Reduction of leukocyte microvascular adherence and preservation of blood-brain barrier function by superoxide-lowering therapies in a piglet model of neonatal asphyxia

Background: Asphyxia is the most common cause of brain damage in newborns. Substantial evidence indicates that leukocyte recruitment in the cerebral vasculature during asphyxia contributes to this damage. We tested the hypothesis that superoxide radical (O2⋅_) promotes an acute post-asphyxial inflammatory response and blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown. We investigated the effects of removing O2⋅_ by superoxide dismutase (SOD) or C3, the cell-permeable SOD mimetic, in protecting against asphyxia-related leukocyte recruitment. We also tested the hypothesis that xanthine oxidase activity is one source of this radical.Methods: Anesthetized piglets were tracheostomized, ventilated, and equipped with closed cranial windows for the assessment of post-asphyxial rhodamine 6G-labeled leukocyte-endothelial adherence and microvascular permeability to sodium fluorescein in cortical venules. Asphyxia was induced by discontinuing ventilation. SOD and C3 were administered by cortical superfusion. The xanthine oxidase inhibitor oxypurinol was administered intravenously.Results: Leukocyte-venular adherence significantly increased during the initial 2 h of post-asphyxial reperfusion. BBB permeability was also elevated relative to non-asphyxial controls. Inhibition of O2⋅_ production by oxypurinol, or elimination of O2⋅_ by SOD or C3, significantly reduced rhodamine 6G-labeled leukocyte-endothelial adherence and improved BBB integrity, as measured by sodium fluorescein leak from cerebral microvessels.Conclusion: Using three different strategies to either prevent formation or enhance elimination of O2⋅_ during the post-asphyxial period, we saw both reduced leukocyte adherence and preserved BBB function with treatment. These findings suggest that agents which lower O2⋅_ in brain may be attractive new therapeutic interventions for the protection of the neonatal brain following asphyxia

The XV-15 tilt rotor research aircraft

The design characteristics of the XV-15 Tilt rotor research aircraft are presented. Particular attention is given to the following: control system; conversion system; and propulsion system. Flight test results are also reported

Bacterial Methane Oxidation and its Influence in the Aquatic Environment

This study was supported in part by the Office of Water Resources Research, U.S. Department of the Interior under Project A-027-OHIO.(print) vii, 133 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.Table of Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Review of the Literature -- 3. Mixed Culture Growth Studies -- 4. Pure Culture Growth Studies -- 5. Morphology of Methane Oxidizing Bacteria -- 6. Isolation of Intracytoplasmic Membranes -- 7. Lipids of Cells and Membranes -- 8. Proteins of Cells and Membranes -- 9. Summary -- 10. Conclusions and Recommendation

Satellite data relay and platform locating in oceanography. Report of the In Situ Ocean Science Working Group

The present and future use of satellites to locate offshore platforms and relay data from in situ sensors to shore was examined. A system of the ARGOS type will satisfy the increasing demand for oceanographic information through data relay and platform location. The improved ship navigation provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) will allow direct observation of currents from underway ships. Ocean systems are described and demand estimates on satellite systems are determined. The capabilities of the ARGOS system is assessed, including anticipated demand in the next decade

Quantification of temporal fault trees based on fuzzy set theory

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. Fault tree analysis (FTA) has been modified in different ways to make it capable of performing quantitative and qualitative safety analysis with temporal gates, thereby overcoming its limitation in capturing sequential failure behaviour. However, for many systems, it is often very difficult to have exact failure rates of components due to increased complexity of systems, scarcity of necessary statistical data etc. To overcome this problem, this paper presents a methodology based on fuzzy set theory to quantify temporal fault trees. This makes the imprecision in available failure data more explicit and helps to obtain a range of most probable values for the top event probability

Quality of life and well-being of carers of people with dementia: are there differences between working and nonworking carers? Results from the IDEAL program

The aim of this study was to identify the differences in quality of life (QoL) and well-being between working and nonworking dementia carers and the relative contribution of psychological characteristics, caregiving experience, and social support. Multiple regressions modeled the contribution of working status, caregiver experiences, and psychological and social resources to carer QoL (EQ-5D) and well-being (WHO-5). After controlling for age, gender, carer–dyad relationship, and severity of dementia, working status contributed significant variance to EQ-5D (2%) but not to WHO-5 scores. Independent of working status, higher self-esteem and reduced stress contributed to variance in both models. Self-efficacy, social support, and positive perceptions of caregiving additionally contributed to higher WHO-5 scores. Working status associated with higher EQ-5D QoL; this may reflect the sustained sense of independence associated with supported work opportunities for carers. Outside of working status, the findings support the importance of psychological and social factors as targets to improved mental health for dementia carers

Water requirements of floodplain rivers and fisheries: existing decision support tools and pathways for development

Fisheries / Rivers / Flood plains / Hydrology / Ecology / Models / Decision support tools / Environmental impact assessment / Methodology / Databases

Examining the cancellation mechanism of neutron EDM in a model with dilaton-dominated susy breaking

We examine the cancellation mechanism between the different contributions to the electric dipole moment of the neutron in a model with dilaton-dominated SUSY breaking. We find these accidental cancellations occur at few points in parameter space. For a wide region of this space we must constrain the phase of $\mu$ to be of order $10^{-1}$ and have the phases of $A$ and $\mu$ strongly correlated in order to have small neutron EDM. Moreover, we consider the indirect CP violation parameter $\epsilon$ in this region where the electric dipole moment is less than the experimental limit and find that we can generate $\epsilon$ of order $10^{-6}$