Current Use, Training, and Barriers of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Anesthesiology: A National Survey of Veterans Affairs Hospitals.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine current use, training needs, and barriers to point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use among anesthesiologists in practice.

Design: Multicenter, prospective, observational study.

Setting: Anesthesiology departments in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in the United States.

FZD6 Promotes Melanoma Cell Invasion but Not Proliferation by Regulating Canonical Wnt Signaling and Epithelial‒Mesenchymal Transition.

FZD6 is a key gene that controls tissue polarity during development. Increasing evidence suggests that it also plays active roles in various cancers. In this study, we show that FZD6 is overexpressed in multiple melanoma cell lines and human samples.

Overactive Wnt5a signaling disrupts hair follicle polarity during mouse skin development.

The polarity of mouse hair follicles is controlled by the Frizzled (Fzd) receptors and other membrane planar cell polarity (PCP) proteins. Whether Wnt proteins can act as PCP ligands in the skin remains unknown. Here, we show that overexpression of Wnt5a in the posterior part of mouse embryos causes a local disruption of hair follicle orientation.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity from 5 to 19 years of age in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Aim: The aim of this study was to present prevalence data for overweight and obesity across school age in a large, recent, population-based cohort of children in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Methods: We included 66,807 children (48.5% girls) aged 5-18.

Keratin 13 deficiency causes white sponge nevus in mice.

White sponge nevus (WSN) is a benign autosomal dominant disorder characterized by the formation of white spongy plaques in the oral mucosa. Keratin (KRT) 13 is highly expressed in the mucosa, and mutations in this gene have been commonly associated with WSN patients. However, it remains unknown whether there is a causal relationship between KRT13 mutations and WSN and what the underlying mechanisms might be.

African migrant patients' trust in Chinese physicians: a social ecological approach to understanding patient-physician trust.

Background: Patient trust in physicians is a critical determinant of health seeking behaviors, medication adherence, and health outcomes. A crisis of interpersonal trust exists in China, extending throughout multiple social spheres, including the healthcare system. At the same time, with increased migration from Africa to China in the last two decades, Chinese physicians must establish mutual trust with an increasingly diverse patient population.

The role of inab in axon morphology of an identified zebrafish motoneuron.

The ability of an animal to move and to interact with its environment requires that motoneurons correctly innervate specific muscles. Although many genes that regulate motoneuron development have been identified, our understanding of motor axon branching remains incomplete. We used transcriptional expression profiling to identify potential candidate genes involved in development of zebrafish identified motoneurons.

LMNA-associated cardiocutaneous progeria: an inherited autosomal dominant premature aging syndrome with late onset.

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is a premature aging disorder caused by mutations in LMNA, which encodes the nuclear scaffold proteins lamin A and C. In HGPS and related progerias, processing of prelamin A is blocked at a critical step mediated by the zinc metalloprotease ZMPSTE24. LMNA-linked progerias can be grouped into two classes: (1) the processing-deficient, early onset "typical" progerias (e.

Characterization of enteric neurons in wild-type and mutant zebrafish using semi-automated cell counting and co-expression analysis.

To characterize fluorescent enteric neurons labeled for expression of cytoplasmic markers in zebrafish mutants, we developed a new MATLAB-based program that can be trained by user input. We used the program to count enteric neurons and to analyze co-expression of the neuronal marker, Elavl, and the neuronal subtype marker, serotonin, in 3D confocal image stacks of dissected whole-mount zebrafish intestines. We quantified the entire population of enteric neurons and the serotonergic subpopulation in specific regions of the intestines of gutwrencher mutant and wild-type sibling larvae.

Assessing preventability for obstetric hemorrhage.

We sought to determine preventability for cases of obstetric hemorrhage, identify preventable factors, and compare differences between levels of hospital. We retrospectively reviewed a 1-year cohort of severe and near-miss obstetric hemorrhage in an urban perinatal network. An expert panel, using a validated preventability model, reviewed all cases.

Introducing ethics across the curriculum at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

This paper describes how the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has chosen to integrate ethics into their curriculum. All university freshmen engineering students are introduced to ethics through the presentation of ethical dilemmas. During this exercise, students are forced to argue both sides ('for' and 'against') of a hypothetical ethical engineering dilemma.

Current evidence for the use of emerging radiologic technologies for disease screening.

Recent technologic advances in the field of radiology have resulted in the availability of several new tests with potential applications for disease screening. Presently, these tests are being marketed directly to patients as noninvasive means to provide peace of mind that they are disease free. Such assurance is appealing to many individuals, and some are willing to spend up to 1500 dollars to choose from a menu of available diagnostic options.

Resistance to human beta-defensins is common among oral treponemes.

Background/aims: Oral treponemes are implicated in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. We have previously shown that Treponema denticola ATCC type strains and strain GM-1 are resistant to killing by human beta-defensins (hbetaD)-1 and -2. We hypothesize that resistance to beta-defensins is a common feature of oral treponemes, which allows colonization and persistence in the oral cavity.

