Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes, May 2007

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: New Iowa “Foreclosure Hotline”

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes, May 2007

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Take the Scare Out of Auto Repair!, February 2007

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Take the Scare Out of Auto Repair!

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Take the Scare Out of Auto Repair!, February 2007

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Take the Scare Out of Auto Repair!

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Advance Fee Loans and Credit Repair Schemes, January 2008

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Advance Fee Loans and Credit Repair Schemes

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes, Mach 2008

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes

Mechanisms of Symptomatic Spinal Cord Ischemia After TEVAR: Insights From the European Registry of Endovascular Aortic Repair Complications (EuREC).

Abstract Purpose: To test the hypothesis that simultaneous closure of at least 2 independent vascular territories supplying the spinal cord and/or prolonged hypotension may be associated with symptomatic spinal cord ischemia (SCI) after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). Methods: A pattern matching algorithm was used to develop a risk model for symptomatic SCI using a prospective 63-patient single-center cohort to test the positive predictive value (PPV) of prolonged intraoperative hypotension and/or simultaneous closure of at least 2 of 4 the vascular territories supplying the spinal cord (left subclavian, intercostal, lumbar, and hypogastric arteries). This risk model was then applied to data extracted from the multicenter European Registry on Endovascular Aortic Repair Complications (EuREC). Between 2002 and 2010, the 19 centers participating in EuREC reported 38 (1.7%) cases of symptomatic spinal cord ischemia among the 2235 patients in the database. Results: In the single-center cohort, direct correlations were seen between the occurrence of symptomatic SCI and both prolonged intraoperative hypotension (PPV 1.00, 95% CI 0.22 to 1.00, p = 0.04) and simultaneous closure of at least 2 independent spinal cord vascular territories (PPV 0.67, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.91, p = 0.005). Previous closure of a single vascular territory was not associated with an increased risk of symptomatic spinal cord ischemia (PPV 0.07, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.16, p = 0.56). The combination of prolonged hypotension and simultaneous closure of at least 2 territories exhibited the strongest association (PPV 0.75, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.75, p<0.0001). Applying the model to the entire EuREC cohort found an almost perfect agreement between the predicted and observed risk factors (kappa 0.77, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.90). Conclusion: Extensive coverage of intercostal arteries alone by a thoracic stent-graft is not associated with symptomatic SCI; however, simultaneous closure of at least 2 vascular territories supplying the spinal cord is highly relevant, especially in combination with prolonged intraoperative hypotension. As such, these results further emphasize the need to preserve the left subclavian artery during TEVAR.

Management of severe pediatric subglottic stenosis with glottic involvement.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to describe our experience in the management of complex glotto-subglottic stenosis in the pediatric age group. METHODS: Between 1978 and 2008, 33 children with glotto-subglottic stenosis underwent partial cricotracheal resection, and they form the focus of this study. They were compared with 67 children with isolated subglottic stenosis (no glottic involvement). The outcomes measured were need for revision open surgical intervention, delayed decannulation (>6 months), and operation-specific and overall decannulation rates. Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of outcomes. RESULTS: Results of preoperative evaluation showed Myer-Cotton grade III or IV stenosis in 32 (97%) patients and grade II stenosis in 1 patient. All patients with glotto-subglottic stenosis were treated with partial cricotracheal resection and simultaneous repair of the glottic pathology. Bilateral fixed vocal cords were seen in 19 (58%) of 33 patients, bilateral restricted abduction was seen in 7 (21%) of 33 patients, and unilateral fixed vocal cord was seen in 7 (21%) of 33 patients. Ten patients underwent single-stage partial cricotracheal resection with excision of interarytenoid scar tissue. The endotracheal tube was kept for a mean period of 7 days as a stent. Twenty-three patients underwent extended partial cricotracheal resection with LT-Mold (Bredam S.A., St. Sulpice, Switzerland) or T-tube stenting. The overall decannulation rate included 26 (79%) patients, and the operation-specific decannulation rate included 20 (61%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Glotto-subglottic stenosis is a complex laryngeal injury associated with delayed decannulation and decreased overall and operation-specific decannulation rates when compared with those after subglottic stenosis without glottic involvement after partial cricotracheal resection.

