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Background Air embolus penetrating into heart chamber as a complication during percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation has been infrequently reported. Case presentation A 55-year-old man with dextrocardia who suffered from abdominal pain was suspected to have multiple arterial thromboembolisms, which might have originated from left atrium thrombosis since he had atrial fibrillation. He received oral anticoagulant therapy and catheter ablation of the arrhythmia. During the ablation procedure, an iatrogenic aeroembolism penetrated into the left atrium due to improper operation. Ultimately, the entire air embolus was extracted from the patient, who was free of any aeroembolism events thereafter. Conclusions It is essential for an operator to pay full attention to all details of the procedure to avoid an aeroembolism during catheter ablation. In case of aeroembolism, removal by aspiration is an optimal and effective treatment. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-017-0581-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BACKGROUND Current expert consensus recommends the use of bare metal stent (BMS) for patients with an indication for oral anticoagulation (OAC) undergoing coronary stenting. The use of drug-eluting stents (DES) should be limited. However, there is a lack of evidence to support these recommendations. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of DES to BMS in these patients. METHODS We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, and relevant journals. Studies comparing the efficacy and safety of DES to BMS in patients with an indication for OAC undergoing coronary stenting were included. End points included major adverse cardiac events (MACE), death, bleeding complications, and stroke. The outcome assessments were measured by hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval. RESULTS We yielded 453 studies by primary searching. According to the inclusion criteria, four studies enrolling 1,522 patients were finally included. A pooled estimate of HR for MACE, all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and bleeding complications showed no significant differences between patients treated with DES and BMS. The risk of target vessel revascularization (TVR) was significantly decreased in the DES implanted patients in comparison with patients with a BMS implantation. CONCLUSION For patients with an indication for OAC undergoing coronary stenting, DES might a DES can be as safely used as a BMS, and is superior in reducing the risk of TVR.

Objectives/Hypothesis Duplicate publication—deemed highly unethical—is the reproduction of substantial content in another article by the same authors. In 1999, Rosenthal et al. identified an 8.5% incidence of duplicate articles in two otolaryngology journals. We explored the current incidence in three otolaryngology journals in North America and Europe. Study Design Retrospective literature review. Methods Index articles in 2008 in Archives of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Laryngoscope, and Clinical Otolaryngology were searched using MEDLINE. Potential duplicate publications in 2006 through 2010 were identified using the first, second, and last authors' names. Three authors independently investigated suspected duplicate publications—classifying them by degree of duplication. Results Of 358 index articles screened, 75 (20.9%) had 119 potential duplicates from 2006 to 2010. Full review of these 119 potential duplicates revealed a total of 40 articles with some form of redundancy (33.6% of the potential duplicates) involving 27 index articles (7.5% of 358 index articles); one (0.8%) “dual” publication (identical or nearly identical data and conclusions to the index article); three (2.5%) “suspected” dual publications (less than 50% new data and same conclusions); and 36 (30.3%) publications with “salami-slicing” (portion of the index article data repeated) were obtained. Further analysis compared the likelihood of duplicate publication by study source and subspecialty within otolaryngology. Conclusions The incidence of duplicate publication has not significantly changed over 10 years. “Salami-slicing” was a concerning practice, with no cross-referencing in 61% of these cases. Detecting and eliminating redundant publications is a laborious task, but it is essential in upholding the journal quality and research integrity. Levels of Evidence N/A. Laryngoscope, 124:655–658, 2014

Background: The properties of Ca2+ signaling mediated by purinergic receptors are intrinsically linked with functional activity of astrocytes. At present little is known concerning Ca2+-dependent purinergic responses in adult human astrocytes. This work has examined effects of purinergic stimulation to alter levels of intracellular Ca2+ in adult human astrocytes. Ca2+-sensitive spectrofluorometry was carried out to determine mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ following adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or 3′-O-(4-benzoyl)benzoyl-ATP (Bz-ATP) stimulation of adult human astrocytes. In some experiments pharmacological modulation of Ca2+ pathways was applied to help elucidate mechanisms of Ca2+ signaling. RT-PCR was also performed to confirm human astrocyte expression of specific purinoceptors which were indicated from imaging studies. Results: The endogenous P2 receptor agonist ATP (at 100 μM or 1 mM) applied in physiological saline solution (PSS) evoked a rapid increase of [Ca2+]i to a peak amplitude with the decay phase of response exhibiting two components. The two phases of decay consisted of an initial rapid component which was followed by a secondary slower component. In the presence of Ca2+-free solution, the secondary phase of decay was absent indicating this prolonged component was due to influx of Ca2+. This prolonged phase of decay was also attenuated with the store-operated channel (SOC) inhibitor gadolinium (at 2 μM) added to standard PSS, suggesting this component was mediated by SOC activation. These results are consistent with ATP activation of P2Y receptor (P2YR) in adult human astrocytes leading to respective rapid [Ca2+]i mobilization from intracellular stores followed by Ca2+ entry through SOC. An agonist for P2X7 receptor (P2X7R), BzATP induced a very different response compared with ATP whereby BzATP (at 300 μM) elicited a slowly rising increase in [Ca2+]i to a plateau level which was sustained in duration. The BzATP-induced increase in [Ca2+]i was not enhanced with lipopolysaccharide pre-treatment of cells as previously found for P2X7R mediated response in human microglia. RT-PCR analysis showed that adult human astrocytes in vitro constitutively express mRNA for P2Y1R, P2Y2R and P2X7R. Conclusion: These results suggest that activation of metabotropic P2YR (P2Y1R and/or P2Y2R) and ionotropic P2X7R could mediate purinergic responses in adult human astrocytes.

To clarify whether hypercholesterolaemia can increase vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, and whether a special angiotensin II receptor blocker, telmisartan, can attenuate VEGF expression induced by hypercholesterolaemia.Levels of VEGF expression, PI3K activity and angiogenesis in vitro were determined by various methods after HUVECs were incubated with hypercholesterolaemic serum or combined with telmisartan and/or wortmannin.We found that hypercholesterolaemic serum (cholesterolor = 0.08 mmol/L) can increase VEGF expression in HUVECs and that telmisartan cooperates with hypercholesterolaemic serum in promoting VEGF expression. The increased VEGF expression was associated with enhanced PI3K activity and could be significantly inhibited by wortmannin, a potent PI3K inhibitor. Likewise, hypercholesterolaemic serum significantly promoted angiogenesis in vitro, which could be inhibited when PI3K activity was suppressed.Our study suggests that hypercholesterolaemic serum induces VEGF expression through PI3K in HUVECs and that telmisartan cooperates with hypercholesterolaemia in promoting VEGF expression.