Environmental Exposures and Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects millions around the world. The Braak hypothesis proposes that in PD a pathologic agent may penetrate the nervous system via the olfactory bulb, gut, or both and spreads throughout the nervous system. The agent is unknown, but several environmental exposures have been associated with PD. Here, we summarize and examine the evidence for such environmental exposures. We completed a comprehensive review of human epidemiologic studies of pesticides, selected industrial compounds, and metals and their association with PD in PubMed and Google Scholar until April 2016. Most studies show that rotenone and paraquat are linked to increased PD risk and PD-like neuropathology. Organochlorines have also been linked to PD in human and laboratory studies. Organophosphates and pyrethroids have limited but suggestive human and animal data linked to PD. Iron has been found to be elevated in PD brain tissue but the pathophysiological link is unclear. PD due to manganese has not been demonstrated, though a parkinsonian syndrome associated with manganese is well-documented. Overall, the evidence linking paraquat, rotenone, and organochlorines with PD appears strong; however, organophosphates, pyrethroids, and polychlorinated biphenyls require further study. The studies related to metals do not support an association with PD

Gendered effects of work and participation in collective forest management

This paper reports the results of a statistical investigation of the relationship between labor time expended in rural livelihoods, social structure, and community forest management. The object is to understand the impact of labor constraints to collective action. There are three main results. First, increasing time burden of work has a negative impact on collective forest management. Second, the gendered nature of work imposes a high burden on women and hence impedes their ability to participate in collective management even if incentives exist. In addition, lower access to social infrastructure further increases work burdens and decreases ability to participate. Finally, high levels of wealth lead to lower individual participation but this not because of high opportunity of time worked.time use; collective action; gender; forests; South Asia; India

Rural Livelihoods, Forest Access and Time Use: A Study of Forest Communities in Northwest India

This paper investigates the effects of the size of private land holdings and access to forest commons on the labour allocation to livelihood activities. The statistical analysis indicates that land and forests are complementary assets in the rural production process. Differential access to private land and common forests together explain variability in time allocation to rural livelihoods in the forested regions of northwest India. Development and conservation policies that might cause displacements or disruptions to such livelihoods must therefore consider the impact of policy making on private wealth as well as access to the natural commons.time use; rural livelihoods; forest commons; protected areas; South Asia; India

Virtual and Augmented Reality Simulation of Chattanooga Creek

Virtual reality involves reproducing all the details of a physical object or environment that has to be simulated in virtual space. Augmented reality is the mixing of computer-generated information with the user’s view of the real world. Augmented reality is an alternative for virtual reality. This thesis presents the interactive virtual reality simulation and augmented reality simulation of Chattanooga Creek in Chattanooga, TN. The augmented reality part involves implementation of the basic concept of augmenting the virtual graphics to the real world

CASE SERIES: ANTITUBERCULAR THERAPY-INDUCED HEPATITIS

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) accounts for 20–40% of cases of fulminant hepatic failure. Antitubercular therapy (ATT) may cause hepatotoxicity which can range from transient asymptomatic rise in liver enzymes to acute liver failure. The drugs in ATT responsible for hepatotoxicity include isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide. Case series was done to present three different cases of ATT-induced hepatotoxicity which came to the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Department in NIMS for management

Identification of dynamic properties of materials for the spent nuclear fuel package at elevated temperatures

This thesis attempts to experimentally identify the dynamic properties of materials for the spent nuclear fuel package at elevated temperatures. The implementation of the project involves a number of steps. First, candidate materials for the nuclear fuel package and the appropriate testing systems were identified [15]. Second, fixtures for tensile testing at elevated temperatures using two machines, namely MTS and Instron Dynatup testing machines were designed and manufactured to make them compatible with the room temperature fixture. Third, experimental procedures for elevated temperature testing of materials are proposed for the two testing machines. Finally, impact testing for the candidate materials and verification of these testing results using finite element analysis is performed. Tests showed that yield and ultimate strength of the three candidate materials decreased with temperature. Tests also showed that strain at failure increases with temperature for Titanium Grade 7 and Alloy 22, but decreased for Steel 316L. Verification of these results using FEA had less than 10% error

The Effect of Timbre and Vibrato on Vocal Pitch Matching Accuracy

Research has shown that singers are better able to match pitch when the target stimulus has a timbre close to their own voice. This study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. Do classically trained female singers more accurately match pitch when the target stimulus is more similar to their own timbre? 2. Does the ability to match pitch vary with increasing pitch? 3. Does the ability to match pitch differ depending on whether the target stimulus is produced with or without vibrato? 4. Are mezzo sopranos less accurate than sopranos? Stimuli: Source signals were synthesized with a source slope of -12dB/octave using vibrato and without vibrato at each of the frequencies, C4, B4 and F5. These source signals were filtered using 5 formant patterns (A-E) of vowel /a/ constituting a total of 30 stimuli (5 formant patterns*3pitches*2 vibrato conditions). Procedure: Ten sopranos and 10 mezzo-sopranos with at least 3 years of individual voice training were recruited from the University Of Tennessee School Of Music and the Knoxville Opera Company. Each singer attempted to vocally match the pitch of all 30 stimuli presented twice in a random order. Analysis and results: Pitch matching accuracy was measured in terms of the difference in cents between the target and the experimental productions at two locations, (1) pre-phonatory set (2) mid-point of the vowel. Accuracy of pitch matching was compared across vibrato and nonvibrato conditions. Results indicated that there was no significant effect of formant pattern on pitch matching accuracy. With increasing pitch from C4 to F5, pitch matching accuracy increased in mid-point of the vowel condition but not in pre-phonatory set condition. Mezzosopranos moved towards being in tune from pre-phonatory to mid-point of the vowel. However, sopranos at C4, sang closer to being in tune at pre-phonatory, but lowered the pitch at the midpoint of the vowel. Presence or absence of vibrato did not affect the pitch matching accuracy. However, the interesting finding of the study was that singers attempted to match the timbre of stimuli with vibrato. Results are discussed in terms of interactions between pitch and timbre from auditory perceptual as well as physiological point of view and how current theories of pitch perception relate to this phenomenon. Neither physiological nor auditory perceptual mechanisms provide complete explanations for the results obtained in the study. From a perceptual point of view, an interaction between pitch and timbre seems to be more complex, for spectral and temporal theories are limited in explaining these interactions. Also, possible explanations for the phenomenon of timbre matching are provided