Parent Perspectives Regarding Care Delivery for Children With Idiopathic Toe Walking to Inform an American Physical Therapy Association Clinical Practice Guideline.

PURPOSE: This study summarizes experiences and perceptions of parents whose children received physical therapy for idiopathic toe walking (ITW) to inform clinical practice guideline development and identify perceived strengths and gaps in care. METHODS: A US-based survey was distributed to parents of children with ITW. Data from 98 respondents were compiled through descriptive statistics of item responses and review of comments. RESULTS: Parents reported variability in timing of diagnosis and intervention, ITW care, and extent they felt educated and involved in decision making. Rates of confidence, satisfaction, and effectiveness of physical therapy care varied. CONCLUSIONS: A parent-informed clinical practice guideline for physical therapy management of ITW and family-friendly supplemental knowledge translation tools could reduce care variability, optimize shared decision making, and increase satisfaction of outcomes. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: Clinicians should be knowledgeable about ITW diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options, educating families and engaging them in shared decision making around ITW care.

The Effectiveness of Induced Defense Responses in a Susceptible Potato Genotype Depends on the Growth Rate of Phytophthora infestans.

Phytophthora infestans causes the devastating potato late blight disease, which is widely controlled with fungicides. However, the debate about chemical control is fueling a promotion toward alternative methods. In this context, the enhancement of natural plant immunity could be a strategy for more sustainable protection. We previously demonstrated that a concentrated culture filtrate (CCF) of P. infestans primes defense reactions in potato. They are genotype-dependent and metabolites produced decrease pathogen growth in vitro but not in vivo on tubers. Induced potato defenses are assumed to affect P. infestans life history traits depending on strains. This assumption was studied in vivo through induced leaflets on a susceptible genotype inoculated with four P. infestans strains differing for lesion growth rate. This study combines both defenses mechanistic analysis and ecological observations. Defense-gene expressions were thus assessed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction; pathogen development was simultaneously evaluated by measuring necrosis, quantifying mycelial DNA, and counting sporangia. The results showed that CCF pretreatment reduced the pathogenicity differences between slow- and fast-growing strains. Moreover, after elicitation, PR-1, PR-4, PAL, POX, and THT induction was strain-dependent. These results suggest that P. infestans could develop different strategies to overcome plant defenses and should be considered in biocontrol and epidemic management of late blight.

Time-resolved FRET binding assay to investigate hetero-oligomer binding properties: proof of concept with dopamine D1/D3 heterodimer.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been described to form hetero-oligomers. The importance of these complexes in physiology and pathology is considered crucial, and heterodimers represent promising new targets to discover innovative therapeutics. However, there is a lack of binding assays to allow the evaluation of ligand affinity for GPCR hetero-oligomers. Using dopamine receptors and more specifically the D1 and D3 receptors as GPCR models, we developed a new time-resolved FRET (TR-FRET) based assay to determine ligand affinity for the D1/D3 heteromer. Based on the high-resolution structure of the dopamine D3 receptor (D3R), six fluorescent probes derived from a known D3R partial agonist (BP 897) were designed, synthesized and evaluated as high affinity and selective ligands for the D3/D2 receptors, and for other dopamine receptor subtypes. The highest affinity ligand 21 was then employed in the development of the D1/D3 heteromer assay. The TR-FRET was monitored between a fluorescent tag donor carried by the D1 receptor (D1R) and a fluorescent acceptor D3R ligand 21. The newly reported assay, easy to implement on other G protein-coupled receptors, constitutes an attractive strategy to screen for heteromer ligands.

Phytophagous arthropods and a pathogen sharing a host plant: evidence for indirect plant-mediated interactions.

In ecological systems, indirect interactions between plant pathogens and phytophagous arthropods can arise when infestation by a first attacker alters the common host plant so that although a second attacker could be spatially or temporally separated from the first one, the former could be affected. The induction of plant defense reactions leading to the production of secondary metabolites is thought to have an important role since it involves antagonistic and/or synergistic cross-talks that may determine the outcome of such interactions. We carried out experiments under controlled conditions on young rose plants in order to assess the impact of these indirect interactions on life history traits of three pests: the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea Pers.: Fr. (Helotiales: Sclerotiniaceae), the aphid Rhodobium porosum Sanderson (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and the thrips Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Our results indicated (i) a bi-directional negative interaction between B. cinerea and R. porosum, which is conveyed by decreased aphid growth rate and reduced fungal lesion area, as well as (ii) an indirect negative effect of B. cinerea on insect behavior. No indirect effect was observed between thrips and aphids. This research highlights several complex interactions that may be involved in structuring herbivore and plant pathogen communities within natural and managed ecosystems.

Convenient method to access new 4,4-dialkoxy- and 4,4-diaryloxy-diaza-s-indacene dyes: Synthesis and spectroscopic evaluation.

A straightforward method for the synthesis of original 4,4-dialkoxy- or 4,4-diaryloxy-diaza-s-indacenes (BODIPY) derivatives obtained by treatment of BODIPY 1 with various alcohols in the presence of AlCl3 is described. The novel compounds are characterized by spectroscopic properties similar to those of the parent BODIPY 1, absorption and emission spectra with similar band shapes, high molar absorption coefficients (epsilon lambda max approximately 80,000 M(-1) cm(-1)), and for most of them high fluorescence quantum yields (Phi exp from 0.52 to 0.71). Among all of the new compounds synthesized, the dye 2 h exhibits higher fluorescence quantum yield (0.71) and lifetime (4.09 ns) than compound 1 and a good chemical stability toward conditions compatible with biological cell-based assays.

Ketanserin versus urapidil: age-related cardiovascular effects in conscious rats.

To examine whether serotonin (5-hydroxtryptamine, 5-HT)-mediated mechanisms for regulating blood pressure are influenced by advancing age, the cardiovascular effects of ketanserin and urapidil were compared in two groups of conscious rats at ages 4 (young) and 24 (old) months. Old rats had higher mean pressures but the same basal heart rates as young rats prior to drug treatment. Subsequent treatment with either ketanserin or urapidil produced similar cardiovascular effects. Both drugs in doses of 10 mg/kg i.v., lowered mean pressures more markedly in old than in young rats, and the larger hypotensive response in old rats was statistically significant even when expressed as percent reductions. Because drug treatment abolished the mild hypertension initially present in old rats, ensuing blood pressure levels no longer differed between age groups. On the other hand, neither drug had any appreciable effects on basal heart rate or angiotensin-induced reflex bradycardia at any age. Consequently, hypotensive enhancement in old rats cannot be due to age-related changes in reflex bradycardia. Inasmuch as ketanserin and urapidil, despite their differing modes of action on 5-HT receptors, were both equally adept at lowering blood pressure more in old rats, these results suggest that enhancement occurs selectively only with 5-HT-mediated hypotension. Thus, unlike other antihypertensive drugs (like prazosin or lisinopril) whose modes of action do not include 5-HT mediation and whose hypotensive effects do not increase with age, our results suggest that hypotensive responses to ketanserin and urapidil are selectively enhanced because of their actions on 5-HT receptors.