The Ross Operation in Young Patients: A 15-Year Experience Focused on Right Ventricle to Pulmonary Artery Conduit Outcomes.

Background: Data on long-term outcomes of the Ross operation in children and young adult patients are limited. The best pulmonary valve substitute for the right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess the outcomes of right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in the Ross operation in young patients using various pulmonary valve substitutes at a single institution.

Erratum.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000443575.].

Social and leisure activity profiles and well-being among the older adults: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: Studies highlight the beneficial effects of social and leisure activities on the well-being of aging people. Our aims were: to investigate activity profiles among older adults living in their own homes, to highlight potential changes in profiles over a period of five years and to examine effects of differences between these profiles on well-being variables.

Methods: Three waves were considered in this longitudinal study, with 550, 410 and 374 people (76, 79, 82 years on average), respectively.

Early to mid-term results after total cavopulmonary connection performed in the second decade of life.

Objectives: Total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) performed in the second decade of life has rarely been studied. Thus, we investigated (bicentric study) early and late morbidity and mortality following completion of TCPC in these patients.

Methods: From January 1999 to June 2014, 63 patients (14.

The Antidepressant Effect of L-Tyrosine-Loaded Nanoparticles: Behavioral Aspects.

Background: Depression has been linked to disruption in the cerebral levels of specific neurotransmitters. L-tyrosine is a precursor of more than one of the neurotransmitters affected by depression. Even though setbacks of monoamines precursors include high doses and low efficiency, many studies have suggested using L-tyrosine as antidepressant.

Scimitar Syndrome Repair in Adults: Intermediate-Term Results Using an Extracardiac Conduit.

Background: Scimitar syndrome may be corrected using different techniques. Repair using an extracardiac conduit has rarely been performed. This study assessed the intermediate-term outcomes of this technique in adults.

Endoscopic Detection of Small Bowel Dysplasia and Adenocarcinoma in Crohn's Disease: A Prospective Cohort-Study in High-Risk Patients.

Background And Aims: Crohn's disease [CD] is associated with an increased risk of small bowel adenocarcinoma [SBA]. There are no recommendations on endoscopic screening of SBA in CD patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and value of endoscopic screening for SBA in CD patients at high-risk of SBA.

Subcutaneous Ustekinumab Provides Clinical Benefit for Two-Thirds of Patients With Crohn's Disease Refractory to Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Agents.

Background & Aims: Ustekinumab, a human monoclonal antibody against the p40 subunit of interleukins-12 and -23, is effective in inducing and maintaining remission in patients with luminal Crohn's disease (CD). We assessed the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous ustekinumab in patients with anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) refractory CD.

Methods: We performed a retrospective observational study, collecting data from the Groupe d'Etude Thérapeutique des Affections Inflammatoires du tube Digestif on 122 consecutive patients with active CD refractory to anti-TNF therapy who received at least 1 subcutaneous injection of ustekinumab from March 2011 to December 2014, in 20 tertiary centers in Europe.

Pulmonary-Valve Replacement in Adults: Results With the Medtronic Freestyle Valve.

Background: We used the Medtronic Freestyle valve (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) as an orthotopic conduit in pulmonary valve replacement in repaired tetralogy of Fallot and as part of the Ross procedure. Midterm outcomes and hemodynamic status of this conduit were analyzed and performances in both subgroups were compared.

Methods: From February 2002 to July 2012, 115 Freestyle valves were implanted in 52 patients with tetralogy of Fallot and 63 patients within the Ross procedure.

Dental ontogeny in pliocene and early pleistocene hominins.

Until recently, our understanding of the evolution of human growth and development derived from studies of fossil juveniles that employed extant populations for both age determination and comparison. This circular approach has led to considerable debate about the human-like and ape-like affinities of fossil hominins. Teeth are invaluable for understanding maturation as age at death can be directly assessed from dental microstructure, and dental development has been shown to correlate with life history across primates broadly.

Left posterolateral thoracotomy: an alternative approach for pulmonary valve replacement.

Pulmonary valve replacement in adults who have a repaired tetralogy of Fallot is realized through a redo median sternotomy. A dilated ascending aorta is often present and adherent to the sternum and can be injured during sternum reentry, with dramatic consequences. We report on an adult patient with a corrected tetralogy of Fallot who underwent pulmonary valve replacement, thick transannular patch excision, and left pulmonary artery enlargement.

Early to midterm results of total cavopulmonary connection in adult patients.

Background: Total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) has not been studied in adults. We investigated early and midterm morbidity and mortality in adults undergoing TCPC and assessed risk factors for mortality.

Methods: Between June 1994 and October 2010, 30 adults (21.

Late outcome of 132 Senning procedures after 20 years of follow-up.

Background: Risk factors and rates of reoperation, arrhythmias, systemic right ventricular dysfunction (RVD), and late death after a Senning procedure were investigated.

Methods: One-hundred thirty-two patients underwent a Senning operation between 1977 and 2004 (105 simple and 27 complex transpositions of the great arteries). Mean follow-up time was 19.

