Development of Pelagic Larvae and Postlarva of Squilla empusa (Crustacea, Stomatopoda), with an Assessment of Larval Characters within the Squillidae

Larvae of the predatory crustacean Squilla empusa were collected from the plankton in Chesapeake Bay and reared in the laboratory to permit description of the pelagic stages before the postlarval stage. Characters such as rostral length and spinulation, carapace spinulation, relative size of telson, overall body size, and appearance probably are of more value for specific than for generic identification. The presence or absence of teeth on the dactylus of the second maxilliped, the presence or absence of a spine on the basis of the second maxilliped, and the number of epipods may be useful characters in determining generic alliances of larvae belonging to the Squillidae, but present data are not adequate for construction of generic keys to stomatopod larva

Muscle Protein Turnover and Tenderness in Broiler Chickens Fed Cimaterol

To investigate the impact of cimaterol (CIM) on muscle protein turnover, carcass and muscle composition, muscle cathepsin B+L activity and meat tenderness, 21-d-old broiler chickens (n = 88) were assigned to dietary treatments of either 0 or 1 ppm CIM. Fractional synthesis rates (FSR), fractional accretion rates (FAR), proximate composition and collagen content were determined in the breast muscle (BM; pectoralis major) and a group of leg muscles (LM; gastrocnemius and peroneous longus) from groups of six birds per treatment within each of two time periods (age = 38 or 56 d). Whole body composition,\u27 serum hydroxyproline content and BM cathepsin B+L activity also were measured. Fractional degradation rates (FDR) were calculated as the difference between FSR and FAR. Feeding CIM increased (P \u3c .01) whole body protein content. Weights of LM and percentage of body weight as BM and LM were increased (P \u3c .05) when CIM was included in the diet. Although FSR was)lot significantly reduced by CIM feeding, it decreased (P \u3c .05) with increasing age. Due to decreases in FAR, FDR thereby was reduced by CIM 31.5% and 11.9% in BM and 38.2% and 37.4% in LM at 38 d and 56 d of age, respectively. Cathepsin B+L activities also were reduced 33.6% (P \u3c .01) and shear forces were increased by 41% (P c .05) by CIM feeding. For chickens fed CIM, the correlation between cathepsin B+L activity and shear force was -.63 (P \u3c .01). Feeding CIM improved carcass leanness and muscling due to reductions in FDR and proteolytic enzyme activity. Feeding CIM also reduced meat tendernes

Muscle Protein Turnover and Tenderness in Broiler Chickens Fed Cimaterol

To investigate the impact of cimaterol (CIM) on muscle protein turnover, carcass and muscle composition, muscle cathepsin B+L activity and meat tenderness, 21-d-old broiler chickens (n = 88) were assigned to dietary treatments of either 0 or 1 ppm CIM. Fractional synthesis rates (FSR), fractional accretion rates (FAR), proximate composition and collagen content were determined in the breast muscle (BM; pectoralis major) and a group of leg muscles (LM; gastrocnemius and peroneous longus) from groups of six birds per treatment within each of two time periods (age = 38 or 56 d). Whole body composition,\u27 serum hydroxyproline content and BM cathepsin B+L activity also were measured. Fractional degradation rates (FDR) were calculated as the difference between FSR and FAR. Feeding CIM increased (P \u3c .01) whole body protein content. Weights of LM and percentage of body weight as BM and LM were increased (P \u3c .05) when CIM was included in the diet. Although FSR was)lot significantly reduced by CIM feeding, it decreased (P \u3c .05) with increasing age. Due to decreases in FAR, FDR thereby was reduced by CIM 31.5% and 11.9% in BM and 38.2% and 37.4% in LM at 38 d and 56 d of age, respectively. Cathepsin B+L activities also were reduced 33.6% (P \u3c .01) and shear forces were increased by 41% (P c .05) by CIM feeding. For chickens fed CIM, the correlation between cathepsin B+L activity and shear force was -.63 (P \u3c .01). Feeding CIM improved carcass leanness and muscling due to reductions in FDR and proteolytic enzyme activity. Feeding CIM also reduced meat tendernes

The Effect of Instructional Technologies on the Finance Classroom

Using a survey technique, we evaluate the effect of PowerPoint, online lecture notes, financial calculators, and machine readable forms (MRF) on students\u27 assessment of the quality of instruction, perceived knowledge level, satisfaction, post-course interest in the subject, and average grade in introductory finance courses. We also examine these opinions on a relative basis by comparing the responses of Finance majors versus non-Finance majors. The results suggest that certain technologies are received better than others and further, that the perceived quality of instructional techniques is largely contingent on the student\u27s choice of major

Offspring of Prenatal IV Nicotine Exposure Exhibit Increased Sensitivity to the Reinforcing Effects of Methamphetamine

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased substance abuse in offspring. Preclinical research shows that in utero exposure to nicotine, the primary psychoactive compound in tobacco smoke, influences the neurodevelopment of reward systems and alters motivated behavior in offspring. The present study determined if prenatal nicotine (PN) exposure altered the sensitivity to the reinforcing and aversive effects of methamphetamine (METH) in offspring using a low dose, intravenous (IV) exposure method. Pregnant dams were administered nicotine (0.05 mg/kg/injection) or prenatal saline (PS) 3×/day on gestational days 8–21, and adult offspring were tested using METH self-administration (experiment 1) or METH-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA; experiment 2) procedures. For METH self-administration, animals were trained to respond for IV METH (0.05 mg/kg/infusion; fixed-ratio 3) and they were tested on varying doses of the reinforcer (0.0005–1.0 mg/kg/infusion). For METH CTA, rats received three saccharin and METH pairings (0, 0.3, or 0.5 mg/kg, sc) followed by 14 daily extinction trials. Experiment 1: PN and PS animals exhibited inverted U-shaped dose-response curves; however, the PN animal’s curve was shifted to the left, suggesting PN animals were more sensitive to the reinforcing effects of METH. Experiment 2: METH CTA was acquired in a dose-dependent manner and the factor of PN exposure was not related to the acquisition or extinction of METH-induced CTA. There were no sex differences in either experiment. These results indicate that IV PN-exposed adult offspring exhibited increased sensitivity to IV METH. This suggests that PN exposure, via maternal smoking, will alter the reinforcing effects of METH during later stages of development, and furthermore, will influence substance use vulnerability in adult human offspring

Safety culture and power: interactions between perceptions of safety culture, organisational hierarchy, and national culture

Practices that involve power dynamics are integral to maintaining organisational safety (e.g. speaking-up, challenging poor behaviour, admitting error, communicating on safety), and staff engagement in these is assumed to be shaped by perceptions of safety culture. These perceptions, in-turn, are associated with (1) positions within an organisational hierarchy (which makes power-related acts more or less threatening), and (2) societal values for power distance (e.g. challenging authority). With a sample of 13,573 of air traffic control staff (controllers, engineers, administrative, and management) from 21 national air traffic providers, we reconfirm the observation that managers perceive safety culture more positively than frontline staff (hypothesis 1), and that workers in countries with established values for hierarchy and power report safety culture as less positive than those from countries with low power distance (hypothesis 2). We then, for the first time, examine the interaction between these two factors, and establish that differences in safety culture perceptions between those higher in the hierarchy (management) and those lower in the hierarchy (air traffic controllers and administrative staff) are exacerbated by national contexts for large power distance (hypothesis 3). The study contributes to the literature by theorising the role of power in safety culture theory, and its influence upon safety culture perceptions. Moving forward, safety culture research and interventions may benefit from considering how power exists and manifests at the level of superior-subordinate dynamics

Bortezomib Augments Natural Killer Cell Targeting of Stem-Like Tumor Cells.

Tumor cells harboring stem-like/cancer stem cell (CSC) properties have been identified and isolated from numerous hematological and solid malignancies. These stem-like tumor cells can persist following conventional cytoreductive therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, thereby repopulating the tumor and seeding relapse and/or metastasis. We have previously shown that natural killer (NK) cells preferentially target stem-like tumor cells via non- major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted mechanisms. Here, we demonstrated that the proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib, augments NK cell targeting of stem cell-like tumor cells against multiple solid human tumor-derived cancer lines and primary tissue samples. Mechanistically, this was mediated by the upregulation of cell surface NK ligands MHC class I chain-related protein A and B (MICA and MICB) on aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH)-positive CSCs. The increased expression of MICA and MICB on CSC targets thereby enhanced NK cell mediated killing in vitro and ex vivo from both human primary tumor and patient-derived xenograft samples. In vivo, the combination of bortezomib and allogeneic NK cell adoptive transfer in immunodeficient mice led to increased elimination of CSCs as well as tumor growth delay of orthotopic glioblastoma tumors. Taken together, our data support the combination bortezomib and NK transfer as a strategy for both CSC targeting and potentially improved outcomes in clinical cancer patients