The impact of riluzole on neurobehavioral outcomes in preclinical models of traumatic and nontraumatic spinal cord injury: results from a systematic review of the literature

Study Design:Systematic review.Objective:To evaluate the impact of riluzole on neurobehavioral outcomes in preclinical models of nontraumatic and traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods:An extensive search of the literature was conducted in Medline, EMBASE, and Medline in Process. Studies were included if they evaluated the impact of riluzole on neurobehavioral outcomes in preclinical models of nontraumatic and traumatic SCI. Extensive data were extracted from relevant studies, including sample characteristics, injury model, outcomes assessed, timing of evaluation, and main results. The SYRCLE checklist was used to assess various sources of bias.Results:The search yielded a total of 3180 unique citations. A total of 16 studies were deemed relevant and were summarized in this review. Sample sizes ranged from 14 to 90, and injury models included traumatic SCI (n = 9), degenerative cervical myelopathy (n = 2), and spinal cord-ischemia (n = 5). The most commonly assessed outcome measures were BBB (Basso, Beattie, Besnahan) locomotor score and von Frey filament testing. In general, rats treated with riluzole exhibited significantly higher BBB locomotor scores than controls. Furthermore, riluzole significantly increased withdrawal thresholds to innocuous stimuli and tail flick latency following application of radiant heat stimuli. Finally, rats treated with riluzole achieved superior results on many components of gait assessment.Conclusion:In preclinical models of traumatic and nontraumatic SCI, riluzole significantly improves locomotor scores, gait function, and neuropathic pain. This review provides the background information necessary to interpret the results of clinical trials on the impact of riluzole in traumatic and nontraumatic SCI

Chlorpromazine for schizophrenia: a Cochrane systematic review of 50 years of randomised controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Chlorpromazine (CPZ) remains one of the most common drugs used for people with schizophrenia worldwide, and a benchmark against which other treatments can be evaluated. Quantitative reviews are rare; this one evaluates the effects of chlorpromazine in the treatment of schizophrenia in comparison with placebo. METHODS: We sought all relevant randomised controlled trials (RCT) comparing chlorpromazine to placebo by electronic and reference searching, and by contacting trial authors and the pharmaceutical industry. Data were extracted from selected trials and, where possible, synthesised and random effects relative risk (RR), the number needed to treat (NNT) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated. RESULTS: Fifty RCTs from 1955–2000 were included with 5276 people randomised to CPZ or placebo. They constitute 2008 person-years spent in trials. Meta-analysis of these trials showed that chlorpromazine promotes a global improvement (n = 1121, 13 RCTs, RR 0.76 CI 0.7 to 0.9, NNT 7 CI 5 to 10), although a considerable placebo response is also seen. People allocated to chlorpromazine tended not to leave trials early in both the short (n = 945, 16 RCTs, RR 0.74 CI 0.5 to 1.1) and medium term (n = 1861, 25 RCTs, RR 0.79 CI 0.6 to 1.1). There were, however, many adverse effects. Chlorpromazine is sedating (n = 1242, 18 RCTs, RR 2.3 CI 1.7 to 3.1, NNH 6 CI 5 to 8), increases a person's chances of experiencing acute movement disorders, Parkinsonism and causes low blood pressure with dizziness and dry mouth. CONCLUSION: It is understandable why the World Health Organization (WHO) have endorsed and included chlorpromazine in their list of essential drugs for use in schizophrenia. Low- and middle-income countries may have more complete evidence upon which to base their practice compared with richer nations using recent innovations

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on a Three-Dimensional Photonic Crystal

We present a material assembly route for the manufacture of dye-sensitized solar cells, coupling a high-surface mesoporous layer to a three-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) Material synthesis aided by self-assembly on two length scales provided electrical and pore connectivity at the mesoporous and the microporous level This construct allows effective dye sensitization. electrolyte infiltration, and charge collection from both the mesoporous and the PC layers, opening up additional parameter space for effective light management by harvesting PC-induced resonance

