Prevention of unplanned extubations in neonates through process standardization.

Objective: Unplanned extubation events (UPEs) in neonates are hazardous to patient safety. Our goal was to reduce UPE rate (#UPEs per 100 ventilator days) by 50% in 12 months at our 25-bed level III inborn unit.

Study Design: Baseline data were gathered prospectively for 7 months.

The spectrum of onset of acute kidney injury in premature infants less than 30 weeks gestation.

Objective: To determine risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in preterm infants as a function of time of onset.

Study Design: In this 5 1/2-year, single-center, retrospective study, incidence and timing of AKI was determined using modified Acute Kidney Injury Network criteria. Characteristics of newborns with and without AKI were compared by chi square and t-tests.

Modulation of oxidative stress, inflammation, autophagy and expression of Nrf2 in hippocampus and frontal cortex of rats fed with açaí-enriched diets.

Objective: Açaí (Euterpe spp.), an exotic palm fruit, has recently emerged as a promising source of natural antioxidants with wide pharmacological and nutritional value. In this study, two different species of açaí pulp extracts, naturally grown in two distinct regions of the Amazon, namely, Euterpe oleracea Mart.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase p110δ Isoform Regulates CD8+ T Cell Responses during Acute Viral and Intracellular Bacterial Infections.

The p110δ isoform of PI3K is known to play an important role in immunity, yet its contribution to CTL responses has not been fully elucidated. Using murine p110δ-deficient CD8(+) T cells, we demonstrated a critical role for the p110δ subunit in the generation of optimal primary and memory CD8(+) T cell responses. This was demonstrated in both acute viral and intracellular bacterial infections in mice.

Systems science and systems thinking for public health: a systematic review of the field.

Objectives: This paper reports on findings from a systematic review designed to investigate the state of systems science research in public health. The objectives were to: (1) explore how systems methodologies are being applied within public health and (2) identify fruitful areas of activity.

Design: A systematic review was conducted from existing literature that draws on or uses systems science (in its various forms) and relates to key public health areas of action and concern, including tobacco, alcohol, obesity and the social determinants of health.

Dietary supplementation with the polyphenol-rich açaí pulps (Euterpe oleracea Mart. and Euterpe precatoria Mart.) improves cognition in aged rats and attenuates inflammatory signaling in BV-2 microglial cells.

Objectives: The present study was carried out to determine if lyophilized açaí fruit pulp (genus, Euterpe), rich in polyphenols and other bioactive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals, is efficacious in reversing age-related cognitive deficits in aged rats.

Methods: The diets of 19-month-old Fischer 344 rats were supplemented for 8 weeks with 2% Euterpe oleracea (EO), Euterpe precatoria (EP), or a control diet. Rats were tested in the Morris water maze and then blood serum from the rats was used to assess inflammatory responses of BV-2 microglial cells.

A bug's life in the granuloma.

The granuloma is the defining feature of the host response to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Despite knowing of its existence for centuries, much remains unclear regarding the host and bacterial factors that contribute to granuloma formation, heterogeneity of presentation, and the forces at play within. Mtb is highly adapted to life within the granuloma and employs many unique strategies to both create a niche within the host as well as survive the stresses imposed upon it.

Elementary Energy Transfer Pathways in Allochromatium vinosum Photosynthetic Membranes.

Allochromatium vinosum (formerly Chromatium vinosum) purple bacteria are known to adapt their light-harvesting strategy during growth according to environmental factors such as temperature and average light intensity. Under low light illumination or low ambient temperature conditions, most of the LH2 complexes in the photosynthetic membranes form a B820 exciton with reduced spectral overlap with LH1. To elucidate the reason for this light and temperature adaptation of the LH2 electronic structure, we performed broadband femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy as a function of excitation wavelength in A.

One-Year Experience with the Institution of a Critical Airway Team at an Academic Medical Center.

Background: At our institution, there were a number of adverse patient events related to an unstable airway that led to the formation of a designated critical airway response team (CAT). It was hoped that this would improve patient outcomes in such matters.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the creation of the CAT.

PARACENTRAL ACUTE MIDDLE MACULOPATHY IN BIRDSHOT CHORIORETINOPATHY: A NOVEL ASSOCIATION.

Background/purpose: To present a novel case of paracentral acute middle maculopathy in association with birdshot chorioretinopathy.

Methods: Case report.

Results: A patient presented with decreased vision and findings of uveitis, vasculitis and a paracentral scotoma.

The beneficial effects of berries on cognition, motor behaviour and neuronal function in ageing.

