Microglial inhibition of neuroprotection by antagonists of the EP1 prostaglandin E2 receptor

© 2009 Carlson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Government-Industry Cooperative Fisheries Research in the North Pacific under the MSFCMA

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) has a long and successful history of conducting research in cooperation with the fishing industry. Many of the AFSC’s annual resource assessment surveys are carried out aboard chartered commercial vessels and the skill and experience of captains and crew are integral to the success of this work. Fishing companies have been contracted to provide vessels and expertise for many different types of research, including testing and evaluation of survey and commercial fishing gear and development of improved methods for estimating commercial catch quantity and composition. AFSC scientists have also participated in a number of industry-initiated research projects including development of selective fishing gears for bycatch reduction and evaluating and improving observer catch composition sampling. In this paper, we describe the legal and regulatory provisions for these types of cooperative work and present examples to illustrate the process and identify the requirements for successful cooperative research

The Effect of Download Time on Consumer Attitude Toward the Retailer in eCommerce

Download time has been recognized as one of the most important technological impediments to electronic commerce (EC). Unfortunately, the exact consequences of this impediment are currently ill-defined. The goal of this study is to extend the work of Rose and Straub (1999) to identify how this technology impacts the success or failure of EC initiatives. Using marketing and systems response time theories, three hypotheses are proposed. First, that download time in a retailer\u27s Web application has a negative impact on consumer attitude toward that Web retailer. Second, that those effects increase in intensity as consumers attribute more of the cause for delay to the Web application. And third, that attitudes formed about a retailer predict consumer patronage intentions. A laboratory experiment is being undertaken to test these hypotheses

Numerical modeling of geophysical granular flows: 2. Computer simulations of plinian clouds and pyroclastic flows and surges

Geophysical granular flows display complex nonlinear, nonuniform, and unsteady rheologies, depending on the volumetric grain concentration within the flow: kinetic, kinetic-collisional, and frictional. To account for the whole spectrum of granular rheologies (and hence concentrations), we have used and further developed for geophysical-atmospheric applications a multiphase computer model initially developed by U.S. Department of Energy laboratories: (Geophysical) Multiphase Flow with Interphase Exchange. As demonstrated in this manuscript, (G)MFIX can successfully simulate a large span of pyroclastic phenomena and related processes: plinian clouds, pyroclastic flows and surges, flow transformations, and depositional processes. Plinian cloud simulations agree well with the classical plume theory and historical eruptions in the upper altitude of the cloud (HT) versus mass flux diagram. At high mass flux (\u3e107 kg/s), plinian clouds pulsate periodically with time because of the vertical propagations of acoustic-gravity waves within the clouds. The lowest undercooled temperature anomalies measured within the upper part of the column can be as low as 18 K, which agrees well with El Chicho´n and Mt. St. Helens eruptions. Vertical and horizontal speed profiles within the plinian cloud compare well with those inferred from simple plume models and from umbrella experiments. Pyroclastic flow and surge simulations show that both end-members are closely tight together; e.g., an initially diluted flow may generate a denser basal underflow, which will eventually outrun the expanded head of the flow. We further illustrate evidence of vertical and lateral flow transformation processes between diluted and concentrated flows, particularly laterally from a turbulent ‘‘maintained over time fluidized zone’’ near source. Our comprehensive granular rheological model and our simulations demonstrate that the main depositional process is mainly a progressive vertical aggradation

Properties of the KISS Green Pea Galaxies

Green peas (GPs) are a class of extreme star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at intermediate redshifts, originally discovered via color selection using multifilter, wide-field survey imaging data. They are commonly thought of as being analogs of high-redshift Lyα-emitting galaxies. The defining characteristic of GP galaxies is a high-excitation nebular spectrum with very large equivalent width lines, leading to the recognition that GP-like galaxies can also be identified in samples of emission-line galaxies. Here we compare the properties a sample of [O iii]-selected SFGs (z = 0.29–0.41) from the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS) with the color-selected GPs. We find that the KISS [O iii]-selected galaxies overlap with the parameter space defined by the color-selected GPs; the two samples appear to be drawn from the same population of objects. We compare the KISS GPs with the full Hα-selected KISS SFG sample (z < 0.1) and find that they are extreme systems. Many appear to be young systems at their observed look-back times (3–4 Gyr), with more than 90% of their rest-frame B-band luminosity coming from the starburst population. We compute the volume density of the KISS red (KISSR) GPs at z = 0.29–0.41 and find that they are extremely rare objects. We do not see galaxies as extreme as the KISSR GPs in the local universe, although we recognize several lower-luminosity systems at z < 0.1

