Tendon mechanobiology in small-animal experiments during post-transection healing.

Ruptures to tendons are common and costly, and no clinical consensus exists on the appropriate treatment and rehabilitation regimen to promote their healing as well as full recovery of functionality. Although mechanobiology is known to play an important role in tendon regeneration, the understanding of how mechano-regulated processes affect tendon healing needs further clarification. Many small-animal studies, particularly in rats and mice, have characterized the progression of healing in terms of geometrical, structural, compositional, mechanical, and cellular properties.

Cancer of the Pancreas-Actual 5, 10, and 20+Year Survival: The Lucky and Fortunate Few.

Cancer of the pancreas (CaP) is a dismal, uncommon, systemic malignancy. This article updates an earlier experience of actual long-term survival of CaP in patients treated between 1991 to 2000, and reviews the literature. Survival is expressed as actual, not projected, survival.

Prior chronic clopidogrel therapy is associated with increased adverse events and early stent thrombosis.

Despite the growing use of clopidogrel, limited data exist regarding the prognostic significance of chronic clopidogrel therapy in patients sustaining acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Our aim was to determine whether patients sustaining ACS while on chronic clopidogrel therapy have a worse prognosis than clopidogrel-naïve patients. A total of 5,386 consecutive ACS patients were prospectively characterised and followed-up for 30 days.

Heart failure in patients with diabetes undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased risk after acute coronary syndromes. Primary percutaneous coronary intervention is the most effective method of reperfusion for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and can limit the ischaemic damage to the left ventricle. However, there are few data on the impact of diabetes mellitus on the risk of heart failure following primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Pulmonary arterial capacitance in patients with heart failure and reactive pulmonary hypertension.

Aims: Reactive pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a severe form of PH secondary to left-sided heart failure (HF). Given the structural and functional abnormalities in the pulmonary vasculature that occur in reactive PH, we hypothesized that pulmonary artery capacitance (PAC) may be profoundly affected, with implications for clinical outcome.

Methods And Results: We studied 393 HF patients of whom 124 (32%) were classified as having passive PH and 140 (36%) as having reactive PH, and 91 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).