Localized acid instillation by a wedged-catheter method reveals a role for vascular gap junctions in spatial expansion of acid injury.

Acid aspiration is a major cause of acute lung injury. However, the mechanisms that underlie this spatial expansion of the injury remain undefined. In current animal models of acid injury, intratracheal acid instillation replicates the lung injury.

Lung injury caused by high tidal volume mechanical ventilation and hyperoxia is dependent on oxidant-mediated c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase activation.

Both prolonged exposure to hyperoxia and large tidal volume mechanical ventilation can each independently cause lung injury. However, the combined impact of these insults is poorly understood. We recently reported that preexposure to hyperoxia for 12 h, followed by ventilation with large tidal volumes, induced significant lung injury and epithelial cell apoptosis compared with either stimulus alone (Makena et al.

Prevalence of medication-related problems among patients with renal compromise in an Indian hospital.

What Is Known And Objective: Patients suffering from renal dysfunction often have multiple medical conditions either as a cause or as a consequence of their renal disease. These patients receive an average of 10-12 medications daily leading to complex dosing schedules and are more likely to develop medication-related problems (MRPs). The objectives of this study were to determine the nature and extent of MRPs in renally compromised patients and to explore the potential clinical significance of the MRPs.

Factors affecting incidence of dry socket: a prospective community-based study.

Dry socket, or alveolar osteitis, can occur because of the removal of teeth. No clear etiology has been acknowledged; however, numerous risk factors have been proposed and tested. We report on the results of a prospective, multicenter study of the incidence and factors affecting the occurrence of alveolar osteitis at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and Community Dental Clinics in Melbourne, Australia.

Ketamine has no effect on oxygenation indices following elective coronary artery bypass grafting under cardiopulmonary bypass.

Cardiopulmonary bypass is known to elicit systemic inflammatory response syndrome and organ dysfunction. This can result in pulmonary dysfunction and deterioration of oxygenation after cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass. Previous studies have reported varying results on anti-inflammatory strategies and oxygenation after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Preexposure to hyperoxia causes increased lung injury and epithelial apoptosis in mice ventilated with high tidal volumes.

Both high tidal volume mechanical ventilation (HV) and hyperoxia (HO) have been implicated in ventilator-induced lung injury. However, patients with acute lung injury are often exposed to HO before the application of mechanical ventilation. The potential priming of the lungs for subsequent injury by exposure to HO has not been extensively studied.

Nature and kinetic analysis of carbon-carbon bond fragmentation reactions of cation radicals derived from SET-oxidation of lignin model compounds.

Features of the oxidative cleavage reactions of diastereomers of dimeric lignin model compounds, which are models of the major types of structural units found in the lignin backbone, were examined. Cation radicals of these substances were generated by using SET-sensitized photochemical and Ce(IV) and lignin peroxidase promoted oxidative processes, and the nature and kinetics of their C-C bond cleavage reactions were determined. The results show that significant differences exist between the rates of cation radical C1-C2 bond cleavage reactions of 1,2-diaryl-(β-1) and 1-aryl-2-aryloxy-(β-O-4) propan-1,3-diol structural units found in lignins.

Potentially inappropriate medication use in elderly patients: a study of prevalence and predictors in two teaching hospitals.

Background: Geriatrics is an emerging clinical specialty in India. Information about the appropriateness of prescription medication use among the elderly in India is limited.

Aims: To determine the prevalence and predictors of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use, and assess the relationship between PIM use and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the hospitalized elderly.

Prescribing patterns and predictors of high-level polypharmacy in the elderly population: A prospective surveillance study from two teaching hospitals in India.

Background: Polypharmacy has been reported to increase the risks for inappropriate prescribing, adverse drug reactions, geriatric syndromes, and morbidity and mortality in elderly populations in the United States and Europe. Data on prescribing patterns and polypharmacy in the elderly population in India are limited.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to assess prescribing patterns and to determine the predictors of high-level polypharmacy in the elderly population in 2 tertiary care hospitals in India.

International multicenter trial on clinical natural orifice surgery--NOTES IMTN study: preliminary results of 362 patients.

Objectives: Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is evolving as a promising alternative for abdominal surgery. IMTN Registry was designed to prospectively document early results of natural orifice surgery among a large group of clinical cases.

Methods: Sixteen centers from 9 countries were approved to participate in the study, based on study protocol requirements and local institutional review board approval.

Valproic acid-induced abnormal behavior.

A 12-year-old female was admitted to hospital with complaints of abnormal behavior. She was on valproic acid 200mg twice daily and clobazam 5mg at night for the past 13 weeks for her complex partial seizures with secondary generalized seizures. On day 60 of the treatment with valproic acid she developed behavioral disturbances and initiated treatment with tablet chlorpromazine, olanzapine and risperidone.

Effect of vermicompost on soil fertility and crop productivity--beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).

Field experiments were conducted at Sivapuri, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu to evaluate the efficacy of vermicompost, in comparison to inorganic fertilizers-NPK, on the physio-chemical and biological characteristics of the soils--clay loam soil (CLS) and sandy loam soil (SLS) and on the growth, yield and nutrient content of beans--Phaseolus vulgaris. Results showed that the application of vermicompost @ 5 tonnes ha(-1) had enhanced significantly the pore space (1.09 and 1.

Ab initio and DFT studies on methanol-water clusters.

The gas-phase geometries, binding energies (BEs), vibrational spectra, and electron density topological features of methanol (M), water (W), and methanol-water mixed clusters (M(m)W(n), where m = 0-4 and n = 0-4; m + n < or = 4) have been calculated using Hartree-Fock, second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation, and density functional theory with Becke three-parameter hybrid functional combined with Lee-Yang-Parr correlation functional methods. Bader's "atoms in molecules" theory has been used to analyze the hydrogen bonding network. To understand the effect of cooperativity, we have performed natural bond orbital analysis and reduced variational space decomposition analysis.

