Different physiopsychological changes between AMSsusceptible and AMS-resistant pre-selected Antarctic expeditioners in Tibet

Through dynamically monitoring changes of acute mountain sickness (AMS) occurrences, cardiopulmonary function and mood states from Shanghai (4 m) to Lhasa (3650 m) and Yambajan (4300 m), Tibet, we obtained physiopsychological data of the 37th Chinese Antarctic pre-selected expeditioners for Kunlun Station. Through analyzing different physiopsychological changes between AMS-susceptible (AMS-S) and AMS-resistant (AMS-R) expeditioners, we would explore indicators to screen hypoxia-susceptible expeditioners. According to AMS occurrences evaluated by Lake Louise Score (LLS) in Yambajan, we divided the expeditioners (n=24, 31.92±5.76 a) into AMS-S and AMS-R groups. Using a series of medical instruments and questionnaires, we monitored their cardiopulmonary function and mood states, and analyzed the differences of physiopsychological parameters between AMS-S and AMS-R groups. Compared with Shanghai, when expeditioners arrived in Yambajan, in both AMS-S and AMS-R groups, oxygen saturation (SpO2) significantly decreased, and blood pressure significantly increased (P<0.05). As for electrocardiogram (ECG), interval from the beginning to the end of QRS complex wave (QRS), interval from the beginning of QRS complex wave to the end of T wave (QT), interval between 2 adjacent P waves (PP) and interval between 2 adjacent R waves (RR) significantly decreased, heart rate (HR) and HR-corrected QT interval (QTc) significantly increased (P<0.05). Cardiac contractility and pumping function significantly decreased, systemic vascular resistance significantly increased (P<0.05). Pulmonary airway patency significantly increased (P<0.05). Compared with AMS-R group, AMS-S group showed significantly lower SpO2 and higher stroke volume variation (SVV) in Shanghai, however, significantly lower maximal expiratory flow at 75% of forced vital capacity (MEF75), higher levels of anxiety, fatigue and confusion in Yambajan (P<0.05). In conclusion, when expeditioners arrived at 4300 m, their cardiopulmonary function and mood states changed significantly. SpO2, SVV, MEF75, anxiety, fatigue and confusion maybe could be used as clues for screening hypoxia-susceptible individuals

Nitric Oxide Facilitates Delivery and Mediates Improved Outcome of Autologous Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells in a Rodent Stroke Model

Bone marrow mononuclear cells (MNC) represent an investigational treatment for stroke. The objective of this study was to determine the relevance of vasoactive mediators, generated in response to MNC injection, as factors regulating cerebral perfusion (CP), the biodistribution of MNC, and outcome in stroke.Long Evans rats underwent transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. MNC were extracted from the bone marrow at 22 hrs and injected via the internal carotid artery or the femoral vein 2 hours later. CP was measured with MRI or continuous laser Doppler flowmetry. Serum samples were collected to measure vasoactive mediators. Animals were treated with the Nitric Oxide (NO) inhibitor, L-NAME, to establish the relevance of NO-signaling to the effect of MNC. Lesion size, MNC biodistribution, and neurological deficits were assessed.CP transiently increased in the peri-infarct region within 30 min after injecting MNC compared to saline or fibroblast control. This CP increase corresponded temporarily to serum NO elevation and was abolished by L-NAME. Pre-treatment with L-NAME reduced brain penetration of MNC and prevented MNC from reducing infarct lesion size and neurological deficits.NO generation in response to MNC may represent a mechanism underlying how MNC enter the brain, reduce lesion size, and improve outcome in ischemic stroke

Impact of Product and Platform Level Sampling on the Sale of Online Video Courses

We study the impact of product and platform level sampling on customer purchases at an online video course platform. As with other experience goods, customers of online courses face a considerable amount of quality uncertainty. Using panel data from a large online course provider, we establish that both product level samples (course previews) and platform level samples (free courses) positively influence purchase decisions. However, they act in different ways. Product level samples provide direct information about the focal product, and therefore have a more immediate effect, while platform level samples take time to affect purchases through an accumulation of goodwill. We also find complementarities between these two strategies. Platform level sampling increases the effectiveness of product level sampling in motivating course purchases. Including both sampling strategies in the same context helps us develop a more holistic understanding of the impact of sampling on customer purchase behavior

Children's Temperament and Maternal Behavioral Control: Origins of Heterogeneity in Developmental Trajectories of Committed Compliance from Infancy to Age 3

Temperament and parental control are two important factors that influence the early development of children’s committed compliance. However, there is a need to comprehensively depict the developmental profiles of committed compliance across the first 3 years and further examine the impacts of these two factors on the profiles. Thus, the current study examined how 92 participants (39 boys) differed in their trajectories of committed compliance throughout toddlerhood and how these individual variances were underpinning of their temperament fearfulness and distractibility in infancy and maternal behavioral control from infancy to toddlerhood. According to children’s committed compliance observed in the clean-up task from 14 to 38 months, three groups with different developmental trajectories were identified: the high-level group, the low-level group, and the developmental group. Compared with the high-level group, the mothers reported that the low-level group displayed higher distractibility and lower fearfulness at 6 months. Maternal behavioral control was coded from two 5-min mother-child free plays at each age of 10, 14, 25 and 38 months. Results indicated that though the initial level of committed compliance of the two groups were similar at 14 months, the developmental group mothers had a lower mean intercept of behavioral control than the low-level group mothers at 10 months. Moreover, the developmental group mothers tended to decrease their use of behavioral control more slowly than the high-level group mothers. Limitations and implication for future research were discussed

