Features of the Restoration of Arterial Circulation in Liver Transplantation

Objectives. Violations of tissue blood supply remain one of the most serious complications after liver transplantation. Design. To improve the surgical technique of performing reconstructive interventions on the arteries of the donor and the recipient in order to reduce the frequency of its thrombosis after liver transplantation. We studied 25 donors, 20 men and 5 women, the mean age was 56± 4 years, eighteen of them had left aberrant supplementary artery, which in fifteen departed from the left gastric artery and in three from the aorta above the ventricular stem. Seventeen had the right aberrant artery moving away from the upper mesenteric artery. Twenty recipients with liver cirrhosis (eleven with primary biliary cirrhosis, five with primary sclerosing cholangitis, five with viral etiology C cirrhosis, and three of the lower cirrhosis-cirrhosis disseminated within the Milan criteria. All recipients had standard anatomical branching of the arteries of the liver. The average age was 50±6. All recipients had standard anatomical branching of the liver arteries. Patients underwent liver transplantation with new methods of reconstructive interventions on the donor and recipient arteries. The developed technique provides the shortest pathway of the recipient's arterial blood to the liver transplant, through the superior mesenteric artery provides an alternative source of arterial blood supply from the aorta in which this transplant additionally needs. Presented method of blood circulation restoration at liver transplantation at abnormal structure of arterial channel of the liver transplant is performed inside the recipient's abdominal cavity. At first, blood flow is restored along the reconstructed common hepatic artery, after the right or left aberrant arteries liver transplant. Such technique provides the shortest route of the recipient's arterial blood to the liver transplant, through the upper mesenteric artery provides an alternative source of arterial blood supply from the aorta for which the transplant is additionally needed. This new method of blood circulation restoration provides an opportunity to avoid the formation of "kinking" syndrome, in the occurrence of which the blood vessels are lengthened, the angulation and location of the blood vessel in relation to the grafts and other abdominal organs. This reduces the risk of thrombosis of the arteries of the transplanted liver

Fragmentation of peptide negative molecular ions induced by resonance electron capture

A simple robust method to study resonance gas-phase reactions between neutral peptides of low volatility and free electrons has been designed and implemented. Resonance electron capture (REC) experiments were performed by several neutral model peptides and two naturally occurring peptides. The assignment of negative ions (NIs) formed in these gas-phase reactions was based on high mass-resolving power experiments. From these accurate mass measurements, it was concluded that fragment NIs formed by low (1–2 eV) energy REC are of the same types as those observed in electron capture∕transfer dissociation, where the positive charge is a factor. The main feature resulting from these REC experiments by peptides is the occurrence of zn−1 ions, which are invariably of the highest abundances in the negative ion mass spectra of larger peptides. [M–H]− NIs presumably the carboxylate anion structure dominate the REC spectra of smaller peptides. There was no evidence for the occurrence of the complementary reaction, i.e., the formations of cn+1 ions. Instead, cn ions arose without hydrogen∕proton transfer albeit with lower abundances than that observed for zn−1 ions. Only the amide forms of small peptides showed more abundant ion peaks for the cn ions than for the zn−1 ions. The mechanisms for the N–Cα bond cleavage are discussed

Is it time for transition from the subject-based to the integrated preclinical medical curriculum?

In the 60s of the last century, a number of new universities in the world began to apply an integrated program of medical education, the cornerstone of which was problem-oriented education. Thus, the Flexner model of higher education adopted by that time in most countries of the world, with its characteristic segregation of teaching of the theoretical and clinical disciplines, which had ceased to satisfy the needs of modern healthcare, was gradually replaced by a new system that put the student in the center of the educational process and opened the way to active methods of teaching being focused on the end result – training of graduates whose qualifications most fully satisfy the needs of society. Over the half-century history of its existence, this system has been adopted by most medical universities in different countries of the world, in many of which it has undergone significant modifications in accordance with the needs of national educational standards. Many medical universities in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union showed interest in this system, some of the medical faculties of our country accepted certain elements of it. However, up to date no integrated preclinical medical education program has been applied in any of the Russian universities. Hereby we are undertaking an attempt to analyze the reasons and assess the possible perspectives for the transition of medical universities in Russia to teaching of fundamental and biomedical disciplines using the integrated curriculum

Exploring ECD on a Benchtop Q Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer

As the application of mass spectrometry intensifies in scope and diversity, the need for advanced instrumentation addressing a wide variety of analytical needs also increases. To this end, many modern, top-end mass spectrometers are designed or modified to include a wider range of fragmentation technologies, for example, ECD, ETD, EThcD, and UVPD. Still, the majority of instrument platforms are limited to more conventional methods, such as CID and HCD. While these latter methods have performed well, the less conventional fragmentation methods have been shown to lead to increased information in many applications including middle-down proteomics, top-down proteomics, glycoproteomics, and disulfide bond mapping. We describe the modification of the popular Q Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer to extend its fragmentation capabilities to include ECD. We show that this modification allows ≥85% matched ion intensity to originate from ECD fragment ion types as well as provides high sequence coverage (≥60%) of intact proteins and high fragment identification rates with ∼70% of ion signals matched. Finally, the ECD implementation promotes selective disulfide bond dissociation, facilitating the identification of disulfide-linked peptide conjugates. Collectively, this modification extends the capabilities of the Q Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer to a range of new applications