Afferent innervation of the utricular macula in pigeons

Biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was used to retrogradely label afferents innervating the utricular macula in adult pigeons. The pigeon utriclar macula consists of a large rectangular-shaped neuroepithelium with a dorsally curved anterior edge and an extended medioposterior tail. The macula could be demarcated into several regions based on cytoarchitectural differences. The striola occupied 30% of the macula and contained a large density of type I hair cells with fewer type II hair cells. Medial and lateral extrastriola zones were located outside the striola and contained only type II hair cells. A six- to eight-cell-wide band of type II hair cells existed near the center of the striola. The reversal line marked by the morphological polarization of hair cells coursed throughout the epithelium, near the peripheral margin, and through the center of the type II band. Calyx afferents innervated type I hair cells with calyceal terminals that contained between 2 and 15 receptor cells. Calyx afferents were located only in the striola region, exclusive of the type II band, had small total fiber innervation areas and low innervation densities. Dimorph afferents innervated both type I and type II hair cells with calyceal and bouton terminals and were primarily located in the striola region. Dimorph afferents had smaller calyceal terminals with few type I hair cells, extended fiber branches with bouton terminals and larger innervation areas. Bouton afferents innervated only type II hair cells in the extrastriola and type II band regions. Bouton afferents innervating the type II band had smaller terminal fields with fewer bouton terminals and smaller innervation areas than fibers located in the extrastriolar zones. Bouton afferents had the most bouton terminals on the longest fibers, the largest innervation areas with the highest innervation densities of all afferents. Among all afferents, smaller terminal innervation fields were observed in the striola and large fields were located in the extrastriola. The cellular organization and innervation patterns of the utricular maculae in birds appear to represent an organ in adaptive evolution, different from that observed for amphibians or mammals.     

Safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided low-pressure perfusion mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy in children aged 1–7 years: a retrospective observational study

International Urology and Nephrology - This article analyzed the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) with low-pressure perfusion for the treatment of...     

The Biomedical Research Hub: a federated platform for patient research data

ObjectiveThe objective was to develop and operate a cloud-based federated system for managing, analyzing, and sharing patient data for research purposes, while allowing each resource sharing patient data to operate their component based upon their own governance rules. The federated system is called the Biomedical Research Hub (BRH).Materials and MethodsThe BRH is a cloud-based federated system built over a core set of software services called framework services. BRH framework services include authentication and authorization, services for generating and assessing findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data, and services for importing and exporting bulk clinical data. The BRH includes data resources providing data operated by different entities and workspaces that can access and analyze data from one or more of the data resources in the BRH.ResultsThe BRH contains multiple data commons that in aggregate provide access to over 6 PB of research data from over 400 000 research participants.Discussion and conclusionWith the growing acceptance of using public cloud computing platforms for biomedical research, and the growing use of opaque persistent digital identifiers for datasets, data objects, and other entities, there is now a foundation for systems that federate data from multiple independently operated data resources that expose FAIR application programming interfaces, each using a separate data model. Applications can be built that access data from one or more of the data resources.     

Adverse Drug Events and Surgical Patients: Need for Pharmacovigilance Urgency

Hellenic Journal of Surgery -     

A case of spontaneous chylous pericardial effusion in Poland syndrome

Chylous pericardial effusion is an uncommon entity that is most commonly associated with post-cardiac surgery, in particular aortic valve and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Post-radiation therapy, infection, mediastinal neoplasm, lymphoma and a small group of idiopathic, spontaneous chylous pericardial effusion have also been reported as the causes. Here, we report a rare case of pericardial effusion secondary to chylous fistula in a 63-year-old man with Poland syndrome. The case highlights an unusual thoracic duct anomaly as a cause of our reported chylous pericardial effusion.     

