Impact of Mitral Regurgitation Severity and Cause on Effort Tolerance-Integrated Stress Myocardial Perfusion Imaging and Echocardiographic Assessment of Patients With Known or Suspected Coronary Artery Disease Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing.

Background Mitral regurgitation ( MR ) has the potential to impede exercise capacity; it is uncertain whether this is because of regurgitation itself or the underlying cause of valvular insufficiency. Methods and Results The population comprised 3267 patients who underwent exercise treadmill myocardial perfusion imaging and transthoracic echocardiography within 6±8 days. MR was present in 28%, including 176 patients (5%) with moderate or greater MR .

Lab-on-a-Film disposable for genotyping multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputum extracts.

We describe a Lab-on-a-Film disposable that detects multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) from sputum extracts. The Lab-on-a-Film disposable consists of 203 gel elements that include DNA sequences (probes) for 37 mutations, deletions, or insertion elements across 5 genes (including an internal control). These gel elements are printed on a flexible film, which costs approximately 500 times less than microarray glass.

Automated TruTip nucleic acid extraction and purification from raw sputum.

Automated nucleic acid extraction from primary (raw) sputum continues to be a significant technical challenge for molecular diagnostics. In this work, we developed a prototype open-architecture, automated nucleic acid workstation that includes a mechanical homogenization and lysis function integrated with heating and TruTip purification; optimized an extraction protocol for raw sputum; and evaluated system performance on primary clinical specimens. Eight samples could be processed within 70 min.

A bench-top automated workstation for nucleic acid isolation from clinical sample types.

Systems that automate extraction of nucleic acid from cells or viruses in complex clinical matrices have tremendous value even in the absence of an integrated downstream detector. We describe our bench-top automated workstation that integrates our previously-reported extraction method - TruTip - with our newly-developed mechanical lysis method. This is the first report of this method for homogenizing viscous and heterogeneous samples and lysing difficult-to-disrupt cells using "MagVor": a rotating magnet that rotates a miniature stir disk amidst glass beads confined inside of a disposable tube.

Alcohol use and comorbid anxiety, traumatic stress, and hopelessness among Hispanics.

Little is known about the comorbidity of alcohol use, anxiety, hopelessness, and trauma among Mexican Americans, especially those living in impoverished and often isolated communities or neighborhoods (colonias in Spanish) along the U.S.-Mexico border that may be particularly vulnerable due to stressful living conditions.

Response of Native American clients to three treatment methods for alcohol dependence.

Objective: It is well-documented that American Indians suffer disproportionately high rates of alcohol use disorders as well as correspondingly high rates of alcohol based mortality, health, and social problems. Despite these health disparities, anecdotal evidence continues to guide alcohol treatment approaches in Indian Country, in part due to a dearth of clinical trials with Native Americans. Project MATCH, a multisite clinical trial, included 25 Native Americans (1.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol, and tribes: obstacles to research.

Based on research and clinical experiences on and off Indian reservations in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, the author shares his perspective on systemic obstacles to psychological research in Indian Country. Using those obstacles as a springboard, he maps the emergent epistemological differences between western and native approaches to gathering knowledge and engendering change. The resulting discussion suggests different ways in which research can be conceptualized with Indian tribes.

Motivation and neuropsychological test performance following mild head injury.

Effect of motivation on neuropsychological test performance in mild head injury was assessed. Motivation was measured using the Portland Digit RecognitionTest. Three groups were compared: (a) mildhead injury, financial incentives, good motivation; (b) mild head injury, financial incentives, poor motivation; (c) moderate/severe head injury, good motivation.

Pain Assessment for the Dementing Elderly (PADE): reliability and validity of a new measure.

Objectives: To establish the reliability and validity of a measure to assess pain in individuals with advanced dementia.

Design: Sixty-five residents of long-term care facilities were assessed using a new rating tool, the Pain Assessment for the Dementing Elderly (PADE), in two separate studies: (1) Residents were assessed simultaneously by two different raters, at Time 1 and 2, to establish interrater reliability, stability, and internal consistency. (2) Validity was established by assessing the correlation between an agitation scale and the PADE; by comparing groups with pain as a significant clinical factor (as assessed by an independent rater) versus not a significant factor, and by assessing individuals receiving versus not receiving psychoactive medications.