Standardizing Ecosystem Morphological Traits from 3D Information Sources.

3D-imaging technologies provide measurements of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems' structure, key for biodiversity studies. However, the practical use of these observations globally faces practical challenges. First, available 3D data are geographically biased, with significant gaps in the tropics. Second, no data source provides, by itself, global coverage at a suitable temporal recurrence. Thus, global monitoring initiatives, such as assessment of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs), will necessarily have to involve the combination of disparate data sets. We propose a standardized framework of ecosystem morphological traits - height, cover, and structural complexity - that could enable monitoring of globally consistent EBVs at regional scales, by flexibly integrating different information sources - satellites, aircrafts, drones, or ground data - allowing global biodiversity targets relating to ecosystem structure to be monitored and regularly reported.

Glucose-regulated insulin expression in diabetic rats.

Retroviral vectors encoding glucose-responsive promoters driving furin expression may provide an amplified, glucose-regulated secretion of insulin. We constructed LhI*TFSN virus to encode a glucose-regulatable transforming growth factor alpha promoter controlling furin expression with a viral LTR promoter driving constitutive expression of furin-cleavable human proinsulin. Autologous BB rat vascular smooth muscle cells transduced with LhI*TFSN virus and cultured in 1.7 and 16.7 mM glucose secreted 50.7 +/- 3.2 and 136.0 +/- 11.0 microU (mean +/- SD) of insulin per 10(6) cells per day, respectively. After the onset of diabetes spontaneously diabetic congenic DR lyp/lyp BB rats received stomach implants containing 2 x 10(6) LhI*TFSN-transduced primary rat vascular smooth muscle cells. In eight treated rats there was a major reduction in insulin requirement to as low as 25% of pretreatment level for up to 3 months and one rat became insulin free without hypoglycemia. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests (IPGTTs) in diabetic rats receiving control implants did not show the characteristic decline in blood glucose of normal rats after glucose administration. In contrast, diabetic rats receiving LhI*TFSN-transduced cells showed significant clearances of blood glucose. These data suggest clinically significant levels of glucose-regulated insulin delivery from implanted vascular smooth muscle cells transduced with LhI*TFSN vector.

Rel B is an early marker of autoimmune islet inflammation in the biobreeding (BB) rat.

Because the development of insulitis and diabetes is predictable in Lyp/Lyp congenic BB rats, we have characterized early islet inflammation in these rats to determine the cell subsets involved in the onset of autoimmune insulitis. Pancreas sections from prediabetic Lyp/Lyp, Lyp/+ and +/+ rats were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. We found W3/25+ cells in the exo- and endocrine tissue from all three genotypes, but intraislet insulitis was never found in Lyp/+ or +/+ rats. The onset of massive, intraislet B- and T-cell infiltration in Lyp/Lyp rats was preceded by Rel B+ cells in and around the islets, followed by ED1+ monocytes/macrophages. Rel B+ cells were more frequent in the parafollicular cortex of pancreatic lymph nodes from Lyp/Lyp than from Lyp/+ and +/+ rats. In the Lyp/Lyp thymus, we found significantly increased expression of IL-12p40 messenger RNA (mRNA; p<0.001), located in the Rel B-protein-rich corticomedullary junction. The NF-KB/Rel B complex specifically transactivates genes involved in antigen presentation in dendritic cells. Rel B+ cells in the islets may therefore mark the onset of autoimmune insulitis and antigen-specific activation of autoreactive T cells in the lymph nodes of diabetes prone Lyp/Lyp BB rats. In the thymus, Rel B+ cells may support the Lyp-dependent development of self-reactive thymocytes by activation of cytokine expression.

Recombinant human platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase reduces the frequency of diabetes in the diabetes-prone BB rat.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) has been implicated in the development of type 1 diabetes. Our previous studies have suggested that PAF inhibitors reduce insulitis and the frequency of diabetes in BB rats. In this study, serum PAF levels were reduced to address the hypothesis that PAF is important for the development of insulitis. From the age of 35 days on, DP-BB rats were treated with human recombinant PAF acetylhydrolase (rPAF-AH), which efficiently inactivates PAF. Our data indicate that intraperitoneal injections of rPAF-AH reduce the incidence of diabetes in the DP-BB rat. Daily intraperitoneal injections of 6.0 mg/kg body wt rPAF-AH reduced the frequency of diabetes in saline-injected rats from 90% (27/30) to 57% (17/30) (P = 0.004). As found by morphometric analysis on pancreatic islets, DP-BB rats protected from diabetes had less severe degrees of insulitis in a dose-dependent manner. DP-BB rats protected by rPAF-AH also had a higher percentage of insulin-positive cells in pancreas sections compared with those from diabetic animals. We therefore speculated that the beta-cells were protected from insulitis by rPAF-AH.

