Damage evolution during fracture by correlative microscopy with hyperspectral electron microscopy and laboratory-based microtomography.

Damage evolution during fracture of metals is a critical factor in determining the reliability and integrity of the infrastructure that the society relies upon. However, experimental techniques for directly observing these phenomena have remained challenged. We have addressed this gap by developing a correlative microscopy framework combining high-resolution hyperspectral electron microscopy with laboratory x-ray microtomography (XMT) and applied it to study fracture mechanisms in a steel inclusion system.

WAT-on-a-chip: a physiologically relevant microfluidic system incorporating white adipose tissue.

Organ-on-a-chip systems possess a promising future as drug screening assays and as testbeds for disease modeling in the context of both single-organ systems and multi-organ-chips. Although it comprises approximately one fourth of the body weight of a healthy human, an organ frequently overlooked in this context is white adipose tissue (WAT). WAT-on-a-chip systems are required to create safety profiles of a large number of drugs due to their interactions with adipose tissue and other organs via paracrine signals, fatty acid release, and drug levels through sequestration.

μOrgano: A Lego®-Like Plug & Play System for Modular Multi-Organ-Chips.

Human organ-on-a-chip systems for drug screening have evolved as feasible alternatives to animal models, which are unreliable, expensive, and at times erroneous. While chips featuring single organs can be of great use for both pharmaceutical testing and basic organ-level studies, the huge potential of the organ-on-a-chip technology is revealed by connecting multiple organs on one chip to create a single integrated system for sophisticated fundamental biological studies and devising therapies for disease. Furthermore, since most organ-on-a-chip systems require special protocols with organ-specific media for the differentiation and maturation of the tissues, multi-organ systems will need to be temporally customizable and flexible in terms of the time point of connection of the individual organ units.

Directing cell migration and organization via nanocrater-patterned cell-repellent interfaces.

Although adhesive interactions between cells and nanostructured interfaces have been studied extensively, there is a paucity of data on how nanostructured interfaces repel cells by directing cell migration and cell-colony organization. Here, by using multiphoton ablation lithography to pattern surfaces with nanoscale craters of various aspect ratios and pitches, we show that the surfaces altered the cells' focal-adhesion size and distribution, thus affecting cell morphology, migration and ultimately localization. We also show that nanocrater pitch can disrupt the formation of mature focal adhesions to favour the migration of cells towards higher-pitched regions, which present increased planar area for the formation of stable focal adhesions.

Infantile spasms and hyperekplexia associated with isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency.

Importance: Isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency (ISOD) causes severe intellectual disability, epilepsy, and shortened life expectancy. Intractable seizures are invariable in children with ISOD; however, to our knowledge, infantile spasms with a corresponding hypsarrhythmia pattern on electroencephalogram have never been reported. In addition, the nonepileptic paroxysmal movement disorder hyperekplexia has not previously been reported with ISOD.

Efficacy and safety results with the LifeSite hemodialysis access system versus the Tesio-Cath hemodialysis catheter at 12 months.

Purpose: To compare the performance and safety of a fully subcutaneous vascular access device, the LifeSite hemodialysis access system, versus a tunneled hemodialysis catheter, the Tesio-Cath, at 1 year after implantation.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-eight patients who required hemodialysis received implantation of the LifeSite device or a Tesio-Cath device as a part of this multicenter study. Thirty-four patients were treated in each group.

Multicenter clinical trial results with the LifeSite hemodialysis access system.

Background: The LifeSite Hemodialysis Access System is a subcutaneous access device designed to maximize blood flow while minimizing access-related complications. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the LifeSite System to a similar but transcutaneous access device, the Tesio-Cath Hemodialysis Catheter.

Methods: The study was conducted in two phases.

Tubal pregnancy after total vaginal hysterectomy.

We report the case of a 26-year-old woman who presented to our emergency department for evaluation of abdominal pain 24 days after a vaginal hysterectomy. The patient's serum pregnancy test was positive. An ectopic pregnancy of the right adnexa was diagnosed by ultrasound and confirmed by laparotomy.

Treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in the emergency department by clinical decision analysis.

