Spinal cord damage during and after thoracoabdominal aortic cross-clamping continues to be a major problem. Somatosensory and motor evoked potentials have been used to monitor spinal cord function but their value for predicting paraplegia has been controversial. The aim of this study was to measure biochemical markers in the cerebrospinal ...

Various ideas and hypotheses have been brought forward to explain the development of syringomyelia in the past two centuries. None of them offers a sufficient basis to serve as a concept for the treatment of all affected patients. Apart from a discussion of the different hypotheses this paper proposes a ...

In the direct treatment of cervical lesions and to improve the impression-making procedure prior to fabricating indirect restorations, exposure of the gingival sulcus and control of hemorrhage or gingival fluid seepage are a prerequisite. For gingival displacement, cords impregnated with medicaments are widely used. In this investigation, the authors first ...

BACKGROUND: To clarify the effect of smoking on bone metabolism in the fetus, we measured osteocalcin (OC), bone isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (BALP), procollagen type 1 C-terminal propeptide (PICP) in maternal serum and umbilical cord blood. METHODS: 15 active smoker, 14 passive smoker, 15 nonsmoker women and their newborn were ...

Maternal and cord blood were collected from 54 Indian women at parturition and analyzed for Zn, Cu, and Fe by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry to determine the relationship between levels of these elements in mother's and infant's blood and maternal age, birth weight, and gestational age of the baby. The ...

Serial in vivo dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI studies were performed on spinal cord injured rats on post-injury Days 0, 10, 20 and 30 to determine the distribution of gadopentetate-dimeglumine (Gd) concentration in injured cord tissue. A two-compartment pharmacokinetic model was fitted to the time course of the concentration data ...

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is both a sensitive means of detecting malaria parasitaemia, and a simple tool for identifying genetic differences in parasites infecting human subjects. We compared PCR to microscopy in detection of Plasmodium falciparum infection in peripheral, placental and cord blood samples collected from 131 pregnant Malawian women ...

Lipid and lipoprotein profiles, and enzymes for the lipid metabolism were compared between cord and adult blood. Consistent with previous reports, the major lipoprotein in cord blood was high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and that in adult blood was low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The level of apolipoprotein E (apo E) in cord blood ...

Chorioamnionitis and elevated cord blood inflammatory cytokine concentrations are associated with detectable disturbances of systemic and cerebral hemodynamics in premature newborns. Fifty-five infants (25-31 wk gestation) were enrolled. Chorioamnionitis was defined by placental histology. IL-6, IL-1beta, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were quantified by ELISA. Blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, ...

An 80-year-old patient suffering from traumatic paraplegia due to spinal cord compression was admitted due to recurrent orthostatic syncope. Tilt table testing revealed that the patient lost consciousness without hypotension. Doppler flow measurements of the middle cerebral arteries showed a significant decrease in diastolic velocity during syncope without systemic hypotension. ...

OBJECTIVE: Clinical monitoring of myogenic motor evoked potentials to transcranial stimulation provides rapid evaluation of motor-pathway function during surgical procedures in which spinal cord ischemia can occur. However, a severe reduction of spinal cord blood flow that remains confined to the thoracic spinal cord might render ischemic only the descending ...

BACKGROUND: Plasma glutathione S-transferase (GST) concentration measurement is a sensitive and specific index of hepatocellular injury. GST concentration increases after anaesthesia with most volatile anaesthetic agents, but not after propofol. Such increases are thought to result from reduced liver blood flow. The effect on GST concentration of spinal (subarachnoid) anaesthesia, ...

The complex pathophysiological mechanisms underlying perinatal hypoxia make it difficult to define early markers of severe hypoxia-ischemia encephalopathy. However, as progress in the development of neuroprotective therapeutic measures continues, the early identification of neonates at risk of severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is an important goal for appropriate decision making. Although the ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether V-shaped decelerations in fetal heart rate tracing are a physiologic response to fetal movements or secondary to cord compression. STUDY DESIGN: Six pregnant sheep and their fetuses (115-125 days of gestation) were surgically instrumented and studied. Fetal electrocardiogram, carotid blood flow, arterial blood pressure and fetal ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk to second- and third-borns of developing perinatal infections based on a diminished first-line immune response in comparison to the first-born. STUDY DESIGN: 11 sets of twins and 2 sets of triplets (27-39 weeks of gestation, 740-3,560 g birth weight) admitted consecutively to our neonatal care ...

An assay is described for the determination of interleukin 8 (IL-8) in whole blood lysate instead of plasma or serum. EDTA-anticoagulated umbilical cord blood or capillary blood was added to a detergent-containing lysing reagent. This sample was used directly for determination of IL-8 using the Immulite IL-8 assay kit (DPC, ...

