Acquisition of Resistance to PEGylated Branched Polyethylenimine Increases Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Susceptibility to Aminoglycosides.

PEGylated branched polyethylenimine (PEG-BPEI) has antibacterial and antibiofilm properties. Exposure to PEG-BPEI through serial passage leads to resistant P. aeruginosa strains.

Low-Molecular Weight Branched Polyethylenimine Reduces Cytokine Secretion from Human Immune System Monocytes Stimulated with Bacterial and Fungal PAMPs.

The innate immune system is an evolutionarily conserved pathogen recognition mechanism that serves as the first line of defense against tissue damage or pathogen invasion. Unlike the adaptive immunity that recruits T-cells and specific antibodies against antigens, innate immune cells express pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) that can detect various pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) released by invading pathogens. Microbial molecular patterns, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria, trigger signaling cascades in the host that result in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Neutralizing PAMPs that Trigger Cytokine Release from THP-1 Monocytes.

Innate immunity has considerable specificity and can discriminate between individual species of microbes. In this regard, pathogens are "seen" as dangerous to the host and elicit an inflammatory response capable of destroying the microbes. This immune discrimination is achieved by toll-like receptors on host cells recognizing pathogens, such as , and microbe-specific pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) molecules, such as lipoteichoic acid (LTA).

Antibiofilm Activity of PEGylated Branched Polyethylenimine.

Biofilm formation is an adaptive resistance mechanism that pathogens employ to survive in the presence of antimicrobials. is an infectious Gram-negative bacterium whose biofilm allows it to withstand antimicrobial attack and threaten human health. Chronic wound healing is often impeded by infections and the associated biofilms.

Beyond Program Objectives.

Graduate students in eight diverse health care professional programs participated together in a pilot course entitled, "An Interprofessional Approach to Patient Care." Through postcourse discussions with the clinical nurse leader students, faculty discovered that beyond meeting program objectives, the nursing learners gained numerous unexpected insights about interprofessional collaborative practice. J Contin Educ Nurs.

Flicker light-induced retinal vasodilation is unaffected by inhibition of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids and prostaglandins in humans.

Purpose: To investigate the role of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and prostaglandins (PGs) in retinal blood vessel calibers and vasodilation during flicker light stimulation in humans.

Methods: Twelve healthy nonsmokers participated in a balanced crossover study. Oral fluconazole 400 mg and dispersible aspirin 600 mg were used to inhibit production of EETs and PGs, respectively.

Decreased retinal capillary flow is not a mediator of the protective myopia-diabetic retinopathy relationship.

Purpose: The mechanisms supporting the protective relationship between a longer axial length (AL) and a decreased risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) remain unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated reduced retinal blood flow in axial myopia, and it has been suggested that the compromised retinal capillaries in diabetes are less likely to leak and rupture as a result of this decreased flow. In this study, we therefore investigated if reduced retinal capillary flow (RCF) is a potential mechanism underpinning this protective relationship.

Flicker-induced retinal arteriole dilation is reduced by ambient lighting.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of ambient room lighting on the magnitude of flicker light-induced retinal vasodilations in healthy individuals.

Methods: Twenty healthy nonsmokers participated in a balanced 2 × 2 crossover study. Retinal vascular imaging was performed with the dynamic vessel analyzer under reduced or normal ambient lighting, then again after 20 minutes under the alternate condition.

Associations of retinal oximetry in persons with diabetes.

Background: There are limited data available on the variables that might affect retinal vessel oxygen saturation (SO₂) in diabetes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess factors associated with retinal oximetry values in persons with diabetes.

Design: Clinic-based cross-sectional study.

Retinal arteriolar dilation to flicker light is reduced on short-term retesting.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of retesting frequency over a short period on flicker light-induced retinal vasodilation.

Methods: Twenty healthy participants were included. The retinal vascular response to flicker light stimulation was assessed three times (at baseline and after 5 and 30 minutes of rest [tests 1, 2, and 3, respectively]) in each participant using the Dynamic Vessel Analyzer.

Axial length, retinal function, and oxygen consumption: a potential mechanism for a lower risk of diabetic retinopathy in longer eyes.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between axial length (AL), retinal function, and relative oxygen (O₂) consumption to better understand the protective effect of axial elongation on diabetic retinopathy development.

Methods: Measurements of AL, multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG), and relative O₂ consumption (difference between arteriolar and venular O₂ saturation levels or A-V difference) were performed on 50 healthy individuals. The relationships between AL, mfERG amplitude, and A-V difference were analyzed using linear regression models.

Decadal Cycles in the Human Cardiovascular System.

Seven of the eight authors of this report each performed physiologic self-surveillance, some around the clock for decades. We here document the presence of long cycles (decadals, including circaundecennians) in the time structure of systolic (S) and diastolic (D) blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Because of the non-stationary nature in time and space of these and other physiologic and environmental periodic components that, like the wind, can appear and disappear in a given or other geographic location at one or another time, they have been called "Aeolian".

Predicting the Crohn's disease activity index from the Harvey-Bradshaw Index.

Background: The Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) was developed in the 1970s to assess the degree of illness in individuals with Crohn's disease and has since been used widely in clinical trials of the condition. The Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI) is a simplification of the CDAI, designed to make data collection and computation easier. It is purported, on the basis of a 0.

Identifying patient preoperative risk factors and postoperative adverse events in administrative databases: results from the Department of Veterans Affairs National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) employs trained nurse data collectors to prospectively gather preoperative patient characteristics and 30-day postoperative outcomes for most major operations in 123 DVA hospitals to provide risk-adjusted outcomes to centers as quality indicators. It has been suggested that routine hospital discharge abstracts contain the same information and would provide accurate and complete data at much lower cost.

Study Design: With preoperative risks and 30-day outcomes recorded by trained data collectors as criteria standards, ICD-9-CM hospital discharge diagnosis codes in the Patient Treatment File (PTF) were tested for sensitivity and positive predictive value.