Risk behaviours exhibited by free-roaming cats in a suburban US town.

Free-roaming cats may experience numerous hazardous encounters in the outdoor environment, including: vehicular accidents, aggression from other animals and exposure to infectious disease. This research quantitatively examined the outdoor activities of 55 owned cats by monitoring pets outfitted with 'KittyCam' video cameras. KittyCams are a type of Crittercam, designed by National Geographic to allow recording of a cat-eye view without disrupting behaviour. We investigated the activities of free-roaming cats in suburban Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, during all four seasons. Research objectives included documenting the type and regularity of risk behaviours exhibited by free-roaming cats and identifying characteristics of pet cats (eg, age, sex, roaming habitat) which predict risky behaviour in the outdoors. The most common risk behaviours exhibited by suburban free-roaming cats included crossing roads (45 per cent of our sample), encountering strange cats (25 per cent), eating and drinking substances away from home (25 per cent), exploring storm drain systems (20 per cent), and entering crawlspaces of houses (20 per cent). Male cats were more likely to engage in risk behaviours than female cats, and older cats engaged in fewer risk behaviours than younger individuals. We hope this information can be used to encourage the public to keep cats indoors more often (with consideration for their indoor quality of life) or supervise them while outdoors.

HIV clinicalpharmacists – the USperspective

Clinical pharmacists have been involved in treating people with HIV and AIDS since the epidemic began. Their roles have evolved from inpatient infectious diseases training clinical pharmacists offering treatment regimens for the serious opportunistic infections seen in the hospital, to clinical pharmacists who received specialized training in the treatment of people with HIV in the ambulatory care setting. Their roles and benefits have been documented in the literature, but not to a large extent. Improvements in adherence and cost savings have been seen, but significant improvements in clinical outcomes (changes in viral load and CD4 cell counts) are quite complex and often difficult to identify in the small studies that have been published. This manuscript will review the published data on this topic, and provide examples of clinically trained pharmacists in the US who focus on the treatment of people with HIV infection. The pharmacists discussed here practice in a variety of settings (privately managed free-clinics and government managed clinics), take care of a variety of types of patients (children, adults, military veterans, lower socio-economic groups, etc.), and are employed by a variety of institutions (academic, pharmaceutical company, large healthcare systems and small healthcare systems). These pharmacists were chosen to be representative of the wide variety of individuals, positions and roles of clinical pharmacists involved in the treatment of HIV in the US (AU)

Los farmacéuticos clínicos se han involucrado en el tratamiento de los pacientes con VIH y sida desde el comienzo de la epidemia. Sus papeles han evolucionado desde farmacéuticos con formación en enfermedades infecciosas que requieren hospitalización, aquellos que ofrecen regímenes de tratamiento para las infecciones oportunistas graves que aparecen en el hospital, hasta farmacéuticos con formación especializada para el tratamiento ambulatorio de pacientes con VIH. Sus funciones y beneficios se han documentado en la literatura, pero no de forma exhaustiva. Asimismo, se han demostrado las mejoras en la adherencia al tratamiento y el ahorro en costes, sin embargo las mejoras significativas en los resultados clínicos (cambios en la carga viral y recuentos celulares CD4) son muy complejas y a menudo difíciles de identificar en los escasos estudios publicados. En este documento se revisarán los datos publicados sobre este tema, y se mostrarán ejemplos de farmacéuticos con formación clínica en los Estados Unidos especializados en el tratamiento de personas infectadas con VIH. Además, los farmacéuticos incluidos ejercen en diferentes entornos (clínicas privadas y clínicas públicas), asisten a distintos tipos de pacientes (niños, adultos, veteranos de guerra, grupos de orígenes humildes, etc.), y pertenecen a diferentes instituciones (académicas, farmacéuticas, sistemas sanitarios de gran envergadura y de pequeña envergadura). Estos farmacéuticos se han elegido como representantes de una gran variedad de individuos, puestos y funciones que conforma el grupo de farmacéuticos clínicos involucrados en el tratamiento del VIH en los Estados Unidos (AU)

HIV clinical pharmacists--the US perspective.

Clinical pharmacists have been involved in treating people with HIV and AIDS since the epidemic began. Their roles have evolved from inpatient infectious diseases training clinical pharmacists offering treatment regimens for the serious opportunistic infections seen in the hospital, to clinical pharmacists who received specialized training in the treatment of people with HIV in the ambulatory care setting. Their roles and benefits have been documented in the literature, but not to a large extent. Improvements in adherence and cost savings have been seen, but significant improvements in clinical outcomes (changes in viral load and CD4 cell counts) are quite complex and often difficult to identify in the small studies that have been published. This manuscript will review the published data on this topic, and provide examples of clinically trained pharmacists in the US who focus on the treatment of people with HIV infection. The pharmacists discussed here practice in a variety of settings (privately managed free-clinics and government managed clinics), take care of a variety of types of patients (children, adults, military veterans, lower socio-economic groups, etc.), and are employed by a variety of institutions (academic, pharmaceutical company, large healthcare systems and small healthcare systems). These pharmacists were chosen to be representative of the wide variety of individuals, positions and roles of clinical pharmacists involved in the treatment of HIV in the US.

