Understanding the Connection Between Gypsum Blooms and Human Health at the Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a closed hypersaline lake in Southern California that has been receiving little input over the past few decades, leading to desiccation that is rapidly increasing every year. This large-scale evaporation of the sea has led to increased dissolved solutes, high salinity, and gypsum blooms. Gypsum blooms, the precipitation of gypsum (CaSO42H2O) in the sea, have been a prominent facet of the sea and their distribution is well known. However, much of their chemistry and potential health hazards are still undetermined. Potential health effects from gypsum salt, an atmospheric dust particle present at the sea, have known reports of respiratory illness as well as eye and nose irritation. It is also possible that airborne gypsum may incorporate metals into its structure which could lead to more unforeseen health consequences for the population surrounding the sea. A key to understanding this phenomena could be in the major ion (Na+,Cl-, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, SO42-, HCO3-) composition of the sea, but that has not been quantified for over twenty years since 2002. The current project attempts to understand the sea’s gypsum chemistry using a current record of major ions collected in Fall and Winter of 2022 and Spring of 2023 as well as comparing it to the last major ion survey two decades prior. This study helps give important context into the changes of Salton Sea chemistry in the past two decades and help unravel the mystery of potential health hazards of gypsum blooms

AN ITEM BANK DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE TEST ITEMS ASSESSING ORTHOGRAPHIC AND PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING SKILLS AT THE FACULTY OF NURSING

In recent years, the importance of assessing students’ orthographic and phonological processing skills has been acknowledged, especially in L1 reading. Moreover, the development of an item bank for an in-house English placement test would enable faculty to assign students to appropriate English-language classes, which in turn would likely lead to students’ successful completion of English-language programs in the tertiary-level institution. Little has been reported, however, on the L2/FL reading contexts. This study thus investigated the process of developing an item bank with orthographic and phonological processing skills for the Faculty of Nursing. The study involved identification of the orthographic and phonological features of the faculty’s English curriculum and materials. It also explored the orthographic and phonological features of two commercially produced English proficiency tests, the TOEFL and the TOEIC, and determined whether these tests correspond to the Faculty of Nursing curriculum requirements. The study also used Rasch analysis to validate the development of test items to assess orthographic and phonological skills, and explored whether these test items correspond to the requirements of the faculty’s English curriculum. Analysis of the faculty’s curriculum and the commercially produced English proficiency tests revealed that the two tests may not be appropriate tools to measure students’ orthographic and phonological processing skills. The Rasch analysis— including separation, reliability, test targeting, and unidimensionality for a total of 147 items—yielded 90 equated test items. Moreover, the test items showed sufficient spreads: 9 (10%) were grouped at the beginner level, 74 (82%) at the intermediate level, and 7 (8%) at the advanced level

Effects of Subtype-selective E Prostanoid Receptor Agonists on Bleomycin-induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Rats

Article信州医学雑誌 67(3): 183-195(2019)journal articl

Enhancing plasticity in spinal sensorimotor circuits following injuries to facilitate recovery of motor control

After spinal cord injury (SCI), considerable reorganization and plasticity are necessary for behavioral recovery. Plasticity enhancing interventions following SCI are varied and include but are not limited to: targeting the inhibitory environment, growth promoting transcription factors, stem cell therapy, neuromodulation via electrical stimulation and rehabilitation itself. These recent advances have led to extensive axonal growth and reorganization. However, this plasticity is not always accompanied by increased behavioral recovery. Here, we review the most recent literature demonstrating how combining these plasticity enhancing treatments with rehabilitation often leads to functional behavioral recovery. However, only few studies have attempted these combinatorial approaches and more work is needed to determine the type and timing of rehabilitation necessary for recovery

