Evaluation of a hand hygiene campaign in outpatient health care clinics.

Objective: To improve hand hygiene in two outpatient health care clinics through the introduction of a gel sanitizer and an informational poster.

Methods: In this interventional study, health care workers at two outpatient clinics were observed for frequency of hand hygiene (attempts versus opportunities). Gel sanitizer and informational posters were introduced together as an intervention.

Expression of pleiotrophin, an important regulator of cell migration, is inhibited in intestinal epithelial cells by treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most widely used drugs for the suppression of inflammation and pain. However, the analgesic properties of NSAIDs are also associated with significant negative side effects, most notably in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Increasingly, evidence indicates that the ulcerogenic properties of some NSAIDs are not exclusively the result of inhibition of cyclooxygenase isoforms in the GI tract, and other mechanisms, including inhibition of cell migration and epithelial restitution, are being explored.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit calpain activity and membrane localization of calpain 2 protease.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used frequently worldwide for the alleviation of pain despite their capacity to cause adverse gastrointestinal (GI) side effects. GI toxicity, once thought to be the result of non-specific inhibition of cyclooxegenase (COX) enzymes, is now hypothesized to have multiple other causes that are COX independent. In particular, NSAIDs inhibit intestinal epithelial restitution, the process by which barrier function in intestinal mucosa is restored at sites of epithelial wounds within hours through cell spreading and migration.

NC-1059: a channel-forming peptide that modulates drug delivery across in vitro corneal epithelium.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine whether a synthetic peptide, NC-1059, can modulate the corneal epithelium to increase the permeation of therapeutic agents across this barrier.

Methods: An in vitro system employing transformed human corneal epithelial (THCE) cells was optimized for this study. Culture conditions were identified to promote formation of a confluent monolayer that rapidly develops a substantial transepithelial electrical resistance.

Public-health education at Kansas State University.

What are veterinary medical and public-health professionals doing to remedy the immediate and impending shortages of veterinarians in population health and public practice? This question was addressed at the joint symposium of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and the Association of Schools of Public Health, held in April 2007. Thinking locally, faculty and students at Kansas State University (KSU) asked similar questions after attending the symposium: What are we doing within the College of Veterinary Medicine to tackle this problem? What can we do better with new collaborators? Both the professional veterinary curriculum and the Master of Public Health (MPH) at KSU provide exceptional opportunities to address these questions. Students are exposed to public health as a possible career choice early in veterinary school, and this exposure is repeated several times in different venues throughout their professional education.

R(X) for recruitment and retention of veterinarian scientists: money, marketing, mentoring.

Veterinary medicine is failing both to sustain its academic base and to meet national needs for research in the fields of comparative medicine (translational research), public health, and food production. The basis for the shortage of veterinarians with research expertise is multi-factorial and related to the substantial commitment of time and money required to obtain both a DVM and advanced training, as well as the lack of motivation among veterinary students to engage in biomedical science. Effective strategies for increasing the number of veterinarian scientists must address these issues using a balanced combination of money, marketing, and mentoring.

Structural and functional basis for the long QT syndrome: relevance to veterinary patients.

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a condition characterized by prolongation of ventricular repolarization and is manifested clinically by lengthening of the QT interval on the surface ECG. Whereas inherited forms of LQTS associated with mutations in the genes that encode ion channel proteins are identified only in humans, the acquired form of LQTS occurs in humans and companion animal species. Often, acquired LQTS is associated with drug-induced block of the cardiac K+ current designated I(Kr).

4-aminopyridine decreases progesterone production by porcine granulosa cells.

Background: Ion channels occur as large families of related genes with cell-specific expression patterns. Granulosa cells have been shown to express voltage-gated potassium channels from more than one family. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), an antagonist of KCNA but not KCNQ channels.

Expression of the ether-a-go-go (ERG) potassium channel in smooth muscle of the equine gastrointestinal tract and influence on activity of jejunal smooth muscle.

Objective: To determine whether ether-a-go-go (ERG) potassium channels are expressed in equine gastrointestinal smooth muscle, whether ERG channel antagonists affect jejunal muscle contraction in vitro, and whether plasma cisapride concentrations in horses administered treatment for postoperative ileus (POI) are consistent with ERG channels as drug targets.

Sample Population: Samples of intestinal smooth muscle obtained from 8 horses free of gastrointestinal tract disease and plasma samples obtained from 3 horses administered cisapride for treatment of POI.

Procedure: Membranes were prepared from the seromuscular layer of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, large colon, and small colon.

Concurrent administration of water-soluble vitamin E can increase the oral bioavailability of cyclosporine a in healthy dogs.

Randomized crossover studies were performed to determine the effect of coadministration of d-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1,000 succinate (vitamin E TPGS) on the oral bioavailability of cyclosporine A (CsA) formulated as either Sandimmune (Novartis Pharmaceuticals) or Neoral (Novartis Pharmaceuticals). Healthy dogs were given a single oral dose of each cyclosporine formulation with and without vitamin E TPGS. Blood samples were collected from each dog before and at various intervals for 24 hours after drug administration.

Potassium channel antagonists influence porcine granulosa cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.

This investigation determined the effects of K(+) channel antagonists on proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of porcine granulosa cells. The drugs screened for functional effects included the class III antiarrhythmic agents MK-499 and clofilium, the chromanol I(Ks) antagonist 293B, the benzodiazepine I(Ks) antagonists L-735,821 and L-768,673, and the peptidyl toxins charybdotoxin (CTX) and margatoxin (MTX). Granulosa cell proliferation and differentiation were assessed by serial measurements of cell number and progesterone accumulation in the culture media, respectively.

Expression and coassociation of ERG1, KCNQ1, and KCNE1 potassium channel proteins in horse heart.

In dogs and in humans, potassium channels formed by ether-a-go-go-related gene 1 protein ERG1 (KCNH2) and KCNQ1 alpha-subunits, in association with KCNE beta-subunits, play a role in normal repolarization and may contribute to abnormal repolarization associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS). The molecular basis of repolarization in horse heart is unknown, although horses exhibit common cardiac arrhythmias and may receive drugs that induce LQTS. In horse heart, we have used immunoblotting and immunostaining to demonstrate the expression of ERG1, KCNQ1, KCNE1, and KCNE3 proteins and RT-PCR to detect KCNE2 message.

Hypercalcemia due to latrogenic secondary hypoadrenocorticism and diabetes mellitus in a cat.

A 9-year-old, spayed female domestic shorthair cat presented for polyphagia, polydipsia, and polyuria following chronic methylprednisolone acetate therapy for pruritus. Initial diagnostics were consistent with uncomplicated diabetes mellitus. Serum calcium was within reference range.

Molecular basis of voltage-dependent potassium currents in porcine granulosa cells.

The major objective of this study was to elucidate the molecular bases for K(+) current diversity in porcine granulosa cells (GC). Two delayed rectifier K(+) currents with distinct electrophysiological and pharmacological properties were recorded from porcine GC by using whole-cell patch clamp: 1) a slowly activating, noninactivating current (I(Ks)) antagonized by clofilium, 293B, L-735,821, and L-768,673; and 2) an ultrarapidly activating, slowly inactivating current (I(Kur)) antagonized completely by clofilium and 4-aminopyridine and partially by tetraethylammonium, charybdotoxin, dendrotoxin, and kaliotoxin. The molecular identity of the K(+) channel genes underlying I(Ks) and I(Kur) was examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunoblotting to detect K(+) channel transcripts and proteins.