Do associated anomalies influence mortality in oesophageal atresia?

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PhiSiGns: an online tool to identify signature genes in phages and design PCR primers for examining phage diversity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phages (viruses that infect bacteria) have gained significant attention because of their abundance, diversity and important ecological roles. However, the lack of a universal gene shared by all phages presents a challenge for phage identification and characterization, especially in environmental samples where it is difficult to culture phage-host systems. Homologous conserved genes (or "signature genes") present in groups of closely-related phages can be used to explore phage diversity and define evolutionary relationships amongst these phages. Bioinformatic approaches are needed to identify candidate signature genes and design PCR primers to amplify those genes from environmental samples; however, there is currently no existing computational tool that biologists can use for this purpose.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we present PhiSiGns, a web-based and standalone application that performs a pairwise comparison of each gene present in user-selected phage genomes, identifies signature genes, generates alignments of these genes, and designs potential PCR primer pairs. PhiSiGns is available at (<url>http://www.phantome.org/phisigns/</url>; <url>http://phisigns.sourceforge.net/</url>) with a link to the source code. Here we describe the specifications of PhiSiGns and demonstrate its application with a case study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PhiSiGns provides phage biologists with a user-friendly tool to identify signature genes and design PCR primers to amplify related genes from uncultured phages in environmental samples. This bioinformatics tool will facilitate the development of novel signature genes for use as molecular markers in studies of phage diversity, phylogeny, and evolution.</p

Study of W boson production in PbPb and pp collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

A measurement is presented of W-boson production in PbPb collisions carried out at a nucleon-nucleon (NN) centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s[NN]) of 2.76 TeV at the LHC using the CMS detector. In data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7.3 inverse microbarns, the number of W to mu mu-neutrino decays is extracted in the region of muon pseudorapidity abs(eta[mu])<2.1 and transverse momentum pt[mu]>25 GeV. Yields of muons found per unit of pseudorapidity correspond to (159 +/- 10 (stat.) +/- 12 (syst.)) 10E-8 W(plus) and (154 +/- 10 (stat.) +/- 12 (syst.)) 10E-8 W(minus) bosons per minimum-bias PbPb collision. The dependence of W production on the centrality of PbPb collisions is consistent with a scaling of the yield by the number of incoherent NN collisions. The yield of W bosons is also studied in a sample of pp interactions at sqrt(s)= 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 231 inverse nanobarns. The individual W(plus) and W(minus) yields in PbPb and pp collisions are found to agree, once the neutron and proton content in Pb nuclei is taken into account. Likewise, the difference observed in the dependence of the positive and negative muon production on pseudorapidity is consistent with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Pancreatic pleural effusion: An indication for emergency distal pancreatectomy and Roux-en-Y pancreatico-jejunostomy

A previously healthy 2-year-old boy was admitted because of shortness of breath, cough, and fever; there was minimal abdominal pain. He had recurrent right, followed by left pleural effusions, which contained markedly elevated amylase levels and high protein content. The pleural fluid amylase levels were disproportionately higher than the serum amylase levels. His abdominal signs were minimal. Surgical exploration showed a disruption of the proximal pancreatic duct. Distal pancreatectomy and Roux-en-Y pancreatico-jejunostomy were performed. After a complicated postoperative course he was discharged well and has remained so for more than 2 years.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Horseshoe kidney with bilateral single system ectopic ureters

A horseshoe kidney, associated with bilateral single system ectopic ureters in a 9-month-old boy, is reported. The right ureteric orifice was located near the midline of a deformed trigone while the grossly dilated left ureter inserted into the posterior urethra. Imaging defined this rare combination of urological anomalies prior to surgical treatment.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Cutaneous stoma in the Roux limb of hepaticojejunostomy (hepaticocutaneous jejunostomy): Useful access for intrahepatic stone extraction

A cutaneous stoma in the Roux limb of hepaticojejunostomy (hepaticocutaneous jejunostomy) was used for stone extraction in two children who had hepatolithiasis (14.5 and 15.5 years, respectively) after operation for choledochal cysts. In constructing the hepaticocutaneous jejunostomy, a short, straight proximal limb from the skin to the bilioenteric anastomosis is mandatory. It provides a pathway, superior to the T-tube tract, for repeated stone extraction, which can be performed under sedation, thus obviating repeat laparotomies. The stoma allows flexible choledochoscopy, balloon dilatation of intrahepatic duct strictures, and extraction of intrahepatic stones using grasping forceps, baskets, and balloons. The electrohydraulic lithotriptor may be applied to fragment larger stones.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A comparison of three induction agents in paediatric anaesthesia - Cardiovascular effects and recovery

We studied 30 children undergoing circumcision randomly allocated to receive either thiopentone 4 mg.kg-1, propofol 2.5 mg.kg-1 or midazolam 0.5 mg.kg-1 (n = 10) IV over 30 seconds at induction of anaesthesia. Blood pressure and pulse rate during the first 15 minutes of induction were recorded by a Finapres 2300e and a Cardiocap CM-104, and changes from preinduction baseline compared between the three induction agents and the two recording instruments. Postoperatively, blood levels of the induction agents were measured and recovery from anaesthesia was assessed by clinical criteria, mood and sedation scores and psychomotor performance. The Cardiocap data revealed no statistically significant haemodynamic differences between the three induction agents. Finapres data demonstrated that propofol caused a greater decrease in mean arterial pressure when compared to thiopentone at one minute (P = 0.01) and the MAP remained significantly lower than midazolam at five minutes (P = 0.02), illustrating an advantage of continuous over intermittent non-invasive blood pressure monitoring. The midazolam group took longer to identify themselves compared to both the propofol (P = 0.005) and the thiopentone groups (P = 0.02), but there was no difference in the groups in time to eye-opening. Psychomotor performance on awakening was significantly worse in the midazolam group compared to the propofol (P < 0.03) and thiopentone groups (P < 0.02). Most children had recovered to 80% of their best, practised, unmedicated, preoperative performance four hours after awakening, irrespective of the induction agent administered. Drug blood levels correlated weakly with both methods of psychomotor assessment (r ≥ 0.6). Of the three induction agents, thiopentone caused the least haemodynamic perturbation on induction, and anaesthesia induced with midazolam caused the greatest psychomotor impairment on awakening. Within one hour patients in all drug groups were equally awake, co-operative and co-ordinated.link_to_subscribed_fulltex