The 'mystery' of opioid-induced diarrhea.

Bowel dysfunction, mainly constipation, is a well-known and anticipated side effect of opioids. The physician prescribing an opioid frequently confronts the challenge of preventing and treating bowel dysfunction. Different strategies have emerged for managing opioid-induced constipation.

Suprascapular nerve reconstruction in obstetrical brachial plexus palsy: spinal accessory nerve transfer versus C5 root grafting.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is any difference in external rotation following reconstruction of the suprascapular nerve using nerve grafts from the proximal C5 root or nerve transfer using the spinal accessory nerve.

Methods: External rotation was assessed using the Active Movement Scale immediately before surgery and 3 years postoperatively. Patients with less than 3 years of follow-up were excluded.

Early onset of retrograde flow in the main pulmonary artery is a characteristic of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Purpose: To evaluate if early onset of retrograde flow in the main pulmonary artery is a characteristic of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Materials And Methods: Fifty-five patients with suspected pulmonary hypertension (PH) underwent right-sided heart catheterization and retrospectively ECG-gated MR phase-contrast velocity quantification in the main pulmonary artery. Pulmonary hypertension was defined by a mean pulmonary artery pressure being larger than 25 mmHg.

Pediatric head contours and inertial properties for ATD design.

Child head trauma in the United States is responsible for 30% of all childhood injury deaths with costs estimated at $10 billion per year. The common tools for studying this problem are the child anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs). The headform sizes and structural properties of child ATDs are based on various anthropometric studies and scaled Hybrid III mass and center of gravity (CG) properties.

Disorder effects in pnictides: a tunneling spectroscopy study.

We present the synthesis and the tunneling spectroscopy study of superconducting FeSe(0.5)Te(0.5) (T(c) = 14 K), SmFeAsO(0.

Hcrtr1 and 2 signaling differentially regulates depression-like behaviors.

The orexin/hypocretin system has the potential to significantly modulate affect, based on both the neuroanatomical projection patterns of these neurons and on the sites of orexin receptor expression. However, there is little data supporting the role of specific orexin receptors in the modulation of depression-like behavior. Here we report behavioral profiling of mice after genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of hcrtr1 and 2 receptor signaling.

Orexin receptor 2 expression in the posterior hypothalamus rescues sleepiness in narcoleptic mice.

Narcolepsy is caused by a loss of orexin/hypocretin signaling, resulting in chronic sleepiness, fragmented non-rapid eye movement sleep, and cataplexy. To identify the neuronal circuits underlying narcolepsy, we produced a mouse model in which a loxP-flanked gene cassette disrupts production of the orexin receptor type 2 (OX2R; also known as HCRTR2), but normal OX2R expression can be restored by Cre recombinase. Mice lacking OX2R signaling had poor maintenance of wakefulness indicative of sleepiness and fragmented sleep and lacked any electrophysiological response to orexin-A in the wake-promoting neurons of the tuberomammillary nucleus.

Neurosurgery for brain tumors: update on recent technical advances.

Advances in diagnostic imaging modalities and improved access to specialty care have led directly to an increased diagnosis of both metastatic and primary brain tumors. As technology has improved, so has the ability to treat this larger patient population. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has recently shown the potential to aid in histologic diagnosis as well as to identify local brain invasion outside of that readily identifiable by conventional MRI.

The 'real world' utility of miRNA patents: lessons learned from expressed sequence tags.

Strategies are needed for drafting miRNA patent applications, in light of the existing patent landscape and genomic patent strategies of the past decades.

Progranulin is a chemoattractant for microglia and stimulates their endocytic activity.

Mutations resulting in progranulin haploinsufficiency cause disease in patients with a subset of frontotemporal lobar degeneration; however, the biological functions of progranulin in the brain remain unknown. To address this subject, the present study initially assessed changes in gene expression and cytokine secretion in rat primary cortical neurons treated with progranulin. Molecular pathways enriched in the progranulin gene set included cell adhesion and cell motility pathways and pathways involved in growth and development.

Increased left ventricular torsion in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mutation carriers with normal wall thickness.

Background: Increased left ventricular (LV) torsion has been observed in patients with manifest familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and is thought to be caused by subendocardial dysfunction. We hypothesize that increased LV torsion is already present in healthy mutation carriers with normal wall thickness.

