Delayed Rupture of the Right Sinus of Valsalva into the Right Atrium after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Rupture of the sinus of Valsalva is an extremely rare complication after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Because it usually results from the retrograde extension of a dissection of the right coronary artery and may quickly spread to involve the entire aorta, it can cause life-threatening complications such as aortic dissection. If the dissection remains localized, it can resolve spontaneously in the first month. Our patient experienced a delayed rupture of the right sinus of Valsalva into the right atrium at approximately 3 months after PCI

Design and Implementation of an Architectural Framework for Web Portals in a Ubiquitous Pervasive Environment

Web Portals function as a single point of access to information on the World Wide Web (WWW). The web portal always contacts the portal’s gateway for the information flow that causes network traffic over the Internet. Moreover, it provides real time/dynamic access to the stored information, but not access to the real time information. This inherent functionality of web portals limits their role for resource constrained digital devices in the Ubiquitous era (U-era). This paper presents a framework for the web portal in the U-era. We have introduced the concept of Local Regions in the proposed framework, so that the local queries could be solved locally rather than having to route them over the Internet. Moreover, our framework enables one-to-one device communication for real time information flow. To provide an in-depth analysis, firstly, we provide an analytical model for query processing at the servers for our framework-oriented web portal. At the end, we have deployed a testbed, as one of the world’s largest IP based wireless sensor networks testbed, and real time measurements are observed that prove the efficacy and workability of the proposed framework

A simple and easy home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with Chronic Lung Diseases

Background and Aim. To develop a simple and easy home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme and investigate its effectiveness. Methods. Patients with stable chronic lung disease were divided into a rehabilitation group (n = 25) and a control group (n = 18). Rehabilitation consisted of education and 12 weeks of enforced aerobic and musclestrengthening exercises. Aerobic exercise training was performed mostly by walking based on the functional capacity of the patients assessed by the maximal incremental exercise test. Patients visited hospital every two weeks for evaluation and a new exercise regimen. Results. Five patients dropped out of the rehabilitation group but three were due to development of unrelated diseases, five controls did not co-operate in the second evaluation. After 12 weeks of rehabilitation, exercise capacity (maximum work load and VO2max), exercise endurance, 6-minute walking distance, and quality of life measured by the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire had significantly improved in the rehabilitation group but not in the controls. At a follow-up evaluation one year after the rehabilitation, some exercise parameters were still significantly higher than baseline in the rehabilitation group. Conclusions. We developed a simple home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme, which seems to be clinically feasible and effective

Cordycepin induces human lung cancer cell apoptosis by inhibiting nitric oxide mediated ERK/Slug signaling pathway

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule and a component of the inflammatory cascade. Besides, it is also involved in tumorigenesis. Aberrant upregulation and activation of the ERK cascade by NO often leads to tumor cell development. However, the role of ERK inactivation induced by the negative regulation of NO during apoptosis is not completely understood. In this study, treatment of A549 and PC9 human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines with cordycepin led to a reduction in their viability. Analysis of the effect of cordycepin treatment on ERK/Slug signaling activity in the A549 cell line revealed that LPS-induced inflammatory microenvironments could stimulate the expression of TNF-α, CCL5, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and upregulate NO, phospho-ERK (p-ERK), and Slug expression. In addition, constitutive expression of NO was observed. Cordycepin inhibited LPS-induced stimulation of iNOS, NO, p-ERK, and Slug expression. L-NAME, an inhibitor of NOS, inhibited p-ERK and Slug expression. It was also found that cordycepin-mediated inhibition of ERK downregulated Slug, whereas overexpression of ERK led to an upregulation of Slug levels in the cordycepin-treated A549 cells. Inhibition of Slug by siRNA induced Bax and caspase-3, leading to cordycepin-induced apoptosis. Cordycepin-mediated inhibition of ERK led to a reduction in phospho-GSK3β (p-GSK3β) and Slug levels, whereas LiCl, an inhibitor of GSK3β, upregulated p-GSK3β and Slug. Overall, the results obtained indicate that cordycepin inhibits the ERK/Slug signaling pathway through the activation of GSK3β which, in turn, upregulates Bax, leading to apoptosis of the lung cancer cells

Combined Treatment of an Intratumoral Injection of Dendritic Cells and Systemic Chemotherapy (Paclitaxel) for Murine Fibrosarcoma

A novel combined treatment of conventional chemotherapy with an intratumoral injection of syngeneic dendritic cells (DCs) has emerged as a potent cancer treatment strategy. In this study, we evaluated the synergistic effect of an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of a chemotherapeutic drug, paclitaxel, and an intratumoral (i.t.) injection of syngeneic bone marrow-derived DCs for the treatment of pre-existing fibrosarcoma. Subcutaneous tumors were established using MCA102 fibrosarcoma cells in syngeneic C57BL/6 mice. The results demonstrated that the combined treatment of paclitaxel chemotherapy and the injection of DCs led to complete tumor regression, in contrast to only partial eradication of the tumors with chemotherapy or DCs alone. Furthermore, the tumor-free mice were able to resist a repeat challenge with the same type of tumor. These findings suggest that a combination therapy of systemic chemotherapy along with the intratumoral administration of DCs is a potent treatment strategy for fibrosarcoma