Bi-harmonic maps and bi-Yang-Mills fields

In this paper, we show the first and second variational formulas of biharmonic maps and bi-Yang-Mills fields, and show the first variation formula of k-harmonic maps, and also give an overview of our recent results in [12], i.e., classifications of all biharmonic isoparametric hypersurfaces in the unit sphere, and all biharmonic homogeneous real hypersurfaces in the complex or quaternionic projective spaces, answers in case of bounded geometry to Chen’s conjecture or Caddeo, Montaldo and Piu’s one on biharmonic maps into a space of non positive curvature and the isolation phenomena of bi-Yang-Mills fields

Eye movement evaluation of Attention Deficit Disorder children

BACKGROUND: Very little is known about the eye movement performance (EMP) of children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder {ADHD), a syndrome involving attentional impairments, impulsivity, and typically, motor overactivity. Under achievement in reading and math has been shown to be associated with ADHD. Because ADHD children have been described as having slower response times, more topographical errors, and below age expected results on psychometric tests, we hypothesized that eye movement performance would also be below age expected. Since psycho stimulants reportedly decrease errors, variability, and response time with ADHD children, eye movement performance was sampled with and without their regularly prescribed medication. METHODS: 36 children age 8 to 13 with normal eyesight and hearing and who were taking psychostimulant medication for ADHD, were recruited for this study. The Developmental Eye Movement Test (DEM), Groffman Visual Tracing Test (GVTT), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and the Visagraph Eye Movement Analysis (VEMA), were administered to all subjects. Several months later 18 original subjects were retested after not having taken their respective medication(s) for a minimum of 24 hours. RESULTS: Mean DEM percentiles for the medicated ADHD group was: 44.18 vertical, 40.06 horizontal, 44.12 ratio, and 49.35 for errors. Mean PPVT percentile was 60.38. Horizontal DEM subtest performance was significantly better for the 18 subjects while non-medicated. VEMA, GVTT, and PPVT performance did not significantly differ between medicated versus nonmedicated conditions for these same subjects. CONCLUSION: Based upon DEM results, Eye Movement Performance for the medicated ADHD group was slightly below normal. Above average mean PPVT auding vocabulary performance suggests that the reduced EMP was not due to reduced language ability. Surprisingly, horizontal subtest performance on the DEM was significantly better (p\u3c0.01) while subjects were non-medicated. VEMA performance did not differ between the conditions

STUDY ON VITAMIN B(1) IN DERMATOLOGIC DISORDERS Part I on the Blood Level of Vitamin B(1) in Dermatologic Disorders

The blood level of Vitamin B(1) in 80 cases of various dermatologic disorders was defermined with thiochrome method using permutit and considering the value of the healthy individuals and the results of other investigators, the minimum limit was established on 6.0γ% and the following results were obtained: 1) In 17 cases of healthy individuals, the average of the blood level of total Vit. B(1) was 8.34γ%, and it presented lower value in summer rather compared with in autumm. The average of the blood level of Vit. B(1) in dermatologic disorders was 6.51γ%, i.e., 1.83γ% lower than in the healthy individuals. 2) Concerning eczema acutum, it showed normal value in erythematous and desquamatous stadium. but in the rest of the stadium most of them showed lower value, in eczema chronicum it also showed lower value in cases in which the course was prolonged. 3) In dermatitis acuta and Duhring's dermatitis, the blood level of Vit. B(1) decreased in cases in which excessive exsudation could be seen, pemphigus, Domian enanthem and pellagra showed obvious deficiency of Vit. B(1). Moreover, in most of the cases of erythematodes and psoriasis vulgaris showed Vit. B(1) deficiency, but in acne vulgaris, alopecia arezta, chloasma and erythema induratum Bazin showed normal value. 4) Vit. B(1) takes part in the metabolism with close relation with the functions of many organs, as well as with other Vitamins and endocrine system; so the variation of the blood level of Vit. B(1) might not be attributed as the only cause of the previous diseases, but it could be concluded that in some of the cases, the deficiency of Vit. B(1) takes an important roll in the cause or degeneration of dermatologic diseases