Intracerebroventricular (ICV) route of administration is a useful experimental method to study the effects of chemicals or cellular grafts in the ventricular compartment of the brain after focal ischaemia. However, the induced oedema may cause structural dislocating phenomena and render a stereotaxic ICV invasion difficult and practically unavailable especially during the acute post-ischaemia phase. The aim of this study was to measure these structural ventricular dislocations and set new stereotaxic coordinates for successful and cost-effective ICV invasion 6-18 h after focal cerebral ischaemia. Wistar rats were subjected to 2 h middle cerebral artery occlussion (t-MCAO), were neurologically evaluated (modified Neurological Stroke Scale [mNSS], modified Bederson's Scale [mBS] and grid-walking test [GWT]) and brain slides were studied at 6 and 18 h post-occlusion for infarction volume, hemispheric oedema, middle line dislocation and stereotaxia of the lateral ventricles. Our data indicated that stereotaxic coordinates of the lateral ventricles in the infarcted and contralateral hemispheres significantly (P < 0.05) changed at both time-points and were linearly correlated with the mNSS, mBS and some GWT scores (P < 0.001). This correlation allowed for the calculation of simple (linear) mathematical equations (stereotaxic coordinate = b0 + b1*mNSS, where 'b0' and 'b1' are fixed number and factor, respectively, calculated by regression analysis) that determined individually new coordinates for each animal. Verification experiments revealed that the new coordinates render ICV invasion feasible in up to 80% of infarcted rats (number needed to treat 1.65), compared with only 19.4% using the classical coordinates for normal rats. Therefore, we propose a new, time- and cost-effective methodology for practically feasible ICV invasion in rats 6-18 h after t-MCAO.
Objective: To identify predictors of early readmission in children with asthma. Design/Methods: A case-control study of a cohort of children hospitalized for asthma. Cases were children with asthma readmitted with the same diagnosis within 30 days of the index admission. For each case, we identified up to two controls which were children hospitalized for asthma but not readmitted within 30 days.Cases and controls were matched for age, gender, ethnicity, season and year of index admission. Data were abstracted from the medical records. Bivariate analyses (clogit, GEE statistics) were performed. Conditional logistic regression analysis determined the relative contribution of independent variables.Results: 458 subjects were analyzed (161 cases, 297 matched controls). Cases and controls were successfully matched (mean age for cases 6.4 years (SD 5.3) vs 6.4 years (SD 5.1) for controls; for both groups 64% were male, 61% Hispanic and 36% African American). Cases had a greater mean number of lifetime admissions for asthma (8.2 vs 3.3, pϽ.0001), were more likely to have received a pulmonary consultation prior to the index admission (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1. 45-4.29) and to have a history of asthma ICU admission (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.31-3.70). Using conditional logistic regression, history of multiple lifetime admissions was found to be an independent predictor of readmission. Exposure to environmental triggers was not associated with readmission. No significant difference was found between the groups on mean oxygen saturation at index admission or discharge, need for oxygen supplementation during the index admission, and presence of wheezing at discharge.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that early readmission occurs among a subset of children with greater disease severity. History of multiple admissions, receipt of pulmonary consultation and prior ICU admission may identify children who are more likely to be readmitted and thus, guide inpatient and outpatient asthma management. PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO DEXAMETHASONE PERMANENTLY ALTERS THE EXPRESSION OF 11BETA HSD1, MINERALCORTICOID AND 5HT1B RECEPTOR IN RAT HIPPOCAMPUSKC PAGE 1 1 BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY (USA) Changes in gene expression in the brain, pituitary, and adrenal have been reported in a number of prenatal stress studies. However, it is not clear whether the high maternal glucocorticoid (GC) level is directly responsible for these perturbations. We exposed rat dams to DEX during gestation days 14 -19 and found a significant decrease in birth weight and adult weight of the male offspring. In addition, this treatment elicited a significant increase in serum ACTH and CORT. In contrast, circulating levels of serotonin were significantly lower in the DEX-exposed adult males. Using real time RT-PCR we measured a significant decrease in the hippocampal mineralcorticoid receptor (MR) and serotonin receptor, 5-HT1B. In contrast, the mRNA levels measured for hippocampal 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) were not significantly different from the control animals. Interesti...
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