Biomedical subjects

David Hudson

Publications and source records attributed to David Hudson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Bone mineral density of the proximal tibia relates to axial torsion in the lower limb.

This study sought to determine the relationship between bone mineral density distribution in the proximal tibia and tibial and femoral torsions, hip-knee-ankle angle, hip rotation index (internal-external rotation), knee abduction moments, and the foot progression angle. Simple linear regression found that the hip rotation index (r=-0.59, p<0.001), tibial torsion (r=-0.41, p=0.004), and knee abduction moments (r=0.39, p=0.005) were significantly related to medial-lateral BMD ratio for all subjects. The three variables were then studied together to determine their relationship to the bone mineral distribution in the proximal tibia using multiple linear regression (r=0.80, p<0.001). These findings suggest that higher medial knee joint loads, loss of internal rotation of the hip, and internal tibial torsion may lead to increased medial versus lateral BMD of the proximal tibia of healthy knees. Similar bone distribution patterns are found in knees with osteoarthritis; therefore, we suggest these may be risk factors.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Analysis of a mesoscale infiltration and water seepage test in unsaturated fractured rock: Spatial variabilities and discrete fracture patterns.

A mesoscale (21 m in flow distance) infiltration and seepage test was recently conducted in a deep, unsaturated fractured rock system at the crossover point of two underground tunnels. Water was released from a 3 mx4 m infiltration plot on the floor of an alcove in the upper tunnel, and seepage was collected from the ceiling of a niche in the lower tunnel. Significant temporal and (particularly) spatial variabilities were observed in both measured infiltration and seepage rates. To analyze the test results, a three-dimensional unsaturated flow model was used. A column-based scheme was developed to capture heterogeneous hydraulic properties reflected by these spatial variabilities observed. Fracture permeability and van Genuchten alpha parameter [van Genuchten, M.T., 1980. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44, 892-898] were calibrated for each rock column in the upper and lower hydrogeologic units in the test bed. The calibrated fracture properties for the infiltration and seepage zone enabled a good match between simulated and measured (spatially varying) seepage rates. The numerical model was also able to capture the general trend of the highly transient seepage processes through a discrete fracture network. The calibrated properties and measured infiltration/seepage rates were further compared with mapped discrete fracture patterns at the top and bottom boundaries. The measured infiltration rates and calibrated fracture permeability of the upper unit were found to be partially controlled by the fracture patterns on the infiltration plot (as indicated by their positive correlations with fracture density). However, no correlation could be established between measured seepage rates and density of fractures mapped on the niche ceiling. This lack of correlation indicates the complexity of (preferential) unsaturated flow within the discrete fracture network. This also indicates that continuum-based modeling of unsaturated flow in fractured rock at mesoscale or a larger scale is not necessarily conditional explicitly on discrete fracture patterns.

Calibration↗

PubMed2006

Aging: compensation or maturation?

