In muscle, active force and stiffness reflect numbers of actin-myosin interactions and shortening velocity reflects their turnover rates, but the molecular basis of mechanical friction is somewhat less clear. To better characterize molecular mechanisms that govern mechanical friction, we measured the rate of mechanical energy dissipation and the rate of actomyosin ATP utilization simultaneously in activated canine airway smooth muscle subjected to small periodic stretches as occur in breathing. The amplitude of the frictional stress is proportional to eta E, where E is the tissue stiffness defined by the slope of the resulting force vs. displacement loop and eta is the hysteresivity defined by the fatness of that loop. From contractile stimulus onset, the time course of frictional stress amplitude followed a biphasic pattern that tracked that of the rate of actomyosin ATP consumption. The time course of hysteresivity, however, followed a different biphasic pattern that tracked that of shortening velocity. Taken together with an analysis of mechanical energy storage and dissipation in the cross-bridge cycle, these results indicate, first, that like shortening velocity and the rate of actomyosin ATP utilization, mechanical friction in airway smooth muscle is also governed by the rate of cross-bridge cycling; second, that changes in cycling rate associated with conversion of rapidly cycling cross bridges to slowly cycling latch bridges can be assessed from changes of hysteresivity of the force vs. displacement loop; and third, that steady-state force maintenance (latch) is a low-friction contractile state. This last finding may account for the unique inability of asthmatic patients to reverse spontaneous airways obstruction with a deep inspiration.

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BackgroundVaried and fragmented care plans undertaken by different practitioners currently expose surgical patients to lapses in expected care, increase the chance for operational mistakes and accidents, and often result in unnecessary care. The Perioperative Surgical Home has thus been proposed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists and other stakeholders as an innovative, patient-centered, surgical continuity of care model that incorporates shared decision making. Topics central to the debate about an anesthesiology-based Perioperative Surgical Home include: holding the gains made in anesthesia-related patient safety; impacting surgical morbidity and mortality, including failure-to-rescue; achieving healthcare outcome metrics; assimilating comparative effectiveness research into the model; establishing necessary audit and data collection; a comparison with the hospitalist model of perioperative care; the perspective of the surgeon; the benefits of the Perioperative Surgical Home to the specialty of anesthesiology; and its associated healthcare economic advantages.DiscussionImproving surgical morbidity and mortality mandates a more comprehensive and integrated approach to the management of surgical patients. In their expanded capacity as the surgical patient’s “perioperativist,” anesthesiologists can play a key role in compliance with broader set of process measures, thus becoming a more vital and valuable provider from the patient, administrator, and payer perspective. The robust perioperative databases created within the Perioperative Surgical Home present new opportunities for health services and population-level research. The Perioperative Surgical Home is not intended to replace the surgeon’s patient care responsibility, but rather leverage the abilities of the entire perioperative care team in the service of the patient. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to expand the core knowledge, skills, and experience of anesthesiologists. Anesthesiologists will need to view becoming perioperative physicians as an expansion of the specialty, rather than an abdication of their traditional intraoperative role. The Perioperative Surgical Home will need to create strategic added value for a health system and payers. This added value will strengthen the position of anesthesiologists as they navigate and negotiate in the face of finite, if not decreasing fiscal resources.SummaryBroadening the anesthesiologist’s scope of practice via the Perioperative Surgical Home may promote standardization and improve clinical outcomes and decrease resource utilization by providing greater patient-centered continuity of care throughout the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods.

Dynamic actin reorganization involving actin polymerization and depolymerization may play an important functional role in smooth muscle. This study tested the hypothesis that F‐actin stabilization by phalloidin increases tension cost (i.e. ATP hydrolysis rate per unit of isometric force) during Ca2+‐induced activation of Triton X‐100‐permeabilized canine tracheal smooth muscle. Adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis rate was quantified using an enzyme‐coupled NADH fluorometric technique, regulatory myosin light chain (rMLC) phosphorylation was measured by Western blot analysis, and maximum unloaded shortening velocity (Vmax) was estimated by interpolation of the force‐velocity relationship to zero load during isotonic loading. Maximal activation with 10 μm free Ca2+ induced sustained increases in isometric force, stiffness, and rMLC phosphorylation. However, the increase in ATP hydrolysis rate initially reached peak values, but then declined to steady‐state levels above that of the unstimulated muscle. Thus, tension cost decreased throughout steady‐state isometric force. Following incubation of permeabilized strips with 50 μm phalloidin for 1 h, the increases in isometric force and stiffness were not sustained despite a sustained increase in rMLC phosphorylation. Also, after an initial decline, tension cost increased throughout activation. Phalloidin had no effect on Vmax during steady‐state isometric force or on rMLC phosphorylation. These findings suggest that dynamic reorganization of actin is necessary for optimal energy utilization during contraction of permeabilized airway smooth muscle.

