Survey of long-term-care facilities in Iowa for policies and practices regarding residents with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

Objectives: To identify infection control policies and practices used by long-term-care facilities (LTCFs) in Iowa for residents with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and to estimate the prevalence of residents known to have these organisms.

Design: Survey.

Setting: LTCFs in Iowa from December 2002 through March 2003.

Congener-specific tissue distribution of aroclor 1254 and a highly chlorinated environmental PCB mixture in rats.

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixtures were synthesized and marketed in Eastern European countries, but little is known abouttheir composition, distribution, ortoxicity. PCB-contaminated soil from the former production site of the Polish PCB mixture Chlorofen was collected, and the PCBs were extracted. An in vivo study was performed to investigate the PCB tissue distribution and biochemical effects of this soil extract in immature male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Overview of the evidence for clinical interventions in pediatric dentistry.

Purpose: The purpose of this report was to describe the quantity of published literature and types of studies supporting the use of 4 pediatric dentistry procedures: (1) ferric sulfate pulpotomy; (2) stainless steel crowns; (3) space maintainers; and (4) atraumatic restorative technique (ART).

Methods: When available, titles and abstracts of reports written in English and published over a 36-year period (1966-2002) concerning these procedures were retrieved from MEDLINE. They were classified using a modified classification scheme that, in addition to the study designs, also considered the 4 dimensions of measuring dental outcomes.

Quantified aneurysm shape and rupture risk.

Object: The authors investigated whether quantified shape or size indices could better discriminate between ruptured and unruptured aneurysms.

Methods: Several custom algorithms were created to quantifiy the size and shape indices of intracranial aneurysms by using three-dimensional computerized tomography angiography models of the brain vasculature. Data from 27 patients with ruptured or unruptured aneurysms were evaluated in a blinded fashion to determine whether aneurysm size or shape better discriminated between the ruptured and unruptured groups.

Direct observation of frits and dynamic air bubble formation in capillary electrochromatography using confocal fluorescence microscopy.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy has been used to study the capillary electrochromatography (CEC) frits and dynamic air bubble formation under real chromatographic conditions. Confocal fluorescence microscopy provides a nondestructive way to view the three-dimensional structure of the frits with high spatial resolution. Frits prepared with four different procedures were studied: (1) sintering bare silica beads with sodium silicate; (2) sintering bare silica beads wetted with water; (3) sintering C18 beads wetted with water; and (4) sintering C18 beads wetted with water and then surfaced-recovered with C18.

Test-retest reliability of a self-administered musculoskeletal symptoms and job factors questionnaire used in ergonomics research.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of questionnaire items related to musculoskeletal symptoms and the reliability of specific job factors. The type of questionnaire items described in the present study have been used by several investigators to assess symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and problematic job factors among workers from a variety of occupations. Employees at a plastics molding facility were asked to complete an initial symptom and jobs factors questionnaire and then complete an identical questionnaire either two or four weeks later.

Determination of sildenafil citrate in plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography and a case for the potential interaction of grapefruit juice with sildenafil citrate.

This study was designed to establish a simple and reliable assay method that could be routinely used in the clinical laboratory setting using liquid extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, a case of potential interaction of grapefruit juice with sildenafil citrate is presented. The peaks of sildenafil (measured as sildenafil salt) and internal standard were identified with an ultraviolet detector at 230 nm and detection limit at 10 ng/mL.

Vocal fold bulging effects on phonation using a biophysical computer model.

Glottal adduction is a primary laryngeal variable that helps to determine glottal configuration and phonatory output. Greater adduction of the vocal folds can be produced by narrowing the gap between the vocal processes or by bulging the medial surface of the vocal folds. This study examined phonatory effects due to changing the degree of bulging using a computational model.

Aromatic hydrocarbon dioxygenases in environmental biotechnology.

Aromatic hydrocarbon dioxygenases belong to a large family of Rieske non-heme iron oxygenases. The dioxygenases have a broad substrate specificity and catalyze enantiospecific reactions with a wide range of substrates. These characteristics make them attractive synthons for the production of industrially and medically important chiral chemicals and also provide essential information for the development of bioremediation technology.

Structural energetics of protein folding and binding.

Structural energetics is a method for calculating the energetics of protein folding and binding reactions as a function of temperature. This approach allows measured energetics to be interpreted with regards to the protein structure and the prediction of energetics from known structures. Recent advances include improvements in the parameterization of enthalpy, entropy and heat capacity terms and new applications, especially with regards to understanding dynamic properties of proteins and how these are affected by ligand binding.

Electromyographic Analysis of a Repetitive Hand Gripping Task.

Electromyography (EMG) has been proposed as a method for determining muscle effort in repetitive upper limb tasks, which are often related to cumulative trauma disorders. EMG activity of the finger flexor musculature was investigated during a repetitive hand gripping task having 5 different cycle durations (2 to 6 s), various percentage of work time (and rest) within the work cycle (20% to 80%), and 3 different grip force levels. Thirty healthy adult participants each performed 27 randomly ordered 30-s repetitive hand gripping trials as well as 3 isometric contractions, which were used to normalize data from the hand gripping trials.

