, 2004), as well as improving tactile acuity of the index finger when applied on the approximate area of its cortical representation (Tegenthoff et al., 2005). Intermittent high-frequency stimulation (iHFS), a form of repetitive peripheral tactile stimulation of the index finger, is similarly effective in improving tactile SRT1720 molecular weight acuity (Ragert et al., 2008) and, as we show here, also increases cortical excitability. Ragert et al. (2003) demonstrated that rTMS and peripheral tactile stimulation can interact when applied simultaneously,

with one potentiating the other’s effect on tactile acuity, although their results suggested a potential ceiling limit to the combined effect, or a possible homeostatic mechanism controlling the possible range of plastic alterations. In this study, we aimed to investigate the extent to which these two interventions (rTMS and tactile iHFS) would interact when applied consecutively. Additionally, we sought to determine if two kinds of parameters, behavioural and neurophysiological, are affected by the interaction in similar ways. We

tested three groups, each with 15 subjects, who were all right-handed (20 females, aged 20–28 years; mean age, 24 years). Subjects gave their written informed consent prior to participating. The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee of the Ruhr-University Bochum, and the project protocol was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. To study changes in cortical excitability, we applied a paired-pulse protocol consisting

of paired electrical median nerve stimulation, Pexidartinib mouse with an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 30 ms. Stimulation of the median nerve was selected in order to establish a link between the SEP recordings and the cortical representation of the right index finger selected for the two stimulation protocols (rTMS and iHFS). Nerve stimulation was performed using a block electrode placed on the wrist (pulse duration, 0.2 ms; repetition rate of the paired stimuli, 2 Hz; ISI between paired stimuli, 30 ms). The median nerve stimulation intensity was set at the motor threshold, defined as the intensity at which a visible contraction of the thenar muscles was detected, and was kept constant for each subject throughout the experiment. Subjects were asked to report a prickling TGF-beta inhibitor phenomenon in the thumb, index and middle fingers of the stimulated hand in order to verify correct positioning of the stimulating block electrode. During median nerve stimulation and SEP recordings, subjects were seated in a comfortable chair, and were instructed to relax and to stay awake, with their eyes closed. SEPs were recorded and stored for offline analysis using a Schwarzer 8 apparatus (bandpass filter 2–2000 Hz). Paired-pulse SEP recordings were made using a two-electrode array. One electrode was located over the SI, 2 cm posterior to the C3 position (C3′), according to the International 10–20 system.

3 and 3.2 times higher in the co-culture and B. cepacia culture medium than the fungal culture on the third day. The peak enzymatic LY2109761 order activity was observed on the sixth day. Subsequently, the acid phosphatase activity of the medium grown with A. niger and co-culture did not change, and the activity of the medium grown with bacteria declined enough. In general, a significant correlation was observed between the variables studied (Table 2). Solubilized phosphate showed a significant positive correlation with titratable acidity and a significant negative correlation with pH and glucose content. Significant negative correlations were also observed between titratable acidity and pH, as well as between glucose and pH. CaP was

more efficiently solubilized in media wherein A. niger–B. cepacia were co-cultivated, in comparison with single cultures. This is the first report of joint utilization of CaP by two PSM in vitro. The results presented here clearly

depict that co-culture of these microorganisms is mutually beneficial and results in enhanced quantities of soluble P produced in the growth medium. Extent of phosphate solubilization by A. niger and B. cepacia Lumacaftor in vivo have previously been reported as 1394 μg P2O5 mL−1 (Rinu & Pandey, 2010) and 200 μg mL−1 (Lin et al., 2006) or 346 μg mL−1 (Song et al., 2008), respectively. The quantity of phosphate solubilized on the ninth day by B. cepacia was 0.86 mg   mL−1 and by A. niger was 10.07 mg  mL−1. These results demonstrate that both microorganisms were highly efficient at solubilizing phosphate with ES rates of 78% and 91%, respectively. Previous results have demonstrated ES rates ranging from 42 (Vassileva et al., 1998), 47 (Rinu & Pandey, 2010), and 54% (Omar, 1998) using A. niger in culture media. However, our results demonstrate that the A. niger–B. cepacia co-culture solubilized 1.10 mg  mL−1 and yielded ES rates of 100%, higher than that obtained by either single culture. A plausible hypothesis is that synergism between the fungus and bacteria may have caused considerable improvement in growth and phosphate solubilization.

