COPD and asthma therapeutics for supportive treatment in organophosphate poisoning.

Nerve agents like sarin or VX have repeatedly been used in military conflicts or homicidal attacks, as seen in Syria or Malaysia 2017. Together with pesticides, nerve agents assort as organophosphorus compounds (OP), which inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. To counteract subsequent fatal symptoms due to acetylcholine (ACh) accumulation, oximes plus atropine are administered, a regimen that lacks efficacy in several cases of OP poisoning.

Inflammation and Monocyte Recruitment due to Aging and Mechanical Stretch in Alveolar Epithelium are Inhibited by the Molecular Chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate.

Introduction: Ventilator-Induced lung injury (VILI) is a form of acute lung injury that is initiated or exacerbated by mechanical ventilation. The aging lung is also more susceptible to injury. Harmful mechanical stretch of the alveolar epithelium is a recognized mechanism of VILI, yet little is known about how mechanical stretch affects aged epithelial cells.

Red blood cell phenotype fidelity following glycerol cryopreservation optimized for research purposes.

Intact red blood cells (RBCs) are required for phenotypic analyses. In order to allow separation (time and location) between subject encounter and sample analysis, we developed a research-specific RBC cryopreservation protocol and assessed its impact on data fidelity for key biochemical and physiological assays. RBCs drawn from healthy volunteers were aliquotted for immediate analysis or following glycerol-based cryopreservation, thawing, and deglycerolization.

Microparticle discrimination using laser feedback interferometry.

In this work, we present a method to discriminate between different microparticle sizes in mixed flowing media based on laser feedback interferometry, which could ultimately form the basis for a small, low-cost, real-time microembolus detector. We experimentally evaluated the performance of the system using microparticle phantoms, and the system achieved approximately 45% positive predictive value and better than 98% negative predictive value in the detection and classification of abnormally large particles.

Double-buffered, heterogeneous CPU + GPU integral digestion algorithm for single-excitation calculations involving a large number of excited states.

The most widely used quantum-chemical models for excited states are single-excitation theories, a category that includes configuration interaction with single substitutions, time-dependent density functional theory, and also a recently developed ab initio exciton model. When a large number of excited states are desired, these calculations incur a significant bottleneck in the "digestion" step in which two-electron integrals are contracted with density or density-like matrices. We present an implementation that moves this step onto graphical processing units (GPUs), and introduce a double-buffer scheme that minimizes latency by computing integrals on the central processing units (CPUs) concurrently with their digestion on the GPUs.

Effects of platelet dysfunction and platelet transfusion on outcomes in traumatic brain injury patients.

Objective: Platelet inhibition in traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be due to injury or antiplatelet medication use pre-injury. This study aims to identify factors associated with increased platelet arachidonic acid (AA) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) inhibition and determine if platelet transfusion reduces platelet dysfunction and affects outcome.

Methods: Prospective thromboelastography (TEG) assays were collected on adult patients with TBI with intracranial injuries detected by computed tomography (CT).

Sleep-dependent selective imitation in infants.

In adults, sleep selectively consolidates those memories that are relevant for future events. The present study tested whether napping after encoding plays a role in selective memory consolidation in infants. Infants aged 15 and 24 months (n = 48 per age) were randomly assigned to a nap or a no-nap demonstration condition, or a baseline control condition.

Effect of cholinergic crisis on the potency of different emergency anaesthesia protocols in soman-poisoned rats.

Background: In a military or terrorist scenario, combination of organophosphorus compounds (OP) poisoning with physical trauma requiring surgical treatment and thus general anaesthesia are possible. Previous in vitro studies showed an altered potency of relevant anaesthetics during cholinergic crisis. Hence, it is not clear, which anaesthetics are suitable to achieve the necessary stage of surgical anaesthesia in OP poisoning.

A Simple Correction for Nonadditive Dispersion within Extended Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory (XSAPT).