Unsuccessful air-enema reduction of intussusception: is a second attempt worthwhile?

Pneumatic reduction of idiopathic intussusception is successful in about 80% of cases, while 60% of the failures are reduced at surgery without resection. To determine whether delayed, repeated attempts at enema reduction of failures would reduce the need for operation in selected cases, over a 2-year period (1994-1996 inclusive), 17 infants with idiopathic intussusception underwent delayed repeat enemas 2-19 h following the first failed attempt at reduction. Clinical parameters and radiologic findings were evaluated with respect to outcome.

Reporters for the analysis of gene regulation in fungi pathogenic to man.

In the past few years, highly sensitive gene reporters have been developed for the infectious fungi including gene reporters with altered codon usage. The tools are, therefore, now at hand for functionally characterizing the promoters of genes regulated by the bud-hypha transition, high frequency switching and cues from the cellular environment.

Immunohistochemical Characterization of Antioxidant Enzymes in Human Breast Cancer.

Intrinsic antioxidant enzymes (AE) are essential for protection against potential cellular damage by free radicals (FRs), which affect a variety of biological processes. The levels or activities of AEs can be abnormal in human malignancies in general, and FR production is a possible mechanism of estrogen related carcinogenesis specifically. However, the role of AEs in breast cancer ramains unclear.

The effect of partial extraction of troponin C on the elementary steps of the cross-bridge cycle in rabbit psoas muscle fibers.

The elementary steps of the cross-bridge cycle in which troponin C (TnC) was partially extracted were investigated by sinusoidal analysis in rabbit psoas muscle fibers. The effects of MgATP and phosphate on the rate constants of exponential processes were studied at 200 mM ionic strength, pCa 4.20, pH 7.

Reduced growth cone motility in cultured neurons from Drosophila memory mutants with a defective cAMP cascade.

Drosophila memory mutants dunce (dnc) and rutabaga (rut) are known to have altered intracellular cAMP levels, nerve terminal growth, and plasticity of synaptic transmission. Because the growth cone is responsible for neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis, video microscopy was used to examine growth cone morphology and behavior of mutant neurons in larval CNS cultures. We found that growth cone exploratory movement was nearly arrested by both mutations, even though they change cAMP levels in opposite directions.

Fine mapping of the autosomal dominant juvenile open angle glaucoma (GLC1A) region and evaluation of candidate genes.

Juvenile Open Angle Glaucoma (GLC1A) is an autosomal optic neuropathy that has been localized previously to chromosome 1q. Here we report the fine mapping of the disease region using YACs and a high density of polymorphic microsatellite markers. This study utilized two large JOAG pedigrees genotyped at 36 loci from chromosome 1q21-q31 to refine the GLC1A locus to a approximately 3-cM region flanked by YAC-derived microsatellite markers D1S3665 and D1S3664.

A-4, a tertiary amine analog of HC-3, lowers arterial pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The 4-methyl piperidine analog (A-4) of hemicholinium-3 is a tertiary amine. A-4, like hemicholinium-3, inhibits sodium-dependent, high-affinity choline transport. The present study examined whether central cholinergic systems are involved in the expression of genetic hypertension.

Mathematical model for the luminol chemiluminescence reaction catalyzed by peroxidase.

A kinetic model that accurately describes intensity vs. time reaction profiles for the chemiluminescence reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide, as catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase, is derived and evaluated. A set of three differential equations is derived and solved to provide intensity time information for the first 200 seconds of the reaction.

Organic solvents strip water off enzymes.

Exchange of enzyme-bound H(2)O with T(2)O in aqueous solution followed by freeze drying provided tritiated water bound to chymotrypsin, subtilisin Carlsberg, and horseradish peroxidase. The desorption of T(2)O from these enzymes suspended in various organic solvents showed that all three enzymes lost enzyme-bound water with peroxidase losing the most T(2)O of the three in solvents of moderate to high polarity. Polar solvent resulted in the highest degree of T(2)O desorption (e.

Fluoride in drinking water: A survey of expert opinions.

In recent years, public debate over the standard setting process related to fluoride in drinking water and the fiuoridation of water supplies has been steeped in much controversy. Discussion of such issues has been con strained by the limited consideration of options relevant to particular problems. To examine the responses to specific issues, we presented an analysis of the problem of excessive fluoride in drinking water to a group of 120 experts.

Learning effects in information integration: Manipulation of cue validity in an impression formation task.

In Stage 1, Ss predicted whether the majority of students in a previous study liked or disliked each of a series of hypothetical persons described by pairs of personality trait adjectives. One trait within each pair was highly polarized on a social desirability dimension, and the other was highly polarized on an intellectual desirability dimension. In Stage 2, new person descriptions were presented and Ss either predicted likabihty ratings for the reference group or gave their own personal ratings.