Chromophore-Free Sealing and Repair of Soft Tissues Using Mid-Infrared Light-Activated Biosealants

Poor strength, infection, leakage, long procedure times, and inflammation limit the efficacy of common tissue sealing devices in surgeries and trauma. Light-activated sealing is attractive for tissue sealing and repair, and can be facilitated by the generation of local heat following absorption of nonionizing laser energy by chromophores. Here, the inherent ability of biomaterials is exploited to absorb nonionizing, mid-infrared (midIR) light in order to engender rapid photothermal sealing and repair of soft tissue wounds. In this approach, the biomaterial simultaneously acts as a photothermal convertor as well as a biosealant, which dispenses the need for exogeneous light-absorbing nanoparticles or dyes. Biomechanical recovery, mathematical modeling, histopathology analyses, tissue strain mapping using digital imaging correlation, and visualization of the biosealant-tissue interface using hyperspectral imaging indicate superior performance of midIR sealing in live mice compared to conventional sutures and glue. The midIR-biosealant approach demonstrates rapid sealing of soft tissues, improves cosmesis, lowers potential for scarring, obviates safety concerns because of the nonionizing light used, and allows adoption of a wide diversity of biomaterials. Taken together, the studies demonstrate a novel advance both in biomaterials for surgical sealing along with the use of nonionizing midIR light, with high potential for clinical translation.     

Mothers' supervision of their children's peer play: Relations with beliefs, perceptions, and knowledge.

Mothers (N?=?76) of 3- to 5-year-old children completed questionnaires assessing beliefs in the importance and modifiability (vs. innateness) of children's peer relationship skills, perceptions of their children's social competence with peers, and strategies they would use in response to children's peer interaction problems. A subsample of mothers (n?=?34) was observed supervising the play of their own children and a peer. Maternal perceptions of children's competence were negatively associated with the extent of mothers' involvement in children's play, whereas the quality of supervision was predicted by knowledge of socialization strategies and the interaction of beliefs and knowledge. Beliefs appeared to moderate the effects of maternal knowledge on mothers' behavior in that knowledge was associated with the quality of supervision only when mothers believed social skills were important and modifiable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

免疫细胞素Hu14.18-IL-2对黑色素瘤病人的免疫激活作用

目的评估免疫细胞素Hu14.18-IL-2对黑色素瘤病人体内免疫作用。方法33位黑色素瘤病人用一种人源化抗神经节苷脂GD-2的单抗与IL-2融合的免疫细胞素进行治疗,按每天0.8、1.6、3.2、4.8、6.0、7.5 mg/m2静脉滴注,连续3 d为一疗程,病情稳定或缓解后,在第5周接受第2疗程治疗。观察病人外周血单核淋巴细胞抗体依赖的细胞毒性、自然杀伤细胞活性、IL-2的体外增殖以及IL-2可溶性受体的变化。结果Hu14.18-IL-2能诱导病人淋巴细胞的吞噬作用,增强外周血中自然杀伤细胞的杀伤能力和数目,使血清中IL-2受体复合体的可溶性受体α链水平上升。结论免疫细胞素Hu14.18-IL-2对黑色素瘤病人具有免疫激活作用。     

Cognitive behavioral therapy for 4- to 7-year-old children with anxiety disorders: A randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To examine the efficacy of a developmentally appropriate parent–child cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol for anxiety disorders in children ages 4–7 years. Method: Design: Randomized wait-list controlled trial. Conduct: Sixty-four children (53% female, mean age 5.4 years, 80% European American) with anxiety disorders were randomized to a parent–child CBT intervention (n = 34) or a 6-month wait-list condition (n = 30). Children were assessed by interviewers blind to treatment assignment, using structured diagnostic interviews with parents, laboratory assessments of behavioral inhibition, and parent questionnaires. Analysis: Chi-square analyses of outcome rates and linear and ordinal regression of repeated measures, examining time by intervention interactions. Results: The response rate (much or very much improved on the Clinical Global Impression Scale for Anxiety) among 57 completers was 69% versus 32% (CBT vs. controls), p     

Cognitive–behavioral therapy to reduce weight concerns improves smoking cessation outcome in weight-concerned women.

