Radonove kćeri u okolišu kao pokazatelji biokemijskih promjena u mozgu bolesnika s Alzheimerovom i Parkinsonovom bolesti i u pušača

This paper presents an investigation of the retention of environmental radon daughters, 210Po (alpha particle emitting radio-nuclide) and 210Bi (beta particle emitting radio-nuclide), in lipid and protein fractions of the cortical grey and subcortical white matter from the frontal and temporal brain lobes of patients who had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, of cigarette smokers, and of control subjects. 210Po and 210Bi radioactivity increased tenfold in the cortical grey and subcortical white protein fraction in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and smokers, and tenfold in the cortical grey and subcortical white lipid fraction in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Free radicals generated by radon daughters may add to the severity of the radio-chemical injury to the brain astrocytes. The pathognomonic distribution of radon daughters to lipids in patients with Parkinson’s disease and to proteins in patients with Alzheimer’s disease was attributed to high chlorine affinity of radon daughters. The changes in the membrane protein pores, channels, and gates in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in the lipid bilayer in patients with Parkinson’s disease are at the core of what the authors think are two systemic brain diseases.Odredili smo radioaktivnost radonovih kćeri, 210Po (alfa čestice) i 210Bi (beta-čestice) u lipidima i proteinima iz sive mase korteksa i bijele supkortikalne supstancije iz frontalnog i temporalnog režnja mozga osoba oboljelih od Alzheimerove ili Parkinsonove bolesti, pušača i nepušača bez kliničkih znakova neurološke bolesti. Ustanovili smo da je radioaktivnost 210Pb i 210Bi bila deset puta veća selektivno u proteinima sive i bijele moždane supstancije osoba oboljelih od Alzheimerove bolesti i u pušača. Za razliku od toga, radioaktivnost radonovih kćeri bila je selektivno deset puta veća u lipidima sive i bijele supstancije mozga osoba oboljelih od Parkinsonove bolesti. Alfa čestice visoke energije predstavile su se kao neizbježni čimbenik rizika iz prirodnog okoliša za čovjekov mozak koji zajedno s popratnim stvaranjem slobodnih radikala mogu dovesti do minimalne lokalne udružene radiokemijske ozljede moždanih stanica, najvjerojatnije astrocita. Rezultati pokazuju da patognomonična distribucija afiniteta radonovih kćeri za lipide u bolesnika s Parkinsonovom bolesti i za proteine u bolesnika s Alzheimerovom bolesti odražava povećanu prisutnost lokalno raspoloživih klornih iona za koje se radonove kćeri selektivno vežu. Mislimo da promjene u sastavu proteinskih pora, kanala i vrata ugrađenih u staničnu membranu u bolesnika s Alzheimerovom bolesti, kao i promjene propusnosti dvoslojnoga lipidnog sloja te iste membrane leže u biti tih dviju teških sistemskih bolesti čovjekova mozga

Intermittent Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonisation at the terminal rectum mucosa of conventionally-reared lambs§

In cattle, the lymphoid rich regions of the rectal-anal mucosa at the terminal rectum are the preferred site for Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonisation. All cattle infected by rectal swab administration demonstrate long-term E. coli O157:H7 colonisation, whereas orally challenged cattle do not demonstrate long-term E. coli O157:H7 colonisation in all animals. Oral, but not rectal challenge of sheep with E. coli O157:H7 has been reported, but an exact site for colonisation in sheep is unknown. To determine if E. coli O157:H7 can effectively colonise the ovine terminal rectum, in vitro organ culture (IVOC) was initiated. Albeit sparsely, large, densely packed E. coli O157:H7 micro-colonies were observed on the mucosa of ovine and control bovine terminal rectum explants. After necropsy of orally inoculated lambs, bacterial enumeration of the proximal and distal gastrointestinal tract did suggest a preference for E. coli O157:H7 colonisation at the ovine terminal rectum, albeit for both lymphoid rich and non-lymphoid sites. As reported for cattle, rectal inoculation studies were then conducted to determine if all lambs would demonstrate persistent colonisation at the terminal rectum. After necropsy of E. coli O157:H7 rectally inoculated lambs, most animals were not colonised at gastrointestinal sites proximal to the rectum, however, large densely packed micro-colonies of E. coli O157:H7 were observed on the ovine terminal rectum mucosa. Nevertheless, at the end point of the study (day 14), only one lamb had E. coli O157:H7 micro-colonies associated with the terminal rectum mucosa. A comparison of E. coli O157:H7 shedding yielded a similar pattern of persistence between rectally and orally inoculated lambs. The inability of E. coli O157:H7 to effectively colonise the terminal rectum mucosa of all rectally inoculated sheep in the long term, suggests that E. coli O157:H7 may colonise this site, but less effectively than reported previously for cattle

