The CRISPR system holds much promise for successful genome engineering, but therapeutic, industrial, and research applications will place high demand on improving the specificity and efficiency of this tool. CT-Finder (http://bioinfolab.miamioh.edu/ct-finder) is a web service to help users design guide RNAs (gRNAs) optimized for specificity. CT-Finder accommodates the original single-gRNA Cas9 ...

Endoscopic placement of plastic stents to treat stricture of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) due to chronic pancreatitis has been widely accepted [1]. In spite of the improvement of endoscopic skills and devices, proximal migration is one of the most troubling problems. Here we describe a new technique for removing a pancreatic plastic stent (PPS) from the MPD. We present a case of a 47-year-old...

A method for determining the rate of blood flow in arteries without surgical intervention is described. It is shown that a probe capable of securing such information about flow in a blood vessel can be introduced into the vascular tree by means of a needle puncture in the skin made by a no. 18-guage hypodermic needle. A snugly-fitting guide wire is passed through the needle, which is then withd...

PURPOSE Direct visualization of pancreatic ductal tissue is critical for early diagnosis of pancreatic diseases and for guiding therapeutic interventions. A novel, ultrathin (5 Fr) scanning fiber endoscope (SFE) with tip-bending capability has been developed specifically to achieve high resolution imaging as a pancreatoscope during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). This dev...

OBJECTIVE We wanted to introduce a new technique for superselective catheterization of arteries with preshaping of a micro-guide wire into a shepherd's hook form, and this is useful for superselection of small arteries branching at an acute angle from a large parent artery for the treatment of tumors and hemorrhages. MATERIALS AND METHODS We developed a superselective catheterization techniqu...