Variables Affecting General Anesthesia Time for Pediatric Dental Cases.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify variables affecting procedural times for dental treatments performed in the operating room (OR) under general anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 2,264 OR cases at Boston Children's Hospital were included in the study. A series of patient, provider, and operational variables were studied, including: patient age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, need for intraoperative radiographs, intubation type, provider type, referring provider type, referral date, waiting time between referral and OR, and symmetry of caries pattern. Analysis of variance, z test, t test, Pearson correlations, and regression modeling were used. RESULTS: Provider inexperience, need for obtaining radiographs, older age, higher ASA class, and oral intubation significantly increased surgical case times. Using the current OR case estimation resulted in an overestimation of 14.6 hours per month. Application of our regression model improved the accuracy of case time estimation by 7.9 hours per month. CONCLUSIONS: Overestimation of pediatric dental operating room cases exists, and identification of variables associated with these inaccuracies can aid providers in recapturing underutilized operating room times.

A primer on the current state of microarray technologies.

DNA microarray technology has been used for genome-wide gene expression studies that incorporate molecular genetics and computer science analyses on massive levels. The availability of microarrays permit the simultaneous analysis of tens of thousands of genes for the purposes of gene discovery, disease diagnosis, improved drug development, and therapeutics tailored to specific disease processes. In this chapter, we provide an overview on the current state of common microarray technologies and platforms. Since many genes contribute to normal functioning, research efforts are moving from the search for a disease-specific gene to the understanding of the biochemical and molecular functioning of a variety of genes whose disrupted interaction in complicated networks can lead to a disease state. The field of microarrays has evolved over the past decade and is now standardized with a high level of quality control, while providing a relatively inexpensive and reliable alternative to studying various aspects of gene expression.

Thermal stabilization of tissues and the preservation of protein phosphorylation states for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

2-DE is typically capable of discriminating proteins differing by a single phosphorylation or dephosphorylation event. However, a reliable representation of protein phosphorylation states as they occur in vivo requires that both phosphatases and kinases are rapidly and completely inactivated. Thermal stabilization of mouse cerebral cortex homogenates effectively inactivated these enzymes, as evidenced by comparison with unstabilized tissues where abscissal pI shifts were a common feature in 2-D gels. Of the 588 matched proteins separated on 2-D gels comparing stabilized and unstabilized tissues, 53 proteins exhibited greater than twofold differences in spot volume (ANOVA, p<0.05). Phosphoprotein-specific staining was corroborated by the identification of 16 phosphoproteins by nano-LC MS/MS and phosphotyrosine kinase activity assay.