The inferior colliculus of GEPRs contains greater numbers of cells that express glutamate decarboxylase (GAD67) mRNA.

Previous studies have shown significantly greater GABA levels and numbers of GABAergic neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICCN) of genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPR-9s). In the present study, in situ hybridization and emulsion autoradiographic techniques were used to determine whether there are also elevated numbers of ICCN cells that contain the 67-kD form of mRNA for the GABA synthesizing enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), in GEPR-9s as compared to normal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Hybridization with a 35S-labeled RNA probe complementary to a span of monkey GAD mRNA labeled cells throughout the brain including the ICCN. Labeled cells in the ICCN appeared to be of different sizes that corresponded with previous descriptions of GABAergic neurons from immunocytochemical studies. In the GEPR-9s, a larger number of GAD67 cRNA labeled neurons was observed in the ICCN as compared to SD rats. The external nucleus of the inferior colliculus was also found to contain significantly greater numbers of GAD67 cRNA labeled neurons whereas in the frontal cortex, a region of the brain that is not required for audiogenic seizure activity in GEPR-9s, there were no significant differences in hybridization between GEPR-9s and SD rats. Interestingly, within the superficial layers of the superior colliculus there was a higher density of hybridization in GEPR-9s than in SD rats indicating higher levels of GAD expression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Sensitivity analysis of circadian entrainment in the space of phase response curves

Sensitivity analysis is a classical and fundamental tool to evaluate the role of a given parameter in a given system characteristic. Because the phase response curve is a fundamental input--output characteristic of oscillators, we developed a sensitivity analysis for oscillator models in the space of phase response curves. The proposed tool can be applied to high-dimensional oscillator models without facing the curse of dimensionality obstacle associated with numerical exploration of the parameter space. Application of this tool to a state-of-the-art model of circadian rhythms suggests that it can be useful and instrumental to biological investigations.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures. Correction of a mistake in Definition 2.1. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.414

Interacting Supernovae: Types IIn and Ibn

Supernovae (SNe) that show evidence of strong shock interaction between their ejecta and pre-existing, slower circumstellar material (CSM) constitute an interesting, diverse, and still poorly understood category of explosive transients. The chief reason that they are extremely interesting is because they tell us that in a subset of stellar deaths, the progenitor star may become wildly unstable in the years, decades, or centuries before explosion. This is something that has not been included in standard stellar evolution models, but may significantly change the end product and yield of that evolution, and complicates our attempts to map SNe to their progenitors. Another reason they are interesting is because CSM interaction is an efficient engine for making bright transients, allowing super-luminous transients to arise from normal SN explosion energies, and allowing transients of normal SN luminosities to arise from sub-energetic explosions or low radioactivity yield. CSM interaction shrouds the fast ejecta in bright shock emission, obscuring our normal view of the underlying explosion, and the radiation hydrodynamics of the interaction is challenging to model. The CSM interaction may also be highly non-spherical, perhaps linked to binary interaction in the progenitor system. In some cases, these complications make it difficult to definitively tell the difference between a core-collapse or thermonuclear explosion, or to discern between a non-terminal eruption, failed SN, or weak SN. Efforts to uncover the physical parameters of individual events and connections to possible progenitor stars make this a rapidly evolving topic that continues to challenge paradigms of stellar evolution.Comment: Final draft of a chapter in the "SN Handbook". Accepted. 25 pages, 3 fig

Mangroves enhance the biomass of coral reef fish communities in the Caribbean

Mangrove forests are one of the world's most threatened tropical ecosystems with global loss exceeding 35% (ref. 1). Juvenile coral reef fish often inhabit mangroves, but the importance of these nurseries to reef fish population dynamics has not been quantified. Indeed, mangroves might be expected to have negligible influence on reef fish communities: juvenile fish can inhabit alternative habitats and fish populations may be regulated by other limiting factors such as larval supply or fishing. Here we show that mangroves are unexpectedly important, serving as an intermediate nursery habitat that may increase the survivorship of young fish. Mangroves in the Caribbean strongly influence the community structure of fish on neighbouring coral reefs. In addition, the biomass of several commercially important species is more than doubled when adult habitat is connected to mangroves. The largest herbivorous fish in the Atlantic, Scarus guacamaia, has a functional dependency on mangroves and has suffered local extinction after mangrove removal. Current rates of mangrove deforestation are likely to have severe deleterious consequences for the ecosystem function, fisheries productivity and resilience of reefs. Conservation efforts should protect connected corridors of mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs

Effect of changes over time in the performance of a customized SAPS-II model on the quality of care assessment

