Carotid artery occlusion due to bacterial paranasal sinusitis

BACKGROUND: Many experts have suggested that blunt splenic trauma in patients older than 55 years should not be managed by observation because of supposed increased fragility of the spleen and decreased physiologic reserve in elderly patients. We sought to determine the outcome of nonoperative management of blunt splenic trauma in patients older than 55 years. METHODS: For the years 1994 through 1996, data for patients with splenic injury older than 55 years from seven trauma centers in a single state were reviewed. RESULTS: Blunt splenic trauma occurred in 41 patients older than 55 years. Eight patients were excluded from further analysis because of death from massive associated injuries within 24 hours of admission. The remaining 33 patients (mean age, 72+/-10 years) were divided into two groups: immediate exploration (10 patients) and observation (23 patients). Observation of blunt splenic injury failed in 4 of 23 patients (17%). No patient deaths were related to the method of management of the splenic injury. CONCLUSIONS: Observation of the elderly patient with blunt splenic trauma has an acceptable failure rate of 17%.     

Competing Modes for Crack Initiation from Non-metallic Inclusions and Intrinsic Microstructural Features During Fatigue in a Polycrystalline Nickel-Based Superalloy

Cyclic fatigue experiments in the high and very high cycle fatigue regimes have been performed on a René 88DT polycrystalline nickel-based superalloy. The microstructural configurations that favor early strain localization and fatigue crack initiation at high temperature from 400 °C to 650 °C have been investigated. Competing failure modes are observed in the high to the very high cycle fatigue regime. Fatigue cracks initiate from non-metallic inclusions and from intrinsic internal microstructural features. Interestingly, as stresses are reduced into the very high cycle regime, there is a transition to initiation only at crystallographic facets. At higher stress in the high cycle fatigue regime, a significant fraction of specimens initiate cracks at non-metallic inclusions. This transition is analyzed with regard to microstructural features that favor strain localization and accumulate damage early during cycling.     

Evaluation of "shotgun" proteomics for identification of biological threat agents in complex environmental matrixes: experimental simulations

There is currently a great need for rapid detection and positive identification of biological threat agents, as well as microbial species in general, directly from complex environmental samples. This need is most urgent in the area of homeland security, but also extends into medical, environmental, and agricultural sciences. Mass-spectrometry-based analysis is one of the leading technologies in the field with a diversity of different methodologies for biothreat detection. Over the past few years, "shotgun"proteomics has become one method of choice for the rapid analysis of complex protein mixtures by mass spectrometry. Recently, it was demonstrated that this methodology is capable of distinguishing a target species against a large database of background species from a single-component sample or dual-component mixtures with relatively the same concentration. Here, we examine the potential of shotgun proteomics to analyze a target species in a background of four contaminant species. We tested the capability of a common commercial mass-spectrometry-based shotgun proteomics platform for the detection of the target species (Escherichia coli) at four different concentrations and four different time points of analysis. We also tested the effect of database size on positive identification of the four microbes used in this study by testing a small (13-species) database and a large (261-species) database. The results clearly indicated that this technology could easily identify the target species at 20% in the background mixture at a 60, 120, 180, or 240 min analysis time with the small database. The results also indicated that the target species could easily be identified at 20% or 6% but could not be identified at 0.6% or 0.06% in either a 240 min analysis or a 30 h analysis with the small database. The effects of the large database were severe on the target species where detection above the background at any concentration used in this study was impossible, though the three other microbes used in this study were clearly identified above the background when analyzed with the large database. This study points to the potential application of this technology for biological threat agent detection but highlights many areas of needed research before the technology will be useful in real world samples.     

The inflammatory and immune response to mousepox (infectious ectromelia) virus

The ectromelia virus (EV) has been recognized as the etiological agent of a relatively common infection in laboratory mouse colonies around the world, i.e., Europe (including Poland), USA and Asia. Due to widespread use of mice in biomedical research, it is important to study the biology of strains characteristic for a given country. This is particularly significant for the diagnosis, prevention and control ectromelia. In severe epizootics, approximately 90% morbidity is observed within colonies and mortality rate exceeding 70% is observed within 4 to 20 days from the appearance of clinical symptoms. The resistance to lethal infection is mouse strain-dependent. Several inbred strains of mice, including C57BL/6 and AKR are resistant to the lethal effects of EV infection, while others, such as A and BALB/c are susceptible. Recent studies indicate that (1) T lymphocytes, NK cells and interferon (IFN)-dependent host defenses must operate for the expression of resistance, (2) virus-specific T-cell precursors appear earlier in regional lymph nodes of resistant than susceptible mice, and (3) resistance mechanisms are expressed during early stages of infection. Over the past several years, (1) induction of anti-EV cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTL) responses in vivo in the absence of CD4+ (T helper) cells, (2) importance of some cytokines e.g., IFN-gamma in EV clearance at all stages of infection, and (3) induction of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, which is necessary for a substantial antiviral activity of IFN-gamma, have been demonstrated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Maternal assessment of infant development: associations with alcohol and drug use in pregnancy

