Animal venoms are rich in hundreds of toxins with extraordinary biological activities. Their exploitation is difficult due to their complexity and the small quantities of venom available from most venomous species. We developed a Venomics approach combining transcriptomic and proteomic characterization of 191 species and identified 20,206 venom toxin sequences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the biopharmaceutical environment, controlling the Critical Quality Attributes (CQA) of a product is essential to prevent changes that affect its safety or efficacy. Physico-chemical techniques and bioassays are used to screen and monitor these CQAs. The higher order structure (HOS) is a CQA that is typically studied using techniques that are not commonly considered amenable to quality control laboratories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Venom Anim Toxins Incl Trop Dis
April 2019
Background: venom ( venom) is a complex mixture of several compounds with biotechnological and therapeutical potentials, which highlights the importance of the identification and characterization of these components. Although a considerable number of studies have been dedicated to the characterization of this complex cocktail, there is still a limitation of knowledge concerning its venom composition. Most of venom studies aim to isolate and characterize their neurotoxins, which are small, basic proteins and are eluted with high buffer concentrations on cation exchange chromatography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To set forth experiences in the context of the SERGS Pilot Curriculum-the first standardized educational program for robotic use in gynecological surgery-in terms of feasibility, effectiveness and potential for certification.
Methods: The Society of European Robotic Gynecological Surgery (SERGS) outlined a Pilot Curriculum for standardized education in robot-assisted laparoscopic gynecological surgery. Its feasibility and acceptance were checked in the form of a fellowship pilot program conducted at four European Centers of Excellence for robot-assisted surgery.
Animal venoms represent a valuable source of bioactive peptides that can be derived into useful pharmacological tools, or even innovative drugs. In this way, the venom of (DA), the Eastern Green Mamba, has been intensively studied during recent years. It mainly contains hundreds of large toxins from 6 to 9 kDa, each displaying several disulfide bridges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVenomous animals have developed a huge arsenal of reticulated peptides for defense and predation. Based on various scaffolds, they represent a colossal pharmacological diversity, making them top candidates for the development of innovative drugs. Instead of relying on the classical, low-throughput bioassay-guided approach to identify innovative bioactive peptides, this work exploits a recent paradigm to access to venom diversity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisulfide bonds are post-translationnal modifications that can be crucial for the stability and the biological activities of natural peptides. Considering the importance of these disulfide bond-containing peptides, the development of new techniques in order to characterize these modifications is of great interest. For this purpose, collision cross cections (CCS) of a large data set of 118 peptides (displaying various sequences) bearing zero, one, two, or three disulfide bond(s) have been measured in this study at different charge states using ion mobility-mass spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConfocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) enables in-vivo, real-time, imaging of tissues with a micron-scale resolution through a fiber optic probe. CLE could be a valuable tool for the detection and characterization of suspicious (dysplastic) areas on the uterine cervix in a minimally invasive manner. This study evaluates the technical feasibility and safety of CLE on the cervix.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFG-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the largest family of transmembrane proteins. Although implicated in almost all physiological processes in the human body, most of them remain unexploited, mostly because of the lack of specific ligands. The objective of this work is to develop a new mass-spectrometry-based technique capable of identifying new peptide ligands for GPCRs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Despite the noxious effects inflicted by Dinoponera ant's envenomation, the information about the biological properties and composition of their venom is still very limited. Ants from the genus Dinoponera are believed to be the world's largest living ants with a body length of 3cm. Their occurrence is restricted to tropical areas of South America.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Question: What is the effect of a legal limitation of the number of embryos that can be transferred in an assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycle on the multiple delivery rate?
Summary Answer: The Belgian national register shows that the introduction of reimbursement of ART laboratory costs in July 2003, and the imposition of a legal limitation of the number of embryos transferred in the same year, were associated with a >50% reduction of the multiple pregnancy rate from 27 to 11% between 2003 and the last assessment in 2010, without any reduction of the pregnancy rate per cycle.
