Intracellular signaling pathway of FGF-2-modulated corneal endothelial cell migration during wound healing in vitro.

After wounding, the corneal endothelium heals primarily by migration of adjacent cells into the denuded wound area. In this study, it has been attempted to identify elements of the intracellular signaling pathway activated through basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2)- and Protein Kinase C (PKC)-modulated migration, using specific inhibitors and stimulators of second messengers in a cell culture model. Bovine corneal endothelial cells (BCEC) were grown to confluency and experiments performed with first passage cells under serum-free conditions.

Hyperoxia- and hypoxia-mediated activation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes: a comparison of cord and adult venous blood.

Background: Among the most prominent changes occurring in newborn infants is the exposure of tissues and blood cells to increased oxygen tension. This increase is even more pronounced in neonatal resuscitation using 100% oxygen, currently recommended in the published guidelines.

Objective: To analyse the response of neonatal and adult polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) to high or low oxygen tension in vitro.

Role of erythromycin for treatment of incipient chronic lung disease in preterm infants colonised with Ureaplasma urealyticum.

Ureaplasma urealyticum is frequently isolated from tracheal aspirates of very low birthweight infants who go on to develop chronic lung disease. The use of erythromycin has been advocated in ventilated very low birthweight infants who are colonised with U. urealyticum, although the association between U.

Combined CT pulmonary angiography and venography for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis: radiation dose.

A major concern about combined pulmonary CT angiography (PCTA) and CT venography (CTV) refers to the additional radiation exposure to the patient. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organ dose, the effective dose, and the gonadal dose of combined PCTA and CTV. Effective dose and gonadal dose in PCTA and CTV were calculated.

Patent ductus arteriosus in very low birthweight infants: complications of pharmacological and surgical treatment.

Aims: To evaluate complications of surgical and pharmacological treatment of symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants.

Patients And Methods: Of 931 VLBW infants consecutively admitted 1987-1998, a significant PDA prompted first-choice treatment by indomethacin in 101 infants, and surgery in 55 infants. PDA closed or became asymptomatic after indomethacin in 64 patients (63%), while 34 went on to surgery.

Breast milk from mothers of very low birthweight infants: variability in fat and protein content.

Unlabelled: While breast milk appears to be superior to formula for the development of very low birthweight (VLBW) infants, it is supplemented to meet the metabolic demands of the rapidly growing premature infant. To estimate the nutritional variability of breast milk from mothers of VLBW infants, protein (bicinchoninic acid method) and fat content (creamatocrit) were measured in breast-milk spot samples from mothers of 20 VLBW infants, collected 4 times a day during the first 4 wk of lactation. Protein content (median 1.

Detection of myocardial ischemia by electron beam CT. Experimental studies.

Purpose: To determine if contrast-enhanced electron beam CT (EBCT) can detect areas of acute myocardial ischemia, and if pharmacological stress testing improves the diagnostic accuracy of EBCT.

Material And Methods: We injected 0.5 ml/kg and 1.

Colonic pneumatosis intestinalis in preterm infants: different to necrotising enterocolitis with a more benign course?

Unlabelled: Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is the predominant immaturity-associated disease of the bowel in the preterm neonate and leads to substantial mortality and long-term morbidity. Diagnostic features of NEC include, apart from the clinical presentation, laboratory and radiological parameters. Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) on abdominal radiographs is regarded as a criterion of definitive proof for this disease entity.

Nutritional zinc balance in extremely low-birth-weight infants.

Background: Zinc is important for metabolism, cell growth, immunity, and defense against oxygen radicals. Extremely low-birth-weight (< 1000 g) infants have higher nutritional needs, but information on zinc is scarce. The authors performed nutritional balances in 10 infants with birth weights of 500 to 999 g and who were fed with fortified human milk.

Adhesion molecules in different treatments of acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Tissue damage after ischemia and reperfusion involves leukocyte endothelial interactions mediated by cell adhesion molecules. This study was designed to determine the time course of soluble adhesion molecules in patients with acute myocardial infarction after attempted reperfusion by thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or streptokinase (SK), or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).

Methods: In 3 x 10 randomly selected patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing thrombolysis with tPA or SK, or treated with PTCA, plasma concentrations of soluble L-selectin, P-selectin, E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, 30 min and 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours after intervention.

In-vitro activation of complement system by lactic acidosis in newborn and adults.

Introduction: Complement activation occurs secondary to a variety of external stimuli. Lactic acidosis has been previously shown to activate the complement factors C3a and C5a. In the present investigation we examined the differential effect of lactic acidosis on anaphylatoxin levels in cord and adult blood.

Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in urine of patients with ocular Lyme borreliosis.

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic value of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in patients with ocular Lyme borreliosis.

Methods: Of 256 consecutive uveitis patients six selected individuals with clinical evidence for Lyme borreliosis and 30 patients with non-Lyme uveitis were enrolled. Lyme serology was performed by ELISA and western blotting.

