Design and testing of the safety of the SARUS-CPR hood for novice resuscitators.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Bystanders should be protected against aerosols, droplets, saliva, blood and vomitus during resuscitation after cardiac arrest The SARUS (safer - airway - resuscitation) CPR airway hood™ is a clear plastic cover and integrated mask that envelopes the head and torso. Our objectives were to test leakage using saline aerosol generation tests, then assess the performance of the hood during mock cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on a manikin. METHODS: A checklist was validated by comparing the performance of 10 novices against 10 experts during mock resuscitation. Thereafter, 15 novices were tested with and without the hood, in a randomised cross-over study, one week apart. RESULTS: Laboratory analysis showed a > 99% reduction of saline particles detected 5 cm, 75 cm and 165 cm above volunteers wearing the hood. On manikins, experts scored better compared to novices, 8.5 (0.7) vs 7.6 (1.2), difference (95%CI) 0.9 (0.4-1.3), P = 0.0004. Novice performance was equivalent using the hood and standard equipment, 7.3 (1.4) vs 7.3 (1.1) respectively, difference (90%CI) 0.0 (-0.3 - 0.3), P = 0.90. CONCLUSION: Aerosol transmission reduced in the breathing zone. Simulated resuscitation by novices was equivalent with and without the hood.

The role of the agricultural matrix: coffee management and euglossine bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) communities in southern Mexico.

With growing concern surrounding global pollinator declines, it is important to understand how habitat destruction and agricultural intensification impact pollinator communities. Euglossine bees are tropical forest-dependent pollinators responsible for pollination of both economically important crops and wild plant species. A growing body of work has focused on the effect of habitat fragmentation on euglossine bees, yet little is known about how these bees are impacted by agricultural intensification. Coffee cultivation is widespread in the tropics, and its management is conducted along a gradient of intensity, which ranges from monoculture (i.e., no shade, high inputs) to polyculture (shade overstory retained, fewer inputs). We used a landscape in Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico, that allowed for comparison between monoculture and polyculture coffee farms, while holding distance to native habitat, as well as native habitat quality, constant. We found that habitat management influenced abundance, estimated richness, and community composition of euglossine bees. The polyculture coffee farm boasts a more similar community composition to the forest than to the monoculture coffee farm. In addition, the polyculture farm had almost double the euglossine abundance compared with the monoculture farm. Our results suggest that coffee management regimes may strongly impact euglossine communities and that less intensive polyculture approaches may mitigate species losses of this important group of pollinators.

Short communication: Addition of milk replacer to colostrum whey: effect on immunoglobulin G passive transfer in Majorera kids.

Forty-two Majorera kids (21 males and 21 females) were assigned to 3 groups, a colostrum group (C), a colostrum whey group (CW), and a colostrum whey plus milk replacer group (CWMR). All kids were fed twice on the first day and received 4 g of IgG/kg of body weight. No differences were found in serum IgG among the different treatments. Kid serum IgG concentrations on d 2 were 14.57, 17.25, and 13.32 mg/mL in the C, CW, and CWMR group, respectively. Labor time per animal was higher in the C and CW treatments than in the CWMR group (24.2 +/- 2.3, 20.9 +/- 3.4, and 16.1 +/- 1.5 min, respectively). This new management system may decrease labor costs during the colostrum feeding period.

Fear of AIDS and Homophobia Scales: additional estimates of reliability and validity.

Psychometric properties of the Fear of AIDS Scale and the Homophobia Scale from 85 heterosexual undergraduates (and 44 gay, lesbian, and bisexual undergraduates) were estimated. Responses on the Homophobia Scale were internally consistent (alpha = .88), had 4% standard error of measurement, and scores differed by subjects' sexual orientation. Responses to Fear of AIDS Scale were moderately internally consistent (alpha = .75), had 12% standard error, and were significantly different for the two groups. Scores on the tests were correlated .66. Researchers must assess the relationship between scores on these measures.

The sequence organization of Yp/proximal Xq homologous regions of the human sex chromosomes is highly conserved.

Detailed deletion analysis of patients with breakpoints in Yp has allowed the definition of two distinct intervals on the Y chromosome short arm outside the pseudoautosomal region that are homologous to Xq2l.3. Detailed YAC contigs have been developed over these regions on both the X and Y chromosomes, and the relative order of markers has been compared to assess whether rearrangements on either sex chromosome have occurred since the transposition events creating these patterns of homology. On the X chromosome, the region forms almost one contiguous block of homology, whereas on the Y chromosome, there has been one major rearrangement leading to the two separate Yp-Xq2l blocks of homology. The rearrangement breakpoint has been mapped. Within these separate X-Y homologous blocks on Yp, the order of loci homologous to X has been conserved to a high degree between the sex chromosomes. With the exception of the amelogenin gene (proximal Yp block), all the XY homologous sequences in the two Yp blocks have homolognes in Xq2l.3, with the former having its X counterpart in Xp22.2. This suggests an independent evolutionary event leading to the formation of the amelogenin X-Y homology.