Extended symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (XSAPT), in conjunction with empirical "+ aiD" potentials fit to ab initio dispersion data, is a low-scaling approach to compute intermolecular interaction energies in noncovalent clusters. One shortcoming is that the aiD atom-atom dispersion potentials are independent of the chemical environment of the atoms in question and therefore neglect nonadditive dispersion effects. These can be significant in large systems, so to account for them we test a simple correction to XSAPT(KS)+ aiD, where "KS" indicates the use of Kohn-Sham orbitals.

Regulation of tankyrase activity by a catalytic domain dimer interface.

Tankyrases (TNKS and TNKS2) are enzymes that catalyze poly-ADP-ribosylation (PARsylation) of their target proteins. Tankyrase-mediated PARsylation plays critical regulatory roles in cell signaling, particularly in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain in tankyrases mediates their oligomerization, which is essential for tankyrase function.

Quantum chemistry in arbitrary dielectric environments: Theory and implementation of nonequilibrium Poisson boundary conditions and application to compute vertical ionization energies at the air/water interface.

Widely used continuum solvation models for electronic structure calculations, including popular polarizable continuum models (PCMs), usually assume that the continuum environment is isotropic and characterized by a scalar dielectric constant, ε. This assumption is invalid at a liquid/vapor interface or any other anisotropic solvation environment. To address such scenarios, we introduce a more general formalism based on solution of Poisson's equation for a spatially varying dielectric function, ε(r).

In Silico Computational Transcriptomics Reveals Novel Endocrine Disruptors in Largemouth Bass ( Micropterus salmoides).

In recent years, decreases in fish populations have been attributed, in part, to the effect of environmental chemicals on ovarian development. To understand the underlying molecular events we developed a dynamic model of ovary development linking gene transcription to key physiological end points, such as gonadosomatic index (GSI), plasma levels of estradiol (E2) and vitellogenin (VTG), in largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides). We were able to identify specific clusters of genes, which are affected at different stages of ovarian development.

Testosterone, Cortisol and Financial Risk-Taking.

Both testosterone and cortisol have major actions on financial decision-making closely related to their primary biological functions, reproductive success and response to stress, respectively. Financial risk-taking represents a particular example of strategic decisions made in the context of choice under conditions of uncertainty. Such decisions have multiple components, and this article considers how much we know of how either hormone affects risk-appetite, reward value, information processing and estimation of the costs and benefits of potential success or failure, both personal and social.

Application of Machine Learning to Predict Dietary Lapses During Weight Loss.

Background: Individuals who adhere to dietary guidelines provided during weight loss interventions tend to be more successful with weight control. Any deviation from dietary guidelines can be referred to as a "lapse." There is a growing body of research showing that lapses are predictable using a variety of physiological, environmental, and psychological indicators.

Production and efficacy of a low-cost recombinant pneumococcal protein polysaccharide conjugate vaccine.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia. Although this is a vaccine preventable disease, S. pneumoniae still causes over 1 million deaths per year, mainly in children under the age of five.

Assessing effects of pressure on tumor and normal tissue physiology using an automated self-calibrated, pressure-sensing probe for diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) represents a quantitative, noninvasive, nondestructive means of assessing vascular oxygenation, vascularity, and structural properties. However, it is known that such measurements can be influenced by the effects of pressure, which is a major concern for reproducible and operator-independent assessment of tissues. Second, regular calibration is a necessary component of quantitative DRS to account for factors such as lamp decay and fiber bending.

Efficacy of Maternal Choline Supplementation During Pregnancy in Mitigating Adverse Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Growth and Cognitive Function: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: We recently demonstrated the acceptability and feasibility of a randomized, double-blind choline supplementation intervention for heavy drinking women during pregnancy. In this study, we report our results relating to the efficacy of this intervention in mitigating adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on infant growth and cognitive function.

Methods: Sixty-nine Cape Coloured (mixed ancestry) heavy drinkers in Cape Town, South Africa, recruited in mid-pregnancy, were randomly assigned to receive a daily oral dose of either 2 g of choline or placebo from time of enrollment until delivery.

