with high recurrence rates, and prosthetic mesh placement is contraindicated in contaminated surgical fields. The development of biologic prostheses has changed the approach to these difficult problems.

Endoluminal full-thickness plication and radiofrequency treatments for GERD: an outcomes comparison.

Hypothesis: Endoluminal therapies have emerged as adjuncts for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in select patients.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of endoscopic full-thickness plication and endoscopic radiofrequency treatments for patients with GERD.

Patients: A total of 126 patients who underwent either endoscopic full-thickness plication (FTP) of the gastric cardia or endoscopic radiofrequency (RF) treatment of the esophagogastric junction during a 4-year period were included (68 underwent RF and 58 underwent FTP).

Transumbilical Gelport access technique for performing single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS).

Introduction: Single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) is an area of active research within general surgery.

Discussion: A number of procedures, including cholecystectomy, appendectomy, urologic procedures, adrenalectomy, and bariatric procedures, are currently being performed with this methodology. There is, as yet, no standard published technique for single-port access to the peritoneal cavity for SILS.

Ten-year follow-up of laparoscopic Heller myotomy for achalasia shows durability.

Objective: Reports of long-term outcomes for laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM) are scarce. In this work, outcomes of LHM for achalasia in patients who underwent surgery more than 10 years prior were investigated.

Methods: A cohort of patients treated with LHM and partial fundoplication for achalasia between 1993 and 1996 was followed for long-term outcomes, which were compared to baseline data at presentation.

Chest-rubbing in captive woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha).

The correlates of chest-rubbing were studied in a captive group of woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha) to assess possible functions of territorial marking, spacing among competing groups or competing males, reproductive communication, marking to identify familiar environments, selfanointing, and displacement activity. Chest-rubbing was observed only in sexually mature monkeys and was a predominantly male activity. Females increased chest-rubbing when the original adult male died.