Catalytic antioxidant nanoparticles mitigate secondary injury progression and promote functional recovery in spinal cord injury model.

Traumatic spinal cord injury exacerbates disability with time due to secondary injury cascade triggered largely by overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at the lesion site, causing oxidative stress. This study explored nanoparticles containing antioxidant enzymes (antioxidant NPs) to neutralize excess ROS at the lesion site and its impact. When tested in a rat contusion model of spinal cord injury, a single dose of antioxidant NPs, administered intravenously three hours after injury, effectively restored the redox balance at the lesion site, interrupting the secondary injury progression.

Imaging Features of Gastrointestinal Neoplasms Complicating Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic inflammatory diseases affecting the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Patients with IBD, besides other non-neoplastic complications, are also at increased risk of GI malignancies such as colorectal cancer, small bowel adenocarcinoma and lymphoma. The principal purpose of imaging in patients with IBD to assess complications and to stage a clinically known cancer.

Lead-Dust Contamination on Radiation Protection Apparel.

Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of surface lead-dust contamination on radiation protection apparel (RPAs) in the radiology department and compare findings with those from other studies of RPA lead-dust contamination.

Materials And Methods: A survey of RPAs was conducted between June and December 2021 in radiology departments at a tertiary-care university hospital. A convenience sample of RPAs located on wall-mounted racks outside the angiography suite and emergency department was surveyed.

Antioxidants Taken Orally prior to Diagnostic Radiation Exposure Can Prevent DNA Injury.

Purpose: To evaluate efficacy of oral antioxidant treatment given to patients before radiologic procedures in reducing x-ray-induced DNA damage.

Materials And Methods: In a single-center prospective controlled trial, antioxidant treatment with 2 g ascorbate, 1.2 g N-acetylcysteine, 600 mg lipoic acid, and 30 mg beta carotene was given to 5 consecutive participants before undergoing clinically indicated technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (Tc MDP) bone scans for cancer staging.

Kinematic analysis of a Duchenne smile.

Objective: Facial expressions are communicative motor outputs, whose kinematics likely are due to musculoskeletal anatomy, neuromotor activity and the well-being and internal states of the individual. However, little has been published on the kinematics of facial expression. This study quantified lip, eye and cheek movements during the production of a Duchenne smile involving movement of lips and tissues surrounding the eyes.

Tissue plasminogen activator followed by antioxidant-loaded nanoparticle delivery promotes activation/mobilization of progenitor cells in infarcted rat brain.

Inherent neuronal and circulating progenitor cells play important roles in facilitating neuronal and functional recovery post stroke. However, this endogenous repair process is rather limited, primarily due to unfavorable conditions in the infarcted brain involving reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated oxidative stress and inflammation following ischemia/reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that during reperfusion, effective delivery of antioxidants to ischemic brain would create an environment without such oxidative stress and inflammation, thus promoting activation and mobilization of progenitor cells in the infarcted brain.

Blast-Associated Shock Waves Result in Increased Brain Vascular Leakage and Elevated ROS Levels in a Rat Model of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Blast-associated shock wave-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) remains a persistent risk for armed forces worldwide, yet its detailed pathophysiology remains to be fully investigated. In this study, we have designed and characterized a laboratory-scale shock tube to develop a rodent model of bTBI. Our blast tube, driven by a mixture of oxygen and acetylene, effectively generates blast overpressures of 20-130 psi, with pressure-time profiles similar to those of free-field blast waves.

Optical imaging to map blood-brain barrier leakage.

Vascular leakage in the brain is a major complication associated with brain injuries and certain pathological conditions due to disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). We have developed an optical imaging method, based on excitation and emission spectra of Evans Blue dye, that is >1000-fold more sensitive than conventional ultraviolet spectrophotometry. We used a rat thromboembolic stroke model to validate the usefulness of our method for vascular leakage.

A study of inventiveness among Society of Interventional Radiology members and the impact of their social networks.

Purpose: To investigate the nature of inventiveness among members of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and learn what influenced the inventors and assisted their creativity.

Materials And Methods: The membership directory of the SIR was cross-referenced with filings at the United States Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO) and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The inventors were queried with an online survey to illuminate their institutions of training and practice as well as enabling or inhibiting factors to their inventiveness.

A literature review of findings in physical elder abuse.

Purpose: To review the medical literature for reports on the types of physical injuries in elder abuse with the aim of eliciting patterns that will aid its detection.

Materials And Methods: The databases of PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and TRIP were searched from 1975 to March 2012 for articles that contained the following phrases: "physical elder abuse," "older adult abuse," "elder mistreatment," "geriatric abuse," "geriatric trauma," and "nonaccidental geriatric injury." Distribution and description of injuries in physical elder abuse from case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case reports as seen at autopsy, in hospital emergency departments, or in medicolegal reports were tabulated and summarized.

Advances in stroke therapy.

Stroke is a leading cause of death, long-term disability, and socioeconomic costs, highlighting the urgent need for more effective treatments. Intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) is the only FDA-approved therapy to re-establish cerebral blood flow. However, because of increased risk of hemorrhage beyond 3 h post stroke, few stroke patients (1-2%) benefit from t-PA; t-PA, which has neurotoxic effects, can also aggravate the extent of reperfusion injury by increasing blood-brain barrier permeability.

Spinal epidural abscess -- a rare complication of inflammatory bowel disease.

Spinal epidural abscess is an uncommon but highly morbid illness. While it usually afflicts older, immunocompromised patients, this condition has been reported as a result of intestinal perforation in the setting of inflammatory bowel disease. Two cases of spinal epidural abscess in patients with inflammatory bowel disease are reported: one in a patient with Crohn's disease and one in a patient with ulcerative colitis after restorative proctocolectomy.