Electrical coupling and propagation in engineered ventricular myocardium with heterogeneous expression of connexin43.

Rationale: Spatial heterogeneity in connexin (Cx) expression has been implicated in arrhythmogenesis.

Objective: This study was performed to quantify the relation between the degree of heterogeneity in Cx43 expression and disturbances in electric propagation.

Methods And Results: Cell pairs and strands composed of mixtures of Cx43(-/-) (Cx43KO) or GFP-expressing Cx43(+/+) (WT(GFP)) murine ventricular myocytes were patterned using microlithographic techniques.

Connexin43 ablation in foetal atrial myocytes decreases electrical coupling, partner connexins, and sodium current.

Aims: Remodelling and regional gradients in expression of connexins (Cx) are thought to contribute to atrial electrical dysfunction and atrial fibrillation. We assessed the effect of interaction between Cx43, Cx40, and Cx45 on atrial cell-to-cell coupling and inward Na current (I(Na)) in engineered pairs of atrial myocytes derived from wild-type mice (Cx43(+/+)) and mice with genetic ablation of Cx43 (Cx43(-/-)).

Methods And Results: Cell pairs were engineered by microcontact printing from atrial Cx43(+/+) and Cx43(-/-) murine myocytes (1 day before birth, 3-5 days in culture).

Reintegration after severe brain injury: a retrospective study.

Primary Objective: The evaluation of school and work reintegration of patients following severe brain injury and of the relationship between the most common (early and late) prognostic indicators and reintegration itself.

Research Design: A retrospective study on a population of 353 patients consecutively admitted to an intensive rehabilitation unit (S. Cuore Hospital, Negrar, Italy) from 1991-1999.

Intrathecal baclofen withdrawal syndrome caused by low residual volume in the pump reservoir: a report of 2 cases.

Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) is an effective treatment for spasticity caused by spinal or cerebral pathologies. Severe withdrawal symptoms can result, however, if ITB is abruptly withdrawn as a result of equipment malfunctions or human error. We describe 2 cases of severe ITB withdrawal syndrome.

Fibrocartilaginous embolism of the spinal cord: a clinical and pathogenetic reconsideration.

A 16 year old girl did a handstand for fun, returned to her feet, experienced a sudden pain in her back, and became progressively paraplegic within 30 hours. MRI showed lumbar cord swelling, multiple Schmorl's nodes, a collapsed T11-T12 disc space, and intraspongious disc prolapse into the T12 vertebral body. These findings, related to the initial manoeuvre, suggested that an acute vertical disc herniation could have occurred as the first step in a process leading to spinal cord infarction due to fibrocartilaginous emboli from the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc.