Outcomes of a Short-Duration, Large-Scale Canine Rabies Vaccination Campaign in Central Cambodia.

Background: WHO and WOAH advocate for annual high-coverage canine rabies vaccination campaigns as the most sustainable approach to eliminate the risk of dog rabies transmission to humans. It is estimated that Cambodia has one of the highest human rabies deaths per capita of any country (5.8 human deaths per 100,000 people), highlighting the urgent need to implement an effective canine rabies vaccination program.

Smartphone Application to Reinforce Education Increases High-Quality Preparation for Colorectal Cancer Screening Colonoscopies in a Randomized Trial.

Background & Aims: Sufficient bowel preparation is crucial for successful screening and surveillance colonoscopy. However, rates of inadequate preparation are still high. We investigated the effects of reinforced patient education using a smartphone application software (APP) for colonoscopy preparation in participants in a CRC screening program.

Comparison of Two Measurement Devices for Pulse Wave Velocity in Children: Which Tool Is Useful to Detect Vascular Alterations Caused by Overweight?

Vascular alterations may lead to manifest cardiovascular disease in future life. There is a tremendous time delay between the onset and obvious clinical appearance of vascular alterations. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is one subclinical parameter to detect vascular alterations at a very early stage.

Improving the quality and acceptance of colonoscopy preparation by reinforced patient education with short message service: results from a randomized, multicenter study (PERICLES-II).

Background And Aims: Sufficient bowel preparation is crucial for successful screening and surveillance colonoscopy. However, the rates of inadequate preparation are still high. We investigated the effects of reinforcing patient education and guidance by using the short message service (SMS).

Phase I study of imatinib, cisplatin and 5-fluoruracil or capecitabine in advanced esophageal and gastric adenocarcinoma.

Background: Despite all benefit provided by established therapies prognosis of gastric cancer remains poor. Targeted inhibition of platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) by imatinib may influence tumor growth and amplify chemotherapeutic effects.

Methods: This phase I study evaluated dose limiting toxicity (DLT) of imatinib combinated with chemotherapy according to a 3-patient cohort dose-escalating design.

Relationship of fetuin-A levels to weight-dependent insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Weight gain and obesity are of substantial importance for the development of insulin-resistance and type-2 diabetes mellitus. Fetuin-A, a liver-derived glycoprotein, may also play a role in these alterations. Several studies have demonstrated an association between fetuin-A and body weight which, however, was within a fairly small range at the border of overweight to obesity.

Truncated IRAG variants modulate cGMP-mediated inhibition of human colonic smooth muscle cell contraction.

Nitric oxide (NO) induces relaxation of colonic smooth muscle cells predominantly by cGMP/cGMP-dependent protein kinase I (cGKI)-induced phosphorylation of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP(3)R)-associated cGMP kinase substrate (IRAG), to block store-dependent calcium signaling. In the present study we analyzed the structure and function of the human IRAG/MRVI1 gene. We describe four unique first exon variants transcribed from individual promoters in diverse human tissues.

Pancreatic cancer and depression: myth and truth.

Background: Various studies reported remarkable high incidence rates of depression in cancer patients compared with the general population. Pancreatic cancer is still one of the malignancies with the worst prognosis and therefore it seems quite logical that it is one of the malignancies with the highest incidence rates of major depression.However, what about the scientific background of this relationship? Is depression in patients suffering from pancreatic cancer just due to the confrontation with a life threatening disease and its somatic symptoms or is depression in this particular group of patients a feature of pancreatic cancer per se?

Discussion: Several studies provide evidence of depression to precede the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and some studies even blame it for its detrimental influence on survival.

Assessment of the patency of microvascular anastomoses using microscope-integrated near-infrared angiography: a preliminary study.

Background: : Technical problems at the site of the anastomosis compromise an underappreciated proportion of microsurgical free tissue transfers. Intraoperative identification of technical errors may be able to prevent reexploration surgery and early flap failure. We report the first human study on a new microscope-integrated fluorescence angiography technique, which allows for intraoperative imaging of the anastomotic site.

Interleukin 1 beta gene promoter SNPs are associated with risk of pancreatic cancer.

Epidemiological and experimental data demonstrate, that inflammation contributes significantly to pancreatic carcinogenesis. IL1beta, a pleiotropic cytokine produced by inflammatory cells and tumor cells, promotes cancer progression. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL1beta promoter were found to be associated with an increased risk for certain cancers.

Interindividual variability of the SIEA Angiosome: effects on operative strategies in breast reconstruction.

Background: The vascular territory of the superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) remains to be clarified. The SIEA flap has traditionally been classified as a hemiabdominal flap, but recent evidence points to the fact that a sizable superficial artery is capable of supplying the entire abdominal ellipse.

Methods: Twenty-five patients who met the anatomical criteria for undergoing SIEA flap surgery were studied.

Weight-dependent differential contribution of insulin secretion and clearance to hyperinsulinemia of obesity.

