Anesthetic management of penetrating neck injury patient with embedded knife -A case report-

Penetrating neck injuries can be a fatal event and they are difficult to manage for both surgeons and anesthesiologists. So, adequate preoperative evaluation is important to improve the patients' outcomes, but this can not be done for hemodynamically unstable or uncooperative patient. Here we present our clinical experience with a patient with a penetrating neck injury and who was hemodynamically stable, but she was uncooperative and the knife was still embedded in her neck. The surgical exploration and bronchoscopic examination were successfully done under monitored anesthesia care

Mitophagy links oxidative stress conditions and neurodegenerative diseases

Mitophagy is activated by a number of stimuli, including hypoxia, energy stress, and increased oxidative phosphorylation activity. Mitophagy is associated with oxidative stress conditions and central neurodegenerative diseases. Proper regulation of mitophagy is crucial for maintaining homeostasis; conversely, inadequate removal of mitochondria through mitophagy leads to the generation of oxidative species, including reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, resulting in various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These diseases are most prevalent in older adults whose bodies fail to maintain proper mitophagic functions to combat oxidative species. As mitophagy is essential for normal body function, by targeting mitophagic pathways we can improve these disease conditions. The search for effective remedies to treat these disease conditions is an ongoing process, which is why more studies are needed. Additionally, more relevant studies could help establish therapeutic conditions, which are currently in high demand. In this review, we discuss how mitophagy plays a significant role in homeostasis and how its dysregulation causes neurodegeneration. We also discuss how combating oxidative species and targeting mitophagy can help treat these neurodegenerative diseases

Momentum dependent dxz/yz band splitting in LaFeAsO

The nematic phase in iron based superconductors (IBSs) has attracted attention with a notion that it may provide important clue to the superconductivity. A series of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies were performed to understand the origin of the nematic phase. However, there is lack of ARPES study on LaFeAsO nematic phase. Here, we report the results of ARPES studies of the nematic phase in LaFeAsO. Degeneracy breaking between the dxz and dyz hole bands near the Γ and M point is observed in the nematic phase. Different temperature dependent band splitting behaviors are observed at the Γ and M points. The energy of the band splitting near the M point decreases as the temperature decreases while it has little temperature dependence near the Γ point. The nematic nature of the band shift near the M point is confirmed through a detwin experiment using a piezo device. Since a momentum dependent splitting behavior has been observed in other iron based superconductors, our observation confirms that the behavior is a universal one among iron based superconductors

The Evolutionarily Conserved LIM Homeodomain Protein LIM-4/LHX6 Specifies the Terminal Identity of a Cholinergic and Peptidergic C. elegans Sensory/Inter/Motor Neuron-Type

The expression of specific transcription factors determines the differentiated features of postmitotic neurons. However, the mechanism by which specific molecules determine neuronal cell fate and the extent to which the functions of transcription factors are conserved in evolution are not fully understood. In C. elegans, the cholinergic and peptidergic SMB sensory/inter/motor neurons innervate muscle quadrants in the head and control the amplitude of sinusoidal movement. Here we show that the LIM homeobox protein LIM-4 determines neuronal characteristics of the SMB neurons. In lim-4 mutant animals, expression of terminal differentiation genes, such as the cholinergic gene battery and the flp-12 neuropeptide gene, is completely abolished and thus the function of the SMB neurons is compromised. LIM-4 activity promotes SMB identity by directly regulating the expression of the SMB marker genes via a distinct cis-regulatory motif. Two human LIM-4 orthologs, LHX6 and LHX8, functionally substitute for LIM-4 in C. elegans. Furthermore, C. elegans LIM-4 or human LHX6 can induce cholinergic and peptidergic characteristics in the human neuronal cell lines. Our results indicate that the evolutionarily conserved LIM-4/LHX6 homeodomain proteins function in generation of precise neuronal subtypes

Primary Cardiac Angiosarcoma Presenting With Cardiac Tamponade

Primary cardiac angiosarcoma is a very rare disease with a poor prognosis. We report a case of a patient with a primary cardiac angiosarcoma who presented with cardiac tamponade; the angiosarcoma was successfully resected surgically

Study on the obesity and nutrition status of housewives in Seoul and Kyunggi area

