Nogo receptor-Fc delivered by haematopoietic cells enhances neurorepair in a multiple sclerosis model.

Nogo receptor 1 is the high affinity receptor for the potent myelin-associated inhibitory factors that make up part of the inflammatory extracellular milieu during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Signalling through the Nogo receptor 1 complex has been shown to be associated with axonal degeneration in an animal model of multiple sclerosis, and neuronal deletion of this receptor homologue, in a disease specific manner, is associated with preserving axons even in the context of neuroinflammation. The local delivery of Nogo receptor(1-310)-Fc, a therapeutic fusion protein, has been successfully applied as a treatment in animal models of spinal cord injury and glaucoma.

Global chromatin organizer SATB1 acts as a context-dependent regulator of the Wnt/Wg target genes.

Special AT-rich binding protein-1 (SATB1) integrates higher-order chromatin architecture with gene regulation, thereby regulating multiple signaling pathways. In mammalian cells SATB1 directly interacts with β-catenin and regulates the expression of Wnt targets by binding to their promoters. Whether SATB1 regulates Wnt/wg signaling by recruitment of β-catenin and/or its interactions with other components remains elusive.

Repair of Posterior Vaginal Wall Defect Using Biologic Graft for Stage III-POP-Q Pelvic Organ Prolapse in a Patient with History of a J-Pouch.

Surgical correction is considered in women with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP). There is an expected increase in the prevalence of surgical correction due to an aging population within the United States. Individuals with previous colorectal surgery present a unique challenge considering the changes in pelvic anatomy.

Structure function relations in PDZ-domain-containing proteins: Implications for protein networks in cellular signalling.

Protein scaffolds as essential backbones for organization of supramolecular signalling complexes are a recurrent theme in several model systems. Scaffold proteins preferentially employ linear peptide binding motifs for recruiting their interaction partners. PDZ domains are one of the more commonly encountered peptide binding domains in several proteins including those involved in scaffolding functions.

The relationship between biventricular myocardial performance and metabolic parameters during incremental exercise and recovery in healthy adolescents.

Background left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) myocardial reserve during exercise in adolescents has not been directly characterized. The aim of this study was to quantify myocardial performance response to exercise by using two-dimensional (2-D) speckle tracking echocardiography and describe the relationship between myocardial reserve, respiratory, and metabolic exercise parameters. A total of 23 healthy boys and girls (mean age 13.

The Impact of Documentation Training on Performance Reporting.

With the advent of public reporting of clinical performance for physicians, the need for accurate documentation is essential. This study tested the hypothesis that a short tutorial on five key documentation tips for a group of colorectal surgeons could significantly improve their reported clinical performance. Data was collected on a total of 626 consecutive inpatients before and after the introduction of a short tutorial focusing on five key documentation tips to a group of colorectal surgeons.

The still unknown azobenzene - wavelength dependent photoanisotropy in amorphous azobenzene polymers.

We demonstrate a new type of anisotropy in thin films of amorphous azobenzene polymers induced between 570 and 633 nm, where the absorbance in the film is on the order of 0.05. The anisotropy has a pronounced radial contribution.

Preliminary studies on the association between zooplankton and the stramenopilan fungi, aplanochytrids.

The relationship of the marine heterokont stramenopilan protists, the aplanochytrids, with the zooplankton was studied in coastal waters. The aplanochytrids were fed to the zooplankton specimens and observed for grazing by two different approaches: [1] using fluorescently-labeled prey approach and [2] using internal transcribed spacer-based molecular probe and in situ hybridization approach. The aplanochytrid cells were detected in the guts as well as fecal pellets of the zooplankton, thus serving as prey to them.

Comparative analysis for the production of fatty acid alkyl esterase using whole cell biocatalyst and purified enzyme from Rhizopus oryzae on waste cooking oil (sunflower oil).

The petroleum fuel is nearing the line of extinction. Recent research and technology have provided promising outcomes to rely on biodiesel as the alternative and conventional source of fuel. The use of renewable source - vegetable oil constitutes the main stream of research.

N-terminal PDZ-like domain of chromatin organizer SATB1 contributes towards its function as transcription regulator.

The special AT-rich DNA-binding protein 1 (SATB1) is a matrix attachment region (MAR)-binding protein that acts as a global repressor via recruitment of CtBP1:HDAC1-containing co-repressors to its binding targets. The N-terminal PSD95/Dlg-A/ZO-1 (PDZ)-like domain of SATB1 mediates interactions with several chromatin proteins. In the present study, we set out to address whether the PDZ-domain-mediated interactions of SATB1 are critical for its in vivo function as a global repressor.

Studying histone modifications and their genomic functions by employing chromatin immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting.

Histones are one of the most abundant and highly conserved proteins in eukaryotes. Apart from serving as structural entities for orderly compaction of genomes, they play an instrumental role in the regulation of many important biological processes involving DNA such as transcription, DNA repair, and the cell cycle. Histone modifications have been implicated in maintaining the transcriptionally poised state of important genesin embryonic stem cells.

Prehospital transport time intervals for acute stroke patients.

Background: Recognizing factors that cause prehospital stroke delays may improve time of presentation to the Emergency Department (ED) and allow earlier treatment of acute stroke patients.

Study Objectives: To determine the impact of stroke recognition by emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) and paramedics (PM) on ED arrival time in a large urban Emergency Medical Services system.

Methods: Retrospective study of patients aged 18 years or more identified as having acute stroke by EMD, PM, or stroke neurologists from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005.

Accuracy of stroke recognition by emergency medical dispatchers and paramedics--San Diego experience.