Surveillance by parental concern has been advocated to assess whether formal child developmental testing is needed. To determine whether alcohol intake or illicit drug use in pregnancy is associated with differences in maternal perception of infant development, mothers with acknowledge alcohol and drug habits during pregnancy (N = 120) were interviewed at 11 months' postpartum, within 1 month before infant testing by use of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Women with heavy alcohol intake during pregnancy (> 3.5 oz absolute alcohol per week) were 15-fold more likely to overestimate their infant's mental development (P < 0.05), whereas mothers using illicit drugs were 4-fold more likely to overestimate their infant's physical development (P = 0.02). Given the frequent denial of substance abuse, we suggest that health care providers be cautious in accepting a lack of parental concern about a child's development and rely more heavily on formal testing, particularly in high-risk populations.     

Perception of the pleasantness and competence of a partner.

An experiment was conducted to test hypotheses derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance concerning changes in the perception of a partner's pleasantness and competence following the discovery of unpleasant characteristics of the partner. College women who received information indicating their partner for a problem-solving task was very unpleasant rated her as less unpleasant than women who received identical information about someone who was not their partner. Those who received information indicating their partner was very unpleasant rated her as more competent than women who received information indicating their partner had fewer unpleasant characteristics. Whether they had chosen to work with the partner or were assigned had no significant effects on their ratings of her pleasantness or competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of commitment and certainty upon interest in supporting information.

A field experiment was conducted to test hypotheses derived from a theory concerning interest in information about the relative merits of alternative actions. After college men stated a position on an issue, they indicated their interest in reading articles favoring each side of the issue and also rated how certain they were their position was best. Some were told their position would be publicized, others that it would be kept completely private. In accordance with the hypotheses, when they were publicly committed to a position, the less certain they were it was the best position the more they preferred information supporting the position; when they were not committed, the more certain they were the more they preferred supporting information (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group.

"An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that persons who undergo an unpleasant initiation to become members of a group increase their liking for the group; that is, they find the group more attractive than do persons who become members without going through a severe initiation. This hypothesis was derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance." 3 conditions were employed: reading of "embarrassing material" before a group, mildly embarrassing material to be read, no reading. "The results clearly verified the hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preprints Anonymous.

This note proposes a new special interest group of APA members, devoted to preserving and improving APA journals as the medium for scholarly research. We shall consider ways of raising standards for publication, of increasing the journals' hospitality to original ideas and to criticism of accepted ideas, and of shortening the time lag. A tentative name for the group is Preprints Anonymous. Wide circulation of unedited preprints and research reports having become a major means for eroding standards, members are asked to pledge that they will not read any unedited, unsolicited preprint. Exceptions can be made for the work of their own collaborators and colleagues and for genuine requests for criticism prior to publication. Information for those interested in joining the group is included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The expression of keratins, vimentin, neurofilament proteins, smooth muscle actin, neuron-specific enolase, and synaptophysin in tumors of the specific glands in the canine anal region

Eight canine tumors originating from specific glandular structures in the anal region, as well as metastatic tumor tissue of two of these cases (case Nos. 7, 8), were immunohistochemically analyzed using various monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) directed against human keratin types, vimentin, neurofilament proteins, and alpha-smooth muscle actin. These tumors also were stained for the broad-spectrum neuroendocrine markers neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and synaptophysin. In histologically normal canine anal structures, alpha-smooth muscle actin and NSE antibodies stained basally localized (probably myoepithelial) cells in the anal glands and the anal sac glands. NSE staining also was present in a limited number of luminal cells in both anal glands and anal sac glands. Synaptophysin labeling was not observed in any of these glandular structures. Histologically, the tumors were differentiated into well- and moderately differentiated perianal gland tumors (n = 5) and carcinomas without perianal gland differentiation (n = 3), corresponding to the so-called apocrine carcinomas of the anal region. Immunohistochemically, the perianal gland tumors could be differentiated from the carcinomas by marked differences in staining pattern with the various keratin MoAbs, particularly MoAbs directed against human keratin types 7 and 18. The keratin-staining characteristics of the carcinomas suggest a glandular luminal cell origin. Metastases of the carcinomas showed loss of some keratin-staining characteristics as compared with the primary tumor. Staining for NSE was only observed in solitary cells and small cell clusters in the carcinomas and their metastases, whereas the alpha-smooth muscle actin antibody did not react with the carcinoma cells. None of the tumors stained for neurofilament proteins or synaptophysin. An unequivocal neuroendocrine nature of the carcinomas could not be substantiated by our immunohistochemical study, although the presence of a population of neuroendocrine cells within these neoplasms seems likely. Because the immunohistochemical features of the carcinomas with respect to various keratin MoAbs and NSE are similar to those of the anal glands and the anal sac glands, both these glands might be considered as site of origin of these carcinomas.