1,228 research outputs found

    The Grizzly, December 7, 1993

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    UC Area Code to Change • Greetings, from Skye • Progress Made on Trade Agreement • UC Mourns Loss of Senior • Silenced by Propaganda • Exam Schedule • The Steps of Bomberger • Four One-Act Plays to be Performedhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1327/thumbnail.jp

    Therapeutic Potential of Exogenous Ketone Supplement Induced Ketosis in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: Review of Current Literature

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    Globally, psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are becoming more prevalent. Although the exact pathological alterations are not yet clear, recent studies have demonstrated that widespread changes of very complex metabolic pathways may partially underlie the pathophysiology of many psychiatric diseases. Thus, more attention should be directed to metabolic-based therapeutic interventions in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Emerging evidence from numerous studies suggests that administration of exogenous ketone supplements, such as ketone salts or ketone esters, generates rapid and sustained nutritional ketosis and metabolic changes, which may evoke potential therapeutic effects in cases of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including psychiatric diseases. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarize the current information on ketone supplementation as a potential therapeutic tool for psychiatric disorders. Ketone supplementation elevates blood levels of the ketone bodies: D-β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), acetoacetate (AcAc), and acetone. These compounds, either directly or indirectly, beneficially affect the mitochondria, glycolysis, neurotransmitter levels, activity of free fatty acid receptor 3 (FFAR3), hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCAR2), and histone deacetylase, as well as functioning of NOD-like receptor pyrin domain 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP) expression. The result of downstream cellular and molecular changes is a reduction in the pathophysiology associated with various psychiatric disorders. We conclude that supplement-induced nutritional ketosis leads to metabolic changes and improvements, for example, in mitochondrial function and inflammatory processes, and suggest that development of specific adjunctive ketogenic protocols for psychiatric diseases should be actively pursued

    A hydrogen peroxide-inactivated virus vaccine elicits humoral and cellular immunity and protects against lethal west nile virus infection in aged mice

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    West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging pathogen that is now the leading cause of mosquito-borne and epidemic encephalitis in the United States. In humans, a small percentage of infected individuals develop severe neuroinvasive disease, with the greatest relative risk being in the elderly and immunocompromised, two populations that are difficult to immunize effectively with vaccines. While inactivated and subunit-based veterinary vaccines against WNV exist, currently there is no vaccine or therapy available to prevent or treat human disease. Here, we describe the generation and preclinical efficacy of a hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-inactivated WNV Kunjin strain (WNV-KUNV) vaccine as a candidate for further development. Both young and aged mice vaccinated with H(2)O(2)-inactivated WNV-KUNV produced robust adaptive B and T cell immune responses and were protected against stringent and lethal intracranial challenge with a heterologous virulent North American WNV strain. Our studies suggest that the H(2)O(2)-inactivated WNV-KUNV vaccine is safe and immunogenic and may be suitable for protection against WNV infection in vulnerable populations

    Evidence of biological recovery from gross pollution in English and Welsh rivers over three decades

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    Uncertainty around the changing ecological status of European rivers reflects an evolving array of anthropogenic stressors, including climate change. Although previous studies have revealed some recovery from historical pollution in the 1990s and early-2000s, there are contrasting trends among pollutants across Europe and recovery may have even stalled or been reversed. To provide more contemporary evidence on trends and status, here we investigate changes in English and Welsh river macroinvertebrate communities over almost 30 years (1991–2019) using a network of nearly 4000 survey locations. Analysis comprised: i) trends in taxonomic and functional richness, community composition and ecological traits, ii) gains, losses and turnover of taxa, and the overall homogeneity of macroinvertebrate communities nationally, and iii) an exploration of how temporal trends varied with catchment characteristics. Taxonomic richness increased, primarily in the 1990s, whilst a shift towards pollution-sensitive taxa continued throughout the study period, accompanied by a growing prevalence in traits such as preferences for fast-flowing conditions, coarser substrata, and ‘shredding’ or ‘scraping’ feeding strategies. Changes consistent with improvement occurred in both urbanised and agricultural catchments, but were more pronounced in urban rivers as they gained pollution sensitive taxa that were otherwise more prevalent in rural rivers. Overall, these results indicate continuing biological recovery from organic pollution, consistent with national scale trends in water quality. Results reemphasise the importance of looking at multiple facets of diversity, with periods of near-constant richness disguising changes in taxonomic and functional composition. Whilst this national-scale picture is broadly positive, we highlight the need to investigate more local variations or pollutants that depart from this aggregate picture

    Exogenous Ketones Lower Blood Glucose Level in Rested and Exercised Rodent Models.

