A RANGE-WIDE ECTOPARASITE SURVEY FOR ALLEGHENY WOODRATS (NEOTOMA MAGISTER).

Allegheny woodrats (Neotoma magister) are karst-specializing rodents that are rare or in conservation need in many states within their current range. Parasitism and habitat fragmentation have been suggested as primary reasons for declining populations. The presence, prevalence, and impact of ectoparasites, including fleas, ticks, and bots, is not fully understood rangewide.

Predicting the Risk of Tart Cherry (Prunus cerasus) Infestation by Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae).

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a vinegar fly native to East Asia that has rapidly expanded its range to become a pest of sweet cherry (Prunus avium, L. 1753 [Rosales: Rosaceae]) and tart cherry (P. cerasus, L.

Met-Hemoglobin Is a Biomarker for Poor Oxygen Delivery in Infants Following Surgical Palliation.

Background: Infants with cyanotic congenital heart disease demonstrate wide fluctuations in hemoglobin (Hb), oxygen saturation, and cardiac output following palliation. Methemoglobin (Met-Hb), the product of Hb oxidation, may represent a compensatory mechanism during hypoxia and may be utilized as a biomarker.

Methods: Arterial and venous Met-Hb levels were obtained from infants requiring palliation.

Elevated free hemoglobin and decreased haptoglobin levels are associated with adverse clinical outcomes, unfavorable physiologic measures, and altered inflammatory markers in pediatric cardiac surgery patients.

Background: There are data suggesting that free hemoglobin (Hb), heme, and iron contribute to infection, thrombosis, multiorgan failure, and death in critically ill patients. These outcomes may be mitigated by haptoglobin.

Study Design And Methods: 164 consecutively treated children undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease were evaluated for associations between free Hb and haptoglobin and clinical outcomes, physiologic metrics, and biomarkers of inflammation RESULTS: Higher perioperative free Hb levels (and lower haptoglobin levels) were associated with mortality, nosocomial infection, thrombosis, hours of intubation and inotropes, increased interleukin-6, peak serum lactate levels, and lower nadir mean arterial pressures.

Does Passive Sampling Accurately Reflect the Bee (Apoidea: Anthophila) Communities Pollinating Apple and Sour Cherry Orchards?

During bloom of spring orchard crops, bees are the primary providers of pollination service. Monitoring these insects for research projects is often done by timed observations or by direct aerial netting, but there has been increasing interest in blue vane traps as an efficient passive approach to collecting bees. Over multiple spring seasons in Michigan and Pennsylvania, orchards were monitored for wild bees using timed netting from crop flowers and blue vane traps.

Deconstructing the Bat Skin Microbiome: Influences of the Host and the Environment.

Bats are geographically widespread and play an important role in many ecosystems, but relatively little is known about the ecology of their associated microbial communities and the role microbial taxa play in bat health, development, and evolution. Moreover, few vertebrate animal skin microbiomes have been comprehensively assessed, and thus characterizing the bat skin microbiome will yield valuable insight into the variability of vertebrate skin microbiomes as a whole. The recent emergence of the skin fungal disease white-nose syndrome highlights the potentially important role bat skin microbial communities could play in bat health.

Cuffed endotracheal tubes in neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery are not associated with airway complications.

Study Objective: To determine the incidence of postoperative airway complications in infants <5kg in weight undergoing cardiac surgery intubated with Microcuff (Kimberley-Clark, Roswell, GA) endotracheal tubes (ETTs).

Design: Retrospective review of infants weighing <5.0 kg with congenital heart disease (CHD) presenting for cardiac surgery.

Outcomes Using a Conservative Versus Liberal Red Blood Cell Transfusion Strategy in Infants Requiring Cardiac Operation.

Background: The optimal hemoglobin for infants after cardiac operation is unknown. Red blood cells (RBCs) are commonly transfused to maintain high hemoglobin concentrations in the absence of a clinical indication. We hypothesized that infants can be managed with a postoperative conservative RBC transfusion strategy, resulting in lower daily hemoglobin concentrations, without evidence of impaired oxygen delivery (ie, lactate, arteriovenous oxygen difference [avOdiff]), or adverse clinical outcomes.

Breast Reduction in the Burned Breast.

Mammary hypertrophy can occur in the postburn breast. Patients with burned breasts exhibit the same symptoms of symptomatic macromastia as patients with unburned breasts. The extent of the deformity, the location of the deformity, and the status of the surrounding soft tissue are all assessed before embarking on any surgical plan, which then proceeds in a conservative stepwise fashion.

Longer RBC storage duration is associated with increased postoperative infections in pediatric cardiac surgery.

Objectives: Infants and children undergoing open heart surgery routinely require multiple RBC transfusions. Children receiving greater numbers of RBC transfusions have increased postoperative complications and mortality. Longer RBC storage age is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality in critically ill children.

Neurotoxin-induced paralysis: a case of tick paralysis in a 2-year-old child.

Background: Tick paralysis is an arthropod-transmitted disease causing potentially lethal progressive ascending weakness. The presenting symptoms of tick paralysis overlap those of acute inflammatory diseases of the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord; thus, the condition is often misdiagnosed, leading to unnecessary treatments and prolonged hospitalization.

