Sugar‐Derived Poly(β‐thioester)s as a Biomedical Scaffold

The monomer isosorbide diacrylate (iSDA) and commercially available dithiols allowed access to a range of biosourced, degradable polymers. Altering the dithiol identity significantly affected the glass transition T_gs of the polymer products; however, polymers did not exhibit T_gs above room temperature. Incorporating the comonomer N,N′‐methylene bisacrylamide provided mechanical reinforcement through hydrogen bonding, resulting in soft, pliable materials. Differential scannin calorimetry (DSC) and variable‐temperature fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy indicated that increases in mechanical integrity resulted from hydrogen bonding. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed materials that exhibited suitable moduli and service windows at body temperature. Biological evaluation demonstrated favorable cytotoxicity and cell attachment, rendering these materials potential candidates as novel scaffold materials for tissue growth.     

A pre-operative clinical scoring system to distinguish perforation risk with pediatric appendicitis

Importance

Appendicitis is a common, potentially serious pediatric disease. An important factor in determining management strategy [whether/when to perform appendectomy, duration of antibiotic therapy/hospitalization, etc.] and predicting outcome is distinguishing whether perforation is present.

Therapy for symptoms in the carcinoid syndrome

The clinical course and results of drug treatment for manifestations of the carcinoid syndrome are reviewed in 63 patients. The five-year actuarial survival in this group of patients was 48 per cent. The only markers of a poor prognosis that could be identified at diagnosis were marked weight loss and a high (over 1000 mumol/day) 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid excretion. The relative effectiveness of well-established drugs that either block 5-hydroxytryptamine synthesis or block 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors is reported, with respect to the different manifestations of the syndrome, and compared with a small group of patients treated with long-acting somatostatin analogue. In over one-third of patients, primary tumours were not detected on initial investigation, and in none of these did symptoms referrable to the primary site become apparent later.     

Glucose-induced microvascular functional changes in nondiabetic rats are stereospecific and are prevented by an aldose reductase inhibitor.

Exposure of skin chamber granulation tissue vessels in nondiabetic rats to 11 or 15 mM D-glucose (but not L-glucose or 3-O-methylglucose) twice daily for 10 d induces vascular functional changes (increased albumin permeation and blood flow) identical to those in animals with mild or severe streptozotocin diabetes, respectively. These vascular changes are strongly linked to increased metabolism of glucose via the sorbitol pathway and are independent of nonenzymatic glycosylation as well as systemic metabolic and hormonal imbalances associated with the diabetic milieu. (J. Clin. Invest. 1990. 85:1167-1172.)