Long-term ecological research in freshwaters enabled by regional biodiversity collections, stable isotope analysis, and environmental informatics.

Biodiversity collections are experiencing a renaissance fueled by the intersection of informatics, emerging technologies, and the extended use and interpretation of specimens and archived databases. In this article, we explore the potential for transformative research in ecology integrating biodiversity collections, stable isotope analysis (SIA), and environmental informatics. Like genomic DNA, SIA provides a common currency interpreted in the context of biogeochemical principles.

Transcoronary electrophysiological parameters in patients undergoing elective and acute coronary intervention.

Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention is performed routinely in the management of myocardial infarction with obstructive coronary disease, but intervention to arteries supplying nonviable myocardium may be harmful. It is important therefore to establish myocardial viability, and there is an unmet need in current clinical practice for real time viability assessment to aid in decision making. Transcoronary pacing to assess myocardial electrophysiological parameters may be a novel viability assessment technique which could be used in this regard.

What training should psychiatrists have to interpret six- and 12-lead electrocardiograms?

To monitor for drug-related cardiac arrhythmias, psychiatrists regularly perform and interpret 12-lead (12L) and, increasingly often, six-lead (6L) electrocardiograms (ECGs). It is not known how training on this complex skill is updated or how well psychiatrists can interpret relevant arrhythmias on either device.We conducted an online survey and ECG interpretation test of cardiac rhythms relevant to psychiatrists.

Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations: Rehabilitation, Recovery, and Community Participation following Stroke. Part Two: Transitions and Community Participation Following Stroke.

The sixth update of the is a comprehensive set of evidence-based guidelines addressing issues faced by people following an acute stroke event. Establishing a coordinated and seamless system of care that supports progress achieved during the initial recovery stages throughout the transition to the community is more essential than ever as the medical complexity of people with stroke is also on the rise. All members of the health-care team engaged with people with stroke, their families, and caregivers are responsible for partnerships and collaborations to ensure successful transitions and return to the community following stroke.

Transcoronary pacing to assess myocardial viability prior to percutaneous coronary intervention: Pilot study to assess feasibility.

Background: The assessment of myocardial viability is crucial before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is carried out to ensure that the patient will gain benefit. Trans-coronary pacing (TCP) has previously been used to pace myocardium but may also provide information on myocardial viability.

Methods: Patients with a single, significant coronary stenosis requiring PCI were recruited.

Orthotic and therapeutic effect of functional electrical stimulation on fatigue induced gait patterns in people with multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: To assess the orthotic and therapeutic effects of prolonged use of functional electrical stimulation (FES) on fatigue induced gait patterns in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Method: Thirteen people with MS completed 3D gait analysis with FES off and on, before and after a fatiguing 6-minute walk, at baseline and after 8 weeks of use of FES.

Results: Eleven participants completed all testing.

Multidimensional metrics of niche space for use with diverse analytical techniques.

Multidimensional data are integral to many community-ecological studies and come in various forms, such as stable isotopes, compound specific analyses (e.g., amino acids and fatty acids), and both biodiversity and life history traits.

Low value of simple echocardiographic indices of ventricular dyssynchrony in predicting the response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Aims: A recent study suggested that no single echocardiographic index of cardiac dyssynchrony can reliably identify candidates for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We examined the value of three simple echocardiographic indices for predicting the 6-month clinical and echocardiographic responses to CRT.

Methods And Results: We analysed data from 75 CRT-D system recipients.

Fragmentation and embolization of pacemaker leads as a complication of lead extraction.

Fragmentation and embolization of permanent pacemaker (PPM) leads into the pulmonary circulation is a rare complication of lead extraction procedures. We present two cases of lead tip embolization in patients undergoing lead extraction. The literature pertaining to the incidence and management of lead fragmentation and embolization is discussed.

Unexpected long-term survival without evidence of disease after salvage chemotherapy for recurrent metastatic cervical cancer: a case series.

Background: The prognosis of recurrent metastatic cervical cancer is extremely poor. Platinum-based palliative chemotherapy constitutes the mainstay of treatment. Cure is extremely rare.

Prevention of inappropriate shocks in ICD recipients: a review of 10,000 tachycardia episodes.

Background: The efficacy of dual-chamber ICD arrhythmia classification algorithms is crucial to prevent inappropriate shocks. We report our experience from a meta-analysis of five prospective clinical studies with inclusion phases ranging between 1997 and 2003.

Methods: Dual-chamber ICD using standard dual-chamber arrhythmia classification algorithms were implanted in 802 patients (mean age = 64 +/- 11 years, 88% men) in 74 medical centers.

Incidence and clinical relevance of slow ventricular tachycardia in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients: an international multicenter prospective study.

Background: This study aims to assess the incidence and clinical relevance of slow ventricular tachycardia (VT) and the effectiveness and/or deleterious effects of antitachycardia pacing in slow VT in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients.

