Diagnosis of venous incompetence inerectile dysfunction

In 26 of 214 patients with erectile dysfunction and proved venous incompetence by cavernosography, an additional bidirectional Doppler ultrasound was performed also to demonstrate venous outflow disturbances. All except one leakage in the superficial and deep dorsal veins could be demonstrated as well as 4 of 6 cavernosum-glandular shunts. Bidirectional Doppler ultrasound visualized a continuous retrograde blood flow from the sulcus coronarius to the root of the penis in superficial and deep dorsal penile veins as well as in ectopic penile veins, an orthograde blood flow in the sulcus coronarius in cavernosum-glandular shunt

Automatisierung einer Kaffeemaschine

Im Rahmen des LEGO-Mindstorms-Praktikums 2022 wurde den Studierenden die Möglichkeit gegeben, unter Verwendung von zur Verfügung gestellten LEGO Mindstorms Bausätzen eigene Problemstellungen zu finden und mittels dieser solche zu lösen. Hierbei wurden grundlegende Fähigkeiten der effizienten Projektbearbeitung, Programmierung und praktischen Konstruktion vermittelt und aufgebaut. Als Programmierumgebung wurde MATLAB verwendet, welche über eine Toolbox mit der Hauptrecheneinheit, dem NXT-Stein, kommuniziert und die Ansteuerung von Sensorik und Motorik erlaubt. In dem hier behandelten Projekt wurde sich dazu entschlossen die Funktion einer Kaffeemaschine insoweit zu automatisieren, als dass mittels des Baukastens die benötigten Ressourcen – Wasser und Kaffeebohnen – auf ausreichende Verfügbarkeit überprüft werden und der Brühvorgang automatisiert gestartet wird. Im Verlauf, des über zwei Wochen laufenden Projektes, wurden zudem von jedem Team eigene Social-Media Präsenzen gepflegt, um über die reine Entwicklungsarbeit hinaus auch die Öffentlichkeitskommunikation der eigenen Arbeit zeitgemäß zu leisten

When an encircling aortic arch anomaly hides behind respiratory and digestive symptoms in children

peer reviewedLes anomalies de l’arc aortique, relativement fréquentes, représentent 15 à 20 % de toutes les maladies cardiovasculaires congénitales. Elles peuvent être découvertes face à des symptômes de compression oesophagienne et/ou des voies respiratoires, tels que dysphagie, toux chronique, stridor, wheezing, voire infections respiratoires à répétition. Nous rapportons deux cas d’anomalie encerclante des arcs aortiques. Le premier patient, âgé de 3 ans, présentait, depuis l’âge de 4 mois, des symptômes respiratoires avec multiples épisodes étiquetés de laryngites et d’asthme. Le deuxième, âgé de 20 mois, présentait un stridor intermittent, de la dysphagie ainsi que des vomissements fréquents. Chez ces deux patients, le scanner cervico-thoracique démontra un arc aortique droit avec une artère sous-clavière gauche rétro-oesophagienne au départ d’un diverticule de Kommerell. Dans les deux cas, la cure chirurgicale fut suivie de la disparition des symptômes. La compréhension du développement embryologique normal et anormal des arcs aortiques, ainsi que la connaissance des manifestations cliniques des compressions vasculaires sont indispensables à leur diagnostic précoce et traitement adéquat.Aortic arch anomalies are relatively frequent and account for 15 to 20 % of all congenital cardiovascular malformations. They can be discovered in case of symptoms of airway- or esophageal compression such as dysphagia, chronic cough, stridor, wheezing and recurrent respiratory infections. We report the cases of two children with encircling aortic arch anomaly. The 3-year-old boy had complained of chronic respiratory symptoms such as laryngitis and asthma since the age of 4 months. The 20-month-old boy presented with intermittent stridor, dysphagia and frequent vomiting. In both patients, the cervico-thoracic CT-scan showed a right aortic arch with retro-esophageal left subclavian artery and Kommerell’s diverticulum. Surgery was curative. The understanding of normal and abnormal embryologic development of the aortic arch, and the knowledge of the different types of vascular compression and their clinical signs are mandatory for the early diagnosis and adequate treatment of such malformations

Recent advances in pediatric anesthesia

Writing about advances in a field of medicine normally includes some pride about progress which one was witness to or even a participant in. The younger one is, the more enthusiastically every advance is lauded and welcomed. This is human nature and nothing to be complained about. However, when anesthesiologists, having worked and struggled in the field of pediatric anesthesia for about 40 years, look back to past advances, a more realistic, even painful picture comes to mind. There was a price which a considerable number of patients had to pay for progress, ruined health or even death. This experience of decades of practice is rarely presented in the literature but should not be forgotten when we proudly remember advances in pediatric anesthesia

