BACKGROUND One of the major limitations of left ventricular pacing is phrenic nerve stimulation. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the characteristics of the strength-duration curves of the left phrenic nerve (PN) and epicardium of the left ventricle (LV). METHODS A total of 12 mongrel dogs were studied. Capture threshold was assessed during pacing with 180 beats/min and various pulse durations (0.25 ...

Micronutrient requirements are not fully understood. Parenteral nutrition (PN) usually contains the trace element (TE) manganese (Mn) from fixed-concentration TE supplements. Multiple TE formulations may not be optimal in pediatric and home PN. Moreover, most PN products contain Mn as a ubiquitous contaminant. Excessive Mn can lead to Parkinson-like symptoms resulting from hypermanganesemia. A ...

There are special challenges in implementing parenteral nutrition (PN) in paediatric patients, which arises from the wide range of patients, ranging from extremely premature infants up to teenagers weighing up to and over 100 kg, and their varying substrate requirements. Age and maturity-related changes of the metabolism and fluid and nutrient requirements must be taken into consideration along...

PURPOSE Controversy continues on the tailored therapy for patients with larger renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We investigated whether partial nephrectomy (PN) can improve patient prognosis compared to radical nephrectomy (RN) and the indications for each approach in patients with T1b-2N0M0 RCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 9907 patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, an...

BACKGROUND Sleeve lobectomy (SL) is considered a valid therapeutic option in untreated, centrally located non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) even in patients "fit" for pneumonectomy (PN). Nevertheless, SL feasibility and long-term results after induction therapy (IT) have been only rarely investigated. We herein report the results of a multicenter retrospective study on NSCLC patients who under...

Objective: To examine the change in renal function and relationship between preoperative renal function and chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression after radical nephrectomy (RN) or partial nephrectomy (PN). Patients and Methods: We studied 268 patients who underwent RN or PN between January 2002 and December 2009. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was determined using serum crea...

During infections with extracellular bacteria, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae (Pn), the immune system likely encounters bacterial components in soluble form, as well as those associated with the intact bacterium. The potential cross-regulatory effects on humoral immunity in response to these two forms of Ag are unknown. We thus investigated the immunologic consequences of coimmunization with ...

PURPOSE The aim of the study reported here was to assess the use of parenteral nutrition (PN) and enteral nutrition (EN), and the prevalence of PN and EN formulas, in the People's Republic of China. METHODS Fifty-nine hospitals in the People's Republic of China participated in a nutrition survey. The resulting information on nutritional support was analyzed. RESULTS We received 379,584 nutr...