Jennifer A. Snyder

IQ scores of treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients before and after the onset of the illness

In this study we examined the correlations of actual pre-morbid IQ scores (obtained from routine educational assessments) and estimated current IQ scores in 27 treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients. Pre-morbid (mean = 93) and current (mean = 83) IQ scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.807, P < 0.0001), while duration of illness (10-40 years) was unrelated to the magnitude of IQ score decline (r = -0.103, P = 0.575). These data suggest that pre-morbid IQ test scores are highly predictive of post-morbid scores.

Amnioexchange for the Treatment of Gastroschisis – An in vitro Study to Determine the Volume and Number of Exchanges Needed

Objective: Intestinal damage of neonates with gastroschisis is thought to be attributed to prolonged exposure to the toxic environment of the amniotic fluid. Amnioexchange/infusion has been a proposed method to improve bowel quality. The aim of the current study was to design an in vitro model to determine the volume and number of amnioexchanges needed to achieve a predetermined reduction in a solute contained within the original concentration of amniotic fluid. Methods: We used a predetermined volume of normal saline to serve as the model for the amniotic cavity and the chloride anion as the surrogate for the noxious agent. Volumes of 250, 500, and 750 ml were used to represent the amniotic volume at different gestational ages. We performed a series of exchanges based on our calculated formula for each respective volume. The Student t test was used to calculate the differences between our expected and observed mean chloride concentrations (p < 0.05 = significance). Results: The mean baseline chloride concentration was 100 mmol/l for each volume. Our formula overestimated the number of exchanges needed to reach a 75% reduction in chloride concentration for each volume, but this was not statistically significantly different from the observed number of exchanges (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our formula required a correction factor of 3 or 4 fewer exchanges to obtain the desired 75% reduction in chloride concentration. It may be useful when investigations to study amnioexchange are undertaken for the treatment of fetuses with gastroschisis.

Bovine cardiac troponin T is not accurately quantified with a common human clinical immunoassay.

The detection of myocardial injury in cattle caused by the ingestion of cardiotoxic compounds or cardiac diseases would be facilitated by the availability of a rapid and specific quantitative serum assay for cardiac troponins. Therefore, the accuracy of the only cardiac troponin T (cTnT) immunoassay to receive approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for the measurement of cTnT in human serum was evaluated to quantify the protein in bovine serum. Recovery experiments were performed by the addition of purified bovine cTnT to normal bovine serum. Cardiac troponin T was quantified using an immunoassay commonly used for the measurement of cTnT in human serum. The immunoassay demonstrated a well correlated (r = 0.99) and linear dose-dependent response to bovine cTnT but with poor accuracy (slope = 0.024; 95% CI = 0.018 to 0.030). The mean recovery of bovine cTnT was 2.4% across a concentration range of 10 ng/ml to 1,000 ng/ml. These studies demonstrate that a commonly used immunoassay for the measurement of cTnT in human serum demonstrates poor accuracy for the quantification of bovine cTnT.