Internal hernias are one of the rare causes of intestinal obstruction and usually is the diagnosis of exclusion. Para-duodenal hernias (PDH) are rare congenital disorders that occur due to malrotation of the midgut in the embryonic phase of development. They can be asymptomatic or can present as an incarcerated, strangulated, or even obstructed internal hernia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCollagen-I fibrillogenesis is crucial to health and development, where dysregulation is a hallmark of fibroproliferative diseases. Here, we show that collagen-I fibril assembly required a functional endocytic system that recycles collagen-I to assemble new fibrils. Endogenous collagen production was not required for fibrillogenesis if exogenous collagen was available, but the circadian-regulated vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) 33b and collagen-binding integrin α11 subunit were crucial to fibrillogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Duodenal perforation is a life-threatening condition. Laparoscopic repair using the falciform ligament is a minimally invasive technique that has shown promising results. We present a case series of patients who underwent laparoscopic repair of duodenal perforation using the falciform ligament as an alternative to conventional techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We have previously shown that dyssynchronous premature atrial complexes (PACs) from the lateral left atrium (LA) lead to greater atrial mechanical dysfunction, remodeling, and sustained atrial fibrillation (AF) than synchronous PACs from the interatrial septum. However, the impact of PAC coupling interval (CI) on atrial remodeling is unclear.
Objectives: This study sought to explore the effect of PAC CI on atrial mechanics and remodeling in the swine model.
Background: Autonomic denervation is an ancillary phenomenon during thermal ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF), that may have synergistic effects on symptomatic improvement and long-term freedom from AF. Pulsed field ablation (PFA), a nonthermal ablation modality, was noninferior to thermal ablation in treating AF; however, PFA's relative myocardial selectivity may minimize autonomic effects.
Objectives: This study sought to compare heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) metrics as markers of autonomic function after ablation using PFA vs thermal ablation.
Patients with end-stage heart failure (HF) may need mechanical circulatory support such as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). However, there are a range of complications associated with LVAD including aortic regurgitation (AR) and thrombus formation. This study assesses whether the risk of developing aortic conditions can be minimised by optimising LVAD implantation technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Hydrocele of the canal of Nuck is a condition that arises due to incomplete obliteration of the processus vaginalis or an abnormal outpouching from the round ligament during fetal development. It usually presents as a painless, rarely painful, groin swelling. The definitive diagnosis for this condition is magnetic resonance imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined by the presence of a mean pulmonary arterial pressure >20 mmHg. Current guidelines describe five groups of PH with shared pathophysiological and clinical features. In this paper, the first of a series covering all five PH classification groups, the clinical, radiological and pathological features of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) will be reviewed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction Emergency surgery has a high risk of complications due to the detrimental effect of perioperative sepsis and the relative lack of preoperative optimization of patients. Despite advances in critical care for the management of sepsis, its prevention is dependent on various patient and surgeon factors. Surgical site infection continues to be a major determinant of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery, especially in contaminated or dirty wounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiposarcomas are a subtype of soft tissue sarcomas arising from lipoblasts, a mesenchymal cell lineage that commonly arises from deep tissues of the body. Though these are the most common subtypes, their early diagnosis still remains a challenge due to their varied presentation as a soft benign appearing growth. The pleomorphic variant has complex management due to its high recurrence rate and resistance to chemoradiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The temporal artery biopsy (TAB) is regarded as the gold-standard test in the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA). There is a lack of agreement among experienced pathologists regarding the diagnostic features and classification of inflammation observed in TAB sections in the diagnosis of GCA.
Aims: The aim of this research study was to establish consensus on the key parameters which should be included in a standardised reporting proforma for TAB specimens.
Background: The United Kingdom (UK) was one of the first countries to pioneer heart transplantation from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors. To facilitate equity of access to DCD hearts by all UK heart transplant centers and expand the retrieval zone nationwide, a Joint Innovation Fund (JIF) pilot was provided by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and NHS England (NHSE). The activity and outcomes of this national DCD heart pilot program are reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHoneycombing is a histological pattern consistent with Usual Interstitial Pneumonia (UIP). Honeycombing refers to cystic airways located at sites of dense fibrosis with marked mucus accumulation. Utilizing laser capture microdissection coupled mass spectrometry (LCM-MS), we interrogated the fibrotic honeycomb airway cells and fibrotic uninvolved airway cells (distant from honeycomb airways and morphologically intact) in specimens from 10 patients with UIP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The reporting of alternative postoperative measures of quality after cardiac surgery is becoming increasingly important as in-hospital mortality rates continue to decline. This study aims to systematically review and assess risk models designed to predict long-term outcomes after cardiac surgery.
Methods: The MEDLINE and Embase databases were searched for articles published between 1990 and 2020.
The HISTO SPOT AB ID assay (BAG Diagnostics GmbH) is a novel single antigen HLA Class I & II antibody definition test used with the MR.SPOT processor. We compared this assay with Luminex -based assays to assess its potential application in defining unacceptable antigens for transplantation in patients awaiting transplants with cardiothoracic organs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) is a histological pattern characteristic of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The UIP pattern is patchy with histologically normal lung adjacent to dense fibrotic tissue. At this interface, fibroblastic foci (FF) are present and are sites where myofibroblasts and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 38-year-old male with sickle cell trait and acute refractory heart failure received an axillary intra-aortic balloon pump and short-term biventricular assist device. He underwent orthotopic heart transplantation 45 days later, which was complicated by major bleeding necessitating significant intra-operative transfusion. Support with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was provided and successfully weaned five days later.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Surgical repair of tracheobronchial tree injuries is challenging due to the difficulties associated with providing perioperative ventilatory support. Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO) is a recognized treatment modality for managing respiratory failure. Its use has expanded to include offering respiratory support for patients requiring surgery on the tracheobronchial tree.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Utilisation of the Endoscopic Vein Harvesting (EVH) technique has been increasing for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for the last two decades. Some surgeons remain concerned about the long-term patency of the long saphenous vein harvested endoscopically compared to traditional Open Vein Harvesting (OVH). The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of the outcomes between EVH and OVH from three UK centres with 10 years follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
November 2021
We have recently introduced a fully flexible, compact photonic platform, Parylene photonics. Here, we demonstrate a Parylene photonic waveguide array microimager with a light source localization accuracy of 17.04 µm along the x-axis and 30.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
November 2021
Integrated photonic waveguide systems are used in biomedical sensing and require robust, high-throughput methods of characterization. Here, we demonstrate a semi-automated robotic system to characterize waveguides at the wafer-scale with minimal human intervention based on imaging the outscattered light to measure the propagation loss. We demonstrate automated input coupling efficiency optimization using closed-loop control of the input fiber position.
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