Registration of functional and anatomical MRI: accuracy assessment and application in navigated neurosurgery.

Objective: A procedure for acquisition, automated registration, and fusion of functional and anatomical magnetic resonance images is presented. Its accuracy is quantitatively assessed using a publicly available gold standard. A patient case is used to illustrate the technique's clinical usefulness in image-guided neurosurgery.

Early detection of increased tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and soluble TNF receptor protein plasma levels after trauma reveals associations with the clinical course.

Background: The inflammatory response after trauma includes tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) as pro-inflammatory cytokine. Furthermore, both soluble TNF receptor proteins (sTNF-R1 and sTNF-R2) were described to influence the post-traumatic inflammatory response and organ dysfunction.

Method: From 47 trauma patients, blood samples were obtained at the scene of accident, at hospital admission, after 4 h, 12 h, and 24 h, and daily until day 6.

Endovascular management of a bleeding mandibular arteriovenous malformation by transfemoral venous embolization with NBCA.

A 13-year-old boy presented with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) involving the left mandible that bled after intraoral biopsy. The AVM was treated on an emergency basis by primary intravenous delivery of n-butyl cyanoacrylate after transfemoral catheterization, resulting in complete anatomic and clinical cure.

Posterior capsule opacification and anterior capsule opacification.

Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) is still the most frequent complication of cataract surgery. A variety of studies has led to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of PCO, and strategies of molecular biology have produced new therapeutic options, such as immunological techniques or gene therapeutic approaches. Surgical strategies and intra-ocular lens-dependent factors also are capable to reduce the rate of PCO.

Early cessation of breast milk feeding in very low birthweight infants.

This investigation was carried out to comparatively assess the duration of breast milk feeding and to analyze risk factors for early cessation of breast milk feeding in term and very preterm infants. A cohort study was performed in 89 consecutive very low birthweight (VLBW) infants (<1500 g) who survived for at least for one week, and 177 term infants with birthweights >2500 g born in the same hospital matched for gender and multiplicity. Median duration of breast milk feeding, as determined from charts and questionnaires mailed to the mothers at 6 and 12 months corrected age, was 36 days in VLBW infants, compared to 112 days in control infants (P<0.

The role of endogenous growth factors to support corneal endothelial migration after wounding in vitro.

Previous studies have shown that corneal endothelial cells contain mRNA and protein of various growth factors. However, the role of these endogenous growth factors in corneal endothelial wound healing is not fully elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the role of endogenous factors and several growth factor inhibitors on migration of corneal endothelial cells in an in vitro model of wound healing.

Corneal endothelial toxicity of different lidocaine concentrations.

Purpose: To examine the potential damaging effect on the corneal endothelium of unpreserved lidocaine in concentrations of 1%, 5%, and 10%.

Settings: Department of Ophthalmology, Charité Medical Faculty, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.

Methods: Experimental porcine corneas (n = 18) were exposed to 100 microL of unpreserved lidocaine hydrochloride at concentrations of 1%, 5%, and 10% for 60 minutes.

Venous and arterial hematologic profiles of very low birth weight infants. European Multicenter rhEPO Study Group.

Objective: In very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, diagnostic and therapeutic decisions depend on hematologic values. As few data are available, we studied the course during the first 6 weeks of life.

Design: Four prospective longitudinal cohort studies were retrospectively combined assessing hematologic profiles of 562 VLBW infants.

The myth of the 'Mediterranean syndrome': do immigrants feel different pain?

There is a long tradition of assuming other way of pain perception in immigrants than in natives. This article discusses profound methodological problems to assess pain perception and behaviour between people of different cultural background, existing epidemiological data are reviewed and results of an own study regarding chronic pain syndromes are included. There is no clear evidence for existing differences in pain syndromes between natives and immigrants of any kind.

A more efficient method of texture use in surgical robot simulation.

Texture mapping is a crucial supplement to modeling in 3D graphic simulation technology. Relatively small objects in a simulation environment can be represented with textures rather than by modeling, which helps economize on precious data storage space. Textures also lend some surfaces a more realistic appearance, both for the user and the viewer.

Circulating CD4+ T lymphocytes with intracellular but no surface CD3 antigen in five of seven patients consecutively diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma.

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) accounts for less than 1% of all lymphatic malignancies. Oligoclonality or monoclonality for any of the T-cell receptor (TCR) chain genes can be demonstrated in the majority of the cases. During systematic screening for the presence of circulating lymphocytes with atypical coexpression of differentiation antigens in patients with T-cell lymphomas, we have discovered a minor population (accounting for 0.

Growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of very low birthweight infants with necrotizing enterocolitis.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) on neurodevelopmental outcome and growth. Neurodevelopmental outcome of 20 out of 22 suriviving very low birthweight infants (VLBW) diagnosed with NEC between 1992 and 1996 was compared with 40 control infants matched for gestational age and year of admission. Follow-up studies were performed at 12 and 20 mo of corrected age.