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

Quaternary geology of the Northern Great Plains

The Great Plains physiographic province lies east of the Rocky Mountains and extends from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan nearly to the United States-Mexico border. This chapter covers only the northern part of the unglaciated portion of this huge region, from Oklahoma almost to the United StatesCanada border, a portion that herein will be referred to simply as the Northern Great Plains (Fig. 1). This region is in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Isoheyets are roughly longitudinal, and mean annual precipitation decreases from about 750 mm at the southeastern margin to less than 380 mm in the western and northern parts (Fig. 2). Winters typically are cold with relatively little precipitation, mostly as snow; summers are hot with increased precipitation, chiefly associated with movement of Pacific and Arctic air masses into warm, humid air masses from the Gulf of Mexico. Vegetation is almost wholly prairie grassland, due to the semiarid, markedly seasonal climate. The Northern Great Plains is a large region of generally low relief sloping eastward from the Rocky Mountains toward the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Its basic bedrock structure is a broad syncline, punctuated by the Black Hills and a few smaller uplifts, and by structural basins such as the Williston, Powder River, and Denver-Julesburg Basins (Fig. 3). Its surface bedrock is chiefly Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, with small areas of older rocks in the Black Hills, central Montana, and eastern parts of Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. During the Laramide orogeny (latest Cretaceous through Eocene), while the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills were rising, synorogenic sediments (frequently with large amounts of volcanic ash from volcanic centers in the Rocky Mountains) were deposited in the subsiding Denver-Julesburg, Powder River, and other basins. From Oligocene to Miocene time, sedimentation generally slowed with declining tectonism and volcanism in the Rocky Mountains. However, since the later Miocene, epeirogenic uplift, probably associated with the East Pacific Rise, affected the Great Plains and particularly the Rocky Mountains. During the last 10 m.y. the Rocky Mountain front has risen 1.5 to 2 km, and the eastern margin of the Great Plains 100 to 500 m (Gable and Hatton, 1983), with half to one-quarter of these amounts during the last 5 m.y. Thus, during the later Miocene the Great Plains became a huge aggrading piedmont sloping gently eastward from the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills, with generally eastward drainage, on which the Ogallala Formation and equivalents was deposited. The Ogallala underlies the High Plains Surface, the highest and oldest geomorphic surface preserved in this region. It has been completely eroded along some parts of the western margin of the region (e.g., the Colorado Piedmont), but eastward, it (and its equivalents, such as the Flaxville gravels in Montana) locally is preserved as caprock or buried by Quaternary sediments (Alden, 1924, 1932; Howard, 1960; Stanley, 1971, 1976; Pearl, 1971; Scott, 1982; Corner and Diffendal, 1983; Diffendal and Corner, 1984; Swinehart and others, 1985; Aber, 1985). During the Pliocene, regional aggradation slowly changed to dissection by the principal rivers. In the western part of the region the rivers flowed eastward, but the continental drainage divide Figure 3. Major bedrock structures of the Northern Great Plains. extended northeast from the Black Hills through central South Dakota, far south of its present position. The ancestral upper Missouri, Little Missouri, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne Rivers drained northeast to Hudson Bay, whereas the ancestral White, Platte, and Arkansas Rivers went to the Gulf of Mexico (Fig 4A). Their courses are marked by scattered surface and subsurface gravel remnants; in Montana and North Dakota, deposits of the preglacial Missouri River and its tributaries are buried deeply beneath glacial and other sediments (Howard, 1960; Bluemle, 1972)

Would school closure for the 2009 H1N1 influenza epidemic have been worth the cost?: a computational simulation of Pennsylvania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During the 2009 H1N1 influenza epidemic, policy makers debated over whether, when, and how long to close schools. While closing schools could have reduced influenza transmission thereby preventing cases, deaths, and health care costs, it may also have incurred substantial costs from increased childcare needs and lost productivity by teachers and other school employees.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A combination of agent-based and Monte Carlo economic simulation modeling was used to determine the cost-benefit of closing schools (vs. not closing schools) for different durations (range: 1 to 8 weeks) and symptomatic case incidence triggers (range: 1 to 30) for the state of Pennsylvania during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic. Different scenarios varied the basic reproductive rate (R₀) from 1.2, 1.6, to 2.0 and used case-hospitalization and case-fatality rates from the 2009 epidemic. Additional analyses determined the cost per influenza case averted of implementing school closure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For all scenarios explored, closing schools resulted in substantially higher net costs than not closing schools. For R₀= 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 epidemics, closing schools for 8 weeks would have resulted in median net costs of $21.0 billion (95$8.0 - $45.3 billion). The median cost per influenza case averted would have been$14,185 ($5,423 -$30,565) for R₀= 1.2, $25,253 ($9,501 - $53,461) for R₀= 1.6, and$23,483 ($8,870 -$50,926) for R₀= 2.0.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study suggests that closing schools during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic could have resulted in substantial costs to society as the potential costs of lost productivity and childcare could have far outweighed the cost savings in preventing influenza cases.</p