Spasticity Management Teams, Evaluations, and Tools: A Canadian Cross-Sectional Survey.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the physical evaluations and assessment tools used by a group of Canadian healthcare professionals treating adults with spasticity.

Methods: A cross-sectional web-based 19-question survey was developed to determine the types of physical evaluations, tone-related impairment measurements, and assessment tools used in the management of adults with spasticity. The survey was distributed to healthcare professionals from the Canadian Advances in Neuro-Orthopedics for Spasticity Congress database.

Accrual of Atherosclerotic Vascular Events in a Multicenter Inception Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Cohort.

Objective: In previous studies, atherosclerotic vascular events (AVEs) were shown to occur in ~10% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We undertook this study to investigate the annual occurrence and potential risk factors for AVEs in a multinational, multiethnic inception cohort of patients with SLE.

Methods: A large 33-center cohort of SLE patients was followed up yearly between 1999 and 2017.

A Delphi-Based Consensus Statement on the Management of Anticoagulated Patients With Botulinum Toxin for Limb Spasticity.

Objective: To create a consensus statement on the considerations for treatment of anticoagulated patients with botulinum toxin A (BoNTA) intramuscular injections for limb spasticity.

Design: We used the Delphi method.

Setting: A multiquestion electronic survey.

Business travel-associated illness: a GeoSentinel analysis.

Background: Analysis of a large cohort of business travelers will help clinicians focus on frequent and serious illnesses. We aimed to describe travel-related health problems in business travelers.

Methods: GeoSentinel Surveillance Network consists of 64 travel and tropical medicine clinics in 29 countries; descriptive analysis was performed on ill business travelers, defined as persons traveling for work, evaluated after international travel 1 January 1997 through 31 December 2014.

2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for the Management of Dyslipidemia for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in the Adult.

Since the publication of the 2012 guidelines new literature has emerged to inform decision-making. The 2016 guidelines primary panel selected a number of clinically relevant questions and has produced updated recommendations, on the basis of important new findings. In subjects with clinical atherosclerosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, most subjects with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, and those with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥ 5 mmol/L, statin therapy is recommended.

American College of Rheumatology criteria at inception, and accrual over 5 years in the SLICC inception cohort.

Objective: To determine the frequency of each American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criterion met at time of enrollment, and the increase in each of the criteria over 5 years.

Methods: In 2000 the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) recruited an international inception cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; ≥ 4 ACR criteria) who were followed at yearly intervals according to a standard protocol. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the total and cumulative number of ACR criteria met at each visit.

Effects of tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing factor, in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation: a randomized placebo-controlled trial with a safety extension.

Background: HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy often demonstrate excess visceral fat. A growth hormone-releasing factor, tesamorelin, may selectively reduce visceral fat in this population. We investigated the effects of tesamorelin (GHRH(1-44)) in HIV-infected patients with central fat accumulation.

Neurophysiology of supraoptic neurons in C57/BL mice studied in three acute in vitro preparations.

Osmotic control of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OXT) release from magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) of the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei is essential for body fluid homeostasis. The electrical activity of MNCs, which is regulated by intrinsic and extrinsic osmosensitive factors, is a primary determinant of blood AVP and OXT levels. Although we now understand many of the cellular mechanisms that mediate the osmotic control of electrical activity and secretion from MNCs, further insight is likely to emerge from a molecular analysis of these mechanisms.

Multicentric Castleman's disease treated with combination chemotherapy and rituximab in four HIV-positive men: a case series.

Multicentric Castleman's disease (MDC) is a rare herpesvirus-8-related prelymphomatous condition that may develop in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Therapy for MCD is not well established and most often includes: corticosteroids, single or combined chemotherapy, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody and antiretroviral therapy. In order to obtain a rapid and long-lasting clinical response, we are reporting on a short course of anthracycline-based chemotherapy associated with rituximab in HIV-positive patients with MCD.

Actin filaments mediate mechanical gating during osmosensory transduction in rat supraoptic nucleus neurons.

Osmosensory transduction is a bidirectional process displayed by neurons involved in the control of thirst and antidiuretic hormone release, and is therefore crucial for body fluid homeostasis. Although this mechanism is known to involve the activation of nonselective cation channels during hypertonicity-evoked shrinking, and the inhibition of these channels during hypotonicity-evoked swelling, the basis for this regulation is unknown. Here, we investigated this process using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from neurons acutely isolated from the supraoptic nucleus of adult rats.

Neurophysiological characterization of mammalian osmosensitive neurones.

In mammals, the osmolality of the extracellular fluid is maintained near a predetermined set-point through a negative feedback regulation of thirst, diuresis, salt appetite and natriuresis. This homeostatic control is believed to be mediated by osmosensory neurones which synaptically regulate the electrical activity of command neurones that mediate each of these osmoregulatory effector responses. Our present understanding of the molecular, cellular and network basis that underlies the central control of osmoregulation is largely derived from studies on primary osmosensory neurones in the organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT) and effector neurones in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), which release hormones that regulate diuresis and natriuresis.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 is required for intrinsic osmoreception in organum vasculosum lamina terminalis neurons and for normal thirst responses to systemic hyperosmolality.