The activity of PSM in vitro generally correlates with various factors, most importantly, the release Rebamipide of organic acids, which subsequently decreases the pH of the growth medium (El-Azouni, 2008; Kang et al., 2008; Song et al., 2008; Park et al., 2010). Similar trends were observed in this study. In addition, we observed that differences in growth rate influenced the production of acid, the reduction in pH, and consequently, the solubilization of phosphate. Rapid growth was observed during the initial period of incubation; for B. cepacia and the co-culture, this was 3 days and for A. niger, 6 days. High rates of bacterial and fungal growth in phosphate solubilization assays have also been reported in other studies (Lin et al., 2006; Saber et al., 2009). Phosphate solubilization by both single cultures as well as the co-culture correlated significantly with production of acid (0.

Similar risks were also found when analyses were performed on the subset of patients followed up for

at least 1 year, and in those who had their last visit <2 years before the date of analysis (data not shown). Of note, in the latter set of patients, the RR associated with calendar year was even higher (RR=0.59, 95% CI 0.57–0.62; P<0.0001). We formally tested the interactions between calendar year and both mode of HIV transmission and ART status, using the whole study population. The inclusion of interactions between year and mode of transmission led to a significant improvement in the fit (log-likelihood P=0.00012). In detail, the effect of year in the various subgroups was as follows: RR=0.843 (95% CI 0.81–0.876) ITF2357 solubility dmso for heterosexual contact, RR=0.780 (95% CI 0.764–0.842) for other routes of infection, RR=0.89 (95% CI 0.87–0.92) for IDU, and RR=0.853 (95% CI 0.8179–0.886) for homosexual FK506 datasheet contact (P=0.01), suggesting that the immunological

benefit conferred by ART in IDU was significantly smaller than that observed for people who acquired HIV infection via sexual contact. The interaction between year and ART status also yielded a significant improvement in the log-likelihood (P=0.0007). The effect of year in the ART status strata was as follows: RR=0.84 (95% CI 0.81–0.86) for people on ART for ≥6 months; RH=0.89 (95% CI 0.86–0.92) for those on ART for <6 months; RH=0.89 (95% CI 0.85–0.94) for those on

an ART interruption; and RH=0.89 (95% CI 0.85–0.92) for ART-naïve patients. In the subset of patients previously on ART for ≥6 months (Table 2b), the decrease in the risk of having a CD4 count ≤200 cells/μL per more recent year appeared to be as rapid as in the main analysis. The RRs associated with the other covariates were consistent with those of PJ34 HCl the main analysis. The evidence for an interaction between calendar year and mode of HIV transmission was confirmed in this subset of patients (P<0.0001). In a univariable Poisson regression, calendar year was again significantly associated with the probability of having a VL >50 copies/mL (this probability decreased from 66 to 40% from 1998 to 2008; RR=0.94, 95% CI 0.94–0.95; P<0.0001). Figure 1 (right panel) depicts annual trends overall and after stratifying for mode of transmission and ART status. When we stratified by mode of transmission, overall, the highest prevalence of poor virological prognosis was found in IDU (58%), followed by those infected via heterosexual contact (53%), those infected via homo/bisexual contact (51%) and those infected by other routes (46%). χ2 comparisons showed a significant difference among all groups (P<0.0001); however, this difference was no longer significant in the multivariable analysis.

, 2007).

rnpB, encoding the RNA subunit of RNase P (Vioque, 1997), was used as a loading and transfer control. All probes were 32P-labeled with a Ready-to-Go DNA labeling kit (Amersham Biosciences) using [α-32P]dCTP. Images of radioactive filters TSA HDAC cell line and gels were obtained and quantified with a Cyclone storage phosphor system and optiquant image analysis software (Packard). AHLs were added to Anabaena sp. PCC7120 cultures to evaluate possible effects on growth and nitrogen metabolism of the cyanobacterial filaments both in solid and liquid media. We selected saturated and substituted representatives of short- (C4, OC4 and OHC4-HSL), middle- (C10, OC10 and OHC10-HSL) and long-chain AHLs (C12, OC12 and OHC12-HSL). A first experiment was carried out in solid media,

