Neural regulation of cardiovascular response to exercise: role of central command and peripheral afferents

During dynamic exercise, mechanisms controlling the cardiovascular apparatus operate to provide adequate oxygen to fulfill metabolic demand of exercising muscles and to guarantee metabolic end-products washout. Moreover, arterial blood pressure is regulated to maintain adequate perfusion of the vital organs without excessive pressure variations. The autonomic nervous system adjustments are characterized by a parasympathetic withdrawal and a sympathetic activation. In this review, we briefly summarize neural reflexes operating during dynamic exercise. The main focus of the present review will be on the central command, the arterial baroreflex and chemoreflex, and the exercise pressure reflex. The regulation and integration of these reflexes operating during dynamic exercise and their possible role in the pathophysiology of some cardiovascular diseases are also discusse

Validitas Perangkat Pembelajaran IPA SMP Berorientasi Model Problem Based Learning untuk Melatihkan Keterampilan Berpikir Kreatif

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan validitas perangkat pembelajaran IPA SMP berorientasi model PBL untuk melatihkan keterampilan berpikir kreatif siswa. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian pengembangan dengan menggunakan prosedur penelitian yang mengikuti tahap model four-D meliputi empat tahapan, yakni define (pendefinisian), design (perancangan), develop (pengembangan), dan disseminate (penyebaran) (Thiagarajan, Semmel, dan Semmel (1974) yang diadaptasi dalam Ibrahim (2002), namun tahap disseminate (penyebaran) tidak dilakukan. Dalam mencapai tujuan tersebut maka peneliti telah merancang perangkat pembelajaran yang ditelaah dan direvisi selanjutnya  divalidasi oleh 2 pakar dalam bidang IPA dan 1 praktisi yakni guru IPA SMP. Selanjutnya dilakukan uji coba terbatas pada 16 siswa kelas VII-C SMP Negeri 3 Peterongan Jombang tahun ajaran 2015/2016 untuk mengetahui keterbacaan BAS dan LKS. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa validitas perangkat pembelajaran IPA SMP berorientasi model PBL untuk melatihkan keterampilan berpikir kreatif yang dikembangkan memiliki rata-rata persentase validitas masing masing yakni sebesar silabus (88,33%), RPP (88,09%), BAS (85,42%), LKS (91,67%), dan TKBKf (86,54%), berkategori sangat valid sehingga layak untuk digunakan dalam pembelajaran dengan melakukan sedikit perbaikan. Keterbacaan BAS dan LKS oleh siswa  secara keseluruhan adalah menarik namun cukup mudah dipahami. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data dan pembahasan diperoleh kesimpulan bahwa perangkat pembelajaran IPA SMP berorientasi model PBL untuk melatihkan keterampilan berpikir kreatif siswa pada materi suhu dan Perubahannya yang telah dikembangkan adalah valid sehingga layak digunakan dalam pembelajaran IPA. Kata kunci               : validitas, problem based learning, keterampilan berpikir kreatif

Reverberation Mapping and the Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei

Reverberation-mapping campaigns have revolutionized our understanding of AGN. They have allowed the direct determination of the broad-line region size, enabled mapping of the gas distribution around the central black hole, and are starting to resolve the continuum source structure. This review describes the recent and successful campaigns of the International AGN Watch consortium, outlines the theoretical background of reverberation mapping and the calculation of transfer functions, and addresses the fundamental difficulties of such experiments. It shows that such large-scale experiments have resulted in a ``new BLR'' which is considerably different from the one we knew just ten years ago. We discuss in some detail the more important new results, including the luminosity-size-mass relationship for AGN, and suggest ways to proceed in the near future.Comment: Review article to appear in Astronomical Time Series, Proceedings of the Wise Observatory 25th Ann. Symposium. 24 pages including 7 figure

Value-added effects of using aromatic plants in foods and human therapy

Consumers' demands for low-processed and healthier food products led to a search for alternatives to replace or reduce synthetic food additives with natural ones. Aromatic plant derivatives which have GRAS status, have been examined for being natural food preservatives and antioxidants to prolong the shelf-life of foods. They contribute to food safety, owing to their anti-quorum sensing, and anti-biofilm properties. These potential food safety attributes and increasing demand for natural food additive options have led to an interest in the use of them, especially in traditional meat, dairy, and bakery products, which would provide them an added value, and increase the market competitiveness. Therefore, the overall perspective of the value-added effects of using aromatic plants and their derivatives in food production and of their incorporated use into packaging materials for active packaging are discussed in this review. In addition, it provides information on their antimicrobial and antioxidant actions. The review also aims to give detailed information on benefits of vegetal bioactive compounds in health and disease by giving their nutraceutical and health-promoting properties. The current knowledge on their application in the treatment of health disorders is presented, their ability to prevent diseases is discussed, and the areas for future research are proposed

Medical inpatient mortality at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, 2002 - 2009