Healthcare designers’ use of prescriptive and performance-based approaches

In the UK, healthcare built environment design is guided by a series of long-established design standards and guidance issued by the Department of Health. More recently, healthcare design focus has broadened to encompass new approaches, supported by large bodies of credible research evidence. It is therefore timely to rethink how healthcare design standards and guidance should be best expressed to suit ‘designerly ways’ of using evidence, to improve their use and effectiveness in practice. This research explored how designers use performance and prescriptive approaches during the healthcare design process. Three in-depth healthcare built environment case studies were used to explore how designers employed such approaches during the design of selected exemplar design elements. Results show that design elements in the pre and conceptual design phases significantly employed performance-based approaches, and due to project-unique circumstances, prescriptive solutions were often significantly modified based on performance criteria. For design elements in the detailed and technical design phases, there was a significant use of solutions based on prescriptive approaches, whilst performance-based criteria were used to evaluate design solutions. This research proposes a performance-based, specification-driven healthcare design with supplementary prescriptive specifications provided for optimum healthcare environment design

Plasma Dynamics

Contains reports on eight research projects split into two sections.National Science Foundation (Grant ENG79-07047)U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (Grant AFOSR-77-3143D)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET-51013)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET-53073.AO02)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET-53074)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET-53076)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET-51002

The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of. service organizations. This study develops a conceptual frame work to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioural responses of . consumers., as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers' to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2 x 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect

Plasma Dynamics

Contains reports on ten research projects divided into two sections.National Science Foundation (Grant ENG79-07047)U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (Grant AFOSR-77-3143)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ACO2-78ET51013)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ASO2-78ET53073.AO02)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract ET-78-S-02-4682)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-AS02-78ET53074)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ASO2-78ET53050)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-AS02-78ET51002)U.S. Department of Energy (Contract DE-ASO2-78ET53076

Biological responses in fish exposed to municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent in situ

Effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs) are complex mixtures of chemicals including endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2). The objective of this study was to evaluate selected responses of two fish species, in two different years, exposed in situ to MWTP effluent. Biological markers of exposure (plasma vitellogenin (VTG) and antioxidant enzymes) were measured in two species of male fish, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), caged at sites associated with wastewater outfall. The estrogenicity of the final effluent in 2010 was determined to be 17.0 + 0.4 ng/L estrogen equivalents (EEQ) and reduced to 7.5 + 2.9 ng/L EEQ after infrastructure upgrades. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the effluent and surface water in both years confirmed the exposures at each downstream site. Despite the presence of estrogenic compounds in the MWTP effluent, no effluent-caged male fish demonstrated plasma VTG induction. Minnows and trout that received an intraperitoneal injection of 5 mg/g EE2 showed VTG induction at both field sites. In 2012, the liver somatic index (LSI) of both species increased with exposure, as did changes in antioxidant enzymes, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity. Multiple biological mechanisms are modified by effluent exposure, and multiple endpoints are needed to assess risk.Standards Development Branch|| Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (OMECC)||the Canadian Water Network||Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council|| Canada Research Chairsto MRS|| OMECC Laboratory Services Branch||Trent University||University of Ottawa ||Environment and Climate Change Canad

Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? A prospective cohort study

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) involves extrinsic spinal cord compression causing tissue injury and neurological dysfunction. Asymptomatic spinal cord compression (ASCC) is more common, but its significance is poorly defined. This study investigates if: (1) ASCC can be automatically diagnosed using spinal cord shape analysis; (2) multiparametric quantitative MRI can detect similar spinal cord tissue injury as previously observed in DCM. DESIGN: Prospective observational longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Single centre, tertiary care and research institution. PARTICIPANTS: 40 neurologically intact subjects (19 female, 21 male) divided into groups with and without ASCC. INTERVENTIONS: None. OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical assessments: modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association score and physical examination. 3T MRI assessments: automated morphometric analysis compared with consensus ratings of spinal cord compression, and measures of tissue injury: cross-sectional area, diffusion fractional anisotropy, magnetisation transfer ratio and T2*-weighted imaging white to grey matter signal intensity ratio (T2*WI WM/GM) extracted from rostral (C1-3), caudal (C6-7) and maximally compressed levels. RESULTS: ASCC was present in 20/40 subjects. Diagnosis with automated shape analysis showed area under the curve >97%. Five MRI metrics showed differences suggestive of tissue injury in ASCC compared with uncompressed subjects (p<0.05), while a composite of all 10 measures (average of z scores) showed highly significant differences (p=0.002). At follow-up (median 21 months), two ASCC subjects developed DCM. CONCLUSIONS: ASCC appears to be common and can be accurately and objectively diagnosed with automated morphometric analysis. Quantitative MRI appears to detect subclinical tissue injury in ASCC prior to the onset of neurological symptoms and signs. These findings require further validation, but offer the intriguing possibility of presymptomatic diagnosis and treatment of DCM and other spinal pathologies