Toward a phenomenology of congenital illness: a case of single-ventricle heart disease.

Phenomenology has contributed to healthcare by providing resources for understanding the lived experience of the patient and their situation. But within a burgeoning literature on the characteristic features of illness, there has not yet been an account appropriate to describe congenital illnesses: conditions which are present from birth and cause suffering or medical threat to their bearers. Congenital illness sits uncomfortably with standard accounts in phenomenology of illness, in which concepts such as loss, doubt, alienation and unhomelikeness presuppose prior health.

Metallofluorocarbon Nanoemulsion for Inflammatory Macrophage Detection via PET and MRI.

Inflammation is associated with a range of serious human conditions, including autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The ability to image active inflammatory processes greatly enhances our ability to diagnose and treat these diseases at an early stage. We describe molecular compositions enabling sensitive and precise imaging of inflammatory hotspots in vivo.

Presuming patient autonomy in the face of therapeutic misconception.

Therapeutic misconception involves the failure of subjects either to understand or to incorporate into their own expectations the distinctions in nature and purpose of personally responsive therapeutic care, and the generic relationship between subject and investigator which is constrained by research protocols. Researchers cannot disregard this phenomenon if they are to ensure that subjects engage in research on the basis of genuine informed consent. However, our presumption of patient autonomy must be sustained unless we have compelling evidence of serious misunderstanding.

Sulphur stable isotope systematics in diagenetic pyrite from the North Sea hydrocarbon reservoirs revealed by laser combustion analysis.

Our study focuses on pyrite nodules developed in the Brent Group sandstones, which host the Brent Oilfield, one of the North Sea's greatest oil and gas producers. Timing of nodule formation is equivocal, but due to the forceful, penetrative textures that abound, it is considered late. This pyrite offers a research opportunity because it records the development of the supply of H(2)S in a hydrocarbon reservoir and its sulphur isotopic composition.

Small animal preparation and handling in MRI.

Animal handling and preparation is one of the most critical aspects of in vivo NMR imaging in small animals, and involves a broad spectrum of challenges, any of which could affect data quality and reproducibility. This chapter will outline the most critical considerations in animal handling for in vivo MRI experimentation in rodent models. Highly accurate and reproducible positioning is one of the most important aspects, since sensitivity, motion and susceptibility artifacts, animal imaging throughput, and ease of data quantification are all dependent on it.

Current concepts in the assessment and treatment of hepatic encephalopathy.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is defined as a metabolically induced, potentially reversible, functional disturbance of the brain that may occur in acute or chronic liver disease. Standardized nomenclature has been proposed but a standardized approach to the treatment, particularly of persistent, episodic and recurrent encephalopathy associated with liver cirrhosis has not been proposed. This review focuses on the pathogenesis and treatment of HE in patients with cirrhosis.

Wake-up call for British psychiatry.

The recent drive within the UK National Health Service to improve psychosocial care for people with mental illness is both understandable and welcome: evidence-based psychological and social interventions are extremely important in managing psychiatric illness. Nevertheless, the accompanying downgrading of medical aspects of care has resulted in services that often are better suited to offering non-specific psychosocial support, rather than thorough, broad-based diagnostic assessment leading to specific treatments to optimise well-being and functioning. In part, these changes have been politically driven, but they could not have occurred without the collusion, or at least the acquiescence, of psychiatrists.

Greater glycogen utilization during 1- than 2-adrenergic receptor stimulation in the isolated perfused rat heart.

Differences in energy metabolism during beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (AR) stimulation have been shown to translate to differences in the elicited functional responses. It has been suggested that differential access to glycogen during beta(1)- compared with beta(2)-AR stimulation may influence the peak functional response and modulation of the response during sustained adrenergic stimulation. Interleaved (13)C- and (31)P-NMR spectroscopy was used during beta(1)- and beta(2)-AR stimulation at matched peak workload (2.

Magnetic resonance imaging determination of tumor grade and early response to temozolomide in a genetically engineered mouse model of glioma.

Purpose: The median survival for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of brain tumor, is less than 1 year. Animal glioma models that are more predictive of therapeutic response in human patients than traditional models and that are genetically and histologically accurate are an unmet need. The nestin tv-a (Ntv-a) genetically engineered mouse spontaneously develops glioma when infected with ALV-A expressing platelet-derived growth factor, resulting in autocrine platelet-derived growth factor signaling.

