The Interaction of a Gemini Surfactant with a DNA Quadruplex.

DNA secondary structures are stabilized by mono- and divalent cations. To examine the stability of the DNA quadruplex formed from (TTAGGG), its interaction with a dicationic Gemini surfactant in standard phosphate buffer was investigated. The Gemini surfactant begins to form micelles in buffer at a (critical micelle concentration) of 1.

Reusable Pulse Oximetry Sensors: A Cost-Saving Quality Improvement Project.

Background: In the setting of tightening health care budgets and capped payments, new strategies are needed to reduce waste while still providing quality and safe care. Transitioning from disposable supplies to reusable options is a viable approach to save money.

Objective: To reduce the cost of the largest expense in the Adult Emergency Department's budget by 20% by transiting from disposable to reusable pulse oximetry sensors.

Structured analysis, evaluation and report of the emergency response to a terrorist attack in Wuerzburg, Germany using a new template of standardised quality indicators.

Background: Until now there has been a reported lack of systematic reports and scientific evaluations of rescue missions during terror attacks. This however is urgently required in order to improve the performance of emergency medical services and to be able to compare different missions with each other. Aim of the presented work was to report the systematic evaluation and the lessons learned from the response to a terror attack that happened in Wuerzburg, Germany in 2016.

[Quality indicators for rescue operations in terrorist attacks or other threats : A pilot study after the Würzburg terrorist attack of July 2016].

Background: Terrorist attacks have become reality in Germany. The aim of this work was, after the Würzburg terrorist attack, to define quality indicators and application characteristics for rescue missions in life-threatening situations. The results can be used to record data from future missions using this template in order to make them comparable with each other.

Piriformis syndrome surgery causing severe sciatic nerve injury.

Piriformis syndrome is a controversial entrapment neuropathy in which the sciatic nerve is thought to be compressed by the piriformis muscle. Two patients developed severe left sciatic neuropathy after piriformis muscle release. One had a total sciatic nerve lesion, whereas the second had a predominantly high common peroneal nerve lesion.

Differential modulation of allergic eye disease by chronic and acute ascaris infection.

Purpose: To assess alterations in allergic ocular responses to nonparasite antigens in an experimental system in which mice were skewed toward a Th2 cytokine profile by helminth infection.

Methods: Mice were inoculated with Ascaris suum (A. suum) eggs concurrent with ragweed (RW) sensitization (RW/acute) or by repeated inoculation before RW sensitization (RW/chronic).

Pharmacy benefit management contracting: an assessment from a recent public sector procurement experience.

In order to contain the cost of pharmaceuticals while preserving access to medically necessary drugs, Georgia state government competitively selected a single vendor in May of 2000 to manage combined pharmacy benefits under all of the state's health programs. By initiating this procedure, it intended to maximize the state's purchasing power and improve efficiency while streamlining the administrative structure. Synthesizing information from the request for proposal (RFP) and technical proposals submitted by 11 pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in response, we describe a model of public sector PBM contracting approach and present an assessment of the industry's service capability and performance statistics.

Gq signaling is required for allergen-induced pulmonary eosinophilia.

The complexity and magnitude of interactions leading to the selective infiltration of eosinophils in response to inhaled allergens are formidable obstacles to a larger understanding of the pulmonary pathology associated with allergic asthma. This study uses knockout mice to demonstrate a novel function for the heterotrimeric G protein, G(q), in the regulation of pulmonary eosinophil recruitment. In the absence of G(q) signaling, eosinophils failed to accumulate in the lungs following allergen challenge.

Intrinsic AHR in IL-5 transgenic mice is dependent on CD4(+) cells and CD49d-mediated signaling.

Overexpression of interleukin (IL)-5 by the airway epithelium in mice using the rat CC10 promoter (NJ.1726 line) leads to several histopathologies characteristic of human asthma, including airway hyperreactivity (AHR). We investigated the contribution of B and T cells, as well as CD4 expression, to the development of AHR in IL-5 transgenic mice.

