Human hypoxia models in aerospace medicine: Potential applications for human pharmacological research.

Aerospace medicine required controlled terrestrial models to investigate influences of altered atmosphere conditions, such as hypoxia, on human health and performance. These models could potentially be expanded to encompass disease conditions or treatment targets regulated through hypoxia or hypercapnia. Hypoxia, a condition in which the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply, profoundly affects human physiology at multiple levels and contributes to the pathogenesis of various diseases.

Oral fructose intake does not improve exercise, visual, or cognitive performance during acute normobaric hypoxia in healthy humans.

Introduction: The ability to metabolize fructose to bypass the glucose pathway in near-anaerobic conditions appears to contribute to the extreme hypoxia tolerance of the naked-mole rats. Therefore, we hypothesized that exogenous fructose could improve endurance capacity and cognitive performance in humans exposed to hypoxia.

Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 26 healthy adults (9 women, 17 men; 28.

Social isolation produces a sex- and brain region-specific alteration of microglia state.

Social isolation is a profound form of psychological stress that impacts the mental health of a large proportion of society. Other experimental models of stress have demonstrated a microglia response that serves either a protective or pathological function. However, the effect of adult social isolation on microglia has not been thoroughly investigated.

An Emergency Department Clinical Algorithm to Increase Early Palliative Care Consultation: Pilot Project.

The emergency department (ED) is a primary entry point of hospitals but does not have a system to identify and consult palliative care (PC) early in patients who meet criteria. To determine the measurable effects of an ED PC consultation on patients who meet criteria, hypothesizing that ED PC consultation would lead to decreased average length of stay (ALOS), average direct cost per patient, decreased number of surgeries, and radiological tests performed per patient. A physician-led data-driven evidence-based algorithm was designed and piloted with implementation in two hospitals during January-March 2019 in Orlando, FL.

Accelerating the Adoption of eSource in Clinical Research: A Transcelerate Point of View.

For almost a decade, regulators and pharmaceutical industry groups have been interested in electronic source (eSource) in clinical trials (Nordo et al. in Learn Health Syst 3:e10076, 2019). eSource may provide efficiencies and value; however, eSource adoption is fragmented and slow.

Complex life histories discovered in a critically endangered fish.

Effective conservation of endangered species requires knowledge of the full range of life-history strategies used to maximize population resilience within a stochastic and ever-changing environment. California's endemic Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) is rapidly approaching extinction in the San Francisco Estuary, placing it in the crossfire between human and environmental uses of limited freshwater resources. Though managed as a semi-anadromous species, recent studies have challenged this lifecycle model for Delta Smelt, suggesting the species is an estuarine resident with several localized "hot-spots" of abundance.

IsoFishR: An application for reproducible data reduction and analysis of strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) obtained via laser-ablation MC-ICP-MS.

The IsoFishR application is a data reduction and analysis tool for laser-ablation strontium isotope data, following common best practices and providing reliable and reproducible results. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) are a powerful geochemical tracer commonly applied in a wide range of scientific fields and laser-ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry is considered the method of choice to obtain spatially resolved 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios from a variety of sample materials. However, data reduction and analyses methods are variable between different research groups and research communities limiting reproducibility between studies.

Development of New Methods for Quantifying Fish Density Using Underwater Stereo-video Tools.

The use of video camera systems in ecological studies of fish continues to gain traction as a viable, non-extractive method of measuring fish lengths and estimating fish abundance. We developed and implemented a rotating stereo-video camera tool that covers a full 360 degrees of sampling, which maximizes sampling effort compared to stationary camera tools. A variety of studies have detailed the ability of static, stereo-camera systems to obtain highly accurate and precise measurements of fish; the focus here was on the development of methodological approaches to quantify fish density using rotating camera systems.

Targeting Abundant Fish Stocks while Avoiding Overfished Species: Video and Fishing Surveys to Inform Management after Long-Term Fishery Closures.

Historically, it has been difficult to balance conservation goals and yield objectives when managing multispecies fisheries that include stocks with various vulnerabilities to fishing. As managers try to maximize yield in mixed-stock fisheries, exploitation rates can lead to less productive stocks becoming overfished. In the late 1990s, population declines of several U.

The Translational Medicine Ontology and Knowledge Base: driving personalized medicine by bridging the gap between bench and bedside.

Background: Translational medicine requires the integration of knowledge using heterogeneous data from health care to the life sciences. Here, we describe a collaborative effort to produce a prototype Translational Medicine Knowledge Base (TMKB) capable of answering questions relating to clinical practice and pharmaceutical drug discovery.

Results: We developed the Translational Medicine Ontology (TMO) as a unifying ontology to integrate chemical, genomic and proteomic data with disease, treatment, and electronic health records.

Fungal arthritis of the knee caused by Candida parapsilosis in a kidney transplant recipient.

Fungal arthritis is a rare infection usually caused by Candida species. Candida parapsilosis has emerged as a new pathogen and has been implicated in several cases of fungal arthritis, mostly associated with a joint prosthesis or after arthrocentesis. We report an unusual case of fungal arthritis of the knee caused by this organism in a 38-year-old female kidney transplant recipient, who had no previous invasive procedures on her knee.

Interactions of task and subject variables among continuous performance tests.

Background: Contemporary models of working memory suggest that target paradigm (TP) and target density (TD) should interact as influences on error rates derived from continuous performance tests (CPTs). The present study evaluated this hypothesis empirically in a typically developing, ethnically diverse sample of children. The extent to which scores based on different combinations of these task parameters showed different patterns of relationship to age, intelligence, and gender was also assessed.

Internalizing behavior problems and scholastic achievement in children: cognitive and behavioral pathways as mediators of outcome.

Examined a conceptual model in which dual developmental pathways (behavioral and cognitive) are hypothesized to account for the relation among internalizing behavior problems, intelligence, and later scholastic achievement using a cross-sectional sample of 325 children. Classroom behavior and select aspects of cognitive functioning (vigilance, short-term memory) were hypothesized to mediate the relations among internalizing problems, IQ, and long-term scholastic achievement. Hierarchical tests applied to a nested series of models demonstrated that (a) individual differences in measured intelligence among children are associated with variations in classroom performance and cognitive functioning, (b) classroom performance and cognitive functioning make unique contributions to prediction of later achievement over and above the influence of intelligence, (c) anxious/depressive features are correlated but separable constructs, and (d) anxiety/depression and withdrawal contribute to prediction of classroom performance and cognitive functioning over and above the effects of intelligence.

Stimulant effects in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: theoretical and empirical issues.

The explanatory utility of a theory or model of ADHD or any disorder depends fundamentally on its capacity to address issues of causality. What causes a particular child to develop ADHD? What mechanisms are responsible for temporal and setting-related variations in symptom severity, and how are these mechanisms affected by pharmacological intervention? And, what processes determine whether gains in one domain will propagate across one or more others? It should be evident from the foregoing discussion that comprehensive answers to such questions are most likely to emerge through implementation of research strategies that (a) integrate biological and psychological levels of explanation, (b) permit analysis of causal hypotheses, and (c) address mechanisms involved in both etiology and mediation of treatment response. Although extant neurobiological studies of ADHD are as compelling as they are exciting, they are limited by a troubling reductionistic emphasis.

Upgrading the science and technology of assessment and diagnosis: laboratory and clinic-based assessment of children with ADHD.

Reviews the usefulness of clinic-based and laboratory-based instruments and paradigms for diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and monitoring treatment effects. Extant literature examining the performance of normal children and those with ADHD on an extensive range of neurocognitive tests, tasks, and experimental paradigms indicates that particular types of instruments may be more reliable than others with respect to detecting between-group differences. We review task parameters that may distinguish the more reliable from less reliable instruments.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and scholastic achievement: a model of dual developmental pathways.