An in vitro transepithelial migration assay to evaluate the role of neutrophils in Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) induced epithelial damage.

Large numbers of neutrophils migrate into the lungs of children with severe Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) disease. It is unclear how these cells contribute to viral clearance and recovery from infection or whether they contribute to disease pathology. We have developed a novel in vitro model to study neutrophil migration through airway epithelial cells (AECs), the main cellular target of RSV infection.

Atomic Orbital Implementation of Extended Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory (XSAPT) and Benchmark Calculations for Large Supramolecular Complexes.

We report an implementation of extended symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (XSAPT) in the atomic orbital basis, extending this method to systems where the monomers are large. In our "XSAPT(KS)" approach, monomers are described using range-separated Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT), with correct asymptotic behavior set by tuning the range-separation parameter ω in a monomer-specific way. This is accomplished either by conventional ionization potential (IP)-based tuning, in which ω is adjusted to satisfy the condition ε(ω) = -IP(ω), or else using a "global density-dependent" (GDD) condition, in which ω is fixed based on the size of the exchange hole.

Pediatric blunt cerebrovascular injury: the McGovern screening score.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) at a busy Level 1 trauma center and to develop a tool for accurately predicting pediatric BCVI and the need for diagnostic testing. METHODS This is a retrospective cohort study of a prospectively collected database of pediatric patients who had sustained blunt trauma (patient age range 0-15 years) and were treated at a Level 1 trauma center between 2005 and 2015. Digital subtraction angiography, MR angiography, or CT angiography was used to confirm BCVI.

Changes in infant visual attention when observing repeated actions.

Infants' early visual preferences for faces, and their observational learning abilities, are well-established in the literature. The current study examines how infants' attention changes as they become increasingly familiar with a person and the actions that person is demonstrating. The looking patterns of 12- (n = 61) and 16-month-old infants (n = 29) were tracked while they watched videos of an adult presenting novel actions with four different objects three times.

Self-consistent predictor/corrector algorithms for stable and efficient integration of the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation.

The "real time" formulation of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) involves integration of the time-dependent Kohn-Sham (TDKS) equation in order to describe the time evolution of the electron density following a perturbation. This approach, which is complementary to the more traditional linear-response formulation of TDDFT, is more efficient for computation of broad-band spectra (including core-excited states) and for systems where the density of states is large. Integration of the TDKS equation is complicated by the time-dependent nature of the effective Hamiltonian, and we introduce several predictor/corrector algorithms to propagate the density matrix, one of which can be viewed as a self-consistent extension of the widely used modified-midpoint algorithm.

Better Together? A Review of Evidence for Multi-Disciplinary Teams Responding to Physical and Sexual Child Abuse.

Multi-Disciplinary teams (MDTs) have often been presented as the key to dealing with a number of intractable problems associated with responding to allegations of physical and sexual child abuse. While these approaches have proliferated internationally, researchers have complained of the lack of a specific evidence base identifying the processes and structures supporting multi-disciplinary work and how these contribute to high-level outcomes. This systematic search of the literature aims to synthesize the existing state of knowledge on the effectiveness of MDTs.

Transesophageal Echocardiography Use in Diagnosis and Management of Embolized Intravascular Foreign Bodies.

The increasing use of endovascular interventions coupled with the large number of published case series detailing complications attest to the likelihood that anesthesiologists will encounter a case of intravascular foreign body embolization during their careers. Transesophageal echocardiography is essential to the diagnosis and management of traumatic and intravascular foreign bodies embolized to the heart because it can identify not only the foreign body but also hemodynamically significant lesions to radiolucent anatomic structures prior to and during surgical exploration. In this case presentation, we review how intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography facilitated the intraoperative assessment and management of a post-liver transplant patient who underwent open surgical removal of migrated inferior vena cava stent from the right ventricle with concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty.