Experience and trust: the benefits of mate familiarity are realized through sex-specific specialization of parental roles in Cassin's auklet.

Maintaining a pair bond year after year (perennial monogamy) often enhances reproductive success, but what familiar pairs are doing differently to improve success is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that endocrine changes mediate improvements in parental attendance in known-age Cassin's auklets , for which we found limited evidence. Instead, we found sex-specific parental roles in familiar pairs.

Age, not growth, explains larger body size of Pacific cod larvae during recent marine heatwaves.

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are often associated with physiological changes throughout biological communities but can also result in biomass declines that correspond with shifts in phenology. We examined the response of larval Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) to MHWs in the Gulf of Alaska across seven years to evaluate the effects of MHWs on hatch phenology, size-at-age, and daily growth and identify potential regulatory mechanisms. Hatch dates were, on average, 19 days earlier since the onset of MHWs, shifting a mean of 15 days earlier per 1 ℃ increase.

Mental toughness and psychological performance skills in the operating room: Staff perceptions and implications for function and training.

The importance of psychological performance skills (mental toughness) is recognised in many mission-critical professions. Similar importance has been suggested for nursing. Survey data demonstrate that surgical staff believe that such skills exert significant influence on surgical excellence, surgical errors and on managing surgical emergencies.

Temperature shifts associated with bat arousals during hibernation inhibit the growth of .

Temperature is a critically important factor in many infectious disease systems, because it can regulate responses in both the host and the pathogen. White-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats is a severe infectious disease caused by the temperature-sensitive fungus, (). One feature of WNS is an increase in the frequency of arousal bouts (i.

Stratified coastal ocean interactions with tropical cyclones.

Hurricane-intensity forecast improvements currently lag the progress achieved for hurricane tracks. Integrated ocean observations and simulations during hurricane Irene (2011) reveal that the wind-forced two-layer circulation of the stratified coastal ocean, and resultant shear-induced mixing, led to significant and rapid ahead-of-eye-centre cooling (at least 6 °C and up to 11 °C) over a wide swath of the continental shelf. Atmospheric simulations establish this cooling as the missing contribution required to reproduce Irene's accelerated intensity reduction.

Treatments for common superficial fungal infections.

Fungal infection of keratinized tissue is caused by any of the dermatophyte species. The topical allylamines and benzylamines have been especially effective in treating these infections because of their in vitro fungicidal activity and short treatment duration. With the development of new oral azoles and allylamine antifungal agents, there has been a renewed interest in treating superficial skin fungal infections.

Using lasers in diabetic wound healing.

Lasers are a treatment choice that appeals to patients. Early research suggests that laser therapy may have a role in hastening wound healing. Attempts have been made to use helium neon, CO2, and KTP lasers in encouraging wound healing in diabetics.

No output or runaway?

A 75-year-old male was implanted with a Telectronics Meta DDDR model 1250 pacemaker 47 months ago. The patient was evaluated in-office for symptomatic complaints of dizziness, palpitations, and "too slow or too fast" pulse rates. Upon examination, the device displayed sudden no output manifestations for which the device had been recalled.

Activation times for "emergency backup" programs.

A bench study was performed on 42 different pulse generators (PGs) to evaluate the time required to actuate and "emergency backup" (EBU) program. PGs were programmed to loss of capture before the EBU programming key was activated. Activation times for the EBU pause were measured on an ECG strip from the first noncaptured beat to the first recaptured beat while the total pause was measured between the two captured beats.

A verified report of spurious programming: a case study.

A case of unintentional misprogramming is described in which a DDDR pacemaker, programmed to the VVIR mode, reverted to the originally programmed parameters and mode. The misprogramming requires that a particular sequence of steps be followed and has been verified by the manufacturer. This misprogramming may be clinically significant and can be reproduced in an entire family of current pacemakers based on the same software platform.

Analysis of the effectiveness of in-office and transtelephonic follow-up in terms of pacemaker system complications.

A study was undertaken to determine the most effective method of pacemaker follow-up in terms of the total number of complications detected and yield per follow-up in single and dual chamber pacing systems. The analysis involved 9,786 patient records from 635 patients. The records were reviewed with respect to method of follow-up, number of chambers paced, and complications detected.