We evaluated the effect of a somatostatin analog (octreotide) on clitoral and vaginal blood flow following suprasacral spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. Twenty-four spinalized female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into 4 equal groups. The first group served as control paraplegics. The other three groups received octreotide (60 micrograms/day/4 weeks) ...

From December 1999 to February 2001, the Microbiological and Gynaecological Science Department of the University of Catania has been involved in the collection of umbilical cord blood samples. Eight hundred and sixty-three cord blood units were collected and sent to Sciacca's UCB bank. Among them, 429 were collected from newborns ...

Umbilical cord blood is largely employed as an alternative source of stem cells in the treatment of hemato-oncological diseases. Current results show that the success rate of purified umbilical cord blood engraftment is comparable to that obtained using bone marrow, and it is directly related to the number of pluripotent ...

The possibility that spinal cord pathology following trauma can be assessed with early changes in the spinal cord evoked potentials (SCEPs) was examined in a rat model. Spinal cord injury (SCI) was produced in Equithesin-anesthetized (3 ml/kg, i.p.) rats through a longitudinal incision into the right dorsal horn at the ...

STUDY DESIGN: Animal model study of three healthy commercial pigs was conducted. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether near infrared spectroscopic monitoring of the spinal cord is feasible, and whether changes in near infrared spectroscopy correlate with changes in blood flow to the cord or operative maneuvers. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Near ...

High spinal anesthesia is one cause of sudden death associated with the spinal anesthesia. We did animal experiments to verify high spinal anesthesia by analyzing tetracaine and its metabolite, p-butylaminobenzoic acid in tissue samples. Tetracaine (0.25% in 10% glucose solution) 0.21-0.28 mg/kg was administered to two groups of rabbits to ...

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an important therapy for certain haematological and malignant disorders. Umbilical cord blood contains a high proportion of potentially transplantable haematopoietic progenitor cells. However, the use of cord blood stem cell transplantation is limited by the low number of stem cells obtainable from a single cord ...

PURPOSE: We investigated the effect of ischaemic preconditioning (IP) on ischaemic spinal cord injury in a rabbit model. METHODS: Fourteen rabbits were divided into IP and control groups of seven rabbits each. We repeated 3-min clamping of the infrarenal abdominal aorta and 3-min reperfusion twice (preconditioning), followed by 15 min ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative contribution of cord occlusion length intervals between occlusions and experimental duration on oxidative stress in the fetal lamb brain. DESIGN: Acute, partially exteriorised fetal lambs with intermittent total cord occlusion. SETTING: The Vivarium of Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia and The Chinese University of ...

The objective of this study is to establish new reference ranges for whole blood electrolytes, gases, and selected chemistries in normal healthy newborn infants obtained from cord blood and at 2-4 hours of life based on modern analytic techniques. Healthy appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA), term infants were studied. Whole venous cord ...

BACKGROUND: Determination of tissue transglutaminase auto-antibodies (tTGAA) has been shown to be a sensitive and specific diagnostic tool for large-scale screening for celiac disease. The purpose of this study was to measure tissue tTGAA in cord blood in infants that later developed celiac disease to evaluate if this assay could ...

OBJECTIVE: investigate the metabolic response of the spinal cord and the effect of allopurinol following cross clamping of the descending thoracic aorta in a porcine model. DESIGN: experimental animal study. MATERIALS: twelve domestic swine. Six pigs were pre-treated with allopurinol, while six pigs served as controls. METHODS: measurement of extracellular ...

Spinal cord-injured (SCI) individuals, having a sympathetic nervous system lesion, experience hypotension during sitting and standing. Surprisingly, they experience few syncopal events. This suggests adaptations in cerebrovascular regulation. Therefore, changes in systemic circulation, cerebral blood flow, and oxygenation in eight SCI individuals were compared with eight able-bodied (AB) individuals. Systemic ...

In this study we investigated the extracellular antioxidant capacity of neonates during the first two postnatal days and its association with iron metabolism. Cord blood and blood samples at 47+/-6 postnatal hours were taken from 10 healthy neonates and their antioxidant capacity was determined using Randox Antioxidant kits and the ...

AIM: To investigate whether cord blood levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and the soluble receptor of interleukin-2, are useful markers in the diagnosis of early neonatal sepsis. DESIGN: Umbilical cord blood samples were obtained at birth from 261 neonates, but 5 of these newborns were ...

Ultrastructural observations on the structure and distribution of endosymbiotic bacteria within the tissues of Wuchereria bancrofti are described. In female worms the organisms were observed in the lateral cords of the hypodermis, oocytes, developing eggs and in intrauterine microfilariae. Organisms were also detected in blood microfilariae and in the intestine ...

