Cardiopulmonary bypass reduces atrial Na+-K+-ATPase expression in children

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) may induce serious side effects, potentially leading to myocardial failure. The Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase is a key component for myocardial function. Due to its developmental regulation, results from adult studies cannot be adopted to the situation in childhood. Right atrial myocardium from patients with left-to-right shunts at atrial level (VO, n=8) and those without (NO, n=8) was excised during heart surgery before and after CPB. Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase isoforms ATP1A1 (p=0.008) and ATP1A3 (p=0.038) decreased during CPB, which decrease was restricted to the VO group. This study highlights the importance of the underlying heart defect for susceptibility to the effects of CPB, showing a reduced Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase mRNA expression only in patients with left-to-right shunts on the atrial level. This seemed to be an early molecular event, as apart from one, none of the patients showed heart failure before or after surgery.     

Reduced atrial connexin43 expression after pediatric heart surgery

Myocardial dysfunction and arrhythmias may be induced by congenital heart defects, but also be the result of heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), potentially caused by differential expression of connexin40 (Cx40) and connexin43 (Cx43). In 16 pediatric patients undergoing corrective heart surgery, connexin mRNA expression was studied in volume overloaded (VO group, n=8) and not overloaded (NO group, n=8) right atrial myocardium, excised before and after CPB. Additionally, in eight of these patients ventricular specimens were investigated. The atrial Cx43 expression decreased during CPB, which was restricted to the VO group (p=0.008). In contrast, atrial Cx40 mRNA did not change during CPB. In ventricular myocardium compared to atrial mRNA levels, Cx40 was lower (p=0.006) and Cx43 higher (p=0.017) expressed, without significant change during CPB. This study revealed a significant influence of CPB and the underlying heart defect on Cx43 expression.     

Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica)—Biology,Ecology, and Management

Cogongrass is considered to be one of the ten most troublesome and problematic weedy species in the world. This species is found throughout tropical and subtropical regions, generally in areas disturbed by human activities. Over 100 common names have been associated with cogongrass, including japgrass, speargrass, alang-alang, and bladygrass. Although this species has several commercial uses, the problems associated with its weediness far outweigh most positive benefits. Cogongrass is a major impediment to reforestation efforts in southeast Asia, the number one weed in agronomic and vegetable production in many parts of Africa, and is responsible for thousands of hectares of lost native habitat in the southeastern U.S. Biologically, cogongrass possesses several features that foster its spread and persistence. Management efforts for cogongrass consist of an integrated approach with several control strategies. In agronomic production, the use of cover crops is widely successful, but incorporation into the overall production scheme is challenging. Success has been achieved with continuous deep tillage or chemical applications, but long-term eradication/suppression must employ sustainable revegetation strategies.     

烧伤对兔血红细胞内游离氨基酸浓度的影响

动态观察烧伤兔血红细胞内游离氨基酸的代谢变化。以日立 835 - 5 0型氨基酸自动分析仪测定 30 %TBSA兔烧伤后 1、3、7、15和 2 0d血红细胞内游离氨基酸的含量。结果显示 ,烧伤后多数测试点红细胞内游离氨基酸不同程度降低 ;伤后 1天降低最显著 ;苏、丙、缬、组、精和脯氨酸伤后各个时间点降低 ,多数时间点显著降低 (P <0 .0 5 - 0 .0 1)。结果提示烧伤后红细胞内游离氨基酸依靠易化扩散参与全身氨基酸的再分布     

La infección fúngica en el paciente pediátrico inmunodeprimido

In recent years, immunodeficiency condition has experienced a rise among children, who are at risk of invasive fungal infections (IFI) due to their health condition. Cancer, non-malignant hematological diseases, as primary immunodeficiencies, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), extreme prematurity, or critically ill condition in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are some immunosuppressive situations in children. The use of oncologic therapies, including immunotherapy and monoclonal antibodies, for the treatment of the aforementioned health conditions has led to an increase in morbidity and mortality rates of IFI in children.The underlying diseases and their management, comorbidities, the diagnostic tests used (both molecular and imaging), as well as the treatment used can be significantly different between adult patients and children admitted to PICU or with cancer. In pediatrics, the treatment of IFI is based primarily on pharmacokinetic studies performed in adults. In higher risk patients prophylaxis should be considered and, in the case of an IFI diagnosis, an antifungal treatment should be administered as early as possible, supported by the reversion of the immune dysfunction and surgery when appropriate.     

