neuroscience 2012

Nephew's David's paper is now available online.

Nicaise, Charles, Hala, Tamara J., Frank, David M., Parker,

Jessica L., Authelet, Mich`ele, Leroy, Karelle, Brion, Jean-Pierre, Wright, Megan C.,

Lepore, Angelo C., Phrenic motor neuron degeneration compromises phrenic axonal circuitry

and diaphragm activity in a unilateral cervical contusion model of spinal cord

injury, Experimental Neurology (2012), doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2012.03.007

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014488612001057

Abstract

Respiratory dysfunction is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Injuries targeting mid-cervical spinal cord regions affect the phrenic motor neuron pool that innervates the diaphragm, the primary respiratory muscle of inspiration. Contusion-type injury in the cervical spinal cord is one of the most common forms of human SCI; however, few studies have evaluated mid-cervical contusion in animal models or characterized consequent histopathological and functional effects of degeneration of phrenic motor neuron-diaphragm circuitry. In an attempt to target the phrenic motor neuron pool, two unilateral contusion injury paradigms were tested, a single injury at level C4 and a double injury both at levels C3 and C4, and animals were followed for up to 6 weeks post-injury. Both unilateral cervical injury paradigms are reproducible with no mortality or need for breathing assistance, and are accompanied by phrenic motor neuron loss, phrenic nerve axon degeneration, diaphragm atrophy, denervation and subsequent partial reinnervation at the diaphragm neuromuscular junction, changes in spontaneous diaphragm EMG recordings, and reduction in phrenic nerve compound muscle action potential amplitude. These findings demonstrate significant and chronically-persistent respiratory compromise following mid-cervical SCI due to phrenic motor neuron degeneration. These injury paradigms and accompanying analyses provide important tools both for understanding mechanisms of phrenic motor neuron and diaphragm pathology following SCI and for evaluating therapeutic strategies in clinically-relevant cervical SCI models/

Intact neuromuscular junction in phrenic muscle, characterized by: complete overlap of the pre-synaptic axon and pre-synaptic vesicles with post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors.

animal reproduction 2012

Sus
 Theriogenology available on line
http://authors.elsevier.com/TrackPaper.html?trk_article=THE12119&trk_surname =Karpas 

Marcus, S., Menda, A., Shore, L., Cohen, G., Atweh, E., Friedman, N., Karpas, Z. (2012) A novel method for the diagnosis of bacterial contamination in the anterior vagina of sows based on measurement of biogenic amines by ion mobility spectrometry: A field trial. Theriogenology (In press).

To determine if postpartum subclinical infection occurs in sows, a novel device was used to diagnose such bacterial contamination of the vagina. The device was based on the measurement of biogenic amines by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). The device is portable and results are obtained within one minute. Vaginal swabs were taken from 449 sows prior to first- estrus insemination and 133 (29.6%) had elevated biogenic amines and were considered positives. Sixty one percent of the sows became pregnant following post weaning first estrus insemination. Positive scores had no apparent effect on fertility rate which was 64%. Of the sows that became pregnant 197 (69.1%) were diagnosed as “negative” and 88 sows (30.9%) were “positive”, of which thirty-seven sows received treatment with antibiotics and were termed "positive treated" .

The average live born piglets litter size of the “positives” was 10.02 which was significantly lower (P=0.031) than the "negative" sows (11.06) while “positive treated” sow average litter size was close to the "negative" (10.56). In conclusion, it was demonstrated that subclinical anterior- vaginal bacterial contamination in lactating sows about two weeks postpartum is a condition that affects sow litter number and could be determined by the measurement of vaginal biogenic amines with IMS.