Women smokers concerned about weight gain (N?=?219) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 adjunct treatments accompanying group smoking cessation counseling: (a) behavioral weight control to prevent weight gain (weight control); (b) cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) to directly reduce weight concern, in which dieting was discouraged; and (c) standard counseling alone (standard), in which weight gain was not explicitly addressed. Ten sessions were conducted over 7 weeks, and no medication was provided. Continuous abstinence was significantly higher at posttreatment and at 6 and 12 months of follow-up for CBT (56%, 28%, and 21%, respectively), but not for weight control (44%, 18%, and 13%, respectively), relative to standard (31%, 12%, and 9%, respectively). However, weight control, and to a lesser extent CBT, was associated with attenuation of negative mood after quitting. Prequit body mass index, but not change in weight or in weight concerns postquit, predicted cessation outcome at 1 year. In sum, CBT to reduce weight concerns, but not behavioral weight control counseling to prevent weight gain, improves smoking cessation outcome in weight-concerned women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Establishing Storm-Water BMP Evaluation Metrics Based upon Ambient Water Quality Associated with Benthic Macroinvertebrate Populations

Storm-water experts agree that the currently used best management practice (BMP) percent removal methodology metric has many flaws, and some have suggested using a BMP effluent concentration metric. This case study examines establishing an effluent target concentration for BMPs that relates to the health of macroinvertebrates in the receiving water. In North Carolina, 193 ambient water quality monitoring stations were paired with benthic macroinvertebrate health ratings collected in very close proximity. Water quality for the sites ranged from excellent to poor and was divided into three distinct ecoregions: Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal. Statistically significant relationships were found in one or more ecoregions for dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, NH3, NO2?3?N, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). BMPs can then be selected and designed to meet these target effluent concentrations. Based upon this research, a development, and therefore set of BMPs, in Piedmont North Carolina could be required to release TN and TP effluent concentrations of 0.99 mg/L and 0.11 mg/L, respectively. These concentrations are both associated with “good” benthos health. The new method was most effective in the Piedmont ecoregion, however with more data collection, the Mountain and Coastal ecoregions may also benefit.     

Immediate-startle stimulus presentation fails to condition freezing responses to contextual cues.

Placed 28 male Wistar rats in a novel and distinctive environment. 18 of these received an intense startle-eliciting white noise stimulus. Animals that experienced a 60-sec delay between placement and the startle stimulus demonstrated significant freezing in the context, both poststartle (Session 1) and on a later startle-free test (Session 2). Animals that received immediate startle, however, did not differ on either occasion from animals that did not experience the startle stimulus. The amplitude of the startle response was not affected by this manipulation, which indicates a dissociation between freezing and startle responses with immediate- vs delay-startle presentation. The findings are consistent with M. S. Fanselow's (1986) conditioned stimulus (CS)-based associative explanation of the immediate-shock freezing deficit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infrared hollow waveguide sensors for simultaneous gas phase detection of benzene, toluene, and xylenes in field environments

Simultaneous and molecularly selective parts-per-billion detection of benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) using a thermal desorption (TD)-FTIR hollow waveguide (HWG) trace gas sensor is demonstrated here for the first time combining laboratory calibration with real-world sample analysis in field. A calibration range of 100-1000 ppb analyte/N(2) was developed and applied for predicting the concentration of blinded environmental air samples within the same concentration range, and demonstrate close agreement with the validation method used here, GC-FID. The analyte concentration prediction capability of the TD-FTIR-HWG trace gas sensor also compares well with the industrial standard and other experimental techniques including GC-PID, ultrafast GC-FID, and GC-DMS, which were simultaneously operated in the field. With the advent of a quantum cascade laser with emission frequencies specifically tailored to efficiently overlap benzene absorption as the most relevant analyte, the overall sensor footprint could be considerably reduced to ultimately yield hand-held trace gas sensors facilitating direct and real-time detection of BTX in air down to low ppb levels.     

Reflex modification in the rat: The inhibitory effects of intensity and frequency changes in steady tones.

Four experiments with 50 male albino Charles River rats investigated the relation between the inhibitory effects of tonal frequency change and the length of the silent period (gap) preceding it. It is noted that, in both laboratory rats and in humans, a low-intensity tone that precedes a high-intensity burst of noise by approximately 100 msec can reduce the amplitude of the startle reaction elicited by the burst of noise. Overall results show that a gap in an otherwise continuous pure tone inhibited startle when the gap occurred approximately 100 msec prior to the noise burst. Although an increase in gap duration increased the inhibition afforded by the gap, the maximum inhibition was yielded by gaps of 100 msec and greater; this maximum was equivalent to the inhibition yielded by the presentation of a postgap tone alone. A shift in tonal frequency across a 10-msec gap yielded more inhibition than did the same gap with no frequency shift; again, the shift yielded equivalent inhibition to the presentation of the postgap tone alone. An increase in the frequency shift increased inhibition when the shift occurred across a 10-msec gap but not across a 100-msec gap. It is concluded that the amount of inhibition afforded by a complex acoustic event is more than a mere additive function of the inhibitory effects of the different elements that make up the event. For example, a tonal onset is just as inhibitory as a frequency shift across a gap, which includes a tonal onset, tonal offset, and frequency shift. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)