Neuroimaging studies of healthy aging often reveal differences in neural activation patterns between young and elderly groups for episodic memory tasks, even though there are no differences in behavioral performance. One explanation typically offered is that the elderly compensate for their memory deficiencies through the recruitment of additional prefrontal regions. The present study of healthy aging compared magnetoencephalographic (MEG) time-courses localized to specific cortical regions in two groups of subjects (20-29 years and >or=65 years) during a visual delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) task. MR morphometrics and neuropsychological test results were also examined with the hope of providing insight into the nature of the age-related differences. The behavioral results indicated no differences in performance between young and elderly groups. Although there was a main effect of age on the latency of the initial peak in primary/secondary visual cortex, these longer latencies were not correlated with the performance of elderly on the DMS task. The lateral occipital gyrus (LOG) revealed qualitatively different patterns of activity for the two age groups corroborated by neuropsychological test results. Morphometric results for the young versus elderly groups revealed less white (WM) and gray matter (GM) volumes in the frontal lobes of the elderly. When a group of middle-aged subjects (33-43 years) was included in the morphometric analyses, the middle-aged subjects revealed statistically greater WM volumes in frontal and parietal cortex suggesting immature WM tracts in the young. Perhaps our elderly utilized a different strategy compared to the young due to the different brain maturation levels of these groups.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Ultrasound measurements of torsions in the tibia and femur.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to determine the validity and reliability of using ultrasound to measure tibial and femoral torsion. METHODS: In vitro ultrasound measurements of torsion in 118 matched dried tibiae and femora were compared with direct anatomical measurements with use of simple regression. The second part of the study involved repeated in vivo ultrasound measurements made on twenty adult limbs to determine the clinical reliability of our methods. RESULTS: The in vitro ultrasound measurements of femoral and tibial torsion were significantly related to the anatomical measurements (p < 0.001 for both). The inter-rater correlation coefficients between three examiners were 0.84 for both the tibial and femoral measurements, and the intra-rater correlation coefficients ranged from 0.86 to 0.98. The in vivo measurements were similar to the in vitro measurements, and the intra-rater correlation coefficients for repeated measures were 0.91 and 0.93 for femoral and tibial torsion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound is a viable tool for measuring torsion of the tibia and femur. In order to minimize measurement errors, the ultrasound measurement should be used to calculate the predicted value of torsion with use of the regression equation.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

CBX7 controls the growth of normal and tumor-derived prostate cells by repressing the Ink4a/Arf locus.

Control of cell proliferation by Polycomb group proteins (PcG) is an important facet of cellular homeostasis and its disruption can promote tumorigenesis. We recently described CBX7 as a novel PcG protein controlling the growth of normal cells. In an attempt to identify a putative role of CBX7 in tumorigenesis, we analysed CBX7 expression in a panel of cancer cell lines and primary tissues. CBX7 was highly expressed in three different prostate cancer cell lines and present at elevated levels in normal prostate. Ablation of CBX7 expression using short hairpin RNAs (shRNA) resulted in upregulation of p16Ink4a and p14Arf in both LNCaP and PC-3 prostate cell lines. CBX7 knockdown caused an impairment of cell growth that was dependent on the status of the p14Arf/p53 and p16Ink4a/Rb pathways in both normal and cancer prostate cells. CBX7 overexpression in LNCaP cells resulted in a slight growth advantage in both androgen-dependent and -independent conditions. Moreover, CBX7 expression cooperated with c-Myc in rendering LNCaP cells insensitive to growth arrest by androgen receptor inhibition. Together, these data suggest that CBX7 represses p16Ink4a and p14Arf expression in normal and tumor-derived prostate cells, affecting their growth depending on the status of the p16Ink4a/Rb and the p14Arf/p53 pathways.

Androgens↗

PubMed2005

Age-related effects on superior temporal gyrus activity during an auditory oddball task.

We used magnetoencephalography in combination with magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the effects of aging on the temporal dynamics of activity localized to several brain regions during an auditory oddball task. The most interesting effects were noted in the superior temporal gyrus as follows: (1) responses were generally stronger to rare than to frequent tones throughout the entire 600-ms time interval, and (2) increases in the amplitude of the 40-ms peak and the latency of the maximum late response were evident in the elderly. Although superior temporal gyrus activity has traditionally been associated with early sensory processing, these results suggest that superior temporal gyrus activity is also important for later decision-related processing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2005

Temporal dynamics of age-related differences in auditory incidental verbal learning.

