Comparison of Bailout and Planned Rotational Atherectomy for Heavily Calcified Coronary Lesions: A Single-Center Experience.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare outcomes of bailout and planned rotational atherectomy (RA) in the treatment of calcified coronary lesions.

Background: Current guidelines recommend RA as a bailout procedure for calcified or fibrotic lesions that cannot be adequately dilated before stenting. Nonetheless, planned RA is sometimes performed in certain challenging anatomies.

High-speed rotational atherectomy of the left main coronary artery: a single-center experience in 50 high-risk patients.

Background: Certain patients with complex calcified left main (LM) disease have a prohibitive risk for bypass surgery. Rotational atherectomy (RA) prior to stent implantation is an option for this subset of patients.

Objective: To analyze acute and long-term results of RA in the LM location.

Stuck rotablator: the nightmare of rotational atherectomy.

Aims: Rotational atherectomy (RA) is frequently performed to modify complex fibrocalcific coronary lesions with high procedural success. A stuck rotablator is a rare but life-threatening complication. However, its description remains sporadic and it has never been systematically analysed.

Longitudinal deformation of contemporary coronary stents: an integrated analysis of clinical experience and observations from the bench.

Objective:  To report clinical experience with longitudinal stent deformation (LSD) and observations from the bench.

Background:  LSD was recently reported with thin-strut coronary stents. Whether it is related to a particular stent or constitutes a class-effect remains debatable.

Long-term clinical outcome of rotational atherectomy followed by drug-eluting stent implantation in complex calcified coronary lesions.

Objectives: To assess long-term outcome after rotational atherectomy (RA) is followed by drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in complex calcified coronary lesions.

Background: RA can favorably modify heavily calcified coronary lesions, but long-term outcome is poor when it is used as a stand-alone therapy or combined with bare-metal stents. DES have reduced rates of restenosis in a wide range of patient and lesion subsets, but little information is available on long-term clinical outcome when RA is followed by DES implantation (Rota-DES) in complex calcified lesions.

Long-term clinical outcome of thin-strut cobalt-chromium stents in the drug-eluting stent era: results of the COBALT (comparison of bare-metal stents in all-comers' lesion treatment) registry.

Background: Despite widespread penetration of drug-eluting stents (DES) in clinical practice, a relevant percentage of patients with coronary artery disease are still treated with bare-metal stents (BMS). Contemporary BMS, however, are less well investigated and comparative data on clinical outcome are lacking.

Methods And Results: This single-center registry aimed to assess characteristics and outcome of patients treated with 2 different new-generation cobalt-chromium BMS, the MULTI-LINK VISION and PRO-Kinetic stents.

Chemokine expression by small sputum macrophages in COPD.

Small sputum macrophages represent highly active cells that increase in the airways of patients with inflammatory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It has been reported often that levels of cytokines, chemokines and pro-teases are increased in sputum supernatants of these patients. In COPD, the small sputum macrophages may contribute to these supernatant proteins and recruit additional cells via specific chemokine expression patterns.

Determination of haemodynamic significance of intermediate coronary lesions using three-dimensional coronary reconstruction.

Aims: This study evaluates three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of the coronary arteries in assessment of angiographically borderline lesions.

Methods And Results: Three-dimensional (3-D) quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) was performed for 41 intermediate coronary stenotic lesions (IL) in 31 patients. Measurements of cross-sectional stenosis (CSS), diameter stenosis (DS) and plaque volume (PV) were correlated with the fractional flow reserve (FFR) values measured with a commercially-available pressure guide-wire.

Clinical and hemodynamic predictors of natriuretic peptide elevation among aortic valve disease patients.

We investigated the relative contribution of hemodynamic and clinical factors to serum natriuretic peptide elevation in seventy-one patients with either aortic stenosis or aortic regurgitation. We found that pulmonary hypertension, heart failure and renal failure are the most powerful independent predictors of natriuretic peptide elevation in patients with aortic valve disease, irrespective of the type or severity of valvular lesion itself.

Diazepam versus fentanyl for premedication during percutaneous coronary intervention: results from the Myocardial Protection by Fentanyl during Coronary Intervention (PROFIT) Trial.

Background: Sedation is a cornerstone in the premedication for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Benzodiazepines and opioids are frequently used. Previous results suggest that opioids mimic the adaptation to ischemia during repeated balloon inflations and may provide direct myocardial protection in addition to their sedative effect.

Multi-vessel stenting during primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction. A single-center experience.

Background: Recanalization of the culprit lesion is the main goal of primary angioplasty for acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction and multivessel disease are, therefore, usually subjected to staged procedures, with the primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) confined to recanalization of the infarct-related artery (IRA). Theoretically at least, early relief of stenoses of non-infarct-related arteries could promote collateral circulation, which could help to limit the infarct size.

Characterization of a population of small macrophages in induced sputum of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and healthy volunteers.

