The internal abdominal muscles are biaxially loaded in vivo, and therefore length-tension relations along and transverse to the directions of the muscle fibers are important in understanding their mechanical properties. We hypothesized that 1) internal oblique and transversus abdominis form an internal abdominal composite muscle with altered compliance than that of either muscle individually, a...

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether contour abnormalities of the abdomen after breast reconstruction with abdominal flaps are related to the harvest of the rectus abdominis muscle. Abdominal contour was analyzed in 155 women who had breast reconstruction with abdominal flaps; 108 women had free transverse rectus abdominis muscle (TRAM) flaps, 37 had pedicled TRAM flaps, an...

Leucokinins (LKs) constitute a family of neuropeptides identified in numerous insects and many other invertebrates. LKs act on G-protein-coupled receptors that display only distant relations to known receptors. In adult Drosophila, 26 neurons/neurosecretory cells three main types express LK. The four brain interneurons are two types, these implicated several important functions the fly’s behavi...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery disease (CAD) is common in asymptomatic chronic dialysis patients and plays an important role in their poor survival. Early identification of these high-risk patients could improve treatment and reduce mortality. Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) has previously been associated with CAD in autopsy studies. Since the AAC can be quantified easily using a lateral lumba...

background the optimal management of hemodynamically stable asymptomatic patients with anterior abdominal stab wounds (aasws) remains controversial. the goal is to identify and treat injuries in a safe cost-effective manner. common evaluation strategies are local wound exploration (lwe), diagnostic peritoneal lavage (dpl), serial clinical assessment (scas) and computed tomography (ct) imaging. ...

Meralgia paresthetica refers to the entrapment of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve at the level of the inguinal ligament. The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve - a purely sensory nerve - arises from the L2 and L3 spinal nerve roots, travels downward lateral to the psoas muscle, and then crosses the iliacus muscle. Close to the anterior superior iliac spine, the nerve courses in contact with th...