Small bowel MRI in adult patients: not just Crohn’s disease—a tutorial

To provide an overview of less well-known small bowel and mesenteric diseases found at small bowel magnetic resonance (MR) enterography/enteroclysis and to review the imaging findings. MR enterography and enteroclysis are important techniques for evaluation of small bowel diseases. In most centres these techniques are primarily used in Crohn's disease, and most radiologists are familiar with these MRI findings. However, the knowledge of findings in other diseases is often sparse, including diseases that may cause similar clinical symptoms to those of Crohn's disease. We present a spectrum of less common and less well-known bowel and mesenteric diseases (e.g. internal hernia, intussusception, neuroendocrine tumour) from our small bowel MR database of over 2,000 cases. These diseases can be found in patients referred for bowel obstruction, abdominal pain or rectal blood loss. Further, in patients with (or suspected to have) Crohn's disease, some of these diseases (e.g. neuroendocrine tumour, familial Mediterranean fever) may mislead radiologists to erroneously diagnose active Crohn's disease. Radiologists should be familiar with diseases affecting the small bowel other than Crohn's disease, including diseases that may mimic Crohn's diseas

Effect of garlic on cardiovascular disorders: a review

Garlic and its preparations have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. Effectiveness of garlic in cardiovascular diseases was more encouraging in experimental studies, which prompted several clinical trials. Though many clinical trials showed a positive effect of garlic on almost all cardiovascular conditions mentioned above, however a number of negative studies have recently cast doubt on the efficary of garlic specially its cholesterol lowering effect of garlic. It is a great challenge for scientists all over the world to make a proper use of garlic and enjoy its maximum beneficial effect as it is the cheapest way to prevent cardiovascular disease. This review has attempted to make a bridge the gap between experimental and clinical study and to discuss the possible mechanisms of such therapeutic actions of garlic

Micro/Nano Fabrication and Packaging Technologies for Bio Systems

International audienceThe investigation and development of micro/nano biosytem requires a sealed fluidic platform to separate, mix or control the flow of liquids and bio samples as well as a biochemical surface processing to selectively capture or repel biospecies. The first part of this chapter reviews the main techniques used for the fabrication of microchannels, reservoirs, pillars,… in various substrate materials. This includes direct machining techniques such as mechanical cutting, lithography and electroforming, as well as various replication techniques such as PDMS or UV curable resin casting, hot embossing and overall injection molding that is compatible with mass production. The second part describes the recent advances in the development of functionalized surfaces and their applications in biochips. First a focus is put on bioreceptors immobilization and a brief presentation of bioreceptors (antibodies and aptamers) is included. Next the polymers employed against plasmatic proteins fouling are reviewed and finally the surface chemistry preventing bacteria attachment is presented. The two approaches leading to bacteria repelling or killing, depending on the polymers employed, is discussed. The last chapter part is devoted to a critical analysis of bonding and welding techniques proposed to seal fluidic platforms