Hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha in the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysms in vivo: A narrative review.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are relatively common, primarily among older men, and, in the case of rupture, are associated with high mortality. Although procedure-related morbidity and mortality have improved with the advent of endovascular repair, noninvasive treatment and improved assessment of AAA rupture risk should still be sought. Several cellular pathways seem contributory to the histopathologic changes that drive AAA growth and rupture.

Open thrombectomy and retrograde mesenteric stenting as a treatment for acute in chronic occlusive mesenteric ischemia: A case report.

In this case report, we outline a tailored approach for a complex patient with acute in chronic proximal occlusive mesenteric disease complicated with fresh thrombosis and a heavily calcified aorta, where the standard treatment proved suboptimal. We outline the surgical considerations that ultimately led to performing a hybrid procedure of open thrombectomy combined with retrograde open mesenteric stenting of the superior mesenteric artery. The patient was a 75-year-old male, with a history of severe arteriosclerosis presenting with abdominal pain over 48 h.

Mapping the lack of public initiative against female genital mutilation in Denmark.

Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice prevalent in 35 countries, mainly in Africa, as well as in some Middle Eastern countries and a few Asian countries. FGM comprises all procedures that involve partial or complete resection of, or other injury to, external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. The practice of FGM has spread to Western countries due to migration.

Assessment of Dementia in Individuals with Dual Sensory Loss: Application of a Tactile Test Battery.

Background/aims: Individuals with dual sensory loss (DSL) are more likely to experience cognitive decline with age than individuals without sensory loss. Other studies have pointed to the challenges in assessing cognitive abilities in individuals with DSL, as most existing instruments rely on use of vision and hearing. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a Tactile Test Battery (TTB) for cognitive assessment in individuals with DSL.

Tubastatin A prevents hemorrhage-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction.

Background: Microvascular hyperpermeability resulting from endothelial barrier dysfunction (EBD) is associated with worse clinical outcomes in trauma-induced hemorrhagic shock. We have previously shown that treatment with Tubastatin A (TubA), a histone deacetylase 6 inhibitor, improves outcomes in animal models of shock. In this study, we investigate whether TubA treatment may prevent trauma-related EBD.

Resuscitation with Lyophilized Plasma Is Safe and Improves Neurological Recovery in a Long-Term Survival Model of Swine Subjected to Traumatic Brain Injury, Hemorrhagic Shock, and Polytrauma.

We have shown previously that fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and lyophilized plasma (LP) decrease brain lesion size and improve neurological recovery in a swine model of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hemorrhagic shock (HS). In this study, we examine whether these findings can be validated in a clinically relevant model of severe TBI, HS, and polytrauma. Female Yorkshire swine were subjected to TBI (controlled cortical impact), hemorrhage (40% volume), grade III liver and splenic injuries, rib fracture, and rectus abdominis crush.

Early resuscitation with lyophilized plasma provides equal neuroprotection compared with fresh frozen plasma in a large animal survival model of traumatic brain injury and hemorrhagic shock.

Background: Combined traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hemorrhagic shock (HS) is highly lethal. In previous models of combined TBI + HS, we showed that early resuscitation with fresh frozen plasma (FFP) improves neurologic outcomes. Delivering FFP, however, in austere environments is difficult.

Posttraumatic levels of liver enzymes can reduce the need for CT in children: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard in the initial evaluation of the hemodynamically stable patient with suspected liver trauma. However, the adverse effects of radiation exposure are of specific concern in the pediatric population. It is therefore desirable to explore alternative diagnostic modalities.

Histone deactylase gene expression profiles are associated with outcomes in blunt trauma patients.

Background: Treatment with histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, such as valproic acid, increases survival in animal models of trauma and sepsis. Valproic acid is a pan-inhibitor that blocks most of the known HDAC isoforms. Targeting individual HDAC isoforms may increase survival and reduce complications, but little is known of the natural history of HDAC gene expression following trauma.

Degree of certainty modulates anticipatory processes in real time.

In the present study, we investigated how degree of certainty modulates anticipatory processes using a modified spatial cuing task in which participants made an anticipatory hand movement with the computer mouse toward one of two probabilistic targets. A cue provided information of the location of the upcoming target with 100% validity (certain condition), 75% validity (semicertain condition) or gave no information of the location (uncertain condition). We found that the degree of certainty associated with the probabilistic precue on the upcoming target location affected the spatiotemporal characteristics of the anticipatory hand movements in a systematic way.

Emergence of spontaneous anticipatory hand movements in a probabilistic environment.

In this article, we present a novel experimental approach to the study of anticipation in probabilistic cuing. We implemented a modified spatial cuing task in which participants made an anticipatory hand movement toward one of two probabilistic targets while the (x, y)-computer mouse coordinates of their hand movements were sampled. This approach allowed us to tap into anticipatory processes as they occurred, rather than just measuring their behavioral outcome through reaction time to the target.

Anticipation of visual form independent of knowing where the form will occur.

We investigated how selective preparation for specific forms is affected by concurrent preknowledge of location when upcoming visual stimuli are anticipated. In three experiments, participants performed a two-choice response time (RT) task in which they discriminated between standard upright and rotated alphanumeric characters while fixating a central fixation cross. In different conditions, we gave the participants preknowledge of only form, only location, both location and form, or neither location nor form.

Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia mimicking Huntington's disease.

Behavioral changes and cognitive decline are the core clinical manifestations in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD). The behavioral changes may include characteristic stereotypic movements. These movements, although without clear purpose, are not involuntary.

Heart rate variability and intima media thickness.

Increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system is part of the physiological stress response and is expressed in the heart rate variability (HRV). The objective of this study was to examine associations of HRV and intima media thickness (IMT). In 2002, satisfactory measurements of HRV of 78 voluntary participants were made, both during a stress test and during sleep.

Freeze concentration for enrichment of nutrients in yellow water from no-mix toilets.

Separately collected urine ("yellow water") can be utilized as fertilizer. In order to decrease storage volumes and energy consumption for yellow water transport to fields, enrichment of nutrients in yellow water has to be considered. Laboratory-scale batch freeze concentration of yellow water has been tested in ice-front freezing apparatus: a stirred vessel and a falling film freeze concentrator (coolant temperatures: -6 to -16 degrees C).

Genetic programming over context-free languages with linear constraints for the knapsack problem: first results.

In this paper, we introduce genetic programming over context-free languages with linear constraints for combinatorial optimization, apply this method to several variants of the multidimensional knapsack problem, and discuss its performance relative to Michalewicz's genetic algorithm with penalty functions. With respect to Michalewicz's approach, we demonstrate that genetic programming over context-free languages with linear constraints improves convergence. A final result is that genetic programming over context-free languages with linear constraints is ideally suited to modeling complementarities between items in a knapsack problem: The more complementarities in the problem, the stronger the performance in comparison to its competitors.

Idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus: evaluation and findings in a multidisciplinary memory clinic.

The diagnostic evaluation of patients with possible idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is traditionally performed in the settings of either neurological, neurosurgical or psychiatric departments. The diagnostic procedure and findings in 71 consecutive patients referred with a clinical and radiological suspicion of INPH to our out-patient multidisciplinary memory clinic are evaluated. Primary diagnoses and potential concomitant disorders considered of secondary importance for the symptomatologies were established.

Nefazodone and cyclosporine drug-drug interaction.

Depression is a significant post-transplant complication often necessitating drug therapy. Many of the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants are metabolized by the same cytochrome P450IIIA isoenzyme system that is responsible for the metabolism of cyclosporine, and these agents pose an interactive risk in transplant patients. We have observed nearly a 10-fold increase in whole blood cyclosporine concentrations in a cardiac transplant patient shortly after the addition of nefazodone antidepressant therapy.

Cortical responses to sustained and divided attention in Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychological data suggests that divided attention is more impaired than sustained attention during the early phases of Alzheimer's disease. The purpose of the present study was to compare cerebral activation patterns during sustained and divided attention between Alzheimer patients and healthy elderly. The O-15-water PET activation method was used to map sustained and divided attention in 16 patients with Alzheimer's disease (mean age +/- SD: 68 +/- 5 years; MMSE: 11-25, mean +/- SD = 19.

A multidisciplinary memory clinic in a neurological setting: diagnostic evaluation of 400 consecutive patients.

This report describes the operation of a multidisciplinary university hospital memory clinic in a neurological setting, and the diagnostic evaluations in 400 consecutive patients referred for cognitive symptoms and possible dementia during a period of 27 months (1 September 1995-31 December 1997). The mean age of the patients was 63.6 years (range 19-97).

Cortical sites of sustained and divided attention in normal elderly humans.

Human brain mechanisms subserving attention have been assigned to prefrontal, midfrontal, and posterior parietal cortices, as well as to the anterior cingulate and the thalamus. To map these mechanisms in the brain, most studies have used selective attention tasks; few studies have mapped the brain under sustained or divided attention. The present study was designed to create maps of regional activity associated with sustained and divided attention using two different sensory modalities: visual checkerboard stimulation and vibrotactile stimulation of the right hand.

Cognitive profiles and regional cerebral blood flow patterns in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Individual cognitive profiles and correlations between cognitive functions and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were analyzed in 20 consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). CBF was measured with high resolution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and [(99m) Tc]d,l-HMPAO. The analysis of cognitive profiles was based on the composite scores for six cognitive domains, derived from a detailed neuropsychological test battery, as compared with corresponding test data obtained in a control group of 28 age-matched healthy volunteers.

Heterogeneity of neocortical cerebral blood flow deficits in dementia of the Alzheimer type: a [99mTc]-d,l-HMPAO SPECT study.

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured with high resolution brain dedicated single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) and [99mTc]-d,l-hexamethyl-propylene-amine-oxime (HMPAO) in 25 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease and in 25 control subjects, selected according to rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria. The aim was to analyse the topography of rCBF deficits in individual patients. In the group of patients with Alzheimer's disease as a whole, global CBF was reduced, but a factorial analysis of variance did not show disproportionate reduction of rCBF in any brain region.

Interhospital transport of the patient on extracorporeal cardiopulmonary support.

Portable extracorporeal cardiopulmonary support systems have enhanced the resuscitation and support of moribund patients outside of the operating room environment. The literature documents the successful application of emergency cardiopulmonary support within the hospital setting. Clinicians have reported the use of helicopter and ground ambulance to transport patients requiring intraaortic balloon counterpulsation and fixed-wing transport of neonates requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.