Background: Prehospital personnel in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems have varying levels of accuracy in stroke recognition. Identifying the accuracy of emergency medical dispatcher using Medical Priority Dispatch Systems (MPDS) stroke protocol and paramedics may help understand the accuracy of stroke recognition in about 3000 emergency medical dispatch systems and prehospital systems world wide.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the accuracy of stroke identification in emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) with high compliance to MPDS protocol and paramedics using Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CSS).

Liquid crystals for holographic optical data storage.

A tutorial review is presented to inform and inspire the reader to develop and integrate strong scientific links between liquid crystals and holographic data storage, from a materials scientist's viewpoint. The principle of holographic data storage as a means of providing a solution to the information storage demands of the 21st century is detailed. Holography is a small subset of the much larger field of optical data storage and similarly, the diversity of materials used for optical data storage is enormous.

Identifying the need for pre-hospital and emergency care in the developing world: a case study in Chennai, India.

Objectives: Increasing industrialization in the developing world has contributed to an epidemiological transition in disease pattern from infectious disease as a primary cause of morbidity and mortality, to more chronic illness such as heart disease and trauma. This study was done in order to assess the effectiveness of pre-hospital and emergency care as the health care needs of the population changes and to make recommendations to meet the growing need for organized emergency services in that community.

Methods: Sundaram Medical Foundation Hospital in the town of Annanagar, Chennai, India was our study site.

Central venous access by air medical personnel.

Background: Vascular access is vital in the resuscitation of critically ill and injured patients for both fluid resuscitation and the delivery of medications. However, peripheral access is not always possible in patients with hypovolemia or difficult anatomy. Central venous access is an alternative vascular access strategy for air medical crews, offering the advantage of relatively predictable anatomy, even in unstable patients.

The feasibility of a regional cardiac arrest receiving system.

Background: Patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) are generally transported to the closest ED, presumably to expedite a hospital level of care and improve the chances of return for spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or provide post-resuscitative care for patients with prehospital ROSC. As hospital-based therapies for survivors of OOHCA are identified, such as hypothermia and emergency primary coronary interventions (PCI), certain hospitals may be designated as cardiac arrest receiving facilities. The safety of bypassing non-designated facilities with such a regional system is not known.

Blood cultures do not change management in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

Objectives: To determine if blood cultures identify organisms that are not appropriately treated with initial empiric antibiotics in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia, and to calculate the costs of blood cultures and cost savings realized by changing to narrower-spectrum antibiotics based on the results.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in an urban academic emergency department (ED). Patients with an ED and final diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia admitted between January 1, 2001, and August 30, 2003, were eligible when the results of at least one set of blood cultures obtained in the ED were available.

Photodimerization in pyrimidine-substituted dipeptides.

Ten N(epsilon)-glycylornithineamide derivatives have been synthesized containing various N(alpha)-linked pyrimidine-1-ylacetyl groups which can undergo (2pi + 2pi) photodimerization on irradiation with UV light at 254 nm. The dimerization efficiency of the free and bound pyrimidine groups was compared in aqueous solution: it was dependent on the substitution of the pyrimidine ring. N(alpha),N(alpha')-bis-(uracil-1-ylacetyl)-(N(epsilon)-glycylornithineamide) and N(alpha),N(alpha')-bis-(5-bromouracil-1-ylacetyl)-(N(epsilon)-glycylornithineamide) were identified as possible candidates for optical data storage.

Pathotyping of Newcastle disease virus with a filamentous bacteriophage.

A filamentous phage bearing the peptide sequence TLTTKLY was isolated from a heptapeptide phage display library against a velogenic Newcastle disease virus (NDV). In order to investigate the potential of this specific phage as an immunological reagent in virus pathotyping, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based method was developed. This method can differentiate the velogenic strains from the mesogenic and lentogenic strains.

Evanescent polarization holographic recording of sub-200-nm gratings in an azobenzene polyester.

I demonstrate high-resolution polarization holographic recording with evanescent waves in a thin film of an azobenzene polyester deposited directly on the hypotenuse of a highly refractive prism. A spatial frequency greater than 7000 lines/mm and diffraction efficiency greater than 1% have been achieved. It was found that diffraction efficiency increases in the dark after the writing beams have been switched off.

Nonoccupational postexposure HIV prevention: emergency physicians' current practices, attitudes, and beliefs.

Study Objective: We surveyed emergency physicians to determine current practices, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding nonoccupational postexposure prevention practices.

Methods: Two thousand randomly selected practicing emergency physicians from the American College of Emergency Physicians' national database and all graduating emergency medicine residents in 2000 were surveyed. Knowledge, role responsibility, self-efficacy, and attitudes and beliefs were measured and composite scores developed.

Photoinduced anisotropy in a family of amorphous azobenzene polyesters for optical storage.

We investigate parameters associated with optical data storage in a variety of amorphous side-chain azobenzene-containing polyesters denoted as E1aX. The polyesters possess a common cyano-substituted azobenzene chromophore as a side chain, but differ in their main-chain polyester composition. Seventeen different polymers from the E1aX family divided into four classes, depending on the type of the main-chain substituent (one-, two-, and three-ring aromatic or alicyclic) have been thoroughly investigated.

Polarization holographic and surface-relief gratings at 257 nm in an amorphous azobenzene polyester.

Polarization holographic and surface-relief gratings have been recorded in an amorphous azobenzene polyester by use of a frequency-doubled argon-ion laser beam at 257 nm. Higher excited states of azobenzene in the trans and cis configurations contribute to the formation of a diffraction grating in this experiment. A combination of right and left circularly polarized writing beams has been found to give the highest diffraction efficiency.