An unusual site of gallstones five years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Introduction: Gallstone spillage during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a common occurrence. Complications due to spilled gallstones occur in up to 5% of laparoscopic cholecystectomy cases, with complications having been reported up to 20 years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Case Report: We report the case of a 70 year old male who presented for elective right inguinal hernia repair.

Laparotomy causes loss of peritoneal mesothelium prevented by humidified CO insufflation in rats.

Introduction: Avoiding tissue desiccation is a common recommendation to reduce postoperative complications following open abdominal surgery, although difficult to achieve delicately without damaging the peritoneal mesothelium. Insufflation of humidified-warm CO into the abdomen during open abdominal surgery is proposed as an invisible, effortless way to prevent desiccation. We hypothesized that desiccation during open abdominal surgery would cause loss of peritoneal mesothelium that would be prevented by insufflation of humidified-warm CO.

Competition and mimicry: the curious case of chaetae in brachiopods from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.

Background: One of the first phyla to acquire biomineralized skeletal elements in the Cambrian, brachiopods represent a vital component in unraveling the early evolution and relationships of the Lophotrochozoa. Critical to improving our understanding of lophotrochozoans is the origin, evolution and function of unbiomineralized morphological features, in particular features such as chaetae that are shared between brachiopods and other lophotrochozoans but are poorly understood and rarely preserved. Micromitra burgessensis and Paterina zenobia from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale are among the most remarkable examples of fossilized chaetae-bearing brachiopods.

Intra-operative tissue oxygen tension is increased by local insufflation of humidified-warm CO2 during open abdominal surgery in a rat model.

Introduction: Maintenance of high tissue oxygenation (PtO2) is recommended during surgery because PtO2 is highly predictive of surgical site infection and colonic anastomotic leakage. However, surgical site perfusion is often sub-optimal, creating an obstructive hurdle for traditional, systemically applied therapies to maintain or increase surgical site PtO2. This research tested the hypothesis that insufflation of humidified-warm CO2 into the abdominal cavity would increase sub-peritoneal PtO2 during open abdominal surgery.

Onychophoran Hox genes and the evolution of arthropod Hox gene expression.

Introduction: Onychophora is a relatively small phylum within Ecdysozoa, and is considered to be the sister group to Arthropoda. Compared to the arthropods, that have radiated into countless divergent forms, the onychophoran body plan is overall comparably simple and does not display much in-phylum variation. An important component of arthropod morphological diversity consists of variation of tagmosis, i.

Environmental complexity and biodiversity: the multi-layered evolutionary history of a log-dwelling velvet worm in Montane Temperate Australia.

Phylogeographic studies provide a framework for understanding the importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors in shaping patterns of biodiversity through identifying past and present microevolutionary processes that contributed to lineage divergence. Here we investigate population structure and diversity of the Onychophoran (velvet worm) Euperipatoides rowelli in southeastern Australian montane forests that were not subject to Pleistocene glaciations, and thus likely retained more forest cover than systems under glaciation. Over a ~100 km transect of structurally-connected forest, we found marked nuclear and mitochondrial (mt) DNA genetic structuring, with spatially-localised groups.

The role of ventral and preventral organs as attachment sites for segmental limb muscles in Onychophora.

Background: The so-called ventral organs are amongst the most enigmatic structures in Onychophora (velvet worms). They were described as segmental, ectodermal thickenings in the onychophoran embryo, but the same term has also been applied to mid-ventral, cuticular structures in adults, although the relationship between the embryonic and adult ventral organs is controversial. In the embryo, these structures have been regarded as anlagen of segmental ganglia, but recent studies suggest that they are not associated with neural development.

Is it time to include point-of-care ultrasound in general surgery training? A review to stimulate discussion.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound scanning or POCUS is a focused ultrasound (US) scan, performed by non-imaging clinicians during physical examination, an invasive procedure or surgery. As this technology becomes cheaper, smaller and easier to use, its scope for use by surgeons grows, a trend that may generate a gap between use and training. Opportunities for enhanced general surgery skill sets may be reduced unless consideration is given to inclusion of POCUS in general surgery training.

Early development in the velvet worm Euperipatoides kanangrensis Reid 1996 (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae).

We present here a description of early development in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis with emphasis on processes that are ambiguously described in older literature. Special focus has been on the pattern of early cleavage, blastoderm and germinal disc development and gastrulation. The formation of the blastopore, stomodeum and proctodeum is described from sectioned material using light and transmission electron microscopy as well as whole-mount material stained for nuclei and gene expression.

