Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Time-Dependent Wetting and Swelling Behavior of an Auxetic Hydrogel Based on Natural Polymers.

A time-dependent understanding of swelling characteristics and external stimuli behavior is crucial for the development and understanding of functional hydrogels. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers the opportunity to study three-dimensional (3D) soft materials nondestructively. This technique is already widely used as an image-based medical diagnostic tool and is applied here to evaluate complex structures of a hydrogel-a double network of chemically crosslinked casein enhanced with alginate-fabricated by 3D printing.

Mcp3 is a novel mitochondrial outer membrane protein that follows a unique IMP-dependent biogenesis pathway.

[Image: see text]

Mcp3 is a novel mitochondrial outer membrane protein that follows a unique IMP-dependent biogenesis pathway.

Mitochondria are separated from the remainder of the eukaryotic cell by the mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM). The MOM plays an important role in different transport processes like lipid trafficking and protein import. In yeast, the ER-mitochondria encounter structure (ERMES) has a central, but poorly defined role in both activities.

[Laparoscopic "fast-track" sigmoidectomy for diverticulitis disease in Germany. Results of a prospective quality assurance program].

Background And Objective: The natural course of sigmoid colon diverticulitis during conservative therapy and the assessment of the perioperative morbidity after sigmoid colon resection are differently evaluated by surgeons and gastroenterologists. The "fast-track" rehabilitation accelerates the reconvalescence and reduces the rate of postoperative general complications after colorectal surgery. The results of the laparoscopic "Fast-track" sigmoidectomy should be examined within a quality assurance program to better evaluate the perioperative risks following surgical management of diverticulitis.

Multimodal perioperative rehabilitation for colonic surgery in the elderly.

Background: Traditional perioperative care for colonic surgery in elderly patients is associated with increased morbidity and mortality compared to that of younger patients. Although multimodal perioperative rehabilitation has evolved as a valid concept to improve postoperative outcome, its use has not yet been established for colonic surgery in the elderly.

Methods: Data from 24 German hospitals performing multimodal perioperative rehabilitation as the standard perioperative care for elderly patients who have undergone elective colonic resection was assessed in a prospective multicenter study between April 2005 and April 2007.

Multimodal perioperative rehabilitation in elective conventional resection of colonic cancer: results from the German Multicenter Quality Assurance Program 'Fast-Track Colon II'.

Aim: Multimodal perioperative rehabilitation in patients undergoing curative conventional colonic resection for cancer has not yet been studied in a multicenter setting. In 2005, a nationwide quality assurance program was initiated in Germany in an unselected patient population.

Methods: The prospective multicenter data collection includes patients from 24 German hospitals.

"Fast-track" rehabilitation for elective colonic surgery in Germany--prospective observational data from a multi-centre quality assurance programme.

Background: The results of "Fast-track" colonic surgery in an unselected population outside of specialised units has been unknown yet.

Materials And Methods: Data from 24 German hospitals performing "Fast-track" rehabilitation as the standard peri-operative care for patients undergoing elective colonic resection were collected in a prospective multi-centre study conducted between April 2005 and September 2006 to evaluate local and general morbidity.

Results: One thousand and forty-seven patients undergoing elective "fast-track" colonic resection were included.

Feasibility and accuracy of TRUS in the pre-treatment staging for rectal carcinoma in general practice.

Aims: Transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) is the diagnostic tool of choice for local staging of rectal carcinoma. The accuracy in determining of tumour infiltration depth has been reported to reach 95% (on average, 85%). The aim of the study was to analyse the diagnostic accuracy of the TRUS in the clinical routine.

Skin biophysical properties of a population living in Valais, Switzerland.

Background/purpose: Switzerland has one of the highest rates of skin diseases and particularly skin cancer, in Europe. Skin elastosis, roughness and atopy are also frequent. High UV exposure and prevalence of light skin individuals could be the cause.

Metabolic catecholamine, and endurance responses to caffeine during intense exercise.

This study examined the possible effects of caffeine ingestion on muscle metabolism and endurance during brief intense exercise. We tested 14 subjects after they ingested placebo or caffeine (6 mg/kg) with an exercise protocol in which they cycled for 2 min, rested 6 min, cycled 2 min, rested 6 min, and then cycled to voluntary exhaustion. In each exercise the intensity required the subject's maximal O2 consumption.

Variability of triacylglycerol content in human skeletal muscle biopsy samples.

The variability of the triacylglycerol store in human skeletal muscle (TGm) was examined using the needle biopsy technique. In 13 subjects, three biopsies were sampled from the vastus lateralis muscle of one leg at rest and after 90 min of cycling at 65% of maximal O2 uptake on one or two occasions. Visible fat and blood were removed before the samples were frozen, and remaining blood, connective tissue, and fat were removed from freeze-dried fiber bundles.

