Understanding Misdemeanor Enforcement: The Roles of Calls for Service and Community Characteristics.

This study examines the roles of calls for service (i.e., police-related 911 calls) and community characteristics in explaining variation in enforcement rates for low-level, misdemeanor offenses, which make up the large majority of police enforcement activity.

The contribution of age structure to the international homicide decline.

Background: Since 1990, the world's homicide rate has declined by nearly 20%. While prior research has documented parallel homicide declines across many individual countries, the causes of a shared international homicide decline remain unknown. Drawing on a worldwide process of population ageing, and on research linking age to criminal activity, this study investigates the contribution of global demographic shifts to the international homicide decline.

Sildenafil increases muscle protein synthesis and reduces muscle fatigue.

Reductions in skeletal muscle function occur during the course of healthy aging as well as with bed rest or diverse diseases such as cancer, muscular dystrophy, and heart failure. However, there are no accepted pharmacologic therapies to improve impaired skeletal muscle function. Nitric oxide may influence skeletal muscle function through effects on excitation-contraction coupling, myofibrillar function, perfusion, and metabolism.

Early use of allograft skin: are 3-day microbiologic cultures safe?

Background: Under the guidance of the American Association of Tissue Banks and the Food and Drug Administration, the use of allograft skin is safer than ever. In addition to the donor selection process and serology studies, current practice is to wait until 7 days of negative microbiologic cultures are completed before use. However, we have used 3 days of negative cultures in special cases as needed for clinical use.

The effect of premedication with OTFC, with or without ondansetron, on postoperative agitation, and nausea and vomiting in pediatric ambulatory patients.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in the pediatric ambulatory surgical population, the efficacy of: (i) oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC), when given preoperatively, to reduce postoperative excitement associated with sevoflurane, and (ii) intravenous ondansetron to reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) associated with OTFC.

Methods: This randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled study evaluated the efficacy of OTFC [normal dose (ND) = 10-15 microg x kg(-1) or low dose = 100 microg] compared with placebo in the prevention of postoperative agitation; and the efficacy of ondansetron (0.1 mg x kg(-1) to 4 mg) compared with placebo to reduce PONV associated with OTFC.

Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation potentiates analgesic effect of morphine.

Pain is the major complaint of patients who choose acupuncture treatment. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) provides a safe, standardized technique without needle insertion. TEAS can be tested with the cold-pressor test, a simple, reliable, and widely used model in humansfor the induction of tonic pain.

Use of the BIS monitor to detect onset of naturally occurring sleep.

Objectives: Inadvertent sleep episodes are a recognized complication of sleep deprivation. Although such events can be life threatening, no system currently exists to detect and prevent sleep onset. Because sleep shares electroencephalographic similarities with the anesthetized state, we hypothesized that the BIS monitor, a currently available EEG-based monitor of anesthetic depth, would detect the onset of physiologic sleep.