An audit of oxygen supplementation in a large tertiary hospital - we should treat oxygen as any other drug.

Objectives: To examine the current state of practice of oxygen (O2) supplementation in adults hospitalized in a tertiary hospital admitted to medical-surgical floors.Methods: We recorded: the proportion of patients on O2; their peripheral O2 saturation (SpO2); if the SpO2 was within, above, or below the target range; if patients had an order for O2 supplementation and a target SpO2 range.Results: Among 811 hospitalized patients, 153 (19%) were on supplemental O2. Forty-nine percent were in the recommended range, 55% above, and 1% below. All patients with COPD on O2 supplementation had a SpO2 of more than 92% exposing them to the risk of hypercarbia. Only 43% of patients on oxygen had an associated order and only 52% of patients with an O2 order had an order for a goal SpO2 range.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate widespread hyperoxia among hospitalized patients and that oxygen, a very common therapy, is being administered frequently without any written order. These findings highlight the opportunity to implement safe prescribing measures for O2, similar to other prescribed medications.

Malformation of the Posterior Cerebellar Vermis Is a Common Neuroanatomical Phenotype of Genetically Engineered Mice on the C57BL/6 Background.

C57BL/6 mice exhibit spontaneous cerebellar malformations consisting of heterotopic neurons and glia in the molecular layer of the posterior vermis, indicative of neuronal migration defect during cerebellar development. Recognizing that many genetically engineered (GE) mouse lines are produced from C57BL/6 ES cells or backcrossed to this strain, we performed histological analyses and found that cerebellar heterotopia were a common feature present in the majority of GE lines on this background. Furthermore, we identify GE mouse lines that will be valuable in the study of cerebellar malformations including diverse driver, reporter, and optogenetic lines. Finally, we discuss the implications that these data have on the use of C57BL/6 mice and GE mice on this background in studies of cerebellar development or as models of disease.

Divergence and inheritance of neocortical heterotopia in inbred and genetically-engineered mice.

Cortical function emerges from the intrinsic properties of neocortical neurons and their synaptic connections within and across lamina. Neurodevelopmental disorders affecting migration and lamination of the neocortex result in cognitive delay/disability and epilepsy. Molecular layer heterotopia (MLH), a dysplasia characterized by over-migration of neurons into layer I, are associated with cognitive deficits and neuronal hyperexcitability in humans and mice. The breadth of different inbred mouse strains that exhibit MLH and inheritance patterns of heterotopia remain unknown. A neuroanatomical survey of numerous different inbred mouse strains, 2 first filial generation (F1) hybrids, and one consomic strain (C57BL/6J-Chr 1A/J/NaJ) revealed MLH only in C57BL/6 mice and the consomic strain. Heterotopia were observed in numerous genetically-engineered mouse lines on a congenic C57BL/6 background. These data indicate that heterotopia formation is a weakly penetrant trait requiring homozygosity of one or more C57BL/6 alleles outside of chromosome 1. These data are relevant toward understanding neocortical development and disorders affecting neocortical lamination.

Undergraduate Neuroscience Education in the U.S.: Quantitative Comparisons of Programs and Graduates in the Broader Context of Undergraduate Life Sciences Education.

The impact of undergraduate neuroscience programs on the broader landscape of life sciences education has not been described. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, we found that the number of undergraduate neuroscience programs in the U.S. continues to grow. Within any given institution, neuroscience programs exist alongside a small number of other life sciences undergraduate programs, suggesting that neuroscience is one of few major options from which students can choose from at many institutions. Neuroscience majors constitute a substantial proportion of all life sciences graduates at many institutions, and in several cases, neuroscience majors were the majority of life sciences graduates. Thus, neuroscience programs contribute substantially to life sciences education, and neuroscience is a highly attractive major among undergraduate students where these programs are available. These data have implications for institutions with existing neuroscience programs as well as for institutions seeking to establish a new program.

Neuroanatomical characterization of the cellular and axonal architecture of subcortical band heterotopia in the BXD29-Tlr4lps-2J/J mouse cortex.

Subcortical band heterotopia (SBH) are malformations of the human cerebral cortex typically associated with epilepsy and cognitive delay/disability. Rodent models of SBH have demonstrated strong face validity as they are accompanied by both cognitive deficits and spontaneous seizures or reduced seizure threshold. BXD29-Tlr4lps-2J/J recombinant inbred mice display striking bilateral SBH, partial callosal agenesis, morphological changes in subcortical structures of the auditory pathway, and display sensory deficits in behavioral tests (Rosen et al., 2013; Truong et al., 2013, 2015). Surprisingly, these mice show no cognitive deficits and have a higher seizure threshold to chemi-convulsive treatment (Gabel et al., 2013) making them different than other rodent SBH models described previously. In the present report, we perform a detailed characterization of the cellular and axonal constituents of SBH in BXD29-Tlr4lps-2J/J mice and demonstrate that various types of interneurons and glia as well as cortical and subcortical projections are found in SBH. In addition, the length of neuronal cilia was reduced in SBH compared to neurons in the overlying and adjacent normotopic cortex. Finally, we describe additional and novel malformations of the hippocampus and neocortex present in BXD29-Tlr4lps-2J/J mice. Together, our findings in BXD29-Tlr4lps-2J/J mice are discussed in the context of the known neuroanatomy and phenotype of other SBH rodent models.