Post-Operative Order Set Decreases Opioid Prescriptions and Increases Efficiency.

Background: Opioid addiction remains a public health crisis. We aimed to create an electronic medical record (EMR) based protocol to decrease post-operative prescribing of opioid medications and streamline the ordering process while maintaining adequate pain control.

Methods: An order set was created to minimize opioid prescriptions.

Testosterone replacement therapy and cardiovascular disease.

The use of testosterone therapy has a complex history of apprehension and questions regarding its safety. Despite an eventual consensus that testosterone therapy was safe and effective, several studies relating to cardiovascular risks emerged in the last decade, rekindling skepticism regarding the safety of testosterone therapy. Given the utility of testosterone therapy in treating the symptoms of hypogonadism, it remains crucial to closely examine the safety of testosterone therapy.

Evaluating incidence, prevalence, and treatment trends in adult men with hypogonadism in the United States.

No extensive studies have investigated current diagnosis and treatment trends of hypogonadism (HG) in adult men in the United States. Using a comprehensive commercial insurance database, we surveyed current trends in incidence, prevalence, and treatment of hypogonadism in the United States. We analyzed insurance claims data from 2008-2017 using the IBM MarketScan™ Commercial Claims and Encounters database for men ≥18.

Testosterone's Role in COVID-19.

COVID-19 consistently displays a higher mortality in males. This sex-specific difference in outcomes is seen not only in the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also in prior viral epidemics and pandemics. Sex hormones, such as testosterone, play a clear role in modulating the immune response, providing a clue that may illuminate the underpinnings of these outcomes.

Hypogonadism management and cardiovascular health.

In the early days of its use, testosterone therapy faced skepticism regarding its safety and efficacy. After a converging consensus that testosterone therapy was safe and effective for the treatment of hypogonadism, several recent studies showed adverse cardiovascular outcomes associated with testosterone treatment, ultimately resulting in a mandated FDA label warning about the unknown safety of testosterone therapy. Given the clear efficacy of testosterone therapy in the treatment of hypogonadism, establishing the safety of this therapeutic tool is essential.

Genetic basis of octanoic acid resistance in Drosophila sechellia: functional analysis of a fine-mapped region.

Drosophila sechellia is a species of fruit fly endemic to the Seychelles islands. Unlike its generalist sister species, D. sechellia has evolved to be a specialist on the host plant Morinda citrifolia.

Isolation of human embryonic stem cell-derived teratomas for the assessment of pluripotency.

This unit describes protocols on how to assess the developmental potency of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) by performing xenografting into immunodeficient mice to induce teratoma formation. hESCs can be injected under the testis capsule, or alternatively into the kidney or subcutaneously. Teratomas that develop from grafted hESCs are surgically removed, fixed in formaldehyde, and paraffin embedded.

Implementing the cities readiness initiative: lessons learned from Boston.

The federally funded Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) requires seamless federal, state, and local public health coordination to provide antibiotics to an entire city population within 48 hours of an aerosolized release of anthrax. We document practical lessons learned from the development and implementation of the Boston CRI plan. Key themes center on heightened emphasis on security, a new mass protection model of dispensing, neighborhood-centric clinic site selection, online training of Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, and the testing of operations through drills and exercises.

Modeling of frequency doubling and tripling with measured crystal spatial refractive-index nonuniformities.

Efficient frequency doubling and tripling are critical to the successful operation of inertial confinement fusion laser systems such as the National Ignition Facility currently being constructed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Omega laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. High-frequency conversion efficiency is strongly dependent on attainment of the phase-matching condition. In an ideal converter crystal, one can obtain the phase-matching condition throughout by angle tuning or temperature tuning of the crystal as a whole.

National Ignition Facility laser performance status.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world's largest laser system. It contains a 192 beam neodymium glass laser that is designed to deliver 1.8 MJ at 500 TW at 351 nm in order to achieve energy gain (ignition) in a deuterium-tritium nuclear fusion target.

Qualification of embryonal carcinoma 2102Ep as a reference for human embryonic stem cell research.

