Bioabsorbable membrane and bioactive glass in the treatment of intrabony defects in patients with generalized aggressive periodontitis: results of a 5-year clinical and radiological study.

Background: The aim of this clinical and radiological prospective 5-year study was to compare the long-term effectiveness of a bioabsorbable membrane and a bioactive glass in the treatment of intrabony defects in patients with generalized aggressive periodontitis.

Methods: Sixteen patients (11 women and five men) with generalized aggressive periodontitis were enrolled in the study. The investigations were confined to 1- to 3-walled intrabony defects with a depth >/=4 mm and with preoperative probing depths (PDs) >/=7 mm.

Inactivation of escherichia coli O157:H7 in cattle drinking water by sodium caprylate.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is an important foodborne pathogen. Cattle serve as one of the major reservoirs of E. coli O157:H7, excreting the pathogen in feces.

Metabolic profiling of CSF: evidence that early intervention may impact on disease progression and outcome in schizophrenia.

Background: The identification of schizophrenia biomarkers is a crucial step towards improving current diagnosis, developing new presymptomatic treatments, identifying high-risk individuals and disease subgroups, and assessing the efficacy of preventative interventions at a rate that is not currently possible.

Methods And Findings: (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in conjunction with computerized pattern recognition analysis were employed to investigate metabolic profiles of a total of 152 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from drug-naïve or minimally treated patients with first-onset paranoid schizophrenia (referred to as "schizophrenia" in the following text) and healthy controls. Partial least square discriminant analysis showed a highly significant separation of patients with first-onset schizophrenia away from healthy controls.

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation precipitated by amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis five months after cessation of therapy.

Amiodarone is currently indicated for the treatment of life-threatening ventricular dysrhythmias. It is also used for the treatment of supraventricular dysrhythmias and as maintenance therapy after successful cardioversion of atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation. Adverse effects related to its expanded use are increasingly common.

Evaluating function and health related quality of life in patients treated for extremity soft tissue sarcoma.

Objective: To evaluate how functional disability impacts on health related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS) at 1 year post-surgery.

Design And Setting: Survey of extremity STS patients pre-surgery and one-year post-treatment.

Participants: 100 participants who were treated for extremity STS between 2001 and 2003 at four Canadian hospitals.

Electroanatomic reconstruction of the left atrium, pulmonary veins, and esophagus compared with the "true anatomy" on multislice computed tomography in patients undergoing catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Background: Current concepts of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) commonly use three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of the left atrium (LA) for orientation, catheter navigation, and ablation line placement.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the 3D electroanatomic reconstruction (Carto) of the LA, pulmonary veins (PVs), and esophagus with the true anatomy displayed on multislice computed tomography (CT).

Methods: In this prospective study, 100 patients undergoing AF catheter ablation underwent contrast-enhanced spiral CT scan with barium swallow and subsequent multiplanar and 3D reconstructions.

The fertilization-induced DNA replication factor MCM6 of maize shuttles between cytoplasm and nucleus, and is essential for plant growth and development.

The eukaryotic genome is duplicated exactly once per cell division cycle. A strategy that limits every replication origin to a single initiation event is tightly regulated by a multiprotein complex, which involves at least 20 protein factors. A key player in this regulation is the evolutionary conserved hexameric MCM2-7 complex.

Drug-related emergency department visits in an elderly veteran population.

Background: Given that adverse drug events result in extensive costs and healthcare resource utilization, the goal is to better understand drug-related emergency department (ED) visits so that programs can be implemented to improve the quality of health care.

Objective: To (1) determine the incidence of drug-related ED visits at a large, tertiary care, Veterans Affairs hospital; (2) identify causes of these drug-related ED visits; (3) determine patient outcomes, healthcare resource utilization, and costs associated with these visits; and (4) determine the proportion of adverse drug reaction (ADR)-related ED visits that were spontaneously reported to the hospital's ADR reporting program.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective electronic chart review of all patients who visited the ED during the second week of each month in 2003.

Common risk factors seen in secondary carpal tunnel surgery.

Background: We hypothesized that there are several common risk factors associated with secondary carpal tunnel releases. Therefore, we chose to investigate these common factors by analyzing the charts of those patients requiring a second carpal tunnel release (CTR) procedure.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed, and patients were identified by searching hospital medical record databases using the Common Procedural Terminology.

Surgical management of mycotic aneurysm of the left anterior descending artery.

Mycotic aneurysms of the coronary artery with underlying infective endocarditis are rare. The present report discusses the case of a 53-year-old woman with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction in the setting of native aortic valve endocarditis. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty was performed.

Adult ventricular cardiomyocytes: isolation and culture.

Isolated cardiomyocytes are a prerequisite to study the biology of cardiomyocytes. Efficient isolation is difficult, as these cells adhere firmly together in the heart and do not divide. Therefore, any experiment is restricted to the amount of calcium-tolerant, rod-shaped cardiomyocytes that can be initially isolated from the heart.

Cerebrospinal anandamide levels are elevated in acute schizophrenia and are inversely correlated with psychotic symptoms.

The endocannabinoids are a family of bioactive lipids that activate CB1 cannabinoid receptors in the brain and exert intense emotional and cognitive effects. Here, we have examined the role of endocannabinoid signaling in psychotic states by measuring levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of acute paranoid-type schizophrenic patients. We found that CSF anandamide levels are eight-fold higher in antipsychotic-naive first-episode paranoid schizophrenics (n = 47) than healthy controls (n = 84), dementia patients (n = 13) or affective disorder patients (n = 22).

