Exercise training corrects control of spontaneous calcium waves in hearts from myocardial infarction heart failure rats

Impaired cardiac control of intracellular diastolic Ca<sup>2+</sup> gives rise to arrhythmias. Whereas exercise training corrects abnormal cyclic Ca<sup>2+</sup> handling in heart failure, the effect on diastolic Ca<sup>2+</sup> remains unstudied. Here, we studied the effect of exercise training on the generation and propagation of spontaneous diastolic Ca<sup>2+</sup> waves in failing cardiomyocytes. Post-myocardial infarction heart failure was induced in Sprague–Dawley rats by coronary artery ligation. Echocardiography confirmed left ventricular infarctions of 40 ± 5%, whereas heart failure was indicated by increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressures, decreased contraction-relaxation rates, and pathological hypertrophy. Spontaneous Ca<sup>2+</sup> waves were imaged by laser linescanning confocal microscopy (488 nm excitation/505–530 nm emission) in 2 μM Fluo-3-loaded cardiomyocytes at 37°C and extracellular Ca<sup>2+</sup> of 1.2 and 5.0 mM. These studies showed that spontaneous Ca<sup>2+</sup> wave frequency was higher at 5.0 mM than 1.2 mM extracellular Ca<sup>2+</sup> in all rats, but failing cardiomyocytes generated 50% (P < 0.01) more waves compared to sham-operated controls at Ca<sup>2+</sup> 1.2 and 5.0 mM. Exercise training reduced the frequency of spontaneous waves at both 1.2 and 5.0 mM Ca2+ (P< 0.05), although complete normalization was not achieved. Exercise training also increased the aborted/completed ratio of waves at 1.2 mM Ca<sup>2+</sup> (P < 0.01), but not 5.0 mM. Finally, we repeated these studies after inhibiting the nitric oxide synthase with L-NAME. No differential effects were found; thus, mediation did not involve the nitric oxide synthase. In conclusion, exercise training improved the cardiomyocyte control of diastolic Ca<sup>2+</sup> by reducing the Ca<sup>2+</sup> wave frequency and by improving the ability to abort spontaneous Ca<sup>2+</sup> waves after their generation, but before cell-wide propagation

Mechanisms of exercise-induced improvements in the contractile apparatus of the mammalian myocardium

One of the main outcomes of aerobic endurance exercise training is the improved maximal oxygen uptake, and this is pivotal to the improved work capacity that follows the exercise training. Improved maximal oxygen uptake in turn is at least partly achieved because exercise training increases the ability of the myocardium to produce a greater cardiac output. In healthy subjects, this has been demonstrated repeatedly over many decades. It has recently emerged that this scenario may also be true under conditions of an initial myocardial dysfunction. For instance, myocardial improvements may still be observed after exercise training in post-myocardial infarction heart failure. In both health and disease, it is the changes that occur in the individual cardiomyocytes with respect to their ability to contract that by and large drive the exercise training-induced adaptation to the heart. Here, we review the evidence and the mechanisms by which exercise training induces beneficial changes in the mammalian myocardium, as obtained by means of experimental and clinical studies, and argue that these changes ultimately alter the function of the whole heart and contribute to the changes in whole-body function

Understanding the Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal Gap in Student Performance: Lessons From British Columbia

There exist very large gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student performance in most B.C. schools. However, Aboriginal students in some school districts perform remarkably well. What are these districts doing right? The authors draw lessons that may well apply across Canada.social policy, socioeconomic conditions, Aboriginal education, British Columbia

An Analysis of Poverty as a Violation of Human Right in Nigeria

The incidence of poverty in Nigeria has become pervasive, with over 60percent of the estimated 150million population living below the poverty line. This has necessitated the discourse that due to the pervasive poverty in the country the fundamental human right of the people was systematically been denied. The question that looms large is what is the nexus between poverty and Human right violations? This paper looks at the incidence of poverty in the country and posits that due to the massive poverty in the country, the rights of the people have been violated. Leaning towards the notion of justice as posited by John Rawls, it contends that it was inhuman for Nigerians to live in conditions that de humanizes them. Finally, having noted that there is a symmetry between poverty and violation of Human rights, what is of utmost concern now is how to apply the precepts of John Rawls that ”Social& Economic inequality are to be arranged so that they are to the greatest benefit of the least advantage’

