The Dens: Normal Development, Developmental Variants and Anomalies, and Traumatic Injuries.

Accurate interpretation of cervical spine imagining can be challenging, especially in children and the elderly. The biomechanics of the developing pediatric spine and age-related degenerative changes predispose these patient populations to injuries centered at the craniocervical junction. In addition, congenital anomalies are common in this region, especially those associated with the axis/dens, due to its complexity in terms of development compared to other vertebral levels.

Effects of Tomato and Soy Germ on Lipid Bioaccumulation and Atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- Mice.

Dietary patterns with cardiovascular benefits have been recommended, but the relative contributions of individual foods and food components, alone or in combination, remain undefined. Male ApoE(-/-) mice were fed either a purified AIN-93G control diet, a Western diet (WD), or a WD with 10% tomato powder (TP), 2% soy germ (SG), or the combination, for 4 wk (n = 10 per group). Plasma total cholesterol and triglycerides were measured with enzymatic colorimetric kits, and serum amyloid A (SAA) was measured by ELISA.

Contrast Ultrasound Imaging Does Not Affect Heat Shock Protein 70 Expression in Cholesterol-Fed Rabbit Aorta.

Objectives: Diagnostic ultrasound imaging is enhanced by the use of circulating microbubble contrast agents (UCAs), but the interactions between ultrasound, UCAs, and vascular tissue are not fully understood. We hypothesized that ultrasound with a UCA would stress the vascular tissue and increase levels of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), a cellular stress protein.

Methods: Male New Zealand White rabbits (n = 32) were fed a standard chow diet (n = 4) or a 1% cholesterol, 10% fat, and 0.

Contrast Ultrasound Imaging of the Aorta Does Not Affect Progression of Atherosclerosis or Cardiovascular Biomarkers in ApoE-/- Mice.

Objectives: Ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) enhance cardiovascular ultrasound imaging. Adverse biological effects have occurred after administration of UCAs, and more research is needed for a comprehensive understanding of the risks involved. We used the ApoE(-/-) mouse model of atherosclerosis to characterize the effects of ultrasound and UCAs on atherosclerosis and plasma biomarkers.

Development of an ultrasonic method to detect cervical remodeling in vivo in full-term pregnant women.

The objective of this study was to determine whether estimates of ultrasonic attenuation could detect changes in the cervix associated with medically induced cervical remodeling. Thirty-six full-term pregnant women underwent two transvaginal ultrasonic examinations separated in time by 12 h to determine cervical attenuation, cervical length and changes thereof. Ultrasonic attenuation and cervical length data were acquired from a zone (Zonare Medical Systems, Mountain View, CA, USA) ultrasound system using a 5-9 MHz endovaginal probe.

Optimization of gap derivatives for measuring blood concentration of fabric using vibrational spectroscopy.

Derivatives are common preprocessing tools, typically implemented as Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing derivatives. This work discusses the implementation and optimization of fourth-order gap derivatives (GDs) as an alternative to SG derivatives for processing infrared spectra before multivariate calibration. Gap derivatives approximate the analytical derivative by calculating finite differences of spectra without curve fitting.

Myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies (MPO-ANCA) and Proteinase 3-ANCA without Immunofluorescent ANCA Found by Routine Clinical Testing.

Objective: Concurrent testing for serum antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) and by antiproteinase 3 (PR3)/antimyeloperoxidase (MPO) antibody assays may identify patients with PR3-ANCA or MPO-ANCA despite a negative IF (IF-negative MPO/PR3-positive); however, the significance of this result is not clear. We sought to determine whether IF-negative, MPO/PR3-positive results identified any cases of clinically meaningful systemic vasculitis at our institution.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all IF-negative, MPO/PR3-positive patients identified at our institution over a 2-year period.

Predictors and risks of body fat profiles in young New Zealand European, Māori and Pacific women: study protocol for the women's EXPLORE study.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) (kg/m(2)) is used internationally to assess body mass or adiposity. However, BMI does not discriminate body fat content or distribution and may vary among ethnicities. Many women with normal BMI are considered healthy, but may have an unidentified "hidden fat" profile associated with higher metabolic disease risk.

Ultrasound-induced heart rate decrease: role of the vagus nerve.

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of the vagus nerve (VN) in the ultrasound (US)-induced negative chronotropic effect (deceased heart rate). One of the functions of the VN is to mediate lowering of the heart rate. A previous study showed a decrease of ~20% in the heart rate but the mechanism of the effect was not investigated.

Structure function for high-concentration biophantoms of polydisperse scatterer sizes.

Ultrasonic backscattering coefficient (BSC) has been used extensively to characterize tissue. In most cases, sparse scatterer concentrations are assumed. However, many types of tissues have dense scattering media.

Eravacycline (TP-434) is active in vitro against biofilms formed by uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Eravacycline (formerly TP-434) was evaluated in vitro against pre-established biofilms formed by a uropathogenic Escherichia coli strain. Biofilms were eradicated by 0.5 μg/ml eravacycline, which was within 2-fold of the MIC for planktonic cells.

Lipid domains in intact fiber-cell plasma membranes isolated from cortical and nuclear regions of human eye lenses of donors from different age groups.