Review of anatomy education in Australian and New Zealand medical schools.

Anatomy instruction at Australian and New Zealand medical schools has been the subject of considerable debate recently. Many commentators have lamented the gradual devaluation of anatomy as core knowledge in medical courses. To date, much of this debate has been speculative or anecdotal and lacking reliable supporting data.

Head patterning and Hox gene expression in an onychophoran and its implications for the arthropod head problem.

The arthropod head problem has puzzled zoologists for more than a century. The head of adult arthropods is a complex structure resulting from the modification, fusion and migration of an uncertain number of segments. In contrast, onychophorans, which are the probable sister group to the arthropods, have a rather simple head comprising three segments that are well defined during development, and give rise to the adult head with three pairs of appendages specialised for sensory and food capture/manipulative purposes.

Variation in the management of early breast cancer in rural and metropolitan centres: implications for the organisation of rural cancer services.

The study examines the management and outcomes of women with early invasive breast cancer treated in rural and metropolitan centres over a nine-year observation period. A prospective audit of the treatment and outcomes of 2081 women with early breast cancer who underwent potentially curative surgery between 1997 and 2006 in metropolitan Canberra or in the surrounding rural region was completed. Overall, there was good agreement between published guidelines and the treatment received by the women in the study.

The involvement of engrailed and wingless during segmentation in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis (Peripatopsidae: Onychophora) (Reid 1996).

As the putative sister group to the arthropods, onychophorans can provide insight into ancestral developmental mechanisms in the panarthropod clade. Here, we examine the expression during segmentation of orthologues of wingless (Wnt1) and engrailed, two genes that play a key role in defining segment boundaries in Drosophila and that appear to play a role in segmentation in many other arthropods. Both are expressed in segmentally reiterated stripes in all forming segments except the first (brain) segment, which only shows an engrailed stripe.

Ultrastructure of the eggshell and its formation in Planipapillus mundus (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae).

Although the majority of onychophorans are viviparous or ovoviviparous, oviparity has been described in a number of species found exclusively in Australia and New Zealand. Light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used to examine developing eggs and the reproductive tract of the oviparous Planipapillus mundus. Deposited eggs and fully developed eggs dissected from the terminal end of the uteri have an outer thick, slightly opaque chorion, and an inner thin, transparent vitelline membrane.

Colonoscopic preoperative localization using submucosal injection of radiolabelled colloid.

Malignant colonic polyps can be removed endoscopically but surgical resection is sometimes required. However, the polypectomy site can be difficult to locate. Current methods use various tattooing agents, with varying degrees of success.

A tale of two flatties: different responses of two terrestrial flatworms to past environmental climatic fluctuations at Tallaganda in montane southeastern Australia.

Comparative phylogeographic studies of animals with low mobility and/or high habitat specificity remain rare, yet such organisms may hold fine-grained palaeoecological signal. Comparisons of multiple, codistributed species can elucidate major historical events. As part of a multitaxon programme, mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) variation was analysed in two species of terrestrial flatworm, Artioposthia lucasi and Caenoplana coerulea.

Surgical management of invasive breast cancer: a 5-year prospective study of treatment in the Australian Capital Territory and South-Eastern New South Wales.

Background: Breast cancer is a major health problem in Australia. The aim of the present report is to evaluate the surgical management of invasive breast cancers in our region.

Methodology: As part of a multidisciplinary quality assurance project, data were collected for the majority of breast cancers treated in our region between July 1997 and June 2002.

Expression of engrailed in the developing brain and appendages of the onychophoran euperipatoides kanangrensis (Reid).

We have cloned an engrailed-class gene in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis and investigated its expression using in situ hybridisation. The expression pattern was found to differ drastically from that previously described for another onychophoran species. In the present investigation, engrailed transcripts were detected in a subset of developing neurons in the brain anlage, and in the mesoderm as well as ectoderm of the developing limb buds.

Head development in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis with particular reference to the central nervous system.

The neuroectoderm of the Euperipatoides kanangrensis embryo becomes distinguishable during germ band formation when the antennal segment is evident externally. During later stages of development, the neuroectoderm proliferates extensively and, at the anterior part of the head, newly-formed neuron precursor cells occupy most of the volume. The antenna forms from the dorsolateral side of the anterior somite.

How are we treating patients with hepatic colorectal metastases in Sydney?

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is common. At presentation 25% of patients have established hepatic metastases and overall at least half will develop hepatic metastases. Many different therapeutic options have been proposed.