Reducing the carbon footprint of general anaesthesia: a comparison of total intravenous anaesthesia vs. a mixed anaesthetic strategy in 47,157 adult patients.

Global warming is a major public health concern. Volatile anaesthetics are greenhouse gases that increase the carbon footprint of healthcare. Modelling studies indicate that total intravenous anaesthesia is less carbon intensive than volatile anaesthesia, with equivalent quality of care.

Interventions That Target or Affect Voice or Speech Production During Public Speaking: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Public speaking (PS) is frequently necessary in many professional, educational, and personal settings. Mastering this communication skill is particularly important in today's society. Training techniques for PS have been described in the literature.

Sex-Specific B Cell and Anti-Myelin Autoantibody Response After Peripheral Nerve Injury.

Immunotherapy holds promise as a non-addictive treatment of refractory chronic pain states. Increasingly, sex is recognized to impact immune regulation of pain states, including mechanical allodynia (pain from non-painful stimulation) that follows peripheral nerve trauma. This study aims to assess the role of B cells in sex-specific responses to peripheral nerve trauma.

Effects of Noise and a Speaker's Impaired Voice Quality on Spoken Language Processing in School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose: Background noise and voice problems among teachers can degrade listening conditions in classrooms. The aim of this literature review is to understand how these acoustic degradations affect spoken language processing in 6- to 18-year-old children.

Method: In a narrative report and meta-analysis, we systematically review studies that examined the effects of noise and/or impaired voice on children's response accuracy and response time (RT) in listening tasks.

Which teachers are most at risk for voice disorders? Individual factors predicting vocal acoustic parameters monitored in situ during a workweek.

Purpose: To identify the factors affecting teachers' vocal acoustic parameters, with the aim of detecting individuals at risk of phonotrauma.

Method: The voicing time, voice sound pressure level [SPL] and fundamental frequency [f] of 87 teachers were measured during one workweek using a voice dosimeter. We retrospectively investigated the impact of 10 factors (gender, age, teaching experience, teaching level, tobacco, gastro-esophageal problems, nonoccupational voice activity, voice education, past voice problems, and biopsychosocial impact of voice problems measured using the Voice Handicap Index [VHI]) on each voice parameter.

Can ambulatory biofeedback help a transgender woman speak at a higher pitch?

Voice feminization for transgender women remains a challenge. The fundamental frequency of the voice () is one of the main parameters contributing to the perception of gender. One of the aims of voice therapy is to help transgender women acquire a new vocal motor behavior to increase their .

Quantitative profiling of protease specificity.

Proteases are an important class of enzymes, whose activity is central to many physiologic and pathologic processes. Detailed knowledge of protease specificity is key to understanding their function. Although many methods have been developed to profile specificities of proteases, few have the diversity and quantitative grasp necessary to fully define specificity of a protease, both in terms of substrate numbers and their catalytic efficiencies.

Listening to a Dysphonic Speaker in Noise May Impede Children's Spoken Language Processing in a Realistic Classroom Setting.

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate children's processing of dysphonic speech in a realistic classroom setting, under the influence of added classroom noise. Method Typically developing 6-year-old primary school children performed two listening tasks in their regular classrooms: a phoneme discrimination task to assess speech perception and a sentence-picture matching task to assess listening comprehension. Speech stimuli were played back in either a typical or an impaired voice quality.

Noise and a Speaker's Impaired Voice Quality Disrupt Spoken Language Processing in School-Aged Children: Evidence From Performance and Response Time Measures.

Purpose Our aim was to investigate isolated and combined effects of speech-shaped noise (SSN) and a speaker's impaired voice quality on spoken language processing in first-grade children. Method In individual examinations, 53 typically developing children aged 5-6 years performed a speech perception task (phoneme discrimination) and a listening comprehension task (sentence-picture matching). Speech stimuli were randomly presented in a 2 × 2 factorial design with the factors (no added noise vs.

A myelin basic protein fragment induces sexually dimorphic transcriptome signatures of neuropathic pain in mice.

In the peripheral nerve, mechanosensitive axons are insulated by myelin, a multilamellar membrane formed by Schwann cells. Here, we offer first evidence that a myelin degradation product induces mechanical hypersensitivity and global transcriptomics changes in a sex-specific manner. Focusing on downstream signaling events of the functionally active 84-104 myelin basic protein (MBP(84-104)) fragment released after nerve injury, we demonstrate that exposing the sciatic nerve to MBP(84-104) via endoneurial injection produces robust mechanical hypersensitivity in female, but not in male, mice.

Early mortality attributable to PICC-lines in 4 public hospitals of Marseille from 2010 to 2016 (Revised V3).

Introduction: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC-line) are devices inserted through peripheral venous access. In our institution, this technology has been rapidly adopted by physicians in their routine practice. Bacteremia on catheters remains an important public health issue in France.

Imitating dysphonic voice: a suitable technique to create speech stimuli for spoken language processing tasks?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of imitated dysphonic voice samples for their application in listening tasks investigating the impact of speakers' voice quality on spoken language processing.

Methods: A female voice expert recorded speech samples (sustained vowels and connected speech) in her normal voice and while imitating a dysphonic voice. Voice characteristics, authenticity, and consistency of the two voice qualities were evaluated by means of acoustic measurements (Acoustic Voice Quality Index [AVQI], jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio [HNR]) and perceptual evaluation (GRBAS scale, consistency, and authenticity rated by five speech-language pathologists).

Vocal characteristics of 5-year-old children: proposed normative values based on a French-speaking population.

