Can an isolated middle-series item make a "Dent" in the bow-shaped serial-position curve of comparative judgments?

Studies have shown that local (e.g., midseries) items' specific properties, including being isolated from rest of the items, can generate a local distinctiveness effect, enhancing the memory performance for the local items in serial recall or absolute judgments.

Bringing the Pediatric Endocrine Spanish Speaking Community Together: First Virtual Pediatric Endocrine Meeting in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Central and South America.

Background: Pediatric endocrinology is a specialty that is struggling worldwide to maintain adequately trained professionals. Pediatric endocrine care in Central America and Caribbean countries is often performed by pediatricians or adult endocrinologists due to the limited number of pediatric endocrinologists. These health care providers are seldom members of endocrine societies and frequently lack formal training in the field.

Accuracy and Reliability of Single-Camera Measurements of Ankle Clonus and Quadriceps Hyperreflexia.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy and reliability of a simple, single-camera smartphone-based method, named the Reflex Tracker (RT) system, for measuring reflex threshold angles related to ankle clonus and quadriceps hyperreflexia.

Design: A prospective comparison study using a high-fidelity reference standard was constructed employing a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, with factors of rater (tester) type (student and experienced physical therapist), joint (ankle and knee), and repetition (2 per condition).

Setting: This multicenter study was conducted at 4 outpatient rehabilitation clinics.

Novel Method of Calculating Pulse Pressure Variation to Predict Fluid Responsiveness to Transfusion in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

A novel technique was used to calculate pulse pressure variation. The algorithm reliably predicted fluid responsiveness to transfusion, with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.89.

Critical Closing Pressure by Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy in a Neonatal Piglet Model.

The critical closing pressure (CrCP) of the cerebral vasculature is the arterial blood pressure (ABP) at which cerebral blood flow (CBF) ceases. Because the ABP of preterm infants is low and close to the CrCP, there is often no CBF during diastole. Thus, estimation of CrCP may become clinically relevant in preterm neonates.

Creatinine filtration kinetics in critically Ill neonates.

Background: Creatinine values are unreliable within the first weeks of life; however, creatinine is used most commonly to assess kidney function. Controversy remains surrounding the time required for neonates to clear maternal creatinine.

Methods: Eligible infants had multiple creatinine lab values and were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Observed and calculated cerebral critical closing pressure are highly correlated in preterm infants.

Background: Cerebrovascular critical closing pressure (CrCP) is the arterial blood pressure (ABP) at which cerebral blood flow ceases. Preterm ABP is low and close to CrCP. The diastolic closing margin (diastolic ABP minus CrCP) has been associated with intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants.

Penetrance of biallelic SMARCAL1 mutations is associated with environmental and genetic disturbances of gene expression.

Biallelic mutations of the DNA annealing helicase SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1) cause Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD, MIM 242900), an incompletely penetrant autosomal recessive disorder. Using human, Drosophila and mouse models, we show that the proteins encoded by SMARCAL1 orthologs localize to transcriptionally active chromatin and modulate gene expression. We also show that, as found in SIOD patients, deficiency of the SMARCAL1 orthologs alone is insufficient to cause disease in fruit flies and mice, although such deficiency causes modest diffuse alterations in gene expression.

Dental students' attitudes toward homeless people while providing oral health care.

Homeless people have multiple barriers in accessing health care services, and health care providers' negative attitudes toward homeless people have been suggested as part of the problem. Studies on dental students' attitudes toward homeless people are lacking, so our aim was to understand dental students' attitudes. Dental students under the supervision of faculty members spent one day per week for seven weeks at the University of Southern California Union Rescue Mission Dental Clinic providing comprehensive dental services to homeless patients.

The oral health conditions of the homeless in downtown Los Angeles.

The aim of this study is to evaluate a community health project serving the homeless and to assess their oral health. Clinical charts of 1,088 patients were evaluated. The prevalence of untreated caries was 58 percent among adults with a mean of 6.

Gene clusters, molecular evolution and disease: a speculation.

Traditionally eukaryotic genes are considered independently expressed under the control of their promoters and cis-regulatory domains. However, recent studies in worms, flies, mice and humans have shown that genes co-habiting a chromatin domain or "genomic neighborhood" are frequently co-expressed. Often these co-expressed genes neither constitute part of an operon nor function within the same biological pathway.

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia: SMARCAL1 loss-of-function and phenotypic correlation.

Background: Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is an autosomal recessive pleiotropic disorder caused by mutations in SMARCAL1. SMARCAL1 encodes an enzyme with homology to the SNF2 chromatin remodelling proteins.