Recent studies have indicated that members of the transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) family of cation channels are required for the generation of normal osmoregulatory responses, yet the mechanism of osmosensory transduction in primary osmoreceptor neurons of the CNS remains to be defined. Indeed, despite ample evidence suggesting that the organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT) serves as the primary locus of the brain for the detection of osmotic stimuli, evidence that neurons in the OVLT are intrinsically osmosensitive has remained elusive. Here we show that murine OVLT neurons are intrinsically sensitive to increases in the osmolality of the extracellular fluid.

IL-1beta directly excites isolated rat supraoptic neurons via upregulation of the osmosensory cation current.

Previous studies have shown that IL-1beta can excite the magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) of the hypothalamus. However, it is not known whether IL-1beta can have direct IL-1 receptor type 1 (IL-1R1)-mediated effects on MNCs, and little is known about the cellular mechanisms by which IL-1beta influences electrical activity in these cells. Here, we used patch-clamp recordings to examine the effects of IL-1beta on acutely isolated rat MNCs.

Conductive heat exchange with a gel-coated circulating water mattress.

The use of forced-air warming is associated with costs for the disposable blankets. As an alternative method, we studied heat transfer with a reusable gel-coated circulating water mattress placed under the back in eight healthy volunteers. Heat flux was measured with six calibrated heat flux transducers.

Muscarinic receptor modulation of slow afterhyperpolarization and phasic firing in rat supraoptic nucleus neurons.

A slow posttrain afterhyperpolarization (sAHP) was studied in rat magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) in vitro. The sAHP was isolated from other afterpotentials by blocking the depolarizing afterpotential (DAP) with Cs(+) and the medium afterhyperpolarization (mAHP) with apamin. The sAHP amplitude increased logarithmically with activity ( approximately 3 mV per e-fold increase in number of impulses) and, when firing stopped, decayed exponentially with a time constant of 2 sec.

Inhibition of COX pathway in experimental myocardial infarction.

Release of inflammatory mediators within the ischemic myocardium has long been thought to contribute to myocardial damage and dysfunction. Myocardial infarction (MI) and congestive heart failure (CHF) were induced in rats by ligating the left coronary artery. Animals were treated with the selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor-5,5-dimethyl-3-(3-fluorophenyl1)-4-(4-methyl-sulphonyl-2(5H)-fluranone (DFU), low-, high-dose acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin), or vehicle for 3 months.

Autocrine feedback inhibition of plateau potentials terminates phasic bursts in magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the rat supraoptic nucleus.

Phasic activity in magnocellular neurosecretory cells is characterized by alternating periods of activity (bursts) and silence. During phasic bursts, action potentials are superimposed on plateau potentials that are generated by summation of depolarizing after-potentials. Dynorphin is copackaged in vasopressin neurosecretory vesicles that are exocytosed from magnocellular neurosecretory cell dendrites and terminals, and both peptides have been implicated in the generation of phasic activity.

A rat brain slice preserving synaptic connections between neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, organum vasculosum lamina terminalis and supraoptic nucleus.

The organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT), the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the supraoptic nucleus (SON) are three hypothalamic structures involved in the osmotic and circadian control of neurohypophysial secretion. Recent experiments have suggested that interactions between osmotic and circadian factors may be important for homeostasis. The existence of an in vitro slice preparation retaining these nuclei and their interconnections would therefore be useful for the analysis of synaptic interactions.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in acute myocardial infarction: cellular expression and use of selective COX-2 inhibitor.

Our previous work has shown strong expression of COX-2 in the myocardium of patients with end-stage ischemic heart failure. The purpose of this study was to determine the cellular expression of this enzyme in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and determine the role of COX-2 in experimental animals using a selective COX-2 inhibitor. Experimental AMI was induced in rats by ligating the left coronary artery.

Nilutamide as second line hormone therapy for prostate cancer after androgen ablation fails.

Purpose: We investigate the prostate specific antigen (PSA) response rate with nilutamide as a second line hormonal agent in patients with advanced prostate cancer in whom androgen ablation failed.

Materials And Methods: From 1998 to 2001, 28 patients with hormone resistant prostate cancer were treated with nilutamide as second line hormonal therapy. Average patient age +/- SD was 72.

Cyclooxygenase-2 and nuclear factor-kappaB in myocardium of end stage human heart failure.

Over the past three decades, numerous studies have shown diverse functional and morphological effects for prostanoids on cardiac myocytes with levels of prostanoids elevated in congestive heart failure. We examined the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in failing human hearts. Expression of COX-2 and activation of NF-kappaB were examined in myocardial tissues from 27 patients with end stage heart failure, 2 septic patients, and 8 normal control subjects.

Inhibition of NOS II prevents cardiac dysfunction in myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure.

Strong expression of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (NOS II) has been shown in the myocardium of patients with myocardial infarction (MI). We hypothesized that NOS II plays an important role in the development of MI and subsequent heart failure and that inhibition of NOS II may beneficially alter the course of the disease. Long-term administration (2 mo) of the selective NOS II inhibitor S-methylisothiourea (SMT) to rats with MI significantly improved cardiac function.