Abstract Background Context There have been no studies with medium term follow up of magnetic controlled growing rods (MCGR). Purpose To report our single centre experience of a magnetic growing rod ...system with an average of 4 years follow up. Study Design/Setting Retrospective case series Patient Sample Patients with early onset scoliosis treated with magnetic controlled growth rods that were operated in Year 2011 Outcome Measures Cobb angle, Spinal growth rate, Complications, Revision Methods Clinical case notes and radiographs were reviewed. Results Eight patients (5 dual rod construct, 3 single-rod construct) had minimum of 44 months' follow-up and average of 48 months (44–55 months). Mean age at surgery was 8.2 years (range 3-10). Mean pre-operative Cobb angle was 60°(34–94), while mean post-operative Cobb angle was 42°(32–63). The average number of extensions was 13.8 (range: 12-20). Six patients (75%) required 8 revision surgeries: rod problems (n=4), proximal screw pull-out (n=3), development of proximal junction kyphosis(n=1). All three patients who had single-rod construct were revised. Currently four patients (50%) still have the magnetic rods in situ. The mean duration of MCGR in the patient in the removed group was 39 months (range: 34 - 46). Conclusions Medium term results of MCGR are not as promising as previously reported early results. Hence, MCGRs should be utilized with caution. Single-rod constructs should definitely be avoided. The role of MCGRs in revision cases still remains unknown.
Amine alkylation reactions of alcohols have been performed in the presence of boronic ester groups to provide products which are known to have use as molecular sensors. The boronic ester moiety could ...be present in either the alcohol or amine starting material and was not compromised in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been considered a huge clinical unmet need due to its aggressive progression and highly frequent metastasis. mRNA therapeutics supply a potential and ...versatile immunotherapy of oncology treatment. Here, we developed α-lactalbumin mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (α-LNP) as a potential therapeutical strategy for TNBC. The α-LNP induced the specific IgG antibodies and activated IFN γ-secreting-T cells in vivo. Additionally, the safety of α-LNP also had been demonstrated in vivo. When vaccinated prior to tumor implantation, α-LNP showed a preventive effect against 4T1 tumor growth and extended the survival of the tumor model by activating the memory immune responses. Furthermore, α-LNP administration in combination with surgical removal of neoplasm effectively inhibited the progression and metastasis in the TNBC model. Taken together, our results indicate that the α-LNP vaccine is a promising novel treatment for both therapeutics and prophylactics in TNBC.
The genome sequence of the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae has provided the first complete inventory of the working parts of a eukaryotic cell. The challenge is now to discover what each of the gene ...products does and how they interact in a living yeast cell. Systematic and comprehensive approaches to the elucidation of yeast gene function are discussed and the prospects for the functional genomics of eukaryotic organisms evaluated.
Quorum sensing relies upon the interaction of a diffusible signal molecule with a transcriptional activator protein to couple gene expression with cell population density. In Gram-negative bacteria, ...such signal molecules are usually N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) which differ in the structure of their N-acyl side chains. Chromobacterium violaceum, a Gram-negative bacterium commonly found in soil and water, produces the characteristic purple pigment violacein. Previously the authors described a violacein-negative, mini-Tn5 mutant of C. violaceum (CV026) in which pigment production can be restored by incubation with supernatants from the wild-type strain. To develop this mutant as a general biosensor for AHLs, the natural C. violaceum AHL molecule was first chemically characterized. By using solvent extraction, HPLC and mass spectrometry, a single AHL, N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (HHL), was identified in wild-type C. violaceum culture supernatants which was absent from CV026. Since the production of violacein constitutes a simple assay for the detection of AHLs, we explored the ability of CV026 to respond to a series of synthetic AHL and N-acylhomocysteine thiolactone (AHT) analogues. In CV026, violacein is inducible by all the AHL and AHT compounds evaluated with N-acyl side chains from C4 to C8 in length, with varying degrees of sensitivity. Although AHL compounds with N-acyl side chains from C10 to C14 are unable to induce violacein production, if an activating AHL (e.g. HHL) is incorporated into the agar, these long-chain AHLs can be detected by their ability to inhibit violacein production. The versatility of CV026 in facilitating detection of AHL mixtures extracted from culture supernatants and separated by thin-layer chromatography is also demonstrated. These simple bioassays employing CV026 thus greatly extend the ability to detect a wide spectrum of AHL signal molecules.
The main advantage cited for the use of the magnetic controlled growing rod (MCGR) system over the conventional growing rod (CGR) in early-onset scoliosis is avoiding repeated invasive surgical ...procedures for lengthening, thus reducing, complications.
The study aimed to evaluate the complications of the MCGR system against the CGR system in our center.
This is a retrospective case control series.
The sample includes patients with early-onset scoliosis treated with MCGR or CGR.
Complications and unplanned return to theater were the outcome measures.
Of the 37 patients (MCGR, N=10; CGR, N=27) in our cohort, 28 patients (76%) had at least one complication. Taking into account the follow-up period, MCGR had a higher complication rate than CGR group (0.32 complication per patient per year vs. 0.15 complication per patient per year). The use of MCGR was associated with a lower risk of deep infection (odds ratio OR: 0.22; p=.22) and superficial infection (OR: 0.07, p=.017) but increased risk of metalwork problems (OR: 4.67; p=.045) and unplanned return to theater (OR: 2.92; p=.05) compared with CGR.
Although MCGR has a lower rate of both deep and superficial infections when compared with CGR, it does not completely avoid repeated invasive surgical procedures as previously suggested. It does have a significant increased risk of metalwork problems and unplanned return to theater.
The luxCDABE operon of Photorhabdus luminescens has been cloned and engineered as an easily mobilisable cassette flanked by sites for commonly used restriction enzymes. Constitutive and promoter ...probe plasmids utilising the P. luminescens luxCDABE have been constructed using a number of compatible replicons and antibiotic markers. Complementary to these plasmids, a range of promoterless and constitutive luxCDABE mini-Tn5 derivatives has been constructed. The potential of coupling mini-Tn5 luxCDABE promoter probe transposons with automated luminometry and photometry to screen for mutants that exhibit growth phase variation in gene expression is demonstrated.
Abstract
Plasmid reporter vectors have been constructed which respond to activation of LuxR and its homologues LasR and RhlR (VsmR) by N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs). The expression of luxCDABE ...from transcriptional fusions to PluxI, PlasI and PrhlI respectively, occurs in the presence of activating AHLs. A profile of structure/activity relationships is seen where the natural ligand is most potent. The characterisation of individual LuxR homologue/AHL combinations allows a comprehensive evaluation of quorum sensing signals from a test organism.
PDF
