The role of mast cells and fibre type in ischaemia reperfusion injury of murine skeletal muscles

BACKGROUND: Ischaemia reperfusion (IR) injury of skeletal muscle, is a significant cause of morbidity following trauma and surgical procedures, in which muscle fibre types exhibit different susceptibilities. The relative degree of mast cell mediated injury, within different muscle types, is not known. METHODS: In this study we compared susceptibility of the fast-twitch, extensor digitorum longus (EDL), mixed fast/slow-twitch gastrocnemius and the predominately slow-twitch soleus, muscles to ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury in four groups of mice that harbour different mast cell densities; C57/DBA mast cell depleted (W(f)/W(f)), their heterozygous (W(f)/+) and normal littermates (+/+) and control C57BL/6 mice. We determined whether susceptibility to IR injury is associated with mast cell content and/or fibre type and/or mouse strain. In experimental groups, the hind limbs of mice were subjected to 70 minutes warm tourniquet ischemia, followed by 24 h reperfusion, and the muscle viability was assessed on fresh whole-mount slices by the nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) histochemical assay. RESULTS: Viability was remarkably higher in the W(f)/W(f )strain irrespective of muscle type. With respect to muscle type, the predominately slow-twitch soleus muscle was significantly more resistant to IR injury than gastrocnemius and the EDL muscles in all groups. Mast cell density was inversely correlated to muscle viability in all types of muscle. CONCLUSION: These results show that in skeletal muscle, IR injury is dependent upon both the presence of mast cells and on fibre type and suggest that a combination of preventative therapies may need to be implemented to optimally protect muscles from IR injury

Reconstruction after external hemipelvectomy using tibia-hindfoot rotationplasty with calcaneo-sacral fixation

BACKGROUND: External hemipelvectomy is associated with high post operative morbidity and a poor functional outcome. We aim to explore a reconstruction technique to improve function and post operative appearance for patients who undergo external hemipelvectomy. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a Case where extensive cancer involvement of pelvis and femur was managed with a novel surgical technique, which involved a calf sparing modified anterior flap hemipelvectomy combined with rotationplasty of the spared calf and fixation of calcaneus to the sacrum, thereby recreating a new thigh stump. CONCLUSION: Tibia-hindfoot rotationplasty result in good functional outcome and appearance for selected patients undergoing external hemipelvectomy with unaffected external iliac and femoral vessels

Quaternary geology of the Northern Great Plains

The Great Plains physiographic province lies east of the Rocky Mountains and extends from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan nearly to the United States-Mexico border. This chapter covers only the northern part of the unglaciated portion of this huge region, from Oklahoma almost to the United StatesCanada border, a portion that herein will be referred to simply as the Northern Great Plains (Fig. 1). This region is in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Isoheyets are roughly longitudinal, and mean annual precipitation decreases from about 750 mm at the southeastern margin to less than 380 mm in the western and northern parts (Fig. 2). Winters typically are cold with relatively little precipitation, mostly as snow; summers are hot with increased precipitation, chiefly associated with movement of Pacific and Arctic air masses into warm, humid air masses from the Gulf of Mexico. Vegetation is almost wholly prairie grassland, due to the semiarid, markedly seasonal climate. The Northern Great Plains is a large region of generally low relief sloping eastward from the Rocky Mountains toward the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Its basic bedrock structure is a broad syncline, punctuated by the Black Hills and a few smaller uplifts, and by structural basins such as the Williston, Powder River, and Denver-Julesburg Basins (Fig. 3). Its surface bedrock is chiefly Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, with small areas of older rocks in the Black Hills, central Montana, and eastern parts of Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. During the Laramide orogeny (latest Cretaceous through Eocene), while the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills were rising, synorogenic sediments (frequently with large amounts of volcanic ash from volcanic centers in the Rocky Mountains) were deposited in the subsiding Denver-Julesburg, Powder River, and other basins. From Oligocene to Miocene time, sedimentation generally slowed with declining tectonism and volcanism in the Rocky Mountains. However, since the later Miocene, epeirogenic uplift, probably associated with the East Pacific Rise, affected the Great Plains and particularly the Rocky Mountains. During the last 10 m.y. the Rocky Mountain front has risen 1.5 to 2 km, and the eastern margin of the Great Plains 100 to 500 m (Gable and Hatton, 1983), with half to one-quarter of these amounts during the last 5 m.y. Thus, during the later Miocene the Great Plains became a huge aggrading piedmont sloping gently eastward from the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills, with generally eastward drainage, on which the Ogallala Formation and equivalents was deposited. The Ogallala underlies the High Plains Surface, the highest and oldest geomorphic surface preserved in this region. It has been completely eroded along some parts of the western margin of the region (e.g., the Colorado Piedmont), but eastward, it (and its equivalents, such as the Flaxville gravels in Montana) locally is preserved as caprock or buried by Quaternary sediments (Alden, 1924, 1932; Howard, 1960; Stanley, 1971, 1976; Pearl, 1971; Scott, 1982; Corner and Diffendal, 1983; Diffendal and Corner, 1984; Swinehart and others, 1985; Aber, 1985). During the Pliocene, regional aggradation slowly changed to dissection by the principal rivers. In the western part of the region the rivers flowed eastward, but the continental drainage divide Figure 3. Major bedrock structures of the Northern Great Plains. extended northeast from the Black Hills through central South Dakota, far south of its present position. The ancestral upper Missouri, Little Missouri, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne Rivers drained northeast to Hudson Bay, whereas the ancestral White, Platte, and Arkansas Rivers went to the Gulf of Mexico (Fig 4A). Their courses are marked by scattered surface and subsurface gravel remnants; in Montana and North Dakota, deposits of the preglacial Missouri River and its tributaries are buried deeply beneath glacial and other sediments (Howard, 1960; Bluemle, 1972)

