Symptomatic short-segment stenoses after LSG may be treated successfully with endoscopic balloon dilation. Long-segment stenoses that do not respond to endoscopic techniques may ultimately require conversion to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Results of studies on the cobalt-60 y radiolysis of acidic cysteine (RSH) solutions, pH 1.0 and 0.5, are reported. Irradiation products which have been identified are H2, H2S, RSH, and H202 with radiation yields at 10 ~3 M cysteine of 3.2, 0.95, 3.0, and 0.68 molecules/100 eV absorbed. Alanine was also observed qualitatively as a radiation product. Yields for the disappearance of the thiol group were measured polarographically during the irradiation and (?(-RSH) was found to be 7.0 at 10-3 M cysteine. A mechanism is postulated for strongly acid cysteine solutions on the basis of competition kinetics, material balances, and comparison with theoretical yields. Analysis of results of competition studies provides evidence for a rate constant of approximately 3 X 10" 1. mol""1 sec-1 for the reaction of the hydrated electron with the protonated-amine form of cysteine. Results of scavenger studies at concentrations higher than 10~2 M cysteine require that additional processes be postulated in order to account for high H2S yields.

These data provide the first demonstration of successful adipose tissue removal from the mesentery in a mammal. Importantly, we have demonstrated that when MVL is performed in obese, insulin-resistant baboons, insulin resistance is reversed, and significant weight loss occurs. Therefore, trials performing MVL in humans with abdominal obesity and related metabolic sequelae should be explored as a potential clinical tool to ameliorate insulin resistance and treat type 2 diabetes.

For young adults, balance is essential for participation in physical activities but is often disrupted following lower extremity injury. Clinical outcome measures such as single limb balance (SLB), Y-balance (YBT), and the single limb hop and balance (SLHB) tests are commonly used to quantify balance ability following injury. Given the varying demands across tasks, it is likely that such outcome measures provide useful, although task-specific, information. But the extent to which they are independent and contribute to understanding the multiple contributors to balance is not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the associations among these measures as they relate to the different contributors to balance. Thirty-seven recreationally active young adults completed measures including Vertical Jump, YBT, SLB, SLHB, and the new Lower Extremity Dexterity test. Principal components analysis revealed that these outcome measures could be thought of as quantifying the strength, multijoint coordination, and sensorimotor processing contributors to balance. Our results challenge the practice of using a single outcome measure to quantify the naturally multidimensional mechanisms for everyday functions such as balance. This multidimensional approach to, and interpretation of, multiple contributors to balance may lead to more effective, specialized training and rehabilitation regimens.

We present a neural network model for sensory fusion based on the design of the visual /acoustic target localization system of the barn owl. This system adaptively fuses its separate visual and acoustic representations of object position into a single joint representation used for head orientation. The building block in this system, as in much of the brain, is the neuronal map. Neuronal maps are large arrays of locally interconnected neurons that represent information in a map -like form, that is, parameter values are systematically encoded by the position of neural activation in the array. The computational load is distributed to a hierarchy of maps, and the computation is performed in stages by transforming the representation from map to map via the geometry of the projections between the maps and the local interactions within the maps. For example, azimuthal position is computed from the frequency and binaural phase information encoded in the signals of the acoustic sensors, while elevation is computed in a separate stream using binaural intensity information. These separate streams are merged in their joint projection onto the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus, a two dimensional array of cells which contains a map of acoustic space. This acoustic map, and the visual map of the retina, jointly project onto the optic tectum, creating a fused visual /acoustic representation of position in space that is used for object localization. In this paper we describe our mathematical model of the stage of visual /acoustic fusion in the optic tectum. The model assumes that the acoustic projection from the external nucleus onto the tectum is roughly topographic and one -to -many, while the visual projection from the retina onto the tectum is topographic and one -to -one. A simple process of self -organization alters the strengths of the acoustic connections, effectively forming a focused beam of strong acoustic connections whose inputs are coincident with the visual inputs. Computer simulations demonstrate how this mechanism can account for the existing experimental data on adaptive fusion and makes sharp predictions for experimental test.