Epinephrine infusion does not enhance net muscle glycogenolysis during prolonged aerobic exercise.

The role of physiological elevations of plasma epinephrine concentration on muscle glycogenolysis during prolonged exercise was investigated. Eight healthy volunteers cycled for 90 min at 65%. VO2max on two occasions; one with an infusion of epinephrine (EPI) and once without (control).

Effect of high FFA on glycogenolysis in oxidative rat hindlimb muscles during twitch stimulation.

The effect of elevated free fatty acids (FFA) on carbohydrate (CHO) utilization in the oxidative muscles of the isolated hindlimb was determined using twitch contraction paradigms evoking a wide range of O2 uptakes and glycogenolysis. The hindlimb was perfused with either 0 or 1.8 mM FFA for 10 min at rest and then subjected to 20 min of stimulation at 0.

Regulation of muscle glycogen phosphorylase activity during intense aerobic cycling with elevated FFA.

This study examined muscle glycogenolysis and the regulation of glycogen phosphorylase (Phos) activity during 15 min of cycling at 85% of maximal O2 consumption (VO2max) in control and high free fatty acid (FFA; Intralipid-heparin) conditions in 11 subjects. Muscle biopsies were sampled at rest and 1, 5, and 15 min of exercise, and glycogen Phos transformation state (%Phos alpha), substrate (Pi, glycogen), and allosteric regulator (ADP, AMP, IMP) contents were measured. Infusion of intralipid elevated plasma FFA from 0.

Toxicological findings in a fatal case of acebutolol self-poisoning.

A fatal case of acebutolol self-poisoning is presented. After single-step liquid-liquid alkaline extraction, acebutolol was identified by using an HPLC/DAD screening procedure. By means of a specific HPLC method, acebutolol was then quantified in a large range of postmortem samples.

[Artificial respiration in a surgical intensive care unit].

An indication for respiratory treatment is given in manifest and for prophylactic mechanical ventilation in expected pulmonal insufficiency. The mortality rate can be reduced by an early respiratory treatment, therefore prophylactic mechanical ventilation should be performed liberally. Mainly patients after abdomino-thoracal operations and major vascular or upper abdominal surgery are at risk for lethal postoperative pulmonary complications.

Heterogeneous oxygenation of rectal carcinomas in humans: a critical parameter for preoperative irradiation?

Tissue oxygenation was measured in 10 patients with differentiated adenocarcinoma in a very localized region in the middle part of the rectum (grade I - II, clinical stage II) by means of a cryophotometric micromethod. The results obtained clearly show that the oxygenation of differentiated rectal adenocarcinoma is distinctly lower than that of the normal rectal mucosa; tissue hypoxia or even anoxia are a common feature in those tumors; There exist considerable inter- individual differences among tumors of the same clinical staging and histological grading; substantial intra- individual heterogeneities in the oxygenation are evident within the same tumor and even within neighbouring microareas of the tissue. These findings imply that the commonly used classifications do not allow any conclusions concerning the oxygenation status, and probably the radiosensitivity of a tumor, respectively.

[Validity of the transcutaneous PO2-measurement during pharmacologically induced changes of skin perfusion (author's transl)].

The validity of transcutaneous oxygen partial pressure (tcPO2) was tested during pharmacological vasodilatation and vasoconstriction of the skin. Measurements of transcutaneous oxygen partial pressure (tcPO2) were done on the hairless skin of the abdomen in 18 anaesthetized rabbits, when beta-pyridyl-carbonyl (Ronicol) was used as a vasodilator and vasopressin (Pitressin) as a vasoconstrictor. Vasodilation yielded no significant influence on the tcPO2-measurement.

[O2-uptake of the cirrhotic liver. An experimental study (author's transl)].

In 15 Beagles with cirrhosis of the liver (TAA induced) and in 22 healthy controls the flow in the hepatic artery (Q a.h.) and in the portal vein (Q v.

Mesenterico-caval shunt in rats. Technique and results.

A microsurgical technique for mesenterico-caval shunting in the rat is described. The method results in a partial blood drainage from the upper abdominal content whereas the blood of the mesenteric vein is shunted to the inferior caval vein. Controls were undertaken after 1 and 3 weeks, either visually or radiologically.

Scattering of solar radiation by hexagonal ice crystals.

The classical ray optics approximation has been applied to compute the angular scattering of light by finitesized hexagonal ice crystals in the form of columns and plates. The results are presented at a wavelength of 0.55 microm for a random orientation of the crystals either in space or in a plane.

[Geriatric surgery of the upper GI-tract (author's transl)].

The results of surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract in elderly patients achieved at the Department of Surgery of the University of Mainz are represented. New pathophysiological concepts in peptic ulcer surgery, improved preoperative procedures like endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) in diseases of the biliary tree are important contributions to the indications and operative tactics. The rules of cancer surgery are also true in geriatric surgery.