The planetary biology of cytochrome P450 aromatases.

Background: Joining a model for the molecular evolution of a protein family to the paleontological and geological records (geobiology), and then to the chemical structures of substrates, products, and protein folds, is emerging as a broad strategy for generating hypotheses concerning function in a post-genomic world. This strategy expands systems biology to a planetary context, necessary for a notion of fitness to underlie (as it must) any discussion of function within a biomolecular system.

Results: Here, we report an example of such an expansion, where tools from planetary biology were used to analyze three genes from the pig Sus scrofa that encode cytochrome P450 aromatases-enzymes that convert androgens into estrogens.

In vitro inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in bovine rumen fluid by caprylic acid.

The antibacterial effect of caprylic acid (35 and 50 mM) on Escherichia coli O157:H7 and total anaerobic bacteria at 39 degrees C in rumen fluid (pH 5.6 and 6.8) from 12 beef cattle was investigated.

Sex differences among children 2-13 years of age presenting at the emergency department with acute asthma.

Hospitalization rates for asthma have been reported to be higher in males than females in children under age 15, but it is not clear whether this disparity reflects gender differences in prevalence, severity, or treatment. We performed a prospective cohort study as part of the Emergency Medicine Network. Patients aged 2-13 years who presented to the emergency department (ED) with acute asthma underwent a structured interview in the ED and another by telephone 2 weeks later.

The MADS box transcription factor ZmMADS2 is required for anther and pollen maturation in maize and accumulates in apoptotic bodies during anther dehiscence.

The maize (Zea mays) late pollen gene ZmMADS2 belongs to the MIKC type of MADS box transcription factor genes. Here, we report that ZmMADS2, which forms a homodimer in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), is required for anther dehiscence and pollen maturation. Development of anthers and pollen was arrested at 1 d before dehiscence in transgenic plants expressing the ZmMADS2-cDNA in antisense orientation.

Swelling archives warrant closer look at compression.

Image compression is broadly categorized as lossless or lossy. With lossless compression, a compressed image can be decompressed and displayed as an exact digital replica of the original. With lossy compression, redundant pixel data are discarded during the compression process so that the compressed image is only an approximation of the original, therefore it cannot be returned to an original state.

[Sonographie von pleura und lunge].

The value of ultrasound examination of the pleura and lungs remains highly underestimated to this day. While the ventilated lungs and the osseous skeleton of the thorax represent potent obstacles for ultrasound, a multitude of pathological processes of the chest wall, pleura, and lungs results in altered tissue composition, providing markedly increased access and visibility for sonographic examination. These conditions support the sonographic diagnosis of pleural and pulmonary disorders.

Adjunctive platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibition with tirofiban before primary angioplasty improves angiographic outcomes: results of the TIrofiban Given in the Emergency Room before Primary Angioplasty (TIGER-PA) pilot trial.

Background: Previous work has suggested that platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blockade may confer benefit in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. The TIGER-PA pilot trial was a single-center randomized study to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and utility of early tirofiban administration before planned primary angioplasty in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction.

Methods And Results: A total of 100 patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction were randomized to either early administration of tirofiban in the emergency room or later administration in the catheterization laboratory.

Adverse cardiac events in emergency department patients with chest pain six months after a negative inpatient evaluation for acute coronary syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the diagnostic test setting-inpatient versus outpatient-on adverse cardiac events (ACEs) after six months in emergency department (ED) patients with chest pain who were admitted to the hospital and subsequently had a negative evaluation for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: The authors retrospectively studied a consecutive sample of ED patients with chest pain over a nine-month period. All patients were admitted to the hospital and underwent negative evaluations for ACS, defined as the absence of diagnostic changes on serial electrocardiograms or cardiac markers (creatine kinase-MB and troponin T), and a negative diagnostic cardiac study.

Detecting compensatory covariation signals in protein evolution using reconstructed ancestral sequences.

When protein sequences divergently evolve under functional constraints, some individual amino acid replacements that reverse the charge (e.g. Lys to Asp) may be compensated by a replacement at a second position that reverses the charge in the opposite direction (e.

Developing computer-based training for age-related competencies.

Competency in adapting care to the developmental needs of patients is not only a clinical expectation but also a requirement of regulatory agencies. Training programs on age-specific care competencies vary widely in format, content, and method. This article describes the process used by the authors to develop computer-based training (CBT) programs on age-specific care competencies and the process used to develop traditional self-paced learning modules on age-specific care competencies.

The chain length dependence of helix formation of the second transmembrane domain of a G protein-coupled receptor of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The chain length dependence of helix formation of transmembrane peptides in lipids was investigated using fragments corresponding to the second transmembrane domain of the alpha-factor receptor from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Seven peptides with chain lengths of 10 (M2-10; FKYLLSNYSS), 14 (M2-14), 18 (M2-18), 22 (M2-22), 26 (M2-26), 30 (M2-30) and 35 (M2-35; RSRKTPIFIINQVSLFLIILHSALYFKYLLSNYSS) residues, respectively, were synthesized. CD spectra revealed that M2-10 was disordered, and all of the other peptides assumed partially alpha-helical secondary structures in 99% trifluoroethanol (TFE)/H(2)O.