Hydrocortisone inhibits prostaglandin production but not arachidonic acid release from cultured macrophages

AbstractWe have investigated the action of hydrocortisosone on arachidonic acid mobilisation in cultures of mouse peritoneal macrophages, mouse L929 cells and the mouse macrophage-like cell line RAW264. Hydrocortisone inhibits both arachidonic acid release and prostaglandin production by L929 cells. However, prostaglandin production by macrophages or RAW264 cells is inhibited with a concomitant stimulation rather than inhibition of arachidonic acid release. These data suggest that hydrocortisone acts at the level of phospholipase activity in fibroblasts but at a later stage of prostanoid production in macrophages

Robot Task Commander with Extensible Programming Environment

A system for developing distributed robot application-level software includes a robot having an associated control module which controls motion of the robot in response to a commanded task, and a robot task commander (RTC) in networked communication with the control module over a network transport layer (NTL). The RTC includes a script engine(s) and a GUI, with a processor and a centralized library of library blocks constructed from an interpretive computer programming code and having input and output connections. The GUI provides access to a Visual Programming Language (VPL) environment and a text editor. In executing a method, the VPL is opened, a task for the robot is built from the code library blocks, and data is assigned to input and output connections identifying input and output data for each block. A task sequence(s) is sent to the control module(s) over the NTL to command execution of the task

Studies in the stratigraphy and chronology of iron age II-III in Palestine / by Gregory John Wightman.

Research for this dissertation was undertaken in the Department of Archaeology at Sydney University during the years 1983-85, under the supervision of Professor J.B. Hennessy, whom I would like to thank for his encouragement and open-minded attitude

Identification and function of human cytomegalovirus microRNAs

microRNAs are an extensive class of non-coding genes that regulate gene expression through post-transcriptional repression. These small RNAs are evolutionarily conserved and are likely to be a basic mechanism of gene regulation present within most eukaryotic organisms. Over 100 viral miRNAs have been identified to date through a combination of bioinformatics and cloning studies. In this review we discuss the use of bioinformatics for the identification of HCMV miRNAs and also for the discovery of potential target transcripts. Such studies will enable us to define the functional role of viral miRNAs and gain a better understanding of viral gene regulation

An Evaluation of the Performance of a Modified Overland Flow Wastewater Treatment System: Sloped Rock-Grass Filtration

The effectiveness of a sloped rock-grass filtration system in treating municipal wastewater was tested on a 24 m by 36 m (80 ft by 120 ft) slope on a 2.5 percent grade sown with a mixture of rye grass, fescue grass, and bluegrass. The field was divided into six plots, each approximately 3.5 m wide and 36 m long. Three of the plots (slope-rock) were constructed with 9 m of gravel, 7.6 cm deep, on the upper reaches of the slope. Raw (screened, degritted) municipal wastewater from Hyrum, Utah, was applied to the slope-rock sections at application rates of 13 and 20 cm/wk the first year of operation (June through October 1979) and 23, 41, and 51 cm/wk the second year (June through October 1980). The other three plots were constructed as conventional overland flow slopes. Wastewater was applied at rates of 13 and 20 cm/wk the first year and 23, 41, adn 57 cm/wk the second year. The gravel layer increased infiltration and, therefore, decreased the amount of wastewater effluent recovered. The gravel also increased wastewater detention times on the treatment slopes. In general, the slope-rock sections acheived higher mass removal associated with greater water losses. However, the gravel layer had no statistically significant effect, at the 95 percent confidence level, on the concentration of pollutants. On a concentation basis, BOD5 removal for the test sections were 87 to 93 percent. BOD5 effluent averages ranges from 6 to 12 mg/1. Mean effluent suspended solids ranged from 5 to 9 mg/1. Even at the highest hydraulic laoding rate (57 cm/wk), effluent quality met the 1985 State of Utah effluent limits. Total phospohorus reductions were only 20 to 33 percent. Orthophosphate concentrations increased on all slopes. Ammonia removals, 69 to 93 percent, were achieved at the lower loadings (13 cm/wk, 20 cm/wk and 23 cm/wk). The highest loading (57 cm/wk) exhibited 33 to 43 percent removal. Nitrification of ammonia occurred on all the slopes. Fecal coliforms were reduced by as much as 99 percent on some of the slopes, but effluent fecal coliforms were not reduced below 10^4 colonies/100 ml. Harvesting temporarily decreased system performance. Effluent BOD5 and suspended solids concentrations, however, still did not violate effluent discharge limits (i.e., 15 mg/1 BOD5, and 10 mg/1 SS, 30 day average) for the State of Utah

Novel Signal Noise Reduction Method through Cluster Analysis, Applied to Photoplethysmography