A structured decision making analysis to increase a Red-cockaded Woodpecker population and balance stakeholder objectives for a National Forest

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) savanna is a biodiverse ecosystem native to the southeastern United States. Due to fire suppression and timber harvest, longleaf pine has declined to 3% of its original range. The extant forest provides habitat for many threatened and endangered species, including the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis; RCW), a cavity-nesting bird that co-evolved with fire-maintained forest, resulting in savanna-like old-growth forest as the bird’s preferred habitat. Our study site, the Oakmulgee Ranger District of the Talladega National Forest, harbors the largest RCW population in Alabama and is managed with an emphasis on RCW conservation. The United States Forest Service (USFS) also manages the Oakmulgee for uses such as wildlife conservation, recreation, and timber harvest. Despite efforts to restore RCW habitat and install artificial cavities in the Oakmulgee, the number of RCW groups has not exceeded 123, although the Recovery Plan objective is 394 groups. Our project was motivated by the USFS expressing interest in determining why the RCW population has not exceeded 123 groups. We proposed using structured decision making (SDM) with the USFS and other stakeholders to address this problem. Our goals were to explicitly define management objectives, build a Bayesian belief network with a model of how decision alternatives are believed to affect management objectives, and use a sensitivity analysis to determine the part of the model to which RCW population growth was most sensitive. Therefore, results from the analysis were expected to give insights into 1) ecological factors limiting RCW population growth, 2) how management can overcome these limits, plus 3) the relative expected ability of different decision alternatives to satisfy multiple objectives in addition to increasing RCW group number. We held four SDM workshops with representatives from the USFS, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Longleaf Alliance, the Birmingham Audubon Society, and local residents. Stakeholder objectives consisted of maximizing the following: RCW group number, forest health, recreational enjoyment, community economic health, and aesthetics. Cavity insert installation had the greatest probability of increasing the number of RCW groups. The number of RCW groups was most affected by cavity availability, adult survival, reproductive output, food availability, and herbaceous understory. Prescribed burning was most likely to meet the combination of stakeholder objectives, followed by midstory removal. Our findings suggest that cavity installation efforts may need to be increased in the Oakmulgee to increase RCW group number. Also it could be beneficial to investigate how RCWs select cavity tree locations with the goal of increasing the chance that RCWs use artificial cavities to form new groups. The Bayesian belief network provided insights into factors limiting RCW population growth and how management can overcome these limits. The Bayesian belief network also can be used to prioritize management methods in the Oakmulgee given stakeholder objectives and time constraints.     

The response of the pediatric head to impacts onto a rigid surface

The study of pediatric head injury relies heavily on the use of finite element models and child anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs). However, these tools, in the context of pediatric head injury, have yet to be validated due to a paucity of pediatric head response data. The goal of this study is to investigate the response and injury tolerance of the pediatric head to impact.Twelve pediatric heads were impacted in a series of drop tests. The heads were dropped onto five impact locations (forehead, occiput, vertex and right and left parietal) from drop heights of 15 and 30 cm. The head could freely fall without rotation onto a flat 19 mm thick platen. The impact force was measured using a 3-axis piezoelectric load cell attached to the platen.Age and drop height were found to be significant factors in the impact response of the pediatric head. The head acceleration (14%–15 cm; 103–30 cm), Head Injury Criterion (HIC) (253%–15 cm; 154%–30 cm) and impact stiffness (5800%–15 cm; 3755%–30 cm) when averaged across all impact locations increased with age from 33 weeks gestation to 16 years, while the pulse duration (66%–15 cm; 53%–30 cm) decreased with age. Increases in head acceleration, HIC and impact stiffness were also observed with increased drop height, while pulse duration decreased with increased drop height.One important observation was that three of the four cadaveric heads between the ages of 5-months and 22-months sustained fractures from the 15 cm and 30 cm drop heights. The 5-month-old sustained a right parietal linear fracture while the 11- and 22-month-old sustained diastatic linear fractures.     

