Factors Affecting Morbidity and Mortality in Patients Who Underwent Emergency Operation for Incarcerated Abdominal Wall Hernia

Patients with incarcerated abdominal wall hernias (AWHs) are often encountered in emergency care units. Despite advances in anesthesia, antisepsis, antibiotic therapy, and fluid therapy, the morbidity and mortality rates for these patients remain high. Between 2006 and 2011, we retrospectively analyzed the cases of 131 patients who underwent emergency surgery for incarcerated abdominal wall hernias. Of these, there were 70 women (53.4%) and 61 men (46.6%) with an average age of 63.3 ± 17.4 years (range, 17–91 years). Morbidity was observed in 28 patients (21.4%), and the mortality rate was 2.3%. Intestinal resection, presence of concomitant disease, and general anesthesia were the independent variants that affected morbidity of patients with incarcerated abdominal wall hernias.     

Dye functionalized cryogel columns for reversible lysozyme adsorption

In this study, poly (methyl methacrylate–glycidyl methacrylate) [poly(MMA-GMA)] cryogels were prepared by radical cryocopolymerization of MMA with GMA as a functional comonomer. Reactive Green 19 dye was then attached to the cryogel by nucleophilic substitution reaction, and this dye-attached cryogel column was used for lysozyme adsorption. Characterization of the cryogel was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Pore size of the cryogels was 15–30?μm and pores were interconnected structure. Attached amount of Reactive Green 19 to cryogel support was calculated as 106.25?μmol/g cryogel. Lysozyme adsorption studies were carried out by using a continuous system. It was found that the maximum amount of lysozyme adsorption (32?mg/g cryogel) obtained from experimental results was found to be approximately same with the calculated Langmuir adsorption capacity (33?mg/g cryogel). Desorption of adsorbed lysozyme was carried out by using 1.5?M NaCl in pH 4.5 acetate buffer, and desorption yield was found to be 97.4%. Cryogels were very stable, and it was found that there was no remarkable reduction in the adsorption capacity at the end of ten adsorption–desorption cycles. As a result, Reactive Green 19-attached cryogels have great advantages such as easy preparation, rapid adsorption, and desorption, being economic and allowing the direct separation of proteins.     

FTT0831c/FTL_0325 Contributes to Francisella tularensis Cell Division,Maintenance of Cell Shape,and Structural Integrity

The Francisella FTT0831c/FTL_0325 gene encodes amino acid motifs to suggest it is a lipoprotein and that it may interact with the bacterial cell wall as a member of the OmpA-like protein family. Previous studies have suggested that FTT0831c is surface exposed and required for virulence of Francisella tularensis by subverting the host innate immune response (M. Mahawar et al., J. Biol. Chem. 287:25216–25229, 2012). We also found that FTT0831c is required for murine pathogenesis and intramacrophage growth of Schu S4, but we propose a different model to account for the proinflammatory nature of the resultant mutants. First, inactivation of FTL_0325 from live vaccine strain (LVS) or FTT0831c from Schu S4 resulted in temperature-dependent defects in cell viability and morphology. Loss of FTT0831c was also associated with an unusual defect in lipopolysaccharide O-antigen synthesis, but loss of FTL_0325 was not. Full restoration of these properties was observed in complemented strains expressing FTT0831c in trans, but not in strains lacking the OmpA motif, suggesting that cell wall contact is required. Finally, growth of the LVS FTL_0325 mutant in Mueller-Hinton broth at 37°C resulted in the appearance of membrane blebs at the poles and midpoint, prior to the formation of enlarged round cells that showed evidence of compromised cellular membranes. Taken together, these data are more consistent with the known structural role of OmpA-like proteins in linking the OM to the cell wall and, as such, maintenance of structural integrity preventing altered surface exposure or release of Toll-like receptor 2 agonists during rapid growth of Francisella in vitro and in vivo.     

2D:4D Digit Ratios in Adults with Gender Dysphoria: A Comparison to Their Unaffected Same-Sex Heterosexual Siblings,Cisgender Heterosexual Men,and Cisgender Heterosexual Women

Archives of Sexual Behavior - We compared gender dysphoria (GD) patients and their same-sex siblings in terms of their 2D:4D ratios, which may reflect prenatal exposure to androgen, one of the...