Comparative pattern of genetic structure in two Mediterranean killifishes Aphanius fasciatus and Aphanius iberus inferred from both mitochondrial and nuclear data

In this study, genetic variation was assessed in Aphanius fasciatus and Aphanius iberus characterized by similar ecological traits but with very different distribution ranges in the Mediterranean area. Five populations of A. iberus and five of A. fasciatus were analysed using five polymorphic microsatellite loci and partial mitochondrial control region (D-loop) sequences. Congruent results were found with both nuclear and mitochondrial molecular markers. The results showed that similar levels of genetic divergence, based on mitochondrial control region sequences, are present among populations of A. iberus and among populations of A. fasciatus despite the very different geographic distance existing among the examined populations of the two species (low geographic distance in A. iberus and high in A. fasciatus). A possible explanation could be that the populations of A. iberus were isolated for a longer time than the populations of A. fasciatus supporting the hypothesis that the split in the lineage leading to A. iberus is older than the split in the lineage leading to A. fasciatus. The possibility that the wide circum-Mediterranean distribution of A. fasciatus ensures the high connectivity of its populations, preventing, in some cases, local differentiation, however, cannot be ruled out.

Permanent genetic resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 December 2010-31 January 2011

This article documents the addition of 238 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Alytes dickhilleni, Arapaima gigas, Austropotamobius italicus, Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, Cobitis lutheri, Dendroctonus ponderosae, Glossina morsitans morsitans, Haplophilus subterraneus, Kirengeshoma palmata, Lysimachia japonica, Macrolophus pygmaeus, Microtus cabrerae, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Pallisentis (Neosentis) celatus, Pulmonaria officinalis, Salminus franciscanus, Thais chocolata and Zootoca vivipara. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Acanthina monodon, Alytes cisternasii, Alytes maurus, Alytes muletensis, Alytes obstetricans almogavarii, Alytes obstetricans boscai, Alytes obstetricans obstetricans, Alytes obstetricans pertinax, Cambarellus montezumae, Cambarellus zempoalensis, Chorus giganteus, Cobitis tetralineata, Glossina fuscipes fuscipes, Glossina pallidipes, Lysimachia japonica var. japonica, Lysimachia japonica var. minutissima, Orconectes virilis, Pacifastacus leniusculus, Procambarus clarkii, Salminus brasiliensis and Salminus hilarii.

Polymorphic microsatellite markers for the critically endangered Balearic shearwater, Puffinus mauretanicus

Ten novel polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized from the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), a critically endangered seabird. The developed loci revealed a relatively low number of alleles per locus, as well as low levels of polymorphism (H(O)  = 0.377 ± 0.241). One of the loci appeared to be W-linked. All polymorphic loci were successfully amplified in its closely related species, the Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan). These microsatellite markers would be useful for assessing population structure in the Balearic shearwater and the possible hybridization process between both shearwaters species.

Electrical stimulation effect on extensor lag and length of hospital stay after total knee arthroplasty

The effects of electrical stimulation in conjunction with traditional physical therapy, on knee extensor lag and length of hospital stay among patients recovering from total knee arthroplasty were assessed. Forty patients who underwent total knee replacement (TKR) were randomly assigned to either an electrical stimulation group (16 females, 5 males), or a control group (15 females, 4 males). Both groups received conventional physical therapy including continuous passive motion (CPM) to the affected limb, ambulation training, range of motion exercises, and activities of daily living (ADL) training. The experimental group additionally received electrical stimulation during CPM treatment. Experimental group subjects reduced their extensor lag from 7.5 to 5.7 degrees, whereas control group extensor lag increased from 5.3 to 8.3 degrees. These trends were significantly different (p < .01). Rehabilitation discharge criteria were reached in 6.7 days in the experimental group and 7.4 days in the control group. These differences were also significant (p < .05). The results of this study indicate that the application of electrical stimulation during recovery from TKR can effectively reduce extensor lag and decrease the length of hospital stay.

The use of somatosensory evoked potential during revision or reoperation for total hip arthroplasty

Somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) was used to continuously monitor the sciatic nerve intraoperatively during revision or reoperation for total hip arthroplasty. Of 25 cases monitored, eight patients (32%) exhibited 12 instances of SSEP deterioration, indicating neurologic compromise. These neurologic problems were due to retraction in seven cases and limb positioning in five. No postoperative neurologic deficits were noted in this group. Two of 35 patients (5.7%) not monitored had postoperative neurologic deficits. SSEP monitoring is a useful method for minimizing the intraoperative risks of clinical neurologic deficits during revisions or difficult reoperations.

