A comparison of the academic impact of plastic surgery units in the United Kingdom and Ireland using bibliometric analysis

Academic output is just one aspect of a successful career as a plastic surgeon. However, for those with a strong interest in academia, the academic output of a department will likely be a key factor when deciding how to rank jobs. The aim of this study was to quantify and rank the academic output of plastic surgery units across the UK and Ireland. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science Bibliometric analysis tool was used to collate cumulative (1950–2016), 10 year (2006–2016) and 3 years (2013–2015) research output data for plastic surgery units in the UK and Ireland. Sixty-six plastic surgery units were identified. Departments were ranked for each time period according to the number of papers produced, number of citations (Nc) and h-index (a measure of the impact of scientific output). The top 3 departments for number of papers in the last 10 years were The Royal Free Hospital, London (226) Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford (218), and Morriston Hospital and Swansea (188). The top 3 for h-number were The Royal Free Hospital (21) Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester (18) and Morriston Hospital (17). Academic output varies across plastic surgery units in the UK and Ireland. A number of departments have consistently maintained high academic outputs across the years and will be of interest to surgeons hoping to pursue a career in academia.     

Effect of lacosamide on ethanol induced conditioned place preference and withdrawal associated behavior in mice: Possible contribution of hippocampal CRMP-2

BackgroundExcessive consumption of ethanol is known to activate the mTORC1 pathway and to enhance the Collapsin Response Mediator Protein-2 (CRMP-2) levels in the limbic region of brain. The latter helps in forming microtubule assembly that is linked to drug taking or addiction-like behavior in rodents. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of lacosamide, an antiepileptic drug and a known CRMP-2 inhibitor, which binds to CRMP-2 and inhibits the formation of microtubule assembly, on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) in mice.MethodsThe behavior of mice following ethanol addiction and withdrawal was assessed by performing different behavioral paradigms. Mice underwent ethanol-induced CPP training with alternate dose of ethanol (2 g/kg, po) and saline (10 ml/kg, po). The effect of lacosamide on the expression of ethanol-induced CPP and on ethanol withdrawal associated anxiety and depression-like behavior was evaluated. The effect of drug on locomotor activity was also assessed and hippocampal CRMP-2 levels were measured.ResultsEthanol-induced CPP was associated with enhanced CRMP-2 levels in the hippocampus. Lacosamide significantly reduced the expression of ethanol-induced CPP and alleviated the levels of hippocampal CRMP-2 but aggravated withdrawal-associated anxiety and depression in mice.ConclusionThe present study demonstrated the beneficial effect of lacosamide in attenuation of expression of ethanol induced conditioned place preference via reduction of hippocampal CRMP-2 level. These findings suggest that lacosamide may be investigated further for ethanol addiction but not for managing withdrawal.     

Does Meningitis Stop CSF Rhinorrhea following Lateral Skull Base Surgery?

In cases of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea following lateral skull base surgery, fibrosis and fibrin formation resulting from meningitis has been postulated as a mechanism of spontaneously resolving the CSF leak. This study was undertaken to explore any possible relationship between the cessation of CSF leak and meningitis. A retrospective study at a tertiary referral center of 232 consecutive patients was performed. Out of a total of 232 procedures, 29 patients developed CSF rhinorrhea, of whom 7 subsequently developed meningitis. Bacteria were isolated in CSF obtained at lumbar puncture in 5 cases, with the CSF analysis in the remaining 2 cases suggesting aseptic meningitis. Conservative treatment failed to stop the CSF rhinorrhea in 6 of 7 cases. In this study, the development of meningitis did not appear to aid in the resolution of the CSF rhinorrhea. We conclude that surgical intervention should not be delayed in the expectation that meningitis and conservative interventions may promote CSF leak resolution.     

Hydatid cyst of gall bladder.

Gall bladder hydatid cyst is a rare entity. Concurrent occurrence of gall blader hydatid cysts along with liver cysts, especially with the biliary channels clear of cysts, is very rare. We report a 27-year-old man with a gall bladder hydatid cyst that was diagnosed only after opening the resected specimen of the gall bladder.     

