Gallbladder Duplication: Case Report of a Rare Congenital Anomaly Treated by Single-Incision Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in a Pediatric Patient

Introduction: Gallbladder duplication is a rare congenital anomaly. Preoperative diagnosis is essential for prevention of intra operative complications. Based on our review of the literature, this is the first description of gallbladder duplication treated with single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) in a pediatric patient. Case Presentation: A 14 year-old girl presented to the pediatric surgery clinic with a 4-month history of right upper quadrant abdominal pain, nausea, and low- grade fevers. Preoperative imaging revealed gallbladder duplication. The single incision laparoscopic technique was employed. Intra operative ndings included two gallbladders that appeared to share a common wall. There were two parallel cystic ducts that inserted separately into the common hepatic duct. Gross pathology revealed two adjacent gallbladders separated by a thin septum, each with its own cystic duct. The postoperative course was unremarkable, and the patient was without symptoms at the 1 month follow-up visit. Conclusion: Gallbladder duplication is a rare congenital anomaly. This case report demonstrates successful treatment by excision using the single incision laparoscopic approach

The Interaction between Nef Protein and ABCA1 Mutants in Tangier Disease

The genetic disorder Tangier Disease is characterized by mutations at a chromosomal locus, 9q31, which affect proper function of the cholesterol transporter ATP-Binding Cassette A1 (ABCA1). Individuals with mutant ABCA1 have very low levels of high-density lipoprotein and are at high risk for development of neuropathy and atherosclerosis. Two of the ABCA1 mutations, Q597R and R587W, lead to retention of ABCA1 in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in a pattern that is reminiscent of a previously reported ABCA1 inactivation by HIV-1 protein Nef. The mechanism of that inactivation involves Nef binding to an ER chaperone calnexin, which disrupts the interaction between calnexin and ABCA1 preventing proper maturation of ABCA1. As a result, ABCA1 is retained in the ER and not transported to the plasma membrane where its main activity takes place. Thus, we speculated that the underlying mechanism of retention of ABCA1 in the ER of patients with Q597R and R587W mutations is caused by a weakened interaction between mutated ABCA1 and calnexin. However, our preliminary data suggests that it is actually an abnormally strong interaction between these two molecules that leads to the retention of ABCA1 in the ER. The main aim of my research is to attempt to use HIV-1 Nef to decrease the strength of interaction between these mutants and calnexin, which may enable the transport of ABCA1 molecules to cellular membrane, thus restoring the cholesterol efflux from the affected cells. If successful, this approach could lead to a potential therapeutic treatment for Tangier disease using Nef-mimicking peptides

RNA interference as a therapeutic approach in prion disease.

Prion diseases are fatal, transmissible neurodegenerative disorders characterised by accumulation throughout the brain of PrPSc, an abnormally folded isoform of the normal cellular prion protein, PrP. PrPSc is associated with infectivity but is not directly neurotoxic and targeting it is of limited efficacy in prion therapeutics. However, PrP-null mice are resistant to prion infection and neurotoxicity. Transgene-c mediated depletion of neuronal PrP in mice with established prion infection reverses early spongiosis, neuronal loss and cognitive deficits, and prevents clinical disease progression. Thus, reducing PrPC expression in the brain through extrinsic means is likely to be an effective therapy for prion diseases. RNA interference can be exploited to mediate gene silencing and can be stably achieved in non-dividing cells such as neurons by incorporation of the small interfering RNAs into replication-deficient lentiviruses. The work described in this thesis strongly validates the use of lentiviral-mediated RNA interference as a therapeutic approach in prion disease. Reducing PrPc expression with siRNA duplexes enabled clearance of PrPSc and infectivity from prion-infected cells in vitro. Lentiviruses constructed to express the interfering sequences demonstrated effective reduction of PrPc expression in vitro. Stable expression of the interfering RNA molecules in vivo through lentiviral transduction of the hippocampus reduced local pathology and significantly prolonged survival in a mouse model of prion disease. This represents an important and novel advance in the treatment of established prion disease with relevance for all prion strains