Epigenetic deregulation of DNA repair and its potential for therapy.

Epigenetic silencing of essential components of DNA repair pathways is a common event in many tumor types, and comprise O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), human mut L homolog 1 (hMLH1), Werner syndrome gene (WRN), breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1), and genes of the Fanconi anemia pathway. Most interestingly, some of these alterations become the Achilles heel of the affected tumors upon treatment with certain classes of anticancer agents. That is, patients whose tumors carry such defects can be stratified for respective therapy rendering some classic DNA damaging agents, such as alkylators or DNA crosslinking agents, into "targeted therapies." Here we review some of the affected repair pathways that, when inactivated, sensitize the tumors to specific drugs and are thus exploitable for individualized therapy.

Macrophages promote epithelial repair through hepatocyte growth factor secretion.

Macrophages play a critical role in intestinal wound repair. However, the mechanisms of macrophage-assisted wound repair remain poorly understood. We aimed to characterize more clearly the repair activities of murine and human macrophages. Murine macrophages were differentiated from bone marrow cells and human macrophages from monocytes isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy donors (HD) or Crohn's disease (CD) patients or isolated from the intestinal mucosa of HD. In-vitro models were used to study the repair activities of macrophages. We found that murine and human macrophages were both able to promote epithelial repair in vitro. This function was mainly cell contact-independent and relied upon the production of soluble factors such as the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Indeed, HGF-silenced macrophages were less capable of promoting epithelial repair than control macrophages. Remarkably, macrophages from CD patients produced less HGF than their HD counterparts (HGF level: 84âeuro0/00±âeuro0/0027âeuro0/00pg/mg of protein and 45âeuro0/00±âeuro0/0034âeuro0/00pg/mg of protein, respectively, for HD and CD macrophages, Pâeuro0/00<âeuro0/000·009) and were deficient in promoting epithelial repair (repairing activity: 90·1âeuro0/00±âeuro0/004·6 and 75·8âeuro0/00±âeuro0/008·3, respectively, for HD and CD macrophages, Pâeuro0/00<âeuro0/000·0005). In conclusion, we provide evidence that macrophages act on wounded epithelial cells to promote epithelial repair through the secretion of HGF. The deficiency of CD macrophages to secrete HGF and to promote epithelial repair might contribute to the impaired intestinal mucosal healing in CD patients.

Genomewide association study using a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism array and case-control design identifies a novel essential hypertension susceptibility locus in the promoter region of endothelial NO synthase.

Essential hypertension is a multifactorial disorder and is the main risk factor for renal and cardiovascular complications. The research on the genetics of hypertension has been frustrated by the small predictive value of the discovered genetic variants. The HYPERGENES Project investigated associations between genetic variants and essential hypertension pursuing a 2-stage study by recruiting cases and controls from extensively characterized cohorts recruited over many years in different European regions. The discovery phase consisted of 1865 cases and 1750 controls genotyped with 1M Illumina array. Best hits were followed up in a validation panel of 1385 cases and 1246 controls that were genotyped with a custom array of 14 055 markers. We identified a new hypertension susceptibility locus (rs3918226) in the promoter region of the endothelial NO synthase gene (odds ratio: 1.54 [95% CI: 1.37-1.73]; combined P=2.58 · 10(-13)). A meta-analysis, using other in silico/de novo genotyping data for a total of 21 714 subjects, resulted in an overall odds ratio of 1.34 (95% CI: 1.25-1.44; P=1.032 · 10(-14)). The quantitative analysis on a population-based sample revealed an effect size of 1.91 (95% CI: 0.16-3.66) for systolic and 1.40 (95% CI: 0.25-2.55) for diastolic blood pressure. We identified in silico a potential binding site for ETS transcription factors directly next to rs3918226, suggesting a potential modulation of endothelial NO synthase expression. Biological evidence links endothelial NO synthase with hypertension, because it is a critical mediator of cardiovascular homeostasis and blood pressure control via vascular tone regulation. This finding supports the hypothesis that there may be a causal genetic variation at this locus.

