How flat is an air-cleaved mica surface?

Muscovite mica is an important mineral that has become a standard substrate, due to its easy cleavage along the {001} planes, revealing a very flat surface that is compatible with many biological materials. Here we study mica surfaces by dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) operated in the non-contact mode (NC-AFM) under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Surfaces produced by cleaving in UHV cannot be imaged with NC-AFM due to large surface charges; however, cleavage in air yields much less surface charge and allows for NC-AFM imaging.

A dipicolinic acid tag for rigid lanthanide tagging of proteins and paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy.

A new lanthanide tag was designed for site-specific labeling of proteins with paramagnetic lanthanide ions. The tag, 4-mercaptomethyl-dipicolinic acid, binds lanthanide ions with nanomolar affinity, is readily attached to proteins via a disulfide bond, and avoids the problems of diastereomer formation associated with most of the conventional lanthanide tags. The high lanthanide affinity of the tag opens the possibility to measure residual dipolar couplings in a single sample containing a mixture of paramagnetic and diamagnetic lanthanides.

"Rapid two-stage" Norwood operation in a child with multiorgan failure.

The Norwood I operation continues to be a procedure with significant operative mortality. One well-accepted risk factor for death after the first step of the Norwood operation is critical preoperative status. We describe herein a new concept for the treatment of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in very poor preoperative condition.

Hemodynamic performance of fresh and calcified aortic valve prostheses in critical low stroke volume.

Background And Aim Of The Study: Heart failure is common following aortic valve replacement, and optimal prosthesis function is crucial in this critical clinical setting. The study aim was to investigate the hemodynamic performance and leaflet kinematics of fresh and calcified biological aortic valves in a simulated low stroke volume situation.

Methods: Edwards Perimount Magna (PM) and Medtronic Mosaic Ultra (MU) valves were investigated in an artificial circulation system (130 beats/min, stroke volume 19 ml), and the results compared to normal output (70 beats/min, stroke volume 70 ml).

Drop-based microfluidic devices for encapsulation of single cells.

We use microfluidic devices to encapsulate, incubate, and manipulate individual cells in picoliter aqueous drops in a carrier fluid at rates of up to several hundred Hz. We use a modular approach with individual devices for each function, thereby significantly increasing the robustness of our system and making it highly flexible and adaptable to a variety of cell-based assays. The small volumes of the drops enables the concentrations of secreted molecules to rapidly attain detectable levels.

Selective loss of unmyelinated nerve fibers after extracorporeal shockwave application to the musculoskeletal system.

Application of extracorporeal shockwaves (ESW) to the musculoskeletal system may induce long-term analgesia in the treatment of chronic tendinopathies of the shoulder, heel and elbow. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind this phenomenon are largely unknown. Here we tested the hypothesis that long-term analgesia caused by ESW is due to selective loss of nerve fibers in peripheral nerves.

Numbat: an interactive software tool for fitting Deltachi-tensors to molecular coordinates using pseudocontact shifts.

Pseudocontact shift (PCS) effects induced by a paramagnetic lanthanide bound to a protein have become increasingly popular in NMR spectroscopy as they yield a complementary set of orientational and long-range structural restraints. PCS are a manifestation of the chi-tensor anisotropy, the Deltachi-tensor, which in turn can be determined from the PCS. Once the Deltachi-tensor has been determined, PCS become powerful long-range restraints for the study of protein structure and protein-ligand complexes.

Alterations in dendritic cell function in aged mice: potential implications for immunotherapy design.

It is known that immune system functions decrease with age, and that adaptive immune responses, especially CD4+ T cell function, seem to be the main affected point in immunity with aging. Dendritic cells (DC) are the major antigen presenting cell (APC), and at least part of the defects observed in adaptive immunity of aged individuals could be due to diminished potential of bone marrow to generate new DC, or defects in DC function. In this study, we investigated if the ability of aged bone marrow (BM) to generate new DC in vitro, as well as aged BM-derived DC responses to lypopolysaccharide (LPS).

Three-dimensional printing creates models for surgical planning of aortic valve replacement after previous coronary bypass grafting.

Purpose: Resternotomy for aortic valve replacement in patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting and an internal mammary artery graft may be a surgical problem. Thus, we are exploring the effect of using rapid prototyping techniques for surgical planning and intraoperative orientation during aortic valve replacement after previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Description: As a proof of concept, we studied a patient who had undergone CABG 5 years earlier.

Atrioventricular septal defect in the fetus--associated conditions and outcome in 246 cases.

Purpose: To evaluate the associated conditions and the outcome of atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD) detected in fetal life.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of all cases of AVSD detected prenatally between 1998 and 2006 in two tertiary referral centers in Germany.

Results: 246 cases of AVSD were detected in the study period: 129 (52.

Accumulation of nuclear DNA damage or neuron loss: molecular basis for a new approach to understanding selective neuronal vulnerability in neurodegenerative diseases.

According to a long-standing hypothesis, aging is mainly caused by accumulation of nuclear (n) DNA damage in differentiated cells such as neurons due to insufficient nDNA repair during lifetime. In line with this hypothesis it was until recently widely accepted that neuron loss is a general consequence of normal aging, explaining some degree of decline in brain function during aging. However, with the advent of more accurate procedures for counting neurons, it is currently widely accepted that there is widespread preservation of neuron numbers in the aging brain, and the changes that do occur are relatively specific to certain brain regions and types of neurons.

Dose-dependent new bone formation by extracorporeal shock wave application on the intact femur of rabbits.

Background: Whereas various molecular working mechanisms of shock waves have been demonstrated, no study has assessed in detail the influence of varying energy flux densities (EFD) on new bone formation in vivo.

Methods: Thirty Chinchilla bastard rabbits were randomly assigned to 5 groups (EFD 0.0, 0.

Rotation as a course: lessons learned from developing a hybrid online/on-ground approach to general surgical resident education.

Purpose: To improve the consistency and the quality of resident education on clinical rotations, 5 surgical rotations (thoracic, bariatrics, surgical oncology, pediatrics, and critical care) were restructured "as courses" with learning objectives, educational activities (online and on-ground), pretests, posttests, and oral examinations.

Setting/participants: University surgical training program in a large metropolitan area, which serves approximately 65 residents per year.

Methods: The online course management system, WebCT/VISTA (Blackboard Inc.

Spatial distribution and density of oligodendrocytes in the cingulum bundle are unaltered in schizophrenia.

It has been proposed that schizophrenia results partly from altered brain connectivity. Gene microarray analyses performed in gray matter have indicated that several myelin-related genes normally expressed in oligodendrocytes have decreased expression levels in schizophrenia. These data suggest that oligodendrocytes may be involved in the deficits of schizophrenia and may be decreased in number in the case of disease.

ALCAPA with the ectopic orifice at the non-facing sinus: successful anatomic repair by creation of an autologous extrapulmonary tunnel.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital defect. This anomaly leads to a coronary hypoperfusion phenomenon and to substantial left ventricular dysfunction caused by abnormal perfusion of the left ventricle. The optimal surgical management of such cases is not clearly established.

Patch closure of muscular ventricular septal defects with a new hybrid therapy in a pig model.

Objectives: We evaluated a novel technique for hybrid patch closure of muscular ventricular septal defects (mVSDs) without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in a pig model.

Background: So far, surgical and interventional therapies for mVSDs have been associated with significant morbidity, especially in newborns and infants. Thus, it is essential to develop new techniques.

Extracorporeal shockwave application to the distal femur of rabbits diminishes the number of neurons immunoreactive for substance P in dorsal root ganglia L5.

Application of extracorporeal shockwaves to the musculoskeletal system can induce long-term analgesia in the treatment of chronic painful diseases such as calcifying tendonitis of the shoulder, tennis elbow and chronic plantar fasciitis. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are largely unknown. Recently it was shown that application of extracorporeal shockwaves to the distal femur of rabbits can lead to reduced concentration of substance P in the shockwaves' focal zone.

Instrumentation and calibration protocol for imaging dynamic features in dense-scattering media by optical tomography.

Instrumentation is described that is suitable for acquiring multisource, multidetector, time-series optical data at high sampling rates (up to 150 Hz) from tissues having arbitrary geometries. The design rationale, calibration protocol, and measured performance features are given for both a currently used, CCD-camera-based instrument and a new silicon-photodiode-based system under construction. Also shown are representative images that we reconstructed from data acquired in laboratory studies using the described CCD-based instrument.

Hypoxia-regulated components of the U4/U6.U5 tri-small nuclear riboprotein complex: possible role in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa.

Purpose: High oxygen consumption and cyclical changes related to dark-adaptation are characteristic of the outer retina. Oxygenation changes may contribute to the selective vulnerability of the retina in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients, especially for those forms involving genes with global cellular functions. Genes coding for components of the U4/U6.

Neurons in the fusiform gyrus are fewer and smaller in autism.

Abnormalities in face perception are a core feature of social disabilities in autism. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies showed that patients with autism could perform face perception tasks. However, the fusiform gyrus (FG) and other cortical regions supporting face processing in controls are hypoactive in patients with autism.

The Fat-like cadherin CDH-4 controls axon fasciculation, cell migration and hypodermis and pharynx development in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Cadherins are one of the major families of adhesion molecules with diverse functions during embryonic development. Fat-like cadherins form an evolutionarily conserved subgroup characterized by an unusually large number of cadherin repeats in the extracellular domain. Here we describe the role of the Fat-like cadherin CDH-4 in Caenorhabditis elegans development.

Creation of ventricular septal defects on the beating heart in a new pig model.

Background/aims: So far, surgical and interventional therapies for muscular ventricular septal defects (mVSDs) beyond the moderator band have had their limitations. Thus, alternative therapeutic strategies should be developed. We present a new animal model for the evaluation of such strategies.

Neuronal distribution in the neocortex of schizophrenic patients.

It has been postulated that the prefrontal cortices of schizophrenic patients have significant alterations in their neuropil space. However, previous results have been contradictory and inconclusive, reporting both decreases and increases in the prefrontal neuropil. The present study re-examines these findings based on measurements of cell density, and inter-cellular distances within and between cell minicolumns.