Methods: To assess the affect of SMARCAL1 mutations associated with SIOD on SMARCAL1 expression and function, we characterised the effects of various mutations on mRNA and protein expression in patient tissues and cell lines, and the ATPase activity, subcellular localisation, and chromatin binding of SMARCAL1 missense mutants.

Neurologic phenotype of Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia and neurodevelopmental expression of SMARCAL1.

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (OMIM 242900) is an uncommon autosomal-recessive multisystem disease caused by mutations in SMARCAL1 (swi/snf-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1), a gene encoding a putative chromatin remodeling protein. Neurologic manifestations identified to date relate to enhanced atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular disease. Based on a clinical survey, we determined that half of Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia patients have a small head circumference, and 15% have social, language, motor, or cognitive abnormalities.

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia: a cell autonomous disorder?

SMARCAL1 (SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like protein 1) encodes a SWI/SNF ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling protein. Mutations in SMARCAL1 cause the autosomal-recessive multisystem disorder Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD); this suggests that the SMARCAL1 protein is involved in the development or maintenance of multiple organs. Disease within these many tissues could arise by a cell autonomous or a cell non-autonomous mechanism.

Association of migraine-like headaches with Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia.

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is characterized by spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, nephropathy, and T-cell deficiency. SIOD is caused by mutations in the putative chromatin remodeling protein SMARCAL1. We report an 8-year-old boy with SIOD and recurrent, severe, refractory migraine-like headaches.

Advances in chromatin remodeling and human disease.

Epigenetic factors alter phenotype without changing genotype. A primary molecular mechanism underlying epigenetics is the alteration of chromatin structure by covalent DNA modifications, covalent histone modifications, and nucleosome reorganization. Remodeling of chromatin structure regulates DNA methylation, replication, recombination, and repair as well as gene expression.

Genome architecture catalyzes nonrecurrent chromosomal rearrangements.

To investigate the potential involvement of genome architecture in nonrecurrent chromosome rearrangements, we analyzed the breakpoints of eight translocations and 18 unusual-sized deletions involving human proximal 17p. Surprisingly, we found that many deletion breakpoints occurred in low-copy repeats (LCRs); 13 were associated with novel large LCR17p structures, and 2 mapped within an LCR sequence (middle SMS-REP) within the Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) common deletion. Three translocation breakpoints involving 17p11 were found to be located within the centromeric alpha-satellite sequence D17Z1, three within a pericentromeric segment, and one at the distal SMS-REP.

Protein kinase C regulation of cell spreading in the molluscan Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic (Bge) cell line.

Cellular adhesion and spreading are critical components involved in the processes of cell and tissue development, and immune responses in molluscs, but at present, little is known regarding the signaling pathways involved in these basic cellular functions. In the present study, the molluscan Biomphalaria glabrata embryonic (Bge) cell line was used as an in vitro model to study the signal transduction pathways regulating molluscan cell adhesion and spreading behavior. Western blot analysis using antibodies specific to mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) revealed the presence of an MAPK-like immunoreactive protein in Bge cells, that was phosphorylated upon exposure to phorbol myristate acetate (PMA).

Application of USAF G-suit technology for clinical orthostatic hypotension: a case study.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a USAF anti-gravity suit (G-suit) on the stability of a patient with chronic orthostatic hypotension.

Methods: A 37-yr-old female with a history of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and symptomatic orthostasis was evaluated and the results were compared with those of non-diabetic controls, matched for age, height, and weight. Cardiac vagal tone was assessed by determination of standard deviation of 100 R-R intervals (R-R SD).

[Mitral insufficiency after mitral balloon-catheter valvuloplasty: its incidence, predictive factors and prognosis].

From October 1991 to October 1993, a total of 205 patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis (178 female, 27 male, mean age 38 years, range 17-72) underwent percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC), 138 with the Inoue balloon and 67 with double balloon-catheter techniques. Mitral regurgitation (MR) was detected in 10% of the cases prior to the procedure, and 37% after PTMC (p < 0.05), grade I in 45 patients (22%), grade II in 24 (12%), grade III in 4 (2%), and grade IV in 3 (1.

[Retrograde jejuno-gastric invagination as a complication of gastric surgery].

A review of the world's medical literature concerning retrograde jejunal-gastric invagination reveals that it is a very unusual complication. It is sometimes seen following gastric surgery and presents with the clinical picture of a high intestinal occlusion. From the clinical point of view the diagnosis is difficult but the radiologic study with contrast medium is always useful.