Creating independent voices: the emergence of state wide family advocacy networks.

The efforts of 28 statewide family advocacy networks (SFNs) as they aim to promote family support, system change, and enhancement of self-governing capacities are the foci of this article. This systematic study of the developments and activities of statewide family advocacy networks has provided a rich qualitative database that documents the diversity and types of organizational arrangements, the increase in outside financial resources, the extent to which ethically and culturally diverse people are involved, and the commonly used outreach strategies to increase minority participation. Clearly, statewide family networks are demonstrably capable of self-governance and provision of family support, and play an important role in addressing children's mental health system of care and legislative issues. The data point to a number of future studies as SFNs pursue their objectives. Implications for social service providers and agency directors seeking ways and means to creatively include parents in the delivery and administration of mental health programs are raised as topics for future studies.

Enhancing family advocacy networks: an analysis of the roles of sponsoring organizations.

Family participation in shaping system reforms in children's mental health has increased over the past ten years. In 1990 the National Institute of Mental Health funded the development and enhancement of 15 statewide advocacy organizations that were to be controlled and staffed by families of children who have serious emotional disorders. These family advocacy organizations had three major goals: to establish support networks, to advocate for service system reforms, and to develop statewide family advocacy networks. Seven family advocacy networks worked with sponsoring organizations because they needed assistance and/or could not receive funding directly. State and local chapters of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the National Mental Health Association served in this capacity. Because there were no guidelines to educate sponsoring organizations about their interorganizational roles and responsibilities, staff of some sponsoring organizations used approaches that were supportive and effective, while staff in other organizations used methods that were counterproductive. The information and recommendations discussed in this paper are based on evaluation data and observations of the relationships between seven sponsoring organizations and family advocacy groups over a three-year period. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that includes: (1) a clear definition of the sponsoring organization's roles, and (2) an analysis of the advantages, limitations, and critical issues for the sponsoring organization.

A set of ninety-seven overlapping yeast artificial chromosome clones spanning the human Y chromosome euchromatin.

Contiguous arrays of yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) extending from proximal heterochromatic Yq into the pseudoautosomal portion of the Y chromosome and separated by a small interval at the centromere have been constructed. A total of 97 YACs have been aligned along the Y chromosome by STS content analysis using 222 sequence tagged sites (STSs) that detect 263 loci. Forty-five of the STSs used are novel. Their inclusion provides a significant improvement over previously available maps on the density of STS coverage along the Y chromosome, reducing the average spacing to 120 kb assuming a length of 30 Mb for the euchromatin. The average size of 61 YACs determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis was at least 0.9 Mb. Minor differences noted between the ordering of STSs on this map compared with those previously reported may be attributed to inherent polymorphism between the Y chromosomes used to construct the YAC libraries.

An evaluation of the measurement of the activities of complexes I-IV in the respiratory chain of human skeletal muscle mitochondria.

The measurement of individual respiratory chain complexes is an important component of the investigation of diseases due to mitochondrial dysfunction. We have evaluated assays which measure complexes I to IV in human skeletal muscle mitochondria and in addition optimized these assays to provide sensitive and reliable diagnostic techniques, particularly in situations where a partial interruption at a single complex needs to identified. Using several established methods of membrane disruption we have found that optimal activities of complexes I and II are obtained by freeze-thawing the mitochondria in hypotonic potassium phosphate buffer, whereas complex III and IV activities are markedly increased by the addition of the detergent n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside. Complex I activity is measured in the presence of 2.5 mg.ml-1 bovine serum albumin, which increases rotenone sensitivity, and we have shown that NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase makes an important contribution to the rotenone-insensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity. Complex II activity is measured after preincubation of the mitochondrial fraction with succinate to fully activate the complex. Complex I and III activities are dependent upon the length of the isoprenoid chain of the ubiquinone and ubiquinol, respectively. These assays have been used to establish a control range.

Combined enzyme defect of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation.

