Cloud structure and distributions over the tropical Pacific : part II

This is the second part in three of an observational study of tropical oceanic clouds and their relation to the large-scale flow patterns. The first part appeared in preliminary form in 1959 in a volume entitled "Cloud Structure am.d Distributions over the Tropical Pacific. Part I", an unpublished Technical Report (Reference No.58-62) of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The four authors were the same as those of this report. In addition, a very brief summary of the work (by J. Malkus and C. Ronne) was published in Monograph No.5 of the American Geophysical Union in 1960. A review of the cloud code evolved during this program has been published by M. Alaka in the Bulletin of World Meteorological Organization for April, 1960. The basic material for this study consists of three photographic flights made during July and August 1957 on Military Air Transport (MATS) cargo aircraft flying on regular schedules between San Francisco and the Phillipines. The photographer was Claude Ronne of Woods Hole, accompanied by Joanne Malkus om. the third flight. The appropriate synoptic data were kindly collected by Prof. Colin Ramage of the University of Hawaii and were analyzed by Professor Riehl (then at the University of Chicago) and his colleague Mr. W.S.Gray. The first report described the purposes and methods of the inquiry and presented the results of the first trans-Pacific flight. This report is concerned primarily with the results of the Second flight. A third report on the last flight is planned later, as well as eventual publication of all three parts together. The part of the program reported here has been supported jointly by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.Office of Naval Research under Contract No. 1721(00) and to the National Science Foundation under Grantt No.7368 with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Acute effects of albumin infusion on blood volume and renal function in premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome

The purpose of this study was to determine the acute effects of albumin infusion on blood volume and renal function in preterm infants with RDS and low total serum protein values. Ten infants (gestational age 28 to 36 weeks, body weight 0.88 to 2.46 kg) were given albumin 1 gm/kg (as 25% iv solution) over a ten-minute period. Within ten minutes after infusion was completed, total serum protein concentration, colloid osmotic pressure, and blood volume rose significantly while hematocrit fell from their preinfusion levels ( P<0.0005). Mean arterial blood pressure showed a smaller and less clear-cut increase ( P<0.05). Creatinine clearance rose significantly with infusion; even though preinfusion clearances correlated poorly with gestational age (r=0.43), postinfusion clearances correlated well (r=0.92). No significant rises in urinary flow rate, U osm /P osm , or free-water clearance were observed. These results indicate that albumin infusion acutely increases both blood volume and glomerular filtration in premature infants with RDS

Developmental Regulation of NO-Mediated VEGF-Induced Effects in the Lung

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to have a pivotal role in lung development and in a variety of pathologic conditions in the adult lung. Our earlier studies have shown that NO is a critical mediator of VEGF-induced vascular and extravascular effects in the adult murine lung. As significant differences have been reported in the cytokine responses in the adult versus the neonatal lung, we hypothesized that there may be significant differences in VEGF-induced alterations in the developing as opposed to the mature lung. Furthermore, nitric oxide (NO) mediation of these VEGF-induced effects may be developmentally regulated. Using a novel externally regulatable lung-targeted transgenic murine model, we found that VEGF-induced pulmonary hemorrhage was mediated by NO-dependent mechanisms in adults and newborns. VEGF enhanced surfactant production in adults as well as increased surfactant and lung development in newborns, via an NO-independent mechanism. While the enhanced survival in hyperoxia in the adult was partly NO-dependent, there was enhanced hyperoxia-induced lung injury in the newborn. In addition, human amniotic fluid VEGF levels correlated positively with surfactant phospholipids. Tracheal aspirate VEGF levels had an initial spike, followed by a decline, and then a subsequent rise, in human neonates with an outcome of bronchopulmonary dysplasia or death. Our data show that VEGF can have injurious as well as potentially beneficial developmental effects, of which some are NO dependent, others NO independent. This opens up the possibility of selective manipulation of any VEGF-based intervention using NO inhibitors for maximal potential clinical benefit