Cortical somatosensory evoked potentials: effects of positional changes

Supine and sitting lower extremity cortical somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP) examinations were performed in 30 healthy volunteers to establish normal values and to determine variations in SEP parameters caused by positional changes, side of stimulation, and the influence of height. CSEPs were recorded at Cz'-Fz (10-20 international EEG system) after stimulation of the saphenous, peroneal, and sural nerves at the ankle. Each nerve was tested in the supine and sitting positions. CSEP P1, N1 latencies and P1 - N1 amplitudes were recorded. The mean values of these parameters and side-to-side differences were determined for both positions. Parameter changes between the two positions were also determined. No statistically significant difference was found when comparing supine and sitting, or side-to-side values (p greater than 0.05). Regression analyses of P1 latency vs height revealed a significant positive correlation for both positions (p less than 0.0001-0.0045). Mean P1 and N1 latencies (msec) +/- 1SD, and mean P1 - N1 amplitudes (microV) +/- 1SD are as follows: peroneal nerve (n = 119) P1 = 39.5 +/- 2.98, N1 = 48.2 +/- 3.79, P1 - N1 = 1.41 +/- 0.81; sural nerve (n = 119) P1 = 41.3 +/- 4.03, N1 = 50.9 +/- 4.57, P1 - N1 = 1.31 +/- 0.61; saphenous nerve (n = 119) P1 = 41.5 +/- 4.02, N1 = 50.4 +/- 4.10, P1 - N1 = 0.87 +/- 0.30. The normative data generated by this study will help clinicians to distinguish normal variations in lower extremity CSEP parameters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Physiatric practice characteristics: report of a membership survey

In 1986 the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation commissioned a survey of the Academy's membership to determine the practice patterns of physiatrists. Responses were received from 1,115 members (75%). Approximately 65% of respondents are under 43 years old; 64% are graduates of American medical schools. Fifty-six percent practice in communities with populations of 500,000 or more persons; only 9% practice in communities of less than 50,000 people. Nearly 53% practice in a single setting and the average work week is 50.6 hours, with most of those hours spent in some aspect of patient care. The most frequent diagnosis in all practice settings is pain syndrome; consultation is the primary activity. Survey results show that physiatry is still primarily a hospital-based specialty, although significant time is spent in office-based settings. Data gleaned from this first attempt at an extensive analysis of physiatric practice characteristics will be utilized in planning how to meet future needs of the specialty, its practitioners and their patients.

Human optokinetic nystagmus in response to moving binocularly disparate stimuli

Physiological and behavioral evidence shows that the directionally preponderant subcortical control of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) in lower mammals is supplemented in higher mammals by bidirectional cortical control. It is hypothesized that this cortical control allows higher mammals to cope with the parallactic movement of the scene produced by linear motion of the body. In particular, it is hypothesized that a coupling between OKN and stereopsis allows higher mammals to stabilize the images of objects within the plane of fixation while ignoring motion signals from objects at other distances. According to this hypothesis the gain of the slow phase of OKN should be highest for binocularly fused moving stimuli and attenuated for binocularly disparate displays. The results of Experiment 1 confirmed this prediction although the effects of accommodation were not ruled out completely. In Experiment 2 a display moving in one direction was presented across the central retina at the same time as one moving in the opposite direction was presented in the upper and lower periphery. It was found that subjects do not show OKN in the direction of the peripheral display unless it is binocularly fused and the central display is disparate. In Experiment 3 a stationary display of dots was superimposed on a moving display. It was found that OKN is not inhibited by the stationary display when it has a horizontal disparity and the moving display is fused. Experiment 4 found that horizontal OKN is disrupted by the sudden introduction of a vertical disparity in the stimulus. Since accommodative state was kept constant in the last three experiments, the data show that binocular disparities can help a person to stabilize selectively the image of one moving display while ignoring conflicting motion signals from another display.