Children's Temperament and Maternal Behavioral Control: Origins of Heterogeneity in Developmental Trajectories of Committed Compliance from Infancy to Age 3

Temperament and parental control are two important factors that influence the early development of children’s committed compliance. However, there is a need to comprehensively depict the developmental profiles of committed compliance across the first 3 years and further examine the impacts of these two factors on the profiles. Thus, the current study examined how 92 participants (39 boys) differed in their trajectories of committed compliance throughout toddlerhood and how these individual variances were underpinning of their temperament fearfulness and distractibility in infancy and maternal behavioral control from infancy to toddlerhood. According to children’s committed compliance observed in the clean-up task from 14 to 38 months, three groups with different developmental trajectories were identified: the high-level group, the low-level group, and the developmental group. Compared with the high-level group, the mothers reported that the low-level group displayed higher distractibility and lower fearfulness at 6 months. Maternal behavioral control was coded from two 5-min mother-child free plays at each age of 10, 14, 25 and 38 months. Results indicated that though the initial level of committed compliance of the two groups were similar at 14 months, the developmental group mothers had a lower mean intercept of behavioral control than the low-level group mothers at 10 months. Moreover, the developmental group mothers tended to decrease their use of behavioral control more slowly than the high-level group mothers. Limitations and implication for future research were discussed

Cryopreservation of Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells Alters Their Viability and Subpopulation Composition but Not Their Treatment Effects in a Rodent Stroke Model

The systemic administration of autologous bone marrow (BM) derived mononuclear cells (MNCs) is under investigation as a novel therapeutic modality for the treatment of ischemic stroke. Autologous applications raise the possibility that MNCs could potentially be stored as a banked source. There have been no studies that investigate the effects of cryopreservation of BM-MNCs on their functional abilities in stroke models. In the present study, C57BL/6 mice were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) for 60 minutes and then divided into two treatment groups: fresh MNCs versus cryopreserved MNCs. BM-MNCs were collected at 22 hours after MCAo and were stored in liquid nitrogen for 12 months in cryopreserved MNCs group. BM-MNCs cellular viability, composition, and phenotype of the various subpopulations of mice BM-MNCs were evaluated by flow cytometry, and the behavioral recovery of stroke animals was tested with freshly harvested MNCs versus cryopreserved MNCs by corner test and ladder rung test. We found that long-term cryopreservation negatively impacts the cellular viability of bone marrow MNCs. Cryopreservation also alters the cellular composition of various subpopulations within the MNCs. However, despite the changes observed in cryopreserved cells, both fresh and frozen MNCs have similar beneficial effect on behavioral and histological outcomes

The Enlargement of Abdominal Lymph Nodes Is a Characteristic of Autoimmune Liver Disease

Background. The enlargement of lymph nodes is a common clinical sign in connective tissue disease (CTD) and viral hepatitis. In this research, we evaluated the incidence of enlarged lymph nodes in autoimmune liver diseases (AILD). Moreover, we identified the clinical significance of abdominal lymph node enlargement in AILD. Methods. The characteristics of abdominal lymph nodes, including their morphology and distribution, were assessed by ultrasonography and computed tomography in 125 patients with AILD, 54 with viral hepatitis, 135 with CTD, and 80 healthy controls. The pathological and laboratory results of 106 AILD patients were collected to analyze the association between lymphadenectasis and disease activity. Results. Enlargement of abdominal lymph nodes was found in 69.6% of patients with AILD, 63% of patients with viral hepatitis, 29.6% of patients with CTD, and 2% of healthy controls. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate transpeptidase (GGT), and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels were significantly increased in AILD patients with lymphadenectasis (LA) in contrast to patients without lymphadenectasis (NLA) (P<0.05). The pathological characteristics of inflammation, cholestasis, and focal necrosis were more common in the LA group than in the NLA group (P<0.05). As shown by multivariate logistic regression analysis, interface hepatitis (OR=3.651, P<0.05), cholestasis (OR=8.137, P<0.05), and focal necrosis (OR=5.212, P<0.05) were related to LA. Conclusions. The percentage of abdominal lymph node enlargement in AILD subjects was significantly higher than that in CTD subjects. Therefore, the enlargement of lymph nodes can represent a noninvasive indicator of histological and biochemical inflammation activity in AILD

The relative biomasses of bacteria, fungi, AMF, G-, G+, and actinomycetes and the abundance of Ba, Fu, Pp, and Om under two earthworm species (<i>Eisenia fetida</i>, <i>Metaphire guillelmi</i>), and the different density of <i>Eisenia fetida</i> and <i>Metaphire guillelmi</i> treatments.

AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; G-, gram-negative bacteria; G+, gram-positive bacteria; Ba, bacterivores; Fu, fungivores; Pp, plant parasites; Om, omnivore-predators. (XLSX)</p