Experience of the MACE procedure at a regional pediatric surgical unit: a 15-year retrospective review.

Introduction: The Malone antegrade continence enema (MACE) procedure is an established treatment option for children with constipation or fecal incontinence. This study retrospectively analyses the management and outcomes of children who underwent MACE procedures at a regional pediatric surgery unit.

Patients And Methods: Children who underwent a MACE procedure in our unit between 1998 and 2012 were identified.

Circulating nerve growth factor levels in relation to obesity and the metabolic syndrome in women.

Objective: Neurotrophins (NTs) could be involved in the development and progression of inflammatory and immune diseases. Because obesity and the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) are related to a low-grade systemic inflammation, plasma NT levels (neurotrophinemia) could play an important role in the ethiopathogenic mechanisms underlying these metabolic derangements. This is the first study evaluating the plasma NT levels in a group of women with obesity and MetSyn, and also the adipose tissue nerve growth factor (NGF) expression in a small group of them.

Prostaglandin D2 and J2-series (PGJ2, Delta12-PGJ2) prostaglandins stimulate IL-6 and MCP-1, but inhibit leptin, expression and secretion by 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Prostaglandin D(2) and its derivatives PGJ(2) and Delta(12)-PGJ(2) strongly stimulate the synthesis and secretion by white adipocytes of the neurotrophin NGF. Here we have explored whether PGD(2) and the J(2)-series prostaglandins have pervasive effects on adipokine production. The influence of these prostaglandins on the production of the adipocyte hormones leptin and adiponectin, and the inflammatory factors IL-6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), were examined in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Stimulation of NGF expression and secretion in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by prostaglandins PGD2, PGJ2, and Delta12-PGJ2.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) has recently been shown to be secreted from white adipocytes, its production being strongly stimulated by the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha. In this study, we have examined whether a series of prostaglandins and other inflammation-related factors also stimulate NGF expression and secretion by adipocytes, using 3T3-L1 cells. Although interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-10, and IL-18 each induced a small decrease in NGF mRNA level in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, there was no significant effect of these cytokines on NGF secretion.

NGF gene expression and secretion in white adipose tissue: regulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by hormones and inflammatory cytokines.

The sympathetic nervous system plays a central role in lipolysis and the production of leptin in white adipose tissue (WAT). In this study, we have examined whether nerve growth factor (NGF), a target-derived neurotropin that is a key signal in the development and survival of sympathetic neurons, is expressed and secreted by white adipocytes. NGF mRNA was detected by RT-PCR in the major WAT depots of mice (epididymal, perirenal, omental, mesenteric, subcutaneous) and in human fat (subcutaneous, omental).