Interaction of the photobactericides methylene blue and toluidine blue with a fluorophore in Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells.

Background And Objectives: The difference in photobactericidal efficacy between methylene blue (MB) and toluidine blue (TB) may be explained by their involvement with proteins, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and siderophores and siderophore-receptor protein complexes on the bacterial outer membrane. This study aims to determine if this is the case by using the fluorescence given off by a pseudomonal siderophore named pyoverdin.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to observe the fluorescence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells excited at 488 nm in the presence of increasing dye concentrations.

Infusion nursing certification: identification of stakeholders and demonstration of the value of certification.

Nursing certification acknowledges professional achievement and competent practice. To establish the importance of certification, it is necessary to determine the value that primary and secondary stakeholders place on certification. The Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation (INCC) participated in a national study on the Value of Specialty Nursing Certification.

Does major depressive disorder in parents predict specific fears and phobias in offspring?

Evidence suggests a relationship between parental depression and phobias in offspring as well as links between childhood fears and risk for major depression. This study examines the relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders in parents and specific fears and phobias in offspring. Three hundred and eighteen children of parents with lifetime MDD, anxiety disorder, MDD+anxiety disorder, or neither were psychiatrically assessed via parent interview.

Function and dysfunction of CNG channels: insights from channelopathies and mouse models.

Channels directly gated by cyclic nucleotides (CNG channels) are important cellular switches that mediate influx of Na+ and Ca2+ in response to increases in the intracellular concentration of cAMP and cGMP. In photoreceptors and olfactory receptor neurons, these channels serve as final targets for cGMP and cAMP signaling pathways that are initiated by the absorption of photons and the binding of odorants, respectively. CNG channels have been also found in other types of neurons and in non-excitable cells.

Perceived value of nursing certification--summary of a national survey.

The American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) conducted a survey to determine the value professional nurses place on nursing certification as well as barriers to certification. This article presents an overview of the survey results in general and specifically the views of nephrology nurse participants.

Photodynamic therapy treatment of early oral and laryngeal cancers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a nonsurgical, minimally invasive treatment that uses a light source to activate light-sensitive drugs or photosensitizers in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. PDT has been successfully employed to treat early carcinomas of the oral cavity and larynx preserving normal tissue and vital functions of speech and swallowing. Two hundred seventy-six patients with early carcinomas of the oral cavity and larynx were treated from 1990 to 2006.

Open-label, long-term safety study of cevimeline in the treatment of postirradiation xerostomia.

Purpose: To assess the safety of long-term cevimeline treatment of radiation-induced xerostomia in patients with head-and-neck cancer; and to assess the efficacy of cevimeline in these patients.

Methods And Materials: A total of 255 adults with head-and-neck cancer who had received more than 40 Gy of radiation 4 months or more before entry and had clinically significant salivary gland dysfunction received cevimeline hydrochloride 45 mg t.i.

Contribution of the receptor guanylyl cyclase GC-D to chemosensory function in the olfactory epithelium.

The mammalian main olfactory epithelium (MOE) recognizes and transduces olfactory cues through a G protein-coupled, cAMP-dependent signaling cascade. Additional chemosensory transduction mechanisms have been suggested but remain controversial. We show that a subset of MOE neurons expressing the orphan receptor guanylyl cyclase GC-D and the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunit CNGA3 employ an excitatory cGMP-dependent transduction mechanism for chemodetection.

Continuation versus discontinuation of lithium in recurrent bipolar illness: a naturalistic study.

Objectives: Lithium's efficacy in prophylaxis of mood episodes in bipolar disorder (BD) is well established in the clinical trial setting, but may be less robust in routine clinical practice. We compared illness recurrence in bipolar patients naturalistically continued on or discontinued from lithium after an extended period of clinical stability on lithium monotherapy, and evaluated other potential risk factors for relapse.

Methods: We followed 213 patients who were stable for 2 years on lithium monotherapy following resolution of acute symptoms marking their last manic episode.

The value of specialty nursing certification.

The American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) undertook a national study to validate nurses' perceptions, values, and behaviors related to certification. A Web-based survey was developed and disseminated to certified nurses, noncertified nurses, and nurse managers. Of the 11,427 respondents, 8,615 (75%) identified themselves as certified nurses, and 2,812 (25%) were noncertified nurses.

Reliability of personality disorder diagnosis during depression: the contribution of collateral informant reports.

Objective: Research has found low concordance of personality disorder diagnoses made during depression versus after remission and made using patient versus collateral informants, but little is known about the reliability of personality disorder (PD) diagnoses made during depression using patient and collateral reports.

Method: A total of 168 patients were evaluated for PDs during depression and following response using patient and close informant reports. kappa coefficients of inter-informant and test-retest reliability were calculated.

Cevimeline for the treatment of postirradiation xerostomia in patients with head and neck cancer.

Purpose: To study the efficacy and safety of cevimeline in two double-blind trials (Studies 003 and 004) enrolling patients with head and neck cancer in whom xerostomia developed after radiotherapy.

Methods And Materials: Subjects were randomly assigned to receive cevimeline, 30 mg three times daily, or placebo for 12 weeks, with the possibility of dose escalation to 45 mg three times daily at 6 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the patient's final global evaluation of oral dryness; change in unstimulated salivary flow was a secondary endpoint.