Properties of the KISS Green Pea Galaxies

Green Peas are a class of extreme star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts, originally discovered via color-selection using multi-filter, wide-field survey imaging data (Cardamone et al. 2009). They are commonly thought of as being analogs of high-redshift Ly$\alpha$-emitting galaxies. The defining characteristic of Green Pea galaxies is a high-excitation nebular spectrum with very large equivalent width lines, leading to the recognition that Green Pea-like galaxies can also be identified in samples of emission-line galaxies. Here we compare the properties a sample of [O III]-selected star-forming galaxies (z = 0.29-0.41) from the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS) with the color-selected Green Peas. We find that the KISS [O III]-selected galaxies overlap with the parameter space defined by the color-selected Green Peas; the two samples appear to be drawn from the same population of objects. We compare the KISS Green Peas with the full H$\alpha$-selected KISS star-forming galaxy sample (z $<$ 0.1) and find that they are extreme systems. Many appear to be young systems at their observed look-back times (3-4 Gyr), with more than 90% of their rest-frame B-band luminosity coming from the starburst population. We compute the volume density of the KISSR Green Peas at z = 0.29-0.41 and find that they are extremely rare objects. We don't see galaxies as extreme as the KISSR Green Peas in the local Universe, although we recognize several lower-luminosity systems at z $<$ 0.1.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Ultrasound-Assisted Peripheral Venous Access in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial and Pilot Feasibility Study

OBJECTIVES: Intravenous (IV) access in children treated in the emergency department (ED) is frequently required and often difficult to obtain. While it has been shown that ultrasound can be useful in adults for both central and peripheral venous access, research regarding children has been limited. We sought to determine if the use of a static ultrasound technique could, a) allow clinicians to visualize peripheral veins and b) improve success rates of peripheral venous cannulation in young children in the ED.METHODS: We performed a randomized clinical trial of children < 7 years in an academic pediatric ED who required IV access and who had failed the first IV attempt. We randomized patients to either continued standard IV attempts or ultrasound-assisted attempts. Clinicians involved in the study received one hour of training in ultrasound localization of peripheral veins. In the ultrasound group, vein localization was performed by an ED physician who marked the skin overlying the target vessel. Intravenous cannulation attempts were then immediately performed by a pediatric ED nurse who relied on the skin mark for vessel location. We allowed for technique cross-over after two failed IV attempts. We recorded success rate and location of access attempts. We compared group success rates using differences in 95% confidence intervals (CI).RESULTS: We enrolled 44 children over a one-year period. The median age of enrollees was 9.5 months. We visualized peripheral veins in all patients in the ultrasound group (n=23) and in those who crossed over to ultrasound after failed standard technique attempts (n= 8). Venipuncture was successful on the first attempt in the ultrasound group in 13/23 (57%, CI, 35% to 77%), versus 12/21 (57%, CI, 34% to 78%) in the standard group, difference between groups 0.6% (95% CI -30% to 29%). First attempt cannulation success in the ultrasound group was 8/23 (35%, CI, 16% to 57%), versus 6/21 (29%, CI, 11% to 52%) in the standard group, difference between groups 6% (95% CI -21% to 34%).CONCLUSION: Ultrasound allows physicians to visualize peripheral veins of young children in the ED. We were unable to demonstrate, however, a clinically important benefit to a static ultrasound aided vein cannulation technique performed by clinicians with limited ultrasound training over standard technique after one failed IV attempt in an academic pediatric ED

RADIOCARBON DATING CREMATED BONE:A CASE STUDY COMPARING LABORATORY METHODS

Radiocarbon (C-14) results on cremated bone are frequently published in high-ranking journals, but C-14 laboratories employ different pretreatment methods as they have divergent perceptions of what sources of contaminants might be present. We found pretreatment protocols to vary significantly between three laboratories (Brussels [RICH], Kid [KIA], and Groningen [CIO]), which all have a long history of dating cremated bone. We present a case study of 6 sets of replicate dates, to compare laboratory pretreatment protocols, and a further 16 sets of inter-laboratory replicate measurements, which compare specific steps of the conversion and measuring process. The C-14 results showed dates to be reproducible between the laboratories and consistent with the expected archaeological chronology. We found that differences in pretreatment, conversion to CO2 and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurement to have no measurable influence on the majority of obtained results, suggesting that any possible diagenesis was probably restricted to the most soluble</p