Healthcare worker competencies for disaster training

Background  

Although training and education have long been accepted as integral to disaster preparedness, many currently taught practices are neither evidence-based nor standardized. The need for effective evidence-based disaster training of healthcare staff at all levels, including the development of standards and guidelines for training in the multi-disciplinary health response to major events, has been designated by the disaster response community as a high priority. We describe the application of systematic evidence-based consensus building methods to derive educational competencies and objectives in criteria-based preparedness and response relevant to all hospital healthcare workers.     

Biochemical evidence for the involvement of central serotonergic neurotransmission in the action of the antidepressant drug Medifoxamine

Medifoxamine, an antidepressant agent which has an original chemical structure, has been shown through in vitro studies, utilising radioligand binding in tissue homogenates, to bind with moderately high affinity to 5-HT_1c and 5-HT₂ receptor subtypes and to 5-HT uptake sites (IC₅₀ 950, 980, and 1,500 nM, respectively). It has been shown to bind in vivo to rat brain 5-HT₂ receptors after acute treatment with high dose (50 mg/kg, i.e., 133.9 μmol/kg). After 14 days continuous treatment with low dose (20 mg/kg, 53.6 μmol/kg), a decrease in the capacity of [³H]-5-HT uptake and a dose-dependent down-regulation of 5-HT₂ receptors in rat cerebral cortex were observed. These results indicate that medifoxamine, which has been shown previously to act through dopaminergic systems, interacts also with central serotonergic neurotransmission and particularly with the 5-HT₂ receptors, which could contribute to its antidepressant effect.     

Pneumopericardium due to intrapericardial perforation of a gastric ulcer.

A 88-year-old male patient presented with fever, singultus and retrosternal pain. After 8 days of antibiotic therapy not resulting in clinical improvement, he suddenly developed a pneumopericardium. Contrast swallow and endoscopy showed intrapericardial perforation of a benign gastric ulcer. Excision of the ulcer and suturing of both the stomach and the diaphragm as well as lavage of the pericardium were done over a left thoracotomy. The patient recovered uneventfully.     

Relating cell and tissue mechanics: Implications and applications

The Differential Adhesion Hypothesis (DAH) posits that differences in adhesion provide the driving force for morphogenetic processes. A manifestation of differential adhesion is tissue liquidity and a measure for it is tissue surface tension. In terms of this property, DAH correctly predicts global developmental tissue patterns. However, it provides little information on how these patterns arise from the movement and shape changes of cells. We provide strong qualitative and quantitative support for tissue liquidity both in true developmental context and in vitro assays. We follow the movement and characteristic shape changes of individual cells in the course of specific tissue rearrangements leading to liquid-like configurations. Finally, we relate the measurable tissue-liquid properties to molecular entities, whose direct determination under realistic three-dimensional culture conditions is not possible. Our findings confirm the usefulness of tissue liquidity and provide the scientific underpinning for a novel tissue engineering technology. Developmental Dynamics 237:2438-2449, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Effect of (+)-cyanidanol-3 on receptor activity of lymphocytes and hepatocytes and on hepatocyte-lymphocyte conjugation in alcoholic liver disease

The recirculation of lymphocytes and cell-mediated immunity show profound alterations in alcoholic liver disease. The use of cianidanol corrects a lot of these disturbances, in that: a) it can modify the receptor avidity of hepatocytes, b) it reduces the cell-mediated immune reactivity against liver specific protein antigen, diminishing the auto-immune reactions in alcoholic liver disease, c) it has no effect upon the conjugation process between the hepatocytes as target cells and cytotoxic effector cells, d) it decreases, however, the number of hepatocytes damaged after the conjugation process, and e) as a potent free-radical scavenger, it inhibits the cytotoxic effect of natural killer cells and monocytes, and in the same manner prevents the alteration of the hepatocyte membrane.     

Ca2+ imaging of mouse neocortical interneurone dendrites: Ia-type K+ channels control action potential backpropagation

GABAergic interneurones are essential in cortical processing, yet the functional properties of their dendrites are still poorly understood. In this first study, we combined two-photon calcium imaging with whole-cell recording and anatomical reconstructions to examine the calcium dynamics during action potential (AP) backpropagation in three types of V1 supragranular interneurones: parvalbumin-positive fast spikers (FS), calretinin-positive irregular spikers (IS), and adapting cells (AD). Somatically generated APs actively backpropagated into the dendritic tree and evoked instantaneous calcium accumulations. Although voltage-gated calcium channels were expressed throughout the dendritic arbor, calcium signals during backpropagation of both single APs and AP trains were restricted to proximal dendrites. This spatial control of AP backpropagation was mediated by Ia-type potassium currents and could be mitigated by by previous synaptic activity. Further, we observed supralinear summation of calcium signals in synaptically activated dendritic compartments. Together, these findings indicate that in interneurons, dendritic AP propagation is synaptically regulated. We propose that interneurones have a perisomatic and a distal dendritic functional compartment, with different integrative functions.     

DNA and protein applications of near-infrared dyes

The near-infrared region of the spectrum (650-1100 nm) offers distinct advantages over the traditional UV/vis region for spectroscopic measurements. In the past, the lack of commercially available equipment capable of working in the near infrared limited the utility of near-infrared techniques. However, since the advent of photodiodes and semiconductor lasers, much progress has been made in the development of near-infrared techniques. This paper discusses the use of near-infrared dyes used in DNA and protein applications.     

Prostacyclin acts in rat gastric (fundic) mucosa via the intracellular ‘second messenger system’

Using a specific radioimmunoassay technique it seems that Prostacyclin (PG-I₂) has a strong effect on the cyclic nucleotide content of the rat gastric (fundic) mucosa. 1 min after an intragastric application of 100 g/kg PG-I₂ the cAMP-content and in the 5th min the cGMP-content showed a highly significant decrease. It seems that the basic mechanism of action of PG-I₂ is a typical hit and run effect, acting on the intracellular second messenger system.     

The use of computer-assisted diagnosis in cardiac perfusion nuclear medicine studies: A review (part 3)

Computer-assisted diagnosis (CAID) is commonly used to evaluate cardiac nuclear medicine studies such as thallium perfusion scans. Part 1 of this series (Journal of Digital Imaging, 5:209–222, 1992) reviewed the basic theory underlying CAID in nuclear medicine and its use in planar thallium imaging. Part 2 discussed the application of CAID to SPECT perfusion studies (Journal of Digital Imaging, 6:1–15, 1993). This article reviews new variations of CAID programs for SPECT imaging and the application of expert systems and neural networks to CAID of nuclear medicine perfusion studies.