Functional outcomes according to the size of the gastric remnant and type of reconstruction following laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Background: In gastric cancer, various methods of gastric resection and reconstruction have been devised according to the location of the primary tumor and the depth of invasion. The functional outcomes of patients treated by laparoscopy-assisted or totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy were compared with respect to the approach, size of the remnant stomach, and type of reconstruction.

Methods: Patients who required distal gastrectomy to treat early-stage cancer between May 2000 and December 2008 were treated by one of the four following procedures: Billroth Type I (B-1) reconstruction for 1/2 remnant stomach (1/2B1ML) or B-1 for 1/3 remnant stomach (1/3B1ML), through a mini-laparotomy following laparoscopy-assisted surgery; intra-corporeal B-1 for 1/2 remnant stomach (1/2 B1IC); or intra-corporeal Roux-en-Y for 1/3 remnant stomach (1/3RYIC).

Evaluation of the learning curve in laparoscopic low anterior resection for rectal cancer.

Background: Laparoscopic low anterior resection for rectal cancer is considered to be more technically demanding than laparoscopic colectomy. This study aimed to analyze the learning curve for laparoscopic low anterior resection and to identify the factors that influence this learning curve.

Methods: Data from 250 consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic low anterior resection for rectal cancer, excluding patients with a combined resection such as cholecystectomy, hepatectomy, hysterectomy, or gastrectomy, between December 1996 and April 2010 were analyzed.

Relation between hyperinsulinemia and nonculprit plaque characteristics in nondiabetic patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Objectives: We sought to assess whether hyperinsulinemia is associated with percentage lipid and coronary plaque burden in nondiabetic patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

Background: Hyperinsulinemia carries an increased risk of cardiovascular disease even in pre-diabetic patients, but the precise mechanisms of its effects remain unclear.

Methods: Nonculprit coronary lesions associated with mild-to-moderate stenosis in 82 nondiabetic patients with ACS were examined by integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound (IB-IVUS), using a 40-MHz intravascular catheter.

Scandium alkyl and amide complexes containing a cyclen-derived (NNNN) macrocyclic ligand: synthesis, structure and ring-opening polymerization activity toward lactide monomers.

Cyclic polyamine 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane, (Me(3)TACD)H (= Me(3)[12]aneN(4)), reacted with [K{N(SiHMe(2))(2)}] in benzene-d(6) to give [K{(Me(3)TACD)SiMe(2)N(SiHMe(2))}] (1) under hydrogen evolution. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction of 1 shows a dinuclear structure in the solid state, featuring a bridging μ-amido and a weak β-agostic Si-H bond. 1,7-Dimethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (Me(2)TACD)H(2) (= Me(2)[12]aneN(4)) and (Me(3)TACD)H were reacted with [Sc{N(SiHMe(2))(2)}(3)(thf)] in benzene-d(6) to give [{(Me(2)TACD)SiMe(2)N(SiHMe(2))}Sc{N(SiHMe(2))(2)}] (2) and [(Me(3)TACD)Sc{N(SiHMe(2))(2)}(2)SiMe(2)] (3), respectively.

Tris(allyl) indium compounds: synthesis and structural characterization.

Allyl and 2-methylallyl indium compounds were prepared by salt metathesis starting from indium trichloride and a Grignard reagent. They are highly fluxional in solution and reveal coordination numbers of the indium atoms of four and five in the solid state.

Group 4 metal initiators for the controlled stereoselective polymerization of lactide monomers.

Group 4 metal initiators with a tetradentate bis(phenolato) ligand polymerized meso-lactide efficiently under ring-opening to give syndiotactic polylactide. L-Lactide was converted faster than rac-lactide and meso-lactide.

Looking to the future: automatic regulation of attention between current performance and future plans.

We investigated neuro-cognitive mechanisms involved with coordination of attention between current task performance and future action plans in prospective memory. We developed a novel task paradigm with continuous performance of a prospective memory task, where trial intervals of prospective memory targets were systematically manipulated in a periodic cycle of expanding and contracting target intervals. We found that subjects' behaviour was significantly modulated without awareness of this temporal sequence of the targets: remembering to perform a prospective memory response to target events was more successful and faster in the expanding target interval phase, at the cost of lower and slower performance of ongoing tasks, while an opposite direction of this trade-off effect was observed in the contracting target interval phase.

The rare-earth yttrium complex [YR(mtbmp)(thf)] triggers apoptosis via the extrinsic pathway and overcomes multiple drug resistance in leukemic cells.

A major problem in treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the development of drug resistance. In the current study, we investigated the anticancer properties of the novel rare-earth yttrium complex [YR(mtbmp)(thf)] in various established cell lines, and moreover, we identified the involved apoptotic pathway. Further aim was to investigate whether synergistic effects could be reached in combination with the conventional drug vincristine.

[Ancient history of Indian pharmacy].

The study of the ancient history of Indian medicine has recently been revived due to the publication of polyglot translations. However, little is known of ancient Indian pharmacy. Archaeological evidence suggests the Indus people lived a settled life approximately in 2500 B.

Impact of statin pretreatment on the incidence of plaque rupture in ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: Several studies in experimental animals have shown that statins stabilize atheromatous plaques by increasing fibrous-cap thickness. However, direct evidence linking the use of statins to the incidence of plaque rupture in humans is lacking. We investigated whether statin treatment before the onset of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) influences the incidence of plaque rupture detected by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).