The use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the quantitation of Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan pit viper) venom and venom antibodies

The specificity and sensitivity of an indirect and two (an ‘ordinary’ and a ‘rapid’) double sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedures for the quantitation of Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan pit viper) venom were examined. The three assays were equally sensitive and the accuracy of the assays was not substantially affected by individual variation in the venom composition. The specificity of the assays was examined against 26 venoms from snakes of the families Viperidae and Elapidae. While the double sandwich ELISA procedures were sufficiently specific to be used in the clinical immunodiagnosis of C. rhodostoma bite in Malaysia, the indirect ELISA procedure exhibited extensive cross-reactivity with other Malaysian pit viper venoms. Attempts were made to improve the specificity of the indirect ELISA procedure for the quantitation of C. rhodostoma venom. A ‘low ELISA cross-reactivity’ venom fraction (termed VF52) was isolated from C. rhodostoma venom by repeated Sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography. The indirect ELISA procedure using antibodies to VF52 as immunoreagent showed an improvement in specificity. The use of the indirect ELISA procedure for the detection of C. rhodostoma antibodies was also examined and the results show that the assay was sufficiently specific to be used for retrospective diagnosis of C. rhodostoma bite in Malaysia, in particular when VF52 was used as the coating antigen.     

Genotypic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bangladesh and prevalence of the Beijing strain

Genotypic analysis was performed on 48 Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains collected from a hospital in Dhaka city. Deletion analysis showed that the isolates were all M. tuberculosis; 13 of them were found to be of the "ancestral" type, while 35 were of the "modern" type, indicating that both endemic (ancestral type) and epidemic (modern type) strains cause tuberculosis in Bangladesh. Genotyping based on the spoligotype and variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) of mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRU) was also done. A total of 34 strains (71%) were grouped by spoligotyping into nine different clusters; the largest comprised 15 isolates of the Beijing genotype, whereas the remaining eight clusters consisted of two to five isolates. MIRU-VNTR typing detected 32 different patterns among 44 tested strains, and the 15 Beijing strains were further discriminated by MIRU-VNTR typing (7 distinct patterns for the 15 isolates). These results indicate that MIRU-VNTR typing, along with spoligotyping and deletion analysis, can be used effectively for molecular epidemiological studies to determine ongoing transmission clusters; to our knowledge, this is the first report about the type of strains prevailing in Bangladesh.     

Recombinant VP9-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of immunoglobulin G antibodies to Banna virus (genus Seadornavirus)

Banna virus (BAV, genus Seadornavirus, family Reoviridae) is an arbovirus suspected to be responsible for encephalitis in humans. Two genotypes of this virus are distinguishable: A (Chinese isolate, BAV-Ch) and B (Indonesian isolate, BAV-In6969) which exhibit only 41% amino-acid identity in the sequence of their VP9.The VP7 to VP12 of BAV-Ch and VP9 of BAV-In6969 were expressed in bacteria using pGEX-4T-2 vector. VP9 was chosen to establish an ELISA for BAV, based mainly on two observations: (i). VP9 is a major protein in virus-infected cells and is a capsid protein (ii). among all the proteins expressed, VP9 was obtained in high amount and showed the highest immuno-reactivity to anti-BAV ascitic fluid.The VP9s ELISA was evaluated in three populations: French blood donors and two populations (blood donors and patients with a neurological syndrome) from Malaysia, representing the region where the virus was isolated in the past.The specificity of this ELISA was >98%. In mice injected with live BAV, the assay detected IgG-antibody to BAV infection 21 days post-injection, which was confirmed by Western blot using BAV-infected cells.The VP9 ELISA permits to determine the sero-status of a population without special safety precautions and without any requirements to propagate the BAV. This test should be a useful tool for epidemiological survey of BAV.     

Characterization and identification of Oya virus,a Simbu serogroup virus of the genus Bunyavirus,isolated from a pig suspected of Nipah virus infection

Summary.  A virus, named Oya virus, was isolated in Vero cell cultures from the lungs of a pig suspected of Nipah virus infection. The virus was revealed as a spherical enveloped RNA virus with a diameter of 79 nm. For identification of Oya virus, RT-PCR was performed. A common primer set for S-RNA of the Simbu serogroup of the genus Bunyavirus was able to amplify a cDNA from Oya virus RNA. The sequence data of the product revealed that the partial gene of Oya virus S-RNA segment had 65–70% homology with published cDNA sequences of Simbu serogroup viruses. The phylogenetic analysis of the data showed that the Oya virus is grouped in Simbu serogroup, but is genetically distinct from the serogroup viruses that have been analyzed molecularly. Serological surveys revealed that the virus distributed widely and densely in Malaysia. Received January 5, 2002; accepted April 16, 2002 Published online July 19, 2002