Learning Curve Effect of Combined Technique Thrombectomy as First-Line Attempt for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Objectives: We retrospectively examined the initial experience and learning curve after the introduction of thrombectomy with the combined technique using an aspiration catheter and a stent retriever as first-line attempt for acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke at our institution between January 2020 and December 2022 were divided into 3 groups according to the year of thrombectomy. Patient characteristics and procedural, safety, and clinical outcomes were compared between the three year periods to determine predictors of favorable clinical outcome.

Basilar artery occlusion due to vertebral artery injury treated with thrombectomy and distal vertebral artery embolization through the unaffected side.

Background: There is no established opinion regarding embolization of asymptomatic traumatic vertebral artery injuries that do not require cervical spine repair and fixation.

Case Description: A 78-year-old man fell backward from a height of about 1 m and was rushed to his previous hospital. He had a fracture of the left transverse process of the 6 cervical vertebra.

Factors for failure of ultrasound-guided compression repair for femoral pseudoaneurysms after neuroendovascular therapy.

Objective: Pseudoaneurysms are a serious complication of neuroendovascular therapy with femoral artery puncture, for which ultrasound-guided compression repair (UGCR) is often the first choice of radical therapy. We sought to retrospectively investigate the factors for failure of UGCR for pseudoaneurysm at the femoral artery puncture site.

Methods: Among patients undergoing neuroendovascular therapy with femoral artery puncture at our hospital between January 2018 and April 2021, those who received a diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm and underwent UGCR were enrolled.

White Embolus-induced Basilar Artery Occlusion Due to Pulmonary Vein Invasion of a Metastasis of a Malignant Melanoma.

An 80-year-old woman presented with impaired consciousness after malignant melanoma resection. Magnetic resonance angiography showed basilar artery occlusion, which was subjected to mechanical thrombectomy for recanalization. A pathological analysis of the retrieved embolus revealed that it was derived from a metastasis of malignant melanoma.

Safety and immunogenicity of the anti-cocaine vaccine UFMG-VAC-V4N2 in a non-human primate model.

A promising strategy for cocaine addiction treatment is the anti-drug vaccine. These vaccines induce the production of anticocaine antibodies, capable of linking to cocaine, and decrease the passage of cocaine throughout the blood-brain barrier, decreasing drug activity in the brain. Our research group developed a new vaccine candidate, the UFMG-V4N2, to treat cocaine use disorders (CUD) using an innovative carrier based on calixarenes.

Short-term aneurysm formation and rupture due to septic embolism diagnosed with a thrombus retrieved from another occluded artery.

Background: In rare cases, septic embolism is diagnosed on the basis of pathological findings of retrieved thrombi. Infected aneurysms can rapidly form and rupture after septic embolism, leading to a poor prognosis. We report a case of subcortical hemorrhage due to an infected aneurysm forming shortly after septic embolism in the left anterior cerebral artery.

Inferior Epigastric Artery Injury due to Femoral Venipuncture for Neuroendovascular Intervention: Two Cases Requiring Transcatheter Arterial Embolization.

Objective: Injury to the inferior epigastric artery (IEA) caused by femoral puncture may lead to retroperitoneal hematoma. We report on two cases of IEA injury due to femoral venipuncture for neuroendovascular intervention that resulted in hemorrhagic shock and required transcatheter arterial embolization.

Case Presentations: A 67-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man receiving dual antiplatelet therapy sustained injury to a branch of the IEA in the process of right femoral venipuncture for neuroendovascular intervention.

Low-profile visualized intraluminal support Blue stenting within a Neuroform Atlas stent for a large wide-necked aneurysm: A case report and a bench-top experiment.

Low-profile visualized intraluminal support deployment in an Enterprise has been reported; however, that in an Atlas has yet to be in detail. Enterprise has a closed-cell design, while Atlas has an open-cell design. We detail here a case of a large wide-necked aneurysm treated by coil embolization with low-profile visualized intraluminal support Blue deployment within a Neuroform Atlas and a bench-top experiment using a silicon tube to test low-profile visualized intraluminal support, Atlas, Enterprise, and their combinations.

