Comparison of Perioperative Complication Rates of Total Extraperitoneal and Transabdominal Preperitoneal Repairs in Primary Inguinal Hernia.

Background: Hernia may be defined as a protrusion of viscus through layers anatomically designed to contain that viscus. Most abdominal hernias occur at well-described sites of potential weakness. Repair of inguinal hernia is one of the most common operations in general surgery.

Comparative Study of Different Treatment Options of Grade III and IV Diabetic Foot Ulcers to Reduce the Incidence of Amputations.

THIS STUDY AIMS TO COMPARE THE EFFICACY OF ANTISEPTIC DRESSINGS, HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY, AND RECOMBINANT HUMAN PLATELET DERIVED GROWTH FACTOR (RHPDGF) FOR TWO REASONS: i) to reduce the incidence of lower limb amputations in diabetic foot ulcer; ii) to limit the duration of stay in the hospital. A prospective randomized trial was conducted on 60 patients with stage III and IV diabetic foot ulcers (International Association of Enterostomal Therapy classification) and patients were divided randomly in three different therapy groups - antiseptics, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, recombinant platelet derived growth factor, with 20 patients in each group. Patients were managed initially on inpatient and then on outpatient basis till the ulcer healed completely.

Dose-dependent changes in the locomotor responses to methamphetamine in BALB/c mice: low doses induce hypolocomotion.

The overall goal of the present study was to determine the effects of different doses of (+)-methamphetamine (meth) on locomotor activity of Balb/C mice. Four experiments were designed to test a wide range of meth doses in BALB/c female mice. In Experiment 1, we examined locomotor activity induced by an acute administration of low doses of meth (0.

Spontaneous rupture of kidney: a rare presentation of nephrolithiasis.

Spontaneous rupture of kidney is a rare clinical entity. A 35-year-old female presented in emergency with left flank pain and features suggestive of haemorrhagic shock. Investigations showed rupture of kidney with perinephric haematoma.

Vaccines for cocaine abuse.

Treatments for cocaine abuse have been disappointingly ineffective, especially in comparison with those for some other abused substances. A new approach, using vaccination to elicit specific antibodies to block the access of cocaine to the brain, has shown considerable promise in animal models, and more recently in human trials. The mechanism of action for the antibody effect on cocaine is very likely to be the straightforward and intuitive result of the binding of the drug in circulation by antibodies, thereby reducing its entry into the central nervous system and thus its pharmacological effects.

Substance abuse vaccines.

Conventional substance-abuse treatments have only had limited success for drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, methamphetamine, and phencyclidine. New approaches, including vaccination to block the effects of these drugs on the brain, are in advanced stages of development. Although several potential mechanisms for the effects of antidrug vaccines have been suggested, the most straightforward and intuitive mechanism involves binding of the drug by antibodies in the bloodstream, thereby blocking entry and/or reducing the rate of entry of the drug into the central nervous system.

The future of vaccines in the management of addictive disorders.

Conventional substance abuse treatments have had only limited success. As a result, new approaches, including vaccination to block the effects of drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, methamphetamine, and phencyclidine, are in development. Although a number of possible rationales for the effects of antidrug vaccines have been suggested, the most straightforward and intuitive mechanism would involve binding of the drug by antibodies in the bloodstream, thereby blocking entry or reducing the rate of entry of the drug into the central nervous system.

Activation of refractory T cell responses against hepatitis C virus core protein by ablation of interfering hydrophobic domains.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major pathogen of chronic hepatitis and liver disease, but currently there are no prophylactic HCV vaccines available. The HCV core protein-encoding sequence is among the most conserved genes in the HCV genome, making it a prime candidate for a component of a vaccine. The core protein localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through a C-terminal hydrophobic region that is cotranslationally inserted into the ER membrane.

Re-engineered CD40 receptor enables potent pharmacological activation of dendritic-cell cancer vaccines in vivo.

Modest clinical outcomes of dendritic-cell (DC) vaccine trials call for the refinement of DC vaccine design. Although many potential antigens have been identified, development of methods to enhance antigen presentation by DCs has lagged. We have engineered a potent, drug-inducible CD40 (iCD40) receptor that permits temporally controlled, lymphoid-localized, DC-specific activation.

Differential activation of ERK, p38, and JNK required for Th1 and Th2 deviation in myelin-reactive T cells induced by altered peptide ligand.

Autoreactive T cells can be induced by altered peptide ligands to switch Th1 and Th2 phenotypes. The underlying molecular mechanism is critical for understanding of activation of autoreactive T cells and development of novel therapeutic strategies for autoimmune conditions. In this study, we demonstrated that analog peptides of an immunodominant epitope of myelin basic protein (residues 83-99) with alanine substitution at Val(86) and His(88) had a unique partial agonistic property in the induction of Th1 or Th2 deviation in MBP(83-99)-reactive T cell clones typical of Th0 phenotype.

Repertoire and immunofocusing of CD8 T cell responses generated by HIV-1 gag-pol and expression library immunization vaccines.

Several gene-based vaccine approaches are being tested to drive multivalent cellular immune responses to control HIV-1 viral variants. To compare the utility of these approaches, HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice were genetically immunized with plasmids encoding wild-type (wt) gag-pol, codon-optimized (CO) gag-pol, and an expression library immunization (ELI) vaccine genetically re-engineered to express non-CO fragments of gag and pol fused to ubiquitin for proteasome targeting. Equimolar delivery of each vaccine into HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice generated CD8 T cell responses, with the ELI vaccine producing up to 10-fold higher responses than the wt or CO gag-pol plasmids against cognate and mutant epitopes.

The role of T cell antagonism and original antigenic sin in genetic immunization.

To counter highly mutable pathogens like HIV-1, a number of vaccines are being developed to deliver multiple mutant forms of viral Ags to provoke multivalent antiviral CTLs. However, it is uncertain whether such multiple mutant epitope vaccines will generate the diverse CTL responses desired or will instead create immune interference. To characterize the role of immune interference by mutant epitopes in this process, we have tested a "worst case" scenario in which the immunodominant epitope of OVA (SIINFEKL) and its in vitro TCR antagonist (SIINFEDL) have been used to genetically immunize C57BL/6 mice.

Generation of genome-wide CD8 T cell responses in HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice by an HIV-1 ubiquitin expression library immunization vaccine.

HIV-1 is a fundamentally difficult target for vaccines due to its high mutation rate and its repertoire of immunoevasive strategies. To address these difficulties, a multivalent, proteasome-targeted, live genetic vaccine was recently developed against HIV-1 using the expression library immunization approach. In this HIV-1 vaccine all open reading frames of HIV-1 are expressed from 32 plasmids as Ag fragments fused to the ubiquitin protein to increase Ag targeting to the proteasome to enhance CTL responses.