Hierarchical IDEAL: fast, robust, and multiresolution separation of multiple chemical species from multiple echo times.

We describe a generalized version of hierarchical IDEAL that can flexibly handle arbitrary chemical species at arbitrary echo times. The proposed work is fast and robust, and it has three key features: (1) multiresolution approach, which allows the method to handle images with disjoint regions, makes it less susceptible to local optima, and reduces the ambiguity of the separation; (2) direct phase estimation, which bypasses the phase wrapping issue, and (3) efficient algebraic formulation, which enables fast calculation and insensitivity to spatially varying phase across the image, from sources such as partial echo acquisition, receiver coils, motion, and flow. Representative results at 1.

Empirical mode decomposition based detrended sample entropy in electroencephalography for Alzheimer's disease.

Quantitative electroencephalographs (qEEG) provide a potential method to objectively quantify the cortical activations in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but they are too insensitive to probe the alteration of EEG in the early AD. The sample entropy (SaEn) attempts to quantify the complex information embedded in EEG non-linearly, which fits in that EEG originates from non-linear interactions. However, a technical issue which has been ignored by most researchers is that the signal should be stationary.

Yoga for youth in pain: the UCLA pediatric pain program model.

Children, adolescents, and young adults do not typically feature in clinics, studies, and mainstream notions of chronic pain. Yet many young people experience debilitating pain for extended periods of time. Chronic pain in these formative years may be especially important to treat in order for young patients to maintain life tasks and to prevent protracted disability.

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder show a selective deficit in generalization of associative learning.

Objective: Drawing on two different populations, Israeli police and Hungarian civilians, the present study assessed the ability of individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to generalize previous learning to novel situations. Past neuroimaging studies have demonstrated diminished medial temporal lobe (MTL) activation and/or reduced hippocampal volume in individuals with PTSD. Our earlier computational models of cortico-hippocampal function and subsequent experimental tests of these models in MTL-impaired clinical populations argue that even mild hippocampal dysfunction may result in subtle impairments in generalization.

Two boundaries separate Borrelia burgdorferi populations in North America.

Understanding the spread of infectious diseases is crucial for implementing effective control measures. For this, it is important to obtain information on the contemporary population structure of a disease agent and to infer the evolutionary processes that may have shaped it. Here, we investigate on a continental scale the population structure of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis (LB), a tick-borne disease, in North America.

Reverse line blot probe design and polymerase chain reaction optimization for bloodmeal analysis of ticks from the eastern United States.

Determining the host preference of vector ticks is vital to elucidating the eco-epidemiology of the diseases they spread. Detachment of ticks from captured hosts can provide evidence of feeding on those host species, but only for those species that are feasible to capture. Recently developed, highly sensitive molecular assays show great promise in allowing host selection to be determined from minute traces of host DNA that persist in recently molted ticks.

Curcumin induces cell apoptosis in human chondrosarcoma through extrinsic death receptor pathway.

Chondrosarcoma is a soft tissue sarcoma with a poor prognosis that is unresponsive to conventional chemotherapy. Surgical treatment leads to severe disability with high rates of local recurrence and life threat. Curcumin, an active compound in turmeric and curry, has been proven to induce tumor apoptosis and inhibit tumor proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of cancer cells.

Experimental pain responses in children with chronic pain and in healthy children: how do they differ?

Background: Extant research comparing laboratory pain responses of children with chronic pain with healthy controls is mixed, with some studies indicating lower pain responsivity for controls and others showing no differences. Few studies have included different pain modalities or assessment protocols.

Objectives: To compare pain responses among 26 children (18 girls) with chronic pain and matched controls (mean age 14.

Pain, psychological symptoms and prescription drug misuse in HIV: A literature review.

Background: Pain is a common problem among persons living with HIV. In this population, pain often co-occurs with psychological symptoms, as well as illicit drug abuse. Recently, the misuse of prescription drugs, including the misuse of opioid medications for pain relief, has emerged as a significant public health problem.

Blood-brain barrier permeation and efflux exclusion of anticholinergics used in the treatment of overactive bladder.

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition, particularly in the elderly. Anticholinergic agents are the mainstay of pharmacological treatment of OAB; however, many anticholinergics can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and may cause central nervous system (CNS) effects, including cognitive deficits, which can be especially detrimental in older patients. Many anticholinergics have the potential to cause adverse CNS effects due to muscarinic (M(1)) receptor binding in the brain.

Endothelial cell responses to micropillar substrates of varying dimensions and stiffness.

In the vascular niche, the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides a structural scaffold with a rich ligand landscape of essential matrix proteins that supports the organization and stabilization of endothelial cells (ECs) into functional blood vessels. Many of the physical interactions between ECs and macromolecular components of the ECM occur at both the micron and submicron scale. In addition, the elasticity of the ECM has been shown to be a critical factor in the progress of the angiogenic cascade.

Human risk of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent, in eastern United States.

The geographic pattern of human risk for infection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the tick-borne pathogen that causes Lyme disease, was mapped for the eastern United States. The map is based on standardized field sampling in 304 sites of the density of Ixodes scapularis host-seeking nymphs infected with B. burgdorferi, which is closely associated with human infection risk.

Synchronous phenology of juvenile Ixodes scapularis, vertebrate host relationships, and associated patterns of Borrelia burgdorferi ribotypes in the midwestern United States.

