Long-Term Pediatric Outcomes of Decompressive Craniectomy after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: There is no consensus on the use of decompressive craniectomy (DC) to manage severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI). We evaluated the profile of pediatric patients admitted with sTBI and assessed functional outcomes, 6 months posttrauma, in patients who had a DC and in those who had not, and the functional outcomes of early versus late DCs.

Patients And Methods: This case-control observational study evaluated pediatric patients admitted for sTBI in Puerto Rico (June 2016-October 2018); we included patients admitted within 24 hours of injury and had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 8 or lower.

Incidence and Risk Factors for Developing Dengue-Associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in Puerto Rico, 2008 - 2013.

Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare, potentially fatal disorder characterized by fever, pancytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, and increased serum ferritin. HLH is being increasingly reported as a complication of dengue, a common tropical acute febrile illness.

Methodology/principal Findings: After a cluster of pediatric dengue-associated HLH patients was identified during the 2012-2013 dengue epidemic in Puerto Rico, active surveillance and a case-control investigation was conducted at four referral hospitals to determine the incidence of HLH in children and identify risk factors for HLH following dengue.

Estrogen receptors mediate estradiol's effect on sensitization and CPP to cocaine in female rats: role of contextual cues.

Preclinical studies show that estradiol enhances sensitization to cocaine in females by mechanisms not fully understood. These studies consistently show that ovariectomized (OVX) rats exhibit little or no sensitization to cocaine compared to OVX rats administered estradiol. In this study we varied the dose of cocaine (10, 15, and 30mg/kg), the length of cocaine treatment (from 5 to 10days) and the context of cocaine injections to determine if these factors play a role on estradiol's effects on cocaine sensitization.

Estradiol: a key biological substrate mediating the response to cocaine in female rats.

A consistent finding in drug abuse research is that males and females show differences in their response to drugs of abuse. In women, increased plasma estradiol is associated with increased vulnerability to the psychostimulant and reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse. Our laboratory has focused on the role of estradiol in modulating the response to cocaine.

U-69593, a kappa opioid receptor agonist, decreases cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization in female rats.

This study was designed to investigate if the kappa opioid system regulates the locomotor response to cocaine in the female rat and to determine if the effect is dependent on estradiol treatment. Adult rats were ovariectomized (OVX) and half received an estradiol (OVX-EB) implant. After a week, rats were injected for 5 consecutive days with vehicle or with the kappa opioid receptor (KOPr) agonist U-69593 (0.