Jamaican vomiting sickness in Toledo, Ohio.

The endemic illness of Jamaica known as ackee poisoning is reported for the first time in the United States. The toxic exposure resulted from the consumption of canned ackee. The epidemiology, diagnosis, theoretical mechanism, and possible therapy of this disease are discussed.

Performance of a 3.2-mm to 6-mm adaptor.

A study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of a 366-08 adaptor that adapts an in-line bipolar 3.2-mm connector to a 6-mm pulse generator connector. A total of 14 adaptors were implanted in individual patients.

Evaluation of an in-line bipolar polyurethane ventricular pacing lead.

A study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of the Medtronic 4012 polyurethane in-line bipolar pacing electrode. One hundred twenty six patients implanted with the 4012 lead were followed by our clinic with 116 of these leads implanted at our institution. Patients were followed a minimum of every 4 months.

Activation times for "emergency back-up" programs.

A bench study was performed on 34 different pulse generators to evaluate the time necessary to actuate an "emergency back-up" (EBU) program. Pacemakers were programmed to loss of capture before the EBU was activated. Two pauses were measured that included the total pause from captured beat to captured beat and the time from the first pacing artifact showing loss of capture to the first captured beat resulting from EBU activation.

The use of single sample clearance estimates to probe hepatic drug metabolism: handprinting the influence of cigarette smoking on human hepatic drug metabolism.

1. Conditions were examined under which estimates of drug clearance made from a single measurement of plasma concentration effectively represented multiple-sample estimates of clearance for quinidine, valproic acid, unbound valproic acid, and lorazepam. When plasma concentrations were measured at various post-dose times, both individual and mean values of single-sample clearance estimates, CL, corresponded closely to multiple-sample clearance estimates.

Comparison of low rate dual chamber pacing to activity responsive rate variable ventricular pacing.

A study was undertaken to evaluate exercise performance in 18 dual chamber pacemaker patients believed to be chronotropically incompetent. All patients were paced in a DDD AV synchronous mode at 80 beats per minute (beats/min) as well as an externally triggered, activity responsive VVIR mode. Patients underwent two single blind, randomized symptom-limited treadmill tests (Sheffield protocol).

Optimal dosing of phenytoin: an evaluation of the timing and appropriateness of serum level monitoring.

The appropriateness of all serum phenytoin concentrations measured at this 294-bed, tertiary care institution over a 7-week period were evaluated. Each serum level was determined to be justified or unjustified based on either pharmacokinetic or clinical criteria. A total of 234 serum levels were measured in 58 patients.

Cardiac blood pH as a possible indicator of postmortem interval.

Postmortem changes in the pH of blood and selected tissues in rats were evaluated at intervals ranging from 2 min to 96 h. Cardiac blood pH was significantly and reproducibly decreased in all groups at all postmortem intervals, independent of the method of sacrifice used. A preliminary study using cardiac blood obtained at autopsy from a limited number (n = 11) of human subjects demonstrated a significant negative correlation (r = -0.

Crosstalk during bipolar pacing.

Bipolar sensing pulse generators were thought to have eliminated crosstalk problems evident in unipolar systems. Crosstalk has been observed in the Model 284-02 bipolar sensing pacemakers. These intermittent problems were resolved by decreasing atrial output, decreasing ventricular sensitivity or increasing the ventricular blanking period.

Postmortem disposition of morphine in rats.

The antemortem and postmortem distribution of morphine was studied in rats for the purpose of establishing whether drug distribution is altered after death. Samples were examined for free and total morphine concentration, pH and water content at 0-96 h after death. Morphine was administered antemortem at various intervals.

Heroin, morphine, and hydromorphone determination in postmortem material by high performance liquid chromatography.

A procedure has been developed for the simultaneous determination of heroin, morphine, and hydromorphone from postmortem tissues by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using electrochemical detection. This method permits the direct determination of unmetabolized heroin from antemortem or postmortem urine as evidence of illegal drug use. Presumptive confirmation of heroin was based on the ability to hydrolyze the HPLC heroin fraction to morphine.