Ramping Position to Aid Non-invasive Ventilation (NIV) in Obese Patients in the ICU.

Introduction: The ramping position is recommended to facilitate pre-oxygenation and mask ventilation of obese patients in anaesthetics via improving the airway alignment.

Presentation Of Case Series: Two cases of obese patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with type 2 respiratory failure. Both cases showed obstructive breathing patterns on non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and failed resolution of hypercapnia.

Application of the common base method to regression and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in qPCR experiments and subsequent relative expression calculation.

Background: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is the technique of choice for quantifying gene expression. While the technique itself is well established, approaches for the analysis of qPCR data continue to improve.

Results: Here we expand on the common base method to develop procedures for testing linear relationships between gene expression and either a measured dependent variable, independent variable, or expression of another gene.

Evaluation of usage of virtual microscopy for the study of histology in the medical, dental, and veterinary undergraduate programs of a UK University.

This article describes the introduction of a virtual microscope (VM) that has allowed preclinical histology teaching to be fashioned to better suit the needs of approximately 900 undergraduate students per year studying medicine, dentistry, or veterinary science at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Features of the VM implementation include: (1) the facility for students and teachers to make annotations on the digital slides; (2) in-house development of VM-based quizzes that are used for both formative and summative assessments; (3) archiving of teaching materials generated each year, enabling students to access their personalized learning resources throughout their programs; and (4) retention of light microscopy capability alongside the VM. Student feedback on the VM is particularly positive about its ease of use, the value of the annotation tool, the quizzes, and the accessibility of all components off-campus.

Evidence for a common mechanism for spontaneous rhythmic contraction and myogenic contraction induced by quick stretch in detrusor smooth muscle.

Detrusor smooth muscle exhibits myogenic contraction in response to a quick stretch (QS) as well as spontaneous rhythmic contraction (SRC); however, whether the same population of actomyosin crossbridges with a common regulatory mechanism is responsible for these two types of contraction has not been determined. Detrusor strips from New Zealand white rabbit bladders were allowed to develop SRC at a reference muscle length (L ref), or rhythmic contraction (RC) was induced with tetraethylammonium (TEA). Multiple 10-msec stretches of 15% L ref were then imposed at L ref randomly during the rhythm cycle, and the nadir-to-peak (NTP) tension amplitude of the resulting myogenic contraction was measured.

IFPA Meeting 2010 Workshops Report II: Placental pathology; trophoblast invasion; fetal sex; parasites and the placenta; decidua and embryonic or fetal loss; trophoblast differentiation and syncytialisation.

Workshops are an important part of the IFPA annual meeting. At IFPA Meeting 2010 diverse topics were discussed in twelve themed workshops, six of which are summarized in this report. 1.