Temporal and spatial appearance of the membrane cytoskeleton and perineuronal nets in the rat neocortex.

Parvalbumin-immunoreactive interneurons are surrounded by perineuronal nets, containing molecules of the extracellular matrix (e.g. tenascin-R). Furthermore, they seem to have a special cytoskeleton composed of, among others, ankyrinR and beta Rspectrin. In the present developmental study we showed that the intracellular markers parvalbumin, ankyrinR and beta Rspectrin as well as Vicia Villosa agglutinin, an extracellular marker for perineuronal nets, appeared in the second postnatal week. In the third postnatal week, ankyrinR and beta R spectrin were present in the parvalbumin-positive interneurons. Tenascin-R appeared in a similar topographic distribution as the intracellular markers. The adult pattern was established upon the end of the fourth postnatal week. Our results indicate that cytoskeletal maturity maybe a prerequisite for the organization of perineuronal nets of extracellular matrix.

Automatic Mallampati Classification Using Active Appearance Models

Difficult tracheal intubation assessment is an important research topic in anesthesia as failed intubations are important causes of mortality in anesthetic practice. The modified Mallampati score is widely used, alone or in conjunction with other criteria, to predict the difficulty of intubation. This work presents an automatic method to assess the modified Mallampati score from an image of a patient with the mouth wide open. For this purpose we propose an active appearance models (AAM) based method and use linear support vector machines (SVM) to select a subset of relevant features obtained using the AAM. This feature selection step proves to be essential as it improves drastically the performance of classification, which is obtained using SVM with RBF kernel and majority voting. We test our method on images of 100 patients undergoing elective surgery and achieve 97.9% accuracy in the leave-one-out crossvalidation test and provide a key element to an automatic difficult intubation assessment system.

Extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) subsheath: Normal MRI appearance and findings in athletic injuries : 40

Purpose: First, to report ECU subsheath's normal MRI appearance and the findings in athletic injuries. Second, to determine the best MRI sequence for diagnosis. Methods and materials: Sixteen patients (13 males, 3 females, mean age 30.3 years) with ECU subsheath's athletic injuries sustained between January 2003 and June 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Wrist MRI studies were performed on 1.5-T units and consisted of at least transverse T1 and STIR sequences in pronation, and FS Gd T1 in pronation and supination. Two radiologists assessed the following items, in consensus: injury type (A to C according to Inoue), ECU tendon stability, and associated lesions (ulnar head oedema, extensor retinaculum injury, ECU tendinosis and tenosynovitis). Then, each reader independently rated the sequences' diagnostic value: 0 = questionable, 1 = suggestive, 2 = certain. Follow-up studies were present in 8 patients. ECU subsheath's normal visibility (medial, central and lateral parts) was retrospectively evaluated in 30 consecutive control MRI studies. Results: FS Gd T1 sequences in supination (1.63) and pronation (1.59) were the most valuable for diagnosis, compared to STIR (1.22) and T1 (1). The study group included 9 type A, 1 type B and 6 type C injuries. There were trends towards diminution in pouches' size, signal intensity and enhancement in follow-up studies, along with tendon stabilization within the ulnar groove. In control studies, ECU subsheath's visibility in medial, central and lateral parts were noted in 66.7-80%, 63.3-80% and 30-50% respectively. Conclusion: ECU subsheath's athletic injuries are visible on 1.5-T MRI studies. FS Gd T1 sequences in supination and pronation are the most valuable.

Accessory tendinous slips arising from the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendon: MRI appearance, prevalence and association with ECU tenosynovitis and tendinopathy

Purpose: To report the MRI features of ECU accessory tendinous slips, assess their observable prevalence and evaluate a potential link between this anatomical variation and ECU tenosynovitis or tendinopathy. Methods and materials: Institutional review board approved this retrospective study, with waiver of patient informed consent. One hundred sixty wrist MRI studies from 158 patients (85 females, 73 males, mean age 45.6 years, range 14-86) performed between March 2008 and February 2009 on a 1.5-T unit were included. MR images were analyzed by two radiologists in consensus. The observable prevalence of ECU accessory tendinous slips was assessed and their origin, diameter and insertion sites were noted. The presence of ECU tenosynovitis and/or tendinopathy was also evaluated. Results: The observable prevalence of ECU accessory tendinous slips was 21.9% (35/160). The origin was always seen: 8 were at the level of, and 27 distal to the ECU subsheath. The slip median diameter was 0.67 mm (range 0.43-0.88). The insertion was seen in 17.1% (6/35): 2 were on the fifth metacarpal bone, 4 on the extensor apparatus of the fifth finger. ECU tenosynovitis (20%), tendinopathy (5.7%) as well as concomitant tenosynovitis and tendinopathy (25.7%) were more frequently encountered in the patients with the anatomical variation than in the control patients group (0.8%, 3.2% and 9.6% respectively). Differences were statistically significant for tenosynovitis (p = 0.0001) and concomitant tenosynovitis and tendinopathy (p = 0.02) of the ECU. Conclusion: ECU accessory tendinous slips are frequent and visible on 1.5-T wrist MRI studies. ECU tenosynovitis and tendinopathy are more frequent in patients bearing this anatomical variation.

