No abstract

After neonatal damage to the midbrain tectum, hamsters exhibit as adults substantially reorganized retinal projections to the thalamus and midbrain. These experiments investigated the pattern of acquisition of a range of visuomotor capacities in hamsters with neonatal tectal damage, and the role of visual experience in this acquisition, by examining the time course of visuomotor development and the effects of dark-rearing on visuomotor behavior. These hamsters acquired visual orientation and pursuit at the same age as normal hamsters, but orientation and pursuit were impaired and exhibited no improvement over time. Photophobia and edge and depth sensitivity were relatively unaffected. Dark-rearing disrupted all visuomotor behavior in the midbrain-damaged animals but had no effect on normal animals. These results are consistent with a dominant role of neocortex in the residual visuomotor capacities of animals with neonatal ablations of the midbrain tectum

No abstract

A retrospective observational cohort study was performed to review the cost of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy in a UK neonatal intensive care setting over a 4-year period. 188 neonates with a median (IQR) gestational age and birth weight of 27 (24–37) weeks and 980 (695–2812) g, respectively, were treated with iNO. The median (IQR) duration of iNO therapy was 60 (22–129) hours. The mean cost of iNO therapy was approximately £820 per baby treated equivalent to £8.50 per hour of therapy. Alternative pricing models suggested a calculated cost of iNO therapy of between approximately £950 and £1350 per baby.

Psychiatric disorders are extremely common in the elderly and are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. For example, 8% to 15% of the geriatric population has clinically significant symptoms of depression (NIH Consensus Conference, 1992). Elderly Americans commit suicide at a rate twice the national average (National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, 2007). Ten to 15% of elderly community residents have Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other dementias (Evans et al., 1989). AD is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States (Centers for Disease Control 2006).