Prognostic Indicators of Cardiovascular Risk in Renal Disease

Although the annual mortality rate for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is decreasing, likely due to an increase in kidney transplantation rate, the survival probability for ESRD patients from day one of dialysis has not changed, and is still poor with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 34%. This is contributed to by a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in ESRD patients. In order to improve survival outcomes, patients at high risk of cardiovascular related mortality need to be identified. Heart rate variability (HRV), baroreceptor sensitivity, and baroreceptor reflex effectiveness index can be used to assess heart rate control and may predict cardiovascular mortality. This paper will discuss how HRV, baroreceptor sensitivity, and baroreceptor reflex effectiveness index are altered in renal disease and the utility of these indices as markers of cardiac risk in this patient population

ESTABLISHMENT OF SEROLOGICAL REFERENCE RANGES FOR ELK IN KENTUCKY AND EFFECTS OF QUARANTINE AND TRANSLOCATION ON ELK

Establishing blood serum profiles is important for understanding animal disease ecology and nutrition, the effects of capture and immobilization, and general physiological variation among individuals and populations. Elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) have been successfully translocated to several states for reintroduction or population augmentation, including most recently in Kentucky, where over the course of three years (2011-13) wild elk were captured, temporarily quarantined, and subsequently moved to Missouri and Virginia to establish populations in those states. I used this opportunity to collect a variety of biological samples, including blood from which I present and compare serological profiles for a variety of elk age and sex classes. Additionally, I took the opportunity to investigate the effects of the translocation process on some morphological and physiological parameters of elk. Quarantine and processing of elk can be stressful for animals and lead to injury or death. I characterized how elk respond to this process by measuring biochemical serum values along with various physiological parameters at 5 handling events from the time of capture until final transport to recipient states. Changes observed in parameters between paired workups were indicative of the physical exertion and stress associated with handling activities

Arthropod succession on rat carrion in West Virginia

Carcasses represent a temporary and changing food source for a varied, yet distinct, community of organisms. Arthropods are the major component of this community and are the driving force for the early decomposition process. Although carrion remain for only a finite time, they represent an ecosystem which has a distinctive faunal succession usually initiated by calliphorid flies and variously followed by staphylinid, histerid, and dermestid beetles (Reed, 1958; Payne, 1965; Greenberg, 1991). The developmental rate of arthropods and their faunal progression is being increasingly used in determining time or site of human death. The most widely used application of arthropods in forensics is in determining post mortem interval (PMI). Since most bodies are discovered within the first few weeks, the insects of primary importance in forensic entomology are the blowflies (Calliphoridae) and the flesh flies (Sarcophagidae), which arrive when death is anticipated (Davis, 1928) or immediately after death. The use of insects to aid forensic investigations is not a new concept. The role of necrophagous insects was understood even in biblical times with specific references to carrion insect activity in Job: 21:26, 19:26, 24:20, and Isaiah: 14:11 (Byrd, 1995). Additionally, even the fly life cycle was understood by ancient Egyptians. A piece of paper found in the mouth of a mummy stated: “The maggots will not turn into flies within you” (Papyrus Gizeh no. 18026:4:14) (fide Greenberg, 1991). A 13th century Chinese manual on forensic medicine, published in 1235 AD entitled The Washing Away of Wrongs (as translated by McKnight, 1981), records how one investigator used insects to solve a murder in a farm community. When farmers were assembled with their sickles, the presumed murder weapon, flies clustered on one sickle, in particular, probably due to the traces of the victim’s blood. Once confronted, the owner of this sickle confessed (McKnight, 1981)

Attempts to Locate Culex Tarsalis Larvae In Traditional Mosquito - Breeding Habitats from Brookings County, South Dakota

A total of 33 potential mosquito breeding sites were identified and selected during the early spring of 2003. These mosquito habitats were selected from both natural and urban settings within Brookings County, Sd, and represented the various classifications of habitats potentially used by various mosquito species for larval development including: flowing streams, ponded streams, lake edges, swamps and marshes, shallow-permanent ponds, shallow-temporary pools, intermittent- ephemeral puddles, natural containers and artificial containers. These sites were monitored weekly during the summer for the condition of the water and sampled for the presence of mosquito larvae. A standard collection of 10 “dips” using a 13 cm mosquito dipper was made from each location. Collected larvae were preserved (70% ethanol), dehydrated in an ethanol series, mounted on glass slides, identified and enumerated. Focus was given to Culex larvae because Culex tarsalis is a primary vector for West Nile Virus in South Dakota. Moderate numbers of larvae were recovered from many of the sites during the summer, but by August 6 only 21 of the sites contained water, and therefore, still able to support larval development. Culex tarsalis larvae were not found in any natural site; the only sites they where they could be found were 6 artificial containers possessing these larvae only after August 5. Culex tarsalis larvae were found in 2 locations that were not part of the original study sites. These included larvae found during early summer in an artificial barrel mesocosm within Oak Lake, and larvae found in a water-filled, shallow tire-imprint located in a hayfield in Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Luminosity optimisation using beam-beam deflections at LEP

In maximizing the performance of the LEP electron-positron collider it is important to ensure that the beams collide head-on at the interaction points. The deflection of the beams due to the beam-beam interactions has been measured using orbit monitors located close to the interaction points. The dependence of the beam-beam deflection on the transverse distance between the beams has been used to optimise the overlap of the beams in the vertical plane and to measure the beam sizes at the interaction points

Accomplishments of the NASA Johnson Space Center portion of the soil moisture project in fiscal year 1981

The NASA/JSC ground scatterometer system was used in a row structure and row direction effects experiment to understand these effects on radar remote sensing of soil moisture. Also, a modification of the scatterometer system was begun and is continuing, to allow cross-polarization experiments to be conducted in fiscal years 1982 and 1983. Preprocessing of the 1978 agricultural soil moisture experiment (ASME) data was completed. Preparations for analysis of the ASME data is fiscal year 1982 were completed. A radar image simulation procedure developed by the University of Kansas is being improved. Profile soil moisture model outputs were compared quantitatively for the same soil and climate conditions. A new model was developed and tested to predict the soil moisture characteristic (water tension versus volumetric soil moisture content) from particle-size distribution and bulk density data. Relationships between surface-zone soil moisture, surface flux, and subsurface moisture conditions are being studied as well as the ways in which measured soil moisture (as obtained from remote sensing) can be used for agricultural applications