Fluoroscopy-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation of the lumbar medial branch nerves: dose escalation study and comparison with radiofrequency ablation in a porcine model.

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a common method for alleviating chronic back pain by targeting and ablating of facet joint sensory nerves. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is an emerging, non-invasive, image-guided technology capable of providing thermal tissue ablation. While HIFU shows promise as a potentially superior option for ablating sensory nerves, its efficacy needs validation and comparison with existing methods.

PKG and PKC Are Down-Regulated during Cardiomyocyte Differentiation from Embryonic Stem Cells: Manipulation of These Pathways Enhances Cardiomyocyte Production.

Understanding signal transduction mechanisms that drive differentiation of adult or embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is imperative if they are to be used to cure disease. While the list of signaling pathways regulating stem cell differentiation is growing, it is far from complete. Indentifying regulatory mechanisms and timecourse commitment to cell lineages is needed for generating pure populations terminally differentiated cell types, and in ESCs, suppression of teratoma formation.