Catheter Robots in the Cardiovascular System

Robotic-assisted endovascular therapy is a novel approach to augment precise skill requirements while simultaneously reducing radiation exposure. The CorPath system enhances the scope of minimally invasive procedures and facilitates the interventionalists to perform procedures in the field of vascular surgery, neurosurgery and interventional cardiology. The reason for increasing interest in the CorPath system is the ability to control these robots through wireless connection, raising the possibility for remote interventions. CorPath is currently the only commercially available endovascular robotic system. Robotic-assisted approach has a high technical success rate in the field of peripheral vascular and coronary interventions and has encouraging results regarding neurointerventions. Remote endovascular procedures may transform the future of stroke treatment in areas where distance-related time loss can affect procedural outcome

Investigation of European air transport traffic by utility‐based decision model

Air transport was traditionally a strictly regulated industry, dominated by national flag carriers and state‐owned airports. The global deregulation and liberalisation of air transport resulted in numerous changes, including the evolution of price competition, emergence of low‐cost airlines, growth in load factor, airport and airspace capacity problems, etc. Later, the internal market eliminated all commercial restrictions for airlines flying within the European Union (EU). Constraints on routes, number of flights, regulated tariff policies, etc. were removed. Since the issue of the third liberalisation package, EU airlines are permitted to provide air services on any route within the EU. As a result, prices have fallen dramatically, especially on the most popular routes. The air transport sector has had the highest rate of development recently. These issues are discussed in the introduction of this paper. The main scope is to investigate air passenger transport within Europe and to present the mathematical formulation of a disaggregate airport choice model created by the authors. A complex utility function‐based model has been developed and verified by the authors. The results of the model are in scope with experience in the real world. Santrauka Pastaraisiais metais pastebimas itin intensyvus transporto sektoriaus vystymasis, pasireiškiantis mažinamomis kainomis, nauju pigiu avialiniju atsiradimu bei ivairiu komerciniu apribojimu panaikinimu. Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas yra ištirti keleiviu pervežima oro transportu Europos Sajungos ribose ir pristatyti pasirinkto atskiro oro uosto modelio matematine formuluote. Modelis, paremtas kompleksinemis panaudojimo funkcijomis, buvo patobulintas ir patikrintas pačiu autoriu, o gauti rezultatai atitinka realia patirti. First Published Online: 10 Feb 2011 Reikšminiai žodžiai: keleiviu pervežimas oro transportu, panaudojimas, sprendimu modeliavima

Combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses of metformin effects reveal novel links between metabolic networks in steroidogenic systems.

Metformin is an antidiabetic drug, which inhibits mitochondrial respiratory-chain-complex I and thereby seems to affect the cellular metabolism in many ways. It is also used for the treatment of the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disorder in women. In addition, metformin possesses antineoplastic properties. Although metformin promotes insulin-sensitivity and ameliorates reproductive abnormalities in PCOS, its exact mechanisms of action remain elusive. Therefore, we studied the transcriptome and the metabolome of metformin in human adrenal H295R cells. Microarray analysis revealed changes in 693 genes after metformin treatment. Using high resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HR-MAS-NMR), we determined 38 intracellular metabolites. With bioinformatic tools we created an integrated pathway analysis to understand different intracellular processes targeted by metformin. Combined metabolomics and transcriptomics data analysis showed that metformin affects a broad range of cellular processes centered on the mitochondrium. Data confirmed several known effects of metformin on glucose and androgen metabolism, which had been identified in clinical and basic studies previously. But more importantly, novel links between the energy metabolism, sex steroid biosynthesis, the cell cycle and the immune system were identified. These omics studies shed light on a complex interplay between metabolic pathways in steroidogenic systems

Metabolic stability of cells for extended metabolomical measurements using NMR. A comparison between lysed and additionally heat inactivated cells.

NMR measurements for metabolic characterization of biological samples like cells, biopsies or plasma, may take several hours for advanced methods. Preanalytical issues, such as sample preparation and stability over the measurement time, may have a high impact on metabolite content, and potentially lead to misinterpretation. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate by 1H HR-MAS NMR the impact of different cell handling preparation protocols on the stability of the cell metabolite content over the measurement time. For this purpose, the metabolite content of fibroblasts and adrenal cells were measured at different time points after lysis and after additional heating. Interestingly the results showed similar metabolite concentrations between lysed and lysed-heated cells at the beginning of the measurement, but increasing differences after some hours of measurement. In lysed cells, metabolism was ongoing, producing metabolite changes over time, contrary to a stable metabolite content of the lysed-heated cells. These results were confirmed in both fibroblasts and adrenal cells. Therefore, in order to minimize metabolite content modifications over the measurement time, it is suggested to use cell lysis in combination with heat inactivation for extended HR-MAS NMR measurements