Pediatric glioblastoma cells inhibit neurogenesis and promote astrogenesis,phenotypic transformation and migration of human neural progenitor cells within cocultures

Neural progenitor cell (NPC) fate is influenced by a variety of biological cues elicited from the surrounding microenvironment and recent studies suggest their possible role in pediatric glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) development. Since a few GBM cells also display NPC characteristics, it is not clear whether NPCs transform to tumor cell phenotype leading to the onset of GBM formation, or NPCs migrate to developing tumor sites in response to paracrine signaling from GBM cells. Elucidating the paracrine interactions between GBM cells and NPCs in vivo is challenging due to the inherent complexity of the CNS. Here, we investigated the interactions between human NPCs (ReNcell) and human pediatric GBM-derived cells (SJ-GBM2) using a Transwell^® coculture setup to assess the effects of GBM cells on ReNcells (cytokine and chemokine release, viability, phenotype, differentiation, migration). Standalone ReNcell or GBM cultures served as controls. Qualitative and quantitative results from ELISA^®, Live/Dead^® and BrdU assays, immunofluorescence labeling, western blot analysis, and scratch test suggests that although ReNcell viability remained unaffected in the presence of pediatric GBM cells, their morphology, phenotype, differentiation patterns, neurite outgrowth, migration patterns (average speed, distance, number of cells) and GSK-3β expression were significantly influenced. The cumulative distance migrated by the cells in each condition was fit to Furth's formula, derived formally from Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. ReNcell differentiation into neural lineage was compromised and astrogenesis promoted within cocultures. Such coculture platform could be extended to identify the specific molecules contributing to the observed phenomena, to investigate whether NPCs could be transplanted to replace lesions of excised tumor sites, and to elucidate the underlying molecular pathways involved in GBM-NPC interactions within the tumor microenvironment.     

Circum-menarcheal bone acquisition is stress-driven: A longitudinal study in adolescent female gymnasts and non-gymnasts

Mechanical loading through youth exercise is highly modifiable and represents a strategy to maximize peak adult bone mass, with the potential for broad implementation across the population to lower fracture risk. For girls, circum-menarcheal growth is critical, with around 50% of adult bone acquired over a 4-year period. Here, we prospectively followed 10 gymnasts and 12 age-matched non-gymnasts across approximately 4 years circum-menarche. A combination of pQCT and subject-specific finite element models were used to measure differences in bone acquisition and structure between the groups, and to determine the degree to which specific mechanical factors predict change in bone structure. At baseline, gymnasts had stronger bone, including 26% higher BMC, 51% greater compressive strength, and 21% higher trabecular density. Over the study period, both groups more than doubled their bone strength. Pre-menarcheal principal stresses predicted change in pQCT variables for non-gymnasts, but not gymnasts. The bone of non-gymnasts became more asymmetrical than the bone of gymnasts. Our results suggest that exposure to the diverse, intense mechanical signals of gymnastic loading during adolescence imparts substantial benefits to bone geometry and mechanical function. Specifically, the bone of gymnasts is better able to resist loading from multiple directions, and operates with a higher factor of safety compared to non-gymnasts.     

Interinstitutional patient transfers between rapid chemotherapy cycles were feasible to utilize proton beam therapy for pediatric Ewing sarcoma family of tumors

Aim

To assess the feasibility of transferring to the University of Tsukuba Hospital for proton beam therapy (PBT) during intensive chemotherapy in children with Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) who had been diagnosed and started their first-line treatment at prefectural or regional centers for pediatric oncology.