Background Anterior Sacral Meningocele (ASM) is an extremely rare congenital anomaly which most medical practitioners may never come across in their life time. A rare case of Anterior Sacral Meningocele is reported with a review of the literature. Case Report A 31-years-old man was referred with an 8 month history of gradual abdominal distension. He was asymptomatic otherwise. He was found on e...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To report on our technique of sacral laparoscopic implantation of aneuroprosthesis-LION procedure-for recovery of bladder/intestinal/sexual function in paralyzed patients after spinal cord injury. DESIGN Prospective case series report. SETTING Academic community teaching hospital. PATIENTS Eight consecutive complete T-paralyzed patients after explantation of a previous dor...

Hepatic pit cells are a population of large granular lymphocytes that substantially contribute to hepatic immunity. Studies have proven that pit cells have a role in liver regeneration, but the details of the relationship between pit cells and liver regeneration is not clear at present. We subjected rats to a two-third hepatectomy; pit cells with high purity were obtained with Percoll density c...

Pit-1 is a pituitary-specific transcription factor responsible for activating growth hormone (GH) and prolactin genes. Here, we describe the isolation of a rainbow trout cDNA clone that contains the entire Pit-1 coding region. The deduced amino acid sequence contains 358 residues, encoding a 39-kDa protein. Comparison of the protein sequences of the rainbow trout and rat Pit-1 shows that the 16...

Pit latrines can provide improved household sanitation, but without effective and inexpensive emptying options, they are often abandoned once full and may pose a public health threat. Emptying techniques can be difficult, as the sludge contents of each pit latrine are different. The design of effective emptying techniques (e.g., pumps) is limited by a lack of data characterizing typical in situ...

The hydraulic resistance of pit membranes was measured directly in earlywood vessels of Fraxinus americana and Ulmus americana. The area-specific resistance of pit membranes (r(mem)) was higher than modeled or measured values obtained previously for hardwood species, with r(mem) of 5.24 × 10(3) MPa·s·m(-1) for Fraxinus and 2.56 × 10(3) MPa·s·m(-1) for Ulmus. The calculated resistance of pit can...

BACKGROUND A pit latrine is the most basic form of improved sanitation which is currently used by a number of people around the globe. In spite of the wide spread use, known successes and advantages associated with pit latrines, they have received little attention in form of research and development. This review focuses on the usage and performance (filling, smell and insect nuisance) of pit la...

The POU transcription factor Pit-1 activates members of the prolactin/growth hormone gene family in specific endocrine cell types of the pituitary gland. Although Pit-1 is structurally conserved among vertebrate species, evolutionary changes in the pattern of Pit-1 RNA splicing have led to a notable "contraction" of the transactivation domain in the mammalian lineage, relative to Pit-1 in salmo...

BACKGROUND Caudal block is easily performed because the landmarks are superficial. However, the sacral hiatus is small and shallow in pediatric patients. In the present study, we evaluated under general anesthesia whether the distance between the bilateral superolateral sacral crests increased with growth, whether an equilateral triangle was formed between the apex of the sacral hiatus and the ...

Objective: To demonstrate the feasability of the laparoscopic transperitoneal approach to the pelvic somatetic 10 nerves for the diagnosis and treatment of ano-genital pain caused by pudendal and/or sacral nerve roots lesions. Method: In a retrospective review, 134 consecutive patients underwent laparoscopy for refractory ano-genital pain. All neurosurgical procedures such as neurolysis/decompr...