International chemical identifier for chemical reactions

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Finalist essays from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security's First Annual Essay Competition, 2008

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) announces the winner and finalists of its first annual essay contest. CHDS launched the contest last year to provide people from around the country the opportunity to express their opinions on homeland security issues and to suggest new ideas. The winner and four finalists were selected from eighty contest submissions by a committee comprised of CHDS staff, faculty, and alumni. The variety of the essay topics submitted, as well as the backgrounds of the authors, highlights the vast scope of the impact that homeland security policies, programs, and challenges have on our communities and professions. This year’s contestants were asked to answer the question “What single aspect of Homeland Security has been most successful, and what single aspect will be most critical to Homeland Security success?”Naval Posgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Securit

International chemical identifier for reactions (RInChI).

The IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) provides a method to generate a unique text descriptor of molecular structures. Building on this work, we report a process to generate a unique text descriptor for reactions, RInChI. By carefully selecting the information that is included and by ordering the data carefully, different scientists studying the same reaction should produce the same RInChI. If differences arise, these are most likely the minor layers of the InChI, and so may be readily handled. RInChI provides a concise description of the key data in a chemical reaction, and will help enable the rapid searching and analysis of reaction databases

The Relationship Between Pediatric Quality of Life and Post Concussion Symptoms

This will be presented at the American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology. Objective: To understand how symptoms impact the the pediatric patient’s day to day functioning during recovery. The tasks that students are exposed to in school deplete cognitive reserves, which further has consequences for learning, emotional functioning, symptom expression, and quality of life. Methods: 280 participants with concussion, age 7 to 21, completed a packet that included the Post Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) and a self report measure, at their medical visit to a regional concussion clinic. A pencil and paper self rating instrument (Pediatric Life After Concussion Evaluation Scale) was developed to examine pediatric concussion patient’s self perceptions of their recovery. The Pediatric Life After Concussion Evaluation Scale (PLACES) consisted of 20 questions. The instrument took less than 15 minutes to complete. Results: There was a strong positive relationship between total quality of life symptom load (PLACES Total) and total post concussion symptom load (PCSS) (r = .732, p2=.549, F(1,196)=238.43, p Conclusions: Children and adolescents have important perspectives on their recovery from concussion. The impact of concussion affects multiple domains of function. In addition to post concussion symptoms, pediatric patients with concussion report concerns about their learning, emotions, and social interactions. Further, elevated post concussion symptom load is related to overall worse quality of life

Evidence for the Need for a Pediatric Concussion Quality of Life Measure in addition to the PCSS

While pediatric concussion is an area of significant scientific concern, only recently has the field begun to consider health related quality of life issues after concussion. The clinical management of pediatric concussion generally focuses on symptoms and epidemiology. The purpose of the current evaluation was to examine whether a quality of life measure can provide important information not readily measured by a symptom scale. 280 participants with concussion, age 7 to 21 completed two pencil and paper measures, the Post Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) and the newly created Pediatric Life After Concussion Evaluation Scale (PLACES). Data showed that the emotion domain on the PCSS was not significant for time since injury F(2,248) = 6.23, p F(2,253) = 1.96, p =.143). While the PCSS and PLACES had a strong correlation (r = .73, p This poster will be presented at the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsycholog

Defining molecular initiating events in the adverse outcome pathway framework for risk assessment.

Consumer and environmental safety decisions are based on exposure and hazard data, interpreted using risk assessment approaches. The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) conceptual framework has been presented as a logical sequence of events or processes within biological systems which can be used to understand adverse effects and refine current risk assessment practices in ecotoxicology. This framework can also be applied to human toxicology and is explored on the basis of investigating the molecular initiating events (MIEs) of compounds. The precise definition of the MIE has yet to reach general acceptance. In this work we present a unified MIE definition: an MIE is the initial interaction between a molecule and a biomolecule or biosystem that can be causally linked to an outcome via a pathway. Case studies are presented, and issues with current definitions are addressed. With the development of a unified MIE definition, the field can look toward defining, classifying, and characterizing more MIEs and using knowledge of the chemistry of these processes to aid AOP research and toxicity risk assessment. We also present the role of MIE research in the development of in vitro and in silico toxicology and suggest how, by using a combination of biological and chemical approaches, MIEs can be identified and characterized despite a lack of detailed reports, even for some of the most studied molecules in toxicology.The authors acknowledge the financial support of Unilever.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from ACS at http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/tx500345