Pediatric fasting times before surgical and radiologic procedures: benchmarking institutional practices against national standards.

Prolonged preoperative fasting can be associated with adverse outcomes, particularly in children. Our aims were to assess the time pediatric patients fasted prior to surgical or radiologic procedures and evaluate whether fasting (NPO) orders complied with national guidelines. We measured NPO start time, time of last intake, and time test or surgery was scheduled, took place, or was cancelled in 219 pediatric patients.

Phase retrieval and Zernike decomposition using measured intensity data and the estimated electric field.

A new direct search phase retrieval technique for determining the optical prescription of an imaging system in terms of Zernike coefficients is described. The technique provides coefficient estimates without the need to defocus point source images to generate phase diversity by using electric field (E-field) estimates in addition to intensity data. Numerical analysis shows that E-field patterns in the image plane produced by the Zernike polynomials are less correlated with each other than the intensity patterns.

Epithelial-mesenchymal status influences how cells deposit fibrillin microfibrils.

Here, we show that epithelial-mesenchymal status influences how cells deposit extracellular matrix. Retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells that expressed high levels of E-cadherin and had cell-cell junctions rich in zona occludens (ZO)-1, β-catenin and heparan sulfate, required syndecan-4 but not fibronectin or protein kinase C α (PKCα) to assemble extracellular matrix (fibrillin microfibrils and perlecan). In contrast, RPE cells that strongly expressed mesenchymal smooth muscle α-actin but little ZO-1 or E-cadherin, required fibronectin (like fibroblasts) and PKCα, but not syndecan-4.

The rise and fall of medicaid managed care in Mississippi: lessons for public health policy makers.

This article describes the development, implementation, and termination of a primary care case management program in the State of Mississippi. The study provides policy makers with critical information as to factors associated with successful implementation of current health care initiatives.

Elastic fibres in health and disease.

Elastic fibres are insoluble components of the extracellular matrix of dynamic connective tissues such as skin, arteries, lungs and ligaments. They are laid down during development, and comprise a cross-linked elastin core within a template of fibrillin-based microfibrils. Their function is to endow tissues with the property of elastic recoil, and they also regulate the bioavailability of transforming growth factor β.

Dynamic regulation of hepatic lipid droplet properties by diet.

Cytoplasmic lipid droplets (CLD) are organelle-like structures that function in neutral lipid storage, transport and metabolism through the actions of specific surface-associated proteins. Although diet and metabolism influence hepatic CLD levels, how they affect CLD protein composition is largely unknown. We used non-biased, shotgun, proteomics in combination with metabolic analysis, quantitative immunoblotting, electron microscopy and confocal imaging to define the effects of low- and high-fat diets on CLD properties in fasted-refed mice.

Low threshold T-type calcium channels as targets for novel epilepsy treatments.

Low voltage-activated T-type calcium channels were originally cloned in the 1990s and much research has since focused on identifying the physiological roles of these channels in health and disease states. T-type calcium channels are expressed widely throughout the brain and peripheral tissues, and thus have been proposed as therapeutic targets for a variety of diseases such as epilepsy, insomnia, pain, cancer and hypertension. This review discusses the literature concerning the role of T-type calcium channels in physiological and pathological processes related to epilepsy.

Memory for time of day (time memory) is encoded by a circadian oscillator and is distinct from other context memories.

We report that the neural representation of the time of day (time memory) in golden hamsters involves the setting of a 24-h oscillator that is functionally and anatomically distinct from the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), but is entrained by the SCN acting as a weak zeitgeber. In hamsters, peak conditioned place avoidance (CPA) was expressed only near the time of day of the learning experience (± 2 h) for the first days after conditioning. On a 14:10 light:dark cycle, with conditioning at the end of the light period (zeitgeber time 11 [ZT11]), CPA behavior, including time of day memory, was retained for more than 18 d.

Perilipin-2-null mice are protected against diet-induced obesity, adipose inflammation, and fatty liver disease.

The cytoplasmic lipid droplet (CLD) protein perilipin-2 (Plin2) is expressed in multiple nonadipose tissues, where it is thought to play a role in regulating their lipid storage properties. However, the extent to which Plin2 functions in nutrient utilization and metabolism, or how it influences the consequences of over-feeding, remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that the absence of Plin2 prevents high-fat diet(HFD)-induced obesity in male and female mice.

Fibrillin-1 mutations causing Weill-Marchesani syndrome and acromicric and geleophysic dysplasias disrupt heparan sulfate interactions.

The extracellular glycoprotein fibrillin-1 forms microfibrils that act as the template for elastic fibers. Most mutations in fibrillin-1 cause Marfan syndrome with severe cardiovascular and ocular symptoms, and tall stature. This is in contrast to mutations within a heparin-binding TB domain (TB5), which is downstream of the arg-gly-asp cell adhesion domain, which can cause Weill-Marchesani syndrome (WMS) or Acromicric (AD) and Geleophysic Dysplasias (GD).

A common polymorphism near PER1 and the timing of human behavioral rhythms.

Objective: Circadian rhythms influence the timing of behavior, neurological diseases, and even death. Rare mutations in homologs of evolutionarily conserved clock genes are found in select pedigrees with extreme sleep timing, and there is suggestive evidence that certain common polymorphisms may be associated with self-reported day/night preference. However, no common polymorphism has been associated with the timing of directly observed human behavioral rhythms or other physiological markers of circadian timing at the population level.

T-type calcium channels in burst-firing, network synchrony, and epilepsy.

