Perioperative pain management for appendicectomy: A systematic review and Procedure-specific Postoperative Pain Management recommendations.

Background: Despite being a commonly performed surgical procedure, pain management for appendicectomy is often neglected because of insufficient evidence on the most effective treatment options.

Objective: To provide evidence-based recommendations by assessing the available literature for optimal pain management after appendicectomy.

Design And Data Sources: This systematic review-based guideline was conducted according to the PROSPECT methodology.

Olfactory coding in the antennal lobe of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris.

Sociality is classified as one of the major transitions in evolution, with the largest number of eusocial species found in the insect order Hymenoptera, including the Apini (honey bees) and the Bombini (bumble bees). Bumble bees and honey bees not only differ in their social organization and foraging strategies, but comparative analyses of their genomes demonstrated that bumble bees have a slightly less diverse family of olfactory receptors than honey bees, suggesting that their olfactory abilities have adapted to different social and/or ecological conditions. However, unfortunately, no precise comparison of olfactory coding has been performed so far between honey bees and bumble bees, and little is known about the rules underlying olfactory coding in the bumble bee brain.

Reduced Flow-Mediated Dilatation Is Not Related to COVID-19 Severity Three Months after Hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide, with more than two million deaths. Evidence indicates the critical role of the vascular endothelium in its pathophysiology but, like potential changes in functional vasodilation, the vascular effect of SARS-CoV-2 at a given distance from the acute infection is largely unknown. We assessed brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in 27 COVID-19 patients needing conventional or intensive care unit hospitalization, three months after SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosis and in nine age- and sex- matched control subjects.

Psychometric Properties of the Clinical Dementia Rating - Sum of Boxes and Other Cognitive and Functional Outcomes in a Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease Population.

Background: The Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) has been proposed as a primary outcome for use in prodromal AD trials. However, the psychometric properties of this, and of other commonly used measures, have not been well-established in this patient population.

Objective: To describe the psychometric properties of commonly used efficacy measures in a clinical trial of prodromal AD.

Sialylated Autoantigen-Reactive IgG Antibodies Attenuate Disease Development in Autoimmune Mouse Models of Lupus Nephritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Pro- and anti-inflammatory effector functions of IgG antibodies (Abs) depend on their subclass and Fc glycosylation pattern. Accumulation of non-galactosylated (agalactosylated; G0) IgG Abs in the serum of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients reflects severity of the diseases. In contrast, sialylated IgG Abs are responsible for anti-inflammatory effects of the intravenous immunoglobulin (pooled human serum IgG from healthy donors), administered in high doses (2 g/kg) to treat autoimmune patients.

Bumblebee Homing: The Fine Structure of Head Turning Movements.

Changes in flight direction in flying insects are largely due to roll, yaw and pitch rotations of their body. Head orientation is stabilized for most of the time by counter rotation. Here, we use high-speed video to analyse head- and body-movements of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris while approaching and departing from a food source located between three landmarks in an indoor flight-arena.

Compartmentalization of Inflammatory Response Following Gut Ischemia Reperfusion.

Objective/background: Gut ischemia reperfusion (IR) is thought to trigger systemic inflammation, multiple organ failure, and death. The aim of this study was to investigate inflammatory responses in blood and in two target organs after gut IR.

Methods: This was a controlled animal study.

Visual motion-sensitive neurons in the bumblebee brain convey information about landmarks during a navigational task.

Bees use visual memories to find the spatial location of previously learnt food sites. Characteristic learning flights help acquiring these memories at newly discovered foraging locations where landmarks-salient objects in the vicinity of the goal location-can play an important role in guiding the animal's homing behavior. Although behavioral experiments have shown that bees can use a variety of visual cues to distinguish objects as landmarks, the question of how landmark features are encoded by the visual system is still open.

[VENTILOP survey. Survey in peroperative mechanical ventilation].

Introduction: Mechanical ventilation can initiate ventilator-associated lung injury and postoperative pulmonary complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) how mechanical ventilation was comprehended by anaesthetists (physician and nurses) and (2) the need for educational programs.

Methods: A computing questionnary was sent by electronic-mail to the entire anaesthetist from Alsace region in France (297 physicians), and to a pool of 99 nurse anaesthetists.

T cell-independent B cell activation induces immunosuppressive sialylated IgG antibodies.

Antigen-specific Abs are able to enhance or suppress immune responses depending on the receptors that they bind on immune cells. Recent studies have shown that pro- or antiinflammatory effector functions of IgG Abs are also regulated through their Fc N-linked glycosylation patterns. IgG Abs that are agalactosylated (non-galactosylated) and asialylated are proinflammatory and induced by the combination of T cell-dependent (TD) protein antigens and proinflammatory costimulation.

[Contribution of epidemiology to the prevention of drug allergies].

Drug allergies are heterogeneous and multifactorial. They can be life-threatening and lead to market withdrawal of particularly risky drugs. Immunological research has improved our understanding of drug allergies but has not yet been able to prevent them.

Tolerance induction with T cell-dependent protein antigens induces regulatory sialylated IgGs.

