Improved Diagnostic Sensitivity of Bowel Disease of Prematurity on Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

Bowel diseases of prematurity, including necrotizing enterocolitis, are dreaded ailments of neonates. Early diagnosis is difficult, with clinical and radiographic findings often inconclusive. We present a novel use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in detection of pediatric bowel disease. Early identification of compromised blood flow or an at-risk bowel can be quantitatively detected and monitored. This ability has implications for guidance of emerging therapies, allowing targeting of inflammation. These findings represent an advancement in detection of bowel disease in neonates.     

Evaluation of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony as determined by phase analysis of ECG-gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging in patients with left ventricular dysfunction and conduction disturbances

Background  Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is approved for the treatment of patients with advanced systolic heart failure and evidence of dyssynchrony on electrocardiograms. However, a significant percentage of patients do not demonstrate improvement with CRT. Echocardiographic techniques have been used for more accurate determination of dyssynchrony. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging has not previously been used to evaluate cardiac dyssynchrony. The objective of this study is to evaluate mechanical dyssynchrony as described by phase analysis of gated SPECT images in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, conduction delays, and ventricular paced rhythms. Methods and Results  A novel count-based method is used to extract regional systolic wall thickening amplitude and phase from gated SPECT images. Five indices describing the phase dispersion of the onset of mechanical contraction are determined: peak phase, phase SD, bandwidth, skewness, and kurtosis. These indices were determined in consecutive patients with left ventricular dysfunction (n=120), left bundle branch block (n=33), right bundle branch block (n=19), and ventricular paced rhythms (n=23) and were compared with normal control subjects (n=157). Phase SD, bandwidth, skewness, and kurtosis were significantly different between patients with left ventricular dysfunction, left bundle branch block, right bundle branch block, and ventricular paced rhythms and normal control subjects (all P<.001) Peak phase was significantly different between patients with right ventricular paced rhythms and normal control subjects (P=.001). Conclusions  A novel SPECT technique for describing left ventricular mechanical dyssyn-chrony has been developed and may prove useful in the evaluation of patients for CRT. This study was funded in part by a research grant from the Medtronic-Duke Strategic Alliance, of which Dr Borges-Neto is the primary investigator.     

Protective effect of captopril on the blood-retina barrier in normotensive insulin-dependent diabetic patients with nephropathy and background retinopathy

The effect of 18 months' inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme by captopril on the leakage of fluorescein through the blood-retina barrier was examined in a prospective, randomized control study of 20 normotensive insulin-dependent diabetic patients with nephropathy and background retinopathy. After 18 months, 15 patients remained in the study. Fluorescein leakage remained nearly unchanged in the captopril-treated group, being 4.1 ± 4.1 (mean ± SD) × 10^–7 cm/s at baseline and 4.2±4.1 × 10^–7 cm/s after 18 months' treatment. The permeability increased significantly (P<0.01) from 3.3±2.2 × 10^–7 cm/s to 5.6±3.5 × 10^–7 cm/s at 18 months in the control group. Arterial blood pressure was nearly constant in both groups throughout the study. The results indicate that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition with captopril can arrest or delay a progressive breakdown of the blood-retina barrier in normotensive insulin-dependent diabetic patients with nephropathy and background retinopathy.The authors have no commercial or proprietory interest in the drugs or instruments used in this study     

自闭症个体社会能力的预报器:观察自然社会情形时的目测定位模式

背景日常生活中,自闭症患者核心社交不足的表现比外在实验任务中的表现要显著得多。为了使实验测量符合临床观察,我们介绍一种新方法,即在一个模拟日常需要的设置中采用社会监测的定量非典型性策略。把增强的社会生态有效性对这两组的影响最大化,同时评估实验变量相对的社会能力成果测量的效用。方法在观察社会场景时,用眼睛追踪技术测量目测定位,对象是15个有感知能力的自闭症男人和15个年龄、性别与言语IQ相称的控制主体。我们编码4个可靠的定位区域:嘴、眼睛、身体和目标。统计学分析把这两组定位在兴趣区域上的时间和社会能力成果测量作了比较。(比如日常社会调整和自闭症患者的社会症状的标准化测量)结果在四个区域中都观察到这两组间的重大不同。自闭症的最佳预报器是眼睛区域上的定位时间减少。定位在嘴巴上还是定位在目标上与社交机能紧密相关:增加对嘴的注意预示着改良的社会适应性和较少的自闭症社会损伤,而花更多时间注意目标则预示着相反的关系。结论在观察自然社会情形时,自闭症个体表现出社会视觉追击的反常模式,即眼睛不再那么突出,而嘴巴、身体和目标却越加突出。定位在嘴巴和目标(而不是眼睛)上的时间是社会能力的强有力指示器。     

Terrorist bombing

Bombings and explosion incidents directed against innocent civilians are the primary instrument of global terror. In the present review we highlight the major observations and lessons learned from these events. Five mechanisms of blast injury are outlined and the different type of injury that they cause is described. Indeed, the consequences of terror bombings differ from those of non-terrorism trauma in severity and complexity of injury, and constitute a new class of casualties that differ from those of conventional trauma. The clinical implications of terror bombing, in treatment dilemmas in the multidimensional injury, ancillary evaluation and handling of terror bombing mass casualty event are highlighted. All this leads to the conclusion that thorough medical preparedness to cope with this new epidemic is required, and that understanding of detonation and blast dynamics and how they correlate with the injury patterns is pivotal for revision of current mass casualty protocols.     

