Development, stability and delivery profile of new loratadine-loaded nanoparticles.

: Loratadine is used as antihistaminic without side effects in nervous systems. This drug is a weak base and it is absorbed from the intestine. The nitrogen of the pyridine ring is protonated in the stomach affecting the oral bioavailability.

BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series.

PMERGE: Computational filtering of paralogous sequences from RAD-seq data.

Restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) can identify and score thousands of genetic markers from a group of samples for population-genetics studies. One challenge of de novo RAD-seq analysis is to distinguish paralogous sequence variants (PSVs) from true single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with orthologous loci. In the absence of a reference genome, it is difficult to differentiate true SNPs from PSVs, and their impact on downstream analysis remains unclear.

Clinical Cadavers as a Simulation Resource for Procedural Learning.

"See one, do one, teach one" remains an unofficial, unsanctioned framework for procedural skill learning in medicine. Appropriately, medical educators have sought alternative simulation venues for students to safely learn their craft. With the end goal of ensuring competence, educational programming will require the use of valid simulation with appropriate fidelity.

Effect of an Emergency Medicine Resident as Team Leader on Outcomes of Trauma Team Activations.

Objectives: Traditionally, a surgeon has served as trauma team leader (TTL). However, this role is increasingly being performed by emergency medicine (EM) physicians. At the Halifax Infirmary, we utilize a resident TTL (rTTL) under supervision of a staff traumatologist, a duty shared between EM and surgical residents.

Comparison of Simulation-based Resuscitation Performance Assessments With In-training Evaluation Reports in Emergency Medicine Residents: A Canadian Multicenter Study.

Objective: Simulation stands to serve an important role in modern competency-based programs of assessment in postgraduate medical education. Our objective was to compare the performance of individual emergency medicine (EM) residents in a simulation-based resuscitation objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using the Queen's Simulation Assessment Tool (QSAT), with portfolio assessment of clinical encounters using a modified in-training evaluation report (ITER) to understand in greater detail the inferences that may be drawn from a simulation-based OSCE assessment.

Methods: A prospective observational study was employed to explore the use of a multicenter simulation-based OSCE for evaluation of resuscitation competence.

How Robust Are Studies in the American Board of Emergency Medicine Maintenance of Certification Lifelong Learning and Self-assessment? An Examination of Fragility and Bias of Included Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: Critics have raised concerns regarding the validity of maintenance of certification (MOC) programs. We sought to examine the quality of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) selected for the lifelong learning and self-assessment (LLS) component of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) MOC program.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the ABEM LLS reading lists from 2004 to 2017 to identify RCTs with dichotomous outcomes and superiority designs.

Genotyping-by-sequencing of genome-wide microsatellite loci reveals fine-scale harvest composition in a coastal Atlantic salmon fishery.

Individual assignment and genetic mixture analysis are commonly utilized in contemporary wildlife and fisheries management. Although microsatellite loci provide unparalleled numbers of alleles per locus, their use in assignment applications is increasingly limited. However, next-generation sequencing, in conjunction with novel bioinformatic tools, allows large numbers of microsatellite loci to be simultaneously genotyped, presenting new opportunities for individual assignment and genetic mixture analysis.

Genomewide evidence of environmentally mediated secondary contact of European green crab () lineages in eastern North America.

Genetic-environment associations are increasingly revealed through population genomic data and can occur through a number of processes, including secondary contact, divergent natural selection, or isolation by distance. Here, we investigate the influence of the environment, including seasonal temperature and salinity, on the population structure of the invasive European green crab () in eastern North America. Green crab populations in eastern North America are associated with two independent invasions, previously shown to consist of distinct northern and southern ecotypes, with a contact zone in southern Nova Scotia, Canada.

The chemerin knockout rat reveals chemerin dependence in female, but not male, experimental hypertension.

Measures of the adipokine chemerin are elevated in multiple cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, but little mechanistic work has been done to implicate chemerin as being causative in such diseases. The chemerin knockout (KO) rat was created to test the hypothesis that removal of chemerin would reduce pressure in the normal and hypertensive state. Western analyses confirmed loss of chemerin in the plasma and tissues of the KO vs.

Discrepancy between catheter and doppler gradients immediately post transcatheter aortic valve replacement in an underexpanded prosthesis.

Underexpansion of an aortic bioprosthetic valve is common after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Significant discrepancy between invasive hemodynamic gradients and echocardiographic Doppler gradients in an underexpanded bioprosthesis can be attributed to pressure recovery phenomenon. This case emphasizes the importance of echocardiographic guidance in implantation and assessment of bioprosthetic valve during TAVR.

Our use, misuse, and abandonment of a concept: Whither habitat?

The foundational concept of habitat lies at the very root of the entire science of ecology, but inaccurate use of the term compromises scientific rigor and communication among scientists and nonscientists. In 1997, Hall, Krausman & Morrison showed that 'habitat' was used correctly in only 55% of articles. We ask whether use of the term has been more accurate since their plea for standardization and whether use varies across the broader range of journals and taxa in the contemporary literature (1998-2012).

Aerobic exercise and cardiopulmonary fitness in childhood cancer survivors treated with a cardiotoxic agent: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The main purpose of this review was to synthesize evidence from existing childhood cancer survivor studies that report the effect of aerobic exercise on cardiopulmonary fitness (a marker of cardiovascular health), in survivors that were currently receiving or had been treated with a cardiotoxic agent.

