Single-access transumbilical laparoscopic appendectomy and cholecystectomy using new curved reusable instruments: a pilot feasibility study.

Background: The umbilicus can be considered as the embryological opening for single-access laparoscopic procedures. We report on single-access transumbilical laparoscopic appendectomy (SATLA) and cholecystectomy (SATLC), performed using new curved reusable instruments.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of 30 patients who underwent SATLA and 20 patients who underwent SATLC between May and November 2009 was undertaken.

Expression of adenosine A 2A receptors in the rat lumbar spinal cord and implications in the modulation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor currents.

Background: The presence of A(2A) receptors in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord remains controversial. At this level, activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors induces wind-up, which is clinically expressed as hyperalgesia. Inhibition of NMDA receptor currents after activation of A(2A) receptors has been shown in rat neostriatal neurons.