Outpatient management of individuals transporting drugs by body packing is feasible.

INTRODUCTION: Drug traffickers are increasingly making use of the human body for illegal drug transport. Three ways of intracorporeal drug transport are practiced, namely "body packing", "body stuffing" and "body pushing". Since police and border guards cannot accurately detect intracorporeal drug transport, authorities require medical professionals for examination and radiological imaging. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess outcomes in all presentations of suspected intracorporeal drug transport referred to the Emergency Department (ED) of the University Hospital of Basel. METHODS: We screened the electronic health records (EHRs) of all presentations to the ED between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017 for combinations of keywords "body", "pack", "stuff" and "push" in the diagnosis and history of presenting complaints. All presentations with suspicion of intracorporeal drug transport were included. Patient characteristics, imaging modality and the results of imaging were assessed. Outcomes were length of stay, hospitalisation, admission to the intensive care unit, surgical intervention and mortality. The main outcome was the rate of surgical interventions during follow-up in hospital and in prison. RESULTS: We included 363 presentations in 347 patients. The median age was 35 years and 46 (12.7%) were female. Positive results of imaging were found in 81 of 353 (22.9%) presentations assessed by imaging. In four presentations (1.1%), the result of imaging was indeterminate; in 10 presentations, no imaging was obtained owing to lack of consent or pregnancy. We observed 36 instances of body packing, 10 of body stuffing and 15 of body pushing, and 20 mixed or indeterminate presentations. The number of suspected presentations has risen over the last decade, and the relative number of positive results has almost remained stable over the last six years. No severe or life-threatening complications, interventions, or deaths were observed. Among the presentations with positive imaging results, ten (12.3%) were observed in hospital, as compared with four (1.5%) of those with negative results. CONCLUSIONS: Presentations have increased over the last decade while no severe complications or deaths were observed. The consistently low complication rate supports outpatient observation. Considering the ongoing discussion in media and politics, we suggest validation of medical, legal, and ethical guidelines.

Nuclear pore components are involved in the transcriptional regulation of dosage compensation in Drosophila.

Dosage compensation in Drosophila is dependent on MSL proteins and involves hypertranscription of the male X chromosome, which ensures equal X-linked gene expression in both sexes. Here, we report the purification of enzymatically active MSL complexes from Drosophila embryos, Schneider cells, and human HeLa cells. We find a stable association of the histone H4 lysine 16-specific acetyltransferase MOF with the RNA/protein containing MSL complex as well as with an evolutionary conserved complex. We show that the MSL complex interacts with several components of the nuclear pore, in particular Mtor/TPR and Nup153. Strikingly, knockdown of Mtor or Nup153 results in loss of the typical MSL X-chromosomal staining and dosage compensation in Drosophila male cells but not in female cells. These results reveal an unexpected physical and functional connection between nuclear pore components and chromatin regulation through MSL proteins, highlighting the role of nucleoporins in gene regulation in higher eukaryotes.

The CentriMag: a new optimized centrifugal blood pump with levitating impeller.

PURPOSE: Blood pumps are routinely used for circulatory and pulmonary support. However, blood trauma and pump failure remain severe drawbacks of currently available pump models. This study evaluated the first clinical application of a new, totally bearingless centrifugal blood pump (CentriMag). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A centrifugal pump consisting of an electromagnetic suspended impeller was used as a blood pump during beating-heart coronary artery bypass grafting in 11 patients (mean weight, 77.4 kg). Heparin in a bolus of 150 IU/kg body weight was administered, and activated clotting time was maintained at approximately 180 to 250 seconds during extracorporeal circulation. Pump-induced blood trauma was evaluated by measurement of plasma free hemoglobin (PFH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hematocrit, total bilirubin, and platelet levels. RESULTS: Mean pump flow was 3.3 +/- 0.62 L/min, and mean pressure gradient through the oxygenator was 69 +/- 4 mm Hg. No pump dysfunction occurred during a mean application time of 105 +/- 26 minutes. Inspection of the pump housings showed no internal thrombus formation despite low-dose heparinization. Only slight hemolysis was observed with a mean PFH level of 1.96 micromol/L; LDH, 460 U/L; hematocrit, 33%; total bilirubin, 25 micromol/L; and platelets, 191 x 10(3)/microL. CONCLUSIONS: The bearingless CentriMag blood pump is a safe and reliable new device that produces only minimal hemolysis. It seems to be suited for long-term evaluation as a blood pump for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or as ventricular assist device.