Microscopic Ophthalmic Surgery Using a Freely Movable Arm Support Robot: Basic Experiment and Clinical Experience.

Introduction: The disadvantage of conventional armrests is the difficulty to adjust their height and position during surgery.

Objectives: We investigated whether a freely movable armrest (FMA) that follows the surgeon's arm is useful for reducing surgeon fatigue and arm tremors and for improving surgical accuracy.

Methods: In the basic study, a corneal suture was placed in porcine eyes with FMA (FMA group) or without FMA (non-FMA group).

Hurricanes and healthcare: a case report on the influences of Hurricane Maria and managed Medicare in treating a Puerto Rican resident.

Background: While Medicare is a federal health insurance program, managed Medicare limits access to healthcare services to networks within states or territories. However, if a natural disaster requires evacuation, displaced patients are at risk of losing coverage for their benefits. Previous literature has discussed the quality of managed Medicare plans within Puerto Rico but has not addressed the adequacy of this coverage if residents are displaced to the continental United States.

IVIG - A cure to severe refractory NAP-1 colitis? A case of successful treatment of severe infection, which failed standard therapy including fecal microbiota transplants and fidaxomicin.

The mainstay treatment of infections (CDI) is antimicrobials with growing support for fecal microbiota transplants. We report the first case of an elderly man with severe refractory NAP-1 pseudomembranous CDI who failed all medical therapy and two fecal transplants with response only seen after administration of intravenous immunoglobulin.

Participation of small municipalities in the Mais Médicos para o Brasil (More Doctors to Brazil) Program in the macro-region of Northern Paraná.

Doctor shortage is a constant problem in smaller cities and towns, which tend to be more vulnerable from a social and economic point of view, and located in geographically isolated areas. The goal of this study was to establish the share and characteristics of the small cities and towns in the macro-region of northern Paraná that subscribed to the Mais Médicos para o Brasil (PMMB) program. This is a quantitative study of 82 cities and towns using primary and secondary data.

Treatment of Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis in a Patient With Metastatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

A 49-year-old woman with cholangiocarcinoma metastatic to the lungs presented with new-onset unrelenting headaches. A lumbar puncture revealed malignant cells consistent with leptomeningeal metastasis from her cholangiocarcinoma. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed leptomeningeal enhancement.

Ischemic acute kidney injury perturbs homeostasis of serine enantiomers in the body fluid in mice: early detection of renal dysfunction using the ratio of serine enantiomers.

The imbalance of blood and urine amino acids in renal failure has been studied mostly without chiral separation. Although a few reports have shown the presence of D-serine, an enantiomer of L-serine, in the serum of patients with severe renal failure, it has remained uncertain how serine enantiomers are deranged in the development of renal failure. In the present study, we have monitored serine enantiomers using a two-dimensional HPLC system in the serum and urine of mice after renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), known as a mouse model of acute kidney injury.

Localization of serine racemase and its role in the skin.

D-serine is an endogenous coagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptor in the central nervous system and its synthesis is catalyzed by serine racemase (SR). Recently, the NMDA receptor has been found to be expressed in keratinocytes (KCs) of the skin and involved in the regulation of KC growth and differentiation. However, the localization and role of SR in the skin remain unknown.

Cytokinins control endocycle onset by promoting the expression of an APC/C activator in Arabidopsis roots.

Plant roots respond to various internal and external signals and adjust themselves to changes of environmental conditions. In the root meristem, stem cells produce daughter cells that continue to divide several times. When these latter cells reach the transition zone, they stop dividing and enter the endocycle, a modified cell cycle in which DNA replication is repeated without mitosis or cytokinesis.

The windsock syndrome: subpulmonic obstruction by membranous ventricular septal aneurysm in congenitally corrected transposition of great arteries.

Anomalies of the membranous portion of the interventricular septum include perimembranous ventricular septal defect and/or membranous septal aneurysm (MSA). In congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (L-TGA in sinus solitus), the combination of ventricular inversion and arterial transposition creates a unique anatomic substrate that fosters subpulmonic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction by an MSA. The combination of an L-TGA with subpulmonic obstruction by an MSA is referred to as the windsock syndrome.

Simultaneous determination of D-aspartic acid and D-glutamic acid in rat tissues and physiological fluids using a multi-loop two-dimensional HPLC procedure.

For a metabolomics study focusing on the analysis of aspartic and glutamic acid enantiomers, a fully automated two-dimensional HPLC system employing a microbore-ODS column and a narrowbore-enantioselective column was developed. By using this system, a detailed distribution of D-Asp and D-Glu besides L-Asp and L-Glu in mammals was elucidated. For the total analysis concept, the amino acids were first pre-column derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) to be sensitively and fluorometrically detected.

Hot topic: Successful fixed-time insemination within 21 d after first insemination by combining chemical pregnancy diagnosis on d 18 with a rapid resynchronization program.

Cattle that are not pregnant to first fixed-time artificial insemination (TAI) may be resynchronized for a second TAI if they are found nonpregnant at pregnancy diagnosis. The specific interval between first and second TAI ranges from 4 to 8 wk. The selected interval depends on the available method of pregnancy diagnosis and the efficiency of the resynchronization program.

Uterine progesterone receptor expression, conceptus development, and ovarian function in pigs treated with RU 486 during early pregnancy.

