Publications by authors named "Pettit D"

More than 30,000 ankle sprains occur each day in the United States, and the majority of ankle sprains involve the anterior talofibular ligament. Up to 30% of patients develop functional ankle instability and chronic pain after a severe ankle sprain. When nonoperative measures are unsuccessful, operative reconstruction of the lateral ankle ligaments is recommended.

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Great toe metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) arthroscopy has been described in the literature for more than 50 years for treatment of a multitude of first MTPJ pathologies, including hallux rigidus, hallux valgus, and osteochondritis dissecans, among others. Despite this, the use of great toe MTPJ arthroscopy has not become widely used for treatment of these conditions as the result of reported difficulties with adequate visualization of the joint surface and manipulation of surrounding soft-tissue structures with the instruments available. We propose a simple technique with illustrations of the operating room setup and procedural steps to perform a dorsal cheilectomy in those with early-stage hallux rigidus using great toe MTPJ arthroscopy and a minimally invasive surgical burr in a way that is reproducible by foot and ankle surgeons.

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As part of public health preparedness for infectious disease threats, CDC collaborates with other U.S. public health officials to ensure that the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) has diagnostic tools to detect Orthopoxviruses, the genus that includes Variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox.

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Loss of muscle mass is a major concern for long duration spaceflight. However, due to the need for specialized equipment, muscle size has only been assessed before and after spaceflight where ~20% loss is observed. Here, we demonstrate the utility of teleguided self-ultrasound scanning (Tele-SUS) to accurately monitor leg muscle size in astronauts during spaceflight.

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Sodium chloride (NaCl) grown in terrestrial conditions form hopper cubes under diffusion controlled mass transport (Péclet number: ≪ 1), high supersaturations ( > 1.45), and fast growth rates (10-110 µm/s) over periods only maintainable for seconds to minutes yielding hopper cubes typically <250 µm. Here we report on NaCl hopper cubes grown in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS) by evaporation of brine.

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Background: Newborn screening (NBS) occupies a unique space at the intersection of translational science and public health. As the only truly population-based public health program in the United States, NBS offers the promise of making the successes of translational medicine available to every infant with a rare disorder that is difficult to diagnose clinically, but for which strong evidence indicates that presymptomatic treatment will substantially improve outcomes. Realistic NBS policy requires data, but rare disorders face a special challenge: Screening cannot be done without supportive data, but adequate data cannot be collected in the absence of large-scale screening.

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The non-invasive, quick, and safe collection of exhaled breath condensate makes it a candidate as a diagnostic matrix in personalized health monitoring devices. The lack of standardization in collection methods and sample analysis is a persistent limitation preventing its practical use. The collection method and hardware design are recognized to significantly affect the metabolomic content of EBC samples, but this has not been systematically studied.

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Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) sample preparation methods, including the direct, on-plate formic acid, and ethanol/formic acid tube extraction methods, were evaluated for their ability to render highly pathogenic organisms nonviable and safe for handling in a biosafety level 2 laboratory. Of these, the tube extraction procedure was the most successful, with none of the tested strains surviving this sample preparation method. Tube extracts from several agents of bioterrorism and their near neighbors were analyzed in an eight-laboratory study to examine the utility of the Bruker Biotyper and Vitek MS MALDI-TOF MS systems and their diagnostic (IVD), research-use-only, and Security-Relevant databases, as applicable, to accurately identify these agents.

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Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) analysis is a developing field with tremendous promise to advance personalized, non-invasive health diagnostics as new analytical instrumentation platforms and detection methods are developed. Multiple commercially-available and researcher-built experimental samplers are reported in the literature. However, there is very limited information available to determine an effective breath sampling approach, especially regarding the dependence of breath sample metabolomic content on the collection device design and sampling methodology.

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From March 2014 through February 2015, the Ebola virus spread rapidly in West Africa, resulting in almost 30,000 infections and approximately 10,000 deaths. With no approved therapeutic options available, an experimental antibody cocktail known as ZMapp™ was administered to patients on a limited compassionate-use basis. The supply of ZMapp™ was highly constrained at the time because it was in preclinical development and a novel production system (tobacco plants) was being used for manufacturing.

