Exhaustive exercise training enhances aerobic capacity in American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

The oxygen transport system in mammals is extensively remodelled in response to repeated bouts of activity, but many reptiles appear to be ‘metabolically inflexible’ in response to exercise training. A recent report showed that estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) increase their maximum metabolic rate in response to exhaustive treadmill training, and in the present study, we confirm this response in another crocodilian, American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). We further specify the nature of the crocodilian training response by analysing effects of training on aerobic [citrate synthase (CS)] and anaerobic [lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)] enzyme activities in selected skeletal muscles, ventricular and skeletal muscle masses and haematocrit. Compared to sedentary control animals, alligators regularly trained for 15 months on a treadmill (run group) or in a flume (swim group) exhibited peak oxygen consumption rates higher by 27 and 16%, respectively. Run and swim exercise training significantly increased ventricular mass (~11%) and haematocrit (~11%), but not the mass of skeletal muscles. However, exercise training did not alter CS or LDH activities of skeletal muscles. Similar to mammals, alligators respond to exercise training by increasing convective oxygen transport mechanisms, specifically heart size (potentially greater stroke volume) and haematocrit (increased oxygen carrying-capacity of the blood). Unlike mammals, but similar to squamate reptiles, alligators do not also increase citrate synthase activity of the skeletal muscles in response to exercise

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research

Assessment of corneal curvature using verion optical imaging system: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Keratometry is a critical determinant of the postoperative refractive outcome. This study evaluates the comparability of keratometry measurements obtained using the Verion Optical Imaging System with devices used in current clinical practice. Further, it determines the interobserver reliability of the Verion Optical Imaging System. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of patient data PARTICIPANTS: Keratometric data was obtained from 100 patients presenting for pre-operative evaluation. Furthermore, repeatability and reproducibility were assessed using 15 healthy volunteers. METHODS: Corneal curvature values acquired by the Verion Optical Imaging System were compared with existing keratometry devices including autokeratometry, partial coherence interferometry (IOLMaster) and Scheimpflug corneal topography (Pentacam). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Direct comparison of corneal power, cylinder, axis of astigmatism and vector analysis were performed using correlation and Bland-Altman analyses. Reproducibility and reliability of the device were assessed using within-subject standard deviation and intraclass correlation coefficients for experienced and inexperienced technicians. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between Verion values and those obtained by other methods in relation to mean keratometry, corneal astigmatism, steep meridian and vector analyses (P > 0.05). Bland-Altman plots showed narrow limits of agreement for keratometry and astigmatism and wider agreement for steep meridian. Intraoperator reliability for both experienced and inexperienced operators and interoperator reproducibility showed no statistically significant differences between values. CONCLUSION: Measurements show no significant difference from those obtained by the other devices. This suggests the Verion system is en par with instruments used in current clinical practice. The Verion Optical Imaging System produces repeatable data with no difference related to operator experience

Delayed olfactory ensheathing cell transplants reduce nociception after dorsal root injury

Injury to cervical dorsal roots mimics the deafferentation component of brachial plexus injury in humans, with intractable neuropathic pain in the deafferented limb being a common consequence. Such lesions are generally not amenable to surgical repair. The use of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) for dorsal root repair, via acute transplantation, has been successful in several studies. From a clinical point of view, delayed transplantation of OECs would provide a more realistic timeframe for repair. In this study we investigated the effect of delayed OEC transplantation on functional recovery of skilled forepaw movements and amelioration of neuropathic pain, using a C7 and C8 dorsal root injury rat model previously established in our lab. We found that OEC transplantation to the dorsal horn 1. week after root injury effectively attenuated neuropathic disturbances associated with dorsal root injury, including spontaneous pain behavior, tactile allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. The sensory controls of complex, goal-oriented skilled reaching and ladder walking, however, were not improved by delayed OEC transplantation. We did not detect any significant influence of transplanted OECs on injury-induced central reorganisation and afferent sprouting. The anti-nociceptive effect mediated by OEC transplants may therefore be explained by alternative mechanisms such as modification of inflammation and astrogliosis. The significant effect of OEC transplants in mitigating neuropathic pain may be clinically useful in intractable pain syndromes arising from deafferentation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Understanding olfactory ensheathing glia and their prospect for nervous system repair. © 2010