Association of carotid atheroma plaque with IL-18 levels and with polymorphisms in the IL-18 receptor gene in a Mediterranean population.

Background: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is an inflammatory molecule that has been linked to the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To evaluate the possible relationship between plasma levels of IL-18 and the presence of atherosclerosis evaluated at the carotid level, as well as to analyze the possible modulation by different polymorphisms in a Mediterranean population.

Postoperative Complications Are Associated With an Early and Increased Rate of Disease Recurrence After Surgery for Crohn's Disease.

Background: Several potential risk factors for Crohn's disease recurrence after surgery have been identified, including age at diagnosis, disease phenotype, and smoking. Despite the clinical relevance, few studies investigated the role of postoperative complications as a possible risk factor for disease recurrence.

Objective: To investigate the association between postoperative complications and recurrence in Crohn's disease patients after primary ileocolic resection.

Incidence of post-traumatic seizures in children during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Objectives: Children represent a significant portion of the patient population treated at combat support hospitals. There is significant data regarding post injury seizures in adults but with children it is lacking. We seek to describe the incidence of post-traumatic seizures within this population.

Beyond the Museum Walls: The Pandemic and the Exhibit at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.

This article looks at the consequences of the health crisis for France's field of culture and its response since the first French lockdown from March to May 2020 and the second one between October 2020 and May 2021. One exhibition that had to close the day after it had just opened was Prototypes: From Experimentation to Innovation. The exhibition's organizers (the museum staff and a network to safeguard national scientific and technical heritage) quickly turned to technological tools to find alternative ways of reaching the public during the crisis: online and traveling exhibitions.

Simplified risk-prediction for benchmarking and quality improvement in emergency general surgery. Prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study.

Background And Aims: Emergency General Surgery (EGS) conditions account for millions of deaths worldwide, yet it is practiced without benchmarking-based quality improvement programs. The aim of this observational, prospective, multicenter, nationwide study was to determine the best benchmark cutoff points in EGS, as a reference to guide improvement measures.

Methods: Over a 6-month period, 38 centers (5% of all public hospitals) attending EGS patients on a 24-h, 7-days a week basis, enrolled consecutive patients requiring an emergent/urgent surgical procedure.

An Analysis of Intracranial Hemorrhage in Wartime Pediatric Casualties.

Background: Children make up a significant cohort of patients treated at combat support hospitals. Where traumatic head injury, including intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), is well studied in military adults, such research is lacking regarding pediatric patients. We seek to describe the incidence and outcomes of ICH within this population.

An analysis of outcomes for pediatric trauma warm fresh whole blood recipients in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Background: Whole blood therapy-which contains the ideal balance of components, and particularly fresh whole blood-has been shown to be beneficial in adult trauma. It remains unclear whether there is potential benefit in the pediatric population.

Study Design And Methods: This is a secondary analysis of previously published data analyzing pediatric casualties undergoing massive transfusion in the Department of Defense Trauma Registry.

Trends in the utilization and reimbursement of coronary revascularization in the United States Medicare population from 2010 to 2018.

Objective: To determine utilization and reimbursement trends of coronary revascularization procedures in the US Medicare population from 2000 to 2018.

Background: US Medicare population is increasing, and coronary revascularization decreased in the 2000s.

Methods: This is a population-based, cross sectional study of US Medicare beneficiaries from 2010 to 2018.

Validation of the age-adjusted shock index for pediatric casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Background: Pediatric casualties account for a notable proportion of encounters in the deployed setting based on the humanitarian medical care mission. Previously published data demonstrates that an age-adjust shock index may be a useful tool in predicting massive transfusion and death in children. We seek to determine if those previous findings are applicable to the deployed, combat trauma setting.

Development of prehospital assessment findings associated with massive transfusion.

Background: Massive transfusion is frequently a component of the resuscitation of combat casualties. Because blood supplies may be limited, activation of a walking blood bank and mobilization of necessary resources must occur in a timely fashion. The development of a risk prediction model to guide clinicians for early transfusion in the prehospital setting was sought.

GSK-3 is an RNA polymerase II phospho-CTD kinase.