The continuum of maternal morbidity and mortality: factors associated with severity.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine whether sociodemographic, clinical, and other service-related factors, as well as preventability issues affect a woman's progression along the continuum of morbidity and mortality.

Study Design: This was a case-control study of pregnancy-related deaths, women with near-miss morbidity, and those with other severe, but not life threatening, morbidity. Factors associated with maternal outcome were examined.

A scoring system identified near-miss maternal morbidity during pregnancy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a scoring system for identifying women with near-miss maternal morbidity, and differentiating these women from those with severe but not life-threatening conditions.

Study Design And Setting: The study was conducted at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago (UIMC), which is a tertiary care hospital with approximately 2,220 births per year. UIMC is in a major urban area serving a predominantly African-American and Latina population.

Training U.S. medical students to care for the chronically ill.

Purpose: The growing prevalence of chronic illness has important implications for the training of all physicians. The authors assessed the degree to which undergraduate medical curricula explicitly address chronic care competencies selected through literature and expert review.

Method: In 2001, trained student assistants interviewed directors of required medical school courses (internal medicine, pediatrics, family practice, and ambulatory care clerkships; longitudinal care; and other relevant courses) at 16 representative U.

Diagnosis of militarily relevant diseases using oral fluid and saliva antibodies: fluorescence polarization immunoassay.

This laboratory is developing fluorescence polarization (FP) methods as diagnostic tools to assay antibodies in saliva and other oral fluids. FP provides quantitation of molecular interaction, such as antigen-antibody binding, of a single, small-volume sample in real time and without prior separation of components such as blood cells. There is potential for wide-spread use of these homogeneous assays as noninvasive tests, especially as more compact, simplified fluorescence polarimeters become available.

Effect of student involvement on patient perceptions of ambulatory care visits: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To determine if patient satisfaction with ambulatory care visits differs when medical students participate in the visit.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Academic general internal medicine practice.

Maternal deaths in an urban perinatal network, 1992-1998.

Objective: The object of this study was to use an in-depth peer-review process to determine the maternal mortality ratio at a single urban perinatal center and to identify factors associated with fatal outcomes to elucidate opportunities for preventive measures to reduce the maternal mortality ratio.

Study Design: Between 1992 and 1998 all maternal deaths occurring within our perinatal network were identified. A peer-review committee was established to review all available data for each death to determine the underlying cause of death, whether it was related to pregnancy, and whether the death was potentially preventable.

Measurement of proteases in human subgingival dental plaque by fluorescence polarization.

Fluorescence polarization (FP) was examined as a rapid quantitative method to assay the proteases in subgingival plaque. Protease activity was measured by a decrease in FP at 0.5-min intervals over 5 min, using BODIPY-alpha-casein, a protein substrate.

Mitogenic activity of the outer membrane of Treponema denticola.

The outer membrane (OM) was isolated by detergent extraction from Treponema denticola ATCC 35405, ATCC 33521 and ATCC 35404, representing serovars a, b and c, respectively, as well as from two fresh isolates of T. denticola. Strict precautions were undertaken against the introduction of contaminant lipopolysaccharide when the OM was isolated.

Detection of pathogen-related oral spirochetes, Treponema denticola, and Treponema socranskii in dental plaque from dogs.

Spirochetes have been observed in dental plaque from dogs, but specific spirochetes have not been identified. In particular, it is not known whether treponemes associated with periodontal diseases in humans also occur in dogs, and whether, like in humans, detection of specific treponemes correlates with periodontal status of dogs. Forty-two dogs were grouped according to the worst periodontal condition in the mouth, as determined by overt signs of inflammation and pocket probing depths.

BODIPY-alpha-casein, a pH-independent protein substrate for protease assays using fluorescence polarization.

BODIPY-alpha-casein is a new fluorescent protein substrate designed for fluorescence polarization studies to measure proteolytic activity at any pH over the range from pH 2 to 11. Kinetic protease assays in real-time were performed in 1 to 5 min using an FPM-1 fluorescence polarization instrument. A purified enzyme or bacterial culture was mixed with the BODIPY-alpha-casein in a buffer of an appropriate pH and the decrease in fluorescence polarization was automatically recorded at 0.

Clinical and socioeconomic predispositions to complicated thyrotoxicosis: a predictable and preventable syndrome?

Purpose: To identify the clinical, demographic, and hormonal features that characterize and place patients at greater risk for complicated thyrotoxicosis.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-nine patients with documented thyrotoxicosis complicated by cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, gastrointestinal, or thermoregulatory dysfunction, were retrospectively identified among 498,000 hospital admissions between 1979 and 1992. Clinical, demographic, and hormonal information were obtained from these charts, as well as from the charts of 118 randomly selected thyrotoxic outpatients.