Simulator training for endoscopic ultrasound.

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is one of the most challenging endoscopic procedures to learn and requires integration of both cognitive and endoscopic skills. EUS also is an important technology with a growing number of therapeutic applications. Despite its increasing role in managing gastrointestinal diseases, EUS technology remains largely limited to the confines in academic medical centers and tertiary referral centers because of issues concerning cost, equipment availability, efficiency of implementation, reimbursement, and most importantly, training.

Chest wall metastasis after percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Presented is a case of a chest wall metastasis due to tumor seeding along the needle tract from a percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of a lung carcinoma. At thoracostomy, the patient was found to have a chest wall lesion at the site of the FNAB that had been performed 4 months earlier. This relatively uncommon complication has been reported elsewhere, but its significance with respect to the management of lung lesions suspected to be malignant has not been defined.

Sequence of rat surfactant protein A gene and functional mapping of its upstream region.

Surfactant protein A (SP-A) is the major pulmonary surfactant protein. We have isolated a rat SP-A genomic clone and determined the sequence from 2.9 kilobases upstream of the transcriptional start through the termination of translation.

Management of anomalous rotation in adults.

Rotational anomalies of the gut are infrequently encountered in the adult population. Management of this population is debatable because of a few anecdotal reports and small patient series. We present the successful surgical correction of a patient with symptomatic nonrotation and review our experience with six asymptomatic patients with anomalous rotation discovered incidentally at laparotomy for another disease process.