Stentless valves versus stented bioprostheses at the aortic position: midterm results.

Objective: Our aim was to compare stentless and stented bioprostheses. Clinical outcomes, hemodynamic performance, and postoperative left ventricular mass regression were the principal outcomes assessed.

Methods: Sixty-two patients were recruited for the study.

Tuberculous pyomyositis of forearm muscles.

Tuberculous pyomyositis is a rare entity reported in literature. The presented case reports the occurrence of such a lesion in forearm muscles, without any bony involvement. The ambiguity in its diagnosis led to inadequate management by the primary care physician.

Risk factors for umbilical venous catheter-associated thrombosis in very low birth weight infants.

Background: Thrombosis in neonates is a rare but serious occurrence, usually associated with central catheterization. The objective of this study was to investigate the risk factors associated with catheter related thrombosis in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Procedure: The present retrospective study was performed using data from a randomized trial of duration of umbilical venous catheters (UVC) placement among infants <1,250 g birth weight.

Chronic diarrhoea in HIV patients: prevalence of coccidian parasites.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in HIV patients with or without diarrhoea and to see an association between diarrhoea and the coccidian parasites in our setting. Stool samples from 113 HIV patients, 34 chronic diarrhoea and 79 without any history of diarrhoea were collected and examined for enteric parasites by microscopy. One hundred and thirteen control samples from HIV negative patients complaining of prolonged diarrhoea were also collected and analysed.

Patients with chronic pain on opioid therapy taking dronabinol: incidence of false negatives using radioimmunoassay.

Background: Serum blood toxicology screens are believed to be important to monitor compliance and to identify levels of illicit substances in patients taking opioids for their chronic pain.

Methods: In this study, the authors examine the incidence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in consecutive blood samples of patients given dronabinol. We assessed the incidence of THC in 27 patients who participated in a single-dose, double-blind crossover trial of dronabinol (Marinol capsules), a synthetic Delta9-THC, as part of a larger study, to determine the reliability of the toxicology screening.

Use of ventilator bundle to prevent ventilator associated pneumonia.

Objectives: To determine if the knowledge and awareness of "ventilator bundle" helped in the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia and other outcome variables in the patients admitted to our AICU.

Design: A retrospective obsevational study from a pospectively collected data.

Participants: All the adult medical and surgical patients who were intubated and ventilated in our AICU from January to September in the year 2005 and 2006 were included in the study.

A comprehensive approach to fast tracking in cardiac surgery: ambulatory low-risk open-heart surgery.

Objective: Ambulatory surgery, where the processes of admission, surgery and discharge are completed within 24h, is an increasingly important part of many surgical specialties. The aim of this study was to evaluate suitability of ambulatory approach for low-risk open-heart procedures.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 48 patients who had undergone atrial septal defect (ASD) closure at our centre (from October 2005 through November 2006) suggested that this open-heart procedure was optimally suited for treatment with ambulatory approach.

Efficacy of dronabinol as an adjuvant treatment for chronic pain patients on opioid therapy.

Unlabelled: We assessed the efficacy of dronabinol (Marinol capsules; Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Brussels, Belgium), a synthetic Delta(9)-THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), in 30 patients taking opioids for chronic pain to determine its potential analgesic effects as an adjuvant treatment. Phase I of this 2-phase study was a randomized, single-dose, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in which subjects were randomly administered either 10 mg or 20 mg of dronabinol or identical placebo capsules over the course of three, 8-hour visits. Baseline self-report measures, hourly ratings of pain intensity, pain relief, pain bothersomeness, treatment satisfaction, mood, side effects, and blood serum levels were obtained.

Efficacy of permethrin cream and oral ivermectin in treatment of scabies.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of mass treatment of scabies with permethrin cream and oral ivermectin in a closed urban pediatric population.

Methods: A comparative trial of topical permethrin and oral ivermectin was conducted in a closed population of 84 children living in a urban hostel of Delhi.

Results: After mass treatment with 2 doses of oral ivermectin, one case was recorded in following 6 months, as compared to 22 cases in preceding 6 months when children were treated with a single application of 5% permethrin.

False positive reactivity of recombinant, diagnostic, glycoproteins produced in High Five insect cells: effect of glycosylation.

Baculovirus-mediated expression of recombinant proteins for use in diagnostic assays is commonplace. We expressed a diagnostic antigen for cysticercosis, GP50, caused by the larval stage of Taenia solium, in both High Five and Sf9 insect cells. Upon evaluation of the specificity of recombinant GP50 (rGP50) in a western blot assay, we observed that 12.

Bilateral simultaneous central retinal artery occlusion following head injury.

Purpose: To report a case of bilateral simultaneous central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) following head injury in a young 29-year-old man.