Methods: Seventeen carriers with an LV wall thickness <10 mm, and seventeen age and gender matched controls had cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) cine imaging and tissue tagging.

Influence of metopic suture fusion associated with sagittal synostosis.

Some patients with sagittal synostosis present with a fused metopic suture. We hypothesize that premature metopic suture fusion consistently and identifiably alters form associated with sagittal synostosis. We previously validated three-dimensional vector analysis as a tool for the study of cranial morphology and used it herein to distinguish between dysmorphologies of isolated sagittal synostosis (ISS) and combined sagittal-metopic synostosis (CSM).

Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae transmission from the female oropharynx to the male urethra.

In a sexually transmitted disease clinic-based sample of men who have sex with women, positivity for urethral Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae was 3.5% and 3.1%, respectively, among patients whose only urethral exposure in the previous 3 months was receiving fellatio from a woman.

Monitoring response to antiangiogenic therapy in non-small cell lung cancer using imaging markers derived from PET and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.

Unlabelled: With antiangiogenic agents, tumor shrinkage may be absent, despite survival benefit. The present study assessed the predictive value of molecular imaging for the identification of survival benefit during antiangiogenic treatment with bevacizumab and erlotinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: Patients were evaluated using an imaging protocol including CT, 18F-FDG PET, H2(15)O PET, and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI to derive measurements on tumor size, glucose metabolism, perfusion, and microvascular permeability.

Reduction in unnecessary Chlamydia screening among older women at title X-funded family planning sites following a structural intervention--San Francisco, 2009.

A structural intervention designed to reduce unnecessary chlamydia screening among older women resulted in a 24.4% reduction in test volume and an associated cost savings of nearly $40,000.

Repeat syphilis among men who have sex with men--San Diego County, 2004-2009.

Among 614 men who have sex with men in San Diego County with early syphilis during January 2004 to June 2007, 74 (11.7%; 95% confidence interval: 9.3%-14.

Healthy baboon with no upper jaw or nose: an extreme case of adaptability in the Kibale National Park, Uganda.

We describe and document with digital images an adult female baboon (Papio anubis) from the Kibale National Park, Uganda, who was missing all but the basal part of her upper jaw and nose, i.e., no premaxilla and very little of the maxilla and nasal bones.

Prolonged right ventricular post-systolic isovolumic period in pulmonary arterial hypertension is not a reflection of diastolic dysfunction.

Background: In pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) a prolonged time interval between pulmonary valve closure and tricuspid valve opening is found. This period is interpreted as prolonged right ventricular (RV) relaxation, and thus a reflection of diastolic dysfunction. This concept recently has been questioned, since it was shown that RV contraction continues after pulmonary valve closure causing a post-systolic contraction period.

Clinically significant change in stroke volume in pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Stroke volume is probably the best hemodynamic parameter because it reflects therapeutic changes and contains prognostic information in pulmonary hypertension (PH). Stroke volume directly reflects right ventricular function in response to its load, without the correction of compensatory increased heart rate as is the case for cardiac output. For this reason, stroke volume, which can be measured noninvasively, is an important hemodynamic parameter to monitor during treatment.

First-line erlotinib and bevacizumab in patients with locally advanced and/or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase II study including molecular imaging.

Background: Both bevacizumab and erlotinib have clinical activity in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Preclinical data suggest synergistic activity.

Patients And Methods: Chemonaive patients with stage IIIb or IV non-squamous NSCLC were treated with bevacizumab 15 mg/kg every 3 weeks and erlotinib 150 mg daily until progression.

Syphilis testing behavior following diagnosis with early syphilis among men who have sex with men--San Francisco, 2005-2008.

Background: In San Francisco, men who have sex with men (MSM) with early syphilis are at high risk of reinfection. We described syphilis testing behavior among MSM after diagnosis, identified factors associated with not testing, and developed algorithms to identify nontesters.

Methods: We used syphilis surveillance data from 2005 through 2008 to describe follow-up testing behavior among MSM with early syphilis and titers of non-treponemal serologic tests ≥1:16.

Right ventricular oscillatory power is a constant fraction of total power irrespective of pulmonary artery pressure.

Rationale: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by increased arterial load requiring more right ventricular (RV) hydraulic power to sustain adequate forward blood flow. Power can be separated into a mean and oscillatory part. The former is associated with mean and the latter with pulsatile blood flow and pressure.