Elastography-The New Standard in the Assessment of Fibrosis After Pediatric Liver Transplantation?

Background: The development of graft fibrosis after pediatric liver transplantation (PLT) remains a major concern as it can lead to graft failure and ultimately graft loss. Elastography is a non-invasive method to assess liver fibrosis, but its role in the posttransplant setting is unclear. The aim of our study was to evaluate shear wave elastography (SWE) in the assessment of liver fibrosis after PLT, including split-liver recipients.

Biological abdominal wall expansion in pediatric liver recipients after transplantation with large-for-size organs.

Background: After pediatric split liver transplantation, intra-abdominal loss of domain due to large-for-size left lateral grafts is a frequent problem for fascial closure and potentially leads to reduced liver perfusion and abdominal compartment syndrome. Therefore, delayed fascial closure with the use of temporary silastic meshes and reoperation or alternative fascial bridging procedures are necessary.

Methods: Between March 2019 and October 2021, biologic meshes were used for abdominal wall expansion in 6 cases of pediatric split liver transplantation.

Pulse Wave Velocity for Risk Stratification of Patients with Aortic Aneurysm.

Background: Patients with an aortic aneurysm are at high cardiovascular risk. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is used as a parameter for risk stratification but may be affected by aortic disease (AoD). This study aimed to investigate the dependence of PWV on treated or untreated AoD and to identify modifiable factors of PWV.

Predictors of portal vein complications after pediatric liver transplantation: A German center experience.

Background: Portal vein complications (PVCs) after pediatric liver transplantation (LT) are sometimes asymptomatic, especially in the early phase, and can threaten both the graft and patient's survival. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the risk factors for portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and portal vein stenosis (PVS) after pediatric LT.

Methods: All pediatric patients (n = 115) who underwent primary LT at Regensburg University Hospital between January 2010 and April 2017 were included in this study.

Super selective percutaneous transhepatic coil embolization of intrahepatic pseudoaneurysm after pediatric liver transplantation: a case report.

Background: Intrahepatic arterial pseudoaneurysms are a rare, life-threatening complication after pediatric liver transplantation. Treatment of choice represents interventional radiological management with endovascular embolization of the segmental artery proximal and distal to the aneurysm. However, this technique results in loss of arterial perfusion distal to the aneurysm with subsegment arterial ischemia.

Phenotypic spectrum and diagnostic pitfalls of ABCB4 deficiency depending on age of onset.

Genetic variants in the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette subfamily B member 4 () gene, which encodes hepatocanalicular phosphatidylcholine floppase, can lead to different phenotypes, such as progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) type 3, low phospholipid-associated cholelithiasis, and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy. The aim of this multicenter project was to collect information on onset and progression of this entity in different age groups and to assess the relevance of this disease for the differential diagnosis of chronic liver disease. Clinical and laboratory data of 38 patients (17 males, 21 females, from 29 families) with homozygous or (compound) heterozygous mutations were retrospectively collected.

Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in children with benign and malignant liver lesions and portal vein anomalies.

Objective: Comparison of the diagnostic findings of MRI, CT and CEUS in children with benign and malignant and portal venous anomalies of the liver.

Materials/methods: Retrospective analysis of the diagnostic findings of CEUS, MRI and CT scans in 56 children (age 0-17 years) with a total of 60 benign and malignant liver lesions and anomalies of the portal vein/perfusion. All patients underwent CEUS using sulphur hexafluoride microbubbles and a multi-frequency probe (1-5 MHz, 6-9 MHz).

Gelfoam for closure of large percutaneous transhepatic and transsplenic puncture tracts in pediatric patients.

Purpose: Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of Gelfoam for the closure of transhepatic or transsplenic parenchymal puncture tracts with large-bore sheaths in pediatric patients.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2012 and May 2013, 8 percutaneous transhepatic accesses and 3 percutaneous transsplenic accesses were closed using percutaneous Gelfoam in pediatric patients. The primary study endpoints to determine treatment efficacy and safety were patient survival, technical success defined as successful closure of the puncture tract without signs of bleeding, and complication rates.

[Percutaneous thrombus aspiration and thrombolysis for the treatment of acute portal vein thrombosis in a 5-year-old child].

Early portal vein thrombosis is a frequent and severe complication following pediatric liver transplantation. The clinical presentation is characterized by signs and symptoms of portal hypertension such as ascites and digestive hemorrhage. Primary treatment consists of heparin therapy.

Nutritional interventions for liver-transplanted patients.