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A cone-shaped meniscus of electrified fluids, often called a Taylor cone, is observed in rain drops and lightning and employed in various physical instruments and experimental techniques, but the way it evolves from a rounded shape to a cone is a long-standing puzzle. Earth's gravity and microgravity measurements on the meniscus whose height is just shy of droplet ejection reveal that field-driven cusp evolution exhibits a universal self-similarity insensitive to the forcing field and scaled by the fluid surface tension and density. Our work paves the way for dynamic control of field-driven phenomena in fluids.

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Objective: To examine demographic differences in frequency of use of technologies and interest in receiving nutrition information via technology by low-income parents and caregivers.

Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Head Start and state-funded child care programs.

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Ricin, a heterodimeric toxin that is present in the seeds of the Ricinus communis plant, is the biothreat agent most frequently encountered by law enforcement agencies in the United States. Even in untrained hands, the easily obtainable seeds can yield a highly toxic product that has been used in various types of threats, including "white-powder" letters. Although the vast majority of these threats are hoaxes, an impediment to accurate hazard assessments by first responders is the unreliability of rapid detection assays for ricin, such as lateral flow assays (LFAs).

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Background: A number of ophthalmic findings including optic disc edema, globe flattening, and choroidal folds have been observed in several astronauts after long-duration space flights. The authors report the first astronaut with previously documented postflight ophthalmic abnormalities who developed new pathological changes after a repeat long-duration mission.

Methods: A case study of an astronaut with 2 long-duration (6 months) exposures to microgravity.

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Retinal ganglion cells receive inputs from multiple bipolar cells which must be integrated before a decision to fire is made. Theoretical studies have provided clues about how this integration is accomplished but have not directly determined the rules regulating summation of closely timed inputs along single or multiple dendrites. Here we have examined dendritic summation of multiple inputs along On ganglion cell dendrites in whole mount rat retina.

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The importance of intracortical inhibitory circuits in setting the feature-selective spatial organization of primary sensory cortices remains controversial. To address this issue, we examined the strength of interneuron-to-pyramidal cell connections across the rat anterior piriform cortex (aPC) and found a pronounced gradient of increasing pyramidal cell inhibition along the aPC rostro-caudal axis. This functional heterogeneity could govern aPC spatial activation in response to varying odor identities and features.

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The role of Ca(2+) in the induction of neural correlates of memory has frequently been described in binary terms despite the fact that many forms of memory are graded in their strength and/or persistence. We find that Ca(2+) dynamics encode the magnitude of sensorimotor adaptation of the electromotor output in a weakly electric fish. The neural correlate of this memory is a synaptically induced Ca(2+)-dependent enhancement of intrinsic excitability of neurons responsible for setting the electromotor output.

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A hydrophobic interaction chromatography method was developed to analyze recombinant soluble Interleukin 1 receptor type II (sIL-1R type II) drug substance and assess the stability of the drug under accelerated degradation studies. HIC resolved the degraded molecules into three peaks. A combination of several analytical techniques, including cyanogen bromide cleavage, reversed-phase chromatography, mass spectrometry, and N-terminal sequencing, were used to identify the origins of these peaks.

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N-Methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activation may promote cell survival or initiate cell death, with the outcome dependent on whether synaptic or extrasynaptic receptors are activated. Similarly, this differential activation has been proposed to govern the direction of plasticity. However, the physiological parameters necessary to activate extrasynaptic NMDARs in brain slices remain unknown.

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N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activation can trigger both long- and short-term plasticity, promote cell survival, and initiate cell death. A number of studies suggest that the consequences of NMDAR activation can vary widely depending on whether synaptic or extrasynaptic receptors are activated. Here we have examined the spatial distribution of NMDARs of CA1 pyramidal neurons in acutely dissected hippocampal slices.

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Characterization and quantitative analysis of modifications in recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) plays an important role in biopharmaceutical development. This study demonstrates a new approach to assess variants in mAbs, based on individual analysis of subdomains. These subdomains were generated by dithiothreitol reduction and papain cleavage.

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