The inflammatory process in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is active mainly in the airways, but little is known about the properties of the inflammatory cells in this compartment. We have studied leucocytes in induced sputum of COPD patients compared to controls in order to uncover what types of macrophages might be involved in the disease. Sputum induction was performed by inhalation of nebulized sodium chloride solution.

Increased sputum IL-8 and IL-5 in asymptomatic nonspecific airway hyperresponsiveness.

Since asymptomatic, nonspecific airway hyperresponsiveness (BHR) may be due to an enhanced local inflammatory response, we studied molecular markers of inflammation in induced sputum from subjects with asymptomatic BHR (n = 14) compared with control subjects (n = 13) and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n = 10). Pulmonary lung function parameters were measured by spirometry and body plethysmography. Hyperresponsiveness was defined based on histamine challenge.

Osteoglophonic dysplasia: review and further delineation of the syndrome.

We report on a boy with clinical and radiologic findings of osteoglophonic dysplasia. He had craniostenosis, "bizarre," expansile cystic lesions in the diaphyses, delayed tooth eruption, and progressive rib expansion typical of the syndrome. Initially delayed psychomotor development with later normal intelligence, early feeding and breathing difficulty, and speech delay are also characteristic of the disorder.

Progesterone-induced acrosome reaction: potential role for sperm acrosome antigen-1 in fertilization.

We have established a monoclonal antibody (mAb) AG7 defining a sperm acrosome antigen-1 (SAA-1) on spermatozoa from the human and several mammalian species. MAb AG7 inhibits fertilization of mouse eggs in vitro and in vivo. An important characteristic of mAb AG7 is its inhibition of the rise in intracellular calcium induced by progesterone in human spermatozoa.

Comparative hematology in marine fish.

1. A comparative study involving 80 species (14 ray, 14 shark and 52 teleost species) of marine fish found at the southeastern Brazilian coast is presented. 2.

Isoenzymes of pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase in epithelial cell lines of rat liver.

In cultured epithelial cells of rat liver the isoenzyme patterns of pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase were studied and compared with those of freshly isolated parenchymal and non-parenchymal liver cells. In all epithelial cell lines pyruvate kinase was not activated by fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, suggesting the absence of the L-isoenzyme. Cell lines derived from livers of newborn rats expressed LDH-4 and -5, whereas cell lines developed from fetal rat livers contained all 5 lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes.

Enzyme activities, isoenzyme pattern and alpha-1-adrenergic receptor number in primary cultured hepatocytes.

Changes in the activities of pyruvate kinase, tyrosine aminotransferase and adenylate cyclase as well as in the number of alpha-1-adrenergic receptors of hepatocytes maintained in primary culture were investigated. During the culture in the presence of insulin and dexamethasone the activity of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) increased. The increase was suppressed by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA).

Ultrastructure and quantitative composition of isolated endothelial cells of rat liver.

Isolated endothelial cells (n 110; 350-540 microns3 in volume) of the sinusoid of rat liver were found to differ from in situ endothelial cells by their rounded shape with the nucleus usually in the centre and fenestrae of the sieve plates across the entire cytoplasm. Their volume density is 0.2814 (SE 0.

Multiple forms of alkaline phosphatase in rat hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells: differences in electrophoretic mobility, thermostability and sensitivity to neuraminidase treatment.

In rat liver, alkaline phosphatase is shown to exist in several distinct molecular forms originating from different cell types. The alkaline phosphatases of isolated hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells were characterized with respect to electrophoretic mobility, thermostability, and sensitivity to treatment with neuraminidase in order to define the cellular distribution of the different enzyme forms within the liver. The major form of liver alkaline phosphatase could be attributed to the hepatocytic enzyme, whereas the properties of the minor form were found to be identical with those of the non-parenchymal cell enzyme.

Isoenzyme patterns of pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase in isolated fat-storing cells of rat liver.

Fat-storing cells and other non-parenchymal cells (endothelial and Kupffer cells) were isolated from rat liver by a combined pronase-collagenase procedure and subsequent Visotrast-370 density gradient centrifugation. The lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme pattern of fat-storing cells was found different from that of other non-parenchymal liver cells. Fat-storing cells contain LDH-4 as the main isoenzyme and do not contain LDH-1, whereas the other non-parenchymal cells have all five lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes, among which LDH-5 is dominating.

Glycogen phosphorylase isozyme pattern in rat liver and isolated non-parenchymal liver cells.

The isozyme distribution of glycogen phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.

Fibromatosis and fibrosarcoma of the larynx and pharynx in an infant.

A 14-month-old infant had congenital solitary fibromatosis of the larynx that showed fibrosarcomatous change and that spread to the pharynx and the anterior part of the neck. The histologic condition is discussed, as is the surgical treatment with total laryngopharyngectomy. A five-year postoperative follow-up is included.