Obesity is associated with insulin resistance and the resulting hyperinsulinemia has been attributed to an increase of insulin secretion and a reduction of insulin clearance. The present study was intended to further characterize the relative contribution of secretion and clearance especially in the postprandial state. In relation to WHO body weight classes 291 subjects were divided in 5 subgroups Basal insulin concentrations rose stepwise and significantly with increasing BMI.

Extracranial correction of frontoethmoidal meningoencephaloceles: feasibility and outcome in 52 consecutive cases.

Background: Although rare in the West, frontoethmoidal meningoencephaloceles are a common problem in Southeast Asia. The patients present with congenital herniation of brain tissue from the anterior cranial fossa through a defect in the facial skeleton. Associated craniofacial deformities include hypertelorism, orbital dystopia, and elongation of the face.

The versatility of the SIEA flap: a clinical assessment of the vascular territory of the superficial epigastric inferior artery.

Unlabelled: Following the TRAM and the DIEP the SIEA flap is the next logical step to reduce the donor site morbidity in autologous breast reconstruction. The vascular axis of the SIEA flap, however, is completely different from the deep epigastric pedicle, on which previous lower abdominal flaps were based. Therefore, a mapping of the vascular territory, which can be reliably harvested on this pedicle, seems mandatory before this new technique can become established.

Carbamazepine for prevention of oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity in patients with advanced colorectal cancer: final results of a randomised, controlled, multicenter phase II study.

Background: Oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity is a growing, relevant clinical problem. In this study we evaluated the efficacy and safety of carbamazepine for prevention of oxaliplatin-associated neuropathy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Methods: Chemotherapeutic treatment consisted of oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) given biweekly and weekly folinic acid 500 mg/m(2) followed by a 24-h infusion of 5-FU 2000 mg/m(2) (FUFOX).

Assessment of splanchnic perfusion by gastric tonometry in patients with acute hypovolemic burn shock.

Objective: To compare the changes in pHi and intramucosal-arterial CO(2)-gap with invasive haemodynamic and global perfusion measurements during hypovolemic burn shock and to evaluate the sensitivity of these parameters as an early predictor of mortality in patients with extensive burns.

Design: Prospective, controlled, clinical study.

Setting: An eight-bed intensive burn care unit in a university-affiliated hospital.

Perfusion zones of the DIEP flap revisited: a clinical study.

Background: The Hartrampf perfusion zones of the lower abdominal flap are generally accepted. They were empirically based on the clinical impression of the perfusion in the first 16 unipedicled transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flaps and have been uncritically adopted for the free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous and the free deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap. Scientific data proving the validity of these perfusion zones do not exist.

Phase II trial of weekly 24-hour infusion of gemcitabine in patients with advanced gallbladder and biliary tract carcinoma.

Background: Patients with advanced gallbladder and biliary tract carcinoma face a dismal prognosis, as no effective palliative chemotherapy exists. The antitumor effect of gemcitabine is schedule-dependent rather than dose-dependent. We evaluated the activity of a prolonged infusion of gemcitabine in advanced gallbladder and biliary tract carcinomas.

Reproducibility of transpulmonary thermodilution measurements in patients with burn shock and hypothermia.

Thermal noise, including hypothermia and short-term variations in body temperature, has been reported to influence the accuracy and reproducibility of thermodilution measurements. This variation might theoretically limit the usefulness of this technique in patients with acute burns. We therefore sought to determine the reproducibility of hemodynamic parameters derived from arterial thermal dilution in patients with acute burns and hypothermia.

Effects of aesthetic abdominoplasty on abdominal wall perfusion: a quantitative evaluation.

Abdominoplasty procedures involve a high risk of early complications, including hematomas, seromas, necrosis, and wound-healing problems. Their rationale is evident from the vascular anatomy of the abdominal wall, as traditional abdominoplasty includes a division of the main perforating vessels. No studies exist to quantitatively assess the consequences of abdominoplasty on the perfusion of the random pattern abdominal flap.

Phase II trial of a 24-hour infusion of gemcitabine in previously untreated patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

The antitumor effect of gemcitabine is not dose-response related but schedule dependent. Here we report a phase II trial of a weekly 24-hour infusion of gemcitabine in previously untreated patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients with histologically proven, measurable, and irresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma were treated with gemcitabine at a dose of 100 mg/m2 infused over 24 hr on days 1, 8, and 15.

Prevention of oxaliplatin-induced peripheral sensory neuropathy by carbamazepine in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Oxaliplatin plays a key role in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. The dose-limiting side effect of this platinum analogue is neurotoxicity. Significant efforts have been undertaken in an attempt to prevent and/or circumvent the development of neurotoxicity.

Effect of crystalloid resuscitation and inhalation injury on extravascular lung water: clinical implications.

Study Objective: Arterial thermal dilution with an integrated fiberoptic monitoring system (COLD Z-021; Pulsion Medical Systems; Munich, Germany) allows measurement of extravascular lung water (EVLW) and pulmonary permeability index (PPI). The aim of this study was to evaluate the widespread clinical assumption that early respiratory failure following burn and inhalation injury is due to interstitial fluid accumulation in the lung.

Design: Clinical, prospective study.