Morphologic effects of in vivo acute exposure to the pesticide methoprene on the hepatopancreas of a non-target organism, Homarus americanus.

Methoprene is a pesticide widely used for mosquito control. It is an endocrine disruptor, acting as an analog of juvenile hormone. While targeting insect larvae, it also impacts non-target animals including crustaceans.

E-portfolio competency metadata: pilot study for a call to action.

The six competency domains required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) have led to a proliferation of measurement tools, assessment methods, and all forms of data from paper to electronic. The need exists to develop a standardized electronic (e)-portfolio to provide the aggregate data to improve education and patient care. This process requires a sound methodology using XML metadata to allow portability of e-portfolio data.

Chemopreventive effects of β-ionone and geraniol during rat hepatocarcinogenesis promotion: distinct actions on cell proliferation, apoptosis, HMGCoA reductase, and RhoA.

Chemopreventive activities of the dietary isoprenoids β-ionone (βI) and geraniol (GOH) were evaluated during the promotion phase of hepatocarcinogenesis. Over 5 consecutive weeks, rats received daily 16 mg/100 g body weight (b.w.

Water extracts of cabbage and kale inhibit ex vivo H(2)O(2)-induced DNA damage but not rat hepatocarcinogenesis.

The chemopreventive potential of water extracts of the Brassica vegetables cabbage and kale was evaluated by administering their aqueous extracts in drinking water ad libitum to Wistar rats submitted to Ito's hepatocarcinogenesis model (CB group and K group, respectively - 14 rats per group). Animals submitted to this same model and treated with water were used as controls (W group - 15 rats). Treatment with the vegetable extracts did not inhibit (P > 0.

Synthesis of mono-ADP-ribosylated oligopeptides using ribosylated amino acid building blocks.

Adenosine diphosphate ribosylation (ADP-ribosylation) is a widely occurring post-translational modification of proteins at nucleophilic side chains of amino acid residues, such as asparagine, glutamic acid, and arginine. Elucidation of the biological role of ADP-ribosylation events would benefit from the availability of well-defined ADP-ribosylated peptides. Main issues in the construction of synthetic ADP-ribosylated peptides involve the availability of protected ribosylated amino acids suitable for peptide synthesis, development of a protective group strategy for peptide fragments compatible with the integrity of the adenosine diphosphate moiety, and an efficient procedure for pyrophosphate formation.

Evaluation of academic detailing for primary care physician dementia education.

The objective of this evaluation study was to assess the effect of academic detailing (AcD) as a strategy to increase early detection of dementia in primary care practice and to improve support and management of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders by increasing communication and referrals to local community agencies. As designed for dementia education, AcD consisted of 15-minute educational sessions delivered in primary care practice offices. Twenty-nine visits were conducted by trained teams comprised of a physician and representatives of the Alzheimer's Association (AA) and Area Agency on Aging (AAA).

What ring tone should be used for patient safety? Early results with a Blackberry-based telementoring safety solution.

Objective: Technology currently exists for the application of remote guidance in the laparoscopic operating suite. However, these solutions are costly and require extensive preparation and reconfiguration of current hardware. We propose a solution from existing technology, to send video of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to the Blackberry Pearl device (RIM Waterloo, ON, Canada) for remote guidance purposes.

Management of acute otitis media after publication of the 2004 AAP and AAFP clinical practice guideline.

Objectives: Observation without initial antibiotic therapy was accepted as an option for acute otitis media (AOM) management in the 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians clinical practice guideline. The guideline also recommended amoxicillin as the first-line treatment for most children, and analgesic treatment to reduce pain if it was present. Our objective was to compare the management of AOM after publication of the 2004 guideline.

A randomized trial of increased intravenous hydration in labor when oral fluid is unrestricted.

Background And Objectives: Increased intravenous (IV) hydration is associated with decreased labor duration and oxytocin augmentation in nulliparous women when oral fluid is restricted. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increased IV hydration on the duration of labor when access to oral fluid was unrestricted.

Methods: Term, nulliparous women with uncomplicated singleton pregnancies were randomly assigned to receive lactated ringers at 250 ml per hour (IV fluid group) throughout active labor or usual care.

Observing the spread of common illnesses through a community: using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for surveillance.

Background: The recent implementation of electronic medical record systems allows for the development of systems to track common illness across a defined community. With the threats of bioterrorism and pandemic illness, syndromic surveillance methodologies have become an important area of study. There has been limited study of the application of syndromic surveillance techniques to communities for tracking common illnesses to improve health system resource allocation and inform communities.

Locked chromophore analogs reveal that photoactive yellow protein regulates biofilm formation in the deep sea bacterium Idiomarina loihiensis.

Idiomarina loihiensis is a heterotrophic deep sea bacterium with no known photobiology. We show that light suppresses biofilm formation in this organism. The genome of I.

Prokaryotic phototaxis.

Microorganisms have various mechanisms at their disposal to react to (changes in) their ambient light climate (i.e., intensity, color, direction, and degree of polarization).

Determinants of success and failure of seromuscular colocystoplasty lined with urothelium.

