Bronchoscopy, Imaging, and Concurrent Diseases in Dogs with Bronchiectasis: (2003-2014).

BackgroundBronchiectasis is a permanent and debilitating sequel to chronic or severe airway injury, however, diseases associated with this condition are poorly defined.ObjectiveTo evaluate results of diagnostic tests used to document bronchiectasis and to characterize underlying or concurrent disease processes.AnimalsEighty-six dogs that had bronchoscopy performed and a diagnosis of bronchiectasis.MethodsRetrospective case series. Radiographs, computed tomography, and bronchoscopic findings were evaluated for features of bronchiectasis. Clinical diagnoses of pneumonia (aspiration, interstitial, foreign body, other), eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy (EBP), and inflammatory airway disease (IAD) were made based on results of history, physical examination, and diagnostic testing, including bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis and microbiology.ResultsBronchiectasis was diagnosed in 14% of dogs (86/621) that had bronchoscopy performed. Dogs ranged in age from 0.5 to 14 years with duration of signs from 3 days to 10 years. Bronchiectasis was documented during bronchoscopy in 79/86 dogs (92%), thoracic radiology in 50/83 dogs (60%), and CT in 34/34 dogs (100%). Concurrent airway collapse was detected during bronchoscopy in 50/86 dogs (58%), and focal or multifocal mucus plugging of segmental or subsegmental bronchi was found in 41/86 dogs (48%). Final diagnoses included pneumonia (45/86 dogs, 52%), EBP (10/86 dogs, 12%) and IAD (31/86 dogs, 36%). Bacteria were isolated in 24/86 cases (28%), with Streptococcus spp, Pasteurella spp, enteric organisms, and Stenotrophomonas isolated most frequently.Conclusions and clinical importanceBronchiectasis can be anticipated in dogs with infectious or inflammatory respiratory disease. Advanced imaging and bronchoscopy are useful in making the diagnosis and identifying concurrent respiratory disease

Using ultrasound to assess first year sonography students for wrist injury

Various studies have reported that 80-90% of diagnostic medical sonographers who work in the United States of America report they are scanning with musculoskeletal pain. One of the most common work related injuries incurred by sonographers is carpal tunnel syndrome which results from extrinsic compression on the median nerve within the carpal tunnel. While many studies have been conducted on sonographers to see if they experience pain while scanning, none have hypothesized how soon after entering the workforce will new sonographers begin to manifest signs of a repetitive injury. The purpose of this study was to discover if first year ultrasound students would develop signs of swelling or injury of the median indicating carpal tunnel syndrome. Using the diagnostic criteria of measuring the cross-sectional area of the median nerve within the car-pal tunnel, a group of first year sonography students were evaluated. Because the participants were not per-forming ultrasound scans as frequently during their first year a dramatic increase in the cross-sectional area of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel was not expected

Applications of a Digital Acoustic-Emission Data-Acquisition Workstation

An eight-channel, data-acquisition system is used to acquire and analyze acoustic-emission [AE] data from aluminum surface-crack specimens. The system is calibrated using known source locations and laser-generated ultrasound to determine the transducer locations by finding the arrival time of the longitudinal wave and then doing a nonlinear, least-squares fit. From these transducer locations, the origin of AE sources can be determined using a similar procedure. Automated methods for determining source location by finding the first signal above noise on each channel and identifying this signal as the longitudinal wave arrival are developed for processing the vast amount of data generated during a typical experiment. The application of these methods to data acquired during tensile testing is discussed

Cassini observations of the thermal plasma in the vicinity of Saturn's main rings and the F and G rings

The ion mass spectrometer on Cassini detected enhanced ion flux near Saturn's main rings that is consistent with the presence of atomic and molecular oxygen ions in the thermal plasma. The ring "atmosphere'' and "ionosphere'' are likely produced by UV photosputtering of the icy rings and subsequent photoionization of O-2. The identification of the O+ and O-2(+) ions is made using time-of-flight analysis and densities and temperatures are derived from the ion counting data. The ion temperatures over the main rings are a minimum near synchronous orbit and increase with radial distance from Saturn as expected from ion pick up in Saturn's magnetic field. The O-2(+) temperatures provide an estimate of the neutral O-2 temperature over the main rings. The ion mass spectrometer also detected significant O-2(+) outside of the main rings, near the F ring. It is concluded that between the F and G rings, the heavy ion population most likely consists of an admixture of O-2(+) and water group ions O+, OH+, and H2O+