Establishment of pregnancy in the pig depends on down-regulation of progesterone receptor (PGR) in the uterine luminal and glandular epithelium during the first week after breeding. The present study evaluated the regulation of endometrial PGR by progesterone and the possible role of endometrial tumor necrosis factor (ligand) superfamily member 11 (TNFSF11) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NFKB) activation in PGR expression. Mature, cycling gilts were inseminated (Day 0) and assigned to either untreated control (n = 9) or one of two treatments that employed RU 486 to block progesterone action either before (treatment 1 [T1]) or after (treatment 2 [T2]) the initiation of PGR down-regulation.

Measurement of interferon-tau (IFN-tau) stimulated gene expression in blood leukocytes for pregnancy diagnosis within 18-20d after insemination in dairy cattle.

The objective was to diagnose pregnancy within 18d after insemination by measuring interferon-tau (IFN-tau)-stimulated genes (ISG) expression in circulatory leukocytes. Based on microarray results, three genes were selected [2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase 1(Oas1), myxovirus resistance gene 2 (Mx2), and interferon-stimulated gene 15kDa protein (Isg15)] because they were known to be interferon-stimulated genes (ISG) and were also differentially expressed in the samples. The respective genes were assayed by using real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR).

A miniature condition in Brahman cattle is associated with a single nucleotide mutation within the growth hormone gene.

Miniature Brahman cattle at the USDA ARS Subtropical Agriculture Research Station in Brooksville, FL have normal proportioned growth but are approximately 70% of mature height and weight when compared with Brahman cattle in the same herd. Pedigree analyses suggest that the condition is inherited through a recessive allele. The miniature Brahman cattle in the Brooksville herd have been used for studies of growth and reproduction, but the underlying causative mutation is unknown.

Short communication: Growth hormone receptor expression in two dairy breeds during the periparturient period.

The growth hormone receptor (GHR) 1A mRNA decreases after calving in the liver of Holstein dairy cows and may coordinate nutrient partitioning. The hypothesis that the decrease in GHR1A mRNA around the time of calving was characteristic of a second dairy breed was tested by examining Guernsey cows in addition to Holstein cows. Holstein and Guernsey cows were housed together and paired by parity and expected calving date.

Measurement of lipid hydroperoxides by the ferric-xylenol orange method (1) characteristics of the ferric-xylenol orange/membrane phosphatidylcholine complex.

The ferric-xylenol orange (FOX) method for measurement of hydroperoxides is based on a technique that employs reduction of peroxides in an acidic condition by Fe2+ and formation of the colored ferric-xylenol orange (XO/Fe3+) product with a peak at 560 nm. The 560 nm absorbance peak of XO/Fe3+ shifts to a 610 nm peak with high absorption intensity in the presence of phosphatidylcholine. This is useful for quantification of peroxides such as phospholipid hydroperoxides.

Case-control study of green tea consumption and the risk of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma.

Objective: To investigate the association between green tea consumption and the risk of endometrial cancer restricted to endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EEA) using a case-control design in Japan.

Methods: The cases were 152 patients with histopathologically diagnosed EEA, and the controls were 285 healthy women who were matched for age and area of residence with individual cases. The subjects completed a questionnaire regarding health-related lifestyle and reproductive history, and a food frequency questionnaire.

Case-control study of coffee consumption and the risk of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma.

This study examined the association between coffee consumption and the risk of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EEA) in Japan by a case-control design. The cases consisted of 107 women less than 80 years of age from two medical centers who had been histopathologically diagnosed to have EEA. The controls, selected from the participants of a cancer-screening program, were 214 women, with two controls selected for each case (matched for age and for area of residence).

TCAP knockdown by RNA interference inhibits myoblast differentiation in cultured skeletal muscle cells.

Null mutation of titin-cap (TCAP) causes limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2G (LGMD2G). LGMD2G patients develop muscle atrophy, and lose the ability to walk by their third decade. Previous findings suggest that TCAP regulates myostatin, a key regulator of muscle growth.

Genetic variation in ABCB1 influences paclitaxel pharmacokinetics in Japanese patients with ovarian cancer.

Paclitaxel, an antineoplastic agent used for the treatment of ovarian cancer, is metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A4 and CYP2C8 and is excreted from cells by ATP-binding cassette (ABCB1) (multi-drug resistance [MDR1], P-glycoprotein). Expression of these proteins is regulated by pregnane X receptor (PXR). Although there are common genetic polymorphisms in the genes encoding these proteins, their effect on the clinical efficacy of paclitaxel is unclear.

Lactation and risk of endometrial cancer in Japan: a case-control study.

The incidence of endometrial cancer is rapidly increasing in Japan. Although the risk factors in European populations have been well described, there are few epidemiologic studies regarding risk factors for endometrial cancer in Japanese women. This hospital-based case-control study among Japanese women was carried out from 1998 to 2000.

Exogenous somatotropin alters IGF axis in porcine endometrium and placenta.

The aim of this study was to examine whether exogenous somatotropin (ST) can alter the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis in the porcine epitheliochorial placenta. Crossbred gilts were injected either 6 mg of recombinant porcine ST or vehicle from days 10 to 27 after artificial insemination (term day 116). Control and ST-treated gilts were euthanized on day 28 (8 control/5 treated), day 37 (4 control/6 treated), and day 62 (4 control/6 treated) of gestation.