Dopamine mediates context-dependent modulation of sensory plasticity in C. elegans.

Dopamine has been implicated in the modulation of diverse forms of behavioral plasticity, including appetitive learning and addiction. An important challenge is to understand how dopamine's effects at the cellular level alter the properties of neural circuits to modify behavior. In the nematode C.

Validation of emergency physician ultrasound in diagnosing hydronephrosis in ureteric colic.

Objective: Patients presenting to the ED with obstructive nephropathies benefit from early detection of hydronephrosis. Out of hours radiological imaging is expensive and disruptive to arrange. Emergency physician ultrasound (EPU) could allow rapid diagnosis and disposition.

Ultrasonic characterization of whole cells and isolated nuclei.

High frequency ultrasound imaging (20 to 60 MHz) is increasingly being used in small animal imaging, molecular imaging and for the detection of structural changes during cell and tissue death. Ultrasonic tissue characterization techniques were used to measure the speed of sound, attenuation coefficient and integrated backscatter coefficient for (a) acute myeloid leukemia cells and corresponding isolated nuclei, (b) human epithelial kidney cells and corresponding isolated nuclei, (c) multinucleated human epithelial kidney cells and d) human breast cancer cells. The speed of sound for cells varied from 1522 to 1535 m/s, while values for nuclei were lower, ranging from 1493 to 1514 m/s.

Nucleus accumbens PKA inhibition blocks acquisition but enhances expression of amphetamine-produced conditioned activity in rats.

Rationale: The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays a central role in dopamine-produced reward-related learning. In previous studies, the cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase (PKA) inhibitor Rp-Cyclic 3',5'-hydrogen phosphorothioate adenosine triethylammonium salt (Rp-cAMPS) blocked the acquisition but not expression of NAc reward-related learning for natural rewards and the acquisition of psychostimulant drug conditioning.

Objectives: The current study assessed the role of PKA in the expression of NAc amphetamine (amph)-produced conditioning using conditioned activity (CA).

Prospective study to evaluate the influence of FAST on trauma patient management.

Background: Previous studies have concentrated on the accuracy of Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST), but evaluation of whether FAST changes subsequent management has not been fully assessed.

Methods: This prospective study compared 419 trauma admissions in two groups, FAST and no-FAST, for demographics, time of resuscitation, and action after resuscitation. The 194 patients undergoing FAST had their management plan specified before, and confirmed after, FAST was performed to assess for change in management.

The measurement of low levels of factor VIII or factor IX in hemophilia A and hemophilia B plasma by clot waveform analysis and thrombin generation assay.

Background: Precise assessment of clotting function is essential for monitoring of hemostatic treatment for hemophilias A and B.

Materials And Methods: Clot waveform analysis and thrombin generation assays were performed on factor (F) VIII- and FIX-deficient plasmas, which had been reconstituted with known amounts of recombinant FVIII (rFVIII) and affinity-purified FIX respectively. Clot waveforms were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively by measuring the parameters clotting time, maximum coagulation velocity (Min1), and maximum coagulation acceleration (Min2).

Monitoring structural changes in cells with high-frequency ultrasound signal statistics.

We investigate the use of signal envelope statistics to monitor and quantify structural changes during cell death using an in vitro cell model. Using a f/2.35 transducer (center frequency 20 MHz), ultrasound backscatter data were obtained from pellets of acute myeloid leukemia cells treated with a DNA-intercolating chemotherapy drug, as well as from pellets formed with mixtures of treated and untreated cells.

Imaging of photodynamically generated singlet oxygen luminescence in vivo.

We describe a novel scanning-laser system for imaging type-II photodynamically generated singlet oxygen (1O2[1delta(g)]) luminescence and demonstrate it in vivo in an intradermal tumor model in mice. We verify the strong oxygen-dependence of the signal and show that the images are near the practical resolution limit.

Efficacy of auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation for cure of hemophilia in a canine hemophilia A model.

Metabolic liver disease can be cured by orthotopic liver transplantation. Some successful cases of whole or partial liver transplantation have been reported. Because liver function in these recipients is normal save for the production of the responsive metabolic factor, auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) may produce a benefit.

Preclinical experiment of auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation as a curative treatment for hemophilia.

The cause of hemophilia is deficiency of coagulation factor VIII production in the liver, which can be cured by liver transplantation. Because the hepatic function of hemophilia patients is quite normal except for production of factor VIII, auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) is beneficial in that patient survival is secured by preserving native liver even in the event of graft loss. However, it is not known whether the graft of APOLT would be enough to cure hemophilia.

