Biliary stricture dilatation: multicenter review of clinical management in 73 patients

Eighty-nine biliary strictures in 73 patients who had undergone percutaneous balloon dilatation were reviewed to determine long-term patency rates and clinical management problems. The majority of dilatations were performed in patients with anastomotic strictures (n = 44), iatrogenic strictures (n = 28), and strictures associated with sclerosing cholangitis (n = 17). Patency rates after 36 months or more were 67%, 76%, and 42%, respectively. Complications, mostly minor, occurred in less than 7% of patients. Of patients with significant biliary obstruction, 15% had little or no intrahepatic biliary duct dilatation demonstrated by cross-sectional imaging and/or direct cholangiography. No definite conclusions could be drawn about the utility of long-term internal/external stenting.     

Demonstration of endothelium-mediated increase in vascular smooth muscle cGMP,in a flexible coculture model

The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of applying a novel coculture model for the investigation of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) as well as exploring its applicability for investigating important cell-to-cell interactions. Bovine aortic endothelial cells (EC) were grown on micropore filters while porcine aortic smooth muscle cells (SMC) were grown separately on plates. When confluent these two cell layers were cocultured such that the EC maintained proper polarity and orientation to the underlying SMC. We found that coculturing EC with SMC for five minutes caused significant increase in SMC cGMP, 43±4 vs 268±13 fmols/well (p<0.0001). This EC-mediated effect was further augmented with EDRF agonists and with L-arginine supplementation, but was inhibited by nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (NAME) and reduced hemoglobin. When the EC were cocultured with subendothelial THP-1 monocytes for three hours prior to the SMC coculture, the EC mediated increase in SMC cGMP, both stimulated and unstimulated, was significantly reduced. We conclude that this flexible coculture model can be used to study EDRF release from EC and can be applied to study important cell-to-cell interactions that have been difficult to address in other models.     

我国道路交通事故伤概况

以公安部交通管理局公布的数据为基础，报告我国近４０多年来，道路交通事故及其所致的伤亡不断上升，分别增加了约３０倍至５０余倍；万车死亡率有明显下降趋势，由１９５１年的１３７．６４人降至１９９３年的２７．２７人，但仍远高于发达国家（＜５人），１０万人死亡率有增高的趋势，由１９５１年的０．１５人增至１９９３年的５．２９人，但低于发达国家（＞７．７人），这显然与我国人均汽车拥有量较少有关。通过分析道路交通