Reconstruction of parietal bone defects with adiposederived mesenchymal stem cells. Experimental study

Purpose:This study assessed the regeneration potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from adipose tissue associated with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in bone regeneration.Methods:Thirty Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus albinos) were divided into five groups (according to the grafting material and time to euthanasia): (1) autograft - 14 days (control), (2) autograft - 28 days (control), (3) MSC + PRP - 14 days, (4) MSC + PRP + papaverine - 14 days and (5) MSC + PRP + papaverine - 28 days. After euthanasia, the graft was removed and histological slides were prepared. They were assessed by a blinded pathologist using a previously published histological scale as parameter.Results:There was some degree of neoformed bone trabeculae (NBT) in 93.3% of the samples, as well as osteoblastic activity (OA). The autograft groups (14 and 28 days) had higher levels in the formation of bone trabeculae. Nonparametric data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test and proved not to be statistically significant at p < 0.05.Conclusions:Experimental parietal bone reconstruction, combining MSC, PRP and papaverine presented regeneration in all groups with no significant difference among them.Key words: Bone Regeneration, Platelet-Rich Plasma, Tissue Engineering, Rats     

Local hyperthermia of the prostate gland for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy and urinary retention.

Local hyperthermia of the prostate was used to treat 72 patients who had an indwelling catheter because of urinary retention caused by benign prostatic hypertrophy. One month after completion of treatment 50% of patients were able to dispense with the catheter and 1 year later 40% remained catheter-free. The best results were achieved in patients who underwent 6 to 10 treatment sessions in conjunction with cyproterone acetate 50 mg tid administered during the treatment period only.     

Re-orchiopexy: advantages and disadvantages

Re-orchiopexy was performed in 33 boys (42 testes) in order to place an undescended testis in the scrotum after failure of the initial operation. Success was achieved in 80.9%. Seven of the 10 testes, reported to have short spermatic vessels at the first surgery, had no elongation of the vessels and only 1 of these resulted in a high scrotal location of the testis. It appears that most orchiopexy failures are the result of technical failures of the initial procedure. Standard orchiopexy with extensive mobilization of the spermatic vessels and testis can successfully correct most of the undescended testes. However, the preferred management for the intra-abdominal testis with short vessels may be transection of the spermatic vessels rather than a planned two-stage technique.     

Update on treatment of pediatric pain with surgical considerations

The assessment, treatment, and prevention of pediatric pain pose a special challenge to surgeons and others involved in the care of children. The experience of pain is subjective, and infants and many children are unable to verbalize their level of discomfort. Therefore, it is the responsibility of physicians and nurses to be educated and trained to identify nonverbal signs of pain and discomfort, anticipate the experience of pain associated with specific procedures and diagnoses, and initiate the appropriate use of analgesics as well as nonmedicinal strategies to relieve this pain.     

Early stages of the pathogenesis of rat ventral prostate hyperplasia induced by citral

Typical lesions of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were induced experimentally in the ventral prostate of adolescent (6 week old) male rats by citral, a nonsteroidal compound. Incipient BPH changes were already observed in the acinar glands 10 days after citral administration. A longer period of treatment (1 month) significantly enhanced epithelial hyperplasia, whereas the stromal elements were less reactive. Characteristic BPH lesions involving both prostatic compartments were found after 3 months of treatment. Castration prior to citral administration prevented such BPH changes; however, citral did not prevent the involutive lesions of castration. The mechanism of action of citral is yet unknown, various possibilities concerning the induction of BPH in rats are presented and discussed. The potential advantage of this model, especially as BPH is not necessarily linked to age or exogenous hormones, may offer new alternative pathways for understanding the complexity of BPH pathogenesis in animals and perhaps even in man.     

Neutropenia induced by platelet-activating factor (PAF-acether) released from neutrophils: The inhibitory effect of prostacyclin (PGI2)

Soluble and phagocytic stimuli released PAF-acether from PMN leucocytes, as determined by chromatography and bioassay by platelet aggregation. The same material caused aggregation of human and rabbit PMN leucocytesin vitro which was inhibited by ETYA and PGI₂. PGI₂ also inhibited PAF-acether release by PMN leucocytes and,in vivo, PGI₂ abolished not only PAF-acether-induced, but also immune complex or C5a-induced thrombocytopenia and neutropenia in rabbits. These data suggest that PAF-acether may be involved in activation of both platelets and PMN leucocytesin vivo.     

Cloning and developmental expression analysis of the murine homolog of the spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 gene (Sca1)

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat which encodes glutamine in the novel protein ataxin-1. In order to characterize the developmental expression pattern of SCA1 and to identify putative functional domains in ataxin-1, the murine homolog (Sca1) was isolated. Cloning and characterization of the murine Sca1 gene revealed that the gene organization is similar to that of the human gene. The murine and human ataxin-1 are highly homologous but the CAG repeat is virtually absent in the mouse sequence suggesting that the polyglutamine stretch is not essential for the normal function of ataxin-1 in mice. Cellular and developmental expression of the murine homolog was examined using RNA in situ hybridization. During cerebellar development, there is a transient burst of Sca1 expression at postnatal day 14 when the murine cerebellar cortex becomes physiologically functional. There is also marked expression of Sca1 in mesenchymal cells of the intervertebral discs during development of the spinal column. These results suggest that the normal Sca1 gene, has a role at specific stages of both cerebellar and vertebral column development.      

First evaluations of LPV/RTV (Kaletra) efficacy on HIV-positive patients treated with multiple drugs

At the current epidemic stage, characterized by the rise of antiretroviral drug resistance, it is necessary to administer to HIV-positive patients increasingly effective treatments. This is possible only by means of powerful drugs. In a retrospective study, the authors evaluate 78 patients: 76 pre-treated with multiple drugs and 2 na ves. The 78 patients received LPV/RTV, starting from the fourth 3-month period of 2000 until the first 3-month period of 2002. The average treatment duration was 6.5 ( 5.5) months; the median value 6 months. The efficacy of the LPV/RTV therapeutic regimen was evaluated by a cytofluorimetric count of CD4+ and determination of the HIV viral load. There were 14 drop-out patients (17.9%): 5 because of auto-suspension, 1 due to absence of clinical and virological efficacy, 5 due to side effects (3 hepatopathy, 1 allergy and 1 nausea); three patients were lost on follow-up. There were 64 (82.1%) patients on treatment. Forty patients responded (51.3%) and 13 (16.7%) had uncontrolled viraemia (over than 200 copies/ml). However, the treatment with LPV/RTV was not interrupted for these patients, because in the follow-up they showed an increase in CD4+ values. The authors conclude that the LPV/RTV combination confirms previous findings: it is a drug with a relatively low incidence of side effects, capable of powerful results even in the treatment of patients receiving multiple drugs and thus subjected to the risk of developing antiretroviral drug resistance.