Home-based reach-to-grasp training for people after stroke: study protocol for a feasibility randomized controlled trial

BackgroundThis feasibility study is intended to assess the acceptability of home-based task-specific reach-to-grasp (RTG) training for people with stroke, and to gather data to inform recruitment, retention, and sample size for a definitive randomized controlled trial. Methods/designThis is to be a randomized controlled feasibility trial recruiting 50 individuals with upper-limb motor impairment after stroke. Participants will be recruited after discharge from hospital and up to 12 months post-stroke from hospital stroke services and community therapy-provider services. Participants will be assessed at baseline, and then electronically randomized and allocated to group by minimization, based on the time post-stroke and extent of upper-limb impairment. The intervention group will receive 14 training sessions, each 1 hour long, with a physiotherapist over 6 weeks and will be encouraged to practice independently for 1 hour/day to give a total of 56 hours of training time per participant. Participants allocated to the control group will receive arm therapy in accordance with usual care. Participants will be measured at 7 weeks post-randomization, and followed-up at 3 and 6 months post-randomization. Primary outcome measures for assessment of arm function are the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT). Secondary measures are the Motor Activity Log, Stroke Impact Scale, Carer Strain Index, and health and social care resource use. All assessments will be conducted by a trained assessor blinded to treatment allocation. Recruitment, adherence, withdrawals, adverse events (AEs), and completeness of data will be recorded and reported. DiscussionThis study will determine the acceptability of the intervention, the characteristics of the population recruited, recruitment and retention rates, descriptive statistics of outcomes, and incidence of AEs. It will provide the information needed for planning a definitive trial to test home-based RTG training. Trial registrationISRCTN: ISRCTN5671658

Abundance of Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in the Coastal Gulf of Mexico

The abundance of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) for many coastal areas of the United States Gulf of Mexico is poorly known. During spring and fall 1987, we used aircraft and strip transects to estimate bottlenose dolphin abundance within 37 km of the U.S. Gulf shore. Greatest estimated dolphin densities were in the north-central Gulf (spring), northern Florida (fall) and Louisiana study areas (fall) (about 0.30 dolphins / km2). We estimated the coastal U.S. Gulf population of bottlenose dolphins to be 16,892 ± 3,628 (95% Cl) and 16,089 ± 3,338 in spring and fall, respectively. Bottlenose dolphins were found throughout the U.S. Gulf waters searched, but herds offshore of Texas were concentrated near passes and Louisiana herds were more common in and near eastern bays. Our estimates are one of the first assessments of the abundance and density of bottlenose dolphins throughout the coastal U.S. Gulf and may provide useful baseline estimates

Development of a one-step duplex RT-qPCR for the quantification of phocine distemper virus

Author Posting. © Wildlife Disease Association, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of Wildlife Disease Association for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Wildlife Diseases 51 (2015): 454-465, doi:10.7589/2014-05-142.Worldwide, stranded marine mammals and the network personnel who respond to marine mammal mortality have provided much of the information regarding marine morbillivirus infections. An assay to determine the amount of virus present in tissue samples would be useful to assist in routine surveying of animal health and for monitoring large-scale die-off events. False negatives from poor-quality samples prevent determination of the true extent of infection, while only small amounts of tissue samples or archived RNA may be available at the time of collection for future retrospective analysis. We developed a one-step duplex real-time reverse transcriptase-quantitative-PCR assay (RT-qPCR) based on Taqman probe technology to quantify phocine distemper virus (PDV) isolated from an outbreak in harbor (Phoca vitulina concolor) and gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) along the northeast US coast in 2006. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene was selected to assess RNA quality. This duplex assay is specific for PDV and sensitive through a range of 100 to 109 copies ds-plasmid DNA. For the GAPDH target, the reaction in duplex amplified 100 to 109 copies of ds-plasmid DNA and was detectable in multiple seal species. This assay reduced the likelihood of false negative results due to degradation of tissues and well-to-well variability while providing sensitive and specific detection of PDV, which would be applicable in molecular epidemiologic studies and pathogen detection in field and laboratory investigations involving a variety of seal species.This project was possible thanks to the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program (Grant NA10NMF4390260) and with support from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration/University of Connecticut Oceans and Human Health I-RICH Fellowship.2016-04-0

Simulations and experimental demonstrations of encoding for X-ray coherent scattering

Diffraction data may be measured using approaches that lead to ambiguity in the interpretation of scattering distributions. Thus, the encoding and decoding of coherent scatter distributions have been considered with a view to enabling unequivocal data interpretation. Two encoding regimes are considered where encoding occurs between the X-ray source and sample, and where the encoder is placed between the sample and detector. In the first case, the successful recovery of diffraction data formed from the interrogation of powder samples with annular incident beams is presented using a coded aperture approach. In a second regime, encoding of Debye cones is shown to enable recovery of sample position relative to the detector. The errors associated with both regimes are considered and the advantages of combining both discussed

New insights into the application of pair distribution function studies to biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites

Biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites are confounding materials whose properties remain uncertain, even after years of study. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis was applied to hydroxyapatites in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but this area of research has not taken full advantage of the relatively recent advances in synchrotron facilities. Here, synchrotron X-ray PDF analysis is compared to techniques commonly used to characterise hydroxyapatite (such as wide angle X-ray scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis) for a range of biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites with a wide range of carbonate substitution. Contributions to the pair distribution function from collagen, carbonate and finite crystallite size were examined through principal component analysis and comparison of PDFs. Noticeable contributions from collagen were observed in biogenic PDFs when compared to synthetic PDFs (namely r < 15 Å), consistent with simulated PDFs of collagen structures. Additionally, changes in local structure were observed for PDFs of synthetic hydroxyapatites with differing carbonate content, notably in features near 4 Å, 8 Å and 19 Å. Regression models were generated to predict carbonate substitution from peak position within the PDFs

PathoScope 2.0: a complete computational framework for strain identification in environmental or clinical sequencing samples.

BACKGROUND: Recent innovations in sequencing technologies have provided researchers with the ability to rapidly characterize the microbial content of an environmental or clinical sample with unprecedented resolution. These approaches are producing a wealth of information that is providing novel insights into the microbial ecology of the environment and human health. However, these sequencing-based approaches produce large and complex datasets that require efficient and sensitive computational analysis workflows. Many recent tools for analyzing metagenomic-sequencing data have emerged, however, these approaches often suffer from issues of specificity, efficiency, and typically do not include a complete metagenomic analysis framework. RESULTS: We present PathoScope 2.0, a complete bioinformatics framework for rapidly and accurately quantifying the proportions of reads from individual microbial strains present in metagenomic sequencing data from environmental or clinical samples. The pipeline performs all necessary computational analysis steps; including reference genome library extraction and indexing, read quality control and alignment, strain identification, and summarization and annotation of results. We rigorously evaluated PathoScope 2.0 using simulated data and data from the 2011 outbreak of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O104:H4. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that PathoScope 2.0 is a complete, highly sensitive, and efficient approach for metagenomic analysis that outperforms alternative approaches in scope, speed, and accuracy. The PathoScope 2.0 pipeline software is freely available for download at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pathoscope/

Intracoronary and retrograde coronary venous myocardial delivery of adipose-derived stem cells in swine infarction lead to transient myocardial trapping with predominant pulmonary redistribution

OBJECTIVES: To examine the comparative fate of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) as well as their impact on coronary microcirculation following either retrograde coronary venous (RCV) or arterial delivery. BACKGROUND: Local delivery of ASCs to the heart has been proposed as a practical approach to limiting the extent of myocardial infarction. Mouse models of mesenchymal stem cell effects on the heart have also demonstrated significant benefits from systemic (intravenous) delivery, prompting a question about the advantage of local delivery. There has been no study addressing the extent of myocardial vs. systemic disposition of ASCs in large animal models following local delivery to the myocardium. METHODS: In an initial experiment, dose-dependent effects of ASC delivery on coronary circulation in normal swine were evaluated to establish a tolerable ASC dosing range for intracoronary (IC) delivery. In a set of subsequent experiments, an anterior acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was created by balloon occlusion of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) artery, followed by either IC or RCV infusion of 10(7) (111)Indium-labeled autologous ASCs 6 days following AMI. Indices of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) were measured before sacrifices to collect tissues for analysis at 1 or 24 hr after cell delivery. RESULTS: IC delivery of porcine ASCs to normal myocardium was well tolerated up to a cumulative dose of 14 × 10(6) cells (approximately 0.5 × 10(6) cells/kg). There was evidence suggesting microcirculatory trapping of ASC: at unit doses of 50 × 10(6) ASCs, IMR and CFR were found to be persistently altered in the target LAD distribution at 7 days following delivery, whereas at 10 × 10(6) ASCs, only CFR was altered. In the context of recent MI, a significantly higher percentage of ASCs was retained at 1 hr with IC delivery compared with RCV delivery (57.2 ± 12.7% vs. 17.9 ± 1.6%, P = 0.037) but this initial difference was not apparent at 24 hr (22.6 ± 5.5% vs. 18.7 ± 8.6%; P = 0.722). In both approaches, most ASC redistributed to the pulmonary circulation by 24 hr postdelivery. There were no significant differences in CFR or IMR following ASC delivery to infarcted tissue by either route. CONCLUSIONS: Selective intravascular delivery of ASC by coronary arterial and venous routes leads to similarly limited myocardial cell retention with predominant redistribution of cells to the lungs. IC arterial delivery of ASC leads to only transiently greater myocardial retention, which is accompanied by obstruction of normal regions of coronary microcirculation at higher doses. The predominant intrapulmonary localization of cells following local delivery via both methods prompts the notion that systemic delivery of ASC might provide similarly beneficial outcomes while avoiding risks of inadvertent microcirculatory compromise

PathoScope 2.0: a complete computational framework for strain identification in environmental or clinical sequencing samples.

BACKGROUND: Recent innovations in sequencing technologies have provided researchers with the ability to rapidly characterize the microbial content of an environmental or clinical sample with unprecedented resolution. These approaches are producing a wealth of information that is providing novel insights into the microbial ecology of the environment and human health. However, these sequencing-based approaches produce large and complex datasets that require efficient and sensitive computational analysis workflows. Many recent tools for analyzing metagenomic-sequencing data have emerged, however, these approaches often suffer from issues of specificity, efficiency, and typically do not include a complete metagenomic analysis framework. RESULTS: We present PathoScope 2.0, a complete bioinformatics framework for rapidly and accurately quantifying the proportions of reads from individual microbial strains present in metagenomic sequencing data from environmental or clinical samples. The pipeline performs all necessary computational analysis steps; including reference genome library extraction and indexing, read quality control and alignment, strain identification, and summarization and annotation of results. We rigorously evaluated PathoScope 2.0 using simulated data and data from the 2011 outbreak of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O104:H4. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that PathoScope 2.0 is a complete, highly sensitive, and efficient approach for metagenomic analysis that outperforms alternative approaches in scope, speed, and accuracy. The PathoScope 2.0 pipeline software is freely available for download at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pathoscope/

A p38 Mitogen‐Activated Protein Kinase Inhibitor Arrests Active Alveolar Bone Loss in a Rat Periodontitis Model

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141943/1/jper1992.pd