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    Diseases involving inflammation and oxidative stress can be exacerbated by high blood glucose levels. Due to tight metabolic regulation, safely reducing blood glucose can prove difficult. The ketogenic diet (KD) reduces absolute glucose and insulin, while increasing fatty acid oxidation, ketogenesis, and circulating levels of β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), acetoacetate (AcAc), and acetone. Compliance to KD can be difficult, so alternative therapies that help reduce glucose levels are needed. Exogenous ketones provide an alternative method to elevate blood ketone levels without strict dietary requirements. In this study, we tested the changes in blood glucose and ketone (βHB) levels in response to acute, sub-chronic, and chronic administration of various ketogenic compounds in either a post-exercise or rested state. WAG/Rij (WR) rats, a rodent model of human absence epilepsy, GLUT1 deficiency syndrome mice (GLUT1D), and wild type Sprague Dawley rats (SPD) were assessed. Non-pathological animals were also assessed across different age ranges. Experimental groups included KD, standard diet (SD) supplemented with water (Control, C) or with exogenous ketones: 1, 3-butanediol (BD), βHB mineral salt (KS), KS with medium chain triglyceride/MCT (KSMCT), BD acetoacetate diester (KE), KE with MCT (KEMCT), and KE with KS (KEKS). In rested WR rats, the KE, KS, KSMCT groups had lower blood glucose level after 1 h of treatment, and in KE and KSMCT groups after 24 h. After exercise, the KE, KSMCT, KEKS, and KEMCT groups had lowered glucose levels after 1 h, and in the KEKS and KEMCT groups after 7 days, compared to control. In GLUT1D mice without exercise, only KE resulted in significantly lower glucose levels at week 2 and week 6 during a 10 weeks long chronic feeding study. In 4-month and 1-year-old SPD rats in the post-exercise trials, blood glucose was significantly lower in KD and KE, and in KEMCT groups, respectively. After seven days, the KSMCT group had the most significantly reduced blood glucose levels, compared to control. These results indicate that exogenous ketones were efficacious in reducing blood glucose levels within and outside the context of exercise in various rodent models of different ages, with and without pathology

    Potential drivers of changing ecological conditions in English and Welsh rivers since 1990

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    River invertebrate communities across Europe have been changing in response to variations in water quality over recent decades, but the underlying drivers are difficult to identify because of the complex stressors and environmental heterogeneity involved. Here, using data from ~4000 locations across England and Wales, collected over 29 years, we use three approaches to help resolve the drivers of spatiotemporal variation in the face of this complexity: i) mapping changes in invertebrate richness and community composition; ii) structural equation modelling (SEM) to distinguish land cover, water quality and climatic influences; and iii) geographically weighted regression (GWR) to identify how the apparent relationships between invertebrate communities and abiotic variables change across the area. Mapping confirmed widespread increases in richness and the proportion of pollution-sensitive taxa across much of England and Wales. It also revealed regions where pollution-sensitive taxa or overall richness declined, the former primarily in the uplands. SEMs confirmed strong increases in average biochemical oxygen demand and nutrient concentrations related to urban and agricultural land cover, but only a minority of land cover's effect upon invertebrate communities was explained by average water chemistry, highlighting potential factors such as episodic extremes or emerging contaminants. GWR identified strong geographical variation in estimated relationships between macroinvertebrate communities and environmental variables, with evidence that the estimated negative impacts of nutrients and water temperature were increasing through time. Overall the results are consistent with widespread biological recovery of Britain's rivers from past gross organic pollution, whilst highlighting declines in some of the most diverse and least impacted streams. Modelling points to a complex and changing set of drivers, highlighting the multifaceted impacts of catchment land cover and the evolving role of different stressors, with the relationship to gross organic pollution weakening, whilst estimated nutrient and warming effects strengthened

    Excited-state OH Mainline Masers in AU Geminorum and NML Cygni

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    Excited-state OH maser emission has previously been reported in the circumstellar envelopes of only two evolved stars: the Mira star AU Geminorum and the hypergiant NML Cygni. We present Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the 1665, 1667, and excited-state 4750 MHz mainline OH transitions in AU Gem and Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) observations of the excited-state 6030 and 6035 MHz OH mainline transitions in NML Cyg. We detect masers in both mainline transitions in AU Gem but no excited-state emission in either star. We conclude that the excited-state OH emission in AU Gem is either a transient phenomenon (such as for NML Cyg outlined below), or possibly an artifact in the data, and that the excited state OH emission in NML Cyg was generated by an episode of enhanced shock between the stellar mass-loss and an outflow of the Cyg OB2 association. With these single exceptions, it therefore appears that excited-state OH emission indeed should not be predicted nor observable in evolved stars as part of their normal structure or evolution.Comment: ApJ Letter, accepted, 4 pages, 2 figure

    The Grizzly, October 5, 1993

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    Girls\u27 Pledging Returns Full-Force! • India Shattered by Earthquakes • Acting PA Governor Will Hold TV Town Meeting at Ursinus • Freshman to Compete in Karate\u27s World Cup • Henry Moore Exhibit Opens Today • Charles Fambrough Quintet to Play Ursinus • Editorial: Pledging; Wellness Center • Intramurals Begin: Sign Up! • Bears Crush Garnet Into Pebbleshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1320/thumbnail.jp

    LBNL# 40102 Field Investigation of Duct System Performance in California Light Commercial Buildings 1 of 26 Field Investigation of Duct System Performance in California Light Commercial Buildings Synopsis

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    Abstract Light commercial buildings, one-and two-story with package roof-top HVAC units, make up approximately 50% of the non-residential building stock in the U.S. Despite this fact little is known about the performance of these package roof-top units and their associated ductwork. These simple systems use similar duct materials and construction techniques as residential systems (which are known to be quite leaky). This paper discusses a study to characterize the buildings, quantify the duct leakage, and analyze the performance of the ductwork in these types of buildings. The study tested fifteen systems in eight different buildings located in northern California. All of these buildings had the ducts located in the cavity between the drop ceiling and the roof deck. In 50% of these buildings, this cavity was functionally outside both the building's air and thermal barriers. The effective leakage area of the ducts in this study was approximately 2.6 times that in residential buildings. This paper looks at the thermal analysis of the ducts, from the viewpoint of efficiency and thermal comfort. This includes the length of a cycle, and whether the fan is always on or if it cycles with the cooling equipment. 66% of the systems had frequent on cycles of less than 10 minutes, resulting in non-steady-state operation
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