Sea turtles compensate deflection of heading at the sea surface during directional travel.

Air-breathing marine animals, including sea turtles, utilise two fundamentally different environments (i.e. sea surface and underwater) during migration. Many satellite telemetry studies have shown travel paths at relatively large spatio-temporal scales, discussing the orientation and navigation mechanisms that guide turtles. However, as travel paths obtained by satellite telemetry only reflect movements at the surface, little is known about movements and orientation ability underwater. In this study, to assess orientation ability both at the surface and underwater, fine-scale 3-D movements of free-ranging loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta were reconstructed by using multi-sensor data loggers. Video systems ('Crittercam') were also used to record the behaviour of the turtles and the visual information surrounding the turtles. During August and October in 2006 and 2007, eight turtles were released from Otsuchi Bay, Japan (39 degrees 20'30N, 141 degrees 56'00E), and a total of 118 h of 3-D movements were reconstructed. Turtles maintained highly straight-line courses (straightness index >0.95) during 41% of the total duration (i.e. 'travelling periods'). During travelling periods, turtles swam continuously, maintaining unidirectional heading throughout dives whereas turtles changed heading remarkably at the surface. Despite highly directional movements during dives, travel direction tended to shift by the end of dives lasting 10 minutes or more. Such deflections seemed to be compensated during subsequent surfacing periods because there was a negative relationship between changes in travel direction arising during dives and subsequent surfacing periods. Therefore, remarkable changes in heading at the surface could be interpreted as direction-searching behaviour. Our results suggested that turtles undertaking directional travel were more dependent on directional information that was reliable at the surface.

Identification of tumor markers in models of human colorectal cancer using a 19,200-element complementary DNA microarray.

Metastasis represents a crucial transition in disease development and progression and has a profound impact on survival for a wide variety of cancers. Cell line models of metastasis have played an important role in developing our understanding of the metastatic process. We used a 19,200-element human cDNA microarray to profile transcription in three paired cell-line models of colorectal tumor metastasis. By correlating expression patterns across these cell lines, we have identified 176 genes that appear to be differentially expressed (greater than 2-fold) in all highly metastatic cell lines relative to their reference. An analysis of these genes reiterates much of our understanding of the metastatic process and suggests additional genes, many of previously uncharacterized function, that may be causatively involved in, or at least prognostic of, metastasis. Northern analysis of a limited number of these genes validates the observed pattern of expression and suggests that further investigation and functional characterization of the identified genes is warranted.

A concise guide to cDNA microarray analysis.

Microarray expression analysis has become one of the most widely used functional genomics tools. Efficient application of this technique requires the development of robust and reproducible protocols. We have optimized all aspects of the process, including PCR amplification of target cDNA clones, microarray printing, probe labeling and hybridization, and have developed strategies for data normalization and analysis.

Appropriateness of iron prescribing: a retrospective study.

We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 120 patients who received an initial prescription of iron from a resident physician in internal medicine to determine how accurately house officers diagnose iron-deficiency anemia before initiating iron therapy. Each patient's laboratory records were reviewed for the 3-month period before the prescription. Of the 120 patients, 77 (64%) did not have any iron tests performed to aid in the diagnosis of iron-deficiency anemia. Forty-three percent of those who had iron tests did not have the disorder by our criteria. Ferritin levels and iron profiles are often not measured in patients prescribed iron, and when they are, they are frequently misinterpreted by medical house officers. This can lead to inappropriate gastrointestinal procedures as well as inappropriate prescribing of iron.

Target heart rates for the development of cardiorespiratory fitness.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the use of 40%, 60%, 80%, and 85% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) as target values in developing exercise prescriptions. Further, the ACSM states that 55%, 70%, 85%, and 90% of maximal heart rate (HRmax) may be used as indices of these respective levels of % VO2max for the general population. The current study evaluated this relationship between %HRmax and %VO2max in apparently healthy, young adults. Eighty-one men and 81 women between the ages of 18 and 34 engaged in an incremental exercise test to exhaustion. Linear regressions of %HRmax and %VO2max were performed on each subject. From these regressions, target values of %HRmax were computed for each individual. Mean percentages of HRmax were 63%, 76%, 89%, and 92% at 40%, 60%, 80%, and 85% of VO2max, respectively. At all of these values of %VO2max, the values obtained for %HRmax were significantly greater (P < 0.001) than those used by the ACSM. Fitness affected these results, particularly among men. High fit men averaged 2% higher in %HRmax than low fit men at any given value of %VO2max.