An inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma for repair of a short sciatic nerve defect in rats

Platelet-rich plasma containing various growth factors can promote nerve regeneration. An inside-out vein graft can substitute nerve autograft to repair short nerve defects. It is hypothesized that an inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma shows better effects in the repair of short sciatic nerve defects. In this study, an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma was used to bridge a 10 mm-long sciatic nerve defect in rats. The sciatic nerve function of rats with an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma was better improved than that of rats with a simple inside-out vein autograft. At 6 and 8 weeks, the sciatic nerve function of rats with an inside-out vein autograft filled with platelet-rich plasma was better than that of rats undergoing nerve autografting. Compared with the sciatic nerve repaired with a simple inside-out vein autograft, the number of myelinated axons was higher, axon diameter and myelin sheath were greater in the sciatic nerve repaired with an inside-out vein autograft filled with plateletrich plasma and they were similar to those in the sciatic nerve repaired with nerve autograft. These findings suggest that an inside-out vein graft filled with platelet-rich plasma can substitute nerve autograft to repair short sciatic nerve defects.

Duodenal variceal bleeding after balloon-occluded retrograde transverse obliteration: Treatment with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

We report a case of duodenal varix bleeding as a long term complication of balloon occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO), which was successfully treated with a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). A 57-year-old man was admitted to the emergency room suffering from melena. He had under-gone BRTO to treat gastric varix bleeding 5 mo before admission. Endoscopy and a computed tomography (CT) scan showed complete obliteration of the gastric varix, but the nodular varices in the second portion of the duodenum expanded after BRTO, and spurting blood was seen. TIPS was performed for treatment of duodenal variceal bleeding, because attempts at endoscopic varix ligation were unsuccessful. The post-operative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged without complications. A follow up CT scan obtained 21 mo after TIPS revealed a patent TIPS tract and complete obliteration of duodenal varices, but multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma had developed. He died of hepatic failure 28 mo after TIPS.

Characteristics of Algal Succession Following Rock Scraping at Imwon Area in the East Coast of Korea

This study was conducted to clarify the characteristics of algal succession following rock scraping using hoe or high-pressure water sprayer in the period from June 2010 to April 2011. We divided the research area off the eastern coast of Korean near Imwon into 3 categories depending upon the severity of the barren ground, i.e., the urchin barren-affected, urchin barren-ongoing and urchin barren-free areas. In April 2011, in the urchin barren-affected area with 25 seaweed species, the cover percentage and importance value(IV) of crustose coralline algae were higher than those of other species. In the urchin barren-ongoing area with 33 seaweed species, crustose coralline algae(mean IV = 62%) as well as Sargassum sp.(mean IV = 28%), and Gelidium amansii(mean IV = 19%) were observed following rock scraping. In the urchin barren-free area where seaweed communities were relatively abundant with 42 species, a variety of algal species including G. amansii(mean IV = 32%) underwent algal succession. Overall, it was observed that, as an aspect of algal succession, the weaker the barren ground severity was, the more frequent and diverse the seaweeds were, and the more complex the succession pattern was in the study. As an aspect of recovering algal community, rock scraping using hoe was shown to be superior to the method using high-pressure water spraying. Therefore, we conclude that rock scraping using hoe is a very effective strategy for recovering the algal community in urchin barren-ongoing area.