Plos One
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Multicenter Study
Spectrum and inoculum size effect of a rapid antigen detection test for group A streptococcus in children with pharyngitis.
The stability of the accuracy of a diagnostic test is critical to whether clinicians can rely on its result. We aimed to assess whether the performance of a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) for group A streptococcus (GAS) is affected by the clinical spectrum and/or bacterial inoculum size. ⋯ Variations in RADT sensitivity only occur in patients with light inocula. Because the spectrum effect does not affect the negative predictive value of the test, clinicians who want to rule out GAS can rely on negative RADT results regardless of clinical features if they accept that about 10% of children with negative RADT results will have a positive throat culture. However, such a policy is more acceptable in populations with very low incidence of complications of GAS infection.
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Mild hypothermia is the only effective treatment confirmed clinically to improve neurological outcomes for comatose patients with cardiac arrest. However, the underlying mechanism is not fully elucidated. In this study, our aim was to determine the effect of mild hypothermia on mitochondrial oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex. ⋯ Moreover, mild hypothermia attenuated the decrease in Complex I and Complex III (i.e., major sites of reactive oxygen species production) activities of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and increased antioxidant enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) activity. This increase in MnSOD activity was consistent with the upregulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) mRNA and protein expressions, and with the increase of Nrf2 nuclear translocation in normothermic pigs at 24 and 72 h following ROSC, whereas mild hypothermia enhanced these tendencies. Thus, our findings indicate that mild hypothermia attenuates mitochondrial oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex, which may be associated with reduced impairment of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes, and enhancement of MnSOD activity and expression via Nrf2 activation.
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Postoperative cognitive decline is a clinical syndrome. Volatile anesthetics are commonly used during surgery. It is conceivable that volatile anesthetics may contribute to postoperative cognitive decline. ⋯ However, isoflurane did not affect the cognitive functions of IL-1β deficient mice. Our results suggest that isoflurane impairs the learning but may not affect the recall of the aged rats. IL-1β may play an important role in this isoflurane effect.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of umeclidinium and vilanterol alone and in combination: a randomized crossover trial.
Umeclidinium bromide (GSK573719; UMEC), a new long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonist (LAMA), is in development with vilanterol (GW642444; VI), a selective long-acting β(2) agonist (LABA), as a once-daily inhaled combination therapy for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A single dose healthy volunteer study was conducted to assess the safety and tolerability, pharmacodynamics (PD) and pharmacokinetics (PK) of inhaled umeclidinium (500 µg) and vilanterol (50 µg) when administered separately and in combination using a novel dry powder inhaler (NDPI). Co-administration of single inhaled doses of umeclidinium and vilanterol to healthy Japanese subjects was well tolerated and not associated with meaningful changes in systemic exposure or PD effects compared with administration of either compound individually. Pharmacokinetic assessments showed rapid absorption for both drugs (Tmax = 5 min for both umeclidinium and vilanterol) followed by rapid elimination with median tlast of 4-5 h for umeclidinium and median tlast of 1.5-2.0 h for vilanterol. Assessments of pharmacokinetic interaction were inconclusive since for umeclidinium, Cmax following combination was higher than umeclidinium alone but not AUC whereas for vilanterol, AUC following combination was higher than vilanterol alone but not Cmax. There were no obvious trends observed between individual maximum supine heart rate and umeclidinium Cmax or vilanterol Cmax when delivered as umeclidinium 500 µg and vilanterol 50 µg combination or when delivered as umeclidinium or vilanterol alone.
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in persistent sensorimotor and cognitive deficits including long-term altered sensory processing. The few animal models of sensory cortical processing effects of TBI have been limited to examination of effects immediately after TBI and only in some layers of cortex. We have now used the rat whisker tactile system and the cortex processing whisker-derived input to provide a highly detailed description of TBI-induced long-term changes in neuronal responses across the entire columnar network in primary sensory cortex. ⋯ Hyper-excitation was found only in supragranular layers involved in intra-areal processing and long-range integration, and only for stimulation with complex, naturalistic whisker motion patterns and not for stimulation with simple trapezoidal whisker motion. Thus TBI induces long-term directional changes in integrative sensory cortical layers that depend on the complexity of the incoming sensory information. The nature of these changes allow predictions as to what types of sensory processes may be affected in TBI and contribute to post-trauma sensorimotor deficits.