Glutamate Afferents From the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Mediate Nucleus Accumbens Activation by Female Sexual Behavior.

Low levels of desire and arousal are the primary sexual dysfunctions in women, necessitating neurobiological studies of sexual motivation in female animal models. As the mesocorticolimbic system is a primary neural circuit underlying sexual motivation, the goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) glutamate mediates sexual behavior activation of the nucleus accumbens. Glutamatergic neurons in the mPFC were activated by sex behavior, and these sex-activated cells shown to project to the nucleus accumbens.

Incorrect umbilical vein catheterization is associated with severe periventricular hemorrhages and mortality in extremely premature newborns.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between umbilical vein catheter (UVC) placement and death in extremely premature newborns (<29 weeks gestation).

Study Design: Utilizing a retrospective, case-control study design, results for newborns that received UVC placements and died were compared with those who received UVC placements and survived (n = 719) by univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses.

Result: Death rate was 30% in infants with low lines versus 16% in those without (p = 0.

Shared Medical Decision Making in Lung Cancer Screening: Experienced versus Descriptive Risk Formats.

Background: Annual lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans is associated with a survival benefit, but it is also associated with potential harm. Unlike descriptive probability formats, experienced tasks have been shown to decrease perceptions of rare events. The objective of this study was to compare descriptive versus experienced probability formats on patients' knowledge, beliefs, endorsement of screening for heavy smokers, and preference (choice predisposition) to undergo screening.

A Complicated Case of Triple Valve Infective Endocarditis in an IV Drug User with a Bicuspid Aortic Valve Requiring Three Separate Salvage Operations: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is an infection of the endocardium that involves valves and adjacent mural endocardium or a septal defect. Local complications include severe valvular insufficiency, which may lead to intractable congestive heart failure and myocardial abscesses. If left untreated, IE is generally fatal.

Monitoring total mixed rations and feed delivery systems.

This article is intended to give practitioners a method to evaluate total mixed ration (TMR) consistency and to give them practical solutions to improve TMR consistency that will improve cattle performance and health. Practitioners will learn how to manage the variation in moisture and nutrients that exists in haylage and corn silage piles and in bales of hay, and methods to reduce variation in the TMR mixing and delivery process.

Impact of umbilical catheterization on morbidity and mortality in extremely premature newborns.

Objective: Investigate the benefit of umbilical catheterization upon survival and selected morbidities in extremely premature newborns (<28 weeks gestation). Outcomes of successfully catheterized extremely premature newborns are compared with others who cannot be successfully catheterized, and we hypothesize that umbilical catheterization promotes survival and reduces morbidities.

Study Design: Utilizing a retrospective, cohort study design, survival and outcomes of catheterized and non-catheterized newborns (n = 722) were compared by univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses.

Wegener granulomatosis with massive intracerebral hemorrhage: remission of disease in response to rituximab.

Wegener granulomatosis (WG) is a multisystem necrotizing vasculitis that primarily involves the upper and lower respiratory tract and kidneys but can affect almost any organ, including the central nervous system (CNS). We present a patient with WG whose disease was complicated by a massive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) despite standard treatment with prednisone and cyclophosphomide. Although CNS involvement is not uncommon in WG, ICH is a rare complication of WG, and although the majority of patients with WG complicated by a cerebrovascular accident have a fatal outcome, our patient survived this event.

Multicenter study to determine antibody concentrations and assess the safety of administration of INH-A21, a donor-selected human Staphylococcal immune globulin, in low-birth-weight infants.

Nosocomial or late-onset sepsis is a common complication among premature infants, with a frequency inversely correlated with birth weight. Increased susceptibility to infection is due in part to an immature humoral (antibody-mediated) immune response. This study investigated the pharmacokinetics (PKs) and safety of a donor-selected specific intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) preparation, INH-A21 (Veronate), for prevention of sepsis in premature infants.

Auditory brainstem response detects early bilirubin neurotoxicity at low indirect bilirubin values.

When sedation, prematurity or other disease processes mask symptoms in the clinically ill newborn, serum bilirubin concentration is monitored as the sole indicator of kernicterus risk. This case emphasizes the value of auditory brainstem responses for the management of indirect hyperbilirubinemia complicated by prematurity, hemolytic anemia, asphyxia, and direct hyperbilirubinemia.

Surfactant releases internal calcium stores in neutrophils by G protein-activated pathway.

Pulmonary surfactant with surfactant-associated proteins (PS+SAP) decreases pulmonary inflammation by suppressing neutrophil activation. We have observed that PS+SAP inserts channels into artificial membranes, depolarizes neutrophils, and depresses calcium influx and function in stimulated neutrophils. We hypothesize that PS+SAP suppresses neutrophil activation by depletion of internal Ca(++) stores and that PS+SAP induces depletion through release of Ca(++) stores and through inhibition of Ca(++) influx.

