Autonomic nervous system function in children and adolescents with primary headache disorders

The relationship between autonomic dysfunction and primary headache disorders has been established in the adult population. The aim of this retrospective study was to elucidate if there was a similar association in the pediatric primary headache population. Three groups were compared - migraine patients, tension-type headache patients and idiopathic scoliosis patients as a control group. Utilizing clinical data collected during patients' initial visits, prevalence of autonomic dysfunction symptoms were quantified. The headache groups also filled out the Functional Disability Index (FDI) as well as the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to help elucidate if there was a relationship between function disability, psychiatric state and primary headaches and/or autonomic dysfunction symptoms. It was found that the headache groups had significantly greater dysautonomia as compared to the control group. Only slight differences were found between the migraine and tension-type patients in regards to dysautonomia. No significant differences were found in total FDI or CDI scores. These results illuminate a relationship between autonomic nervous system dysfunction and primary headache disorders in the pediatric population studied. Prospective studies and the development of standardized dysautonomia questionnaires will allow a more detailed autonomic dysfunction profile to be built for this population

ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF SOLUTE CARRIER DRUG TRANSPORTERS IN THE SYSTEMIC DISPOSITION OF FLUOROQUINOLONES: AN IN VITRO - IN VIVO COMPARISON

Fluoroquinolones (FQ) are broad-spectrum charged antimicrobials exhibiting excellent tissue/fluid permeation. Thus, FQ disposition depends essentially on active transport and facilitative diffusion. Although most early transporter studies investigating renal elimination of FQs have focused on apical efflux of FQs from renal proximal tubule cell (RPTC) into urine, their basolateral uptake mechanism(s) from blood into RPTC (i.e., first step to tubular secretion) has not yet been explored in detail. Renally expressed SLC22 members: organic anion (OATs) and cation (OCTs) transporters are known to transport such small organic ionic substrates (molecular weight ~400 Da). Hence it is of interest to explore the role of these basolateral transporters in renal elimination of FQs, and to further quantitatively assess their impact in clinically observed FQ drug-drug interactions (DDI). An initial systematic review of clinical literature for FQs (n=18) demonstrated substantial differences among their renal clearance (CLren~46-fold) and unbound renal clearance (CLrenu~20-fold), and suggested that tubular secretion and reabsorption could be major determinants of FQ half-life, efficacy, and DDIs. FQs (n=13) identified from the above review were investigated by in-vitro transport studies using stably transfected cell lines, for potential interactions with organic cation [human (h) OCT1, hOCT2 and hOCT3] and anion [mouse (m) and hOAT3, hOAT1; and hOAT4] transporters. Further, kinetic inhibition studies were conducted to determine inhibition potency (Ki/IC50 values) for those FQs exhibiting significant OCT/OAT inhibition in preliminary interaction experiments. Gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, prulifloxacin, and sparfloxacin were determined to be competitive inhibitors of hOCT1 with Ki = 250±18, 161±19, 136±33, and 94±8 μM, respectively. Moxifloxacin competitively inhibited hOCT3-mediated uptake, Ki = 1,598±146 μM. Enoxacin, fleroxacin, levofloxacin, lomefloxacin, moxifloxacin, prulifloxacin, and sparfloxacin exhibited competitive inhibition for mOat3 with Ki = 396±15, 817±31, 515±22, 539±27, 1356±114, 299±35, 205±12 μM, respectively. Fleroxacin and pefloxacin were found to inhibit hOAT1 with IC50 = 2228±84 and 1819±144 respectively. Despite expression in enterocytes, hepatocytes, and RPTC, hOCT3 does not appear to contribute significantly to FQ disposition. However, due to hepatic and potential RPTC expression, hOCT1 could play an important role in elimination of these antimicrobials. Among renally expressed OATs in humans, hOAT1 and hOAT3 are likely to be involved in FQ elimination

Fast, Autonomous Flight in GPS-Denied and Cluttered Environments

One of the most challenging tasks for a flying robot is to autonomously navigate between target locations quickly and reliably while avoiding obstacles in its path, and with little to no a-priori knowledge of the operating environment. This challenge is addressed in the present paper. We describe the system design and software architecture of our proposed solution, and showcase how all the distinct components can be integrated to enable smooth robot operation. We provide critical insight on hardware and software component selection and development, and present results from extensive experimental testing in real-world warehouse environments. Experimental testing reveals that our proposed solution can deliver fast and robust aerial robot autonomous navigation in cluttered, GPS-denied environments.Comment: Pre-peer reviewed version of the article accepted in Journal of Field Robotic

Alterations in rat serum proteins in relation to dietary proteins and B vitamins. I. Studies with growing rats

The alterations in rat serum proteins resulting from (i) variations in dietary protein quality and level, (ii) minimal intakes of B vitamins and (iii) single and combined deficiencies of vitamin B12 and folic acid have been studied with egg albumin, casein and peanut protein diets at 10 and 18 per cent. protein levels. Protein quality chiefly influences serum concentrations of albumin and α1-globulin, the effects on other fractions being variable. Protein level affects serum levels of albumin, α1-globulin and α2-globulin. The effects due to these dietary variables are interdependent. Variations in dietary protein quality do not alter the relative distribution of serum protein fractions. Changes in protein level cause shifts in the relative distribution of globulins, the albumin-globulin ratio remaining unaltered. The nature and extent of changes in serum protein profile due to vitamin insufficiencies or deficiencies are also influenced, qualitatively and quantitatively, by dietary amino acids. With minimal intakes of B vitamins γ-globulin is chiefly reduced, but other fractions, particularly α1-globulin, may also be affected. In a combined deficiency of vitamin B12 and folic acid a common reduction in γ-globulin is variably attended by reductions in albumin and in α1- and β-globulins. In single vitamin B12 deficiency, the changes are confined to albumin, α1-globulin and α2-globulin fractions, whereas single folic acid deficiency chiefly affects γ-globulin with variable effects on albumin and β-globulin fractions

Restart Solar: Energizing Environmental Justice Communities

New York City has taken the first steps towards a clean energy future by setting a goal of installing 100 megawatts (MW) of solar power on public buildings by 2025. Alongside expected private sector solar installations, this will help reduce our City's carbon emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels.Yet, if the first rounds of solar installations on over 100 public buildings are any indication of the goals of this program, the City is failing to prioritize those communities that are most in need of clean energy infrastructure. The communities that need solar the most are communities that have suffered from disproportionate amounts of environmental pollution. These are New York City's environmental justice communities, which have been hurt first and worst by environmental injustices. It is time to change that paradigm with the City's public solar program.This report was featured in a City Limits op-ed by Virginia Ribot, a climate justice organizer at El Puente and a member of Mothers Out Front: "City Views – City's Public Solar Investments Must Favor Low-Income Communities.

The Flying Monkey: a Mesoscale Robot that can Run, Fly, and Grasp

The agility and ease of control make a quadrotor aircraft an attractive platform for studying swarm behavior, modeling, and control. The energetics of sustained flight for small aircraft, however, limit typical applications to only a few minutes. Adding payloads – and the mechanisms used to manipulate them – reduces this flight time even further. In this paper we present the flying monkey, a novel robot platform having three main capabilities: walking, grasping, and flight. This new robotic platform merges one of the world’s smallest quadrotor aircraft with a lightweight, single-degree-of-freedom walking mechanism and an SMA-actuated gripper to enable all three functions in a 30 g package. The main goal and key contribution of this paper is to design and prototype the flying monkey that has increased mission life and capabilities through the combination of the functionalities of legged and aerial roots.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (IIS-1138847)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (EFRI-124038)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CCF-1138967)United States. Army Research Laboratory (W911NF-08-2-0004)Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineerin

Fixed- or Controlled-Dose Mycophenolate Mofetil with Standard- or Reduced-Dose Calcineurin Inhibitors: The Opticept Trial

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74911/1/j.1600-6143.2009.02668.x.pd