Glutaminase Immunoreactivity and Enzyme Activity Is Increased in the Rat Dorsal Root Ganglion Following Peripheral Inflammation

Following inflammation, primary sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) alter the production of several proteins. Most DRG neurons are glutamatergic, using glutaminase as the enzyme for glutamate production, but little is known about glutaminase following inflammation. In the present study, adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) was produced in rats with complete Freund's adjuvant into the hindpaw. At 7 days of AIA, DRG were examined with glutaminase immunohistochemistry, Western blot immunoreactivity, and enzyme activity. Image analysis revealed that glutaminase was elevated most in small-sized neurons (21%) (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis revealed a 19% increase (P < 0.05) in total glutaminase and 21% in mitochondrial glutaminase (P < 0.05). Glutaminase enzyme activity was elevated 29% (P < 0.001) from 2.20 to 2.83 moles/kg/hr. Elevated glutaminase in primary sensory neurons could lead to increased glutamate production in spinal primary afferent terminals contributing to central sensitization or in the peripheral process contributing to peripheral sensitization

Fiscal Impacts of the St. Paul Houses to Homes Program.

Abandoned houses are powerful symbols of urban decline. The level of investment needed to turn such properties around is generally greater than the market value of the property. Can local governnments afford to rehabilitate such houses? In 1997 a professor of housing and three graduate students examined St. Paul's Houses to Homes program, analyzing the fiscal benefits and costs of restoring abandoned homes to prepare them for resale. They found that a rehabilitation that costs the city $42,000 actually produces$59,000 in public benefits, though the benefits are shared by different levels of government, not all accruing to the city itself. Their analysis considered erosion of the tax base, impact on property values, and detriment to private investment, as well as other variables.Sponsored by Neighborhood Planning for Community Revitalization, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota

Point-of-care testing for disasters: needs assessment, strategic planning, and future design.

Objective evidence-based national surveys serve as a first step in identifying suitable point-of-care device designs, effective test clusters, and environmental operating conditions. Preliminary survey results show the need for point-of-care testing (POCT) devices using test clusters that specifically detect pathogens found in disaster scenarios. Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in southeast Asia, and the current influenza pandemic (H1N1, "swine flu") vividly illustrate lack of national and global preparedness. Gap analysis of current POCT devices versus survey results reveals how POCT needs can be fulfilled. Future thinking will help avoid the worst consequences of disasters on the horizon, such as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and pandemic influenzas. A global effort must be made to improve POC technologies to rapidly diagnose and treat patients to improve triaging, on-site decision making, and, ultimately, economic and medical outcomes

Data-driven approach for highlighting priority areas for protection in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, in ABNJ. Here we use a conservation planning algorithm to integrate 55 global data layers on ABNJ species diversity, habitat heterogeneity, benthic features, productivity, and fishing as a means for highlighting priority regions in ABNJ to be considered for spatial protection. We also include information on forecasted species distributions under climate change. We found that parameterizing the planning algorithm to protect at least 30% of these key ABNJ conservation features, while avoiding areas of high fishing effort, yielded a solution that highlights 52,545,634 km2 (23.7%) of ABNJ as high priority regions for protection. Instructing the planning model to avoid ABNJ areas with high fishing effort resulted in relatively minor shifts in the planning solution, when compared to a separate model that did not consider fishing effort. Integrating information on climate change had a similarly minor influence on the planning solution, suggesting that climate-informed ABNJ protected areas may be able to protect biodiversity now and in the future. This globally standardized, data-driven process for identifying priority ABNJ regions for protection serves as a valuable complement to other expert-driven processes underway to highlight ecologically or biologically significant ABNJ regions. Both the outputs and methods exhibited in this analysis can additively inform UN decision-making concerning establishment of ABNJ protected areas

Antibody-mediated interferences affecting cardiac troponin assays:recommendations from the IFCC Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Biomarkers

The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Biomarkers (IFCC C-CB) provides educational documents to facilitate the interpretation and use of cardiac biomarkers in clinical laboratories and practice. Our aim is to improve the understanding of certain key analytical and clinical aspects of cardiac biomarkers and how these may interplay. Measurements of cardiac troponin (cTn) have a prominent place in the clinical work-up of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome. It is therefore important that clinical laboratories know how to recognize and assess analytical issues. Two emerging analytical issues resulting in falsely high cTn concentrations, often several fold higher than the upper reference limit (URL), are antibody-mediated assay interference due to long-lived cTn-antibody complexes, called macrotroponin, and crosslinking antibodies that are frequently referred to as heterophilic antibodies. We provide an overview of antibody-mediated cTn assay interference and provide recommendations on how to confirm the interference and interpret the results

Izloženost ambijentalnomu duhanskomu dimu na radnome mjestu u Makedoniji: kako sada stojimo?

