Left Ventricular Assist Device in Advanced Refractory Heart Failure: A Comprehensive Review of Patient Selection, Surgical Approaches, Complications and Future Perspectives.

The management of advanced heart failure (HF) has long posed significant challenges due to its complex and chronic nature. Heart transplantation, while effective, is not always feasible due to the limited availability of donor organs. In this context, long term mechanical circulatory support and mainly left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have emerged as a vital intervention to fill this gap.

Garlic and Hypertension: Efficacy, Mechanism of Action, and Clinical Implications.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Garlic has a long history of use in traditional medicine for various conditions, including hypertension. This narrative review examined the scientific evidence on the efficacy of garlic in lowering blood pressure.

Tocotrienol isoforms: The molecular mechanisms underlying their effects in cancer therapy and their implementation in clinical trials.

Tocotrienols are found in a variety of natural sources, like rice bran, annatto seeds and palm oil, and have been shown to have several health-promoting properties, particularly against chronic diseases such as cancer. The incidence of cancer is rapidly increasing around the world, not only a result of continued aging and population growth, but also due to the adoption of aspects of the Western lifestyle, such as high-fat diets and low-physical activity. The literature provides strong evidence that tocotrienols are able to inhibit the growth of various cancers, including breast, lung, ovarian, prostate, liver, brain, colon, myeloma and pancreatic cancers.

The Synergistic Effects of Curcumin and Chemotherapeutic Drugs in Inhibiting Metastatic, Invasive and Proliferative Pathways.

Curcumin, the main phytochemical identified from the L. family, is one of the spices used in alternative medicine worldwide. It has exhibited a broad range of pharmacological activities as well as promising effects in the treatment of multiple cancer types.

Gallbladder Volvulus: An Unusual Presentation.

BACKGROUND Gallbladder torsion is a rare entity of acute abdomen that can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated promptly. It presents in a multitude of ways but the most common is a presentation similar to acute cholecystitis. Diagnosis can be made clinically by abdominal ultrasound with Doppler flow, and treatment is detorsion with cholecystectomy.

Unusual Pattern of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Metastasis: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Metastasis of breast cancer to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is not common, however, invasive lobular carcinoma is more likely to metastasize to the GI tract than ductal carcinoma. The simultaneous metastasis of invasive lobular carcinoma to the GI tract and ovaries is an extremely uncommon presentation, which may mimic another rare entity that is peritoneal carcinomatosis secondary to breast cancer. Diagnosis of this entity is difficult as it can masquerade as a primary disease process instead of a secondary one.

A Rare Presentation of Gall Bladder Volvulus: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Gall bladder volvulus is a rare clinical entity, with only around 500 cases reported in the literature. It is defined as the rotation of the gallbladder on its mesentery along the axis of the cystic pedicle, although cases of torsion of the gallbladder fundus itself have been reported. CASE REPORT A 78-year-old woman presented for severe right upper-quadrant abdominal pain that began acutely 3 days prior.

Low temperature kinetics and theoretical studies of the reaction CN + CHNH: a potential source of cyanamide and methyl cyanamide in the interstellar medium.

The reaction between cyano radicals (which are ubiquitous in interstellar clouds) and methylamine (a molecule detected in various interstellar sources) has been investigated in a synergistic experimental and theoretical study. The reaction has been found to be very fast in the entire range of temperatures investigated (23-297 K) by using a CRESU apparatus coupled to pulsed laser photolysis - laser induced fluorescence. The global experimental rate coefficient is given by In addition, dedicated electronic structure calculations of the underlying potential energy surface have been performed, together with capture theory and RRKM calculations.

Pressure dependent low temperature kinetics for CN + CH3CN: competition between chemical reaction and van der Waals complex formation.

The gas phase reaction between the CN radical and acetonitrile CH3CN was investigated experimentally, at low temperatures, with the CRESU apparatus and a slow flow reactor to explore the temperature dependence of its rate coefficient from 354 K down to 23 K. Whereas a standard Arrhenius behavior was found at T > 200 K, indicating the presence of an activation barrier, a dramatic increase in the rate coefficient by a factor of 130 was observed when the temperature was decreased from 168 to 123 K. The reaction was found to be pressure independent at 297 K unlike the experiments carried out at 52 and 132 K.

Kinetics and mechanism of the tropospheric reaction of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone with Cl atoms.

The relative rate coefficient for the gas-phase reaction of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone (3H3M2B) with Cl atoms was determined under atmospheric conditions (298 ± 2 K, 720 ± 2 Torr). The products of the reaction were identified and quantified. This work provides the first kinetic and mechanistic determinations of the gas-phase reaction of Cl atoms with 3H3M2B.

First experimental determination of the absolute gas-phase rate coefficient for the reaction of OH with 4-hydroxy-2-butanone (4H2B) at 294 K by vapor pressure measurements of 4H2B.

The reaction of the OH radicals with 4-hydroxy-2-butanone was investigated in the gas phase using an absolute rate method at room temperature and over the pressure range 10-330 Torr in He and air as diluent gases. The rate coefficients were measured using pulsed laser photolysis (PLP) of H(2)O(2) to produce OH and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) to measure the OH temporal profile. An average value of (4.