Auditory response profiles for a group of ten healthy young and ten healthy elderly subjects, evoked by implicit memory and delayed verbal recognition tasks, were evaluated to determine if effects of stimulus repetition could be identified in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and prefrontal cortical regions. We hypothesized that effects of stimulus repetition should occur both early in time and at early levels of the nervous system (STG) followed by later effects in prefrontal regions. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) responses were recorded using a whole-head MEG system and automated, multi-start analysis methods were applied to the data in order to characterize the temporal response profiles from distributed but focal, cortical regions engaged in memory-related tasks. The findings revealed a main effect of age for early activity ( approximately 50 ms) in STG which appeared to be nonspecific for Old/New words and an Age x Task interaction for late activity ( approximately 100-800 ms) in STG which was specific to Old/New words. Although the behavioral performance measures did not reveal traditional effects of response priming, the MEG measures did reveal a reduction in amplitude with stimulus repetition in young subjects. The elderly did not reveal a reduction in amplitude concomitant with stimulus repetition for either the global attributes of words or for specific Old/New words. Long duration effects of stimulus repetition noted in the present study raise the possibility that results from sensory gating, mismatch negativity and P300 paradigms may represent a continuum of stimulus repetition effects. Two of these paradigms evoke greater enhancement to novel or infrequent stimuli, or rather, greater reduction of amplitude with repetition.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Investigation of the normal proximal somatomotor system using magnetoencephalography.

OBJECTIVE: The role of the ipsilateral cortex in proximal muscle control in normal human subjects is still under debate. One clinical finding, rapid recovery of proximal muscle relative to distal muscle use following stroke, has led to the suggestion that the ipsilateral as well as the contralateral motor cortex may be involved in normal proximal muscle control. The primary goal of this project was to identify contralateral and ipsilateral motor cortex activation associated with proximal muscle movement in normal subjects using magnetoencephalography (MEG). METHODS: We developed protocols for a self-paced bicep motor task and a deltoid, electrical-stimulation somatosensory task. The MEG data were analyzed using automated multi-dipole spatiotemporal modeling techniques to localize the sources and characterize the associated timing of these sources. RESULTS: Reliable contralateral primary motor and somatosensory sources localized to areas consistent with the homunculus. Ipsilateral M1 activation was only found in 2/12 hemispheres. CONCLUSIONS: Robust contralateral motor cortex activation and sparse ipsilateral motor cortex activation suggest that the ipsilateral motor cortex is not involved in normal proximal muscle control. SIGNIFICANCE: The results suggest that proximal and distal muscle control is similar in normal subjects in the sense that proximal muscle control is primarily governed by the contralateral motor cortex.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Methanol poisoning exposures in the United States: 1993-1998.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated U.S. methanol-poisoning exposures since little recent information is available about the frequency, sources of methanol, or outcomes of individuals who consume methanol. METHODS: We reviewed human methanol exposures reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System 1993-1998. RESULTS: The mean number of cases per year was 2254. Each year 167 cases had an outcome of moderate effect, major effect, or death. One death occurred in every 183 exposures to methanol. Symptomatic cases increased abruptly from 1.8 to 2.5% for infants and children, from 14.1 to 12.3% for adolescents and adults, while the intentional exposures increased from < 1 to 21% for adolescents, and 11% for adults. Cases occurred in every decade of life but toddlers had the highest number of exposures. In 68 methanol fatalities, confusion developedfollowed by coma, hypotension, respiratory depression, and cerebral edema. Blood methanol levels were above 100mg/dL (70%), metabolic acidoses (62%), and anion gaps > 25 (100%). Methanol products were recorded, showing windshield wiper fluids to be 60.8% of exposures. Other automotive sources were 23.7%. Commercial nonautomotive products were 12.2% and pure methanol products were 2.3%. Unintentional exposures were reported in 90.3% of all cases, while 8.3% were due to intentional exposures, and 1.4% wasfor unknown or mixed reasons. Intentional exposures resulted from suspected suicides (51.2%) and from abuse and misuse (38.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Methanol poisonings continue to occur in the United States with toddlers at the highest risk for exposure, but adolescents and adults at the highest risk for life-threatening intoxications. Over half of product-identified cases were due to consumption of windshield wiperfluid. Efforts should be undertaken to minimize methanol exposures.

Adolescent↗