Methods And Results: This multicenter prospective randomized study included 374 patients (326 men) without prior history of slow VT (<148 bpm) implanted with a dual-chamber implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Patients had a 3-zone detection configuration: a slow VT zone (101 to 148 bpm), a conventional VT zone (>148 bpm), and a ventricular fibrillation zone.

Cognitive and personality factors associated with assaultive and domestic offenders.

An evaluation of domestic assaultive (n=46), general assaultive (n= 23) and nonassaultive (19 property offenders) groups was performed to compare cognitive (Test of Nonverbal Intelligence), personality (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), aggression (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory), and criminal sentiments (Carlson Psychological Survey). Analysis showed minimal significant differences amongst the groups. A significant difference was found for the Verbal Hostility subscale of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory.

Enhanced specificity of a dual chamber ICD arrhythmia detection algorithm by rate stability criteria.

Inappropriate therapy remains an important limitation of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). PARAD+ was developed to increase the specificity conferred by the original PARAD detection algorithm in the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF). To compare the performances of the two different algorithms, we retrospectively analyzed all spontaneous and sustained episodes of AF and ventricular tachycardia (VT) documented by state-of-the-art ICDs programmed with PARAD or PARAD+ at the physicians' discretion.

Characterization of glomerular cell phenotypes following repeated cycles of benzo[a]pyrene injury in vitro.

Exposure of cultured glomeruli to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a carcinogenic hydrocarbon, modulates mesangial and visceral epithelial cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro. The present studies were conducted to characterize mitogenic signaling profiles of cultured glomeruli following repeated cycles of BaP challenge. Enhanced rates of DNA synthesis were observed by the third passage in randomly cycling cultures after single or repeated carcinogen exposure.

[Interventional therapy of aortic isthmus stenosis with concomitant thoracic aortic aneurysm with a stent graft].

A 23 year old male presented with hypertension and a systolic murmur. ECG and echo revealed signs of left ventricular hypertrophy. Aortography showed aortic coarctation (delta p max.

Obstructive sleep apnea is common in medically refractory epilepsy patients.

Background: Previous reports have documented the coexistence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and epilepsy and the therapeutic effects of treatment on seizure frequency and daytime sleepiness. The authors' objective was to determine the prevalence of OSA and its association with survey items in a group of patients with medically refractory epilepsy undergoing polysomnography (PSG).

Methods: Thirty-nine candidates for epilepsy surgery without a history of OSA underwent PSG as part of a research protocol examining the relationship of interictal epileptiform discharges to sleep state.

Phenotypic profiles of cultured glomerular cells following repeated cycles of hydrocarbon injury.

Background: The glomerulus has been implicated as a target of hydrocarbon injury in vitro and in vivo. In the present studies, the phenotypic profiles of cultured rat glomerular cells (GCs) following repeated cycles of hydrocarbon injury were evaluated. Cultured GCs were incubated for 24 hours with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP; 3 micromol/L), a prototypical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and were allowed to recover overnight before two additional cycles of chemical challenge during serial propagation in vitro.

Relationship of temporal lobe seizures to sleep and arousal: a combined scalp-intracranial electrode study.

Study Objectives: The role of arousal from sleep in promoting epileptic seizures is controversial. To examine the question of whether seizures precede or follow arousals from sleep, we defined the timing of temporal lobe seizures in relation to sleep and arousal using combined scalp-intracranial electrodes.

Design: Retrospective review of 67 sleep-related mesial temporal lobe seizures in 14 subjects.

Linking gene expression to mechanisms of toxicity.

Activation of gene expression is one of the earliest cellular responses to toxicity. However, our understanding of the biological and biochemical signals that activate these toxicant-responsive genes as well as the consequences of gene activation to survival of the organism remains sketchy. In this article, strategies that can be used to link changes in gene expression to biochemical mechanisms of toxicity are addressed using the hsp70 and grp78 genes as examples.

Hippocampal sleep spindles revisited: physiologic or epileptic activity?

Objective: Few reports have described sleep spindles in intracranial electrode recordings from human hippocampus. Controversy exists regarding whether hippocampal spindles represent a physiologic or epileptic phenomenon.

Methods: We reviewed hippocampal recordings in 8 subjects to characterize events resembling sleep spindles.

Hepatocyte growth factor induces tubulogenesis of primary renal proximal tubular epithelial cells.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-induced tubulogenesis has been demonstrated with renal epithelial cell lines grown in collagen gels but not with primary cultured renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEs). We show that HGF selectively induces proliferation and branching morphogenesis of primary cultured rat RPTEs. Additional growth factors including fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-1, epidermal growth factor (EGF), FGF-7, or insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) did not selectively induce tubulogenesis.