[Intrahospital mortality during acute exacerbations of COPD. Study EABPCO-CPHG of the College of the Lung specialists of General hospitals (CPHG)].

Introduction: The objective of the present study was to determine the in-hospital mortality rate in the EAPCO-CPHG cohort and to identify risk factors.

Methods: All patients with COPD acute exacerbation admitted to the pneumology department of 68 French general hospitals between October 2006 and June 2007 were included in the EABPCO-CPHG cohort.

Results: At discharge, vital status was known for 1817 patients.

[Isolation of three species of Nocardia in a patient receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy].

Introduction: Nocardia are saprophyte bacteria of the environment responsible for systemic infections in immunodepressed patients, due essentially to long-term corticosteroids.

Observation: A patient having received corticosteroids for sarcoidoses for a year was hospitalised because of disseminated granulomatosis (neurological, respiratory, abdominal and cutaneous). Culture of various bacteriological samples isolated three species of Nocardia: N.

[Imaging features of retained surgical foreign bodies].

Purpose: To study the clinical and radiological manifestations in patients with retained surgical foreign bodies.

Patients And Methods: Over the last five years, seven patients were found to have retained surgical foreign bodies after abdominal surgery. An analysis of the clinical signs, laboratory findings and imaging features was performed.

Flow limitation and dynamic hyperinflation during exercise in COPD patients after single lung transplantation.

Study Objective: Using the negative expiratory pressure (NEP) method, we have previously shown that patients receiving single lung transplantation (SLT) for COPD do not exhibit expiratory flow limitation and have little dyspnea at rest. In the present study, we assessed whether SLT patients exhibit flow limitation, overall hyperinflation, and dyspnea during exercise.

Methods: Expiratory flow limitation assessed by the NEP method and inspiratory capacity maneuvers used to determine end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) and end-inspiratory lung volume (EILV) were performed at rest and during symptom-limited incremental cycle exercise in eight SLT patients.

Intraabdominal panniculitis. Report of three cases and review of the literature.

Intraabdominal panniculitis is a rare, benign idiopathic disorder of the mesentery. Patients usually present with abdominal pain and a palpable mass. The cross-sectional imaging findings are characteristic and consist of a fibrofatty central mesenteric mass lesion encapsulating the mesenteric vessels with displacement of the bowel loops, that can suggest the diagnosis.

Morbidity and mortality related to the native lung in single lung transplantation for emphysema.

It has been advocated that a major drawback of single lung transplantation (SLT) is the risk of serious complications arising from the native lung. The morbidity and mortality related to the native lung in 46 patients who underwent SLT for pulmonary emphysema in Clichy from 1988 to 1997 were reviewed retrospectively. In particular, infectious complications and native lung hyperinflation were searched.

Severe tracheobronchial stenosis in a patient with Crohn's disease.

Tracheobronchial involvement in Crohn's disease is rare, usually associated with symptoms of tracheobronchitis, and typically responds well to steroids. The authors report a case of a 29-yr old patient with Crohn's disease, who presented with dyspnoea, fever, and a productive cough. Computed tomography of the chest revealed extensive nodular tracheobronchial stenosis, that was accompanied by severe mucosal inflammation at bronchoscopy.

Immediate and long-term results of bronchial artery embolization for life-threatening hemoptysis.

Study Objectives: Bronchial artery embolization (BAE) has been established as an effective technique in the emergency treatment of life-threatening hemoptysis, but few data concerning long-term results and complications of the procedure are available. The aim of this study was to analyze retrospectively the experience of BAE in our center with particular emphasis on medium-term and long-term results and on morbidity.

Setting: University hospital.

Limitations of radionuclide angiographic assessment of left ventricular systolic function before lung transplantation.

To evaluate the influence of increased right ventricular afterload on radionuclide assessment of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), we compared the preoperative and postoperative value of isotopic LVEF in 11 patients who underwent lung transplantation and had a preoperative LVEF value below 55% (normal value: 68 +/- 8%). The underlying disease conditions were obstructive lung disease (n = 7) and pulmonary fibrosis (n = 4). The transplantation procedure was unilateral in 10 patients and bilateral in one.

Isolated pulmonary arteries involvement in a patient with Takayasu's arteritis.

Pulmonary arteries involvement is well described in Takayasu's arteritis (TA), a condition which is mainly associated with involvement of the systemic arteries. We report a case of TA with documented isolated pulmonary arteries involvement. Symptoms were quite similar to those encountered in chronic thromboembolic disease.

Early release of proinflammatory cytokines after lung transplantation.

Background: Systemic hypotension may complicate the early postoperative period after lung transplantation. A release of proinflammatory cytokines secondary to lung ischemia/reperfusion injury could be involved in the pathogenesis of this early hemodynamic failure (EHF).

Study Objective: To assess prospectively whether the occurrence of EHF is associated with a release of cytokines in the systemic circulation.