Iatrogenic Anomalous Origin of the Right Pulmonary Artery From the Aorta: A Rare Complication of Ligation of Aortopulmonary Window.

An aortopulmonary window (APW) is a communication between the main pulmonary artery (MPA) and the ascending aorta in the presence of two separate semilunar valves. Surgical strategies described for the management of APW include ligation, division and suturing, patch closure of APW (transaortic or transpulmonary or transwindow), and device closure. Ligation of a type-2 APW can result in stenosis or complete closure of the right pulmonary artery (RPA) off the MPA, while leaving the aorta still opening into the RPA.

Abnormally proximal aortic origin of the brachiocephalic artery: Surgical implications.

Abnormal proximal aortic origin of the brachiocephalic artery is a very rare condition. It can occur in isolation or associated with complex congenital heart disease affecting the right ventricular outflow tract. Its recognition carries relevant surgical implications for the safe conduct of cardiopulmonary bypass and for any surgical procedures that directly involve the proximal ascending aorta and its branches.

The Role of Shunt Occlusion During Extracorporeal Life Support.

Introduction: The current recommendation for systemic to pulmonary artery shunt (SPS) patients requiring extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is to keep the shunt open, maintaining a higher pump flow. The practice in our center is to totally occlude the shunt while on ECLS, and we are presenting the outcome of this strategy.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent SPS for cyanotic congenital heart disease with decreased pulmonary blood flow and required postoperative ECLS between January 2016 and December 2020.

R1441C and G2019S LRRK2 knockin mice have distinct striatal molecular, physiological, and behavioral alterations.

LRRK2 mutations are closely associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Convergent evidence suggests that LRRK2 regulates striatal function. Here, by using knock-in mouse lines expressing the two most common LRRK2 pathogenic mutations-G2019S and R1441C-we investigated how LRRK2 mutations altered striatal physiology.

Coronavirus disease 2019 convalescent children: outcomes after congenital heart surgery.

Background: Children with exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 in recent times (asymptomatic or symptomatic infection) approaching congenital heart surgery programme are in increasing numbers. Understanding outcomes of such children will help risk-stratify and guide optimisation prior to congenital heart surgery.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine whether convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 children undergoing congenital heart surgery have any worse mortality or post-operative outcomes.

A Novel Surgical Technique to Address Post-Septal Myectomy Ventricular Septal Defect.

Iatrogenic ventricular septal defect is a rare complication in patients undergoing septal myectomy for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, and it necessitates closure in the postoperative period. We describe a novel surgical technique for closure of the ventricular septal defect using a biventricular approach with a custom-made polytetrafluoroethylene device. Our method is easily reproducible.

A Signaled Locomotor Avoidance Action Is Fully Represented in the Neural Activity of the Midbrain Tegmentum.

Animals, including humans, readily learn to avoid harmful and threatening situations by moving in response to cues that predict the threat (e.g., fire alarm, traffic light).

Basal Ganglia Output Has a Permissive Non-Driving Role in a Signaled Locomotor Action Mediated by the Midbrain.

The basal ganglia are important for movement and reinforcement learning. Using mice of either sex, we found that the main basal ganglia GABAergic output in the midbrain, the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), shows movement-related neural activity during the expression of a negatively reinforced signaled locomotor action known as signaled active avoidance; this action involves mice moving away during a warning signal to avoid a threat. In particular, many SNr neurons deactivate during active avoidance responses.

1,2 Intercompartmental Supraretinacular Artery-Based Vascularized Graft for Scaphoid Nonunion With Avascular Necrosis.

Background The treatment for scaphoid nonunion with avascular necrosis is vascularized and non-vascularized bone grafts. A vascularized bone graft promotes biological healing and revascularizes ischemic bone. The purpose of this retrospective study is to analyze the outcome of 1,2 intercompartmental supraretinacular artery (1,2-ICSRA)-based vascularized graft in scaphoid nonunion with avascular necrosis.

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: Special reference for use in 'post-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock' - A review with an Indian perspective.

The ultimate goals of cardiovascular physiology are to ensure adequate end-organ perfusion to satisfy the local metabolic demand, to maintain homeostasis and achieve 'milieu intérieur'. Cardiogenic shock is a state of pump failure which results in tissue hypoperfusion and its associated complications. There are a wide variety of causes which lead to this deranged physiology, and one such important and common scenario is the post-cardiotomy state which is encountered in cardiac surgical units.

Congenital Absence of Posterior Interosseous Artery: A New Anatomic Variant of the Posterior Interosseous Artery Flap.

Soft tissue cover to the hand can be as simple as a skin graft, local, distant flaps to a complex microvascular free flap. Posterior interosseous artery (PIA) flap is a technically demanding robust flap which can be used to cover a wide range of hand and wrist defects. We report a 25-year-old lady who had severe crush injury where the posterior interosseous flap was planned to cover the dorsum of hand defects.

Aspergillus flavus Infection of Lower Limb in an Immune-Competent Patient.

Isolated aspergillus infection of the lower limb is uncommon and needs more focus in terms of understanding the pathogenicity, ecological and geographical distribution, identification of species, management and follow-up. Aspergillus flavus involving the lower limb in an immunocompetent individual is a rare entity. Surgical management and antifungal therapy are the mainstays of treatment.

