A novel, ring-connected stent versus conventional GI stents: comparative study of physical properties and migration rates in a canine colon obstruction model.

Background: Migration of stents is one of the most common adverse events in covered stent placement in GI tract obstruction.

Objective: To compare physical property and migration rates in a canine colon obstruction model among a novel stent and conventional stents.

Design: Comparative physical test and animal study.

In vivo verification of regional hyperthermia in the liver.

Purpose: We performed invasive thermometry to verify the elevation of local temperature in the liver during hyperthermia.

Materials And Methods: Three 40-kg pigs were used for the experiments. Under general anesthesia with ultrasonography guidance, two glass fiber-optic sensors were placed in the liver, and one was placed in the peritoneal cavity in front of the liver.

Therapeutic effects of human amniotic epithelial stem cells in Niemann-Pick type C1 mice.

Background Aims: Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC) is an autosomal recessive cholesterol-storage disorder characterized by liver dysfunction, hepatosplenomegaly and progressive neurodegeneration. Thus far, studies of NPC mice have been performed mainly to study the brain and neurodegeneration, because degeneration in the brain was known as the primary cause of death in NPC mice. However, NPC is a systemic disease; therefore the purpose of this study was to find the possibility of a general therapeutic effect by applying and tracking transplanted human amniotic epithelial stem cells (hAESC) in NPC mice.