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Background: Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining services from a large group of people, typically an online community. Validated methods of evaluating surgical video are time-intensive, expensive, and involve participation of multiple expert surgeons. We sought to obtain valid performance scores of urologic trainees and faculty on a dry-laboratory robotic surgery task module by using crowdsourcing through a web-based grading tool called Crowd Sourced Assessment of Technical Skill (CSATS). Methods: IRB approval was granted to test the technical skills grading accuracy of Mechanical Turk™ crowd-workers compared to three expert faculty surgeon graders. The two groups assessed dry-laboratory robotic surgical suturing performances of three urology residents (PGY-2, -4, -5) and two faculty using three performance domains from the validated Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills assessment tool. Results: After an average of 2 hours 50 minutes, each of the five videos received 50 crowd-worker assessments. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) between the surgeons and crowd was 0.91 using Cronbach's alpha statistic (confidence intervals=0.20-0.92), indicating an agreement level between the two groups of 'excellent.' The crowds were able to discriminate the surgical level, and both the crowds and the expert faculty surgeon graders scored one senior trainee's performance above a faculty's performance. Conclusion: Surgery-naive crowd-workers can rapidly assess varying levels of surgical skill accurately relative to a panel of faculty raters. The crowds provided rapid feedback and were inexpensive. CSATS may be a valuable adjunct to surgical simulation training as requirements for more granular and iterative performance tracking of trainees become mandated and commonplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuronal networks are endogenously modulated by aminergic and peptidergic substances. These modulatory processes are critical for maintaining normal activity and adapting networks to changes in metabolic, behavioral, and environmental conditions. However, disturbances in neuromodulation have also been associated with pathologies. Using whole animals (in vivo) and functional brainstem slices (in vitro) from mice, we demonstrate that exposure to acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) leads to fundamental changes in the neuromodulatory response of the respiratory network located within the preBötzinger complex (preBötC), an area critical for breathing. Norepinephrine, which normally regularizes respiratory activity, renders respiratory activity irregular after AIH. Respiratory irregular-ities are caused both in vitro and in vivo by AIH, which increases synaptic inhibition within the preBötC when norepinephrine is endogenously or exogenously increased. These irregularities are prevented by blocking synaptic inhibition before AIH. However, regular breathing cannot be reestablished if synaptic inhibition is blocked after AIH. We conclude that subtle changes in synaptic transmission can have dramatic consequences at the network level as endogenously released neuromodulators that are normally adaptive become the drivers of irregularity. Moreover, irregularities in the preBötC result in irregularities in the motor output in vivo and in incomplete transmission of inspiratory activity to the hypoglossus motor nucleus. Our finding has basic science implications for understanding network functions in general, and it may be clinically relevant for understanding pathological disturbances associated with hypoxic episodes such as those associated with myocardial infarcts, obstructive sleep apneas, apneas of prematurity, Rett syndrome, and sudden infant death syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channels (Cav2.1) play critical presynaptic and postsynaptic roles throughout the nervous system and have been implicated in a variety of neurological disorders. Here we report that mice with a genetic ablation of the Cav2.1 pore-forming α1A subunit (α1A-/- ) encoded by CACNAla (Jun et al., 1999) suffer during postnatal development from increasing breathing distur-bances that lead ultimately to death. Breathing abnormalities include decreased minute ventilation and a specific loss of sighs, which was associated with lung atelectasis. Similar respiratory alterations were preserved in the isolated in vitro brainstem slice preparation containing the pre-Botzinger complex. The loss of Cav2.1 was associated with an alteration in the functional dependency on N-type calcium channels (Cav2.2). Blocking N-type calcium channels with conotoxin GVIA had only minor effects on respiratory activity in slices from control (CT) littermates, but abolished respiratory activity in all slices from u1A mice. The amplitude of evoked EPSPs was smaller in inspiratory neurons from a α1A-/- mice compared with CTs. Conotoxin GVIA abolished all EPSPs in inspiratory neurons from α1A-/- mice, while the EPSP amplitude was reduced by only 30% in CT mice. Moreover, neuromodulation was significantly altered as muscarine abolished respiratory network activity in α1A-/- mice but not in CT mice. We conclude that excitatory synaptic transmission dependent on N-type and P/Q-type calcium channels is required for stable breathing and sighing. In the absence of P/Q-type calcium channels, breathing, sighing, and neuromodulation are severely compromised, leading to early mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was aimed to assess the pleiotropic effects of non-hematopoietic doses of erythropoietin (Epo) on post-ischemic microcirculatory dysfunction and inflammation in murine cardiac allografts. Methods: Epo was given intraperitoneally 2 hours prior to explantation (Epo-donor) or 2 hours prior to the onset of reperfusion (Epo-recipient). Controls were not treated. Intravital fluorescence microscopy (IVM) was used to assess post-ischemic coronary microcirculatory dysfunction. Results: IVM exhibited decreasing capillary blood flow velocities and functional capillary densities (FCD) in controls. Capillary diameters and venular blood flow characteristics showed no significant changes over time. Epo-treatment had no effect on coronary microhemodynamics. Post-ischemic inflammation was characterized by augmented macromolecular leakage. Microvascular permeability decreased in the Epo-donor group (p < 0.05). Leukocyte rolling in coronary post-capillary venules decreased during reperfusion from 64 ± 16 to 19 ± 16 cells/min/mm, whereas firm adhesion increased from 333 ± 135 to 479 ± 154 cells/mm2 in controls. Capillary leukocyte plugging remained stationary over time with approximately 4 to 6 cells/HPF. Firm adhesion was inhibited in the Epo-recipient group, resulting in 84 ± 34 cells/mm2 at 6 hours of reperfusion (p < 0.05). Capillary leukocyte plugging was also reduced in the Epo-recipient group (p < 0.05). Epo exerted no effect on leukocyte rolling. Histology revealed significant myocardial edema formation in allografts, without any alteration by Epo treatment. Immunohistochemistry indicated the involvement of resident cardiac mast cells. Allograft rejection was not affected by Epo treatment. Conclusions: We demonstrate that non-hematopoietic treatment with Epo inhibits acute post-ischemic myocardial leukocyte sequestration, without affecting microcirculatory dysfunction and allograft rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a collection of poems from Rückenwind and Zaubersprüche, translated by Helmbrecht Breinig and Kevin Power.

Investigated association of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs301430 in glutamate transporter gene (SLC1A1) with severity of repetitive behaviors (obsessive-compulsive behaviors, tics) and anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mothers and/or teachers completed a validated DSM-IV-referenced rating scale for 67 children with autism spectrum disorder. Although analyses were not significant for repetitive behaviors, youths homozygous for the high expressing C allele had more severe anxiety than carriers of the T allele. Allelic variation in SLC1A1 may be a biomarker for or modifier of anxiety symptom severity in children with ASD, but study findings are best conceptualized as tentative pending replication with larger independent samples.