Traumatic pericardial rupture with skeletonized phrenic nerve

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Traumatic pericardial rupture is a rare presentation. Pericardial rupture itself is asymptomatic unless complicated by either hemorrhage or herniation of the heart through the defect. Following diagnosis surgical repair of the pericardium is indicated because cardiac herniation may result in vascular collapse and sudden death.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>Here we present a case of traumatic, non-herniated pericardial rupture with complete skeletonization of the phrenic nerve.</p> <p>Case report</p> <p>An 18-year-old healthy male suffered multi-trauma after falling 50 feet onto concrete. The patient could not be stabilized despite exploratory laparotomy with splenectomy, IR embolization and packing for a liver laceration. Right posterolateral thoracotomy revealed a ruptured pericardium with a completely skeletonized phrenic nerve. The pericardium was repaired with a Goretex(R) patch.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A high level of suspicion for pericardial rupture is necessary in all patients with high-velocity thoracic injuries.</p

The SIRT1 Deacetylase Suppresses Intestinal Tumorigenesis and Colon Cancer Growth

Numerous longevity genes have been discovered in model organisms and altering their function results in prolonged lifespan. In mammals, some have speculated that any health benefits derived from manipulating these same pathways might be offset by increased cancer risk on account of their propensity to boost cell survival. The Sir2/SIRT1 family of NAD+-dependent deacetylases is proposed to underlie the health benefits of calorie restriction (CR), a diet that broadly suppresses cancer in mammals. Here we show that CR induces a two-fold increase SIRT1 expression in the intestine of rodents and that ectopic induction of SIRT1 in a β-catenin-driven mouse model of colon cancer significantly reduces tumor formation, proliferation, and animal morbidity in the absence of CR. We show that SIRT1 deacetylates β-catenin and suppresses its ability to activate transcription and drive cell proliferation. Moreover, SIRT1 promotes cytoplasmic localization of the otherwise nuclear-localized oncogenic form of β-catenin. Consistent with this, a significant inverse correlation was found between the presence of nuclear SIRT1 and the oncogenic form of β−catenin in 81 human colon tumor specimens analyzed. Taken together, these observations show that SIRT1 suppresses intestinal tumor formation in vivo and raise the prospect that therapies targeting SIRT1 may be of clinical use in β−catenin-driven malignancies

Single-cell-resolution transcriptome map of human, chimpanzee, bonobo, and macaque brains

Identification of gene expression traits unique to the human brain sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying human evolution. Here, we searched for uniquely human gene expression traits by analyzing 422 brain samples from humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and macaques representing 33 anatomical regions, as well as 88,047 cell nuclei composing three of these regions. Among 33 regions, cerebral cortex areas, hypothalamus, and cerebellar gray and white matter evolved rapidly in humans. At the cellular level, astrocytes and oligodendrocyte progenitors displayed more differences in the human evolutionary lineage than the neurons. Comparison of the bulk tissue and single-nuclei sequencing revealed that conventional RNA sequencing did not detect up to two-thirds of cell-type-specific evolutionary differences.ISSN:1088-9051ISSN:1549-546