The role of myosin II motor activity in distributing myosin asymmetrically and coupling protrusive activity to cell translocation.

Nonmuscle myosin IIA and IIB distribute preferentially toward opposite ends of migrating endothelial cells. To understand the mechanism and function of this behavior, myosin II was examined in cells treated with the motor inhibitor, blebbistatin. Blebbistatin at > or = 30 microM inhibited anterior redistribution of myosin IIA, with 100 microM blebbistatin causing posterior accumulation.

Insuring the uninsured: A student-run initiative to improve access to care in an urban community.

Context: There are 44 million uninsured Americans. Lack of insurance creates a major barrier for the poor and near poor to get adequate medical attention. A portion of these are eligible for insurance and either do not know they are eligible or have difficulty navigating the application process.

Measuring health-related quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: can less be more?

Objective: This study assessed the ability of a brief, well-validated generic health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure to characterize the symptom burden of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with reference to a large survey of U.S. community-living adults.

Update on the relationships between neuropsychological dysfunction and structural MRI in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the CNS, characterized by demyelination and neurodegeneration. Besides the sensory and motor deficits that are the hallmark of this disease, approximately 50% of MS patients are cognitively impaired. Over the years, structural neuroimaging has been used widely in MS patients for both diagnostic and research purposes.

Effect of oral decontamination with chlorhexidine on the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia: a meta-analysis.

Introduction: Nosocomial pneumonia is a significant cause of in-hospital morbidity and mortality. Oral care interventions have great potential to reduce the occurrence of nosocomial pneumonia. Studies using topical antiseptic agents yielded mixed results.

C-type natriuretic peptide and its receptor are downregulated in pulmonary epithelium following birth.

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is a member of the natriuretic peptide family and acts through the membrane bound guanylyl cyclase linked natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) to increase intracellular cGMP. Activation of the CNP/NPR-B pathway in pulmonary epithelium has been linked to the inhibition of amiloride-sensitive sodium absorption and to the stimulation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Given the importance of ion movement across the pulmonary epithelium of the fetal and newborn lung, we sought to examine the expression of CNP and NPR-B in pulmonary epithelium of the developing fetal lamb and following the transition to air breathing.

A review of antioxidants and Alzheimer's disease.

Background: In this article, we review a diverse body of research and draw conclusions about the usefulness, or lack there-of, of specific antioxidants in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: The National Library of Medicine's database was searched for the years 1996-2004 using the search terms "Alzheimer's, anti-oxidants, antioxidants."

Results: Over 300 articles were identified and 187 articles were selected for inclusion based on relevance to the topic.

Food reinforcement.

The reinforcing value of food, measured by how hard someone is willing to work to obtain food, is influenced by food palatability, food deprivation and food variety, and may be a more powerful determinant of food intake than hedonics or liking. The reinforcing value of food is mediated in part by dopaminergic activity. Genotypes that influence dopamine transport and the density of dopamine D2 receptors interact with food reinforcement to influence eating behavior, and D2 receptor genotypes may influence food reinforcement and weight gain after smoking cessation.

Nosocomial pneumonia in elderly patients following cardiac surgery.

Objective: To identify modifiable risk factors of nosocomial pneumonia (NP) in elderly patients post-cardiac surgery.

Design: A case-control study.

Setting: Post-operative intensive care unit of a tertiary-level university affiliated hospital.

Patterns of interpersonal problems in irritable bowel syndrome patients: a circumplex analysis.

Objective: This study explored the nature of interpersonal problems in IBS patients using the interpersonal circumplex as an organizing framework. Based on conceptualizations of interpersonal behavior of IBS patients, we predicted that their interpersonal problems would peak in the friendly submissive regions of the circumplex.

Method: Fifty-nine healthy controls and 174 IBS patients completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI).

Your drug, my drug, or our drugs: how aggressive should we be with antihypertensive therapy?

In the prevention of hypertensive complications, especially stroke and kidney disease, "lower is better" because for each decrease of 20 mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic pressure in the population, cardiovascular risk is halved. Ideally, the goal for each patient should be to reach the lowest blood pressure that is well tolerated, a value that may be well below the arbitrary threshold value of 140/90 mm Hg. For the majority of "uncomplicated hypertensives," the question of single-drug therapy is essentially moot, because more than one agent is almost always required to optimally control blood pressure.

Clinical and investigational considerations for the use of IGIV therapy.

Purpose: Clinical uses of immunoglobulin intravenous (IGIV) therapy for a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases are discussed, as well as the probable mechanisms by which IGIV exerts its immunoregulatory and antiinflammatory actions. Case studies are also presented to examine practical considerations in the selection of IGIV products for patients at risk for adverse events.