To assess the prevalence and the level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the workplace after the enactment of the law restricting indoor smoking in Macedonia, we performed a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study including 372 never-smoking workers recruited from six workplaces. We found a high prevalence of workers exposed to ETS in the workplace (27.4 %) with no significant difference between particular occupation groups. We found no significant difference in the prevalence of passive smokers in the workplace between this study and our study conducted before the law was enacted (31.5 % vs. 27.4 %, P=0.324). The prevalence of workers exposed to ETS for less than three hours a day was significantly lower than of passive smokers with longer exposure (28.4 % vs. 71.6 %, P=0.038). The prevalence of workers exposed to ETS from less than 10 cigarettes smoked by coworkers per day was lower than the prevalence of workers with higher exposure, but statistical significance was not reached (37.9 % vs. 62.1 %, P=0.087). Our findings indicate a high prevalence and a high level of exposure to ETS in the workplace, which calls for stricter adherence to smoking-free legislation or even the total ban of smoking in the workplace.Ovo je ispitivanje obuhvatilo 372 radnika na šest različitih radnih mjesta koji nikad nisu pušili kako bi se procijenila zastupljenost osoba izloženih duhanskomu dimu na radnome mjestu i razina njihove izloženosti nakon zakonskih ograničenja pušenja u zatvorenim prostorijama u Makedoniji. Ispitivanje je provedeno s pomoću upitnika koji su radnici ispunjavali sami. Utvrdili smo visoku zastupljenost radnika izloženih ambijentalnomu duhanskomu dimu na radnome mjestu (27,4 %) te nisu zamijećene statistički značajne razlike među zanimanjima. Nisu uočene značajne razlike između zastupljenosti pasivnih pušača na radnome mjestu u ovome ispitivanju i u našem ranijem ispitivanju, kada još nije na snagu stupio zakon o ograničenju pušenja (31,5 % naprema 27,4 %, P=0,324). Zastupljenost radnika izloženih ambijentalnomu duhanskomu dimu ne dulje od tri sata na dan bila je statistički značajno niža negoli onih čija je izloženost trajala duže (28,4 % naprema 71,6 %, P=0,038). Zastupljenost radnika koji su bili izloženi dimu kolega koji su pušili manje od 10 cigareta na dan bila je niža negoli onih s većom izloženosti, ali razlika nije bila statistički značajna (37,9 % naprema 62,1 %, P=0,087). Naši rezultati potvrđuju da i dalje postoje visoka zastupljenost izloženih radnika i visoke razine izloženosti ambijentalnomu duhanskomu dimu na radnome mjestu, što upućuje na potrebu uvođenja strožih zakona o zabrani pušenja

Data-driven approach for highlighting priority areas for protection in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, in ABNJ. Here we use a conservation planning algorithm to integrate 55 global data layers on ABNJ species diversity, habitat heterogeneity, benthic features, productivity, and fishing as a means for highlighting priority regions in ABNJ to be considered for spatial protection. We also include information on forecasted species distributions under climate change. We found that parameterizing the planning algorithm to protect at least 30% of these key ABNJ conservation features, while avoiding areas of high fishing effort, yielded a solution that highlights 52,545,634 km2 (23.7%) of ABNJ as high priority regions for protection. Instructing the planning model to avoid ABNJ areas with high fishing effort resulted in relatively minor shifts in the planning solution, when compared to a separate model that did not consider fishing effort. Integrating information on climate change had a similarly minor influence on the planning solution, suggesting that climate-informed ABNJ protected areas may be able to protect biodiversity now and in the future. This globally standardized, data-driven process for identifying priority ABNJ regions for protection serves as a valuable complement to other expert-driven processes underway to highlight ecologically or biologically significant ABNJ regions. Both the outputs and methods exhibited in this analysis can additively inform UN decision-making concerning establishment of ABNJ protected areas

Correction: Management of Cardiovascular Disease Patients With Confirmed or Suspected COVID-19 in Limited Resource Settings.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5334/gh.823.]