BioMed research international
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One of the great challenges in surgical tendon rupture repair is to minimize peritendinous adhesions. In order to reduce adhesion formation, a physical barrier was applied to a sutured rabbit Achilles tendon, with two different immobilization protocols used postoperatively. ⋯ Implantation of a DegraPol tube tightly set around a sutured tendon acts as a beneficial physical barrier and prevents adhesion formation significantly--without affecting the tendon healing process.
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To investigate cortisol levels in brain dysfunction in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. ⋯ Cortisol was an associated-risk factor of brain dysfunction in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
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Neuroendoscopic (NE) surgery as a minimal invasive treatment for basal ganglia hemorrhage is a promising approach. The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of NE approach using an adjustable cannula to treat basal ganglia hemorrhage. ⋯ The results indicated that NE surgery might be an effective and safe approach for basal ganglia haemorrhage, and it is also suggested that NE approach may improve good functional recovery. However, NE approach only suits the selected patient, and the usefulness of NE approach needs further randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate.
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We evaluated the links between leptin and visfatin levels and fertilization rates in nonoverweight (NOW) women with PCOS (NOW-PCOS) from Apulia undergoing in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF). ⋯ Both serum leptin levels and FF-leptin are BMI- and insulin-related in Southern Italian NOW-PCOS from Apulia. In line with other reports showing that FF-leptin levels are predictive of fertilization rates, lower than normal FF-leptin levels in NOW-PCOS may explain their lower fertilization rate and this may be related to the level of insulin and/or insulin resistance.
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In acute kidney injury (AKI), elevated plasma creatinine is diagnostic of an earlier loss of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) but not of the concomitant GFR. Only subsequent creatinine changes will inform if GFR had already recovered or not. We hypothesized that the creatinine excretion rate to production rate ratio would provide this information. ⋯ There was a linear relationship between reduced creatinine concentration and E/eG (r (2) = 0.15; P < 0.0001). E/eG predicted a decrease in creatinine (AUC 0.70 (0.65 to 0.74)), identified recovered AKI (0.75 (0.67 to 0.84)), and predicted AKI (0.80 (0.73 to 0.86)). A ratio of the rates of creatinine excretion to estimated production much less than 1 indicated a concomitant GFR below baseline, whereas a ratio much more than 1 indicated a recovering or recovered GFR.