Summary: At present, the Food and Drug Administration has approved IGIV for use in six conditions, including replacement therapy for patients with antibody-deficiency disease, adjunct therapy in patients with poor antibody-producing capabilities, prophylaxis against certain types of infections, and several autoimmune disorders, including idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and Kawasaki disease.

Local ecological factors, ultrafine particulate concentrations, and asthma prevalence rates in Buffalo, New York, neighborhoods.

Previous to this study various healthcare utilization studies and house-to-house surveys had shown that Buffalo's west side had a high utilization rate for asthma and high asthma prevalence in comparison with neighboring communities. The relative contributions of traffic-related pollution and personal and local ecological factors to the high asthma rates were still unknown. To investigate the potential roles of personal home environmental factors and local ecological factors in variations of asthma prevalence in Buffalo neighborhoods, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of a systematic random sample of 2000 households in the city of Buffalo, New York, with a response rate of 80.

The relationship between whole brain volume and disability in multiple sclerosis: a comparison of normalized gray vs. white matter with misclassification correction.

We used SPM99 to obtain normalized whole brain volumes of gray matter, white matter, and total parenchyma in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) (n = 41) and age-/sex-matched normal controls (n = 18). As SPM99's automated gray/white matter volumes were significantly influenced by tissue compartment misclassification due to the effect of MS-related brain lesions, we corrected these automated volumes for misclassification before performing our primary analyses. For MS patients (disease duration = 9.

Recurrent optic neuritis as the presenting manifestation of primary hypereosinophilic syndrome: a report of two cases.

Two patients sustained multiple attacks of optic neuritis with persistent visual loss. An elevated eosinophil count was initially considered an incidental finding. Years later, the diagnosis of primary hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) was confirmed by skin and bone marrow in one patient and by lung biopsy in the other.

Flexor superficialis abductor transfer with carpal tunnel release for thenar palsy.

Purpose: In patients with advanced chronic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) the ability of the thumb to abduct and perform functional opposition is impaired greatly, primarily because of denervation and paralysis of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of transfer of the flexor digitorum superficialis to the abductor pollicis brevis for restoration of thumb abduction in thenar paralysis caused by advanced chronic CTS.

Methods: Fifty patients (51 hands) with advanced CTS and loss of thumb abduction had a flexor digitorum superficialis transfer (37 small, 10 ring, 4 middle finger donors) to the abductor pollicis brevis with simultaneous carpal tunnel release (49 of 51 endoscopic).

Renal arteriovenous aneurysm in a 4-year-old patient.

We report a case of a symptomatic renal arteriovenous aneurysm in a 4-year-old pediatric patient. We were able to diagnose the lesion by means of a Doppler renal sonogram with color duplex interrogation. The diagnosis was confirmed by digital subtraction angiography.

Testing the sequential model of pain processing in irritable bowel syndrome: a structural equation modeling analysis.

Pain, the cardinal feature of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is a multidimensional phenomenon with sensory and affective dimensions. Price's pain processing model was used to delineate four a priori sequentially related stages (pain sensation intensity, immediate pain unpleasantness, long-term suffering, and pain-related behavior). Although prior research with both healthy individuals and somatic pain patients supports the model in general, its applicability to IBS is unclear.

Opposing effects of polyadenylation on the stability of edited and unedited mitochondrial RNAs in Trypanosoma brucei.

Mitochondrial RNAs in Trypanosoma brucei undergo posttranscriptional RNA editing and polyadenylation. We previously showed that polyadenylation stimulates turnover of unedited RNAs. Here, we investigated the role of polyadenylation in decay of edited RPS12 RNA.

NGF promotes copper accumulation required for optimum neurite outgrowth and protein methylation.

The role of copper in biological phenomena that involve signal transduction is poorly understood. A well-defined cellular model of neuronal differentiation has been utilized to examine the requirement for copper during nerve growth factor (NGF) signal transduction that results in neurite outgrowth. Experiments demonstrate that NGF increases cellular copper content within 3 days of treatment.

Construct validity and frequency of euphoria sclerotica in multiple sclerosis.

Using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), we studied euphoria and other behavioral changes in 75 consecutive, unselected multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 25 healthy controls. We also assessed disease duration, clinical course, physical disability, personality, depression, insight, cognition, and caregiver distress. Factor analysis identified a cluster of symptoms--labeled euphoria/disinhibition--similar to the euphoria sclerotica syndrome originally described by Charcot and others.