Purpose: Seromuscular colocystoplasty lined with urothelium is a method of bladder augmentation that avoids incorporating intestinal mucosa into the urinary tract. Others have reported a repeat augmentation rate of 23%. We analyzed the results in 20 patients who underwent the procedure, as performed by one of us (RG), at 3 institutions.

Long-term followup (37 to 69 years) in patients with bladder exstrophy treated with ureterosigmoidostomy: psychosocial and psychosexual outcomes.

Purpose: We describe the long-term psychosocial and sexual outcomes of patients born with bladder exstrophy treated with ureterosigmoidostomy at our institution.

Materials And Methods: Of 42 patients born with bladder exstrophy between 1937 and 1968, 28 were located, of whom 25 agreed to participate in this study. Evaluation consisted of studying pediatric and adult medical records, medical examination, and reports of sexual and social history.

Trends in prenatal cares settings: association with medical liability.

Background: Medical liability concerns centered around maternity care have widespread public health implications, as restrictions in physician scope of practice may threaten quality of and access to care in the current climate. The purpose of this study was to examine national trends in prenatal care settings based on medical liability climate.

Methods: Analysis of prenatal visits in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 1997 to 2004 (N = 21,454).

Improving maternal care with a continuous quality improvement strategy: a report from the Interventions to Minimize Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants through Continuous Improvement Techniques (IMPLICIT) Network.

Background: Maternal medical care (prenatal and postpartum) involves a set of clinical interventions addressing risk factors associated with important maternal and infant outcomes. Programs to increase the rate of delivery of these interventions in clinical practice have not been widely implemented.

Methods: A practice-based research network focused on developing continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes for maternal care among 10 family medicine residency training sites in the northeastern United States (the IMPLICIT Network) from January 2003 through September 2007.

Trends in broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing for children with acute otitis media in the United States, 1998-2004.

Background: Overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics is associated with antibiotic resistance. Acute otitis media (AOM) is responsible for a large proportion of antibiotics prescribed for US children. Rates of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing for AOM are unknown.

Evaluation of DNA damage by the alkaline comet assay of the olfactory and respiratory epithelia of dogs from the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Animals kept as pets may be considered sentinels for environmental factors to which humans could be exposed. Olfactory and respiratory epithelia are directly subjected to airborne factors, which could cause DNA lesions, and the alkaline comet assay is considered a reliable tool for the assessment of DNA damage. The objective of this work is to evaluate the extent of DNA damage by the comet assay of the olfactory and respiratory epithelia of dogs from different regions of the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

The effect of the breeding season, cryopreservation and physiological extender on selected sperm and semen parameters of four ferret species: implications for captive breeding in the endangered black-footed ferret.

In the present investigation, comparative baseline information on selected sperm characteristics of ejaculate spermatozoa of the domestic (Mustela putorius furo), fitch (Mustela sp.) and black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) and the Siberian polecat (Mustela eversmanni) are presented. The main emphasis was to establish differences and similarities among these species in relation to semen and sperm quality during the breeding season, in cryopreservation success and in supporting sperm motility in different extenders or physiological media.

Validation of lower limb surrogates as injury assessment tools in floor impacts due to anti-vehicular land mines.

The aim of this study was to assess the ability of lower limb surrogates to predict injury due to floor/foot plate impact in military vehicles during anti-vehicular land mine explosions. Testing was conducted using two loading conditions simulated to represent those conditions created in the field. The lower condition was represented by a 24-kg mass impactor with a velocity of 4.

[Antidote against local anaesthetic intoxication: new use of lipid emulsion for intravenous administration].

Local anaesthetics are routinely used for several indications, but despite local administration their use may lead to systemic toxicity. The symptoms include numbness of the tongue, dizziness, tinnitus, visual disturbances, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma, and respiratory and cardiac arrest. Recently, an intravenous lipid emulsion was reported to act as a novel potential antidote for systemic toxicity due to local anaesthetics.

Retroperitoneoscopically assisted repair of an abdominoscrotal hydrocele.

We present a 2-month-old boy with a primary obstructive megaureter and a giant abdominoscrotal hydrocele (ASH) on the left side. The ASH was initially misdiagnosed as a fornix rupture with infrarenal urinoma, but clinical and radiological examination led to the right diagnosis. Retroperitoneoscopically assisted mobilization combined with the inguinal approach allowed the successful resection of this large ASH.

Beating heart valve surgery using stentless xenografts as a surgical alternative for patients with end-stage renal failure.

Patients suffering from end-stage renal disease are an inhomogeneous high-risk group with a substantial perioperative mortality and morbidity when undergoing cardiac surgical procedures[1-3]. Myocardial ischemia, reperfusion injury and myocardial edema are a few of the deleterious consequences of the traditional use of cardioplegic arrest when performing valve surgery,irrespective of the type of cardioplegia used [4-7]. Novel operative techniques are required to reduce these induced perioperative risks.

A versatile one-pot procedure to phosphate monoesters and pyrophosphates using di(p-methoxybenzyl)-N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite.

A one-pot procedure for the preparation of phosphoramidates, phosphorothioates, pyrophosphates, phosphodiesters, and phosphofluoridates has been devised using di(p-methoxybenzyl)-N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite as the common phosphitylating reagent.