Исследование влияния давления в реакторах на процесс каталитического риформинга бензинов

Freeman-Sheldon syndrome is defined as a combination of microstomia, deep set eyes, small palpebral fissures, arthrogryposis with ulnar deviation of the hand, talipes equinovarus and generalized muscular hypertension. Respiratory and swallowing problems are frequently encountered in these patients due to small orifices of mouth and nose. Obstruction of the upper airway tract resulting in tracheostomy has only been described twice. The described child manifested the typical dysmorphic features of Freeman-Sheldon syndrome and suffered from serious respiratory distress and swallowing difficulties from birth. The boy died at the age of 7 months after accidental decannulation of the tracheostoma during sleep. He did not show anatomical or histopathological abnormalities in the pharyngeal, laryngeal or tracheal regions. We assume that the only explanation of the repeated obstructive episodes is a functional muscular obstruction. Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

A new reporter mouse cytomegalovirus reveals maintained immediate-early gene expression but poor virus replication in cycling liver sinusoidal endothelial cells

Background: The MCMV major immediate early promoter/enhancer (MIEP) is a bidirectional promoter that drives the expression of the three immediate early viral genes, namely ie1, ie2 and ie3. The regulation of their expression is intensively studied, but still incompletely understood. Methods: We constructed a reporter MCMV, (MCMV-MIEPr) expressing YFP and tdTomato under the control of the MIEP as proxies of ie1 and ie2, respectively. Moreover, we generated a liver sinusoidal endothelial cell line (LSEC-uniLT) where cycling is dependent on doxycycline. We used these novel tools to study the kinetics of MIEP-driven gene expression in the context of infection and at the single cell level by flow cytometry and by live imaging of proliferating and G(0)-arrested cells. Results: MCMV replicated to higher titers in G(0)-arrested LSEC, and cycling cells showed less cytopathic effect or YFP and tdTomato expression at 5 days post infection. In the first 24 h post infection, however, there was no difference in MIEP activity in cycling or G(0)-arrested cells, although we could observe different profiles of MIEP gene expression in different cell types, like LSECs, fibroblasts or macrophages. We monitored infected LSEC-uniLT in G(0) by time lapse microscopy over five days and noticed that most cells survived infection for at least 96 h, arguing that quick lysis of infected cells could not account for the spread of the virus. Interestingly, we noticed a strong correlation between the ratio of median YFP and tdTomato expression and length of survival of infected cells. Conclusion: By means of our newly developed genetic tools, we showed that the expression pattern of MCMV IE1 and IE2 genes differs between macrophages, endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Substantial and cell-cycle independent differences in the ie1 and ie2 transcription could also be observed within individual cells of the same population, and marked ie2 gene expression was associated with longer survival of the infected cells

Human cytomegalovirus immediate-early 1 protein rewires upstream STAT3 to downstream STAT1 signaling switching an IL6-type to an IFNγ-like response

MN and CP were supported by the Wellcome Trust (www.wellcome.ac.uk) Institutional Strategic Support Fund and CP was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PA 815/2-1; www.dfg.de).The human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) major immediate-early 1 protein (IE1) is best known for activating transcription to facilitate viral replication. Here we present transcriptome data indicating that IE1 is as significant a repressor as it is an activator of host gene expression. Human cells induced to express IE1 exhibit global repression of IL6- and oncostatin M-responsive STAT3 target genes. This repression is followed by STAT1 phosphorylation and activation of STAT1 target genes normally induced by IFNγ. The observed repression and subsequent activation are both mediated through the same region (amino acids 410 to 445) in the C-terminal domain of IE1, and this region serves as a binding site for STAT3. Depletion of STAT3 phenocopies the STAT1-dependent IFNγ-like response to IE1. In contrast, depletion of the IL6 receptor (IL6ST) or the STAT kinase JAK1 prevents this response. Accordingly, treatment with IL6 leads to prolonged STAT1 instead of STAT3 activation in wild-type IE1 expressing cells, but not in cells expressing a mutant protein (IE1dl410-420) deficient for STAT3 binding. A very similar STAT1-directed response to IL6 is also present in cells infected with a wild-type or revertant hCMV, but not an IE1dl410-420 mutant virus, and this response results in restricted viral replication. We conclude that IE1 is sufficient and necessary to rewire upstream IL6-type to downstream IFNγ-like signaling, two pathways linked to opposing actions, resulting in repressed STAT3- and activated STAT1-responsive genes. These findings relate transcriptional repressor and activator functions of IE1 and suggest unexpected outcomes relevant to viral pathogenesis in response to cytokines or growth factors that signal through the IL6ST-JAK1-STAT3 axis in hCMV-infected cells. Our results also reveal that IE1, a protein considered to be a key activator of the hCMV productive cycle, has an unanticipated role in tempering viral replication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe