Current Practices and Nurse Readiness to Implement Standardized Screening for Commercially and Sexually Exploited Individuals in Emergency Departments in Western Washington Hospitals.

Approximately 80% of trafficked individuals access health care during their victimization. The emergency department is a frontline of care. This study examines current screening practices of Western Washington emergency department nurses to determine nurse and facility readiness for improved identification.

Root canal preparation in mandibular premolars with TRUShape and Vortex Blue: A micro-computed tomography study.

A comparison of the preparation ability of two root canal instrumentation systems in oval-shaped canals using micro-computed tomography was undertaken. Thirty extracted, single-rooted, human mandibular premolars with radiographically similar canal morphology were selected, allocated to two groups (N = 15) and prepared with TRUShape or Vortex Blue (VB). Each sample was subjected to three scans (20 μm resolution): pre-preparation and after preparation to sizes #30 and #40.

Muscle-Cooling Intervention to Reduce Fatigue and Fatigue-Induced Tremor in Novice and Experienced Surgeons: A Preliminary Investigation.

A localized, intermittent muscle-cooling protocol was implemented to determine cooling garment efficacy in reducing upper extremity muscular fatigue and tremor in novice (  = 10) and experienced surgeons (  = 9). Subjects wore a muscle-cooling garment while performing multiple trials of a forearm exercise and paired suturing task to induce muscular fatigue and exercise-induced tremor. A reduction in tremor amplitude and an extension in time to fatigue were expected with muscle cooling as compared with control trials.

Results at 2 Years after Gene Therapy for RPE65-Deficient Leber Congenital Amaurosis and Severe Early-Childhood-Onset Retinal Dystrophy.

Purpose: To provide an initial assessment of the safety of a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector expressing RPE65 (rAAV2-CB-hRPE65) in adults and children with retinal degeneration caused by RPE65 mutations.

Design: Nonrandomized, multicenter clinical trial.

Participants: Eight adults and 4 children, 6 to 39 years of age, with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) or severe early-childhood-onset retinal degeneration (SECORD).

Parachute-like harness to position patients with severe kyphosis during cataract surgery.

We describe a technique to position patients with severe kyphosis so the head is horizontal. The legs are lifted into the Trendelenburg position, and the patient is supported with straps similar to those of a parachute. Although the patient's legs are high above the head and jugular distension has been observed, we have not noticed posterior pressure in the 2 cases we describe.

Use of steady-state laurdan fluorescence to detect changes in liquid ordered phases in human erythrocyte membranes.

In artificial phospholipid bilayers, dual measurements of laurdan steady-state anisotropy and emission spectra can be used to identify the presence of liquid ordered phases. Human erythrocytes were used as a model to test whether similar measurements could be applied to biological samples. Specifically, laurdan anisotropy and emission spectra were obtained from native erythrocytes before and after treatment with calcium ionophore and from the microvesicles (known to be enriched in liquid ordered domains) shed from the cells during calcium entry.

Mechanisms governing the level of susceptibility of erythrocyte membranes to secretory phospholipase A2.

Although cell membranes normally resist the hydrolytic action of secretory phospholipase A(2) (sPLA(2)), they become susceptible during apoptosis or after cellular trauma. Experimentally, susceptibility to the enzyme can be induced by loading cells with calcium. In human erythrocytes, the ability of the calcium ionophore to cause susceptibility depends on temperature, occurring best above approximately 35 degrees C.

pH-dependent Interactions of the carboxyl-terminal helix of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein with synthetic membranes.

Steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein facilitates import of cholesterol into adrenal and gonadal mitochondria where cholesterol is converted to pregnenolone, initiating steroidogenesis. StAR acts exclusively on the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) by unknown mechanisms. To identify StAR domains involved in membrane association, we reacted N-62 StAR with small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) composed of lipids resembling the OMM.