Everyday Like 9/11: Terrorism Timeline in Nigeria

Information brokerage requie librarians to document national catastrophes.Since December 2009,a home grown terror has gripped Nigeria and continues unabated,thus making everyday in Nigeria like September 11,2001 in the USA. Definitions of terrorism across the globe and the professions were laid bare in this work, trailing behind this is an overview of terrorism which debuted in 1948 by Palestinians who in a bid to resist Israeli’s occupation depopulated the Jewish ranks by blowing themselves up while among the Jews. Consequently, state actors used terror, as in 1793, when Robespierse Maxillien, the French dictator stifled dissenting voices to his dictatorial revolution, non-state actors like the Niger Delta militants in Nigeria, cold war between USSR and US, pariahrization of apartheid South Africa by all, USA invasion of Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Manifestations or acts that make up terrorism were sketched out though minimally. The situation report were tabulated as timeline of Boko haram bombings. This is less than one-third of reported cases due to space constraints.From government establishments to police/military units, media houses, motor parks, middle/high schools, relaxation joints, health workers, VIP convoys, diplomatic premises (UN), jails, majorly churches etc. have been targeted and mission was accomplished without resistance often. Modus operandi revealed the criminal or racial profiling of terrorists, source of funding, observatory studies of schemed areas prior to attack. Rocket launchers, drive by shooting, burying time bombs, casting grenades and clandestine entry of willing to die bombers into crowded areas as it obtains in Iraq have been the mode of executing citizen in droves. Military options have been deployed but has achieved little. It is an aberration to engage military in civil or internal war as they are to fight external aggression. As Boston bombings of 2013 was resolved via law enforcement options, the work prescribes installation of CCTV cameras, geographic information (spatial mapping) of schemed areas, forensic databank of Nigerians and attendant confidentiality, establishment of a bomb library to follow the storyline with exhibits, foreign intervention by reporting to UN Security Council as was the case in Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Liberia etc. Intelligence gathering and personal watchfulness can bring containment too. Keywords: Terrorism, Insurgency, Boko haram, law enforcement option

The Masks of African Identity: Understanding Displacement in We Need New Names

Two discourses have sculpted conceptualizations of the African continent and its people, most predominantly after colonization: Afro-pessimism and Afro-optimism. Afro-pessimism asserts that Africa is incapable of succeeding in the global climate due to African’s futility and inability to self-govern and repair damages due to colonization. Hence, the African continent is a lost cause to these theorists, and subsequently its people are subject to demise. This discourse has two sides primarily, one coming from the Western point of view and the other coming from the African themselves. In reaction and contention to this ideology, different forms of Afro-optimism have developed, the most contemporary form being Afropolitanism. Afropolitanism strives to highlight Africans scattered around the Western world with ease and mobility that allows them to obtain cosmopolitan status. They are distinguished as intelligent entrepreneurial African immigrants that debunk the tropes of “war [and] hunger” portrayed by the media and instead embody success in all their economic endeavors. In essence, they are the prominent symbol of African prosperity in the Western world. But each of these discourse, by itself, is inadequate. In these extremist views and discourses about the African continent and in extension African people, there seems to be missing elements from both sides that ultimately undermines the experiences and recognition of those that lie in between. These discourses become Single Stories for Africans which is problematic not because they are untrue, but because they are incomplete. This project will dive into the missing stories discarded because of these polar extremes and therefore shed light on the identity crisis that exists for those subject to these ineffectual categorizations. Through close reading NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel, We Need New Names, this project will show how both Afropolitan and Afropessimist discourses limits the reality of the African being to either that of glamour and affluence or that of destitution and impotence. The result of this duality is a feeling of displacement and inefficacy for the African immigrant in the Western world with no ability to claim any place or category as their own. Looking at Darling, the protagonists, life through the lenses that shadowed her experiences, we can see that there truly is a necessity for a new way of thinking of the African being in and out of the global context; one that doesn’t shroud their identity into meaningless displacement

NEW TECHNOLOGY AND ETHICAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

With technological progress, temporal and spatial firm boundaries are changing and a new institutional form is emerging from redefinitions of working hours and workspace. Many of these changes are positive (Hitt, 1999; Afuah, 2003). However, there are some issues of unfairness to employees. Employers seek new ways to squeeze more ‘performance’ from the same employees, especially given recent challenges to global and local economies. Sometimes, the redefining of boundaries is unilateral. Employees may be harmed, perhaps even without either party taking full cognizance. As says Akerlof (1980), society sometimes can adopt even practices that have no benefit and are detrimental to its members. This conceptual paper raises ethical considerations for human resource policy development and practice in the light of specific instances of technological progress. There is a need to ensure that today’s employee does not end up back in the iron cage (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), and a need to take into consideration the costs to people (negative externalities affecting work-life balance, quality of life, family time, societal impact, stress and anxiety levels, illness and deaths; etc.). Socially responsible management also entails being careful not to end up legitimizing unethical or unfair practice which others may thoughtlessly copy (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Deephouse, 1996). A convenience sample of senior managers attending an executive programme at Lagos Business School confirmed that there are indeed challenges and illustrate the effect of new technology on employee personal time and space autonomy (Cozzetto and Pedeliski, 1997) and on physical and psychological stress levels