A conceptual model has recently been hypothesized in which parallel but correlated developmental pathways exist for attention deficit behaviors and conduct problems. An important component of this model suggests that attention deficit behaviors are related to later scholastic underachievement, whereas conduct problems are unrelated to scholastic underachievement except by their common correlation with attention deficit and intelligence. The present study replicated the general model using a cross-sectional sample of 325 children, and examined whether hypothesized dual pathways (behavioral and cognitive) better account for the relationship between attention deficit, intelligence, and later scholastic achievement.

Predicting methylphenidate response in children with ADHD: theoretical, empirical, and conceptual models.

Objective: To evaluate the theoretical merit and empirical validity of models designed to predict response to methylphenidate (MPH) among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Method: Seventy-six children with ADHD received each of 4 counterbalanced doses of MPH (5, 10, 15, and 20 mg) in the context of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject (crossover) experimental design. Logical and conceptual foundations of 3 models of MPH response were subjected to critical scrutiny, and patterns of relationship anticipated on the basis of these models were subjected to empirical analysis.

Chemokine secretion of human cells in response to Toxoplasma gondii infection.

The ubiquitous protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates and immunocompromised hosts. Both acute invasion and reactivation of latent infection result in an inflammatory reaction with lymphocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils. The mechanisms responsible for triggering the local host response to toxoplasmosis are not fully understood.

Systemic calciphylaxis associated with massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

A 38-year-old woman with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and end-stage renal disease developed digital ischemia, widespread cutaneous necrosis and eschar formation of both lower extremities, and extensive ulceration of the large intestine and cecum resulting in gastrointestinal hemorrhage. A mesenteric arteriogram revealed multiple stenotic areas and filling defects of the superior mesenteric artery and its tributaries, suggestive of vasculitis. A diagnosis of calciphylaxis was suspected, on antemortem skin biopsy, and was later confirmed by postmortem examination.

Amebic meningoencephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris: case report and review.

Balamuthia mandrillaris, formerly referred to as a leptomyxid ameba, is a free-living ameba that has recently been identified as a cause of meningoencephalitis. Previously, only two genera, Naegleria and Acanthamoeba, were recognized as causes of central nervous system (CNS) infections in humans. In contrast to Naegleria, Balamuthia causes a subacute-to-chronic infection of the CNS.

Titrating methylphenidate in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: is body mass predictive of clinical response?

Objective: To evaluate the hypothesis that gross body mass is functionally related to methylphenidate (MPH) response in children with attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity disorder (ADDH).

Method: Seventy-six children with ADDH received each of five counterbalanced doses of MPH (placebo, 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg) in the context of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject (crossover) experimental design. Dependent measures included direct observations of attention, academic efficiency, and teacher ratings of behavior in the classroom.

Methylphenidate and attentional training. Comparative effects on behavior and neurocognitive performance in twin girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The effectiveness of four doses (5-mg, 10-mg, 15-mg, 20-mg) of methylphenidate (MPH) and attentional training (AT) were evaluated using neurocognitive instruments (Continuous Performance Test; Matching Unfamiliar Figures Test), narrow- and broad-band rating scales in the context of a double-blind, placebo-control, within-subject reversal design for dizygotic twin girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Both interventions proved effective for improving neurocognitive test performance and behavior, although broad-band ratings revealed dose-response curves different from those obtained from the neurocognitive tests. Implications for clinical management of girls with ADHD are discussed.

Attention deficit disorder and methylphenidate: normalization rates, clinical effectiveness, and response prediction in 76 children.

Objective: To evaluate the magnitude and clinical significance of methylphenidate (MPH) effects on the classroom behavior and academic performance of 76 children with attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity (ADDH).

Method: A double-blind, placebo controlled, within-subject (crossover) experimental design was used to evaluate acute MPH effects at four dose levels (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 20 mg) on children's attention, academic functioning, and behavior in regular classroom settings. Results were contrasted with a normal control sample.