The results reported here clearly document changes in the properties and the organization of fiber-cell membrane lipids that occur with age, based on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis of lens membranes of clear lenses from donors of age groups from 0 to 20, 21 to 40, and 61 to 80 years. The physical properties, including profiles of the alkyl chain order, fluidity, hydrophobicity, and oxygen transport parameter, were investigated using EPR spin-labeling methods, which also provide an opportunity to discriminate coexisting lipid domains and to evaluate the relative amounts of lipids in these domains. Fiber-cell membranes were found to contain three distinct lipid environments: bulk lipid domain, which appears minimally affected by membrane proteins, and two domains that appear due to the presence of membrane proteins, namely boundary and trapped lipid domains.

Properties of membranes derived from the total lipids extracted from clear and cataractous lenses of 61-70-year-old human donors.

Human lens-lipid membranes prepared from the total lipids extracted from clear and cataractous lens cortexes and nuclei of 61-70-year-old donors by use of a rapid solvent-exchange method were investigated. The measured cholesterol-to-phospholipid (Chol/PL) molar ratio in these membranes was 1.8 and 4.

Noninvasive Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Quantification of Liver Fat Using a New Quantitative Ultrasound Technique.

Background & Aims: Liver biopsy analysis is the standard method used to diagnose nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Advanced magnetic resonance imaging is a noninvasive procedure that can accurately diagnose and quantify steatosis, but is expensive. Conventional ultrasound is more accessible but identifies steatosis with low levels of sensitivity, specificity, and quantitative accuracy, and results vary among technicians.

An open-source toolbox for automated phenotyping of mice in behavioral tasks.

Classifying behavior patterns in mouse models of neurological, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders is critical for understanding disease causality and treatment. However, complete characterization of behavior is time-intensive, prone to subjective scoring, and often requires specialized equipment. Although several reports describe automated home-cage monitoring and individual task scoring methods, we report the first open source, comprehensive toolbox for automating the scoring of several common behavior tasks used by the neuroscience community.

Acquired progressive lymphangioma of the nipple.

A 47-year-old woman presented with left nipple itch and discomfort. On physical examination she was found to have a 7 mm lesion. She underwent bilateral mammography and bilateral breast ultrasound which were normal.

The role of the duty factor in ultrasound-mediated cardiac stimulation.

The role of the duty factor (DF) in ultrasound-mediated cardiac stimulation is studied. Five 3-month-old female rats were exposed transthoracically to 3.5-MHz ultrasonic pulses of 2.

Design and construction of a multiwavelength, micromirror total internal reflectance fluorescence microscope.

Colocalization single-molecule spectroscopy (CoSMoS) has proven to be a useful method for studying the composition, kinetics and mechanisms of complex cellular machines. Key to the technique is the ability to simultaneously monitor multiple proteins and/or nucleic acids as they interact with one another. Here we describe a protocol for constructing a CoSMoS micromirror total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (mmTIRFM).

Social recovery and the move beyond deficit models of depression: a feminist analysis of mid-life women's self-care practices.

In Australia, like other advanced liberal democracies, the adoption of a recovery orientation was hailed as a major leap forward in mental health policy and service provision. We argue that this shift in thinking about the meaning of recovery requires further analysis of the gendered dimension of self-identity and relationships with the social world. In this article we focus on how mid-life women constructed meaning about recovery through their everyday practices of self-care within the gendered context of depression.

What is the value of adding Medicare data in estimating VA hospital readmission rates?

Objective: To determine the effects of including diagnostic and utilization data from a secondary payer on readmission rates and hospital profiles.

Data Sources/study Setting: Veterans Health Administration (VA) and Medicare inpatient and outpatient administrative data for veterans discharged from 153 VA hospitals during FY 2008-2010 with a principal diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia.

Study Design: We estimated hospital-level risk-standardized readmission rates derived using VA data only.

Techniques and evaluation from a cross-platform imaging comparison of quantitative ultrasound parameters in an in vivo rodent fibroadenoma model.

This contribution demonstrates that quantitative ultrasound (QUS) capabilities are platform independent, using an in vivo model. Frequency-dependent attenuation estimates, backscatter coefficient, and effective scatterer diameter estimates are shown to be comparable across four different ultrasound imaging systems with varied processing techniques. The backscatter coefficient (BSC) is a fundamental material property from which several QUS parameters are estimated; therefore, consistent BSC estimates among different systems must be demonstrated.

Quantitative analysis of ultrasound contrast agent postexcitation collapse.

An empirically based peak-detection technique is described for statistically analyzing single ultrasound contrast agent collapses. It is shown that microbubbles with postexcitation collapse initially exhibit a stronger principal response on average than those without postexcitation, and that lower insonifying frequencies lead to postexcitation signals which have greater separation from their principal response and persist through more rebounds.

High-throughput assays for superoxide and hydrogen peroxide: design of a screening workflow to identify inhibitors of NADPH oxidases.

Recent progress characterizing the reaction mechanism(s) of fluorescent probes with reactive oxygen species has made it possible to rigorously analyze these reactive species in biological systems. We have developed rapid high throughput-compatible assays for monitoring cellular production of superoxide radical anion and hydrogen peroxide using hydropropidine and coumarin boronic acid probes, respectively. Coupling plate reader-based fluorescence measurements with HPLC-based simultaneous monitoring of superoxide radical anion and hydrogen peroxide provides the basis for the screening protocol for NADPH oxidase (Nox) inhibitors.

A systematic approach to CT evaluation of orbital trauma.

Computed tomography (CT) is widely used in the initial evaluation of patients with craniofacial trauma. Due to anatomical proximity, craniofacial trauma often involves concomitant injury to the eye and orbit. These injuries may have devastating consequences to vision, ocular motility, and cosmesis.