Regulation of the Adrenal Cortex Function During Stress

A proposal to study the function of the adrenal gland in the rat during stress is presented. In the proposed project, three different phases of experimentation will be undertaken. The first phase includes establishment of the circadian rhythm of both brain amines and glucocoticoids, under normal conditions and under chronic and acute stressful conditions. The second phase includes the study of the pharmacokinetics of glucocorticoid binding under normal and stress conditions. The third phase includes brain uptake and binding under different experimental conditions. In the outlined experiments brain biogenic amines will be evaluated, adrenal functions will be measured and stress effect on those parameters will be studied. It is hoped that this investigation can explain some of the complex relationships between the brain neurotransmitter and adrenal function

Modelling The role of Human Resource Management in the Innovation Chain

Standard learning tools may fall short of achieving desired organisational outcomes. Defective learning means staff learning and competencies may be compromised, hence important organisational activities such as innovation. The primary role of Human Resources Management (HRM) in innovative organisations is to create a climate for innovation. This means HRM and the innovation leaders should be aware of any deficiencies in the learning processes. This is necessary because learning and creativity are essential foundations for innovation. The paper highlights the role of HRM in modern organisations, and that innovation activities are part of the evolutionary chain. The innovation chain begins with transformation into knowledge based, then into a learning organisation and finally into innovative enterprises. The paper also shows that during this evolutionary process, both HRM and transformational leaders have significant and critical roles to ensure that their organisations proceed with innovation by avoiding or addressing two types of organisational defects; namely learning defects (Learning Gaps) and also innovation defects (Innovation Gaps). In addition, the paper highlights the relationship between learning gaps and innovation gaps. Furthermore, the paper also shows that both learning and innovation gaps are also related to knowledge gaps. The learning gaps are shown to comprise of five types of gaps, namely: problem solving gaps, experimentation gaps, learning from past experience gaps, learning from others' experiences gaps, and transferring knowledge gaps. Similarly, innovation gaps are shown to be one or all of the three types of innovation gaps, namely: product innovation gaps, process innovation gaps and organisational innovation gaps. Further work is required to analyse the importance of each type of gap on organisational performance and the process of innovation. The role of an innovation leader is shown to be overlapping with HRM's role in areas such as coaching, motivating and rewarding

Role of human resources management as a CoP match-maker

This paper proposes that improvement to organisational performance could be achieved through the use of concept of Community of Practice CoP to manage organisational internal services

Mapping expectations of functional units' line managers against the perceptions of Human Resources Department (HRM)

This paper proposes that performance improvement could be achieved by improving the relationship between HRM and functional units in the form of a relationship between supplier and customer. Accordingly, the paper proposes that differences may be found between functional units expectation of the service delivered and the perception of HRM with respect to that service. The paper also proposes that Gap analysis approach could be used in analysing the performance of those services. The paper points to the possibility of finding perception gaps and expectation gaps. In addition, the paper suggests that those gaps may impact on the performance from the perspectives of quality, cost and speed of delivery of the service. It is envisaged that this research could assist management in controlling cost and avoid wastage and improve organisational performance

Framework for assessing the quality of quality management programs

A model for assessing the quality of quality management programs is presented in this paper. The role of Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps in evaluating the quality of quality management programs is discussed in this paper. In addition, the paper presents a method for identification of any possible Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps which may exist in organisational quality management processes. The existence of such gaps may adversely affect the expected outcome from the implemented quality management programs. Furthermore, the paper explores the relationship between the perception of the developers or implementers of quality management programs and other related organizational attributes. Finally, the study seeks to identify other management characteristics associated with success or otherwise of quality management programs in HR departments. In so doing, the importance of addressing issues arising from Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps is addressed

Egypt\u27s Household Expenditure Pattern: Does It Alleviate a Food Crisis?