Background: Under inflammatory conditions, T cell-dependent (TD) protein antigens induce proinflammatory T- and B-cell responses. In contrast, tolerance induction by TD antigens without costimulation triggers the development of regulatory T cells. Under both conditions, IgG antibodies are generated, but whether they have different immunoregulatory functions remains elusive.

TLR9 in peritoneal B-1b cells is essential for production of protective self-reactive IgM to control Th17 cells and severe autoimmunity.

The role of TLR9 in the development of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus is controversial. In different mouse models of the disease, loss of TLR9 abolishes the generation of anti-nucleosome IgG autoantibodies but at the same time exacerbates lupus disease. However, the TLR9-dependent tolerance mechanism is unknown.

Development of self-reactive germinal center B cells and plasma cells in autoimmune Fc gammaRIIB-deficient mice.

Abnormalities in expression levels of the IgG inhibitory Fc gamma receptor IIB (FcγRIIB) are associated with the development of immunoglobulin (Ig) G serum autoantibodies and systemic autoimmunity in mice and humans. We used Ig gene cloning from single isolated B cells to examine the checkpoints that regulate development of autoreactive germinal center (GC) B cells and plasma cells in FcγRIIB-deficient mice. We found that loss of FcγRIIB was associated with an increase in poly- and autoreactive IgG(+) GC B cells, including hallmark anti-nuclear antibody-expressing cells that possess characteristic Ig gene features and cells producing kidney-reactive autoantibodies.

Managing the patent thicket and maximizing patent lifetime in vaccine technology.

Patents are exclusive rights for a limited period of time that are granted to provide an incentive for innovation and in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention. Patenting in the medical field, especially in the field of human vaccine technologies, is full of pitfalls, because the products that finally access the market are often covered by a multitude of exclusive IP rights. This commentary gives an overview on obstacles in vaccine patenting and how to overcome them, and intends to provide a patenting guideline for researchers.

[Course of the anaesthesiology and intensive care unit residents in Lorraine, France].

Objective: The anaesthesiology and intensive care physician demography is becoming critical in most French regions; more than 56% of the residents trained in Lorraine are leaving the area after they graduate.

Methodology: A descriptive and retrospective survey was carried out. The aims of the research were threefold: to ascertain firstly, why residents chose Lorraine in the first instance, secondly their experiences of the training and thirdly their expectations.

Can oral vitamin K before elective surgery substitute for preoperative heparin bridging in patients on vitamin K antagonists?

Background: After a vitamin K antagonist (VKA) overdose, 1-2 mg of oral vitamin K can lower the International Normalized Ratio (INR) to the therapeutic range.

Objective: To establish whether oral vitamin K can substitute for heparin bridging and decrease the INR to < or = 1.5 before elective surgery.

Gaze strategy in the free flying zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).

Fast moving animals depend on cues derived from the optic flow on their retina. Optic flow from translational locomotion includes information about the three-dimensional composition of the environment, while optic flow experienced during a rotational self motion does not. Thus, a saccadic gaze strategy that segregates rotations from translational movements during locomotion will facilitate extraction of spatial information from the visual input.

Immediate hypersensitivity to chlorhexidine: literature review.

Chlorhexidine, an antiseptic belonging to family of biguanides, is used extensively in the medical and surgical environment. Late onset hypersensitivity and eczema occur regularly and are well documented events. Conversely, immediate hypersensitivity, sometimes taking the form of acute urticaria that can result in anaphylactic shock, is rarer.

The role of spironolactone in the treatment of patients with refractory hypertension.

Background: Hypertension is resistant to pharmacologic therapy in 5% to 10% of patients. The current study tested whether addition of spironolactone to the treatment of patients with refractory hypertension would lead to adequate blood pressure (BP) control.

Methods: Among 520 patients who were referred for treatment of hypertension to one medical clinic from 1997 to 1999, a total of 25 patients who met the inclusion criteria of refractory hypertension were prospectively included in this study.

Portal absorption of 15N and amino nitrogen in the growing pig after ingestion of labelled milk, yogurt or heat-treated yogurt.

The aim of this experiment was to study 15N and amino-nitrogen (AN) portal absorption in the growing pig after ingestion of uniformly (0.2509 APE) labelled 15N milk (M), yogurt ingested just after manufacturing (Y0), yogurt stored for 21 d at 4 degrees C (Y21) and heat-treated yogurt (HY). The highest porto-arterial differences (PAD) in 15N and AN were found in the period between 30 min and 90 min after ingestion.

Structure of the product from a novel cyclization reaction involving a C(6)-substituted uridine analog.

5,6,7,7a,9,10,14b,14c-Octahydro-4-[2,3-O-(1-methylethylidene )-beta-D- ribofuranosyl]cyclopenta-[4,5]pyrimido[5',4':3,4]pyrrolo[2,1- a]isoquinoline-1,3(2H,4H)-dione, C25H31N3O6, M(r) = 469.54, tetragonal, P4(3)2(1)2, a = 12.577 (2), b = 12.

[Polycythemia after kidney transplantation].

Between 1971 and 1990, 251 kidney transplanted patients with a well functioning graft were evaluated to determine the frequency of post-transplant erythrocytosis (PTE). Thirty-one patients (13 percent) developed polycythaemia 10.6 +/- 10 months after transplantation.