High-frequency ultrasound for monitoring changes in liver tissue during preservation.

Currently the only method to assess liver preservation injury is based on liver appearance and donor medical history. Previous work has shown that high-frequency ultrasound could detect ischemic cell death due to changes in cell morphology. In this study, we use high-frequency ultrasound integrated backscatter to assess liver damage in experimental models of liver ischemia.

A Foucaultian approach to menstrual practices in the Dehcho Region, Northwest Territories, Canada.

In this paper, I explore the benefits of using a Foucaultian approach to examine research questions related to Dene women, menstrual traditions, and physical practices (the term physical practices is here used to encompass the contested terms sport, recreation, traditional games, and physical activity) in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. While it is clear that Indigenous research frameworks have been marginalized in past research projects, this paper argues that the current approach of using almost exclusively Indigenous frameworks when conducting research with Indigenous communities has several drawbacks and relies on some troubling assumptions. After outlining the strengths of a Foucaultian approach, examples derived from fieldwork in the Dehcho region are used to illustrate the ways in which a Foucaultian approach can be operationalized, while also demonstrating the ways in which such an approach to research can complement Indigenous research frameworks and agendas.

Increased brain tumor resection using fluorescence image guidance in a preclinical model.

Background And Objectives: Fluorescence image-guided brain tumor resection is thought to assist neurosurgeons by visualizing those tumor margins that merge imperceptibly into normal brain tissue and, hence, are difficult to identify. We compared resection completeness and residual tumor, determined by histopathology, after white light resection (WLR) using an operating microscope versus additional fluorescence guided resection (FGR).

Study Design/materials And Methods: We employed an intracranial VX2 tumor in a preclinical rabbit model and a fluorescence imaging/spectroscopy system, exciting and detecting the fluorescence of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) induced endogenously by administering 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) at 4 hours before surgery.

Effectiveness of factor VIII infusions in haemophilia A patients with high responding inhibitors.

We report here the efficacy of factor VIII (FVIII) infusions in two haemophiliacs with inhibitors using clot waveform analysis on the MDA II system, which was possible to detect very low levels of FVIII activity < 1.0 U dL(-1). In the presence of type 1 inhibitors at the level of 6.

An abnormal activated partial thromboplastin time clotting waveform is associated with high mortality and a procoagulant state.

We studied the associations of a biphasic waveform identified in 61 consecutive patients by activated partial thromboplastin times performed with an MDA 180 coagulation analyzer (bioMérieux Inc., Durham, NC, USA). The patients were encountered in a wide range of locations, including medical and surgical services, emergency and outpatient departments, and intensive care unit.

Carers' expressed emotion, appraisal of behavioural problems and stress in children attending schools for learning disabilities.

Background: Expressed emotion (EE) has been found to be high in families with children suffering from conduct disorder as well as a variety of childhood psychiatric disorders. Expressed emotion has been associated with high levels of stress in carers. However, behavioural problems in children do not automatically lead to stress in carers.

Lipoprotein-complexed C-reactive protein and the biphasic transmittance waveform in critically ill patients.

The 'biphasic transmittance waveform' (BTW) refers to a decrease in light transmittance that often occurs prior to clotting in coagulation assays of critically ill patient plasmas. It correlates with disseminated intravascular coagulation and mortality. The present work shows that the BTW is due to the rapid formation of a precipitate and a coincident change in turbidity in re-calcified plasma.

Effects of short-term irradiation on photoinhibition and accumulation of mycosporine-like amino acids in sun and shade species of the red algal genus Porphyra.

The effect of irradiance (40 and 840 micromol photons m(-2) s(-1)) of short-term (48 h) irradiation on photosynthetic activity (estimated as oxygen evolution and as chlorophyll fluorescence), specific absorption and fluorescence excitation spectra, photosynthetic pigment accumulation (chlorophyll a and biliproteins) and UV-absorbing compounds (mycosporine-like amino acids, MAAs) was investigated in sun and shade species of the red algal genus Porphyra collected in Trondheimsfjord (Norway). In the sun type, high irradiance exposure (840 micromol photons m(-2) s(-1)) did not alter the Chl a concentration, however, exposure to a lower irradiance (40 micromol photons m(-2) s(-1)) for 48 h significantly increased the chlorophyll concentration. The content of MAAs was significantly higher in the suntype than in the shade type algae.