Esophageal adenocarcinoma is the fastest rising cancer in the United States. It develops from long‐standing gastroesophageal reflux disease which affects >20% of the general population. It carries a very poor prognosis with 5‐year survival <20%. The disease is known to sequentially progress from reflux esophagitis to a metaplastic precursor, Barrett''s esophagus and then onto dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma. However, only few patients with reflux develop Barrett''s esophagus and only a minority of these turn malignant. The reason for this heterogeneity in clinical progression is unknown. To improve patient management, molecular changes which facilitate disease progression must be identified. Animal models can provide a comprehensive functional and anatomic platform for such a study. Rats and mice have been the most widely studied but disease homology with humans has been questioned. No animal model naturally simulates the inflammation to adenocarcinoma progression as in humans, with all models requiring surgical bypass or destruction of existing antireflux mechanisms. Valuable properties of individual models could be utilized to holistically evaluate disease progression. In this review paper, we critically examined the current animal models of Barrett''s esophagus, their differences and homologies with human disease and how they have shaped our current understanding of Barrett''s carcinogenesis. 相似文献
Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) is the term applied to a heterogeneous group of disorders resulting in iron deposition in the basal ganglia. Well-known phenotypic features are progressive regression with extra pyramidal involvement and a variable course. A 10-year-old child born to consanguineous parents presented with progressive generalized opisthotonic dystonia, retrocollis, oromandibular dyskinesias, apraxia for swallowing, optic atrophy and severe self-mutilation of lips. MR imaging showed brain iron accumulation. Other causes of self-mutilation were excluded. Early infantile onset, ophisthotonic dystonia with oromandibular dyskinesias and characteristic MR images are suggestive of NBIA. There is only one case reported in the literature of self-mutilation in this condition. 相似文献
Background Despite improving surgical techniques, treatment of heart valve disease in children remains controversial. Somatic growth
and adequate anticoagulation are of concern when children undergo valve replacement. We conducted this study to evaluate the
performance of valves in this age group.
Methods 42 children under the age of 13 years who underwent valve replacement were included in this study. Totally, 50 valves were
implanted in 42 patients: 48 were mechanical prostheses, two were bioprosthetic both in pulmonary position. 37 (74%) valves
were implanted in mitral position, 10 (20%) in aortic position, 1 (2%) in tricuspid position and 2 (4%) in pulmonary position.
Preoperatively, 14 (33,3%) patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV, while 27 (64.2%) were in NYHA class
III.
Results There were 2 (4.7%) hospital deaths and 2 (4.7%) late deaths while 2 (4.7%) patients were lost to follow up. The mean follow
up period was 9.4 yrs. 35 (83.3%) patients are in NYHA Class I and free of all medications except warfarin. 3 (7.1%) patients
have undergone 5 successful pregnancies. The median INR was 2.23. Major thrombo-embolic episode occurred in 1 (2.3%) patient.
Conclusions In view of the problems of sizing, anticoagulation and need for re-operation at an early age, there is a reluctance to replace
valves in children. This study shows that despite these problems, valve replacement can be undertaken safely and successfully
in children, when repair has failed or not technically feasible. 相似文献
Background: Developmental differences in short- and long-term responses to pain, especially surgical pain, have received minimal attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine postoperative responses in rats of developmental ages paralleling the infant to young adult human.
Methods: The withdrawal threshold to von Frey filament testing and withdrawal latency to hind-paw radiant heating were determined before and for various times after hind-paw incision in rats 2, 4, and 16 weeks of age. Control rats of these ages were observed serially without surgery.
Results: In control animals, younger rats were more sensitive to mechanical stimulation and less sensitive to thermal stimulation. Paw incision resulted in similar changes to both types of stimulation in all age groups, peaking 4 h after surgery. However, the return to normal sensitivity to mechanical stimulation, as measured by return of threshold to 80% of normal, occurred more quickly in 2-week-old than in 4- and 16-week-old animals. In contrast, there was no age difference for time to return to normal sensitivity to thermal stimulation after surgery. 相似文献
Time-resolved contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) may suffer from involuntary patient motion. It is noted that while MR signal change associated with motion is large in magnitude and has smooth phase variation in k-phase, signal change associated with vascular enhancement is small in magnitude and has rapid phase variation in k-space. Based upon this observation, a novel projection onto convex sets (POCS) algorithm is developed as an automatic iterative method to remove motion artifacts. The presented POCS algorithm consists of high-pass phase filtering and convex projections in both k-space and image space. Without input of detailed motion knowledge, motion effects are filtered out, while vasculature information is preserved. The proposed method can be effective for a large class of nonrigid motions, including through-plane motion. The algorithm is stable and converges quickly, usually within five iterations. A double-blind evaluation on a set of clinical MRA cases shows that a completely unsupervised version of the algorithm produces significantly better rank scores (P=0.038) when compared to angiograms produced manually by an experienced radiologist. 相似文献