Association of Insulin Actions with Blood Pressure in Rodent Models of Obesity and Diabetes

Obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension are risk factors for cardiovascular disease which occur in association more than individually in the general population; this clustering of symptoms is called Syndrome X. The association between hypertension and insulin resistance in this syndrome has traditionally been attributed to the effect of increased circulating insulin on sympathetic nerve activity and renal sodium retention. However, it has been shown that insulin exerts a direct vasodilatory action on the vasculature, which may be impaired in insulin resistant states. Studies in our laboratory have revealed that this vasodilatory effect is, in part, due to insulin stimulation of calcium pumps involved in extrusion of calcium from the cytosol. It is reported herein that recovery from agonist-induced intracellular calcium transients is impaired in vascular smooth muscle from insulin deficient streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and insulin resistant obese Zucker rats. The obese Zucker rat is a genetic model of obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension carrying two mutant fatty (fa) alleles. Siblings carrying one or zero copies of the fa allele have been considered lean. However, there appear to be intermediate phenotypes in heterozygous lean animals which may be sensitive to environmental manipulations. The interaction of genetics and environment is an important area for study, as many disease processes are influenced by both. Consequently, studies were conducted to assess the effects of high fat feeding on rats carrying zero, one or two copies of the fa allele. Results indicate the presence of gender, genotype, and diet interactions. The fa allele does not appear to be recessive, and male animals carrying one copy of fa are more susceptible to the deleterious consequences of high fat feeding than female siblings or those carrying zero copy of fa. Hence, the heterozygous lean Zucker rat appears to be an appropriate model to study diet-gene interactions with respect to cardiovascular risk

Placental Malaria and Mother-to-Child Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 in Rural Rwanda

We conducted a nested case-control study of placental malaria (PM) and mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) within a prospective cohort of 627 mother-infant pairs followed from October 1989 until April 1994 in rural Rwanda. Sixty stored placentas were examined for PM and other placental pathology, comparing 20 HIV-infected mother-infant (perinatal transmitter) pairs, 20 HIV-uninfected pairs, and 20 HIV-infected mothers who did not transmit to their infant perinatally. Of 60 placentas examined, 45% showed evidence of PM. Placental malaria was associated with increased risk of MTCT of HIV-1 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 6.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4–29.1), especially among primigravidae (aOR = 12.0; 95% CI = 1.0–150; P < 0.05). Before antiretroviral therapy or prophylaxis, PM was associated with early infant HIV infection among rural Rwandan women living in a hyper-endemic malaria region. Primigravidae, among whom malaria tends to be most severe, may be at higher risk

Multi-Dimensional Simulations of Pair-Instability Supernovae

We present preliminary results from multidimensional numerical studies of pair instability supernova (PSN), studying the fluid instabilities that occur in multiple spatial dimensions. We use the new radiation-hydrodynamics code, CASTRO, and introduce a new mapping procedure that defines the initial conditions for the multidimensional runs in such a way that conservation of physical quantities is guaranteed at any level of resolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Computer Physics Communications. 3 pages. 2 fig

Attitudes and Perceptions of Young Men towards Gender Equality and Violence in Timor-Leste

This article examines attitudes and perceptions of young men toward gender relations and gender-based violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste. A high level of domestic violence is reported and a law against domestic violence has been passed in recent years. In 2013, a research team surveyed almost 500 young men using the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale in both rural and urban contexts. It was found that young men become less gender equitable as they get older, and the environment they grow up in influences their gender attitudes. Existing contradictions and tensions between national government policy and local customary practices are well-known, and these are reflected in young men’s acceptance of general principles of gender equality, which is unmatched by their willingness to accept more equitable gender relations in their own lives. Of concern was the level of young men’s acceptance of sexual harassment and forced sex. Mechanisms are required to influence young men’s attitudes to gender equality and intimate partner relations in school programs and other arenas as a priority

Germination and characterization of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus cereus

Bacillus cereus and Bacillus anthracis are micro organisms found in soil. Normally, only their spores are found in soil. We recently showed that, B. anthracis and B. cereus do not germinate in soil. Thus, how does B. cereus and B. anthracis continue their life cycle if they can not replicate in soil? We hypothesize that B. cereus and B. anthracis spores may germinate in the gut of nematodes. Caenorhabditis elegans was used as our model nematode to investigate this possibility. Subsequently, the goal of our research is to determine the effect of C. elegans on the life cycle of B. anthracis and B. cereus. Three sets of experiments were attempted. Synchronized cultures of C. elegans strain N2 and BA1 was used to determine if B. anthracis and B. cereus have a significant effect on the lifespan of nematodes. Co-plating B. anthracis/B. cereus, B. cereus/E.coli and B. anthracis/E.coli enabled us to find out which food source was preferred over the other and in what conditions. Finally, B. anthracis spore germination was monitored in real time by feeding C. elegans with a B. anthracis strain that fluorescence\u27s upon germination

The use of least significant bit (LSB) and knight tour algorithm for image steganography of cover image

Steganography is one of the method to communicate in a hidden way. In another word, steganography literally means the practice of hiding messages or information within another data. Previous studies have proposed various steganography techniques using different approaches including Least Significant Bit (LSB), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). However, different approaches still have its own weaknesses. Therefore image stenography using Knight Tour Algorithm with Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique is presented. The main objective is to improve the security factor in the stego image. Basically, the proposed technique is divided into two parts which are the sender and receiver side. Then, steganalysis which is a type of attack on stenography algorithm is used to detect the secret message in the cover image by the statistical analysis of pixel values. Chi Square Statistical Attach which is one of the type of steganalysis is used to detect these near-equal Po Vs in images and bases the probability of embedding on how close to equal the even pixel values and their corresponding odd pixel values are in the test image. The Knight Tour Algorithm is applied due to the common Least Significant Bit technique that is weak in security and easily decoded by outsider