Transcatheter ablation via a sternotomy approach as a hybrid procedure in a univentricular heart.

Hybrid procedures that combine surgical and interventional techniques are increasingly utilized in patients with congenital heart disease. We performed a novel hybrid intervention involving transcatheter ablation via a sternotomy approach and atriotomy incision. A recalcitrant accessory pathway was successfully ablated in a patient with hemodynamically unstable supraventricular tachycardia and an extracadiac Fontan for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Possible venous air embolism during open eye surgery in a child.

Purpose: Although venous air embolism is a well recognized complication within most surgical subspecialties, it has only been reported recently during eye surgery in one adult, and never before in a child. We describe the case of a 17-month-old boy who sustained a possible air embolism during repair of an open trauma of his right eye.

Clinical Features: A vitrectomy through the pars plana with air-fluid exchange of the posterior chamber was performed under general anesthesia to remove a foreign body which had impaled the optic nerve.

Cardiopulmonary bypass induces significant platelet activation in children undergoing open-heart surgery.

Background And Objectives: To evaluate the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on platelet function in children undergoing open-heart surgery.

Methods: Data from 16 consecutive children undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB were prospectively collected. Blood samples of 10 mL were collected via the central venous line immediately before and after CPB for CD62 measurements by flow cytometry.

Regulation of Rho and Rac signaling to the actin cytoskeleton by paxillin during Drosophila development.

Paxillin is a prominent focal adhesion docking protein that regulates cell adhesion and migration. Although numerous paxillin-binding proteins have been identified and paxillin is required for normal embryogenesis, the precise mechanism by which paxillin functions in vivo has not yet been determined. We identified an ortholog of mammalian paxillin in Drosophila (Dpax) and have undertaken a genetic analysis of paxillin function during development.

An Eph receptor sperm-sensing control mechanism for oocyte meiotic maturation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

During sexual reproduction in most animals, oocytes arrest in meiotic prophase and resume meiosis (meiotic maturation) in response to sperm or somatic cell signals. Despite progress in delineating mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and CDK/cyclin activation pathways involved in meiotic maturation, it is less clear how these pathways are regulated at the cell surface. The Caenorhabditis elegans major sperm protein (MSP) signals oocytes, which are arrested in meiotic prophase, to resume meiosis and ovulate.