Oral cleft prevention program (OCPP).

Background: Oral clefts are one of the most common birth defects with significant medical, psychosocial, and economic ramifications. Oral clefts have a complex etiology with genetic and environmental risk factors. There are suggestive results for decreased risks of cleft occurrence and recurrence with folic acid supplements taken at preconception and during pregnancy with a stronger evidence for higher than lower doses in preventing recurrence.

Application of neurodevelopmental screening to a sample of South American infants: the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screener (BINS).

Objective: To evaluate the utility of the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screener (BINS), standardized in the US, for South American infants, 3-24 months of age.

Methods: Thirty-five physicians administered the BINS to 2471 South American infants recruited during routine well-child visits, 578 (23%) from Brazil and 1893 (77%) from six other South American countries. The BINS was translated into Spanish and Portuguese and participating physicians were trained to administer the BINS.

The effect of systematic pediatric care on neonatal mortality and hospitalizations of infants born with oral clefts.

Background: Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) increase mortality and morbidity risks for affected infants especially in less developed countries. This study aimed at assessing the effects of systematic pediatric care on neonatal mortality and hospitalizations of infants with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in South America.

Methods: The intervention group included live-born infants with isolated or associated CL/P in 47 hospitals between 2003 and 2005.

The National Institutes of Health and the growth of the zebrafish as an experimental model organism.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is a strong advocate of zebrafish and other animal model systems for biomedical and behavior research. In part because of strong funding support from NIH, zebrafish research is now providing fundamental insights into physiology, behavior, and the mechanisms of human disease. Over the past few years, the NIH has established a research infrastructure for the zebrafish community that includes genomic resources and tools for genetic analysis in this system.

Description of the methodology used in an ongoing pediatric care interventional study of children born with cleft lip and palate in South America [NCT00097149].

Background: The contribution of birth defects, including cleft lip and palate, to neonatal and infant mortality and morbidity is substantial. As other mortality and morbidity causes including infections, hygiene, prematurity, and nutrition are eradicated in less developed countries, the burden of birth defects will increase proportionally.

Methods/design: We are using cleft lip and palate as a sentinel birth defect to evaluate its burden on neonatal and infant health and to assess the effectiveness of systematic pediatric care during the first month and first two years of life in decreasing this burden.

Interactions between the foot and the head patterning systems in Hydra vulgaris.

The Cnidarian, hydra, is an appealing model system for studying the basic processes underlying pattern formation. Classical studies have elucidated much basic information regarding the role of development gradients, and theoretical models have been quite successful at describing experimental results. However, most experiments and computer simulations have dealt with isolated patterning events such as the dynamics of head regeneration.

Interactions between the foot and bud patterning systems in Hydra vulgaris.

In the freshwater coelenterate, hydra, asexual reproduction via budding occurs at the base of the gastric region about two-thirds of the distance from the head to the foot. Developmental gradients of head and foot activation and inhibition originating from these organizing centers have long been assumed to control budding in hydra. Much has been learned over the years about these developmental gradients and axial pattern formation, and in particular, the inhibitory influence of the head on budding is well documented.

The dynamics of head activation changes during proportioning in Hydra oligactis with altered head-body ratios.

Normal hydra head-body proportions were altered by axially grafting a second head in place of the lower body column. The resulting animals had double the head tissue and one-quarter the normal body column. Changes in the head activation potential of tissue subjacent to both heads were monitored by assaying the ability of these animals to regenerate heads.

Patterning of heads and feet during regeneration of Hydra oligactis aggregates.

The de novo appearance of head organizing centers was monitored during regeneration of aggregates made from dissociated body column tissue of Hydra oligactis using the head-specific monoclonal antibody CP8 (L. C. Javois, R.

Nerve ring of the hypostome in hydra. I. Its structure, development, and maintenance.

The anatomy and developmental dynamics of the nerve ring in the hypostome of Hydra oligactis were examined immunocytochemically with an antiserum against a neuropeptide and with neuron-specific monoclonal antibodies. The nerve ring is unique in the mesh-like nerve net of hydra. It is a distinct neuronal complex consisting of a thick nerve bundle running circumferentially at the border between the hypostome and tentacle zone.

Head activator does not qualitatively alter head morphology in regenerates ofHydra oligactis.

The characterization of head activator (HA) as a morphogen capable of increasing the number of tentacles regenerated by hydra was re-examined. Gastric tissue was excised from HA-treated whole animals and allowed to regenerate. At the cellular level the differentiation of head-specific ectodermal epithelial cells was monitored by quantifying monoclonal antibody, CP8, labeling.

Simultaneous effects of head activator on the dynamics of apical and basal regeneration in Hydra vulgaris (formerly Hydra attenuata).

Previous studies have demonstrated that head activator (HA), an 11 amino acid peptide, stimulates head-specific differentiation processes in hydra. Additionally, HA enhances the differentiation of interstitial cells into nerve cells. This study investigated the effects of exogenous synthetic HA on the dynamics of both apical and basal regeneration in a piece of tissue excised from the body column of treated animals which comprised one-eighth of the original animal.

Effect of head activator on proliferation, head-specific determination and differentiation of epithelial cells in hydra.

In hydra the differentiation of head-specific ectodermal epithelial cells from multipotent stem cells is a multistep process in which cell cycle progression is regulated at three restriction points. Head activator acts as a positive signal at these restriction points. At the G2/mitosis boundary of epithelial stem cells head activator functions as a mitogen, being necessary for cell division.

Patterning of the head in hydra as visualized by a monoclonal antibody: III. The dynamics of head regeneration.

The dynamics of the early patterning processes leading to the regeneration of a head in tissue excised from the body column of Hydra oligactis were examined by using a monoclonal antibody, CP8. This antibody displays position-specific binding, labeling the head ectodermal epithelial cells. During regeneration of a head, antibody labeling is present well before morphological signs of the head, at a time correlated with the determination of the tissue (Javois et al.

Patterning of the head in hydra as visualized by a monoclonal antibody, II. The initiation and localization of head structures in regenerating pieces of tissue.

The body column of hydra is polarized such that a new head will regenerate from the apical end when both extremities are removed. This is due to a graded property of the tissue termed the head activation gradient. The aim of the experiments presented here was to determine what events connect a two-dimensional segment of the activation gradient in an isolated piece of tissue with the formation of a head structure at a particular location.

Patterning of the head in hydra as visualized by a monoclonal antibody. I. Budding and regeneration.

A monoclonal antibody, CP8, has been isolated which displays a position-specific binding pattern to epithelial cells of Hydra oligactis. Antibody binding is restricted to the head of adult animals. When a new head develops during the budding process, CP8 binding is present in the area which will form the head well before morphological signs of it.