Background: Malnutrition is a common problem for patients waiting for orthotopic liver transplantation and a risk factor for post-transplant morbidity. The decision to initiate enteral or parenteral nutrition, to which patients and at which time, is still debated. The effects of nutritional supplements given before or after liver transplantation, or both, still remains unclear.

[Play therapy in hospital].

The following article presents an overview of current research studies on play therapy in the hospital. It highlights individual diagnoses for which play therapy has shown reasonable success. The aim of this review is to describe the current status of the scientific debate on play therapy for sick children in order to allow conclusions regarding the indications for which play therapy is or might be useful.

Differential expression and regulation of GTPases (RhoA and Rac2) and GDIs (LyGDI and RhoGDI) in neutrophils from patients with severe congenital neutropenia.

Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) or Kostmann syndrome is a disorder of myelopoiesis characterized by a maturation arrest at the stage of promyelocytes or myelocytes in bone marrow and absolute neutrophil counts less than 200/microL in peripheral blood. Treatment of these patients with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) leads to a significant increase in circulating neutrophils and a reduction in infection-related events in more than 95% of the patients. To date, little is known regarding the underlying pathomechanism of SCN.

Characterization of HIV type 1 from Romanian children: lack of correlation between V3 loop amino acid sequence and syncytium formation in MT-2 cells.

The biological properties and amino acid sequences of the third variable domain (V3 loop and flanking regions) of the env region of 34 HIV-1 isolates obtained from Romanian children were analyzed. Unambiguous nucleic acid sequences were obtained from 31 isolates. The derived V3 amino acid sequences were highly homologous (93-100%) and clustered with the HIV-1 subtype F Romanian consensus.

Simultaneous on-line DNA sequencing on both strands with two fluorescent dyes.

We describe an automated DNA-sequencing technique which allows both the simultaneous sequencing from the two strands of double-stranded templates and the subsequent detection of the sequencing products online and in parallel. The technique is based on hardware technology also used in the ALF DNA sequencer (Pharmacia, Uppsala). A helium-neon laser was mounted into the sequencing device additionally to the standard argon laser.

Epidemiology of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis.

The epidemiology of chronic colonization of airways with Pseudomonas aeruginosa was monitored in 44 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) by DraI/SpeI macrorestriction analyses of 489 isolates. Sequential P. aeruginosa isolates (144) that had been collected from 32 CF patients over < or = 2.

Complete DNA sequence of yeast chromosome XI.

The complete DNA sequence of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome XI has been determined. In addition to a compact arrangement of potential protein coding sequences, the 666,448-base-pair sequence has revealed general chromosome patterns; in particular, alternating regional variations in average base composition correlate with variations in local gene density along the chromosome. Significant discrepancies with the previously published genetic map demonstrate the need for using independent physical mapping criteria.

Top-down construction of an ordered Schizosaccharomyces pombe cosmid library.

A very rapid and efficient method for sorting and ordering large numbers of clones is presented. This top-down mapping approach divides the entire ordering problem into many smaller tasks and analyzes in parallel a gridded membrane array of clones by hybridization with probe pools. The strategy was tested on a 15-fold-coverage Schizosaccharomyces pombe cosmid library.

Sequencing and analysis of 51.6 kilobases on the left arm of chromosome XI from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals 23 open reading frames including the FAS1 gene.

We have sequenced two segments containing a total of 51.6 kb of the left arm from chromosome XI of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The first segment of 38.

Automated low-redundancy large-scale DNA sequencing by primer walking.

Low-redundancy automated DNA sequencing by primer walking is described. T7 DNA polymerase is used together with computer-selected walking primers and fluorescein-dATP as internal label to sequence large plasmids or cosmids directly on a standard DNA sequencer with an error rate below 1% up to 500 bases (in the unedited raw data). The low error rate allows efficient sequencing with low (2-3 times) redundancy.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathovar.

This paper presents the genome organization and mobility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains that had been isolated in half-year intervals from 30 patients with cystic fibrosis since the onset of colonization over a 2- to 8-year period. The chromosomes were digested with DraI or SpeI, separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, blotted and hybridized with probes encoding housekeeping or virulence genes. Strains were differentiated by relatedness of macrorestriction fingerprints.

Physical genome analysis of bacteria.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is a general analytical tool to separate large DNA molecules and may therefore be applied to problems from all areas of bacteriology. The genome size of bacteria covers the range of 0.6 to 10 megabase pairs.

Alignment of Sfi I sites with the Not I restriction map of Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome.

A Sfi I restriction map of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome was aligned with the Not I restriction map. There are 16 Sfi I sites in the S. pombe genome.