Effect of single-dose intravenous tranexamic acid on postoperative nasal bleed in septoplasty

ObjectivePostoperative nasal bleeding is a common complication of septoplasty and may lead to painful procedure of nasal packing to stop bleeding. Since Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been reported to reduce bleeding, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of single dose of intravenous TXA on postoperative nasal bleed associated with septoplasty.Materials and methodsThis prospective randomized, double-blinded clinical trial consisted of 176 patients aged 18–55 years who underwent septoplasty for symptomatic deviated nasal septum. These participants were randomly divided into 2 groups; 88 patients were given normal saline (Control group) and 88 patients were administered a single shot of intravenous TXA 10 mg/kg (TXA group). Operative technique applied was same in all cases. At the end of surgery nasal packs, nasal splints or trans-septal suturing were not done. Nasal bleeding was monitored after surgery and up to 2 weeks postoperatively.ResultsPatients receiving TXA showed significantly less postoperative nasal bleeding compared with controls. Extensive bleeding in terms of number of gauze pads used and duration was also higher in placebo with a statistically significant difference (all P = < 0.05). Seven patients required nasal packing in control group to stop bleeding as compared to one patient in TXA group. Adverse reactions to TXA were minimal, and these were easily managed conservatively.ConclusionSingle intravenous dose of TXA is shown to be effective and safe agent in preventing postoperative nasal bleeding after septoplasty therefore avoiding additional techniques of nasal packing, intranasal splint or trans-septal suturing during surgery.     

ZRSR1 co-operates with ZRSR2 in regulating splicing of U12-type introns in murine hematopoietic cells

Recurrent loss-of-function mutations of spliceosome gene, ZRSR2, occur in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Mutation/loss of ZRSR2 in human myeloid cells primarily causes impaired splicing of the U12-type introns. In order to further investigate the role of this splice factor in RNA splicing and hematopoietic development, we generated mice lacking ZRSR2. Unexpectedly, Zrsr2-deficient mice developed normal hematopoiesis with no abnormalities in myeloid differentiation evident in either young or ≥1-year old knockout mice. Repopulation ability of Zrsr2-deficient hematopoietic stem cells was also unaffected in both competitive and non-competitive reconstitution assays. Myeloid progenitors lacking ZRSR2 exhibited mis-splicing of U12-type introns, however, this phenotype was moderate compared to the ZRSR2-deficient human cells. Our investigations revealed that a closely related homolog, Zrsr1, expressed in the murine hematopoietic cells, but not in human cells contributes to splicing of U12-type introns. Depletion of Zrsr1 in Zrsr2 KO myeloid cells exacerbated retention of the U12-type introns, thus highlighting a collective role of ZRSR1 and ZRSR2 in murine U12-spliceosome. We also demonstrate that aberrant retention of U12-type introns of MAPK9 and MAPK14 leads to their reduced protein expression. Overall, our findings highlight that both ZRSR1 and ZRSR2 are functional components of the murine U12-spliceosome, and depletion of both proteins is required to accurately model ZRSR2-mutant MDS in mice.     

Saccular and utricular inputs to single vestibular neurons in cats

Saccular and utricular organs are essential for postural stability and gaze control. Although saccular and utricular inputs are known to terminate on vestibular neurons, few previous studies have precisely elucidated the origin of these inputs. We investigated the saccular and utricular inputs to single vestibular neurons in whole vestibular nuclei of decerebrated cats. Postsynaptic potentials were recorded from vestibular neurons after electrical stimulation of the saccular and utricular nerves. Ascending and descending axonal projections were examined by stimulating the oculomotor/trochlear nuclei and the cervical segment of the spinal cord, respectively. After each experiment, locations of recorded neurons were identified. The recorded neurons (140) were classified into vestibulo-spinal (79), vestibulo-oculo-spinal (9), and vestibulo-ocular (3) neurons based on antidromic responses; 49 other vestibular neurons were unidentified. The majority of recorded neurons were mainly located in the lateral vestibular nucleus. Most of the otolith-activated vestibular nuclei neurons seemed to participate in vestibulospinal reflexes. Of the total 140 neurons recorded, approximately one third (51) received saccular and utricular inputs (convergent neurons). The properties of these 51 convergent neurons were further investigated. Most (33/51) received excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) after saccular and utricular nerve stimulation. These results implied that most of the convergent neurons in this study additively coded mixed information for vertical and horizontal linear acceleration. Based on the latencies of convergent neurons, we found that an early integration process for vertical and horizontal linear acceleration existed at the second-order level.