As the number of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines increases, so does the need for systematic evaluation of each line's characteristics and potential. Comparisons between lines are complicated by variations in culture conditions, feeders, spontaneous differentiation, and the absence of standardized assays. These difficulties, combined with the inability of most labs to maintain more than a few lines simultaneously, compel the development of reference standards to which hESC lines can be compared.

A molecular scheme for improved characterization of human embryonic stem cell lines.

Background: Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) offer a renewable source of a wide range of cell types for use in research and cell-based therapies to treat disease. Inspection of protein markers provides important information about the current state of the cells and data for subsequent manipulations. However, hESC must be routinely analyzed at the genomic level to guard against deleterious changes during extensive propagation, expansion, and manipulation in vitro.

Human embryonic stem cells have a unique epigenetic signature.

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells originate during an embryonic period of active epigenetic remodeling. DNA methylation patterns are likely to be critical for their self-renewal and pluripotence. We compared the DNA methylation status of 1536 CpG sites (from 371 genes) in 14 independently isolated hES cell lines with five other cell types: 24 cancer cell lines, four adult stem cell populations, four lymphoblastoid cell lines, five normal human tissues, and an embryonal carcinoma cell line.

Effect of multiple wavelengths on laser-induced damage in KH(2-x)DxPO4 crystals.

Laser-induced damage is a key factor that constrains the ways in which optical materials are used in high-power laser systems. We study the size and density of bulk laser-induced damage sites formed during frequency tripling in a DKDP crystal. The characteristics of the damage sites formed during tripling, for which 1053, 526, and 351 nm light is simultaneously present, are compared to those of damage sites formed by 351 nm light alone.

CD30 is a survival factor and a biomarker for transformed human pluripotent stem cells.

The application of human embryonic stem (hES) cells in regenerative medicine will require rigorous quality control measures to ensure the safety of hES cell-derived grafts. During propagation in vitro, hES cells can acquire cytogenetic abnormalities as well as submicroscopic genetic lesions, such as small amplifications or deletions. Many of the genetic abnormalities that arise in hES cell cultures are also implicated in human cancer development.

Characterization of a new NIH-registered variant human embryonic stem cell line, BG01V: a tool for human embryonic stem cell research.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) offer a renewable source of a wide range of cell types for use in research and cell-based therapies. Characterizing these cells provides important information about their current state and affords relevant details for subsequent manipulations. For example, identifying genes expressed during culture, as well as their temporal expression order after passaging and conditions influencing the formation of all three germ layers may be helpful for the production of functional beta islet cells used in treating type I diabetes.

Dopamine neurons derived from embryonic stem cells function in an animal model of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is a widespread condition caused by the loss of midbrain neurons that synthesize the neurotransmitter dopamine. Cells derived from the fetal midbrain can modify the course of the disease, but they are an inadequate source of dopamine-synthesizing neurons because their ability to generate these neurons is unstable. In contrast, embryonic stem (ES) cells proliferate extensively and can generate dopamine neurons.

Efficient generation of midbrain and hindbrain neurons from mouse embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are clonal cell lines derived from the inner cell mass of the developing blastocyst that can proliferate extensively in vitro and are capable of adopting all the cell fates in a developing embryo. Clinical interest in the use of ES cells has been stimulated by studies showing that isolated human cells with ES properties from the inner cell mass or developing germ cells can provide a source of somatic precursors. Previous studies have defined in vitro conditions for promoting the development of specific somatic fates, specifically, hematopoietic, mesodermal, and neurectodermal.

Transplanted CNS stem cells form functional synapses in vivo.

An understanding of developmental mechanisms and new cell therapies can be achieved by transplantation into the nervous system. Multipotential stem cells have been isolated from the foetal and adult central nervous system (CNS). Immortalized and primary precursor cells integrate into the developing brain generating both neurons and glia as defined by immunological and morphological criteria.

Reversible impairment of long-term potentiation in transgenic Cu/Zn-SOD mice.

Copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD) is a key enzyme in the metabolism of oxygen free radicals. The gene encoding CuZn-SOD resides on human chromosome 21 and is overexpressed in Down syndrome (DS) patients. Overexpression of CuZn-SOD in transgenic (Tg) mice and cultured cells creates chronic oxidative stress leading to enhanced susceptibility to degeneration and apoptotic cell death.