Effect of sub-toxic chlorpyrifos on redox sensitive kinases and insulin signaling in rat L6 myotubes.

Objectives: Sub-chronic exposures to chlorpyrifos, an organophosphorus pesticide is associated with incidence of diabetes mellitus. Biochemical basis of chlorpyrifos-induced diabetes mellitus is not known. Hence, effect of its sub-toxic exposure on redox sensitive kinases, insulin signaling and insulin-induced glucose uptake were assessed in rat muscle cell line.

Effect of sub-toxic exposure to Malathion on glucose uptake and insulin signaling in L6 myoblast derived myotubes.

Biochemical basis of Malathion exposure-induced diabetes mellitus is not known. Hence, effects of its sub-toxic exposure on redox sensitive kinases (RSKs), insulin signaling and insulin-induced glucose uptake were assessed in rat muscle cell line. In this study, rat myoblast (L6) cells were differentiated to myotubes and were exposed to sub-toxic concentrations (10 mg/l and 20 mg/l) of Malathion for 18 hours.

R-Modafinil exerts weak effects on spatial memory acquisition and dentate gyrus synaptic plasticity.

Modafinil is a wake promoting drug approved for clinical use and also has cognitive enhancing properties. Its enantiomer R-Modafinil (R-MO) is not well studied in regard to cognitive enhancing properties. Hence we studied its effect in a spatial memory paradigm and its possible effects on dentate gyrus long-term potentiation (DG-LTP).

Giant convexity chondroma with dural involvement: Case report and review of literature.

Intracranial chondromas are rare benign cartilaginous tumors arising usually from the skull base. We present a case of giant chondroma with dural attachment. Imaging modalities and management pearls are discussed.

A Murine Model to Study Epilepsy and SUDEP Induced by Malaria Infection.

One of the largest single sources of epilepsy in the world is produced as a neurological sequela in survivors of cerebral malaria. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological mechanisms of such epileptogenesis remain unknown and no adjunctive therapy during cerebral malaria has been shown to reduce the rate of subsequent epilepsy. There is no existing animal model of postmalarial epilepsy.

Repeated application of Modafinil and Levodopa reveals a drug-independent precise timing of spatial working memory modulation.

Cognition enhancing drugs often target the dopaminergic system, which is involved in learning and memory, including working memory that in turn involves mainly the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. In most animal models for modulations of working memory animals are pre-trained to a certain criterion and treated then acutely to test drugs effects on working memory. Thus, little is known regarding subchronic or chronic application of cognition enhancing drugs and working memory performance.

A Novel Heterocyclic Compound CE-104 Enhances Spatial Working Memory in the Radial Arm Maze in Rats and Modulates the Dopaminergic System.

Various psychostimulants targeting monoamine neurotransmitter transporters (MATs) have been shown to rescue cognition in patients with neurological disorders and improve cognitive abilities in healthy subjects at low doses. Here, we examined the effects upon cognition of a chemically synthesized novel MAT inhibiting compound 2-(benzhydrylsulfinylmethyl)-4-methylthiazole (named as CE-104). The efficacy of CE-104 in blocking MAT [dopamine transporter (DAT), serotonin transporter (SERT), and norepinephrine transporter] was determined using in vitro neurotransmitter uptake assay.

Differential effects of wake promoting drug modafinil in aversive learning paradigms.

Modafinil (MO) an inhibitor of the dopamine transporter was initially approved to treat narcolepsy, a sleep related disorder in humans. One interesting "side-effect" of this drug, which emerged from preclinical and clinical studies, is the facilitation of cognitive performance. So far, this was primarily shown in appetitive learning paradigms, but it is yet unclear whether MO exerts a more general cognitive enhancement effect.

Frontal cortex and hippocampus neurotransmitter receptor complex level parallels spatial memory performance in the radial arm maze.

Several neurotransmitter receptors have been proposed to be involved in memory formation. However, information on receptor complexes (RCs) in the radial arm maze (RAM) is missing. It was therefore the aim of this study to determine major neurotransmitter RCs levels that are modulated by RAM training because receptors are known to work in homo-or heteromeric assemblies.

Hippocampal monoamine receptor complex levels linked to spatial memory decline in the aging C57BL/6J.

Although a large series of reports on monoamine receptor (MAR) biochemistry and pharmacology in aging are available, work on MAR complexes rather than subunits is limited. It was the aim of the study to determine MAR complexes in hippocampi of three different age groups (3-12 and 18 months) in the mouse and to link MAR changes to spatial memory retrieval in the Morris water maze (MWM). MAR complexes were separated by blue native electrophoresis.

Amniotic fluid stem cells to study mTOR signaling in differentiation.

The protein kinase mTOR is the central player within a pathway, which is known to be involved in the regulation of e.g., cell size, cell cycle, apoptosis, autophagy, aging and differentiation.

Amniotic fluid stem cells: future perspectives.

The existence of stem cells in human amniotic fluid was reported for the first time almost ten years ago. Since this discovery, the knowledge about these cells has increased dramatically. Today, amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells are widely accepted as a new powerful tool for basic research as well as for the establishment of new stem-cell-based therapy concepts.