Blood pressure and indices of glomerular filtration area in hypertensive and normotensive Prague rats

The involvement of the kidney in the pathogenesis of hypertension has long been recognised, although the specific renal mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still unknown. A current hypothesis attributes hyper tension to a reduction in glomerular filtration area by glomerular loss, The present study analyses the relationship between glomerular number and volume and conscious systolic blood pressure (SBP) in 4- to 53-week-old hypertensive (PHR) and normotensive (PNR) rats of the Prague strain. Adult PHRs had higher SEP, were larger and had larger kidneys than PNRs, but 20% fewer glomeruli, A significant negative correlation between SEP and glomerular number was found in PHR males, but not in PHR females or PNRs. There was no correlation at all between glomerular volume and SEP and, in young animals, both SEP and glomerular number were higher in PHRs than in PNRs. In addition, in adult PHRs, glomerular volume and SEP were higher in males than in females. In summary, a generally valid, causal relation-ship linking raised blood pressure to decreased glomerular number or volume could not be demonstrated in the Prague rat model of genetically determined hypertension. The nature of the renal mechanism(s) determining the hypertension in this model remains unknown. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Comparing Languages for Engineering Server Software: Erlang, Go, and Scala with Akka

Servers are a key element of current IT infrastructures, and must often deal with large numbers of concurrent requests. The programming language used to construct the server has an important role in engineering efficient server software, and must support massive concurrency on multicore machines with low communication and synchronisation overheads. This paper investigates 12 highly concurrent programming languages suitable for engineering servers, and analyses three representative languages in detail: Erlang, Go, and Scala with Akka. We have designed three server benchmarks that analyse key performance characteristics of the languages. The benchmark results suggest that where minimising message latency is crucial, Go and Erlang are best; that Scala with Akka is capable of supporting the largest number of dormant processes; that for servers that frequently spawn processes Erlang and Go minimise creation time; and that for constantly communicating processes Go provides the best throughput

CRALBP is a Highly Prevalent Autoantigen for Human Autoimmune Uveitis

Cellular retinaldehyde binding protein (CRALBP) is an autoantigen in spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis. In order to test whether CRALBP contributes to human autoimmune uveitis, the specificity of antibodies from human uveitis patient's sera was first evaluated in two-dimensional (2D) Western blot analysis. Subsequent identification of the immunoreactive proteins by mass spectrometry resulted in the identification of CRALBP as a putative autoantigen. Additionally, sera from human uveitis and control patients were by Western blot using purified human recombinant CRALBP. Anti-CRALBP autoantibodies occur more frequently (P<.01) in human uveitis patients than in normal controls. Thirty out of 56 tested uveitis patient's sera contained autoantibodies reactive against CRALBP, compared to only four out of 23 normal control subjects. The presence of CRALBP autoantibodies in 54% of tested uveitis patients supports CRALBP as a possible autoantigen in human autoimmune uveitis

The impact of social media on cultural tourism

Social networks have become very popular recently in the tourism sector. This chapter presents the use of social media and more specifically Trip Advisor in reference to reviews of cultural attractions and their potential influence on the development of cultural tourism in Bahrain. The findings propose that people use Trip Advisor to collect information about a destination and share experiences with other community members. They also suggest that cultural tourism has a potential to grow in the region; however, there should be more information available. The cultural attractions should be more organized, offer more information, and enhance the cultural experience. This chapter recommends that social networks and Trip Advisor should be used by the local tourism authorities for the development and promotion of cultural tourism in Bahrain. Finally, the attraction websites should be further enhanced and other social media could be used to communicate with visitors in Bahrain

Leveraging analytics to produce compelling and profitable film content

Producing compelling film content profitably is a top priority to the long-term prosperity of the film industry. Advances in digital technologies, increasing availabilities of granular big data, rapid diffusion of analytic techniques, and intensified competition from user generated content and original content produced by Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) platforms have created unparalleled needs and opportunities for film producers to leverage analytics in content production. Built upon the theories of value creation and film production, this article proposes a conceptual framework of key analytic techniques that film producers may engage throughout the production process, such as script analytics, talent analytics, and audience analytics. The article further synthesizes the state-of-the-art research on and applications of these analytics, discuss the prospect of leveraging analytics in film production, and suggest fruitful avenues for future research with important managerial implications

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis

The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders