Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 182, July 1978

This bibliography lists 165 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1978

Formulation Development, Preclinical Testing, and Primary Packaging Optimization for Cannabinoids and Other Therapeutics

Through the process of drug development, a molecule goes through discovery screening; lead selection and optimization, ADME testing, toxicity profiling, dosage form determination, preclinical testing in an in vitro and in vivo setup, folloby clinical research, FDA review and approval until eventually it is manufactured in the determined dosage form and reaches the patient. At every point through this process, scientists actively work towards a smoother transition and a quick and safe approval of the molecule towards the next step. The different chapters in this research would cover various phases of drug development; from discovery stage to fill-finish and primary container compatibility

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A cumulative index to a continuing bibliography

This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in Supplements 138 through 149 of AEROSPACE MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY: A CONTINUING BIBLIOGRAPHY. It includes three indexes -- subject, personal author, and corporate source

Neural correlates and mechanisms of sounds localization in everyday reverberant settings

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-176).Nearly all listening environments-indoors and outdoors alike-are full of boundary surfaces (e.g., walls, trees, and rocks) that produce acoustic reflections. These reflections interfere with the direct sound arriving at a listener's ears, distorting the binaural cues for sound localization. Yet, human listeners have little difficulty localizing sounds in most settings. This thesis addresses fundamental questions regarding the neural basis of sound localization in everyday reverberant environments. In the first set of experiments, we investigate the effects of reverberation on the directional sensitivity of low-frequency auditory neurons sensitive to interaural time differences (ITD), the principal cue for localizing sound containing low frequency energy. Because reverberant energy builds up over time, the source location is represented relatively faithfully during the early portion of a sound, but this representation becomes increasingly degraded later in the stimulus. We show that the directional sensitivity of ITD-sensitive neurons in the auditory midbrain of anesthetized cats and awake rabbits follows a similar time course. However, the tendency of neurons to fire preferentially at the onset of a stimulus results in more robust directional sensitivity than expected, suggesting a simple mechanism for improving directional sensitivity in reverberation. To probe the role of temporal response dynamics, we use a conditioning paradigm to systematically alter temporal response patterns of single neurons. Results suggest that making temporal response patterns less onset-dominated typically leads to poorer directional sensitivity in reverberation. In parallel behavioral experiments, we show that human lateralization judgments are consistent with predictions from a population rate model for decoding the observed midbrain responses, suggesting a subcortical origin for robust sound localization in reverberant environments. In the second part of the thesis we examine the effects of reverberation on directional sensitivity of neurons across the tonotopic axis in the awake rabbit auditory midbrain. We find that reverberation degrades the directional sensitivity of single neurons, although the amount of degradation depends on the characteristic frequency and the type of binaural cues available. When ITD is the only available directional cue, low frequency neurons sensitive to ITD in the fine-time structure maintain better directional sensitivity in reverberation than high frequency neurons sensitive to ITD in the envelope. On the other hand, when both ITD and interaural level differences (ILD) cues are available, directional sensitivity is comparable throughout the tonotopic axis, suggesting that, at high frequencies, ILDs provide better directional information than envelope ITDs in reverberation. These findings can account for results from human psychophysical studies of spatial hearing in reverberant environments. This thesis marks fundamental progress towards elucidating the neural basis for spatial hearing in everyday settings. Overall, our results suggest that the information contained in the rate responses of neurons in the auditory midbrain is sufficient to account for human sound localization in reverberant environments.by Sasha Devore.Ph.D

Ecology of the feral cat (Felis catus) in the tall forests of Far East Gippsland

The house cat, Felis catus, was introduced into Australia with European settlement of the mainland. Since its initial introduction, it now occupies all mainland habitats, Tasmania and many smaller offshore islands. Large numbers of cats were released intentionally into the environment in a misguided attempt to control the spread of other introduced mammalian pests, especially the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. The feral cat is an invasive predator that has been implicated in the decline and extinction of many species of native small mammals across Australia, particularly in the arid regions and on offshore islands. Much of the research on feral cats in Australia has occurred in the continent’s arid and semi-arid regions. Consequently, little is known about the ecology of feral cats in tall forests. Additionally, the most generally effective population control technique, poison baiting with sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080), has wide ranging applicability in arid and semi arid areas but its use is restricted in the temperate and forested eastern states of Australia due to concerns about impacts on non-target species. This thesis is divided into three parts. Firstly, I review the current knowledge of feral cats, particularly in relation to the actual and potential impact they have on native prey species. Secondly, I investigate the ecology of the feral cat in the temperate tall forests of Far East Gippsland, Victoria. The home range sizes, movement patterns and home range use of feral cats were determined. Thirdly, I examine a new technique for delivering poisons in a feral cat management program. The potential for all Australian non-target species to access the toxicant is examined using a desktop analysis, while field studies examine uptake by non-target species and the dynamics of prey species to determine acceptable times for baiting campaigns. GPS and VHF collars were utilised to obtain fix data for feral cats in Far East Gippsland. Male cats had significantly larger home ranges (MCP100 455 ± 126 ha) than females (105 ± 28 ha), with male home ranges overlapping those of females. Some female home ranges overlapped extensively, with neighbouring females also having overlapping core areas within their ranges. These overlaps in female home ranges, in particular of the core areas, indicate that female cats in Far East Gippsland are tolerant of other females and do not actively exclude them. Compared with the home ranges of feral cats in other regions of Australia and New Zealand, the cats in Far East Gippsland had smaller home ranges than those of cats occupying arid and alpine zones yet larger ranges than those of feral cats living in farmland or grassland. This variation probably reflects the availability of food resources, with cats in resource-poor areas requiring larger home ranges and cats with smaller home ranges generally inhabiting areas with greater, or more accessible, food resources. The use of GPS collars to obtain accurate and high volumes of location data allowed the intra-home range movements of feral cats to be examined in ways not previously possible using conventional VHF radio telemetry. Location data were gathered at three different temporal intervals – 6 hourly, hourly and every 15 minutes. Feral cats followed a Lévy walk-style searching pattern as they moved through their home range. Employing a Lévy walk increases the likelihood of encountering prey items that are distributed sparsely in the environment, in turn maximising the potential hunting return for effort expended. Each of the cats examined had large areas within their home range that they did not enter. To test the hypothesis that this resulted from a scarcity of prey in these areas, trapping grids were established to capture small prey-sized animals. There was no difference in the rate of capture of prey species in the areas of high and zero cat use, thus allowing the food hypothesis to be rejected. Modelling of abiotic environmental parameters was used to determine if these influence home range use. While the models explained much of the variation in the data, the global model was overdispersed, indicating that other unmeasured parameters were influencing home range use. The avoidance of these areas most likely arises from the presence of larger intraguild predators and subsequent employment of predator avoidance strategies by the cats. Managing the abundance of feral cats using poison baiting requires that bait be distributed at times when cats are food-stressed. Generally this occurs in winter when prey species are in natural decline. To determine the most appropriate time for baiting feral cats, trapping grids were established to assess the population demographics of feral cat prey species. The 2 046 trap nights undertaken resulted in 176 captures of five prey-sized species. The breeding periods for the Antechinus spp. occur earlier in Far East Gippsland than would generally be expected based on the latitude and altitude of the trap sites, and have bearing on the optimal time for poison baiting. Based on these findings, the optimal time to manage feral cat populations in Far East Gippsland through poison baiting is between late August and mid November provided that the toxicant is enclosed within a hard shell delivery vehicle (HSDV) that maintains structural integrity or, alternatively, if the baits are suspended above the ground surface and out of reach of lactating female antechinus. Further research is proposed to supplement these findings. Encapsulation of toxicants within an acid soluble HSDV which is then inserted into the bait media is being explored as a potential technique to minimise access of non-target species to the toxicant. A desktop analysis employing a decision tree process was used to examine the potential for non-target access to toxicant delivered in an HSDV. This analysis encompassed all non-aquatic vertebrate species in Australia. significantly fewer species would be susceptible to non-target poisoning if HSDVs were used when compared with directly injecting the toxicant into the bait media. Carnivorous mammals were the most likely to consume both the bait and the HSDV. Using the systemic marker, Rhodamine B (Rb), in the HSDV, the ability of five species of small to mid-sized animals to access toxicants enclosed in the HSDV. This was compared with directly injecting it into the baits. Rhodamine B staining was apparent in the mystacial vibrissae of four of the five species at sites where Rb was injected into the baits. It was also present in three of the four species captured at the sites where the Rb was encapsulated within the HSDV. The longevity of the HSDV within the bait media was tested and found to decreased rapidly following insertion into the bait. This is most likely due to the bait media being slightly acidic. Since that experiment concluded, changes have been made to the pH of baits to extend the integrity of the HSDV and hence reduce leakage. These key findings will allow managers to adopt a more targeted approach when undertaking cat control programs in these habitats. The use of GPS technology to obtain location data has allowed the analysis of intra-home range movements to an extent previously not possible with other techniques. This in turn will allow a more targeted approach to managing feral cats. The use of a decision tree approach to determining the susceptibility of non-target species during a baiting campaign can be applied to other poisoning campaigns regardless of the target species or the toxicant being used

Aerospace medicine and biology: A cumulative index to the continuing bibliography of the 1973 issues

A cumulative index to the abstracts contained in Supplements 112 through 123 of Aerospace Medicine and Biology A Continuing Bibliography is presented. It includes three indexes: subject, personal author, and corporate source