MR and CT imaging of pulmonary valved conduits in children and adolescents: normal appearance and complications.

BACKGROUND: The Contegra® is a conduit made from the bovine jugular vein and then interposed between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery. It is used for cardiac malformations in the reconstruction of right ventricular outflow tract. OBJECTIVE: To describe both normal and pathological appearances of the Contegra® in radiological imaging, to describe imaging of complications and to define the role of CT and MRI in postoperative follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-three examinations of 24 patients (17 boys and 7 girls; mean age: 10.8 years old) with Contegra® conduits were reviewed. Anatomical description and measurements of the conduits were performed. Pathological items examined included stenosis, dilatation, plicature or twist, thrombus or vegetations, calcifications and valvular regurgitation. Findings were correlated to the echographic gradient through the conduit when available. RESULTS: CT and MR work-up showed Contegra® stenosis (n = 12), dilatation (n = 9) and plicature or twist (n = 7). CT displayed thrombus or vegetations in the Contegra® in three clinically infected patients. Calcifications of the conduit were present at CT in 12 patients and valvular regurgitation in three patients. The comparison between CT and/or MR results showed a good correlation between the echographic gradient and the presence of stenosis in the Contegra®. CONCLUSION: CT and MR bring additional information about permeability and postoperative anatomy especially when echocardiography is inconclusive. Both techniques depict the normal appearance of the conduit, and allow comparison and precise evaluation of changes in the postoperative follow-up.

The Swiss Willensnation at Risk: Teachers in the Cultural Gap during the First World War

As a neutral and multilingual country, Switzerland struggled with major domestic political conflicts during the First World War due to the two cultures of the French-speaking and German-speaking parts of the country. The divided cultural loyalties ('fossé moral', 'Röstigraben'), consisting of Swiss-Germans supporting Germany and Swiss-French supporting France, were discussed intensively in both of the main teachers' journals in Switzerland. Teachers felt the need to react and to promote unity from the beginning of the war. Despite the fact that the cantons are responsible for public education and, therefore, for the education of their students, teachers considered themselves called to educate their students to be national citizens rather than to be members of a language group. This threefold citizenship - communal, cantonal and national - was not scrutinised, but national unity became crucial due to the critical political circumstances. How did teachers promote and constitute citizenship for themselves and for their students in a nation united by free will during the First World War, a time of severe internal political conflicts?

Teachers' remarks about their salaries in 1800 in the Helvetic Republic

For centuries, teachers have complained about their salaries. In the Stapfer inquiry of 1799, some teachers made remarks about financial issues, particularly their low incomes. This inquiry is the main source for the arguments presented here regarding teachers' low salary during this period of the Helvetic Republic. The disparity between the lowest and the highest income was huge in 1799. This fact invites investigations about the people who complained. The evidence indicates incoherence between the complaints regarding low salary and the real income that was earned by these teachers. However, in order for this thesis to be wholly understood, the salaries must be explained; at the time of the Stapfer inquiry, salaries were paid in different currencies, as wages in kind and using divergent measurements. The present article aims to determine who these teachers were and why they complained. The arguments presented by the teachers shed light on the topics of political appeals, the social status of teachers in 1800 and the professionalisation of teachers.

The interior designer : Can the physiological agents of homeostasis create the appearance of design in nature?

Review of the book: The Tinkerer's Accomplice: How Design Emerges From Life Itself by J. Scott TurnerHarvard University Press: 2007. 304 pp.