Vascular targeted nanoparticles for imaging and treatment of brain tumors.

Purpose: Development of new therapeutic drug delivery systems is an area of significant research interest. The ability to directly target a therapeutic agent to a tumor site would minimize systemic drug exposure, thus providing the potential for increasing the therapeutic index.

Experimental Design: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the uptake of a sensitizer by the cancer cells followed by photoirradiation to activate the sensitizer.

In vivo biological activity of exendin (1-30).

Activation of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor on pancreatic beta cells by GLP-1 and exendin-4 increases insulin secretion. Exendin-4 is 39 amino acids long, unlike GLP-1 which has 30 amino acids. Because of its non-mammalian (lizard) origin and unique C-terminal sequence, exendin-4 may be immunogenic in humans.

High-throughput magnetic resonance imaging in mice for phenotyping and therapeutic evaluation.

High-throughput mouse magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is seeing rapidly increasing demand in development of therapeutics. Recent advances including higher-field systems, new gradient and radio frequency coils and new pulse sequences, coupled with efficient animal preparation and data handling, allow high-throughput MRI under certain protocols. However, with current shifts from anatomic to functional and molecular imaging, innovative technology is required to meet new throughput demands.

Psychiatric characteristics of frequent attenders at accident and emergency: a case register comparison with non frequent attenders.

Background And Aims: Patients attending Accident and Emergency (A&E) on a frequent basis consume a large amount of NHS resources and often frustrate health workers employed in the service. This audit aimed to identify the personal and psychiatric characteristics of these patients and highlight areas where intervention may be helpful.

Methods And Results: Patients presenting to A &E more than 20 times in four years were comparison to non-frequent attenders using case register information.

Temporal dynamics of inotropic, chronotropic, and metabolic responses during beta1- and beta2-AR stimulation in the isolated, perfused rat heart.

During the beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR)-mediated stress response in the heart, the relations between functional responses and metabolism are ill defined, with the distinction between beta1- and beta2-AR subtypes creating further complexity. Specific outstanding questions include the temporal relation between inotropic and chronotropic responses and their metabolic correlates. We sought to elucidate the relative magnitudes and temporal dynamics of the response to beta1- and beta2-AR stimulation and the energy expenditure and bioenergetic state related to these responses in the isolated perfused rat heart.

Diffusion imaging for evaluation of tumor therapies in preclinical animal models.

The increasing development of novel targeted therapies for treating solid tumors has necessitated the development of technology to determine their efficacy in preclinical animal models. One such technology that can non-invasively quantify early changes in tumor cellularity as a result of an efficacious therapy is diffusion MRI. In this overview we present some theories as to the origin of diffusion changes as a result of tumor therapy, a robust methodology for acquisition of apparent diffusion coefficient maps and some applications of determining therapeutic efficacy in a variety therapeutic regimens and animal models.

A novel polyacrylamide magnetic nanoparticle contrast agent for molecular imaging using MRI.

A novel polyacrylamide superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle platform is described which has been synthetically prepared such that multiple crystals of iron oxide are encapsulated within a single polyacrylamide matrix (PolyAcrylamide Magnetic [PAM] nanoparticles). This formulation provides for an extremely large T2 and T2* relaxivity of between 620 and 1140 sec(-1) mM(-1). Administration of PAM nanoparticles into rats bearing orthotopic 9L gliomas allowed quantitative pharmacokinetic analysis of the uptake of nanoparticles in the vasculature, brain, and glioma.

Evaluation of cancer therapy using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.

Assessment of the effectiveness of cancer therapy traditionally relies on comparison of tumor images acquired before and after therapeutic intervention by inspection of gross anatomical images to evaluate changes in tumor size. The potential for imaging to provide additional insights related to the therapeutic impact would be enhanced if a specific parameter or combination of parameters could be identified that reflect tissue changes at the cellular or physiological level. This information could also provide a more sensitive and earlier indicator of treatment response in an individual animal or patient.

Differences in the bioenergetic response of the isolated perfused rat heart to selective beta1- and beta2-adrenergic receptor stimulation.

Background: In the heart, striking functional differences exist after stimulation of the beta1- and beta2-adrenergic receptor (AR) subtypes. These may be linked to differences in metabolic response during beta1- and beta2-AR stimulation.

Methods And Results: The relation between work and metabolism was examined during selective beta1- and beta2-AR stimulation (beta1 and beta2 groups, respectively) in the isolated perfused rat heart.