What Is Known Already: Individual Belgian IVF centres have published their results since the implementation of the law, and these show a decrease in the multiple pregnancy rate on a centre by centre basis. However, the overall national picture remains unpublished.
Objectives: FIGO classification is commonly used for staging of locally advanced cervical cancer. Laparoscopic para-aortic lymphadenectomy is currently used as a diagnostic tool, since we know that presence of para-aortic lymph node metastases identifies patients with poor prognosis. The application of robotics during this procedure needs to be investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFacts Views Vis Obgyn
April 2014
Objective: To describe the postgraduate surgical skills training programme of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VVOG*). Laparoscopic surgical techniques and indications have increased substantially during the past two decades. From surgeons it is expected that they keep up with all techniques and should be able to perform all relevant procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gynaecological laparoscopic surgery outcomes can be compromised by the formation of de novo adhesions. This randomized, double-blind study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of 4% icodextrin solution (Adept(®)) in the reduction of de novo adhesion incidence compared to lactated Ringer's solution (LRS).
Methods: Patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for removal of myomas or endometriotic cysts were treated with randomized solution as an intra-operative irrigant and 1l post-operative instillate.
Objective: To evaluate the pregnancy and delivery outcome of robot-assisted tubal reanastomosis.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: University hospital.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
December 2009
Objectives: Adequate staging of advanced cervical cancer is essential in order to optimally treat the patient. FIGO clinical staging, imaging techniques such as CT scan, MRI and PET sometimes underestimate the extension of tumors. The presence of para-aortic lymph node metastases in advanced cervical cancer identifies patients with poor prognosis who need to be treated aggressively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Telerobotic-assisted laparoscopic attempts to provide technological solutions to the inherent limitations of traditional laparoscopic surgery. The aim of this study is to report the first experience of two teams concerning telerobotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy for benign and malignant pathologies.
Methods: This study included 14 patients at the University Hospital Saint Pierre of Brussels (Belgium) and 16 patients at the Cancer Center of Nancy (France) from September 1999 to July 2003.
Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
March 2002
Objective: To evaluate the return to fertility following removal of the GyneFix intrauterine implant system in women wishing to conceive.
Study Design: A retrospective study was performed on a sample of healthy, sexually active nulligravid/nulliparous and parous women. The participants were 18-41 years of age, with no apparent infertility problem, living in a stable relationship and planning to become pregnant.
Theoretically, in laparoscopic surgery, a computer interface in command of a mechanical system (robot) allows the surgeon: (1) to recover a number a number of lost degrees of freedom, thanks to intraabdominal articulations; (2) to obtain better visual control of instrument manipulation, thanks to three-dimensional vision; (3) to modulate the amplitude of surgical motions by downscaling and stabilization; (4) to work at a distance from the patient. These advances improve the quality of surgical tasks in a perfect ergonomic position. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing a robot in laparoscopic surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the feasibility and reproducibility of laparoscopic microsurgical tubal anastomosis using a remote-controlled robot.
Design: Descriptive case study.
Setting: Academic medical center.
Two hundred and forty-seven patients with uterine fibroids were randomized to surgery alone or 3 months' Zoladex (Zeneca, Macclesfield, Ches., UK) followed by surgery. Zoladex significantly reduced uterine and fibroid volumes (p = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Med Brux
February 1995
The number of pregnant women uncovered by medical insurance is increasing in the maternity of Saint-Pierre Hospital (44% increase over a 3 year period). During the academic year 92-93, this situation was present in 9.8% of the mothers; 98% of these patients were foreigners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Fertil Menopausal Stud
February 1995
It was suggested as long ago as 1941 that there might be a connection between the menopause and osteoporosis. Since then, abundant data have confirmed that hypothesis as well as showing that such osteoporosis may be prevented by estrogen supplementation (ERT--estrogen replacement therapy). In estrogen deficiency, increased bone resorption takes place in the process of bone remodeling, leading to bone loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine if the bone mineral content (BMC) of women suffering from fibroids is different from that of the reference population.
Design: Cross-sectional retrospective study.
Participants: Fifty-nine women suffering from fibroids, compared to the reference population.