Prediction of postnatal circulation in pulmonary atresia/critical stenosis with intact ventricular septum: systematic review and external validation of models.

Objective: A favorable postnatal prognosis in cases of pulmonary atresia/critical stenosis with intact ventricular septum (PA/CS-IVS) is generally equated with the possibility of achieving biventricular (BV) repair. Identification of fetuses that will have postnatal univentricular (UV) circulation is key for prenatal counseling, optimization of perinatal care and decision-making regarding fetal therapy. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of published models for predicting postnatal circulation in PA/CS-IVS using a large internationally derived validation cohort.

Garcinia cambogia, Either Alone or in Combination With Green Tea, Causes Moderate to Severe Liver Injury.

Background & Aims: Garcinia cambogia, either alone or with green tea, is commonly promoted for weight loss. Sporadic cases of liver failure from G cambogia have been reported, but its role in liver injury is controversial.

Methods: Among 1418 patients enrolled in the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN) from 2004 to 2018, we identified 22 cases (adjudicated with high confidence) of liver injury from G cambogia either alone (n = 5) or in combination with green tea (n = 16) or Ashwagandha (n = 1).

Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Congenital Heart Disease.

Patients with dysfunctional right ventricular outflow tracks comprise a large portion of patients with severe congenital heart disease. Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement in patients with dysfunctional right ventricular outflow tracks is feasible, safe, and efficacious. This article reviews current transcatheter valve replacement technology for dysfunctional right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonary valvular disease and its applications to patients with congenital heart disease.

State-of-the-Art Atrial Septal Defect Closure Devices for Congenital Heart.

This article describes current devices and indications for transcatheter device closure of atrial septal defect (TC-ASD) and patent foramen ovale in children and young adults. TC-ASD has a proven record of efficacy and safety, but device erosion raises questions about the relative safety of TC-ASD versus operative open heart surgical ASD closure. New devices for ASD closure with properties to reduce risk of erosion are being developed.

Airway evaluation of conjoined twins.

Case reports in the literature on conjoined twins discuss the difficulties with anesthesia and surgical separation; however, the role of airway endoscopy as a means of evaluating the respiratory tract has not been described. This case of thoraco-omphaloischiopagus laterally conjoined twins demonstrates the importance of videoendoscopic airway evaluation in the management of conjoined twins. Direct laryngoscopy and bronchoscopy was used to evaluate ventilator dependence and demonstrated tracheal anomalies that were partially responsible for difficulties with weaning and endotracheal tube placement.

Effects of tenascin-C on normal and diabetic retinal endothelial cells in culture.

Purpose: Tenascin-C (TN-C) is expressed in embryogenesis, tissue remodeling, and healing. It is up-regulated in retinas of patients affected by diabetic retinopathy (DR). Because TN-C may promote neovascularization, its potential angiogenic effects were examined in vitro in normal and diabetic retinal endothelial cells (RECs).

Comparison of optic nerve imaging methods to distinguish normal eyes from those with glaucoma.

Purpose: To compare the ability of qualitative assessment of optic nerve head stereophotographs (ONHPs), confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (CSLO), scanning laser polarimetry (SLP), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to distinguish normal eyes from those with early to moderate glaucomatous visual field defects.

Methods: Eighty-nine eyes (63 normal, 63 age-matched with glaucoma) of 89 subjects more than 40 years of age were studied. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated from discriminant analysis of CSLO, SLP, and OCT measurements and from ONHP scores.

Metabolic rate and environmental productivity: well-provisioned animals evolved to run and idle fast.

Even among vertebrate species of the same body mass and higher-level taxonomic group, metabolic rates exhibit substantial differences, for which diverse explanatory factors-such as dietary energy content, latitude, altitude, temperature, and rainfall-have been postulated. A unifying underlying factor could be food availability, in turn controlled by net primary productivity (NPP) of the animal's natural environment. We tested this possibility by studying five North American species of Peromyscus mice, all of them similar in diet (generalist omnivores) and in gut morphology but differing by factors of up to 13 in NPP of their habitat of origin.

Single-dose toxicity study of hepatic intra-arterial infusion of doxorubicin coupled to a novel magnetically targeted drug carrier.

The toxicity of a single hepatic intra-arterial administration of doxorubicin (DOX) coupled to a magnetically targeted drug carrier (MTC) was evaluated in a swine model. MTC is a microparticle composite of elemental iron and activated carbon. MTC-DOX is a new formulation of doxorubicin absorbed to the MTC and is designed for site-specific delivery to a solid tumor in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field.

Overexpression of matrix metalloproteinase-10 and matrix metalloproteinase-3 in human diabetic corneas: a possible mechanism of basement membrane and integrin alterations.

We have previously described decreased immunostaining of nidogen-1/entactin; laminin chains alpha1, alpha5, beta1,gamma1; and epithelial integrin alpha3beta1 in human diabetic retinopathy (DR) corneas. Here, using 142 human corneas, we tested whether these alterations might be caused by decreased gene expression levels or increased degradation. By semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, gene expression levels of the alpha1, alpha5, and beta1 laminin chains; nidogen-1/entactin; integrin alpha3 and beta1 chains in diabetic and DR corneal epithelium were similar to normal.

Expression of tenascin-C splice variants in normal and bullous keratopathy human corneas.

Purpose: To characterize the expression patterns of tenascin-C (TN-C) splice variants in normal corneas and in those affected by pseudophakic-aphakic bullous keratopathy (PBK-ABK).

Methods: Alternatively spliced variants of TN-C mRNA from normal and age-matched human corneas with PBK-ABK were analyzed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Southern blot hybridization, using beta2-microglobulin as a housekeeping gene to normalize the samples. Normal and PBK-ABK corneas were studied by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis with antibodies to specific fibronectin type III-like (FN-III) repeats of TN-C.

Effects of propanolol in patients entered in the Beta-Blocker Heart Attack Trial with their first myocardial infarction and persistent electrocardiographic ST-segment depression.

Objective/background: It has been shown that patients with an acute myocardial infarction and persistent electrocardiographic ST-segment depression are at high risk for subsequent cardiac events. The purpose of this retrospective analysis was to examine the long-term effects of propranolol therapy in patients with their first acute myocardial infarction and persistent electrocardiographic ST-segment depression.

Methods: The outcomes of 2877 patients enrolled in the Beta-Blocker Heart Attack Trial (BHAT) with their first myocardial infarction (75% of patients in BHAT) were reviewed.

Conditionally Immortalized Neural Cell Lines: Potential Models for the Study of Neural Cell Function.

Studies on primary cell cultures have contributed significantly to our understanding of neural cell function. Nevertheless, for many studies the value of these primary cell cultures has been limited by the time the cultures survive in vitro, the quantity of cellular material available for analysis, and the need to prepare the cells on a regular basis from fresh tissue. Techniques for immortalizing cells have existed for some time, but the repertoire of immortalizing genes has grown significantly.

The family of sunlight-related eye diseases.

Five ocular disorders, independent clinical entities affecting different parts of the eye with distinctive histopathological features, are part of the same family of eye diseases because they share the same causal factors, of which the most important is molecular damage produced by sunlight. This family of eye diseases includes the major sources of impaired vision and blindness in our society, age-related cataract and age-related macular degeneration. Pterygium, photokeratitis, and cancer of peri-ocular skin are also sunlight-related eye diseases.

Nevi, other than dysplastic and Spitz nevi.

Cutaneous nevi are common lesions that develop by proliferation of melanocyte-derived cells. The majority develop as junction nevi from melanocytes at the epidermo-dermal junction. Cells from this proliferation pass into the underlying dermis forming compound nevi.