Night-time shift work and related stress responses: A study on security guards

Work-related stress can induce a break in homeostasis by placing demands on the body that are met by the activation of two different systems, the hypothalamic\u2013pituitary\u2013adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. Night-shift work alters the body\u2019s exposure to the natural light\u2013 dark schedule and disrupts circadian (daily) rhythms. The greatest effect of night-shift work is the disruption of circadian rhythms. The impact that these disruptions may have on the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cancer, is unknown. This study aims to discover the relationship among three different job activities of security guards and their stress-related responses by evaluating salivary cortisol levels and blood pressure. Methods: Ninety security guards, including night-time workers and night-time and daily-shift workers, were recruited for this study. Each security guard provided two saliva samples before and after three scheduled time points: (i) at 22:00, (ii) at 06:30, and (iii) at 14:00. Results: The results of the study showed a significant alteration in cortisol levels. Night-time shift cortisol levels significantly increased before and after the work shifts. A physiological prevalence of the vagal tone on the cardiocirculatory activity was found during night-shift work. Conclusions: This study indicates that cortisol levels and blood pressure are sensitive markers of biological responses to severe work stress. Shift-change consequences may occur at the end of the night shift when there is a significant increase in the cortisol level and a significant variation in cardiovascular parameters

Transport across thin membranes: Effective solute flux jump

A model to describe the transport across membranes of chemical species dissolved in an incompressible flow is developed via homogenization. The asymptotic matching between the microscopic and macroscopic solute concentration fields leads to a solute flux jump across the membrane, quantified through the solution of diffusion problems at the microscale. The predictive model, written in a closed form, covers a wide range of membrane behaviors, in the limit of negligible Reynolds and Péclet numbers inside the membrane. The closure problem at the microscale, found via homogenization, allows one to link the membrane microstructure to its effective macroscopic properties, such as solvent permeability and solute diffusivity. After a validation of the model through comparison with the corresponding full-scale solution, an immediate application is provided, where the membrane behavior is a priori predicted through an analysis of its microscopic properties. The introduced tools and considerations may find applications in the design of thin microstructured membranes

RET-independent signaling by GDNF ligands and GFRα receptors

The discovery in the late 1990s of the partnership between the RET receptor tyrosine kinase and the GFRα family of GPI-anchored co-receptors as mediators of the effects of GDNF family ligands galvanized the field of neurotrophic factors, firmly establishing a new molecular framework besides the ubiquitous neurotrophins. Soon after, however, it was realized that many neurons and brain areas expressed GFRα receptors without expressing RET. These observations led to the formulation of two new concepts in GDNF family signaling, namely, the non-cell-autonomous functions of GFRα molecules, so-called trans signaling, as well as cell-autonomous functions mediated by signaling receptors distinct from RET, which became known as RET-independent signaling. To date, the best studied RET-independent signaling pathway for GDNF family ligands involves the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM and its association with GFRα co-receptors. Among the many functions attributed to this signaling system are neuronal migration, neurite outgrowth, dendrite branching, spine formation, and synaptogenesis. This review summarizes our current understanding of this and other mechanisms of RET-independent signaling by GDNF family ligands and GFRα receptors, as well as their physiological importance.Fil: Ibáñez, Carlos F.. Karolinska Huddinge Hospital. Karolinska Institutet; SueciaFil: Paratcha, Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Ledda, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Suppression of von Kármán vortex streets past porous rectangular cylinders

Although the stability properties of the wake past impervious bluff bodies have been widely examined in the literature, similar analyses regarding the flow around and through porous ones are still lacking. In this work, the effect of the porosity and permeability on the wake patterns of porous rectangular cylinders is numerically investigated at low to moderate Reynolds numbers in the framework of numerical simulation combined with local and global stability analyses. A modified Darcy-Brinkman formulation is employed here so as to describe the flow behavior inside the porous media, where also the convective terms are retained to correctly account for the inertial effects at high values of permeability. Different aspect ratios of the cylinder are considered, varying the thickness-to-height ratios, t/d, from 0.01 (flat plate) to 1.0 (square cylinder). The results show that the permeability of the bodies has a strong effect in modifying the characteristics of the wakes and of the associated flow instabilities, while the porosity weakly affects the resulting flow patterns. In particular, the fluid flows through the porous bodies and, thus, as the permeability is progressively increased, the recirculation regions, initially attached to the rear part of the bodies, at first detach from the body and, eventually, disappear even in the near wakes. Global stability analyses lead to the identification of critical values of the permeability above which any linear instability is prevented. Moreover, a different scaling of the nondimensional permeability allows us to identify a general threshold for all the configurations here studied that ensures the suppression of vortex shedding, at least in the considered parameter space

Flow dynamics of a dandelion pappus: A linear stability approach

The study and control of flow instabilities is a key problem in aerodynamics. Aircrafts are designed not only to generate the lift force needed to balance their weight but, more importantly, to be stable and reasonably steady when in cruise conditions. Similar flow stability properties are naturally achieved by biological flying objects such as the dandelion seeds that are transported by the wind owing to a disklike structure called a pappus. The pappus creates a parachute flow configuration and is a remarkable prototype of how the wake, which would be unsteady if the pappus was completely impermeable, can be stabilized by changing the body structure so as to allow the flow to pass through. We approach the problem using the approximation of an anisotropic and nonhomogeneous rigid porous disk, combined with the linear stability analysis technique. The results show the presence of a mean porosity threshold beyond which the flow is always characterized by a separated, steady, and axisymmetric recirculating vortex ring. We compare our results with those of real dandelion pappi. The threshold is very close to the experimentally observed values of porosity, explaining why the morphology of the pappus promotes a steady wake regime

Instability of a thin viscous film flowing under an inclined substrate: steady patterns

The flow of a thin film coating the underside of an inclined substrate is studied. We measure experimentally spatial growth rates and compare them to the linear stability analysis of a flat film modelled by the lubrication equation. When forced by a stationary localized perturbation, a front develops that we predict with the group velocity of the unstable wave packet. We compare our experimental measurements with numerical solutions of the nonlinear lubrication equation with complete curvature. Streamwise structures dominate and saturate after some distance. We recover their profile with a one-dimensional lubrication equation suitably modified to ensure an invariant profile along the streamwise direction and compare them with the solution of a purely two-dimensional pendent drop, showing overall a very good agreement. Finally, those different profiles agree also with a two-dimensional simulation of the Stokes equations