28. Prospective study of Management and Outcomes of Liver Trauma in Blunt Injury Abdomen Cases in Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai

Modern day have seen a tremendous improvement in mans life style and comforts. But along with comforts, challenging threats to human health has also been emerging .The rapid increase in the number of motor vehicles resulted in very rapid increase in number of victims to blunt abdominal trauma. Motor vehicle accidents accounts for about 75 to 80% of the blunt abdominal trauma. The indian mortality rates for trauma are 20 times more than that of western countries. Blunt injury of abdomen is also a result from fall from height, assault with blunt objects, sport injuries, bomb blast. Due to the delay in diagnosis and inadequate treatment of liver injuries, most of the cases are becoming fatal. The knowledge in the management of blunt liver trauma has been increasing progressively.the morbidity and mortality remains at large. The reasons for this due to the time interval between the trauma and admission of the victim, inadequate and lack of appropriate surgical treatment, delay in the diagnosis, post operative complications. Liver involved in abdominal injuries vast majority of times. In case of patients with hemodynamic stability conservative management is the management of choice. With GRH, Madurai being tertiary care centre for south tamilnadu, the availability of blunt injury cases in adequate numbers, this study would serve to evaluate the modes of clinical presentations of blunt liver injury and signifying the precise management of various grades of liver injuries with its post operative morbidity and mortality. males are more common victims of Liver trauma in blunt injury abdomen as in stavros gourgiotis et al .low grade liver injuries accounts more than a high grade injuries as in stavros gourgiotis et al.low grade injuries favours the management towards non operative management most of the times ,Hepatorraphy accounts 42% and perihepatic packing accounts for 15%, Mortality rate in our study was 16 %. Most common age group involved is 41-50 years. Road traffic accident forms the most common mode of injury. So efforts should be made to bring road traffic regulations into strict action and traffic norms regulated. Measures should taken for early transport of the patients from the accident site to the trauma centres should be undertaken. Blunt injury abdomen is usually less obvious. Hence, repeated examination by multi specialty personnel in a specialized trauma care centre was required. X ray abdomen erect is a useful investigation to exclude associated hollow viscus injuries. CECT forms the core investigation of choice in dealing with Liver trauma in blunt injury abdomen patients, becomes more important investigation modality for grading of liver injury and to deciding operative and conservative management. Early diagnosis and repeated clinical examination and use of appropriate investigations are key for managing liver trauma in Blunt abdominal injuries

Mechanical, thermal and morphological characteristics of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanocomposites reinforced with Cu-Cr layered double hydroxide

The current work deals with the influence of Cu-Cr layered double hydroxide (LDH) on the properties of PMMA nanocomposites. The Cu-Cr LDH was organically modified with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in order to obtain LDH layers more compatible with polymer chains. PMMA with various quantities of Cu-Cr LDH nanofiller (1-5 wt%) and 5 wt% of polystyrene-grafted maleic anhydride were first melted and extruded in a twin screw extruder and, finally, processed by injection moulding machine to prepare testing specimens. The nanocomposites were examined by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and submitted to thermogravimetric (TGA), tensile and hardness testing. The XRD analysis showed an exfoliated structure of the nanocomposites whereas TEM exhibited the intercalated morphology at higher LDH contents. The TGA results revealed that the thermal degradation temperature was enhanced by the incorporation of Cu-Cr LDH. When 50% of the initial sample weight is established as point of comparison, the decomposition temperature of the nanocomposites was increased about 26 - 32 oC with respect to neat PMMA. From the mechanical analysis, it was also observed that PMMA nanocomposite with 1 wt% LDH presented higher tensile strength and hardness than neat PMMA.Portugal Programa Operacional Regional do Norte de Portugal -NORTE 2020, projeto ref. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-00015 “TSSiPRO-Technologies for Sustainable and Smart Innovative Products

Activation of adherent vascular neutrophils in the lung during acute endotoxemia

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils constitute the first line of defense against invading microorganisms. Whereas these cells readily undergo apoptosis under homeostatic conditions, their survival is prolonged during inflammatory reactions and they become biochemically and functionally activated. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of acute endotoxemia on the response of a unique subpopulation of neutrophils tightly adhered to the lung vasculature. METHODS: Rats were treated with 5 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (i.v.) to induce acute endotoxemia. Adherent neutrophils were isolated from the lung vasculature by collagenase digestion and sequential filtering. Agarose gel electrophoresis, RT-PCR, western blotting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays were used to evaluate neutrophil activity. RESULTS: Adherent vascular neutrophils isolated from endotoxemic animals exhibited decreased apoptosis when compared to cells from control animals. This was associated with a marked increase in expression of the anti-apoptotic protein, Mcl-1. Cells isolated 0.5–2 hours after endotoxin administration were more chemotactic than cells from control animals and expressed increased tumor necrosis factor-alpha and cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA and protein, demonstrating that they are functionally activated. Endotoxin treatment of the animals also induced p38 and p44/42 mitogen activated protein kinases in the adherent lung neutrophils, as well as nuclear binding activity of the transcription factors, NF-κB and cAMP response element binding protein. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that adherent vascular lung neutrophils are highly responsive to endotoxin and that pathways regulating apoptosis and cellular activation are upregulated in these cells

Cholinergic receptor pathways involved in apoptosis, cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation

Acetylcholine (ACh) has been shown to modulate neuronal differentiation during early development. Both muscarinic and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) regulate a wide variety of physiological responses, including apoptosis, cellular proliferation and neuronal differentiation. However, the intracellular mechanisms underlying these effects of AChR signaling are not fully understood. It is known that activation of AChRs increase cellular proliferation and neurogenesis and that regulation of intracellular calcium through AChRs may underlie the many functions of ACh. Intriguingly, activation of diverse signaling molecules such as Ras-mitogen-activated protein kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt, protein kinase C and c-Src is modulated by AChRs. Here we discuss the roles of ACh in neuronal differentiation, cell proliferation and apoptosis. We also discuss the pathways involved in these processes, as well as the effects of novel endogenous AChRs agonists and strategies to enhance neuronal-differentiation of stem and neural progenitor cells. Further understanding of the intracellular mechanisms underlying AChR signaling may provide insights for novel therapeutic strategies, as abnormal AChR activity is present in many diseases

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field