Delayed-Onset Neuropathological Complications From a Foramen Magnum and Occipital Crest Focused TBI of the Vietnam War and Other Conflicts: Part III, Critique of Existing TBI Criteria and Their Operational Controversies.

Introduction: In this report, we discuss the controversy of the diverse traumatic brain injury (TBI) categorization and taxonomy and the need to develop a new multidimensional and multidisciplinary categorization system that can be an aid in improved diagnostic and prognostic outcomes. Of interest, the heterogeneity of TBI marks the major obstacle to develop effective therapeutic interventions. Currently, the Glasgow Coma Scale has been utilized to guide in the prognosis and clinical management of TBI; it does not encompass the pathophysiological mechanisms leading to neurological deficits that can impede therapeutic interventions and consequently the failure of clinical trials.

Delayed-Onset Neuropathological Complications From a Foramen Magnum and Occipital Crest Focused Traumatic Brain Injury of the Vietnam War and Other Conflicts: Part I, Case Report.

Introduction: The diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries is typically based on hemispheric blasts resulting in degrees of unconsciousness and associated cerebral injuries. This case report describes a Vietnam War era setting in which a traumatic blast wave struck the posterior cranium in the region of the foramen magnum, occipital crest, and other skull openings (orbit, oronasal, and ear) and the unique secondary clinical signs and symptoms experienced over time.

Materials And Methods: This case report describes secondary delayed-onset clinical signs and symptoms consistent with progressive decades-long physical and functional complications.

Delayed-Onset Neuropathological Complications From a Foramen Magnum and Occipital Crest-Focused Traumatic Brain Injury of the Vietnam War and Other Conflicts: Part II, Research Analysis.

Introduction: Much of the research impacting diagnosis, outcome, and treatment of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) has favored time of consciousness criteria indicative of hemispheric blast focus alone. However, recent animal-based research has widely expanded the diagnostic knowledge base and potential treatment options.

Methods: Recent animal-based research findings of foramen magnum and occipital crest-focused blast injuries in laboratory rats were reviewed and compared to the Part I human case report.

Physiologically Important Electrolytes as Regulators of TDP-43 Aggregation and Droplet-Phase Behavior.

Intraneuronal aggregation of TDP-43 is seen in 97% of all amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases and occurs by a poorly understood mechanism. We developed a simple in vitro model system for the study of full-length TDP-43 aggregation in solution and in protein droplets. We found that soluble, YFP-tagged full-length TDP-43 (yTDP-43) dimers can be produced by refolding in low-salt HEPES buffer; these solutions are stable for several weeks.

The Essentiality of Arachidonic Acid in Infant Development.

Arachidonic acid (ARA, 20:4n-6) is an n-6 polyunsaturated 20-carbon fatty acid formed by the biosynthesis from linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6). This review considers the essential role that ARA plays in infant development. ARA is always present in human milk at a relatively fixed level and is accumulated in tissues throughout the body where it serves several important functions.

Novel conformation-specific monoclonal antibodies against amyloidogenic forms of transthyretin.

Introduction: Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR amyloidosis) is caused by the misfolding and deposition of the transthyretin (TTR) protein and results in progressive multi-organ dysfunction. TTR epitopes exposed by dissociation and misfolding are targets for immunotherapeutic antibodies. We developed and characterized antibodies that selectively bound to misfolded, non-native conformations of TTR.

Determining composition of micron-scale protein deposits in neurodegenerative disease by spatially targeted optical microproteomics.

Spatially targeted optical microproteomics (STOMP) is a novel proteomics technique for interrogating micron-scale regions of interest (ROIs) in mammalian tissue, with no requirement for genetic manipulation. Methanol or formalin-fixed specimens are stained with fluorescent dyes or antibodies to visualize ROIs, then soaked in solutions containing the photo-tag: 4-benzoylbenzyl-glycyl-hexahistidine. Confocal imaging along with two photon excitation are used to covalently couple photo-tags to all proteins within each ROI, to a resolution of 0.

Efficacy and safety of arachidonic acid for treatment of school-age children in Schistosoma mansoni high-endemicity regions.

Arachidonic acid (ARA), an omega-6 fatty acid, is a potent schistosomicide that displayed significant and safe therapeutic effects in Schistosoma mansoni-infected schoolchildren in S. mansoni low-prevalence regions. We here report on ARA efficacy and safety in treatment of schoolchildren in S.

Efficacy and safety of arachidonic acid for treatment of Schistosoma mansoni-infected children in Menoufiya, Egypt.

Arachidonic acid (ARA), an omega-6 fatty acid, kills juvenile and adult schistosomes in vitro and displays highly significant and safe therapeutic effects in mice and hamsters infected with Schistosoma mansoni or S. haematobium. This study aims to examine the efficacy and safety of ARA in treatment of school-age children infected with S.

Coarse-Grained Molecular Models of Water: A Review.

Coarse-grained (CG) models have proven to be very effective tools in the study of phenomena or systems that involve large time- and length-scales. By decreasing the degrees of freedom in the system and using softer interactions than seen in atomistic models, larger timesteps can be used and much longer simulation times can be studied. CG simulations are widely used to study systems of biological importance that are beyond the reach of atomistic simulation, necessitating a computationally efficient and accurate CG model for water.

Analyzing complicated protein folding kinetics rapidly by analytical Laplace inversion using a Tikhonov regularization variant.

Kinetic experiments provide much information about protein folding mechanisms. Time-resolved signals are often best described by expressions with many exponential terms, but this hinders the extraction of rate constants by nonlinear least squares (NLS) fitting. Numerical inverse Laplace transformation, which converts a time-resolved dataset into a spectrum of amplitudes as a function of rate constant, allows easy estimation of the rate constants, amplitudes, and number of processes underlying the data.

Multiphoton ANS fluorescence microscopy as an in vivo sensor for protein misfolding stress.

The inability of cells to maintain protein folding homeostasis is implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, malignant transformation, and aging. We find that multiphoton fluorescence imaging of 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) can be used to assess cellular responses to protein misfolding stresses. ANS is relatively nontoxic and enters live cells and cells or tissues fixed in formalin.

Dietary supplementation with the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid in traumatic brain injury.

Background: Although various strategies for prevention of brain disease have been implemented, no substance has been found to be advantageous for prophylaxis against brain injury.

Objective: While previous work in our laboratory and others have shown positive effects using the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in post-injury treatment following traumatic and ischemic insults, we wished to test its effects when given prior to injury. We have attempted to measure anatomical, cellular, and behavioral outcomes with a prophylactic administration of DHA.

Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (Gpx4) is highly regulated in male turkey poults and can be used to determine dietary selenium requirements.

The dietary selenium recommendation for turkeys of 0.2 microg Se/g is higher than for many other species. Liver glutathione peroxidase-1 (Gpx1) activity levels determined using hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) in previous studies suggest that 0.

On the investigation of coarse-grained models for water: balancing computational efficiency and the retention of structural properties.

Developing accurate models of water for use in computer simulations is important for the study of many chemical and biological systems, including lipid bilayer self-assembly. The large temporal and spatial scales needed to study such self-assembly have led to the development and application of coarse-grained models for the lipid-lipid, lipid-solvent, and solvent-solvent interactions. Unfortunately, popular center-of-mass-based coarse-graining techniques are limited to modeling water with one water per be ad.

Dietary zinc reduces osteoclast resorption activities and increases markers of osteoblast differentiation, matrix maturation, and mineralization in the long bones of growing rats.

The nutritional influence of zinc on markers of bone extracellular matrix resorption and mineralization was investigated in growing rats. Thirty male weanling rats were randomly assigned to consume AIN-93G based diets containing 2.5, 5, 7.

Iron absorption by healthy women is not associated with either serum or urinary prohepcidin.

Background: Although hepcidin is proposed as a regulator of iron absorption, this has not been assessed in humans.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the relation between serum or urinary prohepcidin and iron absorption in healthy premenopausal women.

Design: The subjects were 28 healthy women aged 22-51 y with normal hemoglobin concentrations (120-152 g/L).

Reversible peripheral vestibulopathy: the treatment of superior canal dehiscence.

Objective: Superior canal dehiscence (SCD) is a recently described disorder that results from absence of bone over the superior semicircular canal. We have reviewed 30 cases of SCD found at our institution and report their presentation, workup, and response to therapy.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review of all patients diagnosed with SCD from 1999 to 2004 at the University of Utah.

Basic anatomy and physiology of olfaction and taste.

The chemical senses of taste and smell are important to survival and quality of life. Both senses rely on the binding of odorant molecules to receptors located on the receptor cells. Olfaction and gustation have complex systems of coding, but they display differing methods for coding the receptor stimulus.

Infratemporal fossa approach to the hypoglossal canal: practical landmarks for elusive anatomy.

Objective: At the conclusion of the article the readers should be able to safely and reliably find the hypoglossal canal using the infratemporal fossa approach.

Hypothesis: Very little has been written on the regional anatomy of the hypoglossal canal as seen through a transtemporal approach. This project attempts to further define the anatomy of the hypoglossal canal and provide the surgeon with guidelines for reaching it.

Endoscopic vertical partial laryngectomy.

Objective: To explain the significant difference between microlaryngoscopy with cordectomy and endoscopic vertical partial laryngectomy (EVPL), to describe the efficacy of EVPL on T1b and T2 glottic squamous cell carcinoma, and to evaluate EVPL with postoperative irradiation in T2 glottic cancer with impaired true vocal cord mobility.

Study Design: Retrospective review.

Methods: Twenty-six patients seen at the University of Utah Health Science Center between 1987 and 2000 with bilateral T1 (T1b) or T2 squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx underwent EVPL.

Optical rotation and linear and circular depolarization rates in diffusively scattered light from chiral, racemic, and achiral turbid media.

The polarization properties of light scattered in a lateral direction from turbid media were studied. Polarization modulation and synchronous detection were used to measure, and Mueller calculus to model and derive, the degrees of surviving linear and circular polarization and the optical rotation induced by turbid samples. Polystyrene microspheres were used as scatterers in water solutions containing dissolved chiral, racemic, and achiral molecules.

Selenium regulation of thioredoxin reductase activity and mRNA levels in rat liver.

Mammalian thioredoxin reductase (TRR; NADPH(2):oxidized thioredoxin oxidoreductase, E.C. 1.