Previously, it has been shown that strawberry (SB) or blueberry (BB) supplementations, when fed to rats from 19 to 21 months of age, reverse age-related decrements in motor and cognitive performance. We have postulated that these effects may be the result of a number of positive benefits of the berry polyphenols, including decreased stress signalling, increased neurogenesis, and increased signals involved in learning and memory. Thus, the present study was carried out to examine these mechanisms in aged animals by administering a control, 2 % SB- or 2 % BB-supplemented diet to aged Fischer 344 rats for 8 weeks to ascertain their effectiveness in reversing age-related deficits in behavioural and neuronal function.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Engages CD14-Dependent Signaling to Enable Bladder-Macrophage-Dependent Control of Acute Urinary Tract Infection.

Background: CD14, a coreceptor for several pattern recognition receptors and a widely used monocyte/macrophage marker, plays a key role in host responses to gram-negative bacteria. Despite the central role of CD14 in the inflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide and other microbial products and in the dissemination of bacteria in some infections, the signaling networks controlled by CD14 during urinary tract infection (UTI) are unknown.

Methods: We used uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) infection of wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 and Cd14(-/-) mice and RNA sequencing to define the CD14-dependent transcriptional signature and the role of CD14 in host defense against UTI in the bladder.

Tetradecanuclear Iron(III)-Oxo Nanoclusters Stabilized by Trilacunary Heteropolyanions.

The tetrameric, multi-Fe(III)-containing polyoxotungstates [Fe14O6(OH)13(P2W15O56)4](31-) (1) and [Na2Fe14(OH)12(PO4)4(A-α-XW9O34)4](20-) (X = Si(IV) (2), Ge(IV) (3)) have been successfully synthesized under conventional reaction conditions in aqueous, slightly acidic (1), or basic (2 and 3) media. Polyanions 1-3 were characterized in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and magnetic studies, and in solution by electrochemistry.

Antiviral Efficacy of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Fusion Inhibitor in a Bovine Model of RSV Infection.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants. Effective treatment for RSV infection is a significant unmet medical need. While new RSV therapeutics are now in development, there are very few animal models that mimic the pathogenesis of human RSV, making it difficult to evaluate new disease interventions.

Ultra-broadband 2D electronic spectroscopy of carotenoid-bacteriochlorophyll interactions in the LH1 complex of a purple bacterium.

We investigate the excitation energy transfer (EET) pathways in the photosynthetic light harvesting 1 (LH1) complex of purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum with ultra-broadband two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES). We employ a 2DES apparatus in the partially collinear geometry, using a passive birefringent interferometer to generate the phase-locked pump pulse pair. This scheme easily lends itself to two-color operation, by coupling a sub-10 fs visible pulse with a sub-15-fs near-infrared pulse.

Urinary tract infection of mice to model human disease: Practicalities, implications and limitations.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in humans. Murine models of human UTI are vital experimental tools that have helped to elucidate UTI pathogenesis and advance knowledge of potential treatment and infection prevention strategies. Fundamentally, several variables are inherent in different murine models, and understanding the limitations of these variables provides an opportunity to understand how models may be best applied to research aimed at mimicking human disease.

Exposure to HIV-1 Tat in brain impairs sensorimotor gating and activates microglia in limbic and extralimbic brain regions of male mice.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with mood disorders and behavioral disinhibition. Impairments in sensorimotor gating and associated neurocognitive disorders are reported, but the HIV-proteins and mechanisms involved are not known. The regulatory HIV-1 protein, Tat, is neurotoxic and its expression in animal models increases anxiety-like behavior concurrent with neuroinflammation and structural changes in limbic and extra-limbic brain regions.

Narcissism and the use of personal pronouns revisited.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 109(3) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2015-37773-002). The authors erroneously reported the overall correlation, first stated in the abstract, between Narcissism and total first-person-singular use as .02 (.

Chronic ephedrine administration decreases brown adipose tissue activity in a randomised controlled human trial: implications for obesity.

Aims/hypothesis: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation increases energy expenditure and may have therapeutic potential to combat obesity. The primary activating and adaptive signal for BAT is via β-adrenergic signalling. We previously demonstrated that human BAT is acutely responsive to oral administration of the sympathomimetic, ephedrine.

Conditional Tat protein brain expression in the GT-tg bigenic mouse induces cerebral fractional anisotropy abnormalities.

Cerebral white matter changes including tissue water diffusion abnormalities detected with diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) are commonly found in humans with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, as well as in animal models of the disorder. The severities of some of these abnormalities have been reported to correlate with measures of disease progression or severity, or with the degree of cognitive dysfunction. Accordingly, DTI may be a useful translational biomarker.