Psychometric Testing of a Simulation Rubric for Measuring Interprofessional Communication.

Aim: The aim of this study was to establish psychometric testing of the Indiana University Simulation Integration Rubric (IUSIR), a tool for measuring interprofessional communication in simulations.

Background: Educators engage in a wide variety of activities to promote interprofessional education, with many of these activities involving simulation. As interprofessional education evolves, tools are needed to measure the effectiveness of interventions.

The blood supply of the cat's visual cortex and its postnatal development.

We examined the blood supply of the cat's visual cortex using alkaline phosphatase histochemistry to demonstrate the capillary endothelial cells. In the adult, layer 4 is marked by a band that is of obviously greater density, extends throughout areas 17 and 18, and ends abruptly at the 18/19 border. We quantified blood vessel density in area 17, observing a 23% greater density in layer 4 than in supragranular and infragranular layers.

Intracellular injection in fixed slices: obtaining complete dendritic arbors of large cells.

Intracellular injection of Lucifer yellow into fixed brain slices is widely used to demonstrate dendritic morphology. A major limitation of this technique is that large dendritic arbors are usually truncated at the cut surfaces. Here we describe modifications that allowed us to obtain complete dendritic arbors of large spiny stellate cells.

Alternating monocular exposure increases the spacing of ocularity domains in area 17 of cats.

Goodhill (1993) has recently suggested that the spacing of ocularity domains in visual cortex is not solely an intrinsic property of cortex, but is determined, at least in part, by the degree of correlation in the activity of the two eyes. In support of this model, Löwel (1994) has shown that strabismus, which decorrelates the activity of the two eyes, increases the spacing of ocular dominance columns in area 17, but not area 18, of the cat. As a further test of Goodhill's model, in this paper we examine the effects of another rearing procedure that decorrelates the activity of the two eyes, namely alternating monocular exposure (AME).

Gliding motility in slide cultures of Myxococcus xanthus in stable and steep chemical gradients.

A method was devised to construct stable and steep chemical gradients in slide cultures to study the movements of gliding cells. The movement of Myxococcus xanthus individual cells and small swarms was studied in these gradients. There was no response to gradients of Casitone and yeast extract that were previously reported to stimulate a positive chemotactic response with M.

N-acetylaspartylglutamate immunoreactivity in human retina.

The acidic dipeptide N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG), which satisfies many of the criteria for a neurotransmitter, was identified immunohistochemically within two human retinae. We observed NAAG immunoreactivity in retinal ganglion cells, their dendrites in the inner plexiform layer, and their axons in the optic nerve fiber layer. The vast majority of ganglion cells were stained, including displaced ganglion cells, ganglion cells of different sizes, and those whose dendrites arborized in the inner and outer sublaminae of the inner plexiform layer, that is, presumed On- and Off- cells.

Dark-rearing fails to affect the basal dendritic fields of layer 3 pyramidal cells in the kitten's visual cortex.

The development of the cat's visual cortex is incomplete at birth and is influenced by the cat's early visual experience. We have previously demonstrated that the basal dendritic fields of layer 3 pyramidal cells grow substantially during the first 5 weeks after birth and that stripe-rearing affects their orientation. In this paper we determined the effects on these dendritic fields of visual deprivation (dark-rearing) during the first 3 months of life.

Development of the dendritic fields of layer 3 pyramidal cells in the kitten's visual cortex.

The cat's visual cortex is immature at birth and undergoes extensive postnatal development. For example, cells of layers 2 and 3 do not complete migration until about 3 weeks after birth. Despite the importance of dendritic growth for synaptic and functional development, there have been few studies of dendritic development in the cat's visual cortex to correlate with numerous studies of functional and synaptic development.

Relay cells, not interneurons, of cat's lateral geniculate nucleus contain N-acetylaspartylglutamate.

N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) is an endogenous brain dipeptide that satisfies many of the criteria for a neurotransmitter. We have previously identified NAAG immunoreactivity in neurons of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the cat and monkey. To determine whether all LGN neurons contain NAAG, we treated sections of cat LGN with affinity-purified antibodies to NAAG and counterstained them with thionin.

N-acetylaspartylglutamate immunoreactivity in neurons of the monkey's visual pathway.

The acidic dipeptide N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) was identified immunohistochemically within neurons of the visual pathways of two adult macaque monkeys which had undergone midsagittal sectioning of the optic chiasm 6 or 9 years earlier. In both temporal and nasal retinae, amacrine cells, including some displaced amacrine cells, expressed NAAG immunoreactivity. In temporal but not nasal retina, retinal ganglion cells were stained, as were their dendrites in the inner plexiform layer, and their axons in the optic nerve fiber layer.

Effect of eye removal on N-acetylaspartylglutamate immunoreactivity in retinal targets of the cat.

The endogenous brain dipeptide N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) has previously been demonstrated in the somata of retinal ganglion cells and the neuropil of retinal targets. In this paper we report that the NAAG immunoreactivity of the neuropil in the retinal targets is dependent on an intact optic pathway. Removal of one eye produced a marked decrease in the staining of the neuropil in layer A of the contralateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and layer A1 of the ipsilateral LGN.

Morphological changes in the geniculocortical pathway associated with monocular deprivation.

To summarize (Fig. 10), the structural consequences of monocular deprivation include the following changes: the relay cells in the binocular segments of the deprived geniculate layers shrink and contain less of the possible neurotransmitter NAAG. These changes appear to be secondary to a loss of terminal synaptic arbor.

Binocular competition affects the pattern and intensity of ocular activation columns in the visual cortex of cats.