This symposium was organized to present research dealing with the effects of intermittent hypoxia on cardiorespiratory systems and cellular mechanisms. The pattern of neural impulse activity has been shown to be critical in the induction of genes in neuronal cells and involves distinct signaling pathways. Mechanisms associated with different patterns ...

Neural damage is a possible consequence of general anesthesia, central nervous system blockade, and regional anesthesia. Dainage may be caused by ischaemic and mechanical or chemical factors, which may occur either alone or in combination. Neural damage may be secondary to prolonged and severe arterial hypotension compromising blood supply to ...

Monocytes as antigen-presenting cells play an important role in host defence. There are several cytokines affecting monocyte function. We demonstrate that both adult and cord blood monocytes constitutively express hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor, MET. HGF significantly down-regulated MET expression of adult blood monocytes, compared with cord blood monocytes, when ...

Neonates are relatively immature in their immune response; thus, to further clarify the differences of monocyte function and differentiation between neonates and adults, we investigated their CD14(+)CD4(+) and CD14(+)CD16(+) monocyte subpopulations, production of IL-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induced by lipopolysaccharide, and their CD14 and CD1a phenotypic changes in response ...

Bradykinin is one of the key molecules involved in the disruption of the blood-brain barrier and blood-spinal cord barrier occurring after spinal cord injury (SCI). Previously we have shown a biphasic opening of the blood-spinal cord barrier as well as increased transport of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) after SCI by ...

Mercury in blood samples was speicated from mothers and their infants up to 2 mo after delivery. There were significant correlations between umbilical cord blood and maternal blood for methylmercury (MeHg) and inorganic mercury (I-Hg) levels. The MeHg levels in cord blood were significantly higher than in maternal blood, while ...

Umbilical cord and venous blood samples were collected at the time of delivery from 52 mothers living in urban and rural areas of the Atoya River basin, Nicaragua. In a subsample of 24 mothers that delivered by Cesarean section, abdominal adipose tissue samples were also collected, as was breast milk ...

OBJECTIVE: To study iron status at different gestational ages using cord blood serum transferrin receptors (STfRs). METHODS: STfRs, iron, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, haemoglobin, and reticulocytes were measured in 144 cord blood samples. The babies were divided into three groups according to gestation (26 very preterm (24-29 weeks); 50 ...

A 36-week pregnant woman was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Delivery was initiated prematurely, and a healthy child was born. Cord blood and peripheral blood samples from the neonate (obtained at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months) were analysed for the presence of minimal residual disease by polymerase chain ...

Recreational scuba diving has become a popular sport in the United States, with almost 9 million certified divers. When severe diving injury occurs, the nervous system is frequently involved. In dive-related barotrauma, compressed or expanding gas within the ears, sinuses and lungs causes various forms of neurologic injury. Otic barotrauma ...

Estimation of serum zinc and copper in the maternal blood and cord blood of neonates was carried out to correlate the trace metals in the neonates and their mothers in relation to gestational age and birth weight. Sixty-five healthy neonates, both term and preterm and their mothers were selected. This ...

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency is common in the Thai population and is the cause of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and hemolytic anemia. This X-linked disorder is much more common in males than females. The objectives of this study were to compare the result of the screening methemoglobin reduction test (MRT) with ...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The risks of homologous transfusion and the effectiveness of predeposit autologous transfusion have been described. The authors examined the clinical usefulness of cord-blood harvesting for autologous transfusion in newborns who had congenital anomalies antenatally diagnosed that would require surgical intervention at or near the time of delivery. METHODS: Of ...

OBJECTIVE: To test whether a short period of training leads to adaptations in the cross-sectional area of large conduit arteries and improved blood flow to the paralyzed legs of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Before-after trial. SETTING: Rehabilitation center, academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Nine men with spinal cord ...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulates the amount of peripherally produced leptin reaching the brain. Knowing that the blood concentration of leptin has a circadian rhythm, we investigated whether the influx of leptin at the BBB followed the same pattern in three main sets of experiments. (a): The entry of 125I-leptin ...

The prolidase activity in serum and in erythrocytes was measured in 28 healthy mothers and in the cord blood of their newborn babies in using a modified Chinard method. 45 healthy non-pregnant women aged between 15-36 years formed a control group. Biochemical parameters (CK, BUN, C-peptid, AFP, Uric acid) were ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate operational and technical practices within the field of cord blood banking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cord blood banks world-wide were invited to participate in a survey of collection, processing and testing. The survey covered a 12-month period up to August 1998. RESULTS: Replies were received from 18 cord ...

In the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, activation of small fibre nociceptive afferents leads to the release of nitric oxide and enkephalins by interneurons. In this work we encountered unexpected relationships among local spinal cord dorsal horn blood flow, specific forms of afferent input, nitric oxide and intrinsic opioids. ...