New insights into the vacuum UV photodissociation of peptides.

Vacuum ultraviolet laser photodissociation (UVPD) of peptide ions leads to unusual dissociation channels involving backbone C-C bond breaking. However, the molecular basis for the observed behavior is not clearly understood. We now report theoretical investigations using ab initio/density functional theory (DFT) techniques on neutral and protonated dipeptides undergoing vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) induced fragmentation via a Rydberg excitation (and/or electron detachment) and subsequent C-C bond cleavage.

Adverse drug reactions to antiretroviral therapy (ART): an experience of spontaneous reporting and intensive monitoring from ART centre in India.

Purpose: To assess the nature, severity, predictability and preventability of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and to identify risk factors for antiretroviral ADRs.

Methods: Enrolled ambulatory patients were intensively monitored for ADRs. Spontaneously reported ADRs by clinicians were also included.

fac-Tris(4-amino-benzohydroxamato)iron(III) ethanol solvate.

In the structure of the title compound, [Fe(C(7)H(7)N(2)O(2))(3)]·CH(3)CH(2)OH, the Fe(III) atom is in a distorted octa-hedral O(6) environment with the three hydroxamate O atoms (and the three carbonyl O atoms) arranged in a fac configuration and one of the hydroxamate ligands being puckered. The methyl C atom of the ethanol solvent mol-ecule is disordered over two positions with occupancies of 0.626 (13) and 0.

Differential binding of ICln in platelets to integrin-derived activating and inhibitory peptides.

The capacity of platelets to form a thrombus is mediated by integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3). The cytoplasmic tail of alpha(IIb) contains a highly conserved motif, (989)KVGFFKR(995), which plays a critical role in regulating integrin activation and acts as a recognition site for various intracellular proteins, e.g.

Bonding, aromaticity, and structure of trigonal dianion metal clusters.

Various isomers of the trigonal dianion metal clusters, X(3)(2-), X = Be, Mg, Ca, and their mono- and disodium complexes are optimized at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d) level. Different conceptual density functional theory based reactivity descriptors as well as the induced magnetic field values are calculated to understand the stability and aromaticity of these systems. Possibility of bond stretch isomerism is explored.

Evolution in techniques of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy: a decade long experience from a tertiary center.

Background: Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy is a technically demanding surgery performed only at few centers in the world. This article aims to describe the evolution of the technique and summarizes the results in our institute over the years.

Methods: Prospective data of patients undergoing laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy from March 1998 to January 2009 was retrospectively reviewed.

Montelukast induced acute hepatocellular liver injury.

A 46-year-old male with uncontrolled asthma on inhaled albuterol and formoterol with budesonide was commenced on montelukast. He developed abdominal pain and jaundice 48 days after initiating montelukast therapy. His liver tests showed an increase in serum total bilirubin, conjugated bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase.

Molecular dynamics investigations on the effect of D amino acid substitution in a triple-helix structure and the stability of collagen.

Studies on the structure and stability of peptides and proteins during l-->d configurational change are certainly important for the designing of peptides with new biological activity and protein engineering. The l-->d amino acid (d AA) changes have been observed in aged proteins such as collagen. Hence, in this study, an attempt has been made to explore the effect of the replacement of l amino acid (l AA) in the model collagen-like peptides with d AA and the origin of structural stability (destability) has been traced using the molecular dynamics (MD) method employing the AMBER force field.

Ligand switching in cell-permeable peptides: manipulation of the alpha-integrin signature motif.

A synthetic cell-permeable peptide corresponding to the highly conserved alpha-integrin signature motif, Palmityl-K(989)VGFFKR(995) (Pal-FF), induces integrin activation and aggregation in human platelets. Systematic replacement of the F(992)-F(993) with amino acids of greater or lesser hydrophobicity to create Pal-KVGxxKR peptides demonstrate that hydrophobic amino acids (isoleucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan) are essential for agonist potency. In marked contrast, substitution with small and/or hydrophilic amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine) causes a switch in the biological activity resulting in inhibition of platelet aggregation, adhesion, ADP secretion, and thromboxane synthesis.

Paracrine purinergic signaling determines lung endothelial nitric oxide production.

Although the vascular bed is a major source of nitric oxide (NO) production, factors regulating the production remain unclear. We considered the role played by paracrine signaling. Determinations by fluorescence microscopy in isolated, blood-perfused rat and mouse lungs revealed that a brief lung expansion enhanced cytosolic Ca(2+) (Ca(2+)cyt) oscillations in alveolar epithelial (AEC) and endothelial (EC) cells, and NO production in EC.

Laparoscopic repair of adult diaphragmatic hernias and eventration with primary sutured closure and prosthetic reinforcement: a retrospective study.

Background: Diaphragmatic hernias may be congenital or acquired (traumatic). Some patients present in adulthood with a congenital hernia undetected during childhood or due to trauma, known as the adult-onset type. The authors present their series of adult-onset type diaphragmatic hernias managed successfully by laparoscopy.

NOTES: Transvaginal endoscopic cholecystectomy in humans-preliminary report of a case series.

Objectives: Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) represents an emerging technology, including under its umbrella a variety of approaches and combinations. The transvaginal approach to endoscopic cholecystectomy is one such technique, which we present here as a small series.

Methods: From May to November 2007, a total of eight patients were scheduled to undergo transvaginal endoscopic cholecystectomy at our institute.