Paradoxical effect of severe dietary restriction on Long-Evans rat life span.

It has been firmly established that the longevity of 20- to 60%-calorie-restricted rodents, with malnutrition (essential nutrients deficiency) being avoided, is increased when compared to ad libitum fed rodents. However, the effects on life span of severe dietary restriction (i. e.

Importance of lipid metabolism for intracellular and mitochondrial membrane fusion/fission processes.

Mitochondria move along cytoskeletal tracks, fuse and divide. These dynamic features have been shown to be critical for several mitochondrial functions in cell viability and cell death. After a rapid recall of the proteic machineries that are known to be involved, the review will focus on lipids, other key molecular actors of membrane dynamics.

Atrial fibrillatory cycle length: computer simulation and potential clinical importance.

Aims: Atrial fibrillatory cycle length (AFCL) is generally accepted as a surrogate marker for local refractoriness. In this study, a computer model and clinical data on human subjects undergoing catheter ablation for paroxysmal and persistent AF were used to determine the clinical potential of AFCL.

Methods And Results: Simulations were performed in a biophysical computer model of AF, induced from eight simultaneously active focal sources.

Integrated physiology and pathophysiology of CB1-mediated effects of the endocannabinoid system.

The discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) has raised a large interest in the scientific community providing us with a strikingly long list of apparently independent multi organ effects. As a result, in most reviews on this issue the main function of the ECS is considered as modulatory. Unfortunately, this vision does not add much to our understanding of the specific biological function of the ECS.

Postnatal stimulation of the pups counteracts prenatal stress-induced deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis.

Background: Prenatal stress constitutes a developmental risk factor for later psychopathology. The behavioral disorders are sustained by neurobiological alterations including long-term reduction of hippocampal neurogenesis; its deregulation has been involved in cognitive impairments, mood disorders and addiction. A major goal is to define periods in development and strategies for intervening to prevent the effects of early stressful events.

Methylazoxymethanol acetate does not fully block cell genesis in the young and aged dentate gyrus.

During adulthood, new neurons are continuously added to the mammalian dentate gyrus (DG). An increasing number of studies have correlated changes in rates of dentate neurogenesis with memory abilities. One study based on subchronic treatment with the toxin methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) has provided causal evidence that neurogenesis is involved in hippocampal-dependent trace conditioning.

Environmentally induced long-term structural changes: cues for functional orientation and vulnerabilities.

Environmental challenges profoundly modify phenotypes and disrupt inherent developmental programs both at functional and structural levels. As an example, we have studied the impact of these environmental influences on adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. Neurogenesis results from an inherent program, participates to hippocampal network organization and, as a consequence, to the various functional abilities depending on this region, including memories.

Critical study of common conditions of storage of glucocorticoids and catecholamines in 24-h urine collected during resting and exercising conditions.

Background: Except immediate freezing of the samples, no practical method has been validated for preservation of glucocorticoids and catecholamines in 24-h urine collection. Furthermore, the influence of urine storage at bladder temperature during periods of different lengths and the effect of prior exercise on preservation of these hormones in the bladder have not been investigated until now.

Methods: Ten healthy volunteers collected their urine both after a resting and after an exercise session.

Evidencing inhibitory deficits in Alzheimer's disease through interference effects and shifting disabilities in the Stroop test.

To investigate the contribution of inhibitory deficits in the deterioration of executive function abilities in Alzheimer's disease (AD), a modified version of the Stroop test was submitted to 44 AD patients and 44 elderly controls. Half of the subjects performed successively the Interference Stroop task, the two control tasks and the Reverse Stroop task, and half performed the Reverse Stroop task, the control tasks and finally the Interference Stroop task. This experimental design allowed to assess inhibitory deficits by measuring classical interference effects but also by measuring the ability to shift between tasks instructions.

Spatial memory performances of aged rats in the water maze predict levels of hippocampal neurogenesis.

Neurogenesis occurs within the adult dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation and it has been proposed that the newly born neurons, recruited into the preexistent neuronal circuits, might be involved in hippocampal-dependent learning processes. Age-dependent spatial memory impairments have been related to an alteration in hippocampal plasticity. The aim of the current study was to examine whether cognitive functions in aged rats are quantitatively correlated with hippocampal neurogenesis.

Inhibitory breakdown and dementia of the Alzheimer type: a general phenomenon?

Several recent studies have provided substantial support for the proposal that a decrease in inhibitory processing may play an important role in cognitive changes occurring in the early stages of Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DAT). The question addressed by the present study was whether these deficits are the result of the failure of a general inhibitory mechanism, or whether DAT is associated with selective decreases in a subset of inhibitory processes. For this, a computerized battery of tasks assessing several inhibitory mechanisms was administered to 28 mild DAT patients and 28 matched elderly adults.

The submental flap: its uses as a pedicled or free flap for facial reconstruction.

The submental flap is an alternative to microsurgical flaps for facial and intraoral defects. The submental flap is simple and can be raised rapidly. It produces good color, texture, and contour match without a conspicuous site.