We have previously found that UV-induced DNA damage causes hyperphosphorylation of the carboxy terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), inhibition of transcriptional elongation and changes in alternative splicing (AS) due to kinetic coupling between transcription and splicing. In an unbiased search for protein kinases involved in the AS response to DNA damage, we have identified glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) as an unforeseen participant. Unlike Cdk9 inhibition, GSK-3 inhibition only prevents CTD hyperphosphorylation triggered by UV but not basal phosphorylation.

Reciprocal regulation between alternative splicing and the DNA damage response.

Splicing, the process that catalyzes intron removal and flanking exon ligation, can occur in different ways (alternative splicing) in immature RNAs transcribed from a single gene. In order to adapt to a particular context, cells modulate not only the quantity but also the quality (alternative isoforms) of their transcriptome. Since 95% of the human coding genome is subjected to alternative splicing regulation, it is expected that many cellular pathways are modulated by alternative splicing, as is the case for the DNA damage response.

Freeze Dried Plasma Administration Within the Department of Defense Trauma Registry.

Hemorrhage is common among the combat injured, and plasma plays a vital role in blood product resuscitation. Regarding freeze dried plasma (FDP), US forces have had limited access to this product compared with other countries. In 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration provided emergency authorization for Department of Defense (DoD) use through the newly congressionally directed military use pathway.

Automatic detection of anatomical landmarks of the aorta in CTA images.

Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is one of the most common vascular imaging modalities. However, for clinical use, it still requires laborious manual analysis. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a fully automated technology for the accurate detection and identification of several anatomical reference points (landmarks), commonly used in intravascular imaging.

Validating clinical threshold values for a dashboard view of the compensatory reserve measurement for hemorrhage detection.

Background: Compensatory reserve measurement (CRM) is a novel noninvasive monitoring technology designed to assess physiologic reserve using feature interrogation of arterial pulse waveforms. This study was conducted to validate clinically relevant CRM values with a simplified color-coded dashboard view.

Methods: We performed a prospective observational study of 300 injured patients admitted to a level I trauma center.

Bertolotti's syndrome in children: From low-back pain to surgery. A case report.

Bertolotti's syndrome is a little-known and little-discussed pathology. We report the case of a 13-year-old child diagnosed with Bertolotti's syndrome after several years of functional complaints. Conventional radiography was used to diagnose the transverse mega-apophysis of L5, while sectional and functional imaging confirmed a lumbosacral-iliac impingement.

Are orthopedic surgeons exposed to excessive eye irradiation? A prospective study of lens irradiation in orthopedics and traumatology.

Introduction: Numerous studies in recent years highlighted an increased risk of pathologies related to ionizing radiation in caregivers. A new French decree was adopted on June 4, 2018, dividing by 7.5 the radiation dose authorized in the lens for exposed workers.

Automatic estimation of the aortic lumen geometry by ellipse tracking.

Purpose: The shape and size of the aortic lumen can be associated with several aortic diseases. Automated computer segmentation can provide a mechanism for extracting the main features of the aorta that may be used as a diagnostic aid for physicians. This article presents a new fully automated algorithm to extract the aorta geometry for either normal (with and without contrast) or abnormal computed tomography (CT) cases.

Structural and functional cardiac profile after prolonged duration of mechanical unloading: potential implications for myocardial recovery.

Clinical and experimental studies have suggested that the duration of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support may affect remodeling of the failing heart. We aimed to 1) characterize the changes in Ca/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type-IIδ (CaMKIIδ), growth signaling, structural proteins, fibrosis, apoptosis, and gene expression before and after LVAD support and 2) assess whether the duration of support correlated with improvement or worsening of reverse remodeling. Left ventricular apex tissue and serum pairs were collected in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy ( n = 25, 23 men and 2 women) at LVAD implantation and after LVAD support at cardiac transplantation/LVAD explantation.

Uterine rotation: a cause of intestinal obstruction.

Intestinal obstruction is an uncommon surgical emergency during pregnancy that affects seriously the prognosis of gestation. The underlying cause can be identified in the majority of cases and usually consists of adhesions secondary to previous abdominal or pelvic surgery, followed in order of frequency by intestinal volvuli. In recent years there have been no reports in which the gravid uterus has been the cause of intestinal obstruction.