The effect of binocular competition on the development of ocular activation columns in areas 17 and 18 of cats was studied using the 14C-2-deoxyglucose (14C-2DG) technique to visualize the regions of cortex activated by one eye in cats reared with equal alternating monocular exposure (equal AME), unequal AME, or monocular deprivation (MD). The average size of the ocular activation columns of the eye stimulated during administration of 2DG was positively correlated with the competitive advantage during rearing. In order of increasing percentage of visual cortex activated, the eyes were (1) deprived eye of MD cats, (2) less experienced eye of unequal AME cats, (3) either eye of equal AME cats, (4) more experienced eye of unequal AME cats, and (5) experienced eye of MD cats.

Effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area of the hypothalamus in male and female rats.

Prenatal alcohol exposure can produce a variety of behavioral and physiological alterations, including changes in sexually dimorphic behaviors. It has been proposed that alcohol alters these behaviors by altering prenatal androgen and/or other steroid levels. This study was designed to examine the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on a sexually dimorphic neuroanatomical structure, namely, the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area of the hypothalamus (SDN-POA).

N-acetylaspartylglutamate immunoreactivity in neurons of the cat's visual system.

The acidic dipeptide, N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) was identified immunohistochemically within neurons of the cat's visual system. In the retina, NAAG-like immunoreactivity was observed in some horizontal and amacrine cells at the inner and outer margins of the bipolar cell layer. NAAG-like immunoreactivity was also observed in many retinal ganglion cell bodies, their neurites, and the neuropil of their target areas, the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the superior colliculus.

A computer-assisted video technique for preparing high resolution pictures and stereograms from thick specimens.

A computer-assisted video technique is presented for rapidly and accurately gathering, storing and depicting three-dimensional anatomical structures in thick specimens. Several optical sections through the specimen are combined to produce high-resolution photographs with essentially infinite depth-of-field. Further, the depth information implicit in the series of optical sections makes the creation of stereoscopic pairs relatively simple.

Eye-specific segregation of optic afferents in mammals, fish, and frogs: the role of activity.

Eye-specific patches or stripes normally develop in the visual cortex and superior colliculus of many (but not all) mammals and are also formed, after surgically produced binocular innervation, in the optic tectum of fish and frogs. The segregation of ocular dominance patches or columns has been studied using a variety of anatomical pathway-tracing techniques, by electrophysiological recording of postsynaptic units or field potentials, and by the 2-deoxyglucose method following visual stimulation of only one eye. In the tectum of both fish and frogs and in the cortex and colliculus of mammals, eye-specific patches develop from initially diffuse, overlapping projections.

The anatomy of geniculocortical connections in monocularly deprived cats.

In monocularly deprived (MD) cats, many cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) but few cells in the visual cortex respond to input from the deprived eye, suggesting that the connections to visual cortex from the deprived geniculate laminae may have been disrupted. It has been known for some time that the afferents representing the deprived eye terminate over a smaller percentage of layer IV than do those representing the experienced eye, but it is becoming increasingly clear that this alone cannot explain the inability of the deprived pathway to activate cortical cells. 2-Deoxyglucose studies of ocular dominance columns in MD cats have shown that the columns are often (a) restricted to layer IV, suggesting that intracortical connections may be disrupted, and (b) very faint, suggesting that MD alters the efficacy of the deprived pathway in addition to restricting its territory.

Effects of unequal alternating monocular exposure on the sizes of cells in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus.

In unequal alternating monocular exposure, each eye receives normal patterned input, but on alternate days and for unequal periods. This imbalance in stimulation produces a behavioral deficit for the less-experienced eye and alters the ability of that eye to activate cortical cells. To determine whether unequal alternating exposure also affects the sizes of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), we measured the cross-sectional areas of geniculate neurons in seven normally reared cats, 14 cats reared with equal alternating exposure, and 17 cats reared with unequal alternating exposure.

Effects of monocular deprivation on geniculocortical synapses in the cat.

In monocularly deprived (MD) cats, many cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) but few cells in the visual cortex respond to input from the deprived eye, suggesting that the connections to visual cortex from the deprived geniculate laminae may have been disrupted. I have examined these connections in MD cats by using electron microscopic autoradiography of visual cortex after injections of tritiated lysine into single laminae of LGN. After injections into either deprived or experienced laminae, there was label over terminals that contained mitochondria and round synaptic vesicles and that made asymmetric contacts with dendritic profiles.

Behavioral and physiological effects of monocular deprivation: a comparison of rearing with diffusion and occlusion.

To compare the effects of monocular deprivation produced by occlusion and diffusion, 9 cats were reared in the dark from birth to 4 weeks of age, when they were brought out for periods of exposure with one eye covered. For 3 cats, the left eye was covered with a white diffuser while the right eye received 8 h of normal patterned exposure (MD/D-8). For 2 cats, the left eye was covered with a black occluder while the right eye was exposed for 8 h (MD/O-8), and for 4 cats, the right eye was covered with a black occluder while the left eye was exposed for 1 h (MD/O-1).

Removal of the more-experienced eye decreases visual field deficits in cats reared with unequal alternating monocular exposure.

Unequal alternating monocular exposure produces a nasal field deficit for the less-experienced eye, which persists despite prolonged unrestricted binocular exposure. We now report that this deficit decreases after the more experienced eye is removed. Prior to enucleation, the visual field of the less-experienced eye was restricted to the temporal hemifield; 5 months after enucleation of the more-experienced eye, this field extended into the nasal field.