Multiple sclerosis susceptibility alleles in African Americans.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease characterized by complex genetics and multifaceted gene-environment interactions. Compared to whites, African Americans have a lower risk for developing MS, but African Americans with MS have a greater risk of disability. These differences between African Americans and whites may represent differences in genetic susceptibility and/or environmental factors. SNPs from 12 candidate genes have recently been identified and validated with MS risk in white populations. We performed a replication study using 918 cases and 656 unrelated controls to test whether these candidate genes are also associated with MS risk in African Americans. CD6, CLEC16a, EVI5, GPC5, and TYK2 contained SNPs that are associated with MS risk in the African American data set. EVI5 showed the strongest association outside the major histocompatibility complex (rs10735781, OR=1.233, 95% CI=1.06-1.43, P-value=0.006). In addition, RGS1 seems to affect age of onset whereas TNFRSF1A seems to be associated with disease progression. None of the tested variants showed results that were statistically inconsistent with the effects established in whites. The results are consistent with shared disease genetic mechanisms among individuals of European and African ancestry

Decrease in tobacco consumption after treatment with topiramate and aripiprazole: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>A large part of research into drug addiction focuses on mesolimbic dopamine circuitry; however, both alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid and/or kainate and dopamine D2 receptors can play a role in maintaining the established addiction.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 34-year-old man who compulsively smoked 80 to 100 cigarettes each day. After receiving treatment with topiramate and aripiprazole, his tobacco consumption was dramatically reduced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid and/or kainate blocking agents and a dopamine D2 receptor partial agonist may be novel instruments for nicotine abuse disorders.</p

Reaction Time and Mortality from the Major Causes of Death:The NHANES-III Study

Studies examining the relation of information processing speed, as measured by reaction time, with mortality are scarce. We explored these associations in a representative sample of the US population

Constructive Relationships Between Algebraic Thickness and Normality

We study the relationship between two measures of Boolean functions; \emph{algebraic thickness} and \emph{normality}. For a function $f$, the algebraic thickness is a variant of the \emph{sparsity}, the number of nonzero coefficients in the unique GF(2) polynomial representing $f$, and the normality is the largest dimension of an affine subspace on which $f$ is constant. We show that for $0 < \epsilon<2$, any function with algebraic thickness $n^{3-\epsilon}$ is constant on some affine subspace of dimension $\Omega\left(n^{\frac{\epsilon}{2}}\right)$. Furthermore, we give an algorithm for finding such a subspace. We show that this is at most a factor of $\Theta(\sqrt{n})$ from the best guaranteed, and when restricted to the technique used, is at most a factor of $\Theta(\sqrt{\log n})$ from the best guaranteed. We also show that a concrete function, majority, has algebraic thickness $\Omega\left(2^{n^{1/6}}\right)$.Comment: Final version published in FCT'201

Structure-Based Identification and Characterization of Inhibitors of the Epilepsy-Associated KNa1.1 (KCNT1) Potassium Channel

Drug-resistant epileptic encephalopathies of infancy have been associated with KCNT1 gainof-function mutations, which increase the activity of KNa1.1 sodium-activated potassium channels. Pharmacological inhibition of hyperactive KNa1.1 channels by quinidine has been proposed as a stratified treatment, but mostly this has not been successful, being linked to the low potency and lack of specificity of the drug. Here we describe the use of a previously determined cryo-electron microscopy-derived KNa1.1 structure and mutational analysis to identify how quinidine binds to the channel pore and, using computational methods, screened for compounds predicated to bind to this site. We describe six compounds that inhibited KNa1.1 channels with low- and sub-micromolar potencies, likely also through binding in the intracellular pore vestibule. In hERG inhibition and cytotoxicity assays, two compounds were ineffective. These may provide starting points for the development of new pharmacophores and could become tool compounds to study this channel further