OBJECTIVES We aimed to evaluate the incidence and features of postoperative adhesion related complications occurring following myolysis or myomectomy performed during cesarean section (C/S). METHODS This cross-sectional study consists of four groups of patients who underwent C/S: group I; myolysis is performed by electric cauterization for small superficial fibroids less than 2 cm. (n: 21), g...

Peritoneal adhesions describe a condition in which pathological bonds form between the omentum, the small and large bowels, the abdominal wall, and other intra-abdominal organs. Different classification systems have been proposed, but they do not resolve the underlying problem of ambiguity in the quantification and definition of adhesions. We therefore propose a standardized classification syst...

OBJECTIVE Abdominal wall adhesions at laparoscopy may predispose infertile patients to access-related injuries and increase the complexity of the procedure. We have observed concern from referring physicians regarding the safety of surgical laparoscopy in infertile patients who previously underwent surgery because of the risk of abdominal adhesions. To assess the risk of intraabdominal adhesion...

BACKGROUND Adhesion formation is a widely acknowledged risk following abdominal or pelvic surgery. Adhesions in the abdomen or pelvis can cause or contribute to partial or total small bowel obstruction (SBO). These adhesions deter or prevent the passage of nutrients through the digestive tract, and may bind the bowel to the peritoneum, or other organs. Small bowel obstructions can quickly becom...

Talin is believed to be one of the key proteins involved in linking actin filaments to extracellular matrix receptors in focal adhesions. Our strategy for studying the function of talin has been to inactivate talin in living fibroblasts in tissue culture through the microinjection of affinity-purified, polyclonal anti-talin antibodies. The effect of the injected anti-talin antibodies on cell sp...

α-Actinins (ACTNs) are known to crosslink actin filaments at focal adhesions in migrating cells. Among the four isoforms of mammalian ACTNs, ACTN1 and ACTN4 are ubiquitously expressed. Recently, ACTN4 was reported to enhance cancer cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. However, the mechanism by which ACTN4 drives these malignant phenotypes remains unclear. Here, we show that ACTN4, but not A...

Adhesion between cardiac myocytes is essential for the heart to function as an electromechanical syncytium. Although cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesions reorganize during development and disease, the hierarchical cooperation between these subcellular structures is poorly understood. We reasoned that, during cardiac development, focal adhesions mechanically stabilize cells and tissues during myo...

Cell migration is a dynamic process that involves the continuous formation, maturation, and turnover of matrix-cell adhesion sites. New (nascent) adhesions form at the protruding cell edge in a tension-independent manner and are comprised of integrin receptors, signaling, and cytoskeletal-associated proteins. Integrins recruit focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and the cytoskeletal protein talin to na...

Focal adhesions are specific types of cellular adhesion structures through which both mechanical force and regulatory signals are transmitted. Recently, the existence of focal adhesions in 3D environment has been questioned. Using a unique life-like model of dermis-based matrix we analysed the presence of focal adhesions in a complex 3...

One of the major tyrosine phosphorylation activities linked to integrin signalling is that of focal adhesion kinase (FAK). High amounts of FAK are located at specialised subcellular compartments known as focal adhesions. FAK tyrosine phosphorylation at focal adhesions is increased by various stimuli including integrin engagement during migration processes, growth factors and oncogene transforma...