Vagal maneuvers terminate new onset, catheter-induced paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) in up to 92% of patients. The risk and benefit of vagal maneuvers for treating PSVT in the emergency department (ED) is inadequately defined. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of nonpharmacological vagal interventions in converting spontaneous episodes of PSVT in adult patients and to derive a treatment plan for such patients based on clinical decision analysis.

B2-microglobulin and associated amyloidosis presenting as bilateral popliteal tumors.

Chronic hemodialysis has led to the prolongation of life in many patients with end-stage renal disease, but has also allowed for the development of new diseases that are a consequence of this clinical setting. B2-microglobulin accumulation leading to systemic amyloidosis may be the most recent disease in this category. This case report documents the development of bilateral popliteal tumors in a patient undergoing chronic hemodialysis for 9 years.

Immunologic correlates of the hyperresponsive syndrome of loiasis.

The usual clinical picture of loiasis in long-term visitors to endemic areas differs from that in residents of these areas, with allergic symptoms, hypergammaglobulinemia, profound hypereosinophilia, and increased serum levels of IgE being more prominent. In further analyzing the immunologic correlates of this apparent hyperreactivity in 20 patients, we have found the following: (1) parasite-specific IgG (in all) and IgE (in some) were extremely elevated in the patients; (2) qualitative analysis by immunoblotting indicated multiple antigens recognized by both IgG and IgE antibodies in these patients; (3) filaria antigen-specific, lymphocyte proliferative immune responses were vigorous in all patients and, in each individual, exceed the response to other soluble antigens; (4) spontaneous and antigen-driven, parasite-specific antibody production in vitro was elevated in all six patients studied; (5) there was a significant increase in the ratio of CD4/CD8+ T cells. These observations suggest that both specific dysregulation of the immune response to the parasite antigen, as well as nonspecific immune activation, accounts for the clinically apparent hyperresponsive state seen in expatriates acquiring loiasis.

Gantt, Pavlov and Freud: a comparison.

Contrasts between classical Pavlovianism and classical psychoanalysis have been emphasized, but there are also significant similarities of which I write. A recent edition of a textbook of psychiatry which is widely used in the United States (Kaplan and Sadock 1985) indexes neither Pavlov nor Gantt, although it provides extensive coverage of psychoanalysis.

Bacterial contamination of ambulance oxygen humidifier water reservoirs: a potential source of pulmonary infection.

The risk and benefit of oxygen humidification during ambulance transport is unknown. We cultured the water in plastic multiple-use bottles of humidifiers on 30 randomly selected area ambulances during November 1985. There were 22 positive cultures.

Drug holidays and serum haloperidol levels in schizophrenic patients.

Chronic hospitalized schizophrenic patients receiving haloperidol were placed on drug holidays for 2 days. Serum haloperidol levels in these patients decreased to about 60% of the levels seen just prior to the usual morning dosing during the drug holiday. Control subjects not given a drug holiday showed stable day-to-day serum haloperidol levels.

Effect of environmental stimuli on the core temperature of nervous dogs.

Temperature sensitive radio transmitters were implanted into the abdominal cavities of two substrains of pointer dogs to monitor the core temperature during a 12:12 L/D cycle. The results obtained from dogs of a nervous, person-aversive strain were best described by a partially-rectified sine curve, with well defined maxima during the light period. When similarly tested in a situation with minimal diurnal stimulation, the variation in temperatures was reduced.

Immobility experiments with dogs of the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointers.

As demonstrated in four experiments, dogs and pups of the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointers, in contrast to kennel-mate dogs of the normal line, respond to manual inversion and brief restraint in an open sling with prolonged, mainly hypertonic, immobility. This response is consistent and replicable. At least in 4-month-old pups, the duration of sling immobility is positively correlated with the degree of behavioral pathology as determined by the objective Human Interaction Test.

Immobility reactions: a modified classification.

This theoretical paper sets the stage for subsequent experimental reports on mobility and immobility in the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointer dogs as contrasted with kennel mates of the normal line. Exactly opposite to the normal animals, the nervous dogs show marked inhibition of heart rate and musculoskeletal responses to man, including reduced ambulation and durable immobility following inversion and brief manual restraint in an open sling. The sling immobility of the nervous dogs (which may not differ basically from their freezing in upright position) might be designated as "tonic immobility" (TI).