Promising agents for treating Alzheimer's disease.

Key issues related to the pharmacotherapy of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are discussed, and current and investigational agents are described. There are three key issues in the pharmacotherapy of AD. First, there is a need to eliminate or minimize drug-related adverse reactions. Second, concurrent diseases that either resemble AD or complicate its treatment must be addressed. The third issue is the need for pharmacotherapy not only to improve cognitive performance but to treat related symptoms. Current strategies for treating AD usually rely on increasing cholinergic function. To date, cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) are the only agents that have been well studied and that have shown efficacy by improving cognitive deficits and, in some cases, psychiatric and behavioral components of AD. Tacrine is rarely used today; the only other FDA-approved ChEI is donepezil. Many other approaches are under clinical investigation, including selective muscarinic agonists, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory drugs, and estrogen replacement therapy. New drug discovery efforts focus on molecular events believed to be important in the pathogenesis of AD. Future pharmacotherapy will probably involve increased use of ChEIs in combination with drugs that have other mechanisms of action. Current treatment of AD primarily involves ChEI therapy, but other therapeutic options, particularly combination therapies, hold promise.

Medication use by community-dwelling elderly with urinary incontinence.

Medication consumption patterns among community-dwelling elderly persons with chronic urinary incontinence were examined. All health professionals, including nurses, should be knowledgeable of the potential for adverse drug reactions. Continuing education and establishment of routine monitoring systems could help to reduce the risk of potential for adverse drug reactions and prevent drug-induced UI in patients.

Drug therapy implications on activity: a focus on the elderly patient.

Drug therapy is common in the elderly and may be very beneficial but it is associated with many potential complications. Adverse drug reactions are more likely to occur in the elderly patient, presenting with a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from minor to severe. Adverse effects normally considered to be of little consequence in a younger adult may cause significant morbidity in an elderly individual and may have a negative impact on quality of life. A number of adverse drug effects can impact on an older person's ability to ambulate and participate in normal activities including: dizziness, mental status changes, weakness, decreased exercise tolerance, movement disorders and falls. Careful medication management may improve the patient's functional status and independence.

Pharmacists' perceptions of geriatric pharmacy practice.

Four hundred thirty-two pharmacists from two separate pharmacy organizations associated with geriatric practice were surveyed to determine their perceptions of 51 content areas in terms of their importance for inclusion in pharmacy curricula. The population surveyed was also asked to respond to the question: What do you believe is the most difficult aspect of geriatric pharmacy practice? Demographic and descriptive information was collected for each respondent, for statistical purposes. The most important content areas for inclusion in pharmacy curricula were the pharmacist's responsibility in long-term care, patient compliance, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, and psychotropic medication use. The most difficult aspects of geriatric pharmacy practice identified included inadequate geriatric knowledge, patient compliance, physician overprescribing, communication with the elderly, and lack of professional and/or financial recognition.

Estimation of serum digoxin levels in geriatric patients.

The correlation in geriatric patients between estimated serum digoxin levels based on pharmacokinetic calculations and serum digoxin levels measured by radioimmunoassay was studied. Serum digoxin levels were estimated for 17 geriatric patients recieving digoxin using the "total body stores" concept. A statistically significant correlation between calculated and measured digoxin levels was shown (p less than 0.05, r = 0.51); however, 95% confidence limits were so large (+/- 1.75 ng/ml) that the results were clinically unacceptable. Until data describing specific causes of variance are available and calculations modified to account for specific variations, pharmacokinetic models should not be relied upon for accurate estimates of digoxin levels in geriatric patients.

Payment for nondistributive hospital pharmacy services--a regional survey.

Questionnaires were mailed to all (464) nongovernment, not-for-profit and investor owned for-profit hospital pharmacies in Washingon, Oregon and California. Responses were received from 350 institutions, a return rate of 75.4 percent. Pharmacists were asked to report data relating to the incidence of, the range of fees charged, and the extent of reimbursement received from third party carriers for the provision of nondistributive pharmacy services. The data received indicate that pharmacy consultation to physicians was provided by 77.9 percent of the respondents, drug therapy monitoring by 48.1 percent, generalized patient discharge consultation by 40.8 percent, CPR team participation by 27.2 percent, indepth patient discharge consultation by 17.5 percent and admitting medication history by 8.8 percent. Additionally, 12 institutions charged for providing 16 nondistributive pharmacy services. Directors of pharmacy from six hospitals indicated that they billed third party carriers for nondistributive pharmacy services as part of their total pharmacy charge via their usual billing procedure. All third party carriers billed in this manner paid for the nondistributive pharmacy service.