Membrane vesiculation function and exocytosis of wild-type and mutant matrix proteins of vesicular stomatitis virus.

Transfection of mammalian CV1 cells with a recombinant M-gene pTM1 plasmid, driven by vaccinia virus-expressed phage T7 polymerase, resulted in the expression of matrix (M) protein, which is progressively released from the exterior surface of the transfected-cell plasma membrane. Exocytosis of M protein begins 2 to 4 h posttransfection and reaches a peak by 10 to 16 h posttransfection; dye uptake studies reveal that > 97% of cells are alive and have intact membranes at 16 h posttransfection. Density gradient centrifugation and labeling with radioactive palmitic acid revealed that the M protein is released from cells in association with lipid vesicles.

Membrane-binding domains and cytopathogenesis of the matrix protein of vesicular stomatitis virus.

The membrane-binding affinity of the matrix (M) protein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was examined by comparing the cellular distribution of wild-type (wt) virus M protein with that of temperature-sensitive (ts) and deletion mutants probed by indirect fluorescent-antibody staining and fractionation of infected or plasmid-transfected CV1 cells. The M-gene mutant tsO23 caused cytopathic rounding of cells infected at permissive temperature but not of cells at the nonpermissive temperature; wt VSV also causes rounding, which prohibits study of M protein distribution by fluorescent-antibody staining. Little or no M protein can be detected in the plasma membrane of cells infected with tsO23 at the nonpermissive temperature, whereas approximately 20% of the M protein colocalized with the membrane fraction of cells infected with tsO23 at the permissive temperature.

Beta 2-microglobulin clearance in neonates: index of tubular maturation.

Serum and urinary beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2M) were studied by enzyme immunoassay in 28 normal neonates at day 1 and day 4 of life in relation to gestational age (GA) and postnatal age (PNA). The infants were grouped according to GA; 10 with GA ranging from 32 to 35 weeks (mean 33.5 weeks) and 18 with GA ranging from 36 to 41 weeks (mean 38.

Superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase abnormalities in erythrocytes and lymphoid cells in Down syndrome.

After validating a superoxide dismutase (SOD) assay, this enzyme was measured together with a large series of cell age sensitive marker enzymes, in the erythrocytes of 24 persons with the 24 persons without Down syndrome. In addition to the expected elevation of SOD-1, significant elevations of erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (GSHPxase) and phosphofructokinase activities were found in Down syndrome. None of these changes could be accounted for by a decreased mean red cell age.

Detection of homozygotes and heterozygotes with methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency.

Specific enzyme assay is required for the diagnosis of homocystinuria due to methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency. A rapid and accurate method has been developed using "pure" peripheral lymphocyte preparations. Triplicate determinations showed highly reproducible results.

Vitamin D-resistant rickets associated with epidermal nevus syndrome: demonstration of a phosphaturic substance in the dermal lesions.

A 5-year-old boy was found to have severe rickets in association with hyperpigmented, linear, verrucous, epidermal tumors, typical of the epidermal nevus syndrome. Normocalcemia (9.6 mg/dl), hypophosphatemia (2.

Folic acid nonresponsive homocystinuria due to methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency.

Four siblings from a family with 11 children of Irish ancestry were observed to suffer from an essentially identical clinical illness, consisting of delayed psychomotor development in infancy and childhood, severe mental retardation, and upper motor neuron dysfunction. Death occurred at an early age in three siblings. In cases in which detailed physical examinations were performed, ectopia lentis, marfanoid features, and severe bony deformities were absent.

A defect in tryptophan metabolism.

Oral tryptophan loading tests were performed in a patient with photosensitive pellagra-like skin rash and cerebellar ataxia but without hyperaminoaciduria. Plasma tryptophan concentrations after loading were similar in the patient and control subjects. Average urinary excretion of tryptophan in the patient from 0 to 6 and 6 to 12 hr was 2.