Limitations in Understanding Use, Stability, and Effectiveness of Medications During Spaceflight

No abstract availabl

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Older Adults Medication Management in the Home: How can Robots Help?

©2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.Presented at the 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2013 .DOI: 10.1109/HRI.2013.6483600Successful management of medications is critical to maintaining healthy and independent living for older adults. However, medication non-adherence is a common problem with a high risk for severe consequences [5], which can jeopardize older adults’ chances to age in place [1]. Well-designed robots assisting with medication management tasks could support older adults’ independence. Design of successful robots will be enhanced through understanding concerns, attitudes, and preferences for medication assistance tasks. We assessed older adults’ reactions to medication hand-off from a mobile manipulator with 12 participants (68-79 years). We identified factors that affected their attitudes toward a mobile manipulator for supporting general medication management tasks in the home. The older adults were open to robot assistance; however, their preferences varied depending on the nature of the medication management task. For instance, they preferred a robot (over a human) to remind them to take medications, but preferred human assistance for deciding what medication to take and for administering the medication. Factors such as perceptions of one’s own capability and robot reliability influenced their attitudes

Pentobarbital Enhances GABAergic Neurotransmission to Cardiac Parasympathetic Neurons, Which Is Prevented by Expression of GABAAε Subunit

Background: Pentobarbital decreases the gain of the baroreceptor reflex on the order of 50°, and this blunting is caused nearly entirely by decreasing cardioinhibitory parasympathetic activity. The most likely site of action of pentobarbital is the γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA A) receptor. The authors tested whether pentobarbital augments the inhibitory GABAergic neurotransmission to cardiac parasympathetic neurons, and whether expression of the GABA A ε subunit prevents this facilitation. Methods: The authors used a novel in vitro approach to study the effect of pentobarbital on identified cardiac parasympathetic preganglionic neurons in rat brainstem slices. The cardiac parasympathetic neurons in the nucleus ambiguus were retrogradely prelabeled with a fluorescent tracer and were visually identified for patch clamp recording. The effects of pentobarbital on spontaneous GABAergic synaptic events were tested. An adenovirus was used to express the ε subunit of the GABA A receptor in cardiac parasympathetic neurons to examine whether this transfection alters pentobarbital-mediated changes in GABAergic neurotransmission. Results: Pentobarbital increased the duration but not the frequency or amplitude of spontaneous GABAergic currents in cardiac parasympathetic neurons. Transfection of cardiac parasympathetic neurons with the ε subunit of the GABA A receptor prevented the pentobarbital-evoked facilitation of GABAergic currents. Conclusions: Pentobarbital, at clinically relevant concentrations, prolongs the duration of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents that impinge on cardiac parasympathetic neurons. This action would augment the inhibition of cardiac parasympathetic neurons, reduce parasympathetic cardioinhibitory activity, and increase heart rate. Expression of the GABA A receptor ε subunit in cardiac parasympathetic neurons renders the GABA receptors insensitive to pentobarbital

Older Adults' Acceptance of Assistive Robots for the Home

This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging) Grant P01 AG17211 under the auspices of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE; www.create-center.org). The report was inspired by our collaboration with Willow Garage (www.willowgarage.com) who selected the Georgia Institute of Technology as a beta PR2 site for research (www.willowgarage.com/blog/2010/06/07/spotlight-georgia-tech). This project is a collaborative research effort on human-robot interaction between the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory (Co-Directors Wendy A. Rogers and Arthur D. Fisk; www.hfaging.org) and the Healthcare Robotics Laboratory (Director: Charles C. Kemp; www.healthcare-robotics.com). Many thanks to the researchers in both laboratories for their contributions

BENTHIC MICROPLASTIC DISTRIBUTION IN HUMBOLDT BAY, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SURFACE SEDIMENTS BASED ON PROXIMITY FROM THE SHORE

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