School-Based Telemedicine for Hypertension Management in Urban Adolescents.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to determine if hypertensive adolescents from impoverished neighborhoods in Rochester, New York have improved blood pressure (BP) control with the use of school-based telemedicine.

Methods: Adolescents receiving antihypertensive medication had monthly study telemedicine visits at school. BP was measured by a telehealth clinical assistant (CTA) at the school using standard procedures, followed in real time by a teleconferencing visit with the study physician.

Nonlinear Mixed-Effect Pharmacokinetic Modeling and Distribution of Doxycycline in Healthy Female Donkeys after Multiple Intragastric Dosing-Preliminary Investigation.

Doxycycline (DXC) is a broad-spectrum antibacterial antimicrobial administered to horses for the treatment of bacterial infections which may also affect donkeys. Donkeys have a different metabolism than horses, leading to differences in the pharmacokinetics of drugs compared to horses. This study aimed to describe the population pharmacokinetics of DXC in donkeys.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Childhood Primary Hypertension: Potential in the Study of Cognitive Outcomes.

Primary hypertension in youth and young adulthood is associated with decreased neurocognitive test performance both in midlife and during youth itself, leading to concern of subsequent cognitive decline and dementia in later life. The early vascular effects of hypertension in youth are likely involved in the pathogenesis of hypertensive target organ damage to the brain, but the potential impact of antihypertensive treatment from youth on subsequent cognitive health is not known. This review will highlight the need to answer the question of whether treatment of hypertension from early in life would slow cognitive decline in adulthood, and will then outline, for the nonneurologist, magnetic resonance imaging techniques potentially useful in the study of the pathogenesis of decreased cognition in hypertensive youth and for use as potential biomarkers for early antihypertensive treatment interventions.

Effect of a short pre-anesthetic fast on arterial blood gas values in isoflurane-anesthetized donkeys.

This study compared arterial blood gas parameters in anesthetized adult donkeys after a 5-hour fast ( = 22) or no fast ( = 21). Donkeys were premedicated with xylazine, induced to anesthesia with ketamine and diazepam or midazolam, and maintained with isoflurane in oxygen while breathing spontaneously and positioned in lateral recumbency. Sampling occurred approximately 25 minutes after induction.

Induction of anesthesia and recovery in donkeys sedated with xylazine: a comparison of midazolam-alfaxalone and midazolam-ketamine.

Objective: To compare the induction and recovery characteristics and selected cardiopulmonary variables of midazolam-alfaxalone or midazolam-ketamine in donkeys sedated with xylazine.

Study Design: Randomized, blinded, crossover experimental trial.

Animals: A group of seven adult male castrated donkeys weighing 164 ± 14 kg.

A Method for Functional Task Alignment Analysis of an Arthrocentesis Simulator.

Introduction: During simulation-based education, simulators are subjected to procedures composed of a variety of tasks and processes. Simulators should functionally represent a patient in response to the physical action of these tasks. The aim of this work was to describe a method for determining whether a simulator does or does not have sufficient functional task alignment (FTA) to be used in a simulation.

Degree of corneal anesthesia after topical application of 0.4% oxybuprocaine ophthalmic solution in normal equids.

Oxybuprocaine hydrochloride ophthalmic solution has been widely used off-label in horses and donkeys, despite lack of data demonstrating efficacy and safety in these species. The objective of this study was to assess anesthetic efficacy of 0.4% oxybuprocaine hydrochloride ophthalmic solution in horses ( = 5) and donkeys ( = 24) and compare the effects with 0.

Cardiovascular effects of ozone in healthy subjects with and without deletion of glutathione-S-transferase M1.

Context: Exposure to ozone has acute respiratory effects, but few human clinical studies have evaluated cardiovascular effects.

Objective: We hypothesized that ozone exposure alters pulmonary and systemic vascular function, and cardiac function, with more pronounced effects in subjects with impaired antioxidant defense from deletion of the glutathione-S-transferase M1 gene (GSTM1 null).

Methods: Twenty-four young, healthy never-smoker subjects (12 GSTM1 null) inhaled filtered air, 100 ppb ozone and 200 ppb ozone for 3 h, with intermittent exercise, in a double-blind, randomized, crossover fashion.

Inhalation of ultrafine carbon particles alters heart rate and heart rate variability in people with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Diabetes may confer an increased risk for the cardiovascular health effects of particulate air pollution, but few human clinical studies of air pollution have included people with diabetes. Ultrafine particles (UFP, ≤100 nm in diameter) have been hypothesized to be an important component of particulate air pollution with regard to cardiovascular health effects.

Methods: 17 never-smoker subjects 30-60 years of age, with stable type 2 diabetes but otherwise healthy, inhaled either filtered air (0-10 particles/cm3) or elemental carbon UFP (~107 particles/cm3, ~50 ug/m3, count median diameter 32 nm) by mouthpiece, for 2 hours at rest, in a double-blind, randomized, crossover study design.

Effects of outdoor air pollutants on platelet activation in people with type 2 diabetes.

Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that increases in exposure to ambient air pollution are associated with platelet activation and formation of circulating tissue factor-expressing microparticles. We studied 19 subjects with type 2 diabetes, without clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease, who had previously participated in a human clinical study of exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP).

Vascular effects of ultrafine particles in persons with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Diabetes confers an increased risk for cardiovascular effects of airborne particles.

Objective: We hypothesized that inhalation of elemental carbon ultrafine particles (UFP) would activate blood platelets and vascular endothelium in people with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial, 19 subjects with type 2 diabetes inhaled filtered air or 50 µg/m³ elemental carbon UFP (count median diameter, 32 nm) by mouthpiece for 2 hr at rest.

DNA and polylysine adsorption and multilayer construction onto cationic lipid-coated microbubbles.

We report on a novel application of the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly technique to attach multiple layers of DNA and poly-l-lysine (PLL) onto preformed lipid-coated microbubbles to increase the DNA loading capacity. We first measured the effects of the cationic lipid fraction and salt concentration on the microbubble stability. Microbubble production and stability were robust up to a cationic lipid fraction of 40 mol % in 10 mM NaCl.

Acoustically-active microbubbles conjugated to liposomes: characterization of a proposed drug delivery vehicle.

A new acoustically-active delivery vehicle was developed by conjugating liposomes and microbubbles, using the high affinity interaction between avidin and biotin. Binding between microbubbles and liposomes, each containing 5% DSPE-PEG2kBiotin, was highly dependent on avidin concentration and observed above an avidin concentration of 10 nM. With an optimized avidin and liposome concentration, we measured and calculated as high as 1000 to 10,000 liposomes with average diameters of 200 and 100 nm, respectively, attached to each microbubble.

Phospholipid vesicles increase the survival of freeze-dried human red blood cells.

In a previous report [Z. Török, G. Satpathy, M.

Loading red blood cells with trehalose: a step towards biostabilization.

A method for freeze-drying red blood cells (RBCs) while maintaining a high degree of viability has important implications in blood transfusion and clinical medicine. The disaccharide trehalose, found in animals capable of surviving dehydration can aid in this process. As a first step toward RBC preservation, we present a method for loading RBCs with trehalose.