Towards the architecture of an instructional multimedia database

The applicability of multimedia databases in education may be extended if they can serve multiple target groups, leading to affordable costs per unit for the user. In this contribution, an approach is described to build generic multimedia databases to serve that purpose. This approach is elaborated within the ODB Project ('Instructional Design of an Optical DataBase'); the term optical refers to the use of optical storage media to hold the audiovisual components. The project aims at developing a database in which a hypermedia encyclopedia is combined with instructional multimedia applications for different target groups at different educational levels. The architecture of the Optical Database will allow for switching between application types while working (for instance from tutorial instruction via the encyclopedia to a simulation and back). For instruction, the content of the database is thereby organized around so-called standard instruction routes: one route per target group. In the project, the teacher is regarded as the manager of instruction.\ud \ud From that perspective, the database is primarily organized as a teaching facility. Central to the research is the condition that the architecture of the Optical Database has to enable teachers to select and tailor instruction routes to their needs in a way that is perceived as logical and easy to use

Experimentally realizable characterizations of continuous variable Gaussian states

Measures of entanglement, fidelity and purity are basic yardsticks in quantum information processing. We propose how to implement these measures using linear devices and homodyne detectors for continuous variable Gaussian states. In particular, the test of entanglement becomes simple with some prior knowledge which is relevant to current experiments.Comment: 4 pages, This paper supersedes quant-ph/020315

Computationally Efficient Implementation of Convolution-based Locally Adaptive Binarization Techniques

One of the most important steps of document image processing is binarization. The computational requirements of locally adaptive binarization techniques make them unsuitable for devices with limited computing facilities. In this paper, we have presented a computationally efficient implementation of convolution based locally adaptive binarization techniques keeping the performance comparable to the original implementation. The computational complexity has been reduced from O(W2N2) to O(WN2) where WxW is the window size and NxN is the image size. Experiments over benchmark datasets show that the computation time has been reduced by 5 to 15 times depending on the window size while memory consumption remains the same with respect to the state-of-the-art algorithmic implementation

Very long optical path-length from a compact multi-pass cell

The multiple-pass optical cell is an important tool for laser absorption spectroscopy and its many applications. For most practical applications, such as trace-gas detection, a compact and robust design is essential. Here we report an investigation into a multi-pass cell design based on a pair of cylindrical mirrors, with a particular focus on achieving very long optical paths. We demonstrate a path-length of 50.31 m in a cell with 40 mm diameter mirrors spaced 88.9 mm apart - a 3-fold increase over the previously reported longest path-length obtained with this type of cell configuration. We characterize the mechanical stability of the cell and describe the practical conditions necessary to achieve very long path-lengths

[Epidemiology of oral cavity cancers in France].

INTRODUCTION: We had for objective to describe the updated epidemiology of oral cancers in France. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Estimates made from data collected from various French cancer institutions. The distribution by topography, histology, regions, mean age, and specific incidence rates were calculated from the collected data. The survival data was taken from the Francim network studies. RESULTS: Approximately 7000 oral cavity cancers were diagnosed in France in 2005. In 2007, 1746 people died of that cancer. Standardized (world population) incidence rates are respectively, in men and women, 12.3 and 3.0 cases per 100,000 person-years. These cancers have significantly decreased in men: the standardized incidence rate decreased by 43.2% between 1980 and 2005. Among women, the trend is reversed with an increased incidence of 51.7% over the same period. CONCLUSION: In France, the incidence of oral cavity cancers has been strongly decreasing in men and strongly increasing in women. This trend should be compared to the frequency of the main risk factors: alcohol and tobacco

Equine nutrition: a survey of perceptions and practices of horse owners undertaking a massive open online course in equine nutrition

An online survey was designed to ascertain the following information: demographics, current feeding practices, and perceptions and knowledge of equine nutrition, including nutrition-related disorders. Response rate was 34% (6,538 respondents). More than 80% of respondents were horse owners or caretakers, with the majority owning between one and five horses (75%) aged 5 years and older (74%). Most kept their horses for pleasure (54%), with 33% using them mostly for competition and 13% using them for an equal mix of both pleasure and competition. Concentrates were fed by the majority (87%), and more than 70% stated that their horses had some access to pasture. Over half of respondents (60%) regularly monitored their horses' weight, with most doing this monthly. Weight tapes were most commonly used (62%), although many reported to guess the weight of their horse(s) with very few (5%) using weight scales. Under half (46%) stated that they regularly used body condition scoring (BCS), many did not use BCS at all (24%), and some did not know what BCS was (10%). Of those that did use BCS, most (36%) did this monthly, with others weekly (25%), daily (14%), and when they remembered (15%). Overall knowledge of nutrition was reported by most as average (median, 3 on Likert scale—average); however, respondents were less knowledgeable on the management of nutrition-related disorders