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The ketogenic diet (KD) is an established, effective nonpharmacologic treatment for intractable childhood epilepsy. The KD is provided differently throughout the world, with occasionally significant variations in its administration. There exists a need for more standardized protocols and management recommendations for clinical and research use. In December 2006, The Charlie Foundation commissioned a panel comprised of 26 pediatric epileptologists and dietitians from nine countries with particular expertise using the KD. This group was created in order to create a consensus statement regarding the clinical management of the KD. Subsequently endorsed by the Practice Committee of the Child Neurology Society, this resultant manuscript addresses issues such as patient selection, pre-KD counseling and evaluation, specific dietary therapy selection, implementation, supplementation, follow-up management, adverse event monitoring, and eventual KD discontinuation. This paper highlights recommendations based on best evidence, including areas of agreement and controversy, unanswered questions, and future research.

Changes in irrigation and land use may impact discharge of the Snake River Plain aquifer, which is a major contributor to flow of the Snake River in southern Idaho. The Snake River Basin planning and management model (SRBM) has been expanded to include the spatial distribution and temporal attenuation that occurs as aquifer stresses propagate through the aquifer to the river. The SRBM is a network flow model in which aquifer characteristics have been introduced through a matrix of response functions. The response functions were determined by independently simulating the effect of a unit stress in each cell of a finite difference groundwater flow model on six reaches of the Snake River. Cells were aggregated into 20 aquifer zones and average response functions for each river reach were included in the SRBM. This approach links many of the capabilities of surface and ground water flow models. Evaluation of an artificial recharge scenario approximately reproduced estimates made by direct simulation in a ground water flow model. The example demonstrated that the method can produce reasonable results but interpretation of the results can be biased if the simulation period is not of adequate duration.

Objective To assess the opinions of pediatricians regarding the supply and utilization of child neurologists in the United States. Study design A 32-item questionnaire was circulated by e-mail to a random sample of 5000 pediatricians with the assistance of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Results After 2 mailings, 422 responses were received. Respondents ranged in age from 30 to 75 years (median 50 years), 60.4% were male, 96% were board certified in pediatrics, and 76% had a 2 or more–week rotation in child neurology during pediatric training. Approximately 79% indicated that there were few or too few child neurologists in their area, and 90% indicated that there were few or too few child neurologists in the United States. Sixty-one percent indicated that they always or almost always seek consultation from a child neurologist for a child with new onset seizures; 7% and 21% seek consultations for children with migraine or tics. The delay for child neurology consultation was 5 or more weeks in 63% and >12 weeks in 15%. Satisfaction with child neurologists was linked to the level of inter-physician communication. Neither satisfaction nor wait time influenced the frequency of consultations. Increasing level of patient complexity and parental expectations were cited as reasons for increasing numbers of consultations with child neurologists. Conclusions Pediatricians perceive that a work force shortage exists in child neurology. Satisfaction with child neurology consultations is linked to communication with pediatricians.

In this chapter Mike, Ed, Roger and Dick talk about their own experiences using hardware emulators and RS-232 links. The problems they encountered with RS-232 downloads from their VAX led them to develop an Ethernet protocol for downloading object files. They describe how that protocol works, and they compare it to using an RS232 link. The C source code that they provide for implementing the protocol should be useful, even if you download your files from some other type of host system.

In our attempt to make the aid of a computer for the molecular biology laboratory available on a low-cost basis, we have improved the programs that we published recently. We have experienced in our laboratory, and have learned from others, that the average lab has an increasing demand to use a time-sharing-independent computer for the bulk of data handling. A microcomputer can give this independence. At the same time, a microcomputer can serve as a terminal for the few computer jobs, such as data communication or extensive search programs, which have to be conducted on a time-sharing basis. In this paper, we describe the programs which can be executed on an Apple II microcomputer using the Apple Language System. This system gives the researcher the opportunity to learn to handle sequence data, and it also includes a word processing system useful in writing letters and manuscripts and storing text.

A set of programs is presented for the reconstruction of a DNA sequence from data generated by the M13 shotgun sequencing technique. Once the sequence has been established and stored other programs are used for its analysis. The programs have been written for the Apple II microcomputer. A minimum investment is required for the hardware and the software is easily interchangeable between the growing number of interested researchers. Copies are available in ready to use form.