How are "teaching the teachers" courses in evidence based medicine evaluated? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Teaching of evidence-based medicine (EBM) has become widespread in medical education. Teaching the teachers (TTT) courses address the increased teaching demand and the need to improve effectiveness of EBM teaching. We conducted a systematic review of assessment tools for EBM TTT courses.To summarise and appraise existing assessment methods for teaching the teachers courses in EBM by a systematic review. METHODS: We searched PubMed, BioMed, EmBase, Cochrane and Eric databases without language restrictions and included articles that assessed its participants. Study selection and data extraction were conducted independently by two reviewers. RESULTS: Of 1230 potentially relevant studies, five papers met the selection criteria. There were no specific assessment tools for evaluating effectiveness of EBM TTT courses. Some of the material available might be useful in initiating the development of such an assessment tool. CONCLUSION: There is a need for the development of educationally sound assessment tools for teaching the teachers courses in EBM, without which it would be impossible to ascertain if such courses have the desired effect.

Inducing effect of skeletal muscle extracts on the appearance of calbindin-immunoreactive dorsal root ganglion cells in culture.

Calbindin D-28k is a calcium-binding protein which is not expressed by dorsal root ganglion cells cultured from 6-day-old (E6) chick embryos. When soluble muscle extracts from embryos at E11, E18 or chickens 2 weeks after hatching were added immediately after seeding, dorsal root ganglia cells grown at E6 displayed neuronal subpopulations expressing calbindin immunoreactivity with time; the effect of muscle extract on the percentage of calbindin-immunoreactive dorsal root ganglia cells followed a dose-response curve. When muscle extract was added to cultures after a 3 day delay, the percentage of calbindin-expressing neurons was unchanged. The effect produced by muscle extract and, to a lesser degree, skin extract on the appearance of calbindin-positive neurons was not reproduced by brain or liver extracts while all four exerted a trophic action on cultured neurons. Hence it is assumed that muscle extract contains a factor which produces an inductive effect on the initiation of calbindin-expression by uncommitted subpopulations of sensory neurons rather than a trophic influence on the selective survival of covertly committed neuronal subpopulations. The fact that muscle extract promoted calbindin expression by dorsal root ganglia cells in neuron-enriched as well as in mixed dorsal root ganglion cell cultures indicates that the factor would act directly on sensory neurons rather than indirectly through mediation of non-neuronal cells. Since the active muscular factor was non-dialysable, heat-inactivated, trypsin-sensitive and retained by molecular filters with a cut-off of 30 K, this factor is probably a protein.

Addressing elementary school teachers' professional stressors: Practical suggestions for schools and adminstrators

Purpose: Given the preponderance of education reform since the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), reform efforts have shaped the nature of the work and culture in schools. The emphasis on standardized testing to determine schools' status and student performance, among other factors, has generated stress, particularly for teachers. Therefore, district and school administrators are encouraged to consider the contextual factors that contribute to teacher stress to address them and to retain high-performing teachers. Research Methods/Approach: Participants were recruited from two types of schools in order to test hypotheses related to directional responding as a function of working in a more challenging (high-priority) or less challenging (non-high-priority) school environment. We employed content analysis to analyze 64 suburban elementary school teachers' free-responses to a prompt regarding their stress as teachers. We cross-analyzed our findings through external auditing to bolster trustworthiness in the data and in the procedure. Findings: Teachers reported personal and contextual stressors. Herein, we reported concrete examples of the five categories of contextual stressors teachers identified: political and educational structures, instructional factors, student factors, parent and family factors, and school climate. We found directional qualities and overlapping relationships in the data, partially confirming our hypotheses. Implications for Research and Practice: We offer specific recommendations for practical ways in which school administrators might systemically address teacher stress based on the five categories of stressors reported by participants. We also suggest means of conducting action research to measure the effects of implemented suggestions.

Lipid-bloated subretinal microglial cells are at the origin of drusen appearance in CX3CR1-deficient mice.

Drusen, the white yellowish deposits that can be seen in funduscopy, are a hallmark of age-related macular degeneration. Histologically, drusen are believed to be dome-shaped or more confluent lipid accumulations between the retinal pigment epithelium and the choriocapillaries. Recent advances in mouse funduscopy have revealed the presence of drusen-like structures in chemokine knockout animals in the absence of sizeable dome-shaped material below the retinal pigment epithelium. We show that aged CX3CR1-/- mice present with drusen-like appearance in funduscopy that is associated with a progressive age-related microglial cell accumulation in the subretinal space. We demonstrate that the anatomical equivalent of the drusen-like appearance in these mice are lipid-bloated subretinal microglial cells rather than subretinal pigment epithelium deposits [Combadière C, et al: J Clin Invest 2007;117:2920-2928].