: Previous research proposed normative data on gender- and age-specific voice acoustics for adults. Such reference values are lacking for children, particularly under the age of 6. This study was intended (1) to collect reliable normative data for the acoustic parameters of 5-year-old children's voices, and (2) to investigate potential gender-specific differences.

Amino acid sequence conservation of the algesic fragment of myelin basic protein is required for its interaction with CDK5 and function in pain.

Unlabelled: Neurotrauma frequently results in neuropathic pain. Our earlier studies revealed that peripheral neurotrauma-induced fragmentation of the myelin basic protein (MBP), a major component of the myelin sheath formed by Schwann cells, initiates a pain response from light touch stimuli (mechanical allodynia) in rodents. Here, we identified the cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), as an intracellular interactor of MBP in Schwann cells.

Interaction of the cryptic fragment of myelin basic protein with mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion-selective channel-1 affects cell energy metabolism.

In demyelinating nervous system disorders, myelin basic protein (MBP), a major component of the myelin sheath, is proteolyzed and its fragments are released in the neural environment. Here, we demonstrated that, in contrast with MBP, the cellular uptake of the cryptic 84-104 epitope (MBP84-104) did not involve the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1, a scavenger receptor. Our pull-down assay, mass spectrometry and molecular modeling studies suggested that, similar with many other unfolded and aberrant proteins and peptides, the internalized MBP84-104 was capable of binding to the voltage-dependent anion-selective channel-1 (VDAC-1), a mitochondrial porin.

Acute- and late-phase matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 activity is comparable in female and male rats after peripheral nerve injury.

Background: In the peripheral nerve, pro-inflammatory matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 performs essential functions in the acute response to injury. Whether MMP-9 activity contributes to late-phase injury or whether MMP-9 expression or activity after nerve injury is sexually dimorphic remains unknown.

Methods: Patterns of MMP-9 expression, activity and excretion were assessed in a model of painful peripheral neuropathy, sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI), in female and male rats.

A sensitive and selective ELISA methodology quantifies a demyelination marker in experimental and clinical samples.

Sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rodents produces nerve demyelination via proteolysis of myelin basic protein (MBP), the major component of myelin sheath. Proteolysis releases the cryptic MBP epitope, a demyelination marker, which is hidden in the native MBP fold. It has never been established if the proteolytic release of this cryptic MBP autoantigen stimulates the post-injury increase in the respective circulating autoantibodies.

Voice Use Among Music Theory Teachers: A Voice Dosimetry and Self-Assessment Study.

Objectives: This study aimed (1) to investigate music theory teachers' professional and extra-professional vocal loading and background noise exposure, (2) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and background noise, and (3) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and self-evaluation data.

Methods: Using voice dosimetry, 13 music theory teachers were monitored for one workweek. The parameters analyzed were voice sound pressure level (SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), phonation time, vocal loading index (VLI), and noise SPL.

Vocal Change Patterns During a Teaching Day: Inter- and Intra-subject Variability.

Objectives: To describe the mean voice changes of 22 female teachers during a typical workday, examine the inter- and intra-subject variability, and establish a typology of different voice patterns during the workday.

Methods: For each participant, fundamental frequency (F0), harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), jitter, and shimmer were measured on sustained vowels at the beginning and at the end of the workday, at three different times during the school year.

Results: The group mean pattern showed significant increases in F0 and HNR during the workday and significant decreases in jitter and shimmer.

Brain plasticity after implanted peroneal nerve electrical stimulation to improve gait in chronic stroke patients: Two case reports.

Background: Recent studies have shown that stimulation of the peroneal nerve using an implantable 4-channel peroneal nerve stimulator could improve gait in stroke patients.

Objectives: To assess structural cortical and regional cerebral metabolism changes associated with an implanted peroneal nerve electrical stimulator to correct foot drop related to a central nervous system lesion.

Methods: Two stroke patients presenting a foot drop related to a central nervous system lesion were implanted with an implanted peroneal nerve electrical stimulator.

Active-site MMP-selective antibody inhibitors discovered from convex paratope synthetic libraries.

Proteases are frequent pharmacological targets, and their inhibitors are valuable drugs in multiple pathologies. The catalytic mechanism and the active-site fold, however, are largely conserved among the protease classes, making the development of the selective inhibitors exceedingly challenging. In our departure from the conventional strategies, we reviewed the structure of known camelid inhibitory antibodies, which block enzyme activities via their unusually long, convex-shaped paratopes.

Selective function-blocking monoclonal human antibody highlights the important role of membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) in metastasis.

The invasion-promoting MT1-MMP is a cell surface-associated collagenase with a plethora of critical cellular functions. There is a consensus that MT1-MMP is a key protease in aberrant pericellular proteolysis in migrating cancer cells and, accordingly, a promising drug target. Because of high homology in the MMP family and a limited success in the design of selective small-molecule inhibitors, it became evident that the inhibitor specificity is required for selective and successful MT1-MMP therapies.

Reciprocal relationship between membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase and the algesic peptides of myelin basic protein contributes to chronic neuropathic pain.

Myelin basic protein (MBP) is an auto-antigen able to induce intractable pain from innocuous mechanical stimulation (mechanical allodynia). The mechanisms provoking this algesic MBP activity remain obscure. Our present study demonstrates that membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP/MMP-14) releases the algesic MBP peptides from the damaged myelin, which then reciprocally enhance the expression of MT1-MMP in nerve to sustain a state of allodynia.