as described in Materials and methods. Growth inhibition halos surrounding the wells were observed after 7 days for OC10-HSL and OC12-HSL in cultures subjected to nitrogen step-down (transferred to nitrogen-free BG110 medium) (Fig. 1). OC10-HSL also inhibited growth in the presence of combined nitrogen (BG110+NH4+, data not shown). These observations suggested that at least these two AHLs could have an effect on heterocyst differentiation or maturation, which was further investigated. AHLs were also added to liquid cultures under nondiazotrophic conditions (BG110C+NH4+) selleck kinase inhibitor and to cultures subjected to nitrogen step-down to study the effect on growth and heterocyst differentiation. None of the tested AHLs showed

cytotoxic effects in liquid cultures subjected to step-down after 20 h of exposure. Moreover, no effect on heterocyst differentiation and distribution pattern was found in step-down cultures for any of the tested AHLs after Alcian blue staining and microscope observation (data not shown). The discrepancy between the inhibitory effects obtained for OC10 and OC12-HSL PIK3C2G in solid plates (Fig. 1) and in liquid cultures could be derived from the longest period of incubation of solid plates or could also be due to the higher initial cell concentration in the liquid cultures compared with plates resulting in a higher AHL-acylase activity (Romero et al., 2008) that would diminish the effect of initial AHL concentration. Possible effects of AHLs on heterocyst differentiation were also tested with Anabaena sp. PCC7120 strain CSEL4a (Olmedo-Verd et al., 2006). This strain expresses gfp gene under the control of ntcA promoter, the master regulator of nitrogen assimilation, which also controls the early phases of heterocyst differentiation (Herrero et al., 2004). Expression of gfp in this strain is induced in specific cells upon nitrogen step-down, indicating the induction of ntcA during heterocyst differentiation (Olmedo-Verd et al., 2006).

, 2007).

rnpB, encoding the RNA subunit of RNase P (Vioque, 1997), was used as a loading and transfer control. All probes were 32P-labeled with a Ready-to-Go DNA labeling kit (Amersham Biosciences) using [α-32P]dCTP. Images of radioactive filters buy Cyclopamine and gels were obtained and quantified with a Cyclone storage phosphor system and optiquant image analysis software (Packard). AHLs were added to Anabaena sp. PCC7120 cultures to evaluate possible effects on growth and nitrogen metabolism of the cyanobacterial filaments both in solid and liquid media. We selected saturated and substituted representatives of short- (C4, OC4 and OHC4-HSL), middle- (C10, OC10 and OHC10-HSL) and long-chain AHLs (C12, OC12 and OHC12-HSL). A first experiment was carried out in solid media,

as described in Materials and methods. Growth inhibition halos surrounding the wells were observed after 7 days for OC10-HSL and OC12-HSL in cultures subjected to nitrogen step-down (transferred to nitrogen-free BG110 medium) (Fig. 1). OC10-HSL also inhibited growth in the presence of combined nitrogen (BG110+NH4+, data not shown). These observations suggested that at least these two AHLs could have an effect on heterocyst differentiation or maturation, which was further investigated. AHLs were also added to liquid cultures under nondiazotrophic conditions (BG110C+NH4+) learn more and to cultures subjected to nitrogen step-down to study the effect on growth and heterocyst differentiation. None of the tested AHLs showed

cytotoxic effects in liquid cultures subjected to step-down after 20 h of exposure. Moreover, no effect on heterocyst differentiation and distribution pattern was found in step-down cultures for any of the tested AHLs after Alcian blue staining and microscope observation (data not shown). The discrepancy between the inhibitory effects obtained for OC10 and OC12-HSL Protein kinase N1 in solid plates (Fig. 1) and in liquid cultures could be derived from the longest period of incubation of solid plates or could also be due to the higher initial cell concentration in the liquid cultures compared with plates resulting in a higher AHL-acylase activity (Romero et al., 2008) that would diminish the effect of initial AHL concentration. Possible effects of AHLs on heterocyst differentiation were also tested with Anabaena sp. PCC7120 strain CSEL4a (Olmedo-Verd et al., 2006). This strain expresses gfp gene under the control of ntcA promoter, the master regulator of nitrogen assimilation, which also controls the early phases of heterocyst differentiation (Herrero et al., 2004). Expression of gfp in this strain is induced in specific cells upon nitrogen step-down, indicating the induction of ntcA during heterocyst differentiation (Olmedo-Verd et al., 2006).