Low voltage-activated (LVA) T-type calcium channels are well regarded as a key mechanism underlying the generation of neuronal burst-firing. Their low threshold for activation combined with a rapid and transient calcium conductance generates low-threshold calcium potentials (LTCPs), upon the crest of which high frequency action potentials fire for a brief period. Experiments using simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and intracellular recordings demonstrate that neuronal burst-firing is a likely causative component in the generation of normal sleep patterns as well as some pathophysiological conditions, such as epileptic seizures.

The effects of circadian phase, time awake, and imposed sleep restriction on performing complex visual tasks: evidence from comparative visual search.

Cognitive performance not only differs between individuals, but also varies within them, influenced by factors that include sleep-wakefulness and biological time of day (circadian phase). Previous studies have shown that both factors influence accuracy rather than the speed of performing a visual search task, which can be hazardous in safety-critical tasks such as air-traffic control or baggage screening. However, prior investigations used simple, brief search tasks requiring little use of working memory.

Yersinia enterocolitica: an unlikely cause of positive brucellosis tests in greater yellowstone ecosystem bison (Bison bison).

Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:9 has identical O-antigens to those of Brucella abortus and has apparently caused false-positive reactions in numerous brucellosis serologic tests in elk (Cervus canadensis) from southwest Montana. We investigated whether a similar phenomenon was occurring in brucellosis antibody-positive bison (Bison bison) using Y. enterocolitica culturing techniques and multiplex PCR of four diagnostic loci.

Adverse metabolic consequences in humans of prolonged sleep restriction combined with circadian disruption.

Epidemiological studies link short sleep duration and circadian disruption with higher risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. We tested the hypotheses that prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption, as can occur in people performing shift work, impairs glucose regulation and metabolism. Healthy adults spent >5 weeks under controlled laboratory conditions in which they experienced an initial baseline segment of optimal sleep, 3 weeks of sleep restriction (5.

Circadian modulation of passive avoidance is not eliminated in arrhythmic hamsters with suprachiasmatic nucleus lesions.

The expression of passive avoidance (PA) learning in rats displays a daily or circadian rhythm in that optimal performance is displayed when the time of testing matches the time of training. Lesions of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) were later shown to abolish this rhythm. Using golden hamsters, we have since demonstrated similar rhythms of performance in a conditioned place avoidance (CPA) task but unlike the PA results in rats, the rhythmic expression of CPA was maintained in arrhythmic hamsters with lesions of the SCN.

T-type calcium channel blockers that attenuate thalamic burst firing and suppress absence seizures.

Absence seizures are a common seizure type in children with genetic generalized epilepsy and are characterized by a temporary loss of awareness, arrest of physical activity, and accompanying spike-and-wave discharges on an electroencephalogram. They arise from abnormal, hypersynchronous neuronal firing in brain thalamocortical circuits. Currently available therapeutic agents are only partially effective and act on multiple molecular targets, including γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transaminase, sodium channels, and calcium (Ca(2+)) channels.

The Chado Natural Diversity module: a new generic database schema for large-scale phenotyping and genotyping data.

Linking phenotypic with genotypic diversity has become a major requirement for basic and applied genome-centric biological research. To meet this need, a comprehensive database backend for efficiently storing, querying and analyzing large experimental data sets is necessary. Chado, a generic, modular, community-based database schema is widely used in the biological community to store information associated with genome sequence data.

Cardiopulmonary monitors and clinically significant events in critically ill children.

Cardiopulmonary monitors (CPMs) generate false alarm rates ranging from 85%-99% with few of these alarms actually representing serious clinical events. The overabundance of clinically insignificant alarms in hospitals desensitizes the clinician to true-positive alarms and poses significant safety issues. In this IRB-approved externally funded study, we sought to assess the clinical conditions associated with true and false-positive CPM alarms and attempted to define optimal alarm parameters that would reduce false-positive alarm rates (as they relate to clinically significant events) and thus improve overall CPM performance in critically ill children.

Voltage-gated calcium channels and disease.

Voltage-gated calcium channels are a family of integral membrane calcium-selective proteins found in all excitable and many nonexcitable cells. Calcium influx affects membrane electrical properties by depolarizing cells and generally increasing excitability. Calcium entry further regulates multiple intracellular signaling pathways as well as the biochemical factors that mediate physiological functions such as neurotransmitter release and muscle contraction.

Range separation performance and optimal pulse-width prediction of a three-dimensional flash laser detection and ranging using the Cramer-Rao bound.

This paper derives the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) on range separation estimation of two point sources interrogated by a three-dimensional flash laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system. An unbiased range separation estimator is also derived to compare against the bound. Additionally, the CRB can be expressed as a function of two LADAR design parameters (range sampling and transmitted pulse width), which can be selected in order to optimize the expected range resolution between two point sources.

Sex difference in the near-24-hour intrinsic period of the human circadian timing system.

The circadian rhythms of melatonin and body temperature are set to an earlier hour in women than in men, even when the women and men maintain nearly identical and consistent bedtimes and wake times. Moreover, women tend to wake up earlier than men and exhibit a greater preference for morning activities than men. Although the neurobiological mechanism underlying this sex difference in circadian alignment is unknown, multiple studies in nonhuman animals have demonstrated a sex difference in circadian period that could account for such a difference in circadian alignment between women and men.

One night of sleep deprivation affects reaction time, but not interference or facilitation in a Stroop task.

The Stroop color-naming task is one of the most widely studied tasks involving the inhibition of a prepotent response, regarded as an executive function. Several studies have examined performance on versions of the Stroop task under conditions of acute sleep deprivation. Though these studies revealed effects on Stroop performance, the results often do not differentiate between general effects of sleep deprivation on performance and effects specifically on interference in the Stroop task.