Inhibitory activities of colicins against Escherichia coli strains responsible for postweaning diarrhea and edema disease in swine

The efficacies of colicins E1 and N against Escherichia coli strains responsible for postweaning diarrhea and edema disease, two of the most prevalent disease problems for pigs in the United States, were determined in vitro. These proteins may provide an environmentally sound means for the prevention of these infections in swine.     

How much do sample characteristics affect the effect size? An investigation of studies testing the treatment effects for social phobia

In spite of the success of cognitive behavioral therapy for social phobia in research studies, it remains unclear whether interventions will remain successful in the routine of clinical practice, where patients might differ from those in research samples. This study investigates the possibility that higher effect sizes are achieved under typical research conditions. Thirty studies testing treatment effects for social phobia are re-examined by categorizing them according to the quality and amount of applied sample restriction and laboratory study characteristics. The results indicate that even accumulation of sample restriction, such as excluding patients with comorbid disorders or being outside a certain age range, does not have any predictive value for treatment effect. However, there was a relevant tendency for studies applying a row of laboratory treatment conditions, such as recruiting patients by advertisements, applying treatment in university settings, and using specifically trained therapists, to achieve higher effect sizes.     

Outcome classification of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders using MRI brain measures

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain measures obtained during early childhood distinguish children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from typically developing children and is associated with functional outcome. METHOD: Quantitative MRI technology was used to measure gray and white matter volumes (cerebrum and cerebellum), total brain volume, and the area of the cerebellar vermis in 52 boys with a provisional diagnosis of autism (aged 1.9-5.2 years) and 15 typically developing young children (aged 1.7-5.2 years). Diagnostic confirmation and cognitive outcome data were obtained after the children reached 5 years of age. RESULTS: A discriminant function analysis of the MRI brain measures correctly classified 95.8% of the ASD cases and 92.3% of the control cases. This set of variables also correctly classified 85% of the ASD cases as lower functioning and 68% of the ASD cases as higher functioning. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that variability in cerebellar and cerebral size is correlated with diagnostic and functional outcome in very young children with ASD.     

Multiplication of the alpha-synuclein gene is not a common disease mechanism in Lewy body disease

Lewy body disease (LBD) refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders presenting with parkinsonism and Lewy body (LB) formation. Although the relationship between dementing syndromes with LBs, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease is unclear, the former constitute a common form of degenerative dementia and may account for up to 20% of cases in the elderly. We recently demonstrated triplication of the alpha-synuclein gene as the cause of disease in the Spellman-Muenter kindred. Neuropathological examination of affected members of the kindred demonstrated extensive LB pathology consistent with diffuse LBD. We examined a large collection of pathologically confirmed LBD cases and found no evidence for multiplication of the alpha-synuclein gene, suggesting that this mechanism is not a common cause of LBD.     

Comparative effects of high glucose on different adult sympathetic neurons in culture

In vivo, diabetes causes neuropathy in the sympathetic celiac/superior mesenteric ganglion (CG/SMG) but not the superior cervical ganglion (SCG). Therefore, our aim was to compare the effects of high glucose in vitro on adult rat SCG and CG/SMG neurons. High glucose decreased viability and neurite outgrowth and increased TUNEL staining in freshly dissociated neurons from both ganglia. In cultures established for 24 h before exposure to high glucose, a significant (p < 0.01) decrease in neurite-bearing neurons from CG/SMG but not SCG occurred. CG/SMG neurons took longer (p < 0.05) to initiate neurite outgrowth and had lower (p < 0.002) anti-oxidant defence enzyme activity. These properties may contribute to the selective development of neuropathy in CG/SMG in diabetes in vivo.     

