Diagnostic value of physical tests for isolated chronic acromioclavicular lesions.

Purpose: Chronic acromioclavicular joint lesions are a common source of pain and disability in the shoulder. The goal of this study was to evaluate diagnostic values of physical tests for isolated, chronic acromioclavicular joint lesions.

Study Design: A retrospective case-control study.

Ectopic expression of the catalytic subunit of telomerase protects against brain injury resulting from ischemia and NMDA-induced neurotoxicity.

The catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) protects dividing cells from replicative senescence in vitro. Here, we show that expression of TERT mRNA is induced in the ipsilateral cortical neurons after occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in adult mice. Transgenic mice that overexpress TERT showed significant resistance to ischemic brain injury.

Chemical genomics and medicinal systems biology: chemical control of genomic networks in human systems biology for innovative medicine.

With advances in determining the entire DNA sequence of the human genome, it is now critical to systematically identify the function of a number of genes in the human genome. These biological challenges, especially those in human diseases, should be addressed in human cells in which conventional (e.g.

Surgeon experience and clinical and economic outcomes for shoulder arthroplasty.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that a high surgical volume for certain surgical procedures reduces morbidity and improves economic outcome; however, to our knowledge, no study has demonstrated a similar relationship between volume and outcome for total shoulder arthroplasty and hemiarthroplasty. The objective of this study was to determine whether increased surgeon experience was associated with improved clinical and economic outcomes for patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty or hemiarthroplasty.

Methods: We analyzed discharge data on patients treated between 1994 and 2000 from the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, which has a statewide hospital discharge database of all patients in the state of Maryland.

[Usefulness and limitation of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography in patients with hepatolithiasis].

Background/aims: Diagnosis of bile duct strictures as well as detection and localization of hepatolithiasis is important for an effective treatment of hepatolithiasis. For this purpose, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) have been preferred as the diagnostic modalities of choice for hepatolithiasis. At present, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is rapidly replacing ERCP.

Usefulness of known computed tomography and clinical criteria for diagnosing strangulation in small-bowel obstruction: analysis of true and false interpretation groups in computed tomography.

Computed tomography (CT) criteria have proven useful, but not sufficient, for diagnosis of bowel strangulation. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the use of clinical criteria in the interpretation of CT scans as a means of improving the diagnostic accuracy of CT, especially in patients whose CT scans are equivocal for distinguishing simple obstruction from strangulated obstruction. We analyzed the CT scans of 136 patients with simple (n=70) or strangulated (n=66) small-bowel obstruction.

The effect of variation in definition on the diagnosis of multidirectional instability of the shoulder.

Background: There currently is a wide variation in the definition of multidirectional instability of the shoulder in the literature. The purpose of this study was to determine if these variations influence the distribution of the diagnoses in a cohort of patients with shoulder instability.

Methods: A cohort of 168 patients who underwent shoulder surgery for instability of any type was studied.

Antimalarial activity of herbal extracts used in traditional medicine in Korea.

Aqueous extracts of 6 traditional Korean medicines used to treat malaria were tested in vitro for their antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum. The EC50 values for the herbal extracts were in the range 1.4-8.

Hepatic vein stenosis after living donor liver transplantation: evaluation with Doppler US.

Purpose: To determine the spectral Doppler ultrasonographic (US) findings that would indicate hepatic vein stenosis after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

Materials And Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed postoperative Doppler US images of the hepatic veins in 113 consecutive patients who underwent LDLT. Doppler US was performed 1-25 times (mean, 5.

Differential diagnosis of benign and malignant intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas: MR cholangiopancreatography and MR angiography.

Objective: To compare the usefulness of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and MR angiography (MRA) in differentiating malignant from benign intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas (IPMTs), and to determine the findings which suggest malignancy.

Materials And Methods: During a 6-year period, 46 patients with IPMT underwent MRCP. Morphologically, tumor type was classified as main duct, branch duct, or combined.

Characterization and analysis of osteopontin-immobilized poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) surfaces.

A wide array of technologies exist for the characterization and quantification of molecules present at surfaces. We have used several of these experimental and instrumental techniques for the analysis of a novel biomaterial surface. Osteopontin, an extracellular matrix molecule involved in wound-healing processes, has been chosen as a relevant model protein to immobilize onto poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(HEMA)].

In vitro chondrogenesis of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in a photopolymerizing hydrogel.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from skeletally mature goats were encapsulated in a photopolymerizing poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogel and cultured with or without transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF) to study the potential for chondrogenesis in a hydrogel scaffold system amenable to minimally invasive implantation. Chondrogenic differentiation was evaluated by histological, biochemical, and RNA analyses for the expression of cartilage extracellular matrix components. The two control groups studied were MSCs cultured in monolayer and MSCs encapsulated in the hydrogel and cultured for 6 weeks in chondrogenic medium without TGF-beta1 (6wk-TGF).

Partial tears of the subscapularis tendon found during arthroscopic procedures on the shoulder: a statistical analysis of sixty cases.

Background: Prevalence and clinical significance of partial tears of the subscapularis tendon have not been widely studied.

Purpose: To determine prevalence of and clinical factors associated with partial tears of the subscapularis tendon at arthroscopy.

Study Design: Case control study.

Vascular complications after living related liver transplantation: evaluation with gadolinium-enhanced three-dimensional MR angiography.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of gadolinium-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) MR angiography for detection of vascular complications in patients who have undergone living related liver transplantation.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-six patients who underwent living related liver transplantation were evaluated with gadolinium-enhanced 3D MR angiography. All MR angiograms were assessed for patency of the hepatic artery and the portal vein using a four-point scale (grades I-IV).

Anatomic variation in intrahepatic bile ducts: an analysis of intraoperative cholangiograms in 300 consecutive donors for living donor liver transplantation.

Objective: To describe the anatomical variation occurring in intrahepatic bile ducts (IHDs) in terms of their branching patterns, and to determine the frequency of each variation.

Materials And Methods: The study group consisted of 300 consecutive donors for liver transplantation who underwent intraoperative cholangiography. Anatomical variation in IHDs was classified according to the branching pattern of the right anterior and right posterior segmental duct (RASD and RPSD, respectively), and the presence or absence of the first-order branch of the left hepatic duct (LHD), and of an accessory hepatic duct.

Preoperative evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma: combined use of CT with arterial portography and hepatic arteriography.

Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the usefulness of combined CT during arterial portography and CT hepatic arteriography in the preoperative evaluation of patients with known or suspected hepatocellular carcinoma and to describe the findings on CT during arterial portography and CT hepatic arteriography by which hepatocellular carcinomas may be differentiated from pseudolesions.

Subjects And Methods: This study included 137 patients who underwent combined CT during arterial portography and CT hepatic arteriography for the preoperative evaluation of known or suspected hepatocellular carcinoma. The images were prospectively evaluated to identify focal hepatic lesions and their differential diagnoses (hepatocellular carcinoma versus pseudolesion).

Primary extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both: findings on CT and barium studies.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CT and radiographic features of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both.

Conclusion: Although the radiologic findings of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both appear to be variable and nonspecific, some distinguishing features are poor contrast enhancement, bulky exophytic mass, and minimal peritumoral infiltration.

Evaluation of the hepatic artery in potential donors for living donor liver transplantation by computed tomography angiography using multidetector-row computed tomography: comparison of volume rendering and maximum intensity projection techniques.

Purpose: To compare the volume rendering (VR) and maximum intensity projection (MIP) computed tomography angiography (CTA) techniques using multidetector-row CT for hepatic artery evaluation of potential donors for living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

Method: Over a 9-month period, CTA using multidetector-row CT and conventional angiography was performed in 62 consecutive potential donors for LDLT. Acquisition of arterial phase scans was initiated within 5 seconds after reaching enhancement of the descending aorta up to 70 HU as measured by a bolus-tracking technique (collimation = 1.

Hepatic arteries in potential donors for living related liver transplantation: evaluation with multi-detector row CT angiography.

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of multi-detector row computed tomographic (CT) angiography in the evaluation of hepatic arterial anatomy in living related liver transplantation (LRLT) donors.

Materials And Methods: During a 10-month period, 62 potential LRLT donors were evaluated with CT and conventional angiography. Multi-detector row CT was performed after intravenous injection of 150 mL of contrast material at 3 mL/sec.

Anatomical variants in the anterosuperior aspect of the glenoid labrum: a statistical analysis of seventy-three cases.

Background: Anterosuperior labral variations of the glenohumeral joint have been previously described and are thought to represent normal anatomical variants without any known clinical importance. The goals of this study were to characterize anterosuperior labral anatomical variations and to determine their prevalence and clinical importance.

Methods: A total of 546 patients who had an arthroscopic procedure in the shoulder were prospectively evaluated for variations of the anterosuperior aspect of the labrum.

Extrahepatic spread of hepatocellular carcinoma: a pictorial review.

Although extrahepatic spread of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is uncommon, it can be found anywhere in the body. Most extrahepatic metastases of HCC occur in patients with advanced-stage intrahepatic tumor, but incidental extrahepatic lesions have also occasionally been found in patients with early-stage intrahepatic HCC. The detection of extrahepatic metastatic disease is crucial when planning therapy for patients with HCC and should be used to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention.

Peritoneal leiomyosarcomatosis originating from gastrointestinal leiomyosarcomas: CT features.

Purpose: To evaluate the computed tomographic (CT) features of peritoneal leiomyosarcomatosis (PL) originating from gastrointestinal leiomyosarcoma and compare the CT features of primary gastrointestinal leiomyosarcomas between patients with and those without PL.

Materials And Methods: The authors reviewed the medical and surgical-pathology records and the CT scans of 89 patients with gastrointestinal leiomyosarcoma to determine the prevalence of PL. Also, the CT scans of the patients with PL were evaluated for the morphologic appearance of peritoneal lesions.

Papillary neoplasms of the bile duct that mimic biliary stone disease.

Papillary tumors of the bile duct are intraductal tumors with innumerable minute, frondlike papillary projections. These tumors may be either fixed to or detached from the bile duct wall. However, because the papillary projections on the surface of papillary tumors are long and slender, the tumors are friable and slough easily.

CT findings in peripheral T-cell lymphoma involving the gastrointestinal tract.

Purpose: To evaluate whether computed tomography (CT) accurately depicted gastrointestinal tract involvement in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

Materials And Methods: CT scans were retrospectively reviewed in 14 patients with pathologically proved PTCLs of the gastrointestinal tract for the following considerations: sites, patterns of involvement (ie, morphologic features, bowel wall thickness or mass size, and contrast enhancement pattern), and ancillary findings at other sites (ie, lymphadenopathy, bowel perforation, and involvement of other organs).

Results: PTCL involved the stomach in three patients, the small intestine in eight, both the stomach and the small intestine in one, and the sigmoid colon in two; multifocal involvement was seen in three (21%) patients.