Objective: To determine normal central and paracentral corneal thickness measurements in the pediatric population and to determine if these measurements are consistent across different pediatric age groups and different racial groups.
Design: Prospective observational case series.
Methods: Pachymetry measurements were performed on 198 eyes of 108 children.
Cystic tumors of the retroperitoneum, omentum, and mesentery are extremely rare lesions. We report a case of one such lesion in the mesentery of the left hemicolon that was mistaken on imaging to be an ovarian tumor. Development of this tumor at this site has been described only twice before in the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFXenotransplantation
November 2004
Background: Delayed rejection of xenografts is a major hurdle that needs to be addressed to achieve long-term engraftment in the pig-to-primate transplant setting. Both vascular and avascular xenografts are susceptible to a delayed rejection process that comprises humoral and cellular responses. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is believed to play a role in this process by promoting cell activation, apoptosis and the recruitment of inflammatory cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Many asthmatic patients discharged from emergency departments do not have timely follow-up visits with a primary care physician. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a health professional-based intervention in improving process of care and health outcomes among asthmatic patients discharged from emergency departments.
Methods: We enrolled 125 asthmatic patients, aged 5 through 50 years, from the emergency department of a community-based hospital; 62 patients were assigned to usual care and 63 to enhanced care.
We consider the consequences for the relic neutrino abundance if extra neutrino interactions are allowed, e.g., the coupling of neutrinos to a light (compared to m(nu)) boson.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate if aspirin use affects progression of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).
Methods: A retrospective review of patients with uncontrolled glaucoma was performed. Incidence of aspirin use was noted by a one-time self-reporting survey.
Bis-pinacolatodiboron reacts with [small alpha],[small beta]-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to give 1,4- and unprecedented 3,4-additions in the presence of a second generation Pt(0) catalyst at ambient temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article presents an analysis of the economic burden of a number of chronic diseases in Canada. In the analysis, we adjusted our measure of utilization of physician and hospital services for co-existing chronic diseases, which we found to be widely prevalent and to have an impact on resource use. Using data from the 1999 National Population Health Survey, we developed resource use rankings for several chronic conditions and decomposed these measures into prevalence and per-person utilization components.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPseudomonas aeruginosa strain NB1 uses chloromethane (CM) as its sole source of carbon and energy under nitrate-reducing and aerobic conditions. The observed yield of NB1 was 0.20 (+/-0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Nanosci Nanotechnol
March 2004
A commercial alumina nanopowder was characterized and its dispersion was studied using electrostatic, electrosteric, and steric surfactants. Citric acid was used as the electrosteric dispersant, ammonium polymethacrylic acid (Darvan C) as the electrosteric dispersant, and Hypermer KD-1 in alpha-terpineol as a purely steric system. Phase stability in water was examined by X-ray diffraction, and the surface chemistry was characterized by zeta potential and isoelectric points.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe synthesis of bioactive vitamin D requires hydroxylation at the 1 alpha and 25 positions by cytochrome P450 enzymes in the kidney and liver, respectively. The mitochondrial enzyme CYP27B1 catalyzes 1 alpha-hydroxylation in the kidney but the identity of the hepatic 25-hydroxylase has remained unclear for >30 years. We previously identified the microsomal CYP2R1 protein as a potential candidate for the liver vitamin D 25-hydroxylase based on the enzyme's biochemical properties, conservation, and expression pattern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany previous studies have shown that background color affects the discriminability and appearance of color stimuli. However, research on visual search has not typically considered the role that the background may play. Rosenholtz (2001a) has suggested that color search asymmetries result from the relationship between the stimuli and the background.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The human hepatic microsomal vitamin D 25-hydroxylase protein and gene have not been identified with certainty. Sixteen hepatic recombinant microsomal enzymes were screened for 25-hydroxylase activity; 11 had some 25-hydroxylase activity, but CYP3A4 had the highest activity. In characterized liver microsomes, 25-hydroxylase activity correlated significantly with CYP3A4 testosterone 6beta-hydroxylase activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examined whether ages of child and parent were risk factors for general parenting stress and disability-specific stress in families of children with spina bifida. Parents of 64 children with spina bifida completed the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Parents of Children with Disabilities Inventory, and measures of family support and resources. Scores of families with children under 6 years (preschool) versus 6- to 12-yr.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeutrinos may be pseudo-Dirac states, such that each generation is actually composed of two maximally mixed Majorana neutrinos separated by a tiny mass difference. The usual active neutrino oscillation phenomenology would be unaltered if the pseudo-Dirac splittings are deltam(2) less, similar 10(-12) eV(2); in addition, neutrinoless double beta decay would be highly suppressed. However, it may be possible to distinguish pseudo-Dirac from Dirac neutrinos using high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA semi-structured interview was administered to fifteen hospital based medical and surgical consultants. This aimed to assess the level of knowledge and understanding regarding the activities of clinical psychologists and to evaluate the perception of need for the clinical psychology service within a general hospital in Central Scotland. Differences between high/regular and occasional/non-referring departments were examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExisting limits on the nonradiative decay of one neutrino to another plus a massless particle (e.g., a singlet Majoron) are very weak.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVariations in attachment-autonomy configurations are explored as these relate to substance use and several adolescent competencies. Questionnaires completed by 470 university students included measures of parental attachment, autonomy (both emotional autonomy and self-reliance), substance use, problems associated with substance use, social competencies, and coping. Analyses of subgroups representing four attachment-autonomy patterns, derived from cluster analysis, showed higher competency levels and fewer problems related to substance use for the group combining strong attachment and self-reliance coupled with low levels of emotional autonomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The reliability and validity of self-reported drinking behaviors from the Army Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) survey are unknown.
Methods: We compared demographics and health experiences of those who completed the HRA with those who did not (1991-1998). We also evaluated the reliability and validity of eight HRA alcohol-related items, including the CAGE, weekly drinking quantity, and drinking and driving measures.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
May 2003
Neurokinin (NK) B is a member of the tachykinin family of neurotransmitters, exerting hypotensive or hypertensive effects in the mammalian vasculature through synaptic release from peripheral neurons, according to either NK(1) and NK(2) or NK(3) receptor subtype expression, respectively. There is recent evidence that NKB is expressed by the syncytiotrophoblast of the human placenta, an organ that is not innervated. We hypothesized that NKB is a paracrine modulator of tone in the fetal placental circulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report four human tachykinins, endokinins A, B, C, and D (EKA-D), encoded from a single tachykinin precursor 4 gene that generates four mRNAs (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta). Tachykinin 4 gene expression was detected primarily in adrenal gland and in the placenta, where, like neurokinin B, significant amounts of EKB-like immunoreactivity were detected. EKA/B 10-mers displayed equivalent affinity for the three tachykinin receptors as substance P (SP), whereas a 32-mer N-terminal extended form of EKB was significantly more potent than EKA/B or SP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
October 2002
Observations on the steric layers formed by the adsorption of low-molecular-weight polyacrylic acid (PAA) were taken using the colloidal probe method in an atomic force microscope. The effects of divalent barium ions and of monovalent potassium ions at varying concentrations were observed on the repulsive interaction profiles. High ionic concentrations screened double-layer forces to small distances, whereby the acting forces were reduced to steric interactions.
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