Changes in Body Temperature and Sleep-Wakefulness After Intrapreoptic Injection of Methoxamine in Rats

Several pieces of evidence suggest that the noradrenergic afferents in the medial preoptic area produce sleep and hypothermia by acting on α1 adrenergic receptors. On the other hand, in a few studies monitoring body temperature with a rectal probe, preoptic injection of the α1 adrenergic agonist methoxamine produced contradictory changes in body temperature and sleep-wakefulness. Such contradictions call for the re-examination of methoxamine induced body temperature changes using a better technique like telemetric recording. In the present study, we monitored body temperature and sleep-wakefulness simultaneously after the micro-injection of 0.5, 1, and 2 μmol methoxamine, into the medial preoptic area of adult male Wistar rats. Methoxamine injection produced hypothermia but no major change in sleep-wakefulness during the 3 hours after drug injection, except for a short period (15 min) of sleep after 120 min of injection. A short period of wakefulness, coinciding with the maximum fall in body temperature (30 min after injection) occurred when methoxamine was administered at higher doses. The results of this study indicate that 1 adrenergic receptors participate in preoptically mediated thermoregulatory measures that reduce body temperature. Hypothermia induced by methoxamine might have masked the hypnogenic action of this drug

Penyuluhan Peningkatan Kesehatan Gigi Dan Mulut Sebagai Upaya Pencegahan Gigi Berlubang Pada Anak Pra Sekolah Di TK Chiqa Smart Palembang

Prevalensi kejadian gigi berlubang paling banyak ditemukan pada usia anak prasekolah yang disebabkan kebiasaan anak makan makanan manis tanpa diikuti perilaku oral hygiene yang baik. Oleh karena itu peran orang tua sangat diperlukan dalam membimbing, memberikan perhatian dan pengertian serta memfasilitasi anak dalam menjaga kesehatan gigi dan mulut. Salah satu upaya yang dapat dilakukan dengan memberikan pengetahuan mengenai kesehatan gigi dan mulut. Tujuan dari kegiatan ini adalah untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan akan pentingnya menjaga kesehatan gigi dan mulut anak. Metode yang digunakan dalam kegiatan ini yaitu penyuluhan kepada orang tua siswa mengenai cara mencegah gigi berlubang pada anak, observasi pemeriksaan gigi berlubang pada anak dan praktik menyikat gigi bersama. Pelaksanaan kegiatan dibantu oleh mahasiswa FK UM Palembang dimulai pada bulan November 2019. Hasil dari kegiatan ini adalah meningkatnya pengetahuan orang tua dan siswa sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa penyuluhan pada orang tua dan siswa sangat efektif. Kata Kunci: Penyuluhan, Gigi berlubang, Anak Prasekolah  ABSTRACT The prevalence of dental caries most commonly found in preschool children due to the habit of eating sugary foods without good oral hygiene. Therefore the role of parents is very necessary in guiding, giving attention and understanding and facilitating the children in maintaining their oral health. One of the efforts that can be done by providing knowledge about oral health. The purpose of this activity was to improve the knowledge of the importance of maintaining children’s oral health . The methods used in this activity were giving education to the parents of students regarding the role of parents in preventing dental caries in children, observation of dental caries in children and the practice of brushing teeth together. The activity was assisted by the students of Medical Faculty of UM Palembang and had done in November 2019. The result of this activity was an improvement of parent and children’s knowledge. So, counseling to parents and students is very effective. Keywords: Counseling, dental caries, preschool children

Fundamental Limits on Wavelength, Efficiency and Yield of the Charge Separation Triad

In an attempt to optimize a high yield, high efficiency artificial photosynthetic protein we have discovered unique energy and spatial architecture limits which apply to all light-activated photosynthetic systems. We have generated an analytical solution for the time behavior of the core three cofactor charge separation element in photosynthesis, the photosynthetic cofactor triad, and explored the functional consequences of its makeup including its architecture, the reduction potentials of its components, and the absorption energy of the light absorbing primary-donor cofactor. Our primary findings are two: First, that a high efficiency, high yield triad will have an absorption frequency more than twice the reorganization energy of the first electron transfer, and second, that the relative distance of the acceptor and the donor from the primary-donor plays an important role in determining the yields, with the highest efficiency, highest yield architecture having the light absorbing cofactor closest to the acceptor. Surprisingly, despite the increased complexity found in natural solar energy conversion proteins, we find that the construction of this central triad in natural systems matches these predictions. Our analysis thus not only suggests explanations for some aspects of the makeup of natural photosynthetic systems, it also provides specific design criteria necessary to create high efficiency, high yield artificial protein-based triads

Measurement of GEp/GMp in ep -> ep to Q2 = 5.6 GeV2

The ratio of the electric and magnetic form factors of the proton, GEp/GMp, was measured at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) using the recoil polarization technique. The ratio of the form factors is directly proportional to the ratio of the transverse to longitudinal components of the polarization of the recoil proton in the elastic $\vec ep \to e\vec p$ reaction. The new data presented in this article span the range 3.5 < Q2 < 5.6 GeV2 and are well described by a linear Q2 fit. Also, the ratio QF2p/F1p reaches a constant value above Q2=2 GeV2.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures Added two names to the main author lis

