A review of splenic pathology in distal pancreatectomies.

Objectives: Splenectomy is often performed during distal pancreatectomy for malignancy, yet little data exist demonstrating splenic involvement in distal pancreatic pathology.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 81 distal pancreatectomies performed for suspected or known pancreatic malignancies from 6/1/05 to 7/6/11. Exclusion criteria included metastatic disease, previous splenic preserving distal pancreatectomy, or planned en-bloc resection, leaving 47 cases.

Scheduling the first prenatal visit: office-based delays.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the office-based component of delayed entry into prenatal care.

Study Design: Phone numbers for all obstetrics offices in a single state were obtained from a commercial list. A research assistant who posed as a newly pregnant, fully insured woman asked each clinic when she should come in for her first prenatal visit.

Glutamate spillover augments GABA synthesis and release from axodendritic synapses in rat hippocampus.

Tight coupling between gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) synthesis and vesicle filling suggests that the presynaptic supply of precursor glutamate could dynamically regulate inhibitory synapses. Although the neuronal glutamate transporter excitatory amino acid transporter 3 (EAAT3) has been proposed to mediate such a metabolic role, highly efficient astrocytic uptake of synaptically released glutamate normally maintains low-extracellular glutamate levels. We examined whether axodendritic inhibitory synapses in stratum radiatum of hippocampal area CA1, which are closely positioned among excitatory glutamatergic synapses, are regulated by synaptic glutamate release via presynaptic uptake.