BACKGROUND Overwhelming activation of granulocytes and monocytes is central to inflammatory responses during sepsis. Granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) is an extracorporeal leukocyte apheresis device filled with cellulose acetate beads and selectively adsorbs granulocytes and monocytes from the peripheral blood. METHODS In this study, septic rats received the GMA treatment fo...

Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in women. Common sites of metastases include the liver, lung, bone, and the brain. Metastases to the gastrointestinal tract are rare with patients presenting with small-bowel perforation, intestinal obstruction, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Here we report a case of a Saudi female presenting with invasive lobular carcinoma and ileo-cecal junct...

In the early stages of sepsis, lymphocytes undergo apoptosis, resulting in lymphopenia and immunosuppression. The trigger for septic lymphopenia is unknown. Using the polymicrobial model of murine sepsis, we investigated the role of C5a receptors in septic lymphopenia. In wild-type mice, cecal ligation and puncture resulted in splenocyte apoptosis and significant lymphopenia after 3 d, which wa...

BACKGROUND Sepsis remains a leading cause of death in intensive care units. There is growing evidence that volatile anesthetics have beneficial immunomodulatory effects on complex inflammation-mediated conditions. The authors investigated the effect of volatile anesthetics on the overall survival of mice in a sepsis model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). METHODS Mice (N = 12 per treatmen...

Safety of either LigaSure or rubber band in closing inflamed appendiceal stump in acute appendicitis has been less investigated. In this study, cecal ligation followed by resecting inflamed cecum was performed to mimic appendectomy in a rat model of acute appendicitis. Rats were sacrificed immediately (Group A) and 7 days (Group B) after cecal resection, respectively. The cecal stumps were clos...