“Spontaneously” hypertensive mice: A potential genetic model for the study of the relationship between heart size and blood pressure

Abstract

Mice selected genetically for high and low blood pressure (BP) were compared with regard to heart weight and heart/body ratios. Two experiments were performed with mice ranging in age from 1.3 to 9 months and 11 to 23 months respectively. In a third experiment C57BL/6J mice were compared to the high and low BP mice. Heart/body ratios and heart weights, adjusted for body weight via covariance analysis, were significantly greater for the high BP mice, but no Age x BP Genotype interaction was observed. Results were discussed in terms of a possible relationship between heart weight and BP via genetic linkage or pleiotropy. The possibility was also raised that compensatory mechanisms for high blood pressure, e.g., cardiac hypertrophy, may operate very early in development for animals who are hypertensive by virtue of selective breeding for blood pressure extremes.     

Graded synaptic transmission at the Caenorhabditis elegans neuromuscular junction

Most neurotransmission is mediated by action potentials, whereas sensory neurons propagate electrical signals passively and release neurotransmitter in a graded manner. Here, we demonstrate that Caenorhabditis elegans neuromuscular junctions release neurotransmitter in a graded fashion. When motor neurons were depolarized by light-activation of channelrhodopsin-2, the evoked postsynaptic current scaled with the strength of the stimulation. When motor neurons were hyperpolarized by light-activation of halorhodopsin, tonic release of synaptic vesicles was decreased. These data suggest that both evoked and tonic neurotransmitter release is graded in response to membrane potential. Acetylcholine synapses are depressed by high-frequency stimulation, in part due to desensitization of the nicotine-sensitve ACR-16 receptor. By contrast, GABA synapses facilitate before becoming depressed. Graded transmission and plasticity confer a broad dynamic range to these synapses. Graded release precisely transmits stimulation intensity, even hyperpolarizing inputs. Synaptic plasticity alters the balance of excitatory and inhibitory inputs into the muscle in a use-dependent manner.     

Infodemiology and Infoveillance: Framework for an Emerging Set of Public Health Informatics Methods to Analyze Search,Communication and Publication Behavior on the Internet

Infodemiology can be defined as the science of distribution and determinants of information in an electronic medium, specifically the Internet, or in a population, with the ultimate aim to inform public health and public policy. Infodemiology data can be collected and analyzed in near real time. Examples for infodemiology applications include: the analysis of queries from Internet search engines to predict disease outbreaks (eg. influenza); monitoring peoples'' status updates on microblogs such as Twitter for syndromic surveillance; detecting and quantifying disparities in health information availability; identifying and monitoring of public health relevant publications on the Internet (eg. anti-vaccination sites, but also news articles or expert-curated outbreak reports); automated tools to measure information diffusion and knowledge translation, and tracking the effectiveness of health marketing campaigns. Moreover, analyzing how people search and navigate the Internet for health-related information, as well as how they communicate and share this information, can provide valuable insights into health-related behavior of populations. Seven years after the infodemiology concept was first introduced, this paper revisits the emerging fields of infodemiology and infoveillance and proposes an expanded framework, introducing some basic metrics such as information prevalence, concept occurrence ratios, and information incidence. The framework distinguishes supply-based applications (analyzing what is being published on the Internet, eg. on Web sites, newsgroups, blogs, microblogs and social media) from demand-based methods (search and navigation behavior), and further distinguishes passive from active infoveillance methods. Infodemiology metrics follow population health relevant events or predict them. Thus, these metrics and methods are potentially useful for public health practice and research, and should be further developed and standardized.     

Understanding the cognitive consequences of critical illness through experimental animal models

Tuon and colleagues have developed an animal model to examine the impact of sepsis on memory in rats. They report important data that expand the understanding of the cognitive consequences of critical illness. Future research should follow this path of inquiry and extend animal models beyond aversive conditioning to include recently developed paradigms that will permit assessment of complex and cognitive processes, such as attention, episodic memory and orientation to time and place. This has the potential to greatly increase the putative understanding of the homologous neurocognitive dysfunctions acquired during critical illness.     

Fluoro-Free navigated retrograde drilling of osteochondral lesions

Purpose  

Retrograde drilling of osteochondral lesions (OCLs) is a recommended, but demanding operative approach for revascularization of lesions in stage 1–3 according to Berndt and Harty after failed conservative treatment. The gold standard of intraoperative driller guidance is fluoroscopic control. Limitations are a 2D visualization of a 3D procedure and sometimes limited view of the OCL in fluoroscopy, leading to increased radiation exposure. A new image-free navigation procedure was evaluated for practicability and precision in first clinical applications.     

Brief Report: Theatre as Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The pilot investigation evaluated a theatrical intervention program, Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) Theatre, designed to improve socioemotional functioning and reduce stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eight children with ASD were paired with typically developing peers that served as expert models. Neuropsychological, biological (cortisol and oxytocin), and behavioral measures were assessed in a pretest–posttest design. The intervention was embedded in a full musical theatrical production. Participants showed some improvement in face identification and theory of mind skills. The intervention shows potential promise in improving the socioemotional functioning in children with ASD through the utilization of peers, video and behavioral modeling, and a community-based theatrical setting.     

Altered Motor Cortex Excitability to Magnetic Stimulation in Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

Background: Alcohol addiction is a complex brain disease caused by alterations in crucial neurotransmitter systems, including gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate. These disturbances could be revealed by changes in cortical excitability parameters, as assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This study was aimed to further investigate the complex pathophysiology of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). Methods: Motor cortex excitability was examined in 13 subjects with AWS in a mild predelirial state, in 12 chronic alcoholics and in 15 age‐matched control subjects, using a range of TMS protocols. Central motor conduction time, resting and active motor threshold, duration of the cortical silent period, short latency intracortical inhibition (SICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF) to paired TMS were examined. Results: Intracortical facilitation was significantly increased in the AWS patients when compared with the chronic alcoholics and the control subjects. The other TMS parameters did not differ significantly from the controls. Administration of a single oral dose of the glutamatergic antagonist riluzole in a subgroup of 8 patients significantly reduced ICF; motor threshold and SICI were not affected by riluzole. Conclusion: Transcranial magnetic stimulation shows a selective increase in intracortical facilitation after ethanol withdrawal. Our findings support the theory that altered glutamatergic receptor function plays an important role in the pathogenesis of human alcohol withdrawal. This study provides further physiological evidence that antiglutamatergic approaches represent an efficacious alternative for treating alcohol withdrawal symptoms.     

Neoadjuvant letrozole in postmenopausal estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive breast cancer: A phase IIb/III trial to investigate optimal duration of preoperative endocrine therapy

Background  

In recent years, preoperative volume reduction of locally advanced breast cancers, resulting in higher rates of breast-conserving surgery (BCS), has become increasingly important also in postmenopausal women. Clinical interest has come to center on the third-generation nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors (AIs), including letrozole, for such neoadjuvant endocrine treatment. This usually lasts 3–4 months and has been extended to up to 12 months, but optimal treatment duration has not been fully established.