To elucidate features of enzootic maintenance of the Lyme disease bacterium that affect human risk of infection, we conducted a longitudinal study of the phenology of the vector tick, Ixodes scapularis, at a newly invaded site in the north-central United States. Surveys for questing ticks and ticks parasitizing white-footed mice and eastern chipmunks revealed that I. scapularis nymphal and larval activity peaked synchronously in June and exhibited an atypical, unimodal seasonality.

A Unified, Transdiagnostic Treatment for Adolescents With Chronic Pain and Comorbid Anxiety and Depression.

Chronic pain disorders represent a significant public health concern, particularly for children and adolescents. High rates of comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorders often complicate psychological interventions for chronic pain. Unified treatment approaches, based on emotion regulation skills, are applicable to a broad range of emotional disorders and suggest the possibility of extending these interventions to chronic pain and pain-related dysfunction.

Preserving the child as a respondent: initiating patient-centered interviews in a US outpatient tertiary care pediatric pain clinic.

This article identifies some of the challenges of implementing patient-centeredness in multiparty clinical visits. Specifically, it describes four interview practices with which clinicians address these challenges in a US outpatient tertiary care pediatric pain clinic. Using the qualitative method of conversation analysis, we analyze clinicians' child-directed (ages 10-18) interviewing during the initial stage of 51 intake visits.

Healthcare utilization for pain in children and adolescents: a prospective study of laboratory and non-laboratory predictors of care-seeking.

Background: Few studies have focused on identifying predictors of medical consultation for pain in healthy children and adolescents.

Objective: This investigation sought to identify parent and child laboratory and non-laboratory predictors of pediatric healthcare utilization for pain problems.

Study Group: Participants were 210 healthy children and adolescents (102 girls), aged 8-17 years who took part in a laboratory pain session.

Effectiveness of an inpatient movement disorders program for patients with atypical parkinsonism.

This paper investigated the effectiveness of an inpatient movement disorders program for patients with atypical parkinsonism, who typically respond poorly to pharmacologic intervention and are challenging to rehabilitate as outpatients. Ninety-one patients with atypical parkinsonism participated in an inpatient movement disorders program. Patients received physical, occupational, and speech therapy for 3 hours/day, 5 to 7 days/week, and pharmacologic adjustments based on daily observation and data.

Habitat correlates with the spatial distribution of ectoparasites on Peromyscus leucopus in southern Michigan.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of habitat in determining ectoparasite distribution of Peromyscus leucopus. We tested the hypothesis that ectoparasite occurrence is associated with particular host environments and this association is stronger for ectoparasites with limited interactions (i.e.

Altered IL-10 and TNF-α production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of systemic lupus erythematosus patients after Toll-like receptor 2, 4, or 9 activation.

Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation and cytokines have been linked to the disease flare of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), yet the expression profiles of TLRs and cytokines in response to TLR activation in SLE patients remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the expression levels of IL-10, TNF-α, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), TLR-2, TLR-4, and TLR-9 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE patients and normal controls after PBMCs were stimulated with a TLR-2, TLR-4, or TLR-9 agonist. The expression levels in SLE patient group were statistically compared with those in normal control group.

Relationship between resting blood pressure and laboratory-induced pain among healthy children.

Background: Adult studies have demonstrated that increased resting blood pressure (BP) levels correlate with decreased pain sensitivity. However, few studies have examined the relationship between BP and experimental pain sensitivity among children.

Objectives: This study investigated the association between resting BP levels and experimental pain tolerance, intensity, and unpleasantness in healthy children.

Atrioventricular conduction abnormality and hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis in toluene sniffing.

Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon with widespread industrial use as an organic solvent. As a result of the euphoric effect and availability of these substances, inhalation of toluene-based products is popular among young adults and children. Chronic or acute exposure is known to cause acid-base and electrolyte disorders, and to be toxic to the nervous and hematopoietic systems.

The mediating role of pain in substance use and depressive symptoms among Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) participants.

Pain in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) frequently co-occurs with substance use and depression. The complex associations among patient characteristics, pain, depression, and drug use in HIV suggests a role for testing models that can account for relationships simultaneously, control for HIV status, and also test for mediation. Using structural equation modeling, the current study examined associations among pain, sociodemographics, illicit drug use, and depressive symptoms in 921 HIV-seropositive and 1019 HIV-seronegative men from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, an ongoing prospective study of the natural history of HIV infection among gay/bisexual men.

Pain in long-term adult survivors of childhood cancers and their siblings: a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

Little is known about pain among long-term adult survivors of childhood cancers. The study investigated pain prevalence in this population compared with sibling controls and examined pain-related risk factors. Three self-reported pain outcomes including pain conditions, prescription analgesics used, and pain attributed to cancer and treatment were assessed among 10,397 cancer survivors and 3034 sibling controls from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

MTHFR C677T genotype as a risk factor for epilepsy including post-traumatic epilepsy in a representative military cohort.

The well-studied C677T variant in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) enzyme is a biologically plausible genetic risk factor for seizures or epilepsy. First, plasma/serum levels of homocysteine, a pro-convulsant, are moderately elevated in individuals with the homozygote TT genotype. Furthermore, the TT genotype has been previously linked with migraine with aura-a comorbid condition-and with alcohol withdrawal seizures.

Four-color laser white illuminant demonstrating high color-rendering quality.

Solid-state lighting is currently based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and phosphors. Solid-state lighting based on lasers would offer significant advantages including high potential efficiencies at high current densities. Light emitted from lasers, however, has a much narrower spectral linewidth than light emitted from LEDs or phosphors.