A new multicompartmental reaction-diffusion modeling method links transient membrane attachment of E. coli MinE to E-ring formation

Many important cellular processes are regulated by reaction-diffusion (RD) of molecules that takes place both in the cytoplasm and on the membrane. To model and analyze such multicompartmental processes, we developed a lattice-based Monte Carlo method, Spatiocyte that supports RD in volume and surface compartments at single molecule resolution. Stochasticity in RD and the excluded volume effect brought by intracellular molecular crowding, both of which can significantly affect RD and thus, cellular processes, are also supported. We verified the method by comparing simulation results of diffusion, irreversible and reversible reactions with the predicted analytical and best available numerical solutions. Moreover, to directly compare the localization patterns of molecules in fluorescence microscopy images with simulation, we devised a visualization method that mimics the microphotography process by showing the trajectory of simulated molecules averaged according to the camera exposure time. In the rod-shaped bacterium _Escherichia coli_, the division site is suppressed at the cell poles by periodic pole-to-pole oscillations of the Min proteins (MinC, MinD and MinE) arising from carefully orchestrated RD in both cytoplasm and membrane compartments. Using Spatiocyte we could model and reproduce the _in vivo_ MinDE localization dynamics by accounting for the established properties of MinE. Our results suggest that the MinE ring, which is essential in preventing polar septation, is largely composed of MinE that is transiently attached to the membrane independently after recruited by MinD. Overall, Spatiocyte allows simulation and visualization of complex spatial and reaction-diffusion mediated cellular processes in volumes and surfaces. As we showed, it can potentially provide mechanistic insights otherwise difficult to obtain experimentally

The contrast-enhanced Doppler ultrasound with perfluorocarbon exposed sonicated albumin does not improve the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis compared with angiography

There are no studies investigating the effect of the contrast infusion on the sensitivity and specificity of the main Doppler criteria of renal artery stenosis (RAS). Our aim was to evaluate the accuracy of these Doppler criteria prior to and following the intravenous administration of perfluorocarbon exposed sonicated albumin (PESDA) in patients suspected of having RAS. Thirty consecutive hypertensive patients (13 males, mean age of 57 ± 10 years) suspected of having RAS by clinical clues, were submitted to ultrasonography (US) of renal arteries before and after enhancement using continuous infusion of PESDA. All patients underwent angiography, and haemodynamically significant RAS was considered when ≥50%. At angiography, it was detected RAS ≥50% in 18 patients, 5 with bilateral stenosis. After contrast, the examination time was slightly reduced by approximately 20%. In non-enhanced US the sensitivity was better when based on resistance index (82.9%) while the specificity was better when based on renal aortic ratio (89.2%). The predictive positive value was stable for all indexes (74.0%–88.0%) while negative predictive value was low (44%–51%). The specificity and positive predictive value based on renal aortic ratio increased after PESDA injection respectively, from 89 to 97.3% and from 88 to 95%. In hypertensives suspected to have RAS the sensitivity and specificity of Duplex US is dependent of the criterion evaluated. Enhancement with continuous infusion of PESDA improves only the specificity based on renal aortic ratio but do not modify the sensitivity of any index

Display of probability densities for data from a continuous distribution

Based on cumulative distribution functions, Fourier series expansion and Kolmogorov tests, we present a simple method to display probability densities for data drawn from a continuous distribution. It is often more efficient than using histograms.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, presented at Computer Simulation Studies XXIV, Athens, GA, 201

The Structure of Tumor Endothelial Marker 8 (TEM8) Extracellular Domain and Implications for Its Receptor Function for Recognizing Anthrax Toxin

Anthrax toxin, which is released from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is composed of three proteins: protective antigen (PA), lethal factor (LF), and edema factor (EF). PA binds a receptor on the surface of the target cell and further assembles into a homo-heptameric pore through which EF and LF translocate into the cytosol. Two distinct cellular receptors for anthrax toxin, TEM8/ANTXR1 and CMG2/ANTXR2, have been identified, and it is known that their extracellular domains bind PA with low and high affinities, respectively. Here, we report the crystal structure of the TEM8 extracellular vWA domain at 1.7 Å resolution. The overall structure has a typical integrin fold and is similar to that of the previously published CMG2 structure. In addition, using structure-based mutagenesis, we demonstrate that the putative interface region of TEM8 with PA (consisting of residues 56, 57, and 154–160) is responsible for the PA-binding affinity differences between the two receptors. In particular, Leu56 was shown to be a key factor for the lower affinity of TEM8 towards PA compared with CMG2. Because of its high affinity for PA and low expression in normal tissues, an isolated extracellular vWA domain of the L56A TEM8 variant may serve as a potent antitoxin and a potential therapeutic treatment for anthrax infection. Moreover, as TEM8 is often over-expressed in tumor cells, our TEM8 crystal structure may provide new insights into how to design PA mutants that preferentially target tumor cells