Somatosensory evoked potentials as an aid in the diagnosis and intraoperative management of spinal stenosis

The use of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in localizing the level, extent, and laterality of nerve root entrapment is clinically important. In patients with lumbar spinal stenosis, this is especially true. This study defines a prospective investigation of 20 patients with preoperative SEPs of which 11 patients had intraoperative SEPs correlated with their computed tomographic (CT) scan and/or myelographic findings. The results confirm a high incidence of 4th and 5th lumbar and 1st sacral nerve root involvement. The posterior tibial nerve was abnormal in 95%, the peroneal in 90%, and the sural in 60% in the symptomatical lower extremity. Upper lumbar segments were barely affected as evident by the low incidence of saphenous nerve abnormality in only 12% of the patients. The posterior tibial nerve had the highest yield and was useful for screening. Bilateral lower extremity abnormalities were found in seven of 20 cases studied with two patients having bilateral symptoms and findings. Therefore, bilateral lower extremity SEP evaluation can reveal previously unsuspected pathology and is strongly recommended in preoperative evaluations. SEPs can serve as a useful intraoperative tool to guide the surgeon during a decompressive surgical procedure. SEPs are specifically helpful in spinal stenosis with a paucity of clinical findings and equivocal CT scan or myelographic studies. SEPs seem much more sensitive and effective than conventional electrodiagnostic tests in detecting spinal nerve root compression secondary to spinal stenosis.

Lumbar spinal stenosis: analysis of pre- and postoperative somatosensory evoked potentials

Cortical somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP) examinations were performed of 20 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis a day prior to surgery and 10 to 12 days after spinal decompression and bilateral lateral fusion. CSEPs were recorded to Cz-Fz (10-20 international EEG system) following stimulation of 32 tibial, peroneal and sural nerves and 16 saphenous nerves. A total of 110 nerves were examined. Using CSEP P1 latency as criteria for inclusion in the study, 21 tibial, 20 peroneal and 17 sural nerves were subjected to paired two-tailed t tests to determine whether the CSEP changes that occurred postoperatively were statistically significant (p less than 0.05). Postoperative P1 latencies of tibial, peroneal, and sural nerves changed significantly as well as N1 latencies and P1-N1 amplitudes of tibial and peroneal nerves. Nineteen patients improved clinically. It is postulated that pathologic narrowing of the spinal canal in spinal stenosis leads to nerve root compression and ischemia with resultant dysfunction primarily affecting large diameter myelinated fibers and that decompression procedure may adequately relieve the underlying pathologic processes. Improvement in CSEPs may be from increase in available numbers of functioning large diameter myelinated fibers, conversion to normal from a conduction block, and, perhaps, improved axoplasmic flow.

Quantification of intraoperative somatosensory evoked potential

Cortical (C) and spinal (S) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) were measured and quantified in 30 patients undergoing scoliosis surgery during the following periods: I, preincision; II, hypotension; III, instrumentation; IV, postinstrumentation; and V, skin closure. Paired two-tailed t tests were performed on all commonly measured SEP parameters comparing values obtained at periods I and II with each subsequent period. CSEP were obtained with Cz-Fz recording sites of the international 10-20 system while SSEP were obtained with recording electrodes at C7-Fz, following bilateral posterior tibial nerve stimulation at the ankles. From period I, CSEP P1 prolonged significantly across all periods but not from period II to subsequent periods. N1 remained stable from either period I or II until period V when latencies increased. P1-N1 amplitude decreased significantly between period I and other periods until period V when near base value was regained. Compared to period II however, P1-N1 amplitude did not differ significantly until period V when it increased beyond base. CSEP P2 and N2 latencies and amplitudes were less distinct and had high variability under our anesthetic technique which consisted of N2O-O2 and isoflurane 0.25%-0.50%, narcotics, nondepolarizing blocking agents, and induced hypotension. When attainable, they behaved in a similar pattern to the early CSEP. SSEP were obtained in 23 cases. The stability of latencies and amplitudes compared favorably with CSEP P1 and N1. Graphs of relative percent changes were developed for clinical use. It is concluded that the noninvasive monitoring technique described is practical, and that P1 and N1 CSEP and SSEP values are reliable monitoring parameters.

Femoral fractures in patients with lower extremity amputations

Femoral fracture in patients with lower extremity amputations is relatively rare (reported incidence in 341 amputee patients, 2.35%). Lack of adequate support and balance, and osteoporosis on the amputation side, may explain the predisposition to fracture of the ipsilateral extremity. The prosthesis was in use at the time of the accident in only 3 of 9 cases studied, most falls occurring during transfer activity without a prosthesis. Proximal femoral fractures in below-knee amputee patients responded to open reduction with internal fixation and early ambulation. Others were treated with closed reduction and cast immobilization. Overall union was 100%, with all patients regaining their previous ambulatory levels and prosthesis skills.