Critical Role of the GM-CSF Signaling Pathway in Macrophage Pro-Repair Activities.

OBJECTIVE: Macrophages play a critical role in intestinal wound repair. However, the molecular pathways that regulate macrophage wound repair activities remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GM-CSF receptor signaling in the wound repair activities of macrophages. METHODS: Murine macrophages were differentiated from bone marrow cells and human macrophages from monocytes isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Crohn's disease (CD) patients. In vitro models were used to study the repair activities of macrophages. RESULTS: We provide evidence that GM-CSF receptor signaling is required for murine macrophages to promote epithelial repair. In addition, we demonstrate that the deficient repair properties of macrophages from CD patients with active disease can be recovered via GM-CSF therapy. CONCLUSION: Our data support a critical role of the GM-CSF signaling pathway in the pro-repair activities of mouse and human macrophages. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes, April 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes

Complete Nucleotide Sequence of Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus from JYG Chinese Wild Mice: Absence of Bacterial Insertion Sequences in the Cloned Viral gag Gene.

Mammary tumors of a newly isolated strain of Chinese wild mouse (JYG mouse) harbor exogenous mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV). The complete nucleotide sequence of exogenous JYG-MMTV was determined on the proviral 5' long terminal repeat (LTR)(partial)-gag-pol-env-3' LTR (partial) fragment cloned into a plasmid vector and the cDNA sequence from JYG-MMTV producing cells. Similarly to the other MMTV species the LTR of JYG-MMTV contains an open reading frame (ORF). The amino acid sequence of the JYG-MMTV ORF resembles that of SW-MMTV (92% identity) and endogenous Mtv-7 (93% identity) especially at the C-terminal region. Thus, a functional similarity in T-cell receptor V beta recognition as a superantigen is implicated among these MMTV species. Analysis of the viral gag nucleotide sequence revealed that this gene is not disrupted by the bacterial insertion sequence IS1 or IS2, which have been reported to be present in the majority of the plasmids containing the gag region. Comparison of amino acid sequences of JYG-MMTV with those of BR6-MMTV showed that over 96% of the amino acids of gag, pol, protease and env products are identical. These results suggest the intact nature of the nucleotide sequence of the near full-length MMTV genome cloned in the plasmid.

Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair with extraperitoneal double-mesh technique.

Totally extraperitoneal laparoscopic hernia repair is an efficient but technically demanding procedure. As mechanisms of hernia recurrence may be related to these technical difficulties, we have modified a previously described double-mesh technique in an effort to simplify the procedure. Extraperitoneal laparoscopic hernia repairs were performed in 82 male and 17 female patients having inguinal, femoral, and recurrent bilateral hernias. A standard propylene mesh measuring 15 x 15 cm was cut into two pieces of 4 x 15 cm and 11 x 15 cm. The smaller mesh was placed over both inguinal rings without splitting. The larger mesh was then inserted over the first mesh and stapled to low-risk zones, reinforcing the large-vessel area and the nerve transition zone. The mean procedure duration was 60 minutes for unilateral and 100 minutes for bilateral hernia repair. Patients were discharged from the hospital within 48 hours. The mean postoperative follow-up was 22 months, with no recurrences, neuralgia, or bleeding complications. Over a 2-year period, this technique was found to be satisfactory without recurrences or significant complications. In our hands, this technique was easier to perform: it allows for a less than perfect positioning of the meshes and avoids most of the stapling to crucial zones.