We estimated a system of Engel functions for two survey periods, 1999/2000 and 2004/2005, to quantify the impact of changes of income on household expenditure behavior and to investigate how expenditure responsiveness changes with income. We found that rural households have a higher expenditure share for food categories but a lower share for non-food categories compared to urban households. The expenditure share did not change so much between the two survey periods, with only a slight decline in the share of cereals-bread and the non-food category and an increase in the meat-fish-dairy category. All estimates have a good fit, and the total expenditure explanatory variable is significant in all equations. In general, households with lower incomes are more responsive to changes in income for food categories, and less responsive for non-food categories. This is evident with the higher income elasticity of lower-income rural households compared to urban households for food categories. Moreover, elasticities in the 2004/2005 survey period are higher compared to the 1999/2000 period. Per capita real income declined by 37.2% in 2004/2005. This consumption expenditure pattern has an alleviating effect on the impact of a food crisis since a lower real income associated with a food crisis is accompanied by greater responsiveness of households to reduce their demand for food as their real incomes shrink. This adjustment behavior is most obvious in the case of bread and cereals in rural areas, in which the expenditure elasticity increased from 0.50 to 0.91 as per capita income declined

Calcitonin control of calcium metabolism during weightlessness

The main objective of this proposal is to elucidate calcitonin role in calcium homeostasis during weightlessness. In this investigation our objectives are to study: the effect of weightlessness on thyroid and serum calcitonin, the effect of weightlessness on the circadian variation of calcitonin in serum and the thyroid gland, the role of light as zeitgeber for calcitonin circadian rhythm, the circadian pattern of thyroid sensitivity to release calcitonin in response to calcium load, and the role of serotonin and norepinephrine in the control of calcitonin release. The main objective of this research/proposal is to establish the role of calcitonin in calcium metabolism during weightlessness condition. Understanding the mechanism of these abnormalities will help in developing therapeutic means to counter calcium imbalance in spaceflights

Genetic relationships of cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) genotypes as studied by morphological and molecular markers

Fifteen (15) morphological traits and three different types of molecular markers [inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and expressed sequence tag (EST) markers] were used to study the genetic relationships among 24 cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) genotypes (commercial varieties and new germplasm). High significant differences were observed among the genotypes for all the studied traits and the interaction between genotypes and years ranged from highly significant to significant for the most studied traits. The value of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all studied traits which means that the apparent variation is not only due to genotypes but also due to the influence of environmental factors. The cluster analysis of the 24 cotton genotypes depending upon the morphological traits divided them into two main groups (A and B) while molecular data divided them into six groups. The cotton genotypes were distributed according to principal coordinate analysis (PCOORDA) analysis of both morphological traits and molecular markers regardless of their fiber characteristics. According to this analysis, the cotton genotypes were distributed into three distinct parts. Most molecular markers showed polymorphism in their patterns. The highest number of total and polymorphic bands was generated from ISSR markers while the least number of total and polymorphic bands was obtained from the ESTSSR markers. According to both morphological and molecular analyses, the following genotypes could be used to hybridize and produce high growth and yield potential: Giz87, Giza45, Giza88 and Giza70 as a first parent and Karshansky, Giza80, Giza83, Australian10229 and Russian6022 as a second parent in the cross.Keywords: Cotton, simple sequence repeat (SSR), expressed sequence tag (EST), inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), morphological traits, cluster analysis, principal coordinate analysis (PCOORDA).African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(30), pp. 4736-474

Immunohistochemical Study of Stellate Cells in Patients with Chronic Viral Heptitis C Histopathological study

Background: Chronic hepatitis is defined as liver inflammation that lasts for at least 6 months. The Hepatitis C virus is responsible for 60 to 70% of chronic hepatitis cases; the virus causes continued inflammation that slowly damages the liver, eventually leading to cirrhosis, liver failure, and, in rare cases, liver cancer. Aim of the work: To evaluate the changes in distribution and percentage of alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive hepatic stellate cells and the correlation with the degree of the fibrosis in cirrhotic livers, in patients with HCV chronic hepatitis. Material and methods: 50 hepatic core biopsies selected randomly were received from Histopathology Department at National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute and examined for histopathological features using (hematoxylin and eosin), stage of hepatic fibrosis using stellate cell Masson s' trichrome stain, and examined for stellate cell activity using alpha smooth muscle actin (ASMA) immunostaining. Results: The relation between degree of ASMA expression by stellate cells and stage of fibrosis was highly significant with a p value <0.001, also the relation between degree of necroinflammation and degree of ASMA expression by stellate cells was highly significant with a p value <0.001. The relation between degree of necroinflammation and stage of fibrosis was highly significant with a p value <0.001. The relation between age of patient and stage of fibrosis also was statistically significant with a p value =0.012. The relation between age of patient and degree of necroinflammation was statistically significant with a p value =0.017. Conclusion: To summarize from hepatic core biopsies of patients suffering from chronic HCV, the number of active stellate cells was found to be positively associated with stage of hepatic fibrosis