Developmental regulation of EphA4 expression in the chick auditory brainstem.

The avian auditory brainstem nuclei nucleus magnocellularis (NM) and nucleus laminaris (NL) display highly precise patterns of neuronal connectivity. NM projects tonotopically to the dorsal dendrites of ipsilateral NL neurons and to the ventral dendrites of contralateral NL neurons. The precision of this binaural segregation is evident at the earliest developmental stage at which connections can be observed.

Cystic renal masses: accurate Bosniak classification requires adequate renal CT.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the practical usefulness of the Bosniak classification system for separating surgical from nonsurgical cystic renal masses in a large number of patients examined with properly performed renal CT. The study included only patients whose scans were technically adequate to allow proper assignment of the lesion to a category.

Materials And Methods: The scans of 109 patients were gathered from two large teaching institutions both prospectively and retrospectively, yielding a total of 116 analyzable renal cystic lesions.

Relation between psychiatric syndromes and behaviorally defined sexual orientation in a sample of the US population.

Most surveys of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among lesbians and gay men find no increased risk in comparison with heterosexuals. However, the majority of this work has relied on convenience samples drawn from the visible lesbian and gay community. The authors examined differences in 1-year prevalence of six psychiatric syndromes among sexually active individuals in the 1996 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse who reported either exclusive heterosexuality (n = 9,714) or having any same-gender sex partners (n = 194) in the prior year.

Severe local hypothermia from laparoscopic gas evaporative jet cooling: a mechanism to explain clinical observations.

Background And Objectives: Explanations for laparoscopic-induced hypothermia fail to explain clinical observations. It is possible that water evaporation occurs from the jet stream of gas inflation resulting in tissue surface super-cooling leading to tissue damage and drying.

Methods: Theoretical calculations based on thermal conductivity, mass transfer effects and heat flux considerations correlated closely with synthetic and tissue experiments.

Ontogenetic expression of trk neurotrophin receptors in the chick auditory system.

Neurotrophins and their cognate receptors are critical to normal nervous system development. Trk receptors are high-affinity receptors for nerve-growth factor (trkA), brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-4/5 (trkB), and neurotrophin-3 (trkC). We examine the expression of these three neurotrophin tyrosine kinase receptors in the chick auditory system throughout most of development.

What can toxins tell us for drug discovery?

Toxins are of interest in drug design because the toxins provide three-dimensional templates for creating small molecular mimics with interesting pharmacological properties. Toxins are also useful in drug discovery because they can be used as pharmacological tools to uncover potential therapeutic targets. With their high potency and selectivity, toxins are often more useful in functional experiments than standard pharmacological agents.

An organization-based intervention to improve support for employee heart health.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a management training seminar, developed through a partnership among a college, a managed care company, and a state public health department, to increase the level of organizational support for employee heart health in selected companies.

Design: Quasiexperimental.

Setting: Worksites, including heavy and light industries, school districts, insurance companies, county health agencies, and health care centers.

Features of the auditory development of the short-tailed Brazilian opossum, Monodelphis domestica: evoked responses, neonatal vocalizations and synapses in the inferior colliculus.

The onset of hearing in anesthetized South American opossums (Monodelphis domestica) was determined by the measurement of evoked potentials to click stimuli from the vertex of the skull immediately over the inferior colliculus. Evoked potentials were first recorded at postnatal day 24 at a threshold of 83 dB SPL; thresholds declined over subsequent weeks to below 58 dB at 40 days. Isolation calls emitted by the pups had stereotypic spectra with peaks at near 13 kHz and an octave higher.

Vestibular type I and type II hair cells. 2: Morphometric comparisons of dissociated pigeon hair cells.

Morphometric properties of solitary hair cells dissociated from the semicircular canals (SCC), utricles (UTR), and lagenas (LAG) of adult white king pigeons, Columbia livia, were compared. Measurements were made of the cell body, cuticular plate and hair bundle. Cells were divided into two groups: type 1 (group 1) was predominantly type I hair cells, and type 2 (group 3) was primarily type II hair cells.

Vestibular type I and type II hair cells. 1: Morphometric identification in the pigeon and gerbil.

Classically, type I and type II vestibular hair cells have been defined by their afferent innervation patterns. Little quantitative information exists on the intrinsic morphometric differences between hair cell types. Data presented here define a quantitative method for distinguishing hair cell types based on the morphometric properties of the hair cell's neck region.

Complications of peritoneal dialysis: evaluation with CT peritoneography.

Computed tomographic (CT) peritoneography involves CT of the abdomen and pelvis after administration of a mixture of contrast material and dialysate. CT peritoneography can demonstrate a variety of complications of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. In patients with symptoms of peritonitis, CT peritoneography is better than conventional CT in demonstrating loculated fluid collections and indicates adhesions by means of uneven distribution of the contrast material-dialysate mixture.

Percutaneous nephrostomy: placement under CT and fluoroscopy guidance.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to present our experience with CT- and fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous nephrostomy tube (PNT) placement and to describe the technique of placement with patients in the supine-oblique position.

Materials And Methods: A CT scanner was coupled with a ceiling-mounted C-arm for fluoroscopy at the CT table, PNT was done with CT localization and fluoroscopic control. We attempted 148 placements in 129 patients, with most patients in the supine or the supine-oblique position.

Helical CT angiography for examination of living renal donors.

Objective: This prospective study was intended to determine if helical CT arteriography plus conventional radiography is sufficiently accurate to replace and less costly than excretory urography and conventional renal arteriography, the techniques currently used to examine living renal donors.

Subjects And Methods: Patients underwent CT arteriography with a helical CT scanner. Conventional radiographs were obtained during the pyelographic phase to evaluate the urothelium.

Renocolic fistulas: complementary roles of computed tomography and direct pyelography.

Three patients with renocolic fistulas are presented. Antegrade or retrograde pyelography showed the fistula in one patient but was unsuccessful in two others. CT demonstrated perinephric inflammation extending to the colon, complex air-fluid collections within the kidney, or extension of renal contrast into the colon.

Exploring a model of symbolic social communication: the case of 'magic' johnson.

We propose a model of symbolic social communication to explain the process whereby sociocultural identity mediates relationships among receivers, sources and messages to shape message effects. This exploratory study examines how two at-risk groups of African American men responded to various HIV prevention messages delivered by celebrity and professional sources. We interviewed 47 men from a homeless shelter and 50 male college students.

Modulation of idiotypic and antiidiotypic immunoglobulin G responses in an alloimmune thrombocytopenic patient associated with extracorporeal protein A immunoadsorption.

In the present case study, a patient with Non-Hodgkin. Lymphoma underwent combination chemotherapy resulting in severe pancytopenia requiring transfusion support with blood products. The patient became refractory to random donor platelet transfusions and subsequently received five immunoadsorption treatments.

Cloning and sequencing of a human thioredoxin reductase.

The DNA sequence encoding human placental thioredoxin reductase has been determined. Of the 3826 base pairs sequenced, 1650 base pairs were in an open reading frame encoding a mature protein with 495 amino acids and a calculated molecular mass of 54,171. Sequence analysis showed strong similarity to glutathione reductases and other NADPH-dependent reductases.