Implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation without using fluoroscopy in a pregnant patient

Conventional lead implantation requires fluoroscopic guidance. This may be problematic in certain patient groups such as pregnant patients. We report a case of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation without fluoroscopy in a pregnant patient.     

Wall-Eyed Bilateral Internuclear Ophthalmoplegia: A Rare Complication of Cardiac Catheterization

A 40-year-old woman was monitored for mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valve insufficiency caused by rheumatic heart disease and underwent right and left ventricular catheterization and coronary angiography. During the procedure, she suddenly complained of horizontal diplopia. Neuro-ophthalmologic examination revealed 40-prism diopter exotropia in the primary position and adduction paralysis in both eyes. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging revealed an infarct in the brainstem at the pontomesencephalic level in the medial longitudinal fasciculus site. The patient was diagnosed as having wall-eyed bilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia (WEBINO). To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a patient in whom WEBINO developed after cardiac catheterization.     

Prognostic role of sensitive-to-apoptosis gene expression in rectal cancer

AIM:To investigate the association between prognosis of rectal cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy(CRT) and expression of sensitive-to-apoptosis(SAG),B-cell lymphoma-extra large(Bcl-X L) and Bcl-2 homologous antagonist/killer(Bak).METHODS:Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the expression of proteins of interest,namely SAG,Bcl-X L,Bak and β-actin,in rectal carcinoma patients who had a follow-up period of 3 years after CRT.Biopsy specimens were excised from the rectal tum...     

Effect of erythropoietin on brain tissue after experimental head trauma in rats

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of EPO on LPO, on ultrastructural findings, and on antiapoptotic bcl-2 and survivin gene expressions after TBI. The authors also compared the activity of EPO with that of MPSS. METHODS: Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups: sham-operated, control, moderate TBI-alone (300 g/cm), TBI + EPO-treated (1000 IU/kg), TBI + MPSS-treated (30 mg/kg), and TBI + vehicle-treated (0.4 mL albumin solution) groups. RESULTS: Compared with the levels in control and sham-operated animals, LPO was significantly elevated in rats in the trauma-alone group. The administration of EPO and MPSS significantly decreased the LPO levels (P < .05). Trauma also increases the antiapoptotic bcl-2 gene expression significantly at 24 hours postinjury (P < .05), but it has no effect on survivin expression. The EPO and MPSS treatments caused significant elevation in both gene expressions (P < .05). It is also showed that MPSS has more protective effect than EPO on brain ultrastructure, especially on the structure of small- (P < .05) and medium-sized myelinated axons, after TBI. CONCLUSIONS: EPO has protective effects after moderate TBI, and this effect seems better than MPSS on antiapoptotic gene expression and LPO. The protection of cerebral subcellular organelles after traumatic injury is more prominent in MPSS-treated animals than EPO-treated animals quantitatively. This experimental study indicates that the benefits of EPO in the management of TBI have promising results and prompts further studies on the difference between EPO and MPSS in histopathological findings at the subcellular level.     

Temporal overexpression of IL‐22 and Reg3γ differentially impacts the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

IL‐22 is an alpha‐helical cytokine which belongs to the IL‐10 family of cytokines. IL‐22 is produced by RORγt+ innate and adaptive lymphocytes, including ILC3, γδ T, iNKT, Th17 and Th22 cells and some granulocytes. IL‐22 receptor is expressed primarily by non‐haematopoietic cells. IL‐22 is critical for barrier immunity at the mucosal surfaces in the steady state and during infection. Although IL‐22 knockout mice were previously shown to develop experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of multiple sclerosis (MS), how temporal IL‐22 manipulation in adult mice would affect EAE course has not been studied previously. In this study, we overexpressed IL‐22 via hydrodynamic gene delivery or blocked it via neutralizing antibodies in C57BL/6 mice to explore the therapeutic impact of IL‐22 modulation on the EAE course. IL‐22 overexpression significantly decreased EAE scores and demyelination, and reduced infiltration of IFN‐γ+IL‐17A+Th17 cells into the central nervous system (CNS). The neutralization of IL‐22 did not alter the EAE pathology significantly. We show that IL‐22‐mediated protection is independent of Reg3γ, an epithelial cell‐derived antimicrobial peptide induced by IL‐22. Thus, overexpression of Reg3γ significantly exacerbated EAE scores, demyelination and infiltration of IFN‐γ+IL‐17A+ and IL‐17A+GM‐CSF+Th17 cells to CNS. We also show that Reg3γ may inhibit IL‐2‐mediated STAT5 signalling and impair expansion of Treg cells in vivo and in vitro. Finally, Reg3γ overexpression dramatically impacted intestinal microbiota during EAE. Our results provide novel insight into the role of IL‐22 and IL‐22‐induced antimicrobial peptide Reg3γ in the pathogenesis of CNS inflammation in a murine model of MS.     

Effects of the mycotoxin citrinin on micronucleus formation in a cytokinesis-block genotoxicity assay in cultured human lymphocytes

Some mycotoxins produced by microfungi are capable of causing disease and death in animals and humans. In the present study, the mycotoxin citrinin (CTN) was evaluated for its genotoxic effects to human peripheral blood lymphocytes from six different individuals. Lymphocyte cultures were treated for 48 h with CTN at six different concentrations between 10 and 100 microM. Lymphocyte cultures were also incubated with 0.1 microM mitomycin c (MMC) as a positive control, and 0.5% absolute ethanol as a vehicle control.CTN caused a significant concentration-dependent increase in micronucleus (MN) frequency in human lymphocytes. At the 60 microM, 80 microM and 100 microM concentrations, CTN was found to induce MN in cytokinesis-blocked lymphocytes in comparison with negative controls (P = 0.014). All the CTN concentrations also led to a clear decrease in the percentages of binucleated/mononucleated cells (P = 0.014). These results indicate that CTN at high concentrations is genotoxic in cultured human lymphocytes.