Toward accurate cerebral blood flow estimation in mice after accounting for anesthesia

Purpose: To improve the accuracy of cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurement in mice by accounting for the anesthesia effects.Methods: The dependence of CBF on anesthesia dose and time was investigated by simultaneously measuring respiration rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) under four different anesthetic regimens. Quantitative CBF was measured by a phase-contrast (PC) MRI technique. RR was evaluated with a mouse monitoring system (MouseOX) while HR was determined using an ultrashort-TE MRI sequence. CBF, RR, and HR were recorded dynamically with a temporal resolution of 1 min in a total of 19 mice. Linear regression models were used to investigate the relationships among CBF, anesthesia dose, RR, and HR.Results: CBF, RR, and HR all showed a significant dependence on anesthesia dose (p < 0.0001). However, the dose in itself was insufficient to account for the variations in physiological parameters, in that they showed a time-dependent change even for a constant dose. RR and HR together can explain 52.6% of the variations in CBF measurements, which is greater than the amount of variance explained by anesthesia dose (32.4%). Based on the multi-parametric regression results, a model was proposed to correct the anesthesia effects in mouse CBF measurements, specifically CBFcorrected=CBF+0.58RR−0.41HR−32.66Dose. We also reported awake-state CBF in mice to be 142.0 ± 8.8 mL/100 g/min, which is consistent with the model-predicted value.Conclusion: The accuracy of CBF measurement in mice can be improved by using a correction model that accounts for respiration rate, heart rate, and anesthesia dose

Identification of significant loci for drought resistance and root traits at seedling stage with a set of maize introgression lines

Genetic dissection of the genetic basis of drought resistance is important for crop improvement. In this study, significant loci for drought resistance related traits at seedling stage were identified with a set of maize introgression lines under two environments. Two drought resistance indicators, leaf-drying degree under medium drought stress (LDM) and severe drought stress (LDS), and three root traits, root dry weight under drought stress (RWS), root length under drought stress (RLS), and root number under drought stress (RNS) were investigated. A total of 31 and 25 significant loci for LDM and LDS were identified, respectively, and 20 of them were commonly detected under both environments. For the three root traits, 41 significant loci were detected with 20 loci identified under both environments. Of the 97 significant loci, only 19 loci related to both leaf-drying degree and root traits under stress simultaneously, suggesting that these root traits had limited contribution to drought resistance at seedling stage. The significant loci detected in this study would be useful in molecular breeding for drought resistance in maize

Gene expression atlas of the mouse central nervous system: impact and interactions of age, energy intake and gender

The transcriptional profiles of five regions of the central nervous system (CNS) of mice varying in age, gender and dietary intake were measured by microarray. The resulting data provide insights into the mechanisms of age-, diet- and gender-related CNS plasticity and vulnerability in mammals

A potential relationship between MMP-9 rs2250889 and ischemic stroke susceptibility

PurposeIschemic stroke (IS), a serious cerebrovascular disease, greatly affects people's health and life. Genetic factors are indispensable for the occurrence of IS. As a biomarker for IS, the MMP-9 gene is widely involved in the pathophysiological process of IS. This study attempts to find out the relationship between MMP-9 polymorphisms and IS susceptibility.MethodsA total of 700 IS patients and 700 healthy controls were recruited. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers of the MMP-9 gene were genotyped by the MassARRAY analyzer. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) was applied to generate SNP–SNP interaction. Furthermore, the relationship between genetic variations (allele and genotype) of the MMP-9 gene and IS susceptibility was analyzed by calculating odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsOur results demonstrated that rs2250889 could significantly increase the susceptibility to IS in the codominant, dominant, overdominant, and log-additive models (p < 0.05). Further stratification analysis showed that compared with the control group, rs2250889 was associated with IS risk in different case groups (age, female, smoking, and non-drinking) (p < 0.05). Based on MDR analysis, rs2250889 was the best model for predicting IS risk (cross-validation consistency: 10/10, OR = 1.56 (1.26–1.94), p < 0.001).ConclusionOur study preliminarily confirmed that SNP rs2250889 was significantly associated with susceptibility to IS

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Removal of Three Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics by NaClO2-modified Biosorbent from Fruit Fiber of C. Procera

Here, Calotropis gigantea fiber (CGF) was first treated using NaClO2 to chemically modify the fiber surface to improve its hydrophilicity. Subsequently, the resulting NaClO2-CGF was used as the biosorbent to remove three fluoroquinolone antibiotics including enrofloxacin (Enr), ciprofloxacin (Cip), and norfloxacin (Nor). The results demonstrate that NaClO2-CGF shows optimum adsorption properties at pH = 6, with the maximum adsorption capacity of 50–70 mg/g. Further, NaClO2-CGF can achieve its adsorption equilibrium within 30 min, an indication of its fast adsorption kinetics. After five adsorption-desorption cycles, a higher adsorption percentage is still observed, suggesting its good regeneration for use in successive cycles