Current practice regarding the enteral feeding of high-risk newborns with umbilical catheters in situ.

Objective: Textbooks recognize the controversy of concomitant enteral nutrition (EN) during umbilical catheter usage in high-risk newborns, but support for the practice varies. There is only one clinical trial examining these practices in a small but randomized, controlled trial of enterally fed newborns with umbilical arterial catheters (UACs) in situ, and that trial did not demonstrate any adverse consequences. We speculate that concomitant EN with umbilical catheter usage is more common than some textbooks suggest-practiced by at least 20% of all US neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Pulmonary surfactant proteins insert cation-permeable channels in planar bilayers.

Pulmonary surfactant, a mixture of lipids and proteins, promotes lung ventilation by reduction of surface tension at air-fluid interfaces. Exogenous surfactants containing hydrophobic proteins induce biological effects in lungs that are not fully explained by reduction of surface tension and are not induced by surfactants lacking proteins. We hypothesized that hydrophobic proteins from surfactant insert in membranes to induce channel activities that contribute to the observed biological effects of surfactant.

Surfactant modulates calcium response of neutrophils to physiologic stimulation via cell membrane depolarization.

Pulmonary surfactant (PS) reduces inflammation in the lung by poorly understood mechanisms. We have observed that surfactant-associated proteins (SAP) insert monovalent cation channels in artificial membranes. Neutrophils are primary mediators of acute pulmonary inflammation, and their functions are activated by increases in cytosolic ionized calcium concentration ([Ca2+]) and by changes in membrane potential.

Detection of pathogen transmission in neonatal nurseries using DNA markers as surrogate indicators.

Objective: Nosocomial infections are a major problem confronting neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This study was conducted to determine if DNA markers designed from the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV 35S DNA) can serve as surrogate indicators of nosocomial pathogen transmission in NICUs.

Methods: Regions of cauliflower CaMV 35S promoter DNA were designed to serve as surrogate markers of microbial transmission pathways.

Human milk effects on neutrophil calcium metabolism: blockade of calcium influx after agonist stimulation.

Neutrophils are the predominant cellular mediators of acute inflammation, and human milk suppresses multiple neutrophil functions. We sought to determine whether these effects were mediated through disruption of normal intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. Exposure of human neutrophils to human milk, followed by washing, resulted in altered Ca2+ transient responses to formyl-peptide stimulation in which the peak cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([free Ca]) was the same as in unexposed cells, but the postpeak decline in [free Ca] was more rapid.

Exercise performance in cystic fibrosis before and after bilateral lung transplantation.

Background: Lung transplantation improves pulmonary function and quality of life for patients with end-stage cystic fibrosis; however, a systematic evaluation of exercise performance in lung transplant recipients with cystic fibrosis has not been reported.

Methods: Ten patients with end-stage cystic fibrosis performed incremental exercise testing before and after bilateral lung transplantation; their results were compared with those of 10 age-similar healthy volunteers. Breath-by-breath measurements of gas exchange and ventilation were obtained, arterial blood was sampled each minute, and cardiac output determined at rest and peak exercise by radionuclide ventriculography.

Conductive choline transport by alveolar epithelial plasma membrane vesicles.

Choline is an important substrate in alveolar epithelia for both surfactant production and cellular maintenance. The underlying mechanisms of uptake and sites of membrane transport remain uncertain. To test the hypothesis that choline transport occurs at the basolateral side of alveolar epithelia by both Na+-independent and -dependent mechanisms, plasma membrane vesicles were prepared from the apical and basolateral membranes of mature porcine type II pneumocytes.

Membrane depolarization and depletion of intracellular calcium stores are associated with delay of apoptosis in human neutrophils.

Apoptosis occurs rapidly in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) after exposure to 1 mM cycloheximide (CHX). We examined whether this form of stimulated apoptosis altered either resting cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations ([free Ca]) or membrane potential (psi) in PMN and found no significant effects. However, manipulation of either PMN intracellular Ca2+ stores or psi was found to delay CHX-induced apoptosis.

Ventilatory and cardiovascular responses to inspired He-O2 during exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Blunted maximum cardiac output and systemic O2 extraction could constitute primary limits to exercise in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or they could simply reflect cessation of exercise because of abnormal pulmonary mechanics. To determine which is the case, eight consecutive patients with severe COPD (FEV1 = 0. 56 +/- 0.

Maximum cardiac output during incremental exercise by first-pass radionuclide ventriculography.

Study Objective: To validate a noninvasive first-pass radionuclide ventriculographic (FPRV) measurement of maximum cardiac output (Qv) during exercise.

Design: Comparison of Qv to that measured by the Fick principle (Qf) at peak exercise.

Setting: Academic cardiopulmonary exercise laboratory.