Patient: A 2-year-old girl residing in northern New York and having no history of travel to areas endemic to ticks presented with rapidly progressing ascending paralysis, hyporeflexia, and intact sensory examination.

Correlates of elevated distress thermometer scores in breast cancer patients.

Purpose: Distress is prevalent in breast cancer patients and can be detrimental to quality of life, performance status, treatment adherence, and satisfaction with medical care. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network developed the distress thermometer (DT) as a self-assessment tool for screening distress in cancer patients. Given time and financial constraints, it is important to refine screening criteria to identify patients with elevated risk for distress.

Transfusion of cell saver salvaged blood in neonates and infants undergoing open heart surgery significantly reduces RBC and coagulant product transfusions and donor exposures: results of a prospective, randomized, clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate whether transfusion of cell saver salvaged, stored at the bedside for up to 24 hrs, would decrease the number of postoperative allogeneic RBC transfusions and donor exposures, and possibly improve clinical outcomes.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled, clinical trial.

Setting: Pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

Washing red blood cells and platelets transfused in cardiac surgery reduces postoperative inflammation and number of transfusions: results of a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Objectives: Children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass are susceptible to additional inflammatory and immunogenic insults from blood transfusions. We hypothesize that washing red blood cells and platelets transfused to these patients will reduce postoperative transfusion-related immune modulation and inflammation.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Children with single-ventricle physiology do not benefit from higher hemoglobin levels post cavopulmonary connection: results of a prospective, randomized, controlled trial of a restrictive versus liberal red-cell transfusion strategy.

Objective: To examine the impact of a restrictive vs. liberal transfusion strategy on arterial lactate and oxygen content differences in children with single-ventricle physiology post cavopulmonary connection. Children with single-ventricle physiology are routinely transfused postoperatively to increase systemic oxygen delivery, and transfusion thresholds in this population have not been studied.

Occupational factors and risk of Parkinson's disease: A population-based case-control study.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with various workplace factors, but the evidence is inconsistent.

Objective: To estimate the risk of PD associated with various jobs and workplace exposures.

Methods: We conducted a population-based, case-control study of 404 incident PD cases and 526 age and sex-matched controls, collecting self-reported work histories including job titles and exposures to various industrial toxicants.

Dietary fats, cholesterol and iron as risk factors for Parkinson's disease.

Background: Epidemiologic findings suggest that dietary components may contribute to the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). This population-based case-control study evaluated PD risk and dietary intake of fats, cholesterol and iron.

Methods: Newly diagnosed case (n=420) and age/gender/ethnicity-matched unrelated controls (n=560) were identified between 1992 and 2006 from the Group Health Cooperative health maintenance organization in western Washington State, and the University of Washington Neurology Clinic.

Combined effects of smoking, coffee, and NSAIDs on Parkinson's disease risk.

Inverse associations of Parkinson's disease (PD) with cigarette smoking, coffee drinking, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use have been reported individually, but their joint effects have not been examined. To quantify associations with PD for the individual, two-way and three-way combinations of these factors, a case-control association study with 1,186 PD patients and 928 controls was conducted. The study setting was the NeuroGenetics Research Consortium.

Clinical practice guidelines for support of the family in the patient-centered intensive care unit: American College of Critical Care Medicine Task Force 2004-2005.

Objective: To develop clinical practice guidelines for the support of the patient and family in the adult, pediatric, or neonatal patient-centered ICU.

Participants: A multidisciplinary task force of experts in critical care practice was convened from the membership of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) to include representation from adult, pediatric, and neonatal intensive care units.

Evidence: The task force members reviewed the published literature.

5' and 3' region variability in the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3), pesticide exposure and Parkinson's disease risk: a hypothesis-generating study.

The dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3) is a candidate gene for Parkinson's disease (PD) on the basis of its critical role in dopaminergic neurotransmission. Previously, we identified 22 SNPs in the 5' region of SLC6A3, which segregate as eight haplotypes that differ in transcriptional activity when transfected in rat dopamine-producing cells. In the present work from a case-control study size of 293 cases and 395 controls, we employed a cladistic approach to examine gene-disease association.

Diabetes, smoking, and other medical conditions in relation to Parkinson's disease risk.

Associations of Parkinson's disease (PD) with diabetes mellitus (DM) and other medical conditions were investigated in a case-control study of 352 newly diagnosed PD case and 484 control subjects. Men with DM had a significantly lower risk of PD, than men without DM (odds ratio (OR) = 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.

Bispectral index as a guide for titration of propofol during procedural sedation among children.

Objective: To determine whether the bispectral index (BIS) monitor could be used to guide physicians in titrating propofol to an effective safe level of deep sedation for children undergoing painful medical procedures.

Design: Multiphase clinical trial.

Setting: Outpatient treatment center of a university children's hospital.

No associations between Parkinson's disease and polymorphisms of the quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1, NQO2) genes.

Reactive oxygen species derived from dopamine metabolism can induce oxidative stress and thus may contribute to Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis. The quinone oxidoreductases, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD[P]H): quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and dihydronicotinamide riboside (NRH): quinone oxidoreductase 2 (NQO2) detoxify quinones and quinonoid compounds. We investigated associations of genetic polymorphisms of NQO1 (C609T) and NQO2 (I/D, 29 base pairs) with PD in a population-based case-control study of 190 idiopathic PD cases and 305 unrelated controls matched on age and sex.