Automating the analysis of eye movement for different neurodegenerative disorders.

The clinical observation and assessment of extra-ocular movements is common practice in assessing neurodegenerative disorders but remains observer-dependent. In the present study, we propose an algorithm that can automatically identify saccades, fixation, smooth pursuit, and blinks using a non-invasive eye tracker. Subsequently, response-to-stimuli-derived interpretable features were elicited that objectively and quantitatively assess patient behaviors.

Exploring [C]CPPC as a CSF1R-targeted PET Imaging Marker for Early Parkinson's Disease Severity.

Neuroinflammation through enhanced innate immunity is thought play a role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods for monitoring neuroinflammation in living patients with PD are currently limited to positron emission tomography (PET) ligands that lack specificity in labeling immune cells in the nervous system. The colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) plays a crucial role in microglial function, an important cellular contributor to the nervous system's innate immune response.

Enhancing Social Support Among People with Cardiovascular Disease: a Systematic Scoping Review.

Purpose Of Review: The presence of social support is a major determinant of positive health outcomes among people with cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, little is known about the most effective strategies for enhancing social support among this population. The aim of this scoping review was to describe the effectiveness of interventions seeking to enhance social support among people living with CVD and synthesize the evidence.

Recent Findings: A systematic search for articles that (a) reported on interventions which may enhance social support and (b) included a measure of social support revealed 21 studies.

Australian Consumers' Awareness and Acceptance of Insects as Food.

Insects have long been consumed as part of the diets of many Asian, African, and South American cultures. However, despite international agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations advocating the nutritional, environmental, and economic benefits of entomophagy, attitudinal barriers persist in Western societies. In Australia, the indigenous ‘bush tucker’ diet comprising witchetty grubs, honey ants, and Bogong moths is quite well known; however, in most Australian locales, the consumption of insects tends to occur only as a novelty.

Five Steps to Providing Effective Feedback in the Clinical Setting: A New Approach to Promote Teamwork and Collaboration.

Background: Feedback is a major component of clinical education. Feedback reinforces or modifies behavior and helps learners to validate knowledge and feel motivated to learn. Traditionally, feedback is used by clinical educators who observe learners' behavior and provide expert direction.

Effect of Unblinding on Participants' Perceptions of Risk and Confidence in a Large Double-Blind Clinical Trial of Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer.

Importance: Blinding patients to treatment regimen is an important component of high-quality randomized clinical trials, although concern exists about how receipt of a placebo will affect participants' views, particularly among patients with cancer.

Objective: To determine whether unblinding of random assignment to placebo vs experimental agent in a large adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy randomized clinical trial was associated with perception of greater chance of cancer recurrence and lower confidence in the decision to participate in the trial in participants who were randomized to placebo compared with those randomized to experimental therapy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Serial telephone-based prospective survey substudy of all Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Protocol 5103 (ECOG5103) participants enrolling between January 5 and June 8, 2010.

Fibromyalgia: helping your patient while maintaining your sanity.

In caring for the patient with fibromyalgia, the primary care provider benefits from an understanding of fibromyalgia as a distinct entity. Evidence-based diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia can be used in all individuals who present with multiple site pain, fatigue, and poor sleep. Planning therapy for individuals with fibromyalgia often involves using both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment in the primary care setting.

Design and optimization of a multiplex anti-influenza peptide immunoassay.

Current flu vaccines are based on killed or attenuated virus vaccines that must be altered each year to include the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes from a strain of virus predicted to predominate in the coming year. A vaccine that could protect against multiple strains of influenza A and B would be a major asset in the fight against flu-related mortality and morbidity. To support development of such a vaccine, we have developed a Flu Multiplex Assay based on a Luminex platform to assess serum antibody levels to two conserved peptides derived from influenza A (M2 protein) and influenza B (hemagglutinin protein).

The optimization and validation of the glycoprotein ELISA assay for quantitative varicella-zoster virus (VZV) antibody detection.

Varicella is a highly contagious viral disease found throughout the world. A live-attenuated Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) vaccine (Oka/Merck strain), VARIVAXtrade mark, was licensed in the United States (US) in 1995 and was made a part of the US recommended childhood vaccination schedule in 1996. The immune response to VZV-containing vaccines has been measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to glycoproteins from VZV.

Financial and materiel management.

Hospitals have to purchase new technology, update equipment, and replenish supplies continually to meet the needs of patients and the medical and nursing staff in a sound financial way. Thus, inventories must be maintained accurately and adequately with proper controls. Awareness of the cost of capital and operational supplies is essential to meeting budget allocations.

The warfarin-sulfinpyrazone interaction: stereochemical considerations.

To allow the simultaneous evaluation of the interaction between sulfinpyrazone and each enantiomer of racemic warfarin, pseudoracemic warfarin (1:1 12C-R(+) and 13C-S(-)warfarin) was given to six normal subjects both before and during oral sulfinpyrazone dosing. Serial blood and urine samples were analyzed for unchanged warfarin and its metabolic products by GC/MS. A mass balance of an oral dose of pseudoracemic warfarin, containing a tracer quantity of 14C-warfarin, was carried out in one of the subjects by monitoring 14C levels in urine and feces for 15 days.

Myoglobinemia and endurance exercise: a study of twenty-five participants in a triathlon competition.

Twenty-five athletes competing in a triathlon, an endurance competition, were studied to determine the relationship of sustained muscle exertion with myoglobinemia and clinical rhabdomyolysis. Of 24 athletes who completed the event, each individual demonstrated a dramatic rise and fall in serum myoglobin over a 24 hour period, with an average peak level of 842 ng/ml. While all subjects exhibited symptoms of myalgia after exertion, none required hospitalization.

Interaction of secobarbital with warfarin pseudoracemates.

To evaluate the interaction of secobarbital with racemic warfarin or R,S(+/-)-warfarin, S(-)-warfarin was synthesized with 13C-label in the 2-position of the coumarin nucleus and added to 12C-R(+)-warfarin to form a 12C-/13C-warfarin pseudoracemate. Six normal subjects received 1.5 mg/kg of this "cold-labeled" pseudoracemate.

Stereoselective interaction of phenylbutazone with [12C/13C]warfarin pseudoracemates in man.

To evaluate the interaction of phenylbutazone with racemic warfarin or R,S-(+/-)-warfarin in man, S-(-)-warfarin or levowarfarin was synthesized with (13)C label in the 2-position of the coumarin nucleus and added to [(12)C]R(+)-warfarin or dextrowarfarin to form a [(12)C/(13)C]pseudoracemate of warfarin. In six normal human subjects, a single oral dose of this "cold labeled" pseudoracemate, 1.5 mg/kg body weight, was administered with and without a daily dosage of phenylbutazone, 300 mg orally, beginning 3 d before the warfarin dose and continuing throughout the hypoprothrombinemia.

A stable isotope assay for pseudoracemic warfarin from human plasma samples.

A pseudoracemic technique utilizing a seable isotope in one enantiomer was employed for the simultaneous determination of (R) and (S)-warfarin from plasma of human subjects. The assay includes high performance liquid chromatographic clean-up prior to mass spectral analysis to eliminate ion interferences from either co-administered drugs or contamination of the source. The assay is reliable, accurate and precise to within 5% at the submicrogram level.

Racemic warfarin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole interaction in humans.

Eleven normal humans were studied to evaluate the reported interaction of racemic sodium warfarin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole prospectively. Single oral doses of racemic warfarin, 1.5 mg/kg of body weight, were administered with and without 320 mg of trimethoprim and 1600 mg of sulfamethoxazole orally, beginning 7 d before the warfarin and continuing daily throughout the hypoprothrombinemia.