Genetic variants in FBN-1 and risk for thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection.

Objectives: A recent genome wide association study (GWAS) by LeMaire et al. found that two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2118181 and rs10519177 in the FBN-1 gene (encoding Fibrillin-1), were associated with thoracic aortic dissection (TAD), non-dissecting thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA), and thoracic aortic aneurysm or dissection (TAAD); the largest effect was observed for the association of rs2118181 with TAD. We investigated whether rs2118181 and rs10519177 were associated with TAD, TAA, and TAAD in the Yale study.

Novel intracranial brain cooling catheter to mitigate brain injuries.

Background: The neuroprotective effects of cooling the spinal cord in a sheep model by a self-contained intrathecal catheter was reported recently by the authors. The present study was designed to determine if cooling catheters in the lateral ventricles of the brain can effectively cool the CSF and thereby reduce brain temperature while maintaining systemic normothermia.

Methods: The cooling catheter is a self-contained system that circulates a cold fluid and cools the CSF that circulates in the brain.