Modulation of an activity response with associative and nonassociative fear in the rat: A lighting differential influences the form of defensive behavior evoked after fear conditioning

Rats confronted with the onset of a light gradient display a transient increase in locomotion called theactivity response (AR) and a dark preference (Godsil & Fanselow, 2004). These experiments demonstrate that the magnitude of the AR can be blunted with Pavlovian fear-conditioning procedures via associative and nonassociative fear. Although manifested in decreased locomotion, the blunted AR effect was not due to increased freezing or immobility behaviors. Instead, rats displayed reduced rearing and an increase in a class of behaviors calledstationary activity. These results suggest that the lighting differential supplied by the cue influences the topography of defensive behavior and reduces the expression of freezing. This procedure provides a means by which to examine learned and unlearned defensive responses to the same stimulus.     

A microfluidic device for on-chip agarose microbead generation with ultralow reagent consumption

Water-in-oil microdroplets offer microreactors for compartmentalized biochemical reactions with high throughput. Recently, the combination with a sol-gel switch ability, using agarose-in-oil microdroplets, has increased the range of possible applications, allowing for example the capture of amplicons in the gel phase for the preservation of monoclonality during a PCR reaction. Here, we report a new method for generating such agarose-in-oil microdroplets on a microfluidic device, with minimized inlet dead volume, on-chip cooling, and in situ monitoring of biochemical reactions within the gelified microbeads. We used a flow-focusing microchannel network and successfully generated agarose microdroplets at room temperature using the “push-pull” method. This method consists in pushing the oil continuous phase only, while suction is applied to the device outlet. The agarose phase present at the inlet is thus aspirated in the device, and segmented in microdroplets. The cooling system consists of two copper wires embedded in the microfluidic device. The transition from agarose microdroplets to microbeads provides additional stability and facilitated manipulation. We demonstrate the potential of this method by performing on-chip a temperature-triggered DNA isothermal amplification in agarose microbeads. Our device thus provides a new way to generate microbeads with high throughput and no dead volume for biochemical applications.     

Development of the Nine-Ball Skills Test to discriminate elite and high-level amateur golfers

Currently, there is a lack of appropriate skill assessments available for use in golf. The aim of this study was to examine the discriminative validity and the test-retest reliability of the newly developed "Nine-Ball Skills Test". Participants of two ability levels (elite, n = 14; high-level amateur, n = 16) each hit nine golf shots of differing combinations of trajectory (straight, fade, draw) and height (normal, high, low) at an individually determined target area. Each shot was scored on its percent error index from the target and whether it achieved the maximum height as required. Participants completed the test twice using a 5-iron club. The elite group scored significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the amateur group for both the first and second rounds of the test as well as the combined scores. The between-round test-retest reliability was deemed to be not acceptable, thus we propose that the test's protocol should include use of the two rounds as standard. Due to the importance of ball striking and flight control to performance in golf, the Nine-Ball Skills Test is appropriate for providing a measure of this skill component in elite and high-level amateur golfers.     

Study of C-Reactive Protein and Myocardial Infarction in the Indian Population

To analyse the association of high sensitivity C-reactive (hsCRP) protein levels and −717A/G single nucleotide polymorphism of CRP with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Indian population. Study population included 100 MI cases wherein 32 patients had experienced previous MI (MI-Group-1), 68 MI cases were recruited at presentation (MI-Group-2) and equal number of age and gender matched healthy individuals. hsCRP levels were determined by ELISA and genotyping of −717A/G was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction digestion method. The −717A/G genotypes did not influence hsCRP level and their distribution did not differ between groups. However, in the present study hsCRP demonstrated significant correlation with BMI in controls of both the genders and with triglycerides in females of AMI at presentation who otherwise are with low risk profile. Identifying traditional risk factors associated with inflammation may help in controlling the acute event.     

A Comparative Study of Bone Scan Findings and Serum Levels of Tumor Marker CA15-3 in Patients with Breast Carcinoma

Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies in the world. Available staging procedures to detect breast cancer are bone scan, chest X-ray, liver ultrasonography, computerized tomography, estimation of tumor markers like carbohydrate antigen (CA15-3) and carcino embryonic antigen. These procedures are expensive and may not be required in all cases. Out of 70 patients studied, 55 had normal CA15-3 and 15 had elevated levels of Ca15-3. Eight (14.5%) of the 55 patients with normal CA15-3 had abnormal bone scan. Fifteen patients had CA15-3 levels above the normal range and among these 9 (60%) had abnormal bone scan. While prime facie it would appear that a high level of CA15-3 correlate with abnormal bone scan, it is also true that the numbers are small at present and conclusions about the validity of CA15-3 as marker of bone metastasis may be premature.     

Current status and development of percutaneous coronary intervention in China

##正##Dr.Gruntzig et al.(1979) successfully completed the world's first percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI),a percutaneous transluminal coronary     

Mathematical models of canine right and left atria cardiomyocytes

The aim of this study is to build two mathematical models of canine ionic currents specific to right atria and left atria.The canine left atria mathematical model was firstly modified from the Ramirez-Nattel-Courtemanche(RNC) model using the recently available experimental data of ionic currents and was further developed based on our own experimental data.A model of right atria was then built by considering the differences between right atria and left atria.The two developed models well reproduced the exper...     

Neurochip based on light-addressable potentiometric sensor with wavelet transform de-noising

Neurochip based on light-addressable potentiometric sensor(LAPS),whose sensing elements are excitable cells,can monitor electrophysiological properties of cultured neuron networks with cellular signals well analyzed.Here we report a kind of neurochip with rat pheochromocytoma(PC12) cells hybrid with LAPS and a method of de-noising signals based on wavelet transform.Cells were cultured on LAPS for several days to form networks,and we then used LAPS system to detect the extracellular potentials with signals d...     

Congenital atresia of the left main coronary artery in an infant

Congenital atresia of the left main coronary artery is a rare occurrence, and surgical revascularizationbypass graft is required. We here report a rare case of congenital coronary anomaly in an infant. A 10-month-old male infant was admitted to the hospital with heart failure symptoms. Echocardiographic examinations revealed mitral valve regurgitation and ischemic changes of the anterolateral papillary muscle and chordae. Coronary angiography showed atresia of the left main coronary artery with a severe hypoplastic left anterior descending artery and a circumflex coronary artery. Unfortunately, sudden cardiac arrest occurred after catheterization and the infant did not recover despite of immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Further studies are needed to find a newer diagnostic method to detect coronary anomaly in an infant, and coronary angiography, if necessary, has to be performed very carefully.