External validation of a pediatric decision rule for blunt abdominal trauma.

Introduction: Blunt traumatic injuries are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population. Contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography is the best imaging tool for screening patients at risk of blunt abdominal injury. The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) abdominal rule was derived to identify patients at low risk for significant abdominal injury who do not require imaging.

Fabrication of plant-based vitamin D-fortified nanoemulsions: influence of carrier oil type on vitamin bioaccessibility.

The influence of carrier oil type (corn, fish, or flaxseed oil) on the production, stability, and simulated gastrointestinal behavior of vitamin-fortified nanoemulsions was studied. The nanoemulsions were formulated using pea protein as an emulsifier since there is increasing interest in substituting artificial and animal-based food ingredients with natural plant-based alternatives. Lipid digestion and vitamin D bioaccessibility were measured when the nanoemulsions were subjected to a three-stage in vitro gastrointestinal tract: oral, gastric, and small intestinal.

Effects of repeated yohimbine administration on reinstatement of palatable food seeking: involvement of dopamine D -like receptors and food-associated cues.

Acute exposure to the pharmacological stressor yohimbine induces relapse to both food and drug seeking in a rat model. However, no systematic studies on the effects of chronic stress on relapse have been conducted. Because chronic stress causes changes in dopamine D -like receptor-mediated transmission in prefrontal cortex (a relapse node), we tested the hypothesis that chronic exposure to stress increases vulnerability to relapse via dopamine-mediated mechanisms.

Experiments on dispersal: Short-term floatation of insular anoles, with a review of similar abilities in other terrestrial animals.

The floatation ability of a common Carribean insular lizard, Anolis sagrei, was tested under controlled conditions in a laboratory seawater wave tank. Short-term passive floatation abilities are extensive: all 39 animals survived 1 h, and 30% of those tested were still afloat by 24 h.The survival times for anoles in seawater are much greater than those reported in the literature for the 19 species of small mammals tested in freshwater; only mediumsized mammals have comparable abilities.

Succession on marine hard substrata: A fixed lottery.

Community development is described for a temperate fouling community near Bremerton, Washington. Multivariate and functional group analyses are undertaken which reveal certain underlying patterns in the observed succession. These patterns include a steady increase in the dominance of solitary animals over their colonial counterparts, as well as a gradual convergence upon a few relatively persistent species assemblages.