Suppression of acute proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine upregulation by post-injury administration of a novel small molecule improves long-term neurologic outcome in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with its associated morbidity is a major area of unmet medical need that lacks effective therapies. TBI initiates a neuroinflammatory cascade characterized by activation of astrocytes and microglia, and increased production of immune mediators including proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This inflammatory response contributes both to the acute pathologic processes following TBI including cerebral edema, in addition to longer-term neuronal damage and cognitive impairment.

Intradermal pre-exposure rabies vaccine elicits long lasting immunity.

A retrospective cohort study of current rabies antibody titres from adults who received pre-exposure immunisation administered intradermally between 1994 and 2005, examining the decay in titre over time relative to the interval since last dose, and the total dose received. Participants receiving at least 0.6 ml total dose intradermally of vaccine over at least two clinic visits and all with three clinic visits, were shown to have an adequate titre with measurable levels of antibody indicating sero-conversion above 0.

Greater immediate gastric acid suppression with lansoprazole 30 mg administered as a 2-minute intravenous bolus injection versus a 30-minute infusion.

Study Objective: To compare the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety of lansoprazole administered as a 2-minute intravenous bolus injection versus a 30-minute continuous infusion.

Design: Phase I, open-label, randomized, crossover, single-center trial.

Setting: Clinical research facility.

8-Chloro-5-(4-phenethylpiperazin-1--yl)pyrido[2,3-b][1,5]benzoxazepine.

As part of an anti-psychotic drug discovery program, we report the crystal structure of the title compound, C(24)H(23)ClN(4)O. The mol-ecule has a tricyclic framework with a characteristic buckled V-shaped pyridobenzoxazepine unit, with the central seven-membered heterocycle in a boat configuration. The piperazine ring displays a chair conformation with the 2-phenyl-ethyl substituent assuming an equatorial orientation.

Studies presented in poster format at the annual meetings of the American Association Of Hip And Knee Surgeons: how do they fare in the peer review process?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the eventual publication rates of poster presentations at the annual meetings of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons from 1996 to 2001 (47%). Common belief expects poster presentations to publish at a lower rate than podium presentations, the latter being typically believed to consist of studies of higher scientific value. We hypothesized that this would lead to a lower incidence of eventual peer-reviewed literature publication for posters.

Dynamics of dense electronegative low density lipoproteins and their preferential association with lipoprotein phospholipase A(2).

Small, dense, electronegative low density lipoprotein [LDL(-)] is increased in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, populations at increased risk for coronary artery disease. It is present to a lesser extent in normolipidemic subjects. The mechanistic link between small, dense LDL(-) and atherogenesis is not known.

Botswana's Tebelopele voluntary HIV counseling and testing network: use and client risk factors for HIV infection, 2000-2004.

Background: : HIV services, including voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, expanded rapidly in Botswana from 2000 through 2004.

Methods: : Client data from Botswana's Tebelopele VCT network were analyzed to describe clients, factors associated with HIV infection, and trends in VCT use.

Results: : Tebelopele provided free, anonymous, same-day HIV tests for 117,234 clients from 2000 through 2004.

Publication rates of scientific presentations at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons annual meetings from 1996 to 2001.

National orthopedic subspecialty meetings are a research forum where volumes of investigations are presented after a peer-reviewed selection process. The objective of this investigation was to determine the publication rate of recent scientific presentations presented at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) annual meetings. From 1996 to 2001, 168 (58%) of 292 podium abstracts presented at meetings were published.

Sustained elevations in NEFA induce cyclooxygenase-2 activity and potentiate THP-1 macrophage foam cell formation.

Type 2 diabetes, a major risk factor for atherosclerosis, is associated with a cluster of lipid risk factors, many of which can be mechanistically linked with underlying dysregulated fatty acid metabolism and elevated plasma non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). Thus, we tested the hypothesis that elevated NEFA dysregulates lipid metabolism at the levels of lipid synthesis and gene expression in THP-1 monocyte derived macrophages (MDM). THP-1 MDM incubated with oleic acid (OA) and a BODIPY-conjugated NEFA, accumulate, respectively, intracellular inclusions that are positive for oil red O and BODIPY-labeling.

The predation costs of symmetrical cryptic coloration.

In psychological studies of visual perception, symmetry is accepted as a potent cue in visual search for cryptic objects, yet its importance for non-human animals has been assumed rather than tested. Furthermore, while the salience of bilateral symmetry has been established in laboratory-based search tasks using human subjects, its role in more natural settings, closer to those for which such perceptual mechanisms evolved, has not, to our knowledge, been investigated previously. That said, the salience of symmetry in visual search has a plausible adaptive rationale, because biologically important objects, such as prey, predators or conspecifics, usually have a plane of symmetry that is not present in their surroundings.

Evidence for two-pore domain potassium channels in rat cerebral arteries.