A young girl presented with recurrent episodes of muscle weakness culminating in a severe attack of generalized muscle weakness. In the muscle mitochondria from the patient there was an abnormal pattern of intermediates of beta-oxidation with an accumulation of 3-hydroxyacyl- and 2-enoyl-CoA and carnitine esters, and 3-oxoacylcarnitines. There was low activity of long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase in mitochondria from all tissues. The activity of long-chain 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase was low in muscle mitochondria and 3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase activity measured with 3-oxohexadecanoyl-CoA as substrate was low in fibroblast, muscle, and cardiac mitochondria but only partial deficiency was present when the activity was measured with 3-oxooctanoyl-CoA. The activity of the long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and long-chain 3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase in fibroblasts from the patient's parents was intermediate between those of controls and the patient. The patient has a combined defect of the long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, long-chain 3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase, and long-chain 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase which appears to be inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. This suggests there is a multifunctional enzyme catalyzing these activities in human mitochondria and that this enzyme is deficient in our patient.

Study of X chromosome abnormality in XX males using bivariate flow karyotype analysis and flow sorted dot blots.

We have used bivariate flow karyotype analysis to quantify aberrant X chromosome size in 11 XX males. With one exception, the patients could be grouped into those with an X homologue difference greater than normal (Group A, n = 3) and into those whose X homologue difference could not be distinguished from female controls (Group B, n = 7). The range of sizes of the aberrant X chromosome in Y-sequence positive patients agrees with the variable nature of the X-Y interchange in these individuals as determined by the use of Y-specific DNA probes and Southern blotting analysis. In one patient it was possible to sort separately the normal and the X-Y interchanged homologues for dot blot analysis. The presence of Y sequences and an increased dose of the zinc finger gene, ZFY, were detected in the X-Y interchanged homologue. In preliminary studies of 5 male and 6 female controls, it was noted that a consistent difference between the two X homologues in females was found which could not be totally explained by errors of the fitting procedure. We suggest that this difference could be due to X inactivation and that the two X homologues in females might be distinguishable.

Changes in the protein components of rat incisor enamel during tooth development.

Enamel-matrix components from rat incisor enamel were extracted from tissue at different stages of development on single teeth. Separations of proteins using urea and SDS acrylamide gel electrophoresis were compared. The bulk of the matrix exhibited SDS mol. wt of 25-30,000 with smaller amounts at approximately 18,000 and about 10-12,000. Trace amounts of material at -50,000 and 70,000 were detected. These were presumably associated with the mineral phase as their yield increased after demineralization. The proportion of small molecular weight components increased with tissue age. Using urea, many more proteins were separated (up to 20) into fast, intermediate and slowly-migrating components. Disappearance of small bands of intermediate mobility at the end of matrix secretion suggested that they were early ameloblast products which were rapidly degraded after secretion. Both slowly- and rapidly-migrating components increased with tissue age indicating progressive degradation of parent molecules of intermediate mobility into highly charged and relatively uncharged molecules.

Chemical changes during formation and maturation of human deciduous enamel.

The appearance and chemical composition of a number of developing human deciduous incisors indicated that the enamel passes through the following four developmental stages: 1. Partially mineralized matrix is secreted and some extracellular breakdown occurs. 2. Selective replacement of matrix proteins by tissue fluid begins. 3. Almost all of the matrix protein is replaced by tissue fluid and an influx of calcium phosphate occurs. 4. The enamel becomes almost fully mineralized, mature and hard. These stages of development are similar to those described in rat and bovine tissue. the number of stages simultaneously present in a single tooth differed from rat and bovine enamel, however, as did the rate of change in amino acid composition from developing to mature tissue.

Histology of enamel organ and chemical composition of adjacent enamel in rat incisors.

By avoiding chemical fixation and using a freeze-drying technique, it proved possible to examine the enamel organ of rat mandibular incisors histologically while retaining the adjacent enamel of the same tooth for chemical analysis. The dramatic alterations which occur in enamel organ histology, such as ameloblast shortening and the development of hte papillary layer, could then be compared directly with mineral uptake and mineral content of the adjacent enamel. Both enamel and adjacent enamel organ were sampled as a continuous series of pieces, 0.5 mm in width, from youngest (apical) to oldest (incisal) tissue. Short ameloblasts were associated directly with the beginning of a rapid uptake of phosphate ions during the maturation phase and also coincided with the beginning of a steep rise in mineral content. By implication, some loss of matrix may also occur at this point. Development of the highly vascular papillary layer preceded ameloblast shortening and may be associated with changes in the organic matrix prior to its disappearance from the tissue. Further development of this layer was associated with ameloblast shortening. This may also therefore be associated with mineral uptake during maturation.