Composite prostheses for the repair of abdominal wall defects: effect of the structure of the adhesion barrier component

The component of a composite prosthesis, which makes contact with the visceral peritoneum, can be reabsorbable or non-reabsorbable, and laminar or reticular. This study was designed to determine whether the composition of this second, barrier component could improve its behavior at this interface. Abdominal wall defects in rabbits were repaired using a polypropylene prosthesis (PP), or the composites Sepramesh (PP+h) or Vicryl (PP+v). Fourteen days after surgery, the implants were evaluated by light and scanning electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry. Prosthetic areas occupied by adhesions (PP: 71.08±5.09, PP+h: 18.55±4.96, P+v: 69.69±16.81%), neoperitoneal thickness (PP: 256.17±21.68, PP+h: 83.11±19.63, PP+v:213.72±35.90 μm) and macrophage counts (PP: 8.73±1.16, PP+h: 27.33±4.13, PP+v: 31.24±3.08%) showed significant differences (P<0.05). The tested biomaterials induced an optimal recipient tissue infiltration. Least adhesion formation was observed on the PP+h implants. This suggests that the second component, although reabsorbable, should be smooth in structure.     

Acetylcholine Synthesis in a Primary Culture of Porcine Intermediate Lobe Cells

Previous pharmacological studies with the pituitary gland have suggested that acetylcholine (ACh) might be involved in the regulation of intermediate lobe (IL) function. Whether ACh is endogenous to the IL cells or provided from an extrinsic source is unclear. The present experiments tested the possibility that the endocrine cells of the IL may be a source of ACh by measuring certain cholinergic markers in a primary culture of dissociated porcine cells. The endogenous ACh content was readily measurable in both the freshly dissociated IL cells and in 2- or 4-day primary cultures. Choline acetyltransferase activity was also measurable in the freshly dissociated and cultured IL cells and was reduced by 53% in the presence of a specific inhibitor, napthylvinylpyridine (50 μM). IL cells incubated in the presence of [¹⁴C]choline (1 μM) were able to synthesize [¹⁴C]ACh and the accumulation of the new ACh was inhibited by hemicholinium-3 (30 μM), a competitive inhibitor of high affinity choline uptake at cholinergic nerve terminals. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that the endocrine cells of the IL are capable of synthesizing and storing ACh.     

Effect of dithranol therapy on membrane, basement membrane and nuclear markers in psoriasis lesions

We investigated the effects of anti-psoriatic therapy with dithranol (1/20-1%) in salicylic acid (0.5%) in white petrolatum on lesional skin. FITC-labeled lectins and pemphigus vulgaris antibodies (PV) served as analytical means to study the glycocalyx. Antibodies of bullous pemphigoid (BP) were used as basal membrane markers. Nuclear antigens were recorded according to the binding of speckled, anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) as well as antibodies to dsDNA. With some lectins, dithranol therapy resulted in pronounced fluorescence of the lower parts of the basal cells. ConA was fixed by the basal cell layer. To a lesser degree, ANA were fixed by nuclei of keratinocytes. PV antibodies were not fixed at all.     

Conventional and experimental drug therapy in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia

Myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM) is currently classified as a classic (ie, BCR-ABL-negative) myeloproliferative disorder characterized by anemia, multiorgan extramedullary hematopoiesis, constitutional symptoms, and premature death from either leukemic transformation or other disease complications. Stem cell transplantation can be curative, but many patients either are not appropriate candidates or do not choose to accept the significant risks associated with transplantation. Current pharmacologic therapy has been beneficial mainly in terms of palliating disease-associated cytopenias, constitutional symptoms, splenomegaly, and other organ damage from excess myeloproliferation. Novel treatment strategies are under investigation, including targeted inhibition of JAK2^V617F, the activating tyrosine kinase point mutation present in about half of patients with MMM. In this article, we review both the old and new pharmacologic options for MMM.     

Periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs): a possible role for metabolic factors in pathogenesis

Periodic, lateralized, epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) in the electroencephalogram have been reported in association with a variety of structural lesions of the brain. Although a great deal of attention has been directed to the neuropathological basis of PLEDs, little emphasis has been placed on the functional basis of this EEG syndrome. In this paper, we reported a patient with multiple systemic problems whose EEG showed PLEDs. However, radiological and pathological studies revealed no neuropathological basis for the occurrence of this EEG syndrome. Thus, we presented evidence that metabolic factors may play a part in the pathogenesis of PLEDs.