This study was conducted to evaluate the rate of obesity of 212 women (age 45-60 years) in Seoul and the Kyunggi area through analysis of BMI and the dietary life factors related to obesity using a survey on dietary habits, dietary assessment, and nutrient intake. The height of the underweight group was taller than normal. The height of the obese group was equal to that of the normal group, but the weight was 8.5 kg greater than the normal group. Women in the underweight group consumed meals irregularly, and only 33.4% ate breakfast. Additionally, the rate of overeating was low in the underweight group, and milk, dairy products (yogurt, etc.), fruit, and fruit juice were consumed more than once a day. It was found that 62.1% of the women in the obese group never ate out, and the rate of eating one serving of fruit, drinking one cup of fruit juice, and eating various kinds of foods was high. The average point of women's dietary life was 21.9 ± 2.9, and 12.7% of all women responded that their dietary life was good. However, in the obese group, only 6.9% of the women reported that their dietary life was good. Evaluation of snacking habits revealed that the underweight group consumed a high level of carbonated drinks and ice cream, whereas for in the obese group, 24.1% of the women consumed milk and its products and 5.6% regularly consumed fast and fried foods. Evaluation of nutrient intake revealed that the consumption of energy, protein, vitamin A, vitamin B1, B2, B6, niacin, vitamin C, and vitamin E was high in all of the groups, but the intake of folic acid in the underweight group was lower than the required level. Overall, 24.1% of the women in the obese group were found to have metabolic diseases, mostly hypertension (43%). In conclusion, a balanced diet to avoid excessive nutrient intake is needed to prevent obesity

Loss of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 function contributes to poor prognosis of activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PRDM1/BLIMP-1, a master regulator of plasma-cell differentiation, is frequently inactivated in activated B-cell-like (ABC) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. Little is known about its genetic aberrations and relevant clinical implications. A large series of patients with de novo DLBCL was effectively evaluated for PRDM1/BLIMP-1 deletion, mutation, and protein expression. BLIMP-1 expression was frequently associated with the ABC phenotype and plasmablastic morphologic subtype of DLBCL, yet 63% of the ABC-DLBCL patients were negative for BLIMP-1 protein expression. In these patients, loss of BLIMP-1 was associated with Myc overexpression and decreased expression of p53 pathway molecules. In addition, homozygous PRDM1 deletions and PRDM1 mutations within exons 1 and 2, which encode for domains crucial for transcriptional repression, were found to show a poor prognostic impact in patients with ABC-DLBCL but not in those with germinal center B-cell-like DLBCL (GCB-DLBCL). Gene expression profiling revealed that loss of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 expression correlated with a decreased plasma-cell differentiation signature and upregulation of genes involved in B-cell receptor signaling and tumor-cell proliferation. In conclusion, these results provide novel clinical and biological insight into the tumor-suppressive role of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 in ABC-DLBCL patients and suggest that loss of PRDM1/BLIMP-1 function contributes to the overall poor prognosis of ABC-DLBCL patients

Paeonol Oxime Inhibits bFGF-Induced Angiogenesis and Reduces VEGF Levels in Fibrosarcoma Cells

Background: We previously reported the anti-angiogenic activity of paeonol isolated from Moutan Cortex. In the present study, we investigated the negative effect of paeonol oxime (PO, a paeonol derivative) on basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-mediated angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) (including tumor angiogenesis) and pro-survival activity in HT-1080 fibrosarcoma cell line. Methodology/Principal Findings: We showed that PO (IC50  = 17.3 µg/ml) significantly inhibited bFGF-induced cell proliferation, which was achieved with higher concentrations of paeonol (IC50 over 200 µg). The treatment with PO blocked bFGF-stimulated migration and in vitro capillary differentiation (tube formation) in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, PO was able to disrupt neovascularization in vivo. Interestingly, PO (25 µg/ml) decreased the cell viability of HT-1080 fibrosarcoma cells but not that of HUVECs. The treatment with PO at 12.5 µg/ml reduced the levels of phosphorylated AKT and VEGF expression (intracellular and extracelluar) in HT-1080 cells. Consistently, immunefluorescence imaging analysis revealed that PO treatment attenuated AKT phosphorylation in HT-1080 cells. Conclusions/Significance: Taken together, these results suggest that PO inhibits bFGF-induced angiogenesis in HUVECs and decreased the levels of PI3K, phospho-AKT and VEGF in HT-1080 cells