Physiological signals can often become contaminated by noise from a variety of origins. In this paper, an algorithm is described for the reduction of sporadic noise from a continuous periodic signal. The design can be used where a sample of a periodic signal is required, for example, when an average pulse is needed for pulse wave analysis and characterization. The algorithm is based on cluster analysis for selecting similar repetitions or pulses from a periodic single. This method selects individual pulses without noise, returns a clean pulse signal, and terminates when a sufficiently clean and representative signal is received. The algorithm is designed to be sufficiently compact to be implemented on a microcontroller embedded within a medical device. It has been validated through the removal of noise from an exemplar photoplethysmography (PPG) signal, showing increasing benefit as the noise contamination of the signal increases. The algorithm design is generalised to be applicable for a wide range of physiological (physical) signals

Individual variation in incentive salience attribution and accumbens dopamine transporter expression and function

Cues (conditioned stimuli; CSs) associated with rewards can come to motivate behavior, but there is considerable individual variation in their ability to do so. For example, a lever-CS that predicts food reward becomes attractive, wanted, and elicits reward-seeking behavior to a greater extent in some rats (“sign-trackers”; STs), than others (“goal-trackers”; GTs). Variation in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core is thought to contribute to such individual variation. Given that the DA transporter (DAT) exerts powerful regulation over DA signaling, we characterized the expression and function of the DAT in the accumbens of STs and GTs. STs showed greater DAT surface expression in ventral striatal synaptosomes than GTs, and ex vivo fast-scan cyclic voltammetry recordings of electrically-evoked DA release confirmed enhanced DAT function in STs, as indicated by faster DA uptake, specifically in the NAc core. Consistent with this, systemic amphetamine (AMPH) produced greater inhibition of DA uptake in STs than in GTs. Furthermore, injection of AMPH directly into the NAc core enhanced lever-directed approach in STs, presumably by amplifying the incentive value of the CS, but had no effect on goal tracking behavior. On the other hand, there were no differences between STs and GTs in electrically-evoked DA release in slices, or in total ventral striatal DA content. We conclude that greater DAT surface expression may facilitate the attribution of incentive salience to discrete reward cues. Investigating this variability in animal sub-populations may help explain why some people abuse drugs, while others do not

Legislature’s Planning Committee 2013 Report

The Legislature’s Planning Committee was created in 2009, pursuant to LB 653, introduced by Senator John Harms, of Scottsbluff. The 2012-13 Committee is: Senator John Harms, ChairSenator Tanya Cook, Vice-ChairSenator Greg Adams, Speaker of the LegislatureSenator John Wightman, Chair, Executive BoardSenator Heath Mello, Chair, Appropriations CommitteeSenator Mike GloorSenator Kathy CampbellSenator Paul SchumacherSenator Kate Sullivan When the Committee was formed in 2009, it was decided that, in order to achieve their goals, they would be assisted by the Legislative Research Office and the College of Public Affairs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Committee also formed three sub-committees: 1) Mission Statement and Goals; 2) Research Data Base; and 3) Special Funding. The Mission Statement was adopted and it was decided that there would be nine categories for data collection: Agriculture, Economy, Education, Health & Human Services, Natural Resources, Public Safety, State & Local Government, Telecommunications, and Transportation. The Goals for each category were adopted and it was decided that the Economy section would be completed first. The Research Data Base sub-committee chose benchmarks for the Economy category and Jerry Deichert and John Bartle, with the assistance of grad student Skiarn Issarachaiyos, began collecting data for each benchmark. The Mission Statement and Goals committee, having completed their task, then became a second research benchmarking committee. The remaining eight categories were divided up between the two sub-committees and benchmarks were picked for each category. Jerry, John, and Skairn then collected data for each category. They also prepared summaries of data and made note of policy considerations for each category. This report consists of the data, summaries, and policy considerations for each of the nine categories. During this time, the Legislative Research Office prepared for the committee binders, for each of the nine categories, which contain a history of legislation passed in Nebraska for each category during the last thirty years, as well as what is currently being done in other states – compiled from organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures. These binders are available to be checked out in the Legislative Research Office. The Planning Committee will also be in charge of updating the data and policy considerations each year for all benchmarks in each category. We are hopeful that this will be of great assistance to Legislators and staff as they craft and debate legislation each Session. This Report is the 2013 Update to the 2011 Report. Added this year is a section titled “Selected Characteristics for Nebraska Legislative Districts from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey”, and also an “At A Glance” summary of the trends of how Nebraska is doing in each area. This Report and the Executive Summary are available on the Legislature’s Website at http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/reports/lpc.ph