In vivo
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Endocarditis is a severe disease in which neurological complications are frequent and associated with increased mortality and complex disease management. In the present study, the pig was evaluated as a model of embolic encephalitis as a complication of experimental infective endocarditis. ⋯ Experimental porcine S. aureus-associated endocarditis is advantageous for studying neurological complications, such as brain abscess formation, as a result of endocardial bacterial seeding.
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Few studies have reported that the effect of sorafenib on advanced human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is taking place via the inhibition of NF-κB signal transduction. Here we constructed a human HCC Huh7 stable clone with NF-κB-responsive element to drive dual reporter genes, herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) and firefly luciferase (luc2), and co-transfected with a third red fluorescent protein (rfp) gene, renamed as Huh7/NF-κB-tk-luc2/rfp cells, and combined with bioluminescent imaging (BLI) and red fluorescent protein imaging (RFPI) to monitor the effect of sorafenib on NF-κB activation and tumor inhibition. ⋯ Notably, the relative photon fluxes obtained from RFPI and BLI, which represent the viable tumor cells and cells with NF-κB activation, decreased after sorafenib treatment by 50 to 65%, and 87.5 to >90%, respectively, suggesting that NF-κB activation is suppressed in viable HCC cells by sorafenib. Simultaneous molecular imaging of the temporal change of NF-κB activity and of viable cells in the same Huh7/NF-κB-tk-luc2/rfp tumors of the animal may reflect the real status of NF-κB activity and the viable tumor cells at the time of imaging.
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Swine are becoming increasingly attractive as animal models for clinical research and the recently developed Microminipig (MMPig) has emerged as a possible experimental animal model. In this study, we demonstrated age-dependent changes in hematological parameters and coagulation activity in healthy MMPigs (58 male and 67 females, aged 0-34 months), and investigated white thrombus formation (WTF) using an in vitro microchip flow-chamber system (four males and four females, aged 22-23 months). ⋯ While activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was shorter than prothrombin time (PT), with APTT:PT of 0.88:1, microchip flow-chamber system analysis showed that WTF time was shorter than that in humans, suggesting a possible thrombotic tendency in the MMPig. These results could be useful to life science researchers in the use of the MMPig as an experimental model animal for thrombus formation.
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The aim of the study was to investigate patients with undefined chest pain and moderately increased troponin based on the results of cardiac computed tomographic (CT) angiography (CCTA). ⋯ CCTA accurately identifies or rules out patients with undefined chest pain and moderately elevated troponin, which require PCA and allows detection of other significant clinical findings.
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The number of ambulatory surgical procedures is growing and local anesthesia represents the technique of choice for outpatients undergoing minor surgery. The aim of this study was to verify whether differences exist in postoperative pain relief using equipotent doses of two long-acting local anesthetics, ropivacaine and levobupivacaine, in patients who underwent minor breast surgery. A series of 86 consecutive women (median age=55, range=39-75 years) with small (<2 cm in size) breast masses requiring surgical excision were prospectively enrolled in the study. ⋯ Transient adverse effects were observed in 5 (11.9%) and 4 (9.1%) patients (p=0.49) of groups A and B, respectively. The pain VAS four (t4) and 24 (t24) hours from the end of surgery was significantly (p<0.05) different between the groups, but an inversion of pain relief efficacy and a crossing point of the two pain-time lines at the sixth hour was observed. In conclusion, ropivacaine results in more effective pain relief at time t4, while levobupivacaine should be the drug of choice when long-term postoperative analgesia is required.