A short-term follow-up comparison of two trans-obturator tape procedures

The objective of the study was to compare the clinical outcomes at the short-term follow-ups of two novel transobturator mid-urethral sling procedures – the transobturator tape (TOT) procedure and the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT)-obturator procedure. The study cohort consisted two groups of 40 women with urodynamically proven stress urinary incontinence (SUI). The patients in one group underwent the TOT procedure, performed according to Delorme (Prog Urol 11:1306–1313, 2001); those in the second group underwent the TVT-obturator operation, performed according to de Leval (Eur Urol 44:724–730, 2003). Intra-operative diagnostic cystoscopy was not performed with either the TVT-obturator or the TOT procedures. The average follow-up was 12 months. The two patient groups were similar in terms of demographic and therapeutic criteria, except for patient age, which was significantly younger in the TVT-obturator group. Previously reported TVT-related operative complications, such as bladder penetration, intra-operative bleeding, field infection and post-operative pelvic floor relaxation, were not observed in patients of either group. Bowel and urethral injuries were also not recorded. The therapeutic failure rates were 10% for the TOT procedure and 5% for the TVT-obturator procedure. Urinary frequency and urgency post-operatively were reported in 25% of the TOT patients and 19% of the TVT-obturator patients, pelvic or vaginal pain affected 10% of the TOT and 5% of the TVT-obturator patients, while post-operative voiding difficulty was experienced by 12.5% of the TOT and 7.5% of the TVT-obturator patients. None of the above-mentioned differences between the two patient groups were of statistical significance. The TVT-obturator and TOT procedures, both minimally invasive, novel, mid-urethral sling procedures, seem to be safe, easy-to-perform and effective in treating female SUI. The patients of both study groups suffered less intra- and post-operative surgical complications than previously been reported in connection with the TVT operation. The TVT-obturator patients had fewer therapeutic failures, less post-operative urinary frequency and urgency, less pelvic pain and less voiding difficulty. All of these findings, however, had no statistical significance; consequently, long-term comparative data collection will be required before solid conclusions can be drawn on the superiority of either of these two operative techniques.     

Antigen detection immunoassay using dipsticks and colloidal dyes

A dipstick colloidal dye immunoassay (DIA) for multiple antigen detection is described. The test combines the concepts of double antibody (Ab) sandwich ELISA, dot blotting, and colloidal particle-linked Abs to produce a dipstick test for multiple antigen (Ag) detection. Dipsticks prepared from Ab coated nitrocellulose membrane mounted on acetate strips served as the assay capture matrix. Abs absorbed to colored dye particles from a family of commercially available textile dyes (Dye/Ab reagent) served as Ag detecting reagents. DIA and enzyme labelled dot blot assays showed similar Ag detection limits down to a sensitivity of 10 ng/ml. In a pilot study, an assay designed to detect species-specific IgG for use in mosquito bloodmeal identification demonstrated the feasibility of the technique. Experiments comparing bloodmeal analysis of mosquitoes using DIA and ELISA methods showed 100% agreement. This DIA method provides an inexpensive, simple, robust test for multiple Ag detection without instrumentation suitable for a wide variety of field applications.     

Is diabetic nephropathy an inherited complication?

For yet unidentified reasons less than 50% of patients with insulin-dependent mellitus develop diabetic nephropathy. Genetic factors have been suggested as risk markers for development of nephropathy in diabetes. To further evaluate this hypothesis we studied the prevalence of nephropathy in diabetic siblings of diabetic patients with and without nephropathy. From a representative sample of 619 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, we identified 20 patients with and 29 patients without nephropathy having diabetic siblings. Diabetic nephropathy (defined as urinary albumin excretion greater than 300 mg/24 hr) was found in 7 out of 21 siblings to patients with nephropathy and 3 out of 30 siblings to normoalbuminuric patients (P less than 0.04). No significant differences between the two groups of siblings with respect to age, diabetes duration, sex distribution, blood pressure or glycosylated hemoglobin A1c-levels were found. A significant correlation within sib-pair of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c was found (r = 0.47; P less than 0.001). We conclude that familial clustering of diabetic nephropathy does occur. This clustering may either be due to genetic inheritance or to sib-similarities due to shared environment, as indicated by the correlation of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c within sib-pairs.