The effects of mild induced hypothermia on the myocardium: a systematic review.

Mild induced hypothermia improves neurological outcome and reduces mortality among initially comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Similar pathological processes occur in the heart and the brain, namely ischaemia followed by reperfusion injury. Animal data indicate that mild induced hypothermia results in improved myocardial salvage, reduced infarct size, reduced left ventricular remodelling and better long-term left ventricular function.

Ozone exposure enhances mast-cell inflammation in asthmatic airways despite inhaled corticosteroid therapy.

Asthmatics are recognised to be more susceptible than healthy individuals to adverse health effects caused by exposure to the common air pollutant ozone. Ozone has been reported to induce airway neutrophilia in mild asthmatics, but little is known about how it affects the airways of asthmatic subjects on inhaled corticosteroids. We hypothesised that ozone exposure would exacerbate the pre-existent asthmatic airway inflammation despite regular inhaled corticosteroid treatment.

Antioxidants and allergic disease: a case of too little or too much?

Speculation persists as to the possible role, if any, of dietary antioxidants in allergic disease. While it has been hypothesized that the recent increase in allergic disease is a consequence of declining dietary antioxidant intake, an alternative hypothesis proposes that the increase in allergic disease is due to increasing antioxidant intake. Dietary trends are conflicting; the intake of some antioxidants has declined, for others intakes are likely to have increased.

An audit of the Irish National Intellectual Disability Database.

This study describes a national data audit of the National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD). The NIDD is a national information system for intellectual disability (ID) for Ireland. The purpose of this audit was to assess the overall accuracy of information contained on the NIDD, as well as collecting qualitative information to support the improvement in the quality of data contained on the NIDD.

An approach for estimating the health effects of changes over time in air pollution: an illustration using cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in London.

Objectives: First, we present a general analytical approach to estimating the association between medium-term changes in air pollution and health across small areas. As a specific illustration, we then applied the approach to data on London residents from a 4-year period to test whether reductions in traffic-related air pollution were associated with reductions in cardio-respiratory hospital admissions.

Methods: A binomial distribution was used to model change in admissions over time in each small area, which was measured as the proportion of admissions in 2003-2004 out of admissions over all study years (2001-2004).

Does advice from pharmacy staff vary according to the nonprescription medicine requested?

Background: Community pharmacy has long been advocated as an appropriate gateway of supply for nonprescription medicines and health-related advice. Consumers sometimes self-treat the symptoms of minor illness, yet there is conflicting evidence over their ability to do so properly. Emerging trends also suggest a variable approach to nonprescription medicine supply by pharmacy staff.

London air quality: a real world experiment in progress.

London currently has the highest nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration recorded for any European city and for particulate matter (PM) it has some of the worst hot spots. Therefore overall, for these two pollutants, London is the worst in the UK and amongst the worst in Europe. Exposure to elevated concentrations of air pollutants such as PM and NO2 has well-established heath effects and most countries now have strict guidelines for air quality.

Edge-localized-mode suppression through density-profile modification with lithium-wall coatings in the National Spherical Torus Experiment.

Reduction or elimination of edge localized modes (ELMs) while maintaining high confinement is essential for future fusion devices, e.g., the ITER.

Early suppression of NFkappaB and IL-8 in bronchial epithelium after ozone exposure in healthy human subjects.

Exposure to elevated concentrations of ozone, a common air pollutant, has been associated with numerous adverse health effects. We have previously reported the time-course of ozone-induced airway inflammation, demonstrating an early up-regulation of vascular endothelial adhesion molecules in bronchial mucosa at 1.5 hours, followed by a neutrophilic infiltration 6 hours after exposure to 0.

Antioxidant responses to acute ozone challenge in the healthy human airway.

The aim of the study was to characterize ozone-induced antioxidant responses in the human airway, including the resident leukocyte population, bronchial mucosa, and respiratory-tract lining fluids. Fifteen healthy subjects were exposed to 0.2 ppm ozone for 2 h, with bronchial wash, bronchoalveolar lavage, and biopsy sampling performed 6 h postexposure.

Allantoin in human plasma, serum, and nasal-lining fluids as a biomarker of oxidative stress: avoiding artifacts and establishing real in vivo concentrations.

Urate is the terminal product of purine metabolism in primates, including humans. Urate is also an efficient scavenger of oxidizing species and is thought to be an important antioxidant in human body fluids. Allantoin, the major oxidation product of urate, has been suggested as a candidate biomarker of oxidative stress because it is not produced metabolically.

Analysis of gene expression in two large schizophrenia cohorts identifies multiple changes associated with nerve terminal function.

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with a world-wide prevalence of 1%. The pathophysiology of the illness is not understood, but is thought to have a strong genetic component with some environmental influences on aetiology. To gain further insight into disease mechanism, we used microarray technology to determine the expression of over 30 000 mRNA transcripts in post-mortem tissue from a brain region associated with the pathophysiology of the disease (Brodmann area 10: anterior prefrontal cortex) in 28 schizophrenic and 23 control patients.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase activity allows reliable EPC enumeration in stored peripheral blood samples.

