Magnetosensitivity of tightly bound radical pairs in cryptochrome is enabled by the quantum Zeno effect.

The radical pair mechanism accounts for the magnetic field sensitivity of a large class of chemical reactions and is hypothesised to underpin numerous magnetosensitive traits in biology, including the avian compass. Traditionally, magnetic field sensitivity in this mechanism is attributed to radical pairs with weakly interacting, well-separated electrons; closely bound pairs were considered unresponsive to weak fields due to arrested spin dynamics. In this study, we challenge this view by examining the FAD-superoxide radical pair within cryptochrome, a protein hypothesised to function as a biological magnetosensor.

The Association between Academic Performance and Entry-to-Practice Milestones within a Co-Operative Education PharmD Program.

Research on associations between student performance in pharmacy programs and entry-to-practice milestones has been limited in Canada and in programs using a co-operative (co-op) education model. Co-op exposes students to a variety of opportunities both within direct patient care roles and in non-traditional roles for pharmacists, such as policy, advocacy, insurance, research, and the pharmaceutical industry. The purpose of this research is to analyze associations between student grades and evaluations achieved in the University of Waterloo (UW) Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) co-op program and success rates on entry-to-practice milestones, including the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Pharmacist Qualifying Examination and performance on final-year clinical rotations.

Multiple mini-interview predictive validity for performance on a pharmacy licensing examination.

Context: Predictive validity studies on the use of the multiple mini-interview (MMI) have been primarily in medicine.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the predictive validity of the MMI for performance within a pharmacy programme and on the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Qualifying Examination for licensure, and to compare the predictive validity of the MMI with that of pre-pharmacy grade point average (GPA) and Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) score.

Methods: Admissions data for 223 graduates of the pharmacy programme at the University of Toronto were matched to programme and licensure outcome measures.

Mitral annular nonplanarity: correlation between annular height/commissural width ratio and the nonplanarity angle.

Objective: To compare two methods of mitral annular nonplanarity: the mathematically calculated annular height-to-commissural width ratio (AHCWR) and the echocardiographically derived nonplanarity angle.

Design: Prospective.

Setting: Tertiary care university hospital.

Lateral approach for radiocarpal wrist arthrography.

Objective: We describe a technique of radiocarpal arthrography using the lateral approach. This technique may be used as an alternative to conventional dorsal techniques.

Conclusion: Radiocarpal injection using the lateral approach can be considered as an alternative to conventional dorsal approaches in the evaluation of wrist pain and instability.

Cardiac output monitoring: is there a gold standard and how do the newer technologies compare?

As a principal determinant of oxygen delivery and of blood pressure, cardiac output (CO) represents an important hemodynamic variable. Its accurate measurement, therefore, is important to the clinician caring for critically ill patients in a variety of care environments. Though the first clinical measurement of CO occurred 70 years ago, it was the introduction of the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) with thermodilution-based determination of CO in the 1970s that set the stage for practical and widespread clinical measurement of CO.

Repair of tibial nonunions and bone defects with the Taylor Spatial Frame.

Objective: To investigate the outcomes of tibial nonunions and bone defects treated with the Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF) using the Ilizarov method.

Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Limb Lengthening and Deformity Service at an academic medical center.

Scope of enantioselective palladium(II)-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidations with (-)-sparteine.

Evaluation of the substrate scope for Pd(II)/ (-)-sparteine catalyzed aerobic oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols is disclosed. An improved system is found with use of tert-butyl alcohol solvent in which benzylic and aliphatic alcohols as well as alcohols containing olefins are effectively oxidatively resolved. For substrates that successfully undergo oxidative kinetic resolution, k(rel) values are generally between 10 and 20.

In vivo validation of 3'deoxy-3'-[(18)F]fluorothymidine ([(18)F]FLT) as a proliferation imaging tracer in humans: correlation of [(18)F]FLT uptake by positron emission tomography with Ki-67 immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry in human lung tumors.

Purpose: Tumor proliferation has prognostic value in resected early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and can, therefore, predict which NSCLCs are at high risk for recurrence after resection and would benefit from additional therapy. It may also predict which tumor will respond to cell cycle-targeted chemotherapy and help assess the tumor response, besides helping to differentiate benign from malignant lung lesions. We evaluated whether the uptake of the new positron emission tomography (PET) tracer 3'deoxy-3'-[18F]fluorothymidine (FLT) in a series of suspected NSCLCs correlated with tumor proliferation assessed by Ki-67 immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry.

The impact of fluorodeoxyglucose F 18 positron-emission tomography on the surgical staging of non-small cell lung cancer.

Objectives: Staging data on patients with non-small cell lung cancer were prospectively collected to evaluate the accuracy and anatomic information provided by fluorodeoxyglucose F 18 positron-emission tomography and its impact on improving the accuracy of surgical staging.

Methods: A total of 142 patients with potentially resectable non-small cell lung cancer were imaged with positron-emission tomography (neck to pelvis). Positron-emission tomographic scans were read prospectively with thoracic computed tomographic comparison.

The Ki-67 index and survival in non-small cell lung cancer: a review and relevance to positron emission tomography.

Purpose: We reviewed the current literature to discover the range of studies covering tissue-based and noninvasive methods for determining tumor stage and the prognostic value of staging in non-small cell lung cancer.

Design: Despite refinements in staging of non-small cell lung cancer, each stage remains heterogeneous because each stage contains patients who are at higher risk for recurrence than other patients within the same stage. Tissue-based and noninvasive methods have been investigated to complement tumor stage in assessing non-small cell lung cancer prognosis.

Lung cancer proliferation correlates with [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake by positron emission tomography.

Tumor proliferation has prognostic value in resected early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We evaluated whether [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake of NSCLC correlates with tumor proliferation and, thus, could noninvasively grade NSCLCs (refining patient prognosis and therapy). Thirty-nine patients with potentially resectable NSCLC underwent whole-body FDG positron emission tomography (PET) 45 min after i.

Practice functions necessary for the delivery of pharmaceutical care.

Pharmaceutical care is a concept outlining the responsibilities of individual pharmacists to individual patients. Although widely accepted on a philosophical basis, there is a lack of comprehensive information about the functions and responsibilities pharmacists undertake when providing pharmaceutical care. Pharmacy educators and practitioners at the faculty of pharmacy, University of Toronto, developed and informally tested a process that details the practice functions required of pharmacists when providing pharmaceutical care as originally defined.

Theophylline and salbutamol improve pulmonary function in patients with irreversible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

To investigate the efficacy of bronchodilators in patients with irreversible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we conducted a double-blind, randomized, four-phase, crossover comparison between placebo, oral theophylline, inhaled salbutamol, and a combination of both drugs in 12 patients with stable COPD (mean age, 63 years) whose increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was less than or equal to 15 percent following 200 micrograms of inhaled salbutamol. Patients received two weeks of therapy with each of the test regimens. Both theophylline and salbutamol resulted in statistically significant improvement in FEV1, forced vital capacity (FVC), slow vital capacity (SVC), residual volume (RV), airway resistance (Raw), and maximum expiratory flow rate at 50 percent of vital capacity (V50).