Clinicopathological analysis of recurrence patterns and prognostic factors for survival after hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastasis.

Background: Hepatectomy is recommended as the most effective therapy for liver metastasis from colorectal cancer (CRCLM). It is crucial to elucidate the prognostic clinicopathological factors.

Methods: Eighty-three patients undergoing initial hepatectomy for CRCLM were retrospectively analyzed with respect to characteristics of primary colorectal and metastatic hepatic tumors, operation details and prognosis.

Reduced expression of the vca0421 gene of Vibrio cholerae O1 results in innate resistance to ciprofloxacin.

A mini-Tn5 insertion into a ciprofloxacin (CIP)-resistant mutant of Vibrio cholerae O1 revealed that overexpression of the vca0421 gene, which encodes a hypothetical protein, in the CIP-resistant mutant carrying a mutation in the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) of the gyrA gene causes sensitization to CIP. We propose a new intrinsic mechanism of resistance to fluoroquinolones due to the inherently reduced expression of the vca0421 gene in V. cholerae O1.

Translocation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the intestinal tract is mediated by the binding of ExoS to an Na,K-ATPase regulator, FXYD3.

The intestinal tract is considered the most important reservoir of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in intensive care units (ICUs). Gut colonization by P. aeruginosa underlies the development of invasive infections such as gut-derived sepsis.

Impact of ultrasound attenuation and plaque rupture as detected by intravascular ultrasound on the incidence of no-reflow phenomenon after percutaneous coronary intervention in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess whether ultrasound attenuation and plaque rupture as detected by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) are associated with the incidence of no-reflow phenomenon after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Background: No-reflow phenomenon is associated with worse long-term outcomes after STEMI. Therefore, reliable and feasible intravascular imaging techniques are needed to identify patient subgroups that would be at high risk for no-reflow phenomenon.

Activation of a Rac GTPase by the NLR family disease resistance protein Pit plays a critical role in rice innate immunity.

The nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat-containing (NLR) family proteins recognize pathogen-derived molecules and trigger immune responses in both plants and animals. In plants, the direct or indirect recognition of specific pathogen effectors by NLRs culminates in a hypersensitive response (HR) and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), key components of the plant defense response. However, the molecules activated by NLRs and how they induce immune responses are largely unknown.

Association between circulating monocytes and coronary plaque progression in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Monocytes and macrophages have been shown to play major roles in the progression of atherosclerosis. This study examined whether the circulating monocyte count can be used to predict coronary plaque progression of non-culprit intermediate lesions in acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: Intravascular ultrasound findings of non-culprit intermediate plaque in 90 patients were analyzed in the acute phase and at a 7-month follow up.

Trimethylsilylmethyl complexes of the rare-earth metals with sterically hindered N-heterocyclic carbene ligands: adduct formation and C-H bond activation.

Tris(trimethylsilylmethyl) complexes of yttrium and lutetium [LnR(3)(THF)(2)] (R = CH(2)SiMe(3)) were treated with sterically bulky N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IPr) and 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IMes). IPr gave labile mono-adducts [LnR(3)(NHC)], isolated as thermally robust crystals and fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. IMes gave a similar lutetium mono-adduct [LuR(3)(IMes)] with the lutetium alkyl [LuR(3)(THF)(2)], whereas the yttrium alkyl [YR(3)(THF)(2)] resulted in the formation of an ortho-metalated product.

Analysis of metabolic remodeling in compensated left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure.

Background: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with a change in cardiac energy metabolism. However, the mechanism by which this change is induced and causes the progression of CHF is unclear.

Methods And Results: We analyzed the cardiac energy metabolism of Dahl salt-sensitive rats fed a high-salt diet, which showed a distinct transition from compensated left ventricular hypertrophy to CHF.

Impact of high-responsiveness to dual antiplatelet therapy on bleeding complications in patients receiving drug-eluting stents.

Background: Few studies have examined whether high-responsiveness to antiplatelet therapy is associated with an increased risk of bleeding in patients receiving dual antiplatelet therapy.

Methods And Results: Elective drug-eluting stent implantation was performed in 184 patients treated with aspirin and a thienopyridine (200 mg/day of ticlopidine or 75 mg/day of clopidogrel). The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to post-treatment platelet reactivity before stenting as measured by the response to adenosine diphosphate: the 1(st) quartile group was defined as high-responders, the 4(th) as low-responders, and the other 2 quartiles as middle-responders.

Reactive mechanism of cognitive control system.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to modulate the neural network state in favor of the processing of task-relevant sensory information prior to the presentation of sensory stimuli. However, this proactive control mechanism cannot always optimize the network state because of intrinsic fluctuation of neural activity upon arrival of sensory information. In the present study, we have investigated an additional control mechanism, in which the control process to regulate the behavior is adjusted to the trial-by-trial fluctuation in neural representations of sensory information.

Chiral indium alkoxide complexes as initiators for the stereoselective ring-opening polymerization of rac-lactide.

The indium complex InL(2)N'' has been prepared from the reaction of 2 equiv of ((t)Bu)(2)P(O)CH(2)CH((t)Bu)OH (HL) with InN''(3) (N'' = N(SiMe(3))(2)). This complex reacts with a further equivalent of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol or HL to afford the adducts InL(2)(OAr) and InL(3), respectively. Confirmation that the anion L(-) exhibits "ligand self-recognition" in the formation of predominantly homochiral complexes RR-InL(2)N'' and SS-InL(2)N'' is obtained from (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopic data.