Identifying High-Risk ZIP Codes for Childhood Lead Exposure: A Statewide ZCTA-Level Priority List for North Carolina.

Background: Research has consistently shown that there is no safe blood lead level (BLL) for children. Despite progress in lead poisoning prevention, lead exposure remains a persistent threat to the health and neurological development of children. To identify high-risk ZIP codes for use by families and health care providers for the entire state of North Carolina, we developed a risk model using ZIP Code Tabula-tion Area (ZCTA)-level census data.

Improved Decision Making for Water Lead Testing in U.S. Child Care Facilities Using Machine-Learned Bayesian Networks.

Tap water lead testing programs in the U.S. need improved methods for identifying high-risk facilities to optimize limited resources.

Lead Levels in Tap Water at Licensed North Carolina Child Care Facilities, 2020-2021.

To evaluate lead levels in tap water at licensed North Carolina child care facilities. Between July 2020 and October 2021, we enrolled 4005 facilities in a grant-funded, participatory science testing program. We identified risk factors associated with elevated first-draw lead levels using multiple logistic regression analysis.

Diet-induced insulin resistance impairs hippocampal synaptic plasticity and cognition in middle-aged rats.

Overall dietary energy intake, particularly the consumption of simple sugars such as fructose, has been increasing steadily in Western societies, but the effects of such diets on the brain are poorly understood. Here, we used functional and structural assays to characterize the effects of excessive caloric intake on the hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory. Rats fed with a high-fat, high-glucose diet supplemented with high-fructose corn syrup showed alterations in energy and lipid metabolism similar to clinical diabetes, with elevated fasting glucose and increased cholesterol and triglycerides.

Reduction of elevated blood lead levels in children in North Carolina and Vermont, 1996-1999.

Background: Few studies have examined factors related to the time required for children's blood lead levels (BLLs) > or = 10 microg/dL to decline to < 10 microg/dL.

Objectives: We used routinely collected surveillance data to determine the length of time and risk factors associated with reducing elevated BLLs in children below the level of concern of 10 microg/dL.

Methods: From the North Carolina and Vermont state surveillance databases, we identified a retrospective cohort of 996 children < 6 years of age whose first two blood lead tests produced levels > or = 10 microg/dL during 1996-1999.

A potassium channel blocker induces a long-lasting enhancement of corticostriatal responses.

Disruptions in synaptic plasticity in the dorsal striatum may contribute to the pathophysiology underlying Parkinson's disease. Here we report a novel, chemically-induced form of plasticity induced by application of the potassium channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA) in the dorsolateral striatum of the adult rat. Transient application of TEA persistently increased synaptically-evoked extracellularly-recorded corticostriatal responses in an activity-, concentration- and time-dependent manner.

Long-term depression in the adult hippocampus in vivo involves activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase and phosphorylation of Elk-1.

Protein kinase cascades likely play a critical role in the signaling events that underlie synaptic plasticity and memory. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) cascade is suited well for such a role because its targets include regulators of gene expression. Here we report that the ERK cascade is recruited during long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic strength in area CA1 of the adult hippocampus in vivo and selectively impacts on phosphorylation of the nuclear transcription factor Elk-1.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase cascade is required for NMDA receptor-independent LTP in area CA1 but not area CA3 of the hippocampus.

Activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) has been shown to be necessary for NMDA receptor-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP). We studied the role of ERK in three forms of NMDA receptor-independent LTP: LTP induced by very high-frequency stimulation (200 Hz-LTP), LTP induced by the K(+) channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA) (TEA-LTP), and mossy fiber (MF) LTP (MF-LTP). We found that ERK was activated in area CA1 after the induction of both 200 Hz-LTP and TEA-LTP and that this activation required the influx of Ca(2+) through voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels.

Long-term depression in the hippocampus in vivo is associated with protein phosphatase-dependent alterations in extracellular signal-regulated kinase.

There is growing evidence that activation of either protein kinases or protein phosphatases determines the type of plasticity observed after different patterns of hippocampal stimulation. Because activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) has been shown to be necessary for long-term potentiation, we investigated the regulation of ERK in long-term depression (LTD) in the adult hippocampus in vivo. We found that ERK immunoreactivity was decreased following the induction of LTD and that this decrease required NMDA receptor activation.

Transient and persistent increases in protein phosphatase activity during long-term depression in the adult hippocampus in vivo.

The neural substrates of learning and memory most likely involve activity-dependent long-term changes in synaptic strength, including long-term potentiation and long-term depression. A critical element in the cascade of events hypothesized to underlie such changes in synaptic function is modification of protein phosphorylation. Long-term depression is thought to involve decreases in protein phosphorylation, which could result from reduction in protein kinase activity and/or enhancement in protein phosphatase activity.