Effects of training service dogs on service members with PTSD: A pilot-feasibility randomized study with mixed methods.

This pilot-feasibility randomized control trial examined effects of an adjunctive short-term service dog training program (SDTP) for service members in out-patient treatment for PTSD. Twenty-nine volunteer participants were randomly assigned to either the SDTP (n = 12) or waitlist (n = 17); 20 participants were available for post-treatment evaluation. SDTP protocol consisted of six structured one-hour sessions with a dog-trainer conducted over two weeks, intended to train a service dog to help a fellow Veteran.

Type I Second Degree Atrioventricular Block in a Woman With Remote Repair of a Ventricular Septal Defect.

In a 45-year-old woman with syncope, an electrocardiogram revealed intermittent asymptomatic type I second degree atrioventricular block, right bundle branch block and left anterior fascicular block. An echocardiogram documented concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and right ventricular dilatation and hypokinesia. Because the patient did not have second degree atrioventricular block at the time of an electrophysiological study, the atrioventricular node, the left posterior fascicle, and the His bundle all remain potential sites for the type I second degree atrioventricular block on her initial electrocardiogram.

Selective Toxicity of a Highly Potent Camptothecin Analogue: A Pilot Study with Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells.

Background/aim: We developed a novel camptothecin analogue, CPT417, that yields reduced toxicity compared to other analogues used in chemotherapeutic regimens. In this pilot study, we assessed the activity of CPT417 against glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells and glioma stem cells.

Materials And Methods: The human U251 GBM cell line and normal human astrocytes were cultured in parallel for clonogenic survival analysis following exposure to increasing concentrations of CPT417.

Traumatic brain injury causes platelet adenosine diphosphate and arachidonic acid receptor inhibition independent of hemorrhagic shock in humans and rats.

Background: Coagulopathy in traumatic brain injury (CTBI) is a well-established phenomenon, but its mechanism is poorly understood. Various studies implicate protein C activation related to the global insult of hemorrhagic shock or brain tissue factor release with resultant platelet dysfunction and depletion of coagulation factors. We hypothesized that the platelet dysfunction of CTBI is a distinct phenomenon from the coagulopathy following hemorrhagic shock.

Early platelet dysfunction in a rodent model of blunt traumatic brain injury reflects the acute traumatic coagulopathy found in humans.

Acute coagulopathy is a serious complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is of uncertain etiology because of the complex nature of TBI. However, recent work has shown a correlation between mortality and abnormal hemostasis resulting from early platelet dysfunction. The aim of the current study was to develop and characterize a rodent model of TBI that mimics the human coagulopathic condition so that mechanisms of the early acute coagulopathy in TBI can be more readily assessed.

Platelet dysfunction is an early marker for traumatic brain injury-induced coagulopathy.

Background: The goal of this study is to determine the presence of platelet dysfunction in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The mechanisms underlying the coagulopathy associated with TBI remain elusive. The question of platelet dysfunction in TBI is unclear.

Service dog training program for treatment of posttraumatic stress in service members.

In July 2008, social worker and certified service dog trainer Rick Yount created the first Warrior dog-training program designed to be a safe, effective, nonpharmaceutical intervention to treat the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury in Veterans and service members undergoing treatment at a large Veterans Administration residential treatment facility. In 2009, Yount was asked to establish the program at a prominent Department of Defense medical center. In October 2010, Yount was invited to create a service dog training program to support the research and treatment mission at the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), in Bethesda, Maryland.

Molecular dynamics analysis of structural factors influencing back door pi release in myosin.

The back door has been proposed to be an exit pathway from the myosin active site for phosphate (P(i)) generated by adenosine 5'-triphosphate hydrolysis. We used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the interaction of P(i) with the back door and the plausibility of P(i) release via this route. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed on the Dictyostelium motor domain with bound Mg.

Stenting of atherosclerotic stenoses in anomalously arising coronary arteries.

This description of five cases brings to 37 the total number of reported patients in whom atherosclerotic lesions of anomalously arising coronary arteries have been stented. One-half of these have been right coronary arteries arising from the left sinus of Valsalva, followed in frequency by branches of single coronary arteries arising from solitary aortic ostia and left circumflex arteries arising from the right sinus of Valsalva or from the proximal portion of the right coronary artery. Proper guide-catheter selection, essential for successful stenting, usually matches the guide's configuration to the sinus of Valsalva from which the anomalous artery originates rather than to the final distribution of the coronary artery.

Closing of the nucleotide pocket of kinesin-family motors upon binding to microtubules.

We have used adenosine diphosphate analogs containing electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin moieties and EPR spectroscopy to show that the nucleotide-binding site of kinesin-family motors closes when the motor.diphosphate complex binds to microtubules. Structural analyses demonstrate that a domain movement in the switch 1 region at the nucleotide site, homologous to domain movements in the switch 1 region in the G proteins [heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins], explains the EPR data.

Traumatic brain injury and atrophy of the cingulate gyrus.

The medial surface areas of the cingulate gyrus (CG) and other midline structures (corpus callosum, thalamus, lateral ventricle) were examined in 27 traumatically brain injured (TBI) and 12 age- and gender-matched control subjects from an established TBI data base. Significant atrophy, primarily in the posterior CG, was found in TBI patients. Degree of atrophy was related to severity of injury.

A novel restricted photoaffinity spin-labeled non-nucleoside ATP analogue as a covalently attached reporter group of the active site of Myosin subfragment 1.

The photoaffinity spin-labeled non-nucleoside ATP analogue, 2-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)amino-2,2-(1-oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidylidene)di(oxymethylene)ethyl triphosphate (SSL-NANTP), has been shown to be a substrate for skeletal mysoin subfragment 1 (S1) that can be photoincorporated at the active site of S1 [Chen, X., et al. (2000) Bioconjugate Chem.