Methods: A 29-year-old man presented with head injury following road traffic accident. Posterior segment evaluation revealed CRAO in both eyes.

Anesthetic management of dilated cardiomyopathy--a case report.

We report the anesthetic management of a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy, scheduled for surgery for fracture of femur. The risks involved and the potential benefit of the use of regional versus general anesthesia, are discussed.

Urine toxicology screening among chronic pain patients on opioid therapy: frequency and predictability of abnormal findings.

Objective: To examine the incidence of abnormal urine toxicology screening among chronic pain patients prescribed opioids for their pain and to relate these results to patient descriptors and type, number, and dose of prescribed opioids.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of data from 470 patients who had urine screening at a pain management program in an urban teaching hospital was performed. Urine samples were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Purification, characterization, and cloning of a Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase that hydrolyzes terminal N-acetylglucosamine on the N-glycan core.

Paucimannosidic glycans are often predominant in N-glycans produced by insect cells. However, a beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase responsible for the generation of paucimannosidic glycans in lepidopteran insect cells has not been identified. We report the purification of a beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase from the culture medium of Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells (Sfhex).

Small bowel obstruction secondary to intestinal schistosomiasis.

Intestinal obstruction caused by chronic schistosomiasis infection is rare, with only 12 previously recorded cases in the literature. We report the first recorded case presenting to a European hospital. A 36-year-old Caucasian man, who was born and lived in the UK, presented with small bowel obstruction.

Optimization of xylanase production by Melanocarpus albomyces IIS68 in solid state fermentation using response surface methodology.

Xylanase production by the thermophilic fungus, Melanocarpus albomyces IIS68, during solid state fermentation of wheat straw was studied and the effects of various variables were observed. Using the response surface methodology and the multivariant statistical approach, the optimum levels of the variables affecting xylanase production were determined. The optimum levels of the variables were 600-850 microm particle size, 43 h inoculum age, 1.

Engineering intracellular CMP-sialic acid metabolism into insect cells and methods to enhance its generation.

Previous studies have reported that insect cell lines lack the capacity to generate endogenously the nucleotide sugar, CMP-Neu5Ac, required for sialylation of glycoconjugates. In this study, the biosynthesis of this activated form of sialic acid completely from endogenous metabolites is demonstrated for the first time in insect cells by expressing the mammalian genes required for the multistep conversion of endogenous UDP-GlcNAc to CMP-Neu5Ac. The genes for UDP-GlcNAc-2-epimerase/ManNAc kinase (EK), sialic acid 9-phosphate synthase (SAS), and CMP-sialic acid synthetase (CSAS) were coexpressed in insect cells using baculovirus expression vectors, but the CMP-Neu5Ac and precursor Neu5Ac levels synthesized were found to be lower than those achieved with ManNAc supplementation due to feedback inhibition of the EK enzyme by CMP-Neu5Ac.

Threshold retinopathy of prematurity: ocular changes and sequelae following cryotherapy.

Purpose: To determine ocular changes and sequelae following cryotherapy for threshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: This is a retrospective study of 49 eyes of 26 premature babies with threshold ROP treated with cryotherapy between 1995 and 1998. All eyes included in the study had favourable structural outcome after cryotherapy.

Subpicomolar sensing of delta-opioid receptor ligands by molecular-imprinted polymers using plasmon-waveguide resonance spectroscopy.

Here we report, for the first time, the formation of a biomimetic covalently imprinted polymeric sensor for a target ligand, the delta-opioid G-protein coupled receptor agonist DPDPE, which reproducibly exhibits subpicomolar binding affinity in an aqueous environment. In addition to having a well-defined and homogeneous binding site, the imprinted polymer template is quite stable to storage in both the dry and wet states and has at least 6 orders of magnitude higher affinities than exhibited by similar peptide-based molecular-imprinted polymers (MIPs) thus far. A highly sensitive optical detection methodology, plasmon-waveguide resonance spectroscopy, was employed, capable of measuring binding in real time and discriminating between ligand molecules, without requiring labeling protocols (fluorophores or radioisotopes).

Comparing N-glycan processing in mammalian cell lines to native and engineered lepidopteran insect cell lines.

In the past decades, a large number of studies in mammalian cells have revealed that processing of glycoproteins is compartmentalized into several subcellular organelles that process N-glycans to generate complex-type oligosaccharides with terminal N -acetlyneuraminic acid. Recent studies also suggested that processing of N-glycans in insect cells appear to follow a similar initial pathway but diverge at subsequent processing steps. N-glycans from insect cell lines are not usually processed to terminally sialylated complex-type structures but are instead modified to paucimannosidic or oligomannose structures.

Choroidal melanoma with macular hole.

A rare case of choroidal melanoma with exudative retinal detachment and a full-thickness macular hole is reported in an Indian patient.