Quantitative Study of the Chiral Organization of the Phage Genome Induced by the Packaging Motor.

Molecular motors that translocate DNA are ubiquitous in nature. During morphogenesis of double-stranded DNA bacteriophages, a molecular motor drives the viral genome inside a protein capsid. Several models have been proposed for the three-dimensional geometry of the packaged genome, but very little is known of the signature of the molecular packaging motor.

The Rabl configuration limits topological entanglement of chromosomes in budding yeast.

The three dimensional organization of genomes remains mostly unknown due to their high degree of condensation. Biophysical studies predict that condensation promotes the topological entanglement of chromatin fibers and the inhibition of function. How organisms balance between functionally active genomes and a high degree of condensation remains to be determined.

Resident-Led Palliative Care Education Project.

Background And Objective: Despite the growth of palliative medicine, 39% of hospitals do not have palliative care teams for consultation or to provide resident education. We examined the impact of resident-led education in palliative care principles on attitudes toward and comfort with palliative medicine and end-of-life care among internal medicine residents.

Methods: An educational module designed by the authors was presented to other internal medicine residents in the program.

Thrombin-antithrombin appearance in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Objective: Intravascular thrombosis induced during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) may contribute to the pathophysiology of cardiac arrest and complicate resuscitation. We characterized the prevalence of thrombogenesis during OOHCA by measuring plasma levels of thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT).

Methods: An observational cohort study of medical OOHCA patients in an urban emergency medical services (EMS) system.

The use of performance improvement methods to enhance emergency department patient satisfaction in the United States: a critical review of the literature and suggestions for future research.

Objectives: The authors reviewed the evidence on performance improvement methods for increasing emergency department (ED) patient satisfaction to provide evidence-based suggestions for clinical practice.

Methods: Data sources consisted of searches through MEDLINE, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, Cochrane Library, and Emergency Medicine Abstracts and a manual search of references. Articles were included if they reported a performance improvement intervention targeting patient satisfaction in the ED setting.

Hypothermia and ERK activation after cardiac arrest.

Mild hypothermia improves survival and neurological outcome after cardiac arrest, as well as increasing activation of the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in hippocampus. ERK signaling is involved in neuronal growth and survival. We tested the hypothesis that the beneficial effects of hypothermia required ERK activation.

An in vitro model of hepatitis C virion production.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease worldwide. The understanding of the viral life cycle has been hampered by the lack of a satisfactory cell culture system. The development of the HCV replicon system has been a major advance, but the system does not produce virions.

Prevalence of troponin-T elevation during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

To determine the prevalence of myocardial ischemia before out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA), we determined the prevalence of elevated cardiac troponin-T levels in subjects at the time of OOHCA. Plasma was collected from 63 subjects during resuscitation. Troponin levels were elevated (> or =0.

Hypothermic reperfusion after cardiac arrest augments brain-derived neurotrophic factor activation.

Induction of mild hypothermia improves neurologic outcome after global cerebral ischemia. This study measured levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) in hippocampal tissue of rats after resuscitation from 8 minutes of normothermic, asphyxial cardiac arrest. After resuscitation, rats were maintained either at normal temperature (37 degrees C) or cooled to mild hypothermia (33 degrees C, beginning 60 minutes after resuscitation).

Endotracheal drug administration during out-of-hospital resuscitation: where are the survivors?

Background: Drugs administered endotracheally are effectively absorbed during normal spontaneous cardiac activity. However, animal cardiac arrest studies and limited clinical investigations do not support either the use of endotracheal (ET) drugs in doses currently recommended for adults or the method of direct endotracheal instillation. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of intravenous (IV) and ET drug therapy on outcome from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest secondary to all cardiac arrest rhythms.