Neurophysiology

Contains reports on one research projectNational Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-07

Drug resistance mediating Plasmodium falciparum polymorphisms and clinical presentations of parasitaemic children in Uganda.

BackgroundPlasmodium falciparum genetic polymorphisms that mediate altered drug sensitivity may impact upon virulence. In a cross-sectional study, Ugandan children with infections mutant at pfcrt K76T, pfmdr1 N86Y, or pfmdr1 D1246Y had about one-fourth the odds of symptomatic malaria compared to those with infections with wild type (WT) sequences. However, results may have been confounded by greater likelihood in those with symptomatic disease of higher density mixed infections and/or recent prior treatment that selected for WT alleles.MethodsPolymorphisms in samples from paired episodes of asymptomatic and symptomatic parasitaemia in 114 subjects aged 4-11 years were followed longitudinally in Tororo District, Uganda. Paired episodes occurred within 3-12 months of each other and had no treatment for malaria in the prior 60 days. The prevalence of WT, mixed, and mutant alleles was determined using multiplex ligase detection reaction-fluorescent microsphere assays.ResultsConsidering paired episodes in the same subject, the odds of symptomatic malaria were lower for infections with mutant compared to WT or mixed sequence at N86Y (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.09-0.79, p = 0.018), but not K76T or D1246Y. However, symptomatic episodes (which had higher densities) were more likely than asymptomatic to be mixed (for N86Y OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.04-4.0, p = 0.036). Excluding mixed infections, the odds of symptomatic malaria were lower for infections with mutant compared to WT sequence at N86Y (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.11-0.98, p = 0.046), but not the other alleles. However, if mixed genotypes were grouped with mutants in this analysis or assuming that mixed infections consisted of 50% WT and 50% mutant genotypes, the odds of symptomatic infection did not differ between infections that were mutant or WT at the studied alleles.ConclusionsAlthough infections with only the mutant pfmdr1 86Y genotype were associated with symptomatic infection, this association could primarily be explained by greater parasite densities and therefore greater prevalence of mixed infections in symptomatic children. These results indicate limited association between the tested polymorphisms and risk of symptomatic disease and highlight the value of longitudinal studies for assessing associations between parasite factors and clinical outcomes

Using Smart Growth and Universal Design to Link the Needs of Children and the Aging Population

The United States is undergoing a critical demographic transition: The population is aging. By 2040, the proportion of people over the age of 65 will top 20 percent, and people under the age of 18 will make up almost 23 percent of the population. As a result, the oldest and the youngest populations combined will make up almost half of all U.S. residents. This trend is also a global one, directly affecting planning practice worldwide (WHO 2007). As planners work to plan and design sustainable and livable communities they will need to simultaneously consider the needs of these similar, yet different, populations in future plans, policies, and project

An application of hybrid life cycle assessment as a decision support framework for green supply chains

In an effort to achieve sustainable operations, green supply chain management has become an important area for firms to concentrate on due to its inherent involvement with all the processes that provide foundations to successful business. Modelling methodologies of product supply chain environmental assessment are usually guided by the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA). However, a review of the extant literature suggests that LCA techniques suffer from a wide range of limitations that prevent a wider application in real-world contexts; hence, they need to be incorporated within decision support frameworks to aid environmental sustainability strategies. Thus, this paper contributes in understanding and overcoming the dichotomy between LCA model development and the emerging practical implementation to inform carbon emissions mitigation strategies within supply chains. Therefore, the paper provides both theoretical insights and a practical application to inform the process of adopting a decision support framework based on a LCA methodology in a real-world scenario. The supply chain of a product from the steel industry is considered to evaluate its environmental impact and carbon ‘hotspots’. The study helps understanding how operational strategies geared towards environmental sustainability can be informed using knowledge and information generated from supply chain environmental assessments, and for highlighting inherent challenges in this process

The Devon Island Expedition

In 1959 the Arctic Institute of North America undertook an integrated program of long term research on Devon Island in the Queen Elizabeth Islands of arctic Canada. The co-ordinated studies were designed to help understand the interrelationships between the glacier ice of Devon Island, the ocean in Jones Sound, and the encompassing atmosphere. They are being carried out over a 3-year period under the leadership of Spencer Apollonio. The main effort is concentrated on attempts to evaluate such factors as physical, chemical, and biological variations in the arctic waters of Jones Sound caused by discharging glaciers; evaporation and transfer of moisture between the ocean waters and the ice-cap and glaciers; and the overall influences of solar radiation energy on the mass balance of the ice-cap, the biological production in the sea, and the growth and decay of sea-ice. Some supplementary studies in archaeology and geology are included in the expedition's work because of the marked deficiency of knowledge in those subjects for Devon Island. In the late summer of 1960 a main base was established on the north shore of Devon Island near Cape Skogn by an advance party of eight men taken in with their materials by the Canada Department of Transport icebreaker "d'Iberville". During a 3-week period buildings were erected and routes inland and to the ice-cap explored and marked, while an archaeological reconnaissance of the Cape Sparbo area was made by a small party under Mr. Gordon Lowther of McGill University. Everything was installed for a beginning of the 3-year program in April 1961. During the months of April to September 1961 21 men worked on extensive programs in geophysics, glaciology, marine biology and oceanography, meteorology, and surveying. Intensive work was also completed in archaeology and geology. ..

Status of the JWST Integrated Science Instrument Module

No abstract availabl

The Neon Nova. III. The Infrared Light Curves of Nova QU Vulpeculae (Nova Vul 1984 #2)

We report 1.25 to 19.5 µm broadband infrared (IR) photometric measurements acquired during an eight year period on the prototypical ONeMg “neon nova” QU Vulpeculae (Nova Vul 1984 #2). The energy distribution of the ejecta evolved through several phases. An early free-free emission phase was followed by an IR coronal phase characterized by the appearance of strong emission lines from forbidden atomic transitions. The lines of [Ne Vi] at 7.6 /xm, and [Ne il] at 12.8 µm were especially strong during the coronal phase. A small amount of silicate dust condensed in the ejecta after about a year. The evidence provided by our IR observations for high abundances of metals in the ejecta of QU Vul is reviewed. We present the IR light curves of QU Vul, and show that the temporal development of its persistent IR coronal emission phase was evident in the broadband K (2.3 µm) and L (3.6 µm) photometry. Using data from our previous studies of classical novae, we suggest that K and L photometry can distinguish between the slower ONeMg novae with persistent IR coronal activity and CO novae that produce copious quantities of circumstellar dust. The most striking signature is produced in the L band, which contains emission from [Mg Vlll] at 3.02 µm, [A1 Vi] at 3.66 µm, and [Si ix] at 3.92 µm. We comment on the peculiar tendency of the IR light curves of novae to decay exponentially