Packed red blood cell transfusion (PRBC) attenuates intestinal blood flow responses to feedings in pre-term neonates with normalization at 24 hours

Objective: To determine whether packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion affects post-prandial superior mesenteric artery blood flow velocities (SMA BFVs) in very-low birth weight (VLBW) neonates and if so, at what time point after transfusion restoration of previous SMA BFV patterns occurs.

Design/Methods: VLBW pre-term neonates, older than 14 days and tolerating bolus enteral feedings administered every 3?h were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Pulsed Doppler ultrasound was used to measure pre- and post-prandial (at 45?min) time-averaged mean, peak and end diastolic velocities (TAMV, PSV, EDV) immediately before and after 15?ml/kg of PRBC transfusion was given over 3?h; patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) status was also evaluated. Subsequent pre- and post-prandial SMA BFVs were recorded 24 and 48?h after the transfusion.

Results: Pre- and post-prandial measurements were obtained for 21 out of 25 enrolled infants. Post-prandial SMA BFVs were attenuated during the feedings immediately after transfusion; at 24 and 48?h after transfusion, changes in post-prandial SMA BFVs were similar to those measured prior to transfusion; the presence of the PDA did not affect results.

Conclusions: PRBC transfusion blunted SMA BFV responses to feedings immediately after the transfusion with normalization observed 24?h post-transfusion.     

Interleukin-11 Overexpression and M2 Macrophage Density are Associated with Angiogenic Activity in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To investigate the expression of IL-11 and its receptor IL-11Rα and to quantify density of CD163⁺ M2 macrophages in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).     

“Evaluation of a Very Low-Cost and Simple Teleradiology Technique”

This paper describes and analyzes a proposed solution of fundamental limitative factor of teleradiology to overcome the teleradiology usages problems in underdeveloped and developing countries. The goal is to achieve a very simple and cost-efficient way to take advantage of teleradiology in anywhere even in remote and rural areas. To meet the goal of this study, the following methodology which is consists of two main procedures was done: (1) Using a digital camera in order to provide a digital image from radiographs. (2) Using an image compression tool in order to compress digital images. The results showed that there is no significant difference between digital images (non-compress and compress images) and radiographic films. Also, there was a logic relationship between the diagnostic quality and diagnostic accuracy. Since the maximum percent of diagnostic accuracy can be seen among “Good” quality images and the minimum to was related “Poor”. The results of our study indicate that a digital camera could be utilized to capture digital images from radiographic films of chest x-ray. To reduce the size of digital images, a lossy compression technique could be applied at compression percent of 50 or less without any significant differences. The compressed images can be sent easily by email to other places for consultation and also they can be stored with a smaller size.