The cadaveric studies and the definition of the antero-lateral ligament of the knee: From the anatomical features to the patient-specific reconstruction surgical techniques

Cadaver studies represented a milestone in surgical orthopaedic research, and still today they play a crucial role in the achievement of new knowledge about joint disease behaviour and treatment. In this review, an overview of the cadaver studies available in the literature about the anatomy, role, and treatment of the antero-lateral ligament (ALL) of the knee was performed. The aim of the review was to describe and gain more insight into the part of in vitro study in understanding knee joint anatomy and biomechanics, and in developing surgical reconstruction techniques. The findings of the review showed that cadaver studies had, and will continue to have, a key role in the research of knee joint biomechanics and surgical reconstruction. Moreover, they represent a powerful tool to develop and test new devices which could be useful in clinical and surgical practice

Hydrolysis of soybean isoflavones by Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1 immobilised cells and free β-glucosidase

An intracellular β-glucosidase from Debaryomyces hansenii UFV-1 was produced in an YP medium with cellobiose as the carbon source. This enzyme was purified, characterised and presented a Mr of 65.15 kDa. Yeast cells containing the intracellular β-glucosidase were immobilised in calcium alginate. The free β-glucosidase and immobilised cells containing the enzyme presented optima values of pH and temperature of 6.0 and 45 °C and 5.5 and 50 °C, respectively. The free enzyme maintained 62% and 47% of its original activity after 90 days at 4 °C and after 15 days at room temperature, respectively. The immobilisation process resulted in higher enzyme thermostability at 45 and 50 °C. Soy molasses treatment with the free enzyme and the immobilised cells containing β-glucosidase, for 2 h at 40 °C, promoted efficient hydrolysis of isoflavone glicosides to their aglycon forms. The results suggest that this enzyme could be used in the food industry, in the free or immobilised forms, for a safe and efficient process to hydrolyse isoflavone glycosides in soy molasses

The SvO2 study: General design and results of the feasibility phase of a multicenter, randomized trial of three different hemodynamic approaches and two monitoring techniques in the treatment of critically ill patients

Although the attainment of normal hemodynamic values has always been assumed to be the therapeutic target for critically ill patients, recent studies reported increased values in oxygen transport varia bles in survivors of high-risk surgery. It has been supposed that the higher values observed in survivors might indicate a physiological compensation for the increased metabolic requirements due to disease. We designed a randomized, multicentric trial to evaluate the effect of high values of cardiac index(CI) and oxygen delivery (DO2) in critically ill patients. Patients enrolled in the study are randomized to three different hemodynamic targets:normal values of CI (2.5 70% or (Sata-Satv) < 20%. Two different monitoring systems are used to maintain the target: conventional Swan-Ganz catheter with scheduled samples of mixed venous O2 saturation, and optical catheter with continuous SvO2 evaluation. The aim of the study is to alnswer three questions regarding the hypothesis reported above: (1) Are results in postoperative patients applicable to other pathological groups? (2) Does continuous monitoring of SvO2 provide advantages over conventional hemodynamic monitoring? (3) Is a normal SvO2 rather than a supranormal CI a good and predictable therapeutic goal? We report herein the protocol of the study and the results of the pilot phase, which was conducted in 98 critically ill patients enrolled by 56 participating centers to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the porposed trial