• Foley McLamb posted an update 3 hours, 48 minutes ago

    We present a rare case of an in utero intracranial gunshot wound with survival of the baby and neurosurgical intervention in the first 6 h of life.

    A pregnant 19-year old sustained multiple gunshot wounds and underwent an emergency cesarean section. At the time of delivery, there was a penetrating wound noted to the uterus and to the left side of the baby’s head. The baby was taken urgently for craniotomy. Thorough washout was performed, and a pericranial graft was harvested from the frontal vertex to assist in dural closure. The largest displaced bone fragment was soaked in betadine and sutured back into place. The baby was observed for several days and then discharged home with normal neurological examination.

    There are scattered reports of in utero intracranial gunshot wounds in the literature dating back to the nineteenth century; however, our case appears to be the first reported that involved urgent surgical intervention.

    There are scattered reports of in utero intracranial gunshot wounds in the literature dating back to the nineteenth century; however, our case appears to be the first reported that involved urgent surgical intervention.Megaprepuce (MP) is a rare and challenging condition characterised by an excessive inner prepuce, paucity of penile skin and an extremely narrow phimotic ring. The aetiological factors leading to its development are poorly understood. A variety of surgical techniques have been described in the last 26 years mostly with small number of patients and short follow-up. It is also highly likely that some series have in the past included different variants of inconspicuous penis combining concealed penis, MP and webbed penis. This article is a systematic review of the literature on Megaprepuce; in particular the embryology, history, aetiology, and the surgical techniques available for the correction of this unique penile anomaly will be presented and discussed in this study.Proteins can evolve by accumulating changes on amino acid sequences. These changes are mainly caused by missense mutations on its DNA coding sequences. Mutations with neutral or positive effects on fitness can be maintained while deleterious mutations tend to be eliminated by natural selection. Amino acid changes are influenced by the biophysical, chemical, and biological properties of amino acids. There is a multiplicity of amino acid properties that can influence the function and expression of proteins. Amino acid properties can be expressed into numerical indexes, which can help to predict functional and structural aspects of proteins and allow statistical inferences of selection pressure on amino acid usage. The accuracy of these analyses may be compromised by the existence of several numerical indexes that measure the same amino acid property, and the lack of objective parameters to determine the most accurate and biologically relevant index. In the present study, the gradient consistency test was used in order to estimate the magnitude of directional selection imparted by amino acid biochemical and biophysical properties on protein evolution.Key enzymes play a vital role in plant growth and development. However, the evolutionary relationships between genes encoding key enzymes in the metabolic pathway of Tartary buckwheat flavonoids are poorly understood. KC7F2 concentration Based on the published Tartary buckwheat genome sequence and related Tartary buckwheat transcriptome data, 48 key enzyme-encoding genes involved in flavonoid metabolism were screened from the Tartary buckwheat genome in this study; the chromosome localization, gene structure and promoter elements of these enzyme-encoding gene were also investigated. Gene structure analysis revealed relatively conserved 5′ exon sequences among the 48 genes, indicating that the structural diversity of key enzyme-encoding genes is low in Tartary buckwheat. Through promoter analysis, these key enzyme-encoding genes were found to contain a large number of light-response elements and hormone-response elements. In addition, some genes could bind MYB transcription factors, participating in the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis. The transcription level of the 48 key enzyme-encoding gene varied greatly among tissues. In this study, we identified 48 key enzyme-encoding genes involved in flavonoid metabolic pathways, and elucidated the structure, evolution and tissue-specific expression patterns of these genes. These results lay a foundation for further understanding the functional characteristics and evolutionary relationships of key enzyme-encoding genes involved in the flavonoid metabolic pathway in Tartary buckwheat.We tested the hypothesis that concatemers of ancestral tRNAs gave rise to the 16S ribosomal RNA. We built an ancestral sequence of proto-tRNAs that showed a significant identity of 51.69% and a percentage of structural identity of 0.941 with the 3′ upper domain of 16S ribosomal molecule. We also propose a hypothesis in which the small ribosomal subunit emerged by proto-tRNA fusion and worked as a point to bind RNAs in an open structure configuration. In this context, the two ribosomal subunits initially worked independently, and that the subunit junction, with consequent primitive ribosome formation, was mediated by interactions with tRNA molecules during the primordial genetic code formation.

    Extensor mechanism ruptures (EMR) of the knee are rare but debilitating injuries that always require surgery to restore knee function. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to ascertain the rate of return to play following patellar or quadriceps tendon ruptures.

    A systematic literature search was conducted based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, using the EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library databases. Inclusion criteria consisted of clinical studies reporting on return to play after patellar or quadriceps tendon repair. Statistical analysis was performed with the use of SPSS.

    Our review found 48 studies including 1135 cases meeting our inclusion criteria. There were 33 studies including 757 patellar tendon (PT) repairs, and 18 studies including 378 quadriceps tendon (QT) repairs. The overall rate of return to play for PT repairs was 88.9%, with 80.8% returning to the same level of play. The overall rate of return to play for QT repairs was 89.