Background: Interest in the biology of endogenous progenitor cells (EPCs) continues to grow as evidence of their role in vascular repair mounts. EPC enumeration requires specialized laboratory techniques and is performed immediately after sample acquisition, limiting the clinical contexts in which EPC enumeration can be performed and the ability to increase sample sizes through multi-center participation.

Methods: We compared the numbers of EPCs enumerated in samples processed immediately after acquisition (n = 36) with EPCs enumerated in specimens stored for 24 hours or after cryopreservation of mononuclear cells (MNC) using two EPC identification strategies: cell surface marker expression (CD133/CD34) and aldehyde dehydrogenase activity (ALDH(br) cells).

TGF-beta upregulation drives tertiary lymphoid organ formation and kidney dysfunction in calcineurin A-alpha heterozygous mice.

Calcineurin is an important intracellular signaling molecule which can be inhibited by cyclosporin resulting in immune suppression and nephrotoxicity. Previously, we reported that homozygous loss of the alpha isoform of calcineurin impairs kidney development and function and mimics many features of cyclosporin nephrotoxicity. However, early lethality of null mice prevented further study of renal changes.

The chromodomain of Tf1 integrase promotes binding to cDNA and mediates target site selection.

The long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon Tf1 of Schizosaccharomyces pombe integrates specifically into the promoters of pol II-transcribed genes. Its integrase (IN) contains a C-terminal chromodomain related to the chromodomains that bind to the N-terminal tail of histone H3. Although we have been unable to detect an interaction between histone tails and the chromodomain of Tf1 IN, it is possible that the chromodomain plays a role in directing IN to its target sites.

Identification of a novel 5-HT(4) receptor splice variant (r5-HT(4c1)) and preliminary characterisation of specific 5-HT(4a) and 5-HT(4b) receptor antibodies.

The human 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT(4)) receptor is encoded by a highly complex gene which gives rise to at least 10 distinct splice variants. However, the functional relevance of these variants is unknown. In rat, only three such variants have been identified, 5-HT(4a) (r5-HT(4a)), 5-HT(4b) (r5-HT(4b)) and 5-HT(4e) (r5-HT(4e)).

Investigation of G72 (DAOA) expression in the human brain.

Background: Polymorphisms at the G72/G30 locus on chromosome 13q have been associated with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in more than ten independent studies. Even though the genetic findings are very robust, the physiological role of the predicted G72 protein has thus far not been resolved. Initial reports suggested G72 as an activator of D-amino acid oxidase (DAO), supporting the glutamate dysfunction hypothesis of schizophrenia.

Improving transfer of mental health care for rural and remote consumers in South Australia.

In Australia, it is commonplace for tertiary mental health care to be provided in large regional centres or metropolitan cities. Rural and remote consumers must be transferred long distances, and this inevitably results in difficulties with the integration of their care between primary and tertiary settings. Because of the need to address these issues, and improve the transfer process, a research project was commissioned by a national government department to be conducted in South Australia.

National implementation of standards of practice for non-prescription medicines in Australia.

Unlabelled: In Australia, there are two categories of non-prescription medicines: pharmacy medicines and pharmacist only medicines. Standards were developed to define and describe the professional activities required for the provision of these medicines at a consistent and measurable level of practice.

Objective: Our objective was to implement nationally a quality improvement package in relation to the Standards of Practice for the Provision of Non-Prescription Medicines.

Characterisation of 5-HT3C, 5-HT3D and 5-HT3E receptor subunits: evolution, distribution and function.

The 5-HT(3) receptor is a member of the 'Cys-loop' family of ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast excitatory and inhibitory transmission in the nervous system. Current evidence points towards native 5-HT(3) receptors originating from homomeric assemblies of 5-HT(3A) or heteromeric assembly of 5-HT(3A) and 5-HT(3B). Novel genes encoding 5-HT(3C), 5-HT(3D), and 5-HT(3E) have recently been described but the functional importance of these proteins is unknown.

Augmentation of respiratory tract lining fluid ascorbate concentrations through supplementation with vitamin C.

Low molecular weight antioxidants within human respiratory tract lining fluids (RTLFs) have been proposed to confer protection against the damaging action of inhaled oxidant gases. There is therefore considerable interest in augmenting the concentrations of these moieties at the air-lung interface to protect against injury to the airway epithelium, the induction of inflammation, and declines in lung function. To determine whether RTLF ascorbate concentrations could be augmented through vitamin C supplementation, 24 healthy subjects with low plasma ascorbate (< 50 microM) were recruited into a double-blinded study.

A cohort evaluation of the pediatric ProSeal laryngeal mask airway in 100 children.

Background: The ProSeal laryngeal mask airway (PLMA) has been available in pediatric sizes in the UK since 2007. Although several non-UK studies have evaluated PLMAs in children, there are little published data regarding their use in this country. Having decided to introduce the pediatric PLMA into our practice, we chose to prospectively audit the first 100 uses as part of our clinical governance.