Using a behavioural assay, the palatability of urea, taurine, betaine and the 20 common amino acids (L-isomers) to rainbow trout was determined. The trout responded positively only to aqueous solutions of leucine, isoleucine, proline, phenylalanine, tryptophan, methionine, glutamate, arginine, taurine and urea. Proline, the most effective compound, was active at M but not 1 0 -5~. Palatibility was not directly related to test solution pH; concentration and molecular structure apparently played a greater role. There is good, though not perfect, agreement between the behavioural results obtained here and published electrophysiological data on the palatal sensitivity of rainbow trout to these substances.

Dermacentor occidentalis Marx and Dermacentor variabilis (Say) commonly bite humans in California. These Dermacentor species may play a role in transmitting spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae to humans in many parts of the state where Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, a known vector for the etiologic agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Rickettsia rickettsii, is absent. However, the specific rickettsial agents present in these ticks and their current prevalence are poorly understood. In total, 365 D. occidentalis and 10 D. variabilis were collected by flagging vegetation at 16 sites in five counties of southern California. The presence of SFG rickettsial DNA in these ticks was detected with rOmpA and GltA gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The rickettsial species were identified by sequencing PCR amplicons. Of 365 D. occidentalis, 90 (24.7%) contained R. rhipicephali DNA, 28 (7.7%) contained DNA of unclassified genotype 364D, two (0.55%) contained R. bellii DNA, and one (0.3%) contained R. rickettsii DNA. Of 10 D. variabilis, four (40%) contained only R. rhipicephali. Four new genotypes of R. rhipicephali were discovered. For the first time, we detected R. rickettsii in D. occidentalis. Our study provides the first molecular data on the prevalence and species identification of SFG rickettsiae circulating in populations of these California ticks. Because neither D. variabilis nor R. rickettsii were abundant, 364D should be evaluated further as a potential cause of human SFG rickettsioses in southern California.

On the terminology for describing the length-force relationship and its changes in airway smooth muscle. J Appl Physiol 97: 2029 -2034, 2004; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00884.2004.-The observation that the length-force relationship in airway smooth muscle can be shifted along the length axis by accommodating the muscle at different lengths has stimulated great interest. In light of the recent understanding of the dynamic nature of length-force relationship, many of our concepts regarding smooth muscle mechanical properties, including the notion that the muscle possesses a unique optimal length that correlates to maximal force generation, are likely to be incorrect. To facilitate accurate and efficient communication among scientists interested in the function of airway smooth muscle, a revised and collectively accepted nomenclature describing the adaptive and dynamic nature of the lengthforce relationship will be invaluable. Setting aside the issue of underlying mechanism, the purpose of this article is to define terminology that will aid investigators in describing observed phenomena. In particular, we recommend that the term "optimal length" (or any other term implying a unique length that correlates with maximal force generation) for airway smooth muscle be avoided. Instead, the in situ length or an arbitrary but clearly defined reference length should be used. We propose the usage of "length adaptation" to describe the phenomenon whereby the length-force curve of a muscle shifts along the length axis due to accommodation of the muscle at different lengths. We also discuss frequently used terms that do not have commonly accepted definitions that should be used cautiously.smooth muscle contraction; adaptation; plasticity; cytoskeleton; contractile apparatus THE CAPACITIES OF AIRWAY SMOOTH MUSCLE to generate force and to shorten are not a unique function of muscle length. Instead, they change appreciably depending on the histories of muscle loading, length, and activation. These changes can occur over the course of days, hours, and even seconds (9, 11-14, 24, 35, 41, 44, 46). As a result, the length-force relationship of airway smooth muscle is highly mutable, and its characterization is meaningful only when the histories on which the relationship is derived are included. Length-dependent force generation in other smooth muscles is also known to be influenced by various factors (18,29,34,36,39), with the extent of influence varying from one type of smooth muscle to another. The following description of phenomena and terminology is based on and intended for airway smooth muscle, and it may or may not apply to other smooth muscle types. Current terminology that describes the length-force characteristic in airway smooth muscle is borrowed from the physiology of striated muscle but is inadequate, and in some cases ill-suited, to depict the mutable relationship in airway smooth muscle. Thus there is a need to seek a consensual agreement among scientists working in the field of airway smooth muscle biomechanics concern...

This study tested the hypothesis that the NO donor S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) relaxes canine tracheal smooth muscle (CTSM) in part by a cGMP-independent process that involves reversible oxidation of intracellular thiols. GSNO caused a concentration-dependent relaxation in ACh-contracted strips (EC50 ∼1.2 μM) accompanied by a concentration-dependent increase in cytosolic cGMP concentration ([cGMP]i). The soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor methylene blue prevented the increase in [cGMP]iinduced by 1 and 10 μM GSNO, but isometric force decreased by 10 ± 4 and 55 ± 3%, respectively. After recovery of [cGMP]i to baseline, GSNO-induced relaxation persisted during continuous ACh stimulation. Dithiothreitol caused a rapid recovery of isometric force to values similar to those obtained with ACh alone in these strips. We conclude that GSNO relaxes CTSM contracted by ACh in part by oxidation of intracellular protein thiols.