Methods: Studies were identified for this review by searching both electronic databases of peer-reviewed articles, as well as various sources of gray literature. Risk of bias was qualitatively assessed in these studies using the domains outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Oceanographic variation influences spatial genomic structure in the sea scallop, .

Environmental factors can influence diversity and population structure in marine species and accurate understanding of this influence can both improve fisheries management and help predict responses to environmental change. We used 7163 SNPs derived from restriction site-associated DNA sequencing genotyped in 245 individuals of the economically important sea scallop, , to evaluate the correlations between oceanographic variation and a previously identified latitudinal genomic cline. Sea scallops span a broad latitudinal area (>10 degrees), and we hypothesized that climatic variation significantly drives clinal trends in allele frequency.

What factors shape genetic diversity in cetaceans?

Understanding what factors drive patterns of genetic diversity is a central aspect of many biological questions, ranging from the inference of historical demography to assessing the evolutionary potential of a species. However, as a larger number of datasets have become available, it is becoming clear that the relationship between the characteristics of a species and its genetic diversity is more complex than previously assumed. This may be particularly true for cetaceans, due to their relatively long lifespans, long generation times, complex social structures, and extensive ranges.

Applications of random forest feature selection for fine-scale genetic population assignment.

Genetic population assignment used to inform wildlife management and conservation efforts requires panels of highly informative genetic markers and sensitive assignment tests. We explored the utility of machine-learning algorithms (random forest, regularized random forest and guided regularized random forest) compared with ranking for selection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) for fine-scale population assignment. We applied these methods to an unpublished SNP data set for Atlantic salmon () and a published SNP data set for Alaskan Chinook salmon ().

Models for the study of nasal and sinus physiology in health and disease: A review of the literature.

Objective: Chronic sinusitis is a very common yet poorly understood medical condition with significant morbidity. Hence, it remains an entity that is difficult to treat with unsatisfactory outcomes of current management options. This necessitates research into the etiology and pathophysiology of the condition to enhance our knowledge and the therapeutic options.

Investigation of the Val158Met variant association with age of onset of psychosis, adjusting for cannabis use.

Objective: rs4680 (Val158Met) genotype moderates the effect of cannabis on the age of onset of psychosis (AoP). We investigated the association between rs4680 and AoP, after adjusting for relevant covariates, in a Canadian Caucasian sample.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-nine subjects with psychosis were recruited.

Connectivity, persistence, and loss of high abundance areas of a recovering marine fish population in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

In the early 1990s, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean underwent a fisheries-driven ecosystem shift. Today, the iconic cod () remains at low levels, while Atlantic halibut () has been increasing since the mid-2000s, concomitant with increasing interest from the fishing industry. Currently, our knowledge about halibut ecology is limited, and the lack of recovery in other collapsed groundfish populations has highlighted the danger of overfishing local concentrations.

Stable isotopes can be used to infer the overwintering locations of prebreeding marine birds in the Canadian Arctic.

Although assessments of winter carryover effects on fitness-related breeding parameters are vital for determining the links between environmental variation and fitness, direct methods of determining overwintering distributions (e.g., electronic tracking) can be expensive, limiting the number of individuals studied.

Delineating the Diversity of Spinal Interneurons in Locomotor Circuits.

Locomotion is common to all animals and is essential for survival. Neural circuits located in the spinal cord have been shown to be necessary and sufficient for the generation and control of the basic locomotor rhythm by activating muscles on either side of the body in a specific sequence. Activity in these neural circuits determines the speed, gait pattern, and direction of movement, so the specific locomotor pattern generated relies on the diversity of the neurons within spinal locomotor circuits.

Epilepsy as a Network Disorder (1): What can we learn from other network disorders such as autistic spectrum disorder and mood disorders?

Epilepsy is a neurologic condition which often occurs with other neurologic and psychiatric disorders. The relation between epilepsy and these conditions is complex. Some population-based studies have identified a bidirectional relation, whereby not only patients with epilepsy are at increased risk of suffering from some of these neurologic and psychiatric disorders (migraine, stroke, dementia, autism, depression, anxiety disorders, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and psychosis), but also patients with these conditions are at increased risk of suffering from epilepsy.

Mixed phenotype acute leukemia, B/myeloid, NOS with near-tetraploidy: a case report.

Acute leukemia in adults is usually associated with a myeloid phenotype, and less commonly presents as an acute lymphocytic leukemia. Rarely, the leukemic blast cells express more than one lineage phenotype and satisfy the diagnostic criteria for an acute leukemia of ambiguous lineage (ALAL), further subclassified as mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL). Near-tetraploidy is an unusual presentation of acute leukemia where the blasts contain 80-104 chromosomes.

"Two is not enough" - Impact of the number of tissue samples obtained from stereotactic brain biopsies in suspected glioblastoma.

Objective: Stereotactic procedures are performed in many neurosurgical departments in order to obtain tumor tissue from brain lesions for histopathological evaluation. Biopsies can be performed frame-guided and frame less. Some departments use a biopsy needle (cylinder probe), others a forceps for repetitive smaller tissue samples.