Percutaneous recanalization of thrombosed dialysis shunts.

Clotted hemodialysis shunts are a frequent and costly complication encountered in end-stage renal patients undergoing hemodialysis. Treatment strategy is rapidly shifting from surgical thrombectomy to percutaneous recanalization because of the ready availability of the latter technique as well as increased patient comfort. We looked at 99 episodes of thrombosis in hemodialysis shunts, 33 in natural fistulae, treated with several percutaneous techniques of recanalization, all with similar and high success rates, regardless of whether thrombolytics were administered or not.

Successful conservative treatment of an infected central venous stent.

Several cases of stent infection have been reported in the medical literature. Most required surgical removal of the stent, sometimes with severe sequelae including limb loss. We report the case of a 39-year-old hemodialysis patient who, 3 weeks prior to admission, had undergone angioplasty of the right innominate and subclavian veins with implantation of a Wallstent.

Synthesis and characterization of novel spin-labeled photoaffinity nonnucleoside analogues of ATP as structural and EPR probes for myosin.

Two new spin-labeled photoreactive nonnucleoside ATP analogues, 1-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)amino-3-(1-oxyl-2,2,5, 5-tetramethylpyrrolidinyl-3-carbamido)-2-propyl triphosphate (SL-NANTP) and 2-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)amino-2,2-(1-oxyl-2,2,6, 6-tetramethyl-4-piperidylidene)di(oxymethylene) ethyl triphosphate (SSL-NANTP), were synthesized and characterized. This study aims to develop a second generation of NANTP-based analogues containing immobile spin labels that can be used to monitor conformational changes in myosin during the contractile cycle of muscle. Previous studies have shown that both a photoaffinity nonnucleoside ATP analogue, 2-[(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)amino] ethyl triphosphate (NANTP) [Nakamaye et al.

Synthesis of a spin-labeled photoaffinity ATP analogue, and its use to specifically photolabel myosin cross-bridges in skeletal muscle fibers.

A spin-labeled photoaffinity ATP analogue 3'(2')-O-[4-[4-oxo-(4-amido-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidino-1-oxyl)]-benz oyl]benzoyl adenosine 5'-triphosphate (SL-Bz2ATP) was synthesized and used to photolabel myosin in muscle fibers. Previous work has shown that 3'(2')-O-(4-benzoyl)benzoyl adenosine 5'-triphosphate (Bz2ATP) photolabeled Ser-324 of the 50 kDa tryptic fragment of skeletal S1 heavy chain. In this work, [alpha-32P]SL-Bz2ATP was hydrolyzed and trapped as the diphosphate analogue with Co2+ and orthovanadate at the active site of myosin in rabbit psoas muscle fibers.

X-ray structures of the Dictyostelium discoideum myosin motor domain with six non-nucleotide analogs.

The three-dimensional structures of the truncated myosin head from Dictyostelium discoideum myosin II complexed with dinitrophenylaminoethyl-, dinitrophenylaminopropyl-, o-nitrophenylaminoethyl-, m-nitrophenylaminoethyl-, p-nitrophenylaminoethyl-, and o-nitrophenyl-N-methyl-aminoethyl-diphosphate.beryllium fluoride have been determined to better than 2.3-A resolution.

Fingerprint patterns from laser-induced azido photochemistry of spin-labeled photoaffinity ATP analogs in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.

The photochemical reaction of azide derivatives induced by ultraviolet (UV) laser in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) is reported. A novel synthesized class of azide aromatic derivatives, spin-labeled photoaffinity non-nucleoside adenosine triphosphate (ATP) analogs which are useful probes in study of muscle contraction mechanism, is used in this investigation. In the negative ion MALDI spectra of these ATP analogs, "fingerprint" peaks corresponding to [M - 10 - 1]-, [M - 12 - 1]-, [M - 16 - 1]-, [M - 26 - 1]-, [M - 28 - 1]-, [M - 41 - 1]-, and [M - 42 - 1]- were observed with relative intensities depending on the MALDI matrix.

Conformational changes between the active-site and regulatory light chain of myosin as determined by luminescence resonance energy transfer: the effect of nucleotides and actin.

Myosin is thought to generate movement of actin filaments via a conformational change between its light-chain domain and its catalytic domain that is driven by the binding of nucleotides and actin. To monitor this change, we have measured distances between a gizzard regulatory light chain (Cys 108) and the active site (near or at Trp 130) of skeletal myosin subfragment 1 (S1) by using luminescence resonance energy transfer and a photoaffinity ATP-lanthanide analog. The technique allows relatively long distances to be measured, and the label enables site-specific attachment at the active-site with only modest affect on myosin's enzymology.

Raman difference spectroscopic studies of the myosin S1.MgADP.vanadate complex.

The Raman spectra of the nonbridging V--O bonds in the myosin S1.MgADP.Vi complex, often believed to be a transition-state analogue for the phosphotransfer reaction catalyzed by myosin, and in a vanadate solution model compound have been obtained using Raman difference spectroscopic techniques.

Chemistry and mechanism of vanadate-promoted photooxidative cleavage of myosin.

Irradiation of the stable myosin subfragment 1(S1).MgADP.orthovanadate (Vi) complex results in oxidation of an active site serine (Ser-180) to a serine aldehyde [Cremo, C.

The active site of myosin.

The significance of myosin has been expanded recently with the realization that it is found in every eukaryotic cell, where it has a role in cytokinesis, cell division, and vesicle transport. Advances in molecular genetics and expression systems related to myosin and actin have helped to reveal the extent of the myosin superfamily. New motility assays and techniques have provided information about the residues involved in ATP hydrolysis and the conformational change induced by nucleotide binding.