More recently, its spore has been proposed as a platform to display heterologous proteins and as a vehicle for mucosal vaccination. We characterize here the spore surface of four human intestinal strains of B. subtilis, previously identified as able to grow anaerobically and form biofilm. These properties, lost in laboratory strains, are relevant for the colonization of human mucosal sites and likely to improve the efficiency of strains to be used for mucosal delivery. Our characterization is an essential preliminary step for the development of these intestinal strains as display systems and

has indicated that spores of at least one of them are LBH589 purchase more efficient than the laboratory strain for the non-recombinant display of two model heterologous proteins. “
“The enterobacterium Photorhabdus luminescens produces a number of toxins to kill its insect host. By analyzing the genomic sequence of P. luminescens TT01, we found that amino acid sequences encoded by plu1961 and plu1962 showed high similarity to XaxAB binary toxin of Xenorhabuds nematophila, which has both necrotic and apoptotic activities in both insect and mammalian cells in vitro. To evaluate the biological activity of Plu1961/Plu1962, their coding genes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Both Plu1961 http://www.selleckchem.com/products/AZD2281(Olaparib).html and Plu1962 were expressed as

soluble protein in BL21 (DE3) and their mixture caused insect midgut CF-203 cells death via necrosis. Confocal fluorescence microscopy showed that Plu1961/Plu1962 mixture was able to depolymerize microtubule and induce the

increase in plasma membrane permeabilization in CF-203 cells. Moreover, co-expression of Plu1961/Plu1962 in the same cytoplasm exhibited cytotoxic effect against mammalian cells (B16, 4T1, and HeLa cells) and injectable activity against Spodoptera exigua larvae. Until now, two types of binary toxins have been identified in P. luminescens, the first type is PirAB and Plu1961/Plu1962 is the second one. The biological role Dolichyl-phosphate-mannose-protein mannosyltransferase of Plu1961/Plu1962 binary toxin played in the infection process should attract more attention in future. Photorhabdus luminescens is an entomopathogenic, Gram-negative, bioluminescent bacterium that exists in a state of mutualistic symbiosis with entomopathogenic nematodes of the family Heterorhabditidiae (Ffrench-Constant et al., 2007). Upon entering an insect host, the nematodes release the bacteria directly into the insect hemocoel. Once released into the insect blood system, the bacteria kill their insect host by producing a large number of toxins. Various toxins have been characterized in P. luminescens (Rodou et al., 2010), which can be classified into four major groups: the toxin complexes (Tcs), the ‘makes caterpillars floppy’ (Mcf) toxins, the Photorhabdus insect-related (Pir) proteins, and the Photorhabdus virulence cassettes (PVC).

More recently, its spore has been proposed as a platform to display heterologous proteins and as a vehicle for mucosal vaccination. We characterize here the spore surface of four human intestinal strains of B. subtilis, previously identified as able to grow anaerobically and form biofilm. These properties, lost in laboratory strains, are relevant for the colonization of human mucosal sites and likely to improve the efficiency of strains to be used for mucosal delivery. Our characterization is an essential preliminary step for the development of these intestinal strains as display systems and

has indicated that spores of at least one of them are SB203580 more efficient than the laboratory strain for the non-recombinant display of two model heterologous proteins. “
“The enterobacterium Photorhabdus luminescens produces a number of toxins to kill its insect host. By analyzing the genomic sequence of P. luminescens TT01, we found that amino acid sequences encoded by plu1961 and plu1962 showed high similarity to XaxAB binary toxin of Xenorhabuds nematophila, which has both necrotic and apoptotic activities in both insect and mammalian cells in vitro. To evaluate the biological activity of Plu1961/Plu1962, their coding genes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Both Plu1961 Decitabine and Plu1962 were expressed as

soluble protein in BL21 (DE3) and their mixture caused insect midgut CF-203 cells death via necrosis. Confocal fluorescence microscopy showed that Plu1961/Plu1962 mixture was able to depolymerize microtubule and induce the

increase in plasma membrane permeabilization in CF-203 cells. Moreover, co-expression of Plu1961/Plu1962 in the same cytoplasm exhibited cytotoxic effect against mammalian cells (B16, 4T1, and HeLa cells) and injectable activity against Spodoptera exigua larvae. Until now, two types of binary toxins have been identified in P. luminescens, the first type is PirAB and Plu1961/Plu1962 is the second one. The biological role Methane monooxygenase of Plu1961/Plu1962 binary toxin played in the infection process should attract more attention in future. Photorhabdus luminescens is an entomopathogenic, Gram-negative, bioluminescent bacterium that exists in a state of mutualistic symbiosis with entomopathogenic nematodes of the family Heterorhabditidiae (Ffrench-Constant et al., 2007). Upon entering an insect host, the nematodes release the bacteria directly into the insect hemocoel. Once released into the insect blood system, the bacteria kill their insect host by producing a large number of toxins. Various toxins have been characterized in P. luminescens (Rodou et al., 2010), which can be classified into four major groups: the toxin complexes (Tcs), the ‘makes caterpillars floppy’ (Mcf) toxins, the Photorhabdus insect-related (Pir) proteins, and the Photorhabdus virulence cassettes (PVC).

The antioxidant capacity of saliva was estimated by an adaptation of ABTS [2, 2′-Azino-di-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulphonate)] assay. Results.  The mean TAC level in the saliva

of the children in study group was found to be significantly increased (P < 0.001), and a significantly linear regression was seen between the TAC and dmft score (P < 0.001) whereas it was insignificant between see more the TAC and age (P = 0.078). Conclusion.  The results indicated that TAC of saliva increased significantly in children with S-ECC and increasing prevalence of dental caries predisposes to the increase in TAC of saliva. “
“International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry 2011; 21: 232–239 Background.  The design of the bristles of a toothbrush can affect the overall efficacy of toothbrushing. Aim.  To evaluate and compare a number HM781-36B in vivo of selected features associated with the bristle (length, number and end-rounding quality) of manual child and adult toothbrushes. Design.  The bristle lengths of 11 child and 29 adult toothbrushes were measured on digital micrographs using open source image analysis software. Bristles of tufts from five regions were counted and classified

as acceptable or non-acceptable on stereomicroscopic images according to the end-rounding morphology. The data was evaluated statistically. Results.  The number of bristles were similar in child and adult toothbrushes (P > 0.05). Despite significant differences in bristle end-rounding in some regions (P < 0.05), the overall quality of bristles were similar in child and adult toothbrushes (P > 0.05). Conclusions.  The variations observed in the number, length and end-rounding quality of the bristles indicate

inherent shortcomings of a majority of the tested toothbrushes in plaque removal efficacy, along with the potential for irritation on the gums. “
“International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry 2013; 23: 23–31 Background.  Home visits (HV) provide excellent opportunities Tolmetin for health promotion. Aim.  This longitudinal study compared the effects of HV and telephone contacts (TC) in preventing early childhood caries (ECC) and colonisation of mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) from 0 to 24 months. Design.  A total of 325 children were recruited from community health centres at mean age of 42 days, and randomly assigned to receive either HV or TC. A total of 188 children completed three, 6 monthly HV, and another 58 had three, 6 monthly TC. An additional 40 age-matched children from childcare facilities served as reference controls (RC). At 24 months, all groups were examined at a community dental clinic. Results.  At 24 months, three HV children of 188 (1.5%) had caries, compared to four TC of 58 (6.8%) and nine RC of 40 (22.5%) (P < 0.001 for HV versus RC; P = 0.05 for HV versus TC and P = 0.03 for TC versus RC). There were also more children with MS in the TC (47%) and RC (35%) compared to HV (28%) group (P = 0.

WT colonies were visible on agar after 2 days. Colonies of 10 mutants were visible only after 18 days and 13 clones did not form colonies after 21 days. These 23 cold-sensitive mutants were further tested for growth in LB medium with shaking at 30 and 10 °C. After three independent cultures, four clones were reproducibly impaired for growth at 10 °C, 8C12, 11D1, 9H2 and 34G8 mutants (Fig. 1a). These four strains belong to the group of mutants that did not form any colony after 21 days of incubation at Z VAD FMK a low temperature. All grew as the WT strain at 30 °C (Fig. 1b). Southern hybridizations confirmed that all mutants carried

a single copy of the transposon (data not shown). For the 34G8 and 8C12 mutants, sequencing of the DNA flanking the transposon insertion site revealed that mini-Tn10 was inserted into the same chromosomal region, respectively, in the BC3773 and BC3774 ORFs, coding for the α and β subunits of the pyruvate ferredoxin

