Craniovertebral junction surgery involves an appropriate philosophical, biomechanical and anatomical understanding apart from high degree of technical skill and ability of controlling venous and arterial bleeding. The author presents his 30-year experience with treating complex craniovertebral junction instability related surgical issues. The facets of atlas and axis form the primary site of mo...

A 71-year-old woman who had a family history of esophageal cancer presented with symptoms of chronic heartburn. The patient expressed interest in definitive treatment, declining long-term medical therapy and opting to undergo transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF) (●" Fig.1). This was accomplished by using the EsophyX Device (EndoGastric Solutions, San Mateo, California, USA). Before and a...

Although gap junction plaque assembly has been extensively studied, mechanisms involved in plaque disassembly are not well understood. Disassembly involves an internalization process in which annular gap junction vesicles are formed. These vesicles undergo fission, but the molecular machinery needed for these fissions has not been described. The mechanoenzyme dynamin has been previously demonst...

The epithelium of upper respiratory tissues such as human nasal mucosa forms a continuous barrier via tight junctions, which is in part thought to be regulated through a protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathway. To investigate the mechanisms of the regulation of PKC-mediated tight junction barrier function of human nasal epithelium in detail, primary human nasal epithelial cells were treated wi...

BACKGROUND Although two types of cervical cryotherapy tips are widely used, there have been no randomized prospective comparison studies reported in the medical literature. Shallow conical tip proponents theorize that a greater depth of freeze near the os yields better treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) without elevating the squamocolumnar junction into the cervical canal. Fl...

Craniospinal irradiation remains an important technique in the management of malignancies of the central nervous system. It is technically demanding, with potential for treatment field overlap or gaps to yield unacceptable dosimetric heterogeneity. A method to accurately simulate and verify the three-field junction is described. We use a comfortable supine position to minimize patient movement....

background: one million people are diagnosed with gastric cancer (gc) annually and the prognosis for patients with advanced gc or gastroesophageal junction (gej) cancer is usually poor with a median survival time of 8 to 10 months. recent reports have identified that anti her2 target therapy improved the median survival rate in patients with her2 positive gc; but a wide range of her2 overexpres...