Background. Despite the challenges facing healthcare in South Africa, empirical insights into the performance of healthcare services overtime are scarce.Methods. We analysed first admissions of adult medical inpatients to Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, from January 2002 to July 2009.Data included age, sex, medical specialty, and date of admission and discharge. We used population group and hospital billing codes asproxy measures for socio-economic status (SES). We calculated the duration of stay in days from the date of admission to discharge, andinpatient mortality rates per 1 000 patient days. Poisson regression was used to estimate mortality rate ratios (MRR) in unadjusted analysisand after adjusting for potential confounders.Results. There were 42 582 first admissions. Patient demographics shifted towards a lower SES. Median age decreased from 52 years in 2002to 49 years in 2009, while patients aged 20 - 39 years increased in proportion from 26% to 31%. The unadjusted proportion of admissionswhich resulted in in-hospital deaths increased from 12% in 2002 to 17% in 2009. Corresponding mortality rates per 1 000 patient days were 17.0 (95% confidence interval (CI) 15.9 - 18.3) and 23.4 (95% CI 21.6 - 25.4), respectively (unadjusted MRR 1.37; 95% CI 1.23 - 1.53). Annual increases in mortality rates were highest during the first 2 days following admission (increasing from 30.1 to 50.3 deaths per 1 000), and were associated with increasing age, non-paying patient status, black population group and male sex, and were greatest in the emergency ward (adjusted MRR 1.73, comparing 2009 with 2002; 95% CI 1.49 - 2.01).Discussion. Increasing medical inpatient mortality rates at a large South African academic hospital were most marked during the first 2 days after admission and appeared greatest among emergency medical inpatients

The effect of reuse of unhairing-liming residual floats through regeneration on the microorganism number

Even though microorganism load was mostly ignored in the unhairing-liming process due to extremely high pH values, it is a question to answer when unhairing-liming residual floats are reused throughregeneration. The objective of this paper was to determine the number of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and of proteolytic, lypolytic, aerobic spore-forming bacteria, and of total aerobic fungi (mouldand yeast), proteolytic and lypolytic fungi in each unhairing-liming residual float reused ten times through regeneration. Enumeration of bacteria and fungi was done in three different concentrations ofNaCl [0, 5, and 10% (w/v)]. The experiments were carried out with and without antimicrobial agents (experimental and control). In this study, generally, the values obtained from experimental sampleswere detected to be lower than control samples. For experimental samples, when all the NaCl concentrations were taken into account, the minimum and maximum numbers of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and of proteolytic, lypolytic, aerobic spore-forming bacteria were found as follows: 2.0x101 – 3.9x102 cfu.mL-1, 1.0x101 – 4.1x102 cfu.mL-1, 2.0x101 – 5.4x102 cfu.mL-1 and 1.0x101 – 2.0x102cfu.mL-1, respectively. In these samples, it was found out that the minimum and maximum numbers of total aerobic fungi and of proteolytic and lypolytic fungi were 3.0x101 – 2.8x103 cfu.mL-1, 1.0x101 –1.2x103 cfu.mL-1, and 5.0x101 – 3.5x103 cfu.mL-1, respectively. In the study, there is a significant finding that the numbers of fungi were higher than those of bacteria. In addition, when bactericide andfungicide were added into the soaking processes and when unhairing-liming residual floats were reused ten times via regeneration, it was revealed that the numbers of bacteria and fungi can be controlled

Optimization viewpoint on Kalman smoothing, with applications to robust and sparse estimation

In this paper, we present the optimization formulation of the Kalman filtering and smoothing problems, and use this perspective to develop a variety of extensions and applications. We first formulate classic Kalman smoothing as a least squares problem, highlight special structure, and show that the classic filtering and smoothing algorithms are equivalent to a particular algorithm for solving this problem. Once this equivalence is established, we present extensions of Kalman smoothing to systems with nonlinear process and measurement models, systems with linear and nonlinear inequality constraints, systems with outliers in the measurements or sudden changes in the state, and systems where the sparsity of the state sequence must be accounted for. All extensions preserve the computational efficiency of the classic algorithms, and most of the extensions are illustrated with numerical examples, which are part of an open source Kalman smoothing Matlab/Octave package.Comment: 46 pages, 11 figure

Rotation and Spin in Physics

We delineate the role of rotation and spin in physics, discussing in order Newtonian classical physics, special relativity, quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics and general relativity. In the latter case, we discuss the generalization of the Kepler formula to post-Newtonian order $(c^{-2}$) including spin effects and two-body effects. Experiments which verify the theoretical results for general relativistic spin-orbit effects are discussed as well as efforts being made to verify the spin-spin effects

Understanding the experience of interactive art: Iamascope in Beta_space

This paper describes a study into the situated experience of interactive art. The study was conducted with audiences of the artwork Iamascope and is framed by the four categories of embodied experience that have been proposed by its artist Sidney Fels. The video-cued recall method we employed was shown to reveal rich detail about situated interactive art experience. The results provide a detailed account of how the categories of embodiment manifest themselves in audience experience and lead to the proposal of a blueprint for the trajectory of interaction produced by Iamascope which may be generalisable to other interactive artworks