Selleck H 89 oxidoreductase (PFOR) involved in the reductive monocarboxylic acid cycle. In the 11D1 mutant, transposon was inserted into the promoter region of the BC3118 gene, encoding a small cytochrome P450-like enzyme with an unknown function. In the mutant 9H2, transposon was inserted into the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the BC0259 gene coding for a putative RNA helicase. These mutants were then tested under various stress conditions. Only the mutant 9H2 behaved as the WT over the range of pH (Fig. 2a) and NaCl (Fig. 2b) concentrations tested, suggesting that the

mutation altered a gene important for cold adaptation and not for adaptation to other stresses: this mutant was therefore selected for further characterization. Growth of the mutant 9H2 at 10 °C was delayed by approximately 100 h compared with WT, whereas at www.selleck.co.jp/products/atezolizumab.html 30 °C, growth of both strains was identical (Fig. 1). Stable cell counts during an extended lag at 10 °C suggest cell adaptation rather than death (not shown). The morphology of 9H2 cells at 30 °C was similar to that of WT cells (data not shown). At 10 °C, WT and 9H2 cells were longer than at 30 °C and 9H2 formed large aggregates (single cells were rarely observed). During incubation at 4 °C, viable counts decreased regularly over time, and after 35 days, a viability loss of 5 log CFU was observed for WT cells vs. 4 log CFU for 9H2 cells (Fig. 3). In the presence of chloramphenicol, an inhibitor of protein translation, a viability loss of only 2 log CFU was observed for WT and 9H2 cells. In the 9H2 mutant, transposon was inserted 61 bp upstream of the start codon of the BC0259 gene encoding an RNA helicase (Fig. 4a). We confirmed by sequence analysis that the promoter located in the transposon was oriented opposite to that of BC0259 transcription, which is consequently only driven by its own promoter.

Questionnaires were mailed to all GPs involved in the care of patients who completed the study, all nurses who were responsible for POC testing during the study

and all patients who completed the study. Carers or nursing staff assisted patients in completing the questionnaire selleck products if required. A reminder letter was sent 2 weeks following the initial questionnaire. A sample size of approximately 20 patients was deemed adequate to demonstrate the feasibility of this type of warfarin management. The literature suggests that patients in the community spend 50–60% of their time within the target range.[13] It was envisaged that this could be improved to 75% with the intervention based on a prior study involving a similar intervention utilising frequent POC INR monitoring and electronic communication to physicians.[22] At a power of 80% and statistical significance set at 0.05, 16 patients analysed before and after the intervention were required.

SPSS version 19.0 for Windows was used for all statistical analyses. A P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study received ethical approval from the Tasmania Human Research Ethics Committee. Figure 2 details the patient recruitment procedure. Twenty-four patients who were managed by 19 different GPs completed the study. The characteristics of patients who were enrolled and those who completed the study are shown in Table 1. Residents' baseline INR control data were provided for a mean of 333.3 ± 45.7 days. The mean number of tests in the 12 months preceding selleck screening library the intervention was 19.0 ± 7.9 tests per patient and the mean testing interval was 22.4 ± 16.6 days. In the intervention phase, INR control data were available for a mean of 74.2 ± 21.0 days and included 272 INR tests. The mean number of INR tests was 11.3 ± 3.1 per patient and

the mean testing interval was 6.5 ± 0.7 days. Table 2 shows a comparison of the TTR and percentage of tests in range Aspartate before and after the commencement of POC testing using standard and expanded INR ranges. The mean time spent above and below the therapeutic range did not change significantly as a result of the intervention. The TTR improved in 14 patients (58.3%) and the mean absolute improvement in TTR for these patients was 23.1%. No adverse events related to warfarin were reported during the intervention period. A total of 11 GPs (58%), eight nurses (73%) and 10 patients (42%) completed and returned the evaluation questionnaire. The median responses for common questionnaire items are shown in Table 3. GPs generally found that receiving, reviewing and responding to an INR result took a minimal amount of time (median score 6, range 0–10). Most GPs responded positively (median scores of 7.5 out of 10 or greater) to the usefulness of being able to view previous warfarin doses and previous INR values, and the ability to enter the new dosage in a dosage chart.