Use of high-performance liquid chromatography to monitor stability of tetracycline and chlortetracycline in susceptibility determinations.

Trypticase soy broth and nutrient broth were used in the antimicrobial susceptibility testing of tetracycline and chlortetracycline with Bacillus subtilis. The stability of the antibiotics in both media at an incubation temperature of 37 degrees C was monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography. It was found that Trypticase soy broth has limited application in susceptibility testing for the tetracycline congeners tested and that chlortetracycline is more unstable than tetracycline.     

INTRACEREBRAL HAEMORRHAGE IN A YOUNG ADULT: CONSIDER AMPHETAMINE ABUSE

SUMMARY We present the case of a young female who suffered a massive intracerebral bleed following the ingestion of a small quantity of amphetamine (speed). Physicians should be aware that amphetamine abuse can lead to cerebrovascular events in young adults.     

A SARS-CoV-2 targeted siRNA-nanoparticle therapy for COVID-19

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Participatory Action Research for Community Health Promotion

Abstract Community participation is an important feature of community health promotion. One form is participatory action research. This article describes the process and outcomes of participatory action research conducted by a Healthy City in rural Indiana and public health nurse faculty. The community was integrally involved in the entire process, including framing of research questions, construction and distribution of survey tools, analysis of findings, and taking action on the results. Combining local insights of the community with technical assistance from public health nursing yielded multiple benefits. The role of participatory action research is appropriate for public health nurses because it is consistent with the goals and characteristics of the profession.     

Impaired 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) production in diabetic patients.

Serum concentrations of thyroxine (T₄), 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T₃), and 3,3′,5′-triiodothyronine (RT₃) were measured in 50 patients with diabetes mellitus. The mean concentrations of serum T₄, T₃, and RT₃ were 8.5 ± 3.7 (SD) μg/dl, 134 ± 41 ng/dl, and 30 ± 13 ng/dl, respectively, which were not significantly different from values of 33 normal control subjects. The serum $\text{T}{}_3\text{T}{}_4$ ratio showed a significant inverse correlation with the level of fasting blood sugar (FBS) (p < 0.01). Turnover studies were carried out in seven normal control subjects and in 5 insulin-independent diabetic patients on T₄ replacement. T₄ turnover was similar in both groups. The T₃ metabolic clearance rate of the diabetic patients was also normal (20.7 ± 4.0 liter/day/70 kg), but the T₃ disposal rate was reduced when compared to that of normal control subjects (17.0 ± 5.6 vs. 40.6 ± 4.8 μg/day). The RT₃ metabolic clearance rate (80.6 ± 20.2 vs. 105.0 ± 14.0 liter/day/70 kg) and the RT₃ disposal rate (29.4 ± 10.8 vs. 49.4 ± 11.6 μg/day) were both reduced in the diabetic patients. In five other diabetic patients on 3 wk of oral T₄ replacement, the serum $\text{T}{}_3\text{T}{}_4$ ratio was below the normal range (0.0059 ± 0.0041 vs. 0.0152 ± 0.0011) and remained unchanged during insulin infusion during 10 hr. The $\text{T}{}_3\text{T}{}_4$ ratio increased but remained below the normal range after 10 days of dietary and insulin treatment (0.0083 ± 0.0032; p < 0.05). Our results suggest that T₃ production from peripheral T₄ monodeiodination is impaired in uncontrolled diabetic patients. This impairment in T₃ production is correlated with the impairment of glucose utilization.     

Corticosteroid use and peptic ulcer disease: role of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the relative risk for peptic ulcer disease that is associated with the use of oral corticosteroids. DESIGN: A nested case-control study. SETTING: Tennessee Medicaid program. PARTICIPANTS: The case patients (n = 1415) were hospitalized between 1984 and 1986 for gastric or duodenal ulcer or for upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage of unknown cause. The controls (n = 7063) were randomly selected from Medicaid enrollees not meeting the study criteria for inclusion as case patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The estimated relative risk for the development of peptic ulcer disease among current users of oral corticosteroids was 2.0 (95% CI, 1.3 to 3.0). However, the risk was increased only in those who concurrently received nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); these persons had an estimated relative risk associated with current corticosteroid use of 4.4 (CI, 2.0 to 9.7). In contrast, the estimated relative risk for those corticosteroid users not receiving NSAIDs was 1.1 (CI, 0.5 to 2.1). Persons concurrently receiving corticosteroids and NSAIDs had a risk for peptic ulcer disease that was 15 times greater than that of nonusers of either drug. CONCLUSION: Discrepant findings among earlier studies regarding steroids and the risk for peptic ulcer disease could in part be due to differences in the use of NSAIDs among study participants. The high risk for peptic ulcer disease associated with combined use of NSAIDs and corticosteroids indicates the need to prescribe this drug combination cautiously.     

A likelihood-based approach to transcriptome association analysis

Elucidating the mechanistic underpinnings of genetic associations with complex traits requires formally characterizing and testing associated cell and tissue-specific expression profiles. New opportunities exist to bolster this investigation with the growing numbers of large publicly available omics level data resources. Herein, we describe a fully likelihood-based strategy to leveraging external resources in the setting that expression profiles are partially or fully unobserved in a genetic association study. A general framework is presented to accommodate multiple data types, and strategies for implementation using existing software packages are described. The method is applied to an investigation of the genetics of evoked inflammatory response in cardiovascular disease research. Simulation studies suggest appropriate type-1 error control and power gains compared to single regression imputation, the most commonly applied practice in this setting.     

Developing imidazoles as CEST MRI pH sensors

A series of intra‐molecular hydrogen bonded imidazoles and related heterocyclic compounds were screened for their N–H chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast properties. Of the compounds, imidazole‐4,5‐dicarboxamides (I45DCs) were found to provide the strongest contrast, with the contrast produced at a large chemical shift from water (7.8 ppm) and strongly dependent on pH. We have tested several probes based on this scaffold, and demonstrated that these probes could be applied for in vivo detection of kidney pH after intravenous administration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.