Direct inhibition of cardiac hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated pacemaker channels by clonidine.

Background: Inhibition of cardiac sympathetic tone represents an important strategy for treatment of cardiovascular disease, including arrhythmia, coronary heart disease, and chronic heart failure. Activation of presynaptic alpha2-adrenoceptors is the most widely accepted mechanism of action of the antisympathetic drug clonidine; however, other target proteins have been postulated to contribute to the in vivo actions of clonidine.

Methods And Results: To test whether clonidine elicits pharmacological effects independent of alpha2-adrenoceptors, we have generated mice with a targeted deletion of all 3 alpha2-adrenoceptor subtypes (alpha2ABC-/-).

Effect of Ca+ on the photobactericidal efficacy of methylene blue and toluidine blue against gram-negative bacteria and the dye affinity for lipopolysaccharides.

Background And Objectives: Methylene blue (MB) and toluidine blue (TB) form metachromatic complexes with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The greater photobactericidal efficacy of TB may be explained by its affinity for LPS. This study aims to elucidate the difference in photobactericidal efficacies between the dyes using Ca(2+) as a competitor for dye-binding sites on the bacterial outer membrane.

Switching off calcium-dependent inactivation in L-type calcium channels by an autoinhibitory domain.

The retinal L-type Ca2+ channel Cav1.4 is distinguished from all other members of the high voltage-activated (HVA) Ca2+ channel family by lacking Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent inactivation. In synaptic terminals of photoreceptors and bipolar cells, this feature is essential to translate graded membrane depolarizations into sustained Ca2+ influx and tonic glutamate release.

Loss of CNGB1 protein leads to olfactory dysfunction and subciliary cyclic nucleotide-gated channel trapping.

Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) employ a cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channel to generate a receptor current in response to an odorant-induced rise in cAMP. This channel contains three types of subunits, the principal CNGA2 subunit and two modulatory subunits (CNGA4 and CNGB1b). Here, we have analyzed the functional relevance of CNGB1 for olfaction by gene targeting in mice.

Advances in photodynamic therapy for the treatment of head and neck cancers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an FDA-approved minimally invasive medical treatment modality that utilizes light in the presence of oxygen to activate photosensitizing agents that are relatively selectively concentrated in abnormal or neoplastic cells resulting in cell death. At the present time, PDT has been approved for clinical treatment in the United States, European Union, Canada, Russia, and Japan. In the United States, US Food and Drug administration approval has been given for the use of PDT in the treatment of Barrett's esophagus, obstructing esophageal carcinoma and early and obstructing tracheobronchial carcinoma using the photosensitizer Photofrin; actinic keratosis using the photosensitizer Levulan (aminolevulinic acid); and macular degeneration using the photosensitizer BPD.

The enhancement of HCN channel instantaneous current facilitated by slow deactivation is regulated by intracellular chloride concentration.

The hyperpolarization-activated cation current I (f) plays a key role in the modulation of rhythmic activity in cardiac pacemaker cells and spontaneously firing neurons. I (f) is generated by hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN1-HCN4) and comprises two components: the fast instantaneous current (I (INS)) and the slowly developing steady-state current (I (SS)). We found that in I (f) traces evoked by consecutive hyperpolarization, the I (INS) amplitude of the second trace was up to 50% larger than the first.

Synaptic plasticity in CNGA3(-/-) mice: cone bipolar cells react on the missing cone input and form ectopic synapses with rods.

In the mammalian retina, rods and cones connect to distinct sets of bipolar cells. Rods are presynaptic to a single type of rod bipolar cell, whereas cones connect to different types of cone bipolar cells. Synaptic rewiring between cone photoreceptor terminals and rod bipolar cell dendrites has been described as a general result of photoreceptor degeneration.

Impact of sentinel node status and other risk factors on the clinical outcome of head and neck melanoma patients.

Objective: To determine the impact of sentinel lymph node (SLN) status and other risk factors on recurrence and overall survival in head and neck melanoma patients.

Design: The SLN Working Group, based in San Francisco, Calif, with its 11 member centers, the John Wayne Cancer Institute, and The University of Texas M. D.

Synthesis and evaluation of acyl protein thioesterase 1 (APT1) inhibitors.

Lipid-modified proteins play decisive roles in important biological processes such as signal transduction, organisation of the cytoskeleton and vesicular transport. Lipidation of these proteins is essential for correct biological function. Among the modifications with lipids, prenylation and myristoylation are well understood.

A novel mechanism of modulation of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels by Src kinase.

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN1-4) play a crucial role in the regulation of cell excitability. Importantly, they contribute to spontaneous rhythmic activity in brain and heart. HCN channels are principally activated by membrane hyperpolarization and binding of cAMP.

Survival impact of planned restaging and early surgical salvage following definitive chemoradiation for locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the oropharynx and hypopharynx.

Objectives: Patients who have received definitive radiation therapy (RT) for a nonlaryngeal T3/4 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma have a limited opportunity for post-RT surgical salvage. The authors reviewed the practice of planned post-RT restaging to determine its impact on the success of early surgical salvage.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed for patients with resectable T3/4 cancers of the oropharynx and hypopharynx treated with RT +/- chemotherapy who underwent planned restaging clinically, radiographically (CT or MRI), and by direct laryngoscopy with biopsy at 4 to 8 weeks post-RT.