Purpose: The aim of our study was to explore, using an innovative method, the effect of temporal changes in the mortality prediction performance of an existing model on the quality of care assessment. The prognostic model (rSAPS-II) was a recalibrated Simplified Acute Physiology Score-II model developed for very elderly Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. Methods: The study population comprised all 12,143 consecutive patients aged 80 years and older admitted between January 2004 and July 2009 to one of the ICUs of 21 Dutch hospitals. The prospective dataset was split into 30 equally sized consecutive subsets. Per subset, we measured the model's discrimination [area under the curve (AUC)], accuracy (Brier score), and standardized mortality ratio (SMR), both without and after repeated recalibration. All performance measures were considered to be stable if 1 without and after repeated recalibration for the year 2009. Results: For all subsets, the AUCs were stable, but the Brier scores and SMRs were not. The SMR was downtrending, achieving levels significantly below 1. Repeated recalibration rendered it stable again. The proportions of hospitals with SMR>1 and SMR <1 changed from 15 versus 85% to 35 versus 65%. Conclusions: Variability over time may markedly vary among different performance measures, and infrequent model recalibration can result in improper assessment of the quality of care in many hospitals. We stress the importance of the timely recalibration and repeated validation of prognostic models over tim

Universal Oligonucleotide Microarray for Sub-Typing of Influenza A Virus

A universal microchip was developed for genotyping Influenza A viruses. It contains two sets of oligonucleotide probes allowing viruses to be classified by the subtypes of hemagglutinin (H1–H13, H15, H16) and neuraminidase (N1–N9). Additional sets of probes are used to detect H1N1 swine influenza viruses. Selection of probes was done in two steps. Initially, amino acid sequences specific to each subtype were identified, and then the most specific and representative oligonucleotide probes were selected. Overall, between 19 and 24 probes were used to identify each subtype of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Genotyping included preparation of fluorescently labeled PCR amplicons of influenza virus cDNA and their hybridization to microarrays of specific oligonucleotide probes. Out of 40 samples tested, 36 unambiguously identified HA and NA subtypes of Influenza A virus

Viscoelastic haemostatic assay augmented protocols for major trauma haemorrhage (ITACTIC): a randomized, controlled trial

Purpose: Contemporary trauma resuscitation prioritizes control of bleeding and uses major haemorrhage protocols (MHPs) to prevent and treat coagulopathy. We aimed to determine whether augmenting MHPs with Viscoelastic Haemostatic Assays (VHA) would improve outcomes compared to Conventional Coagulation Tests (CCTs). Methods: This was a multi-centre, randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes in trauma patients who received empiric MHPs, augmented by either VHA or CCT-guided interventions. Primary outcome was the proportion of subjects who, at 24 h after injury, were alive and free of massive transfusion (10 or more red cell transfusions). Secondary outcomes included 28-day mortality. Pre-specified subgroups included patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Results: Of 396 patients in the intention to treat analysis, 201 were allocated to VHA and 195 to CCT-guided therapy. At 24 h, there was no difference in the proportion of patients who were alive and free of massive transfusion (VHA: 67%, CCT: 64%, OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.76–1.73). 28-day mortality was not different overall (VHA: 25%, CCT: 28%, OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.54–1.31), nor were there differences in other secondary outcomes or serious adverse events. In pre-specified subgroups, there were no differences in primary outcomes. In the pre-specified subgroup of 74 patients with TBI, 64% were alive and free of massive transfusion at 24 h compared to 46% in the CCT arm (OR 2.12, 95% CI 0.84–5.34). Conclusion: There was no difference in overall outcomes between VHA- and CCT-augmented-major haemorrhage protocols

Hypnosis in pediatrics: applications at a pediatric pulmonary center

BACKGROUND: This report describes the utility of hypnosis for patients who presented to a Pediatric Pulmonary Center over a 30 month period. METHODS: Hypnotherapy was offered to 303 patients from May 1, 1998 – October 31, 2000. Patients offered hypnotherapy included those thought to have pulmonary symptoms due to psychological issues, discomfort due to medications, or fear of procedures. Improvement in symptoms following hypnosis was observed by the pulmonologist for most patients with habit cough and conversion reaction. Improvement of other conditions for which hypnosis was used was gauged based on patients' subjective evaluations. RESULTS: Hypnotherapy was associated with improvement in 80% of patients with persistent asthma, chest pain/pressure, habit cough, hyperventilation, shortness of breath, sighing, and vocal cord dysfunction. When improvement was reported, in some cases symptoms resolved immediately after hypnotherapy was first employed. For the others improvement was achieved after hypnosis was used for a few weeks. No patients' symptoms worsened and no new symptoms emerged following hypnotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Patients described in this report were unlikely to have achieved rapid improvement in their symptoms without the use of hypnotherapy. Therefore, hypnotherapy can be an important complementary therapy for patients in a pediatric practice