At-wavelength optical metrology development at the ALS

Nano-focusing and brightness preservation for ever brighter synchrotron radiation and free electron laser beamlines require surface slope tolerances of x-ray optics on the order of 100 nrad. While the accuracy of fabrication and ex situ metrology of x-ray mirrors has improved over time, beamline in situ performance of the optics is often limited by application specific factors such as x-ray beam heat loading, temperature drift, alignment, vibration, etc. In the present work, we discuss the recent results from the Advanced Light Source developing high accuracy, in situ, at-wavelength wavefront measurement techniques to surpass 100-nrad accuracy surface slope measurements with reflecting x-ray optics. The techniques will ultimately allow closed-loop feedback systems to be implemented for x-ray nano-focusing. In addition, we present a dedicated metrology beamline endstation, applicable to a wide range of in situ metrology and test experiments. The design and performance of a bendable Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirror with active temperature stabilization will also be presented. The mirror is currently used to study, refine, and optimize in situ mirror alignment, bending and metrology methods essential for nano-focusing application

Vascularized tissue‐engineered chambers promote survival and function of transplanted islets and improve glycemic control

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154402/1/fsb2fj054879fje.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154402/2/fsb2fj054879fje-sup-0001.pd

Associations among ancestry, geography and breast cancer incidence, mortality, and survival in Trinidad and Tobago

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common newly diagnosed cancer among women in Trinidad and Tobago (TT) and BC mortality rates are among the highest in the world. Globally, racial/ethnic trends in BC incidence, mortality and survival have been reported. However, such investigations have not been conducted in TT, which has been noted for its rich diversity. In this study, we investigated associations among ancestry, geography and BC incidence, mortality and survival in TT. Data on 3767 incident BC cases, reported to the National Cancer Registry of TT, from 1995 to 2007, were analyzed in this study. Women of African ancestry had significantly higher BC incidence and mortality rates (Incidence: 66.96; Mortality: 30.82 per 100,000) compared to women of East Indian (Incidence: 41.04, Mortality: 14.19 per 100,000) or mixed ancestry (Incidence: 36.72, Mortality: 13.80 per 100,000). Geographically, women residing in the North West Regional Health Authority (RHA) catchment area followed by the North Central RHA exhibited the highest incidence and mortality rates. Notable ancestral differences in survival were also observed. Women of East Indian and mixed ancestry experienced significantly longer survival than those of African ancestry. Differences in survival by geography were not observed. In TT, ancestry and geographical residence seem to be strong predictors of BC incidence and mortality rates. Additionally, disparities in survival by ancestry were found. These data should be considered in the design and implementation of strategies to reduce BC incidence and mortality rates in TT

A quantified triple bottom line for tourism: experimental results

The tradition of tourism businesses and regional tourism industries is to measure their value to the host community by jobs, wages and tax revenues even though every member of that community is impacted on a daily basis though a broad variety of impacts. This paper demonstrates a conceptual approach for measuring the relative importance of the major dimensions of community quality of life that can be influenced by the tourism industry in order to calculate an indication of overall impact on the well being of community residents. Furthermore, we have formulated a conjoint model that values this overall performance in monetary units. A conjoint model for estimating importance is successfully implemented using samples of college students and tourism industry professionals in the US and Cyprus. A monetary version of Triple Bottom Line impacts is calculated for the impacts of a specific hypothetical tourism business development