Immunopathology and modulation induced by hookworms: From understanding to intervention.

Hookworm infection is considered the most prevalent human soil-transmitted helminth infection affecting approximately 500 million people and accounting for 3.2 million disability-adjusted life years lost annually. As with many other neglected tropical diseases, no international surveillance mechanisms that show accurate data on the prevalence of hookworm infection are in place, thus hindering strategies to control parasite transmission.

Serological tests using Sporothrix species antigens for the accurate diagnosis of sporotrichosis: a meta-analysis.

Some species of the fungus Sporothrix cause a chronic granulomatous infection in humans and animals called sporotrichosis. In the last decades, some research into serological tests has been carried out by different groups for the rapid detection of this infection. We performed a systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis to evaluate studies using Sporothrix spp.

Novel approach to determining the absolute configurations at the C3-positions of various types of sterols based on an induced circular dichroism.

Circular dichroism (CD) spectra of the 2,2'-binaphthyl ester derived from Δ(5)-sterols showed not bisignate CD but diagnostic CD bands at around 210 and 240 nm. These bands might be attributable to an interaction between an olefinic chromophore and a binaphthyl one. Various types of unsaturated sterols were thus derivatized followed by complete hydrogenation, to give saturated sterols.

Straightforward approach to the discrimination of (4R)- and (4S)-beta-isocryptoxanthin from a conformationally insensitive CD band.

A straightforward strategy is reported for chiral discrimination in a specified carotenoid using a CD band, which is insensitive to conformational changes, computed by quantum chemical calculation.

Managing prenatally diagnosed asymptomatic congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation.

Aim: To review our cases of congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM) with special emphasis on the management of prenatally diagnosed asymptomatic CCAM (PDA-CCAM).

Methods: A total of 42 consecutive CCAM patients treated between 1990 and 2008 at our institution and affiliated hospitals were divided into four groups, according to whether prenatal diagnosis was made [PD (+) or (-)], whether patients were symptomatic [S (+) or (-)], whether there was any increase in size observed radiologically [R (+) or (-)], and whether surgical resection was performed [X (+) or (-)], to give a symptomatic early surgery group diagnosed prenatally (group A; n = 15): PD (+), S (+), R (+), X (+); an asymptomatic early surgery group diagnosed prenatally (group B; n = 8): PD (+), S (-), R (-), X (+); a conservative observation group diagnosed prenatally (group C; n = 6): PD (+), S (-), R (-), X (-); and a symptomatic surgery group diagnosed postnatally (group D; n = 13): PD (-), S (+), R (unknown), X (+). Patient demographics, effects of surgical stress, histopathology, and outcome were compared between the four groups.

Effects of glutamic acid and taurine on total parenteral nutrition.

Background: The objective of the present study was to ascertain whether simultaneous administration of glutamic acid (Glu) and taurine (Tau) to patients on total parenteral nutrition (TPN) could improve intestinal mucosal atrophy and suppress bacterial translocation.

Methods: A 5-day TPN study was conducted in 5-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. Commercially available Glu was used for TPN in group G and was enhanced with Tau (500 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) in group GT.

Synthesis of (-)-epibatidine and its derivatives from chiral allene-1,3-dicarboxylate esters.

(-)-Epibatidine, an excellent candidate of non-opioidal anesthesia, was formally synthesized in short steps from di-(l)-menthyl (R)-allene-1,3-dicarboxylate that was facilely prepared as a single isomer by means of crystallization-induced asymmetric transformation from a diastereomer mixture of (R)- and (S)-allene-1,3-dicarboxylates. Taking advantage of the chiral synthesis, derivatives of (-)-epibatidine were also prepared for targeting diagnostic agents that could bind nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the mammalian central nerve system.

Unusual onset of chronic graft-versus-host disease after adult living-related liver transplantation from a homozygous donor.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a rare complication that occurs after living-related liver transplantation (LRLT). This condition usually occurs early after transplantation and is fatal. Although one-way matching between a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-homozygous donor and a haploidentical recipient has been shown to be a significant risk factor for the development of acute GVHD, chronic GVHD has not been clarified.