Little is known about the presence and function of two-pore domain K(+) (K(2P)) channels in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Five members of the K(2P) channel family are known to be directly activated by arachidonic acid (AA). The purpose of this study was to determine 1) whether AA-sensitive K(2P) channels are expressed in cerebral VSMCs and 2) whether AA dilates the rat middle cerebral artery (MCA) by increasing K+ currents in VSMCs via an atypical K+ channel.

The impact of geophagy on ranging behaviour in Phayre's leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus phayrei).

Resource use is known to influence the ranging behaviour of primates, and this effect may be pronounced when the resource is uncommon in the environment. Here we investigate the effect of geophagy on the ranging behaviour of Phayre's leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus phayrei) in the Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. UTM coordinates were collected via GPS from the group centre every 30 min during all-day follows of one study group over a 4-month period.

Age-related differences in peak joint torques during the support phase of single-step recovery from a forward fall.

Background: Previous studies have reported that older adults have a reduced ability to recover balance with a single step after a forward-induced fall. To better understand the reasons for this reduced ability, this study investigated any age-related differences in peak joint torques during the support phase of a single-step balance recovery from a forward fall.

Methods: Ten young (19-23 years old) and 10 older (65-83 years old) men were released from forward-leaning positions and attempted to recover their balance with a single step.

Age and stepping limb performance differences during a single-step recovery from a forward fall.

Background: The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to evaluate any age-related differences in peak joint velocities of the stepping limb during single-step recovery from a forward fall, and 2) to determine if the ability to recover from a forward fall with a single step differs when stepping with the dominant or nondominant lower limb (LL).

Methods: Ten young (19-23 years old) and ten older (65-83 years old) men were released from forward-leaning positions and attempted to recover their balance with a single step. Lean magnitude was increased until the men failed to recover their balance with a single step.

A novel option in proton pump inhibitor dosing: lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet dispersed in water and administered via nasogastric tube.

Background: Lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet, which rapidly disintegrates on the tongue or in water, provides a dosing alternative for patients with difficulty in swallowing. Gastric and nasogastric tubes are increasingly placed in patients with more severe swallowing disorders.

Aim: This study assessed the pharmacokinetic profile of lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet dispersed in a small volume of water and administered through a small-bore nasogastric tube.

A novel option for dosing of proton pump inhibitors: dispersion of lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet in water via oral syringe.

Background: A new formulation of lansoprazole, the lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet, rapidly disintegrates in water eliminating the need for swallowing whole pills.

Aim: To assess the effect that dispersing the lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet in water would have on lansoprazole pharmacokinetics.

Methods: Forty healthy adult men and women (18-43 years) received two single 15 mg lansoprazole orally disintegrating tablet doses separated by 3 days (one administered directly onto the tongue without water and one dispersed in water and administered orally via syringe) in a randomized, crossover fashion.

Lassa fever in Guinea: I. Epidemiology of human disease and clinical observations.

The arenavirus Lassa is found in West Africa, where it sometimes causes a severe illness called Lassa fever. Lassa fever has been seldom investigated outside of a few hyperendemic regions, where the described epidemiology may differ from that in areas of low or moderate incidence of disease. Through a prospective cohort study, we investigated the epidemiology and clinical presentation of Lassa fever in Guinea, where the disease has been infrequently recognized.

The READIT assay as a method for genotyping NAT1*10 polymorphisms.

Polymorphisms in the N-acetyltransferases (NATs) have been associated with increased risks for the development of a variety of cancers. The NAT1*10 allele, for example, has been reported to be associated with an increased risk of colon and urinary bladder cancers, among others. Therefore, considerable effort is being placed on the development of genotyping methodologies for NAT activities both for pharmacological as well as disease preventative applications.

Evaluation of carcinogenic responses in the Eker rat following short-term exposure to selected nephrotoxins and carcinogens.

This study examined the response of the Eker rat to nephrotoxic compounds and to genotoxic nonrenal carcinogens. Groups of male Eker rats received either no treatment; a vehicle treatment; treatment with a noncarcinogenic nephrotoxin (aluminum nitrilotriacetate, 2 mg/kg/day of aluminum, intraperitoneally, 3 days per week or cyclosporine A, 30 mg/kg/day, orally by gavage, 7 days/week); or treatment with a genotoxic nonrenal carcinogen (furan, 8 mg/kg/day, orally by gavage, 5 days/week or 2,4-diaminotoluene, 6.5 mg/kg/day, orally by gavage, 7 days/week or 2-nitropropane, 89 mg/kg/day, orally by gavage, 3 days/week).

Molecular mapping in the CNS.

Since ancient times the operation of the brain has elicited more than usual interest. Data mining of the human genome is revealing that many CNS abnormalities have a genetic component. As yet this information can not be used directly to cure or ameliorate specific CNS disorders although this is regarded as having great potential for future therapies.