In vitro effect of dexmedetomidine on the respiratory burst of neutrophils.

The immunosuppressive effects of dexmedetomidine, a highly selective and widely used a2-adrenoceptor agonist for sedation, analgesia, and stress management, are investigated in vitro. In the present study, the respiratory burst of human neutrophils separated from venous blood was evaluated with dexmedetomidine treatment after Escherichia coli stimulation. The effects of five concentrations of dexmedetomidine (1, 5, 10, 50, 100 µg/mL) were evaluated by rhodamine in a flow cytometer. The nitric oxide (NO) production and nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity were also determined by using commercial kits. The results were compared to the positive control responses (respiratory burst without drug). We found that dexmedetomidine significantly suppressed respiratory burst, NO production, and iNOS activity after stimulation with E. coli, in a dose-dependent manner. The suppressive effects of dexmedetomidine on phagocytic activity of human neutrophils were associated with respiratory burst coupled with NO production.

Risk factors associated with aortic remodeling in patients with Stanford type B aortic dissection after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

To determine the risk factors associated with adverse aortic remodeling after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) in patients with Stanford type B aortic dissection, we performed a retrospective analysis of 54 patients between January 2009 and June 2012 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. All patients underwent TEVAR of the descending thoracic aorta. Multiple-logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors associated with aortic remodeling. True-lumen and false-lumen volumes were increased (P < 0.001) and decreased (P < 0.001) after surgery, respectively. Therefore, the remodeling index increased after surgery (1.04 ± 0.6 to 2.06 ± 1.12, P < 0.001). Remodeling index and true-lumen volume were higher in the favorable aortic remodeling group compared to the adverse aortic remodeling group (P < 0.001), while the false-lumen volume was lower in the favorable aortic remodeling group (P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed a branch originating from the false lumen (OR = 39.9, P < 0.01) and multiple tears (OR = 27.4, P < 0.01) to be independent risk factors for adverse aortic remodeling. Therefore, a branch originating from the false lumen and multiple tears were determined to be independent risk factors for adverse aortic remodeling after TEVAR in patients with Stanford type B aortic dissection.

Correlation between surgical modality and clinicopathologic characteristics for ureteral transitional cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between surgical modality and clinicopathologic features for ureteral transitional cell carcinoma. METHODS: The correlation between surgical modality and clinicopathology characteristics of 146 patients with ureteral carcinoma having undergone surgery was evaluated using univariate analysis by a general linear model. RESULTS: 43.8%, 51.4% and 4.8% of patients experienced nephroureterectomy, renal conservation management and palliative operations, respectively, with a mean survival time of 97.3, 101.3 and 51.0 months (p=0.069) accordingly. Univariate analysis by general linear model indicated that the size of lesions, pathologic stage and tumour grade had a statistically significant impact on surgical modality (p=0.000, p=0.001 and p=0.017, respectively). CONCLUSION: Tumour stage and grade, as well as tumour size, correlate with surgical modality.