Characterization of beta amyloid assemblies in drusen: the deposits associated with aging and age-related macular degeneration

PURPOSE: Recent studies strongly suggest that drusen, the extracellular deposits associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), are a manifestation of local inflammatory events. New evidence indicates that substructural elements within drusen contain activated complement components as well as amyloid beta (Abeta), a major pro-inflammatory component of Alzheimer's disease plaques. We characterized the ultrastructural organization and histochemical staining properties of these Abeta-containing elements in order to further assess their significance in drusen formation and AMD pathogenesis. METHODS: We used differential interference contrast optics, laser scanning confocal immunofluorescence, and immunogold electron microscopy to characterize the structural properties and molecular composition of Abeta-containing elements in drusen. We obtained estimates of their frequency from montages of electron micrographs gathered from 152 human donor eyes ranging from 9 to 91 years of age. RESULTS: Spherical Abeta-containing elements, which are typically organized as concentric ring-like structures, are common substructural components of drusen. They stain with thioflavin T, but are not stained by Congo red; nor do they bind cationic, lipophilic, or nucleic acid-binding fluorescent dyes. Ultrastructurally, they are composed of a central core, one or more concentric inner rings with intervening electron lucent layers, and an electron dense outer shell. Immunogold labeling indicates that most Abeta immunoreactivity is associated with the outer layers that consist of densely-packed spherical subunits. No longitudinally-oriented fibril arrays, characteristic of aggregated amyloid fibrils in the brain, are evident. Other prominent drusen-associated proteins including the terminal complement complex C5b-9, vitronectin, apolipoprotein E, serum amyloid P component, and ubiquitin are excluded from the spheres.Conclusions. These structures embedded in drusen appear to represent a new type of macromolecular assembly that contains Abeta as well as activated complement components. The presence of Abeta in these extracellular deposits is an additional indication that some of the pathogenic pathways that give rise to drusen and AMD may be shared with other neurodegenerative diseases characterized by misfolded protein deposition and aggregation.     

A formal representation for messages containing compositional expressions

Clinically useful controlled vocabularies should represent healthcare concepts completely and with high reliability. Anticipating and pre-coordinating all possible expressions (e.g. 'fracture of the left femur' and 'fracture of the right femur') is not feasible. Variation in practice styles, requirements for the granularity of content, the exponential growth of terminology size, and increased cost of maintaining pre-coordinated terminologies lead us to conclude that no enumerated terminology can ever be truly comprehensive. Compositional terminologies are one potential solution to the problem of content completeness, but carry a risk of generating expressions whose equivalency cannot be easily determined. In order for post-coordinated expressions to be comparable, a sufficiently detailed formal mechanism for information representation is necessary. Comparable data for post-coordinated expressions requires normalization of both the contents and the semantics of the contents of the terminology with the information captured in post-coordinated expressions. In addition, comparable data requires a storage and messaging paradigm robust enough to faithfully represent the information contained within arbitrarily complex compositional expressions. We present a formalism for storing, and sending messages containing compositional expressions using a large-scale reference terminology. It is our intent that this formalism be used to algorithmically determine whether or not messages contain comparable data. In addition, we advocate transmitting the upward transitive closure of subsumption of all concepts, to improve comparability of data and to decrease reliance on locally stored versions of the underlying reference terminology.     

Using multiple information sources to identify opportunities for ergonomic interventions in automotive parts distribution: a case study

An essential activity in any ergonomics program is determining specific work locations and activities where physical demands place workers at increased risk of sustaining an overexertion injury. To do this, safety and health professionals rely on a variety of information sources to identify and prioritize opportunities for ergonomic interventions. As part of a 4-year project to reduce overexertion injuries in the service parts division of a major auto maker, a study was performed in 19 parts distribution centers to evaluate the contributions of the following information sources in identifying specific high-risk work locations and activities: (1) archival medical/injury records, (2) identification of "problem tasks" by plant-based ergonomic committees, (3) facility walk-throughs by experienced ergonomists, and (4) detailed ergonomic job analyses. Archival records were not particularly useful in identifying high-risk activities because essential exposure information (e.g., task, work location) was not documented. Walk-throughs and detailed ergonomic analyses were partially effective in identifying high-risk activities; however, in some cases the observation time was too short to observe peak exposures. Ergonomic committees were generally effective in identifying specific high-risk tasks and work locations. Rankings of "problem tasks" from multiple sites identified consensus division-wide ergonomic concerns. Detailed ergonomic job analyses confirmed that these tasks had high exposure to ergonomic risk factors. This study demonstrated potential pitfalls in relying on a single information source to identify work locations and activities that place workers at increased risk of overexertion injury.