Central and Peripheral GABAA Receptor Regulation of the Heart Rate Depends on the Conscious State of the Animal

Intuitively one might expect that activation of GABAergic inhibitory neurons results in bradycardia. In conscious animals the opposite effect is however observed. GABAergic neurons in nucleus ambiguus hold the ability to control the activity of the parasympathetic vagus nerve that innervates the heart. Upon GABA activation the vagus nerve will be inhibited leaving less parasympathetic impact on the heart. The picture is however blurred in the presence of anaesthesia where both the concentration and type of anaesthetics can result in different effects on the cardiovascular system. This paper reviews cardiovascular outcomes of GABA activation and includes own experiments on anaesthetized animals and isolated hearts. In conclusion, the impact of changes in GABAergic input is very difficult to predict in these settings, emphasizing the need for experiments performed in conscious animals when aiming at determining the cardiovascular effects of compounds acting on GABAergic neurons

Effective Leadership Approaches in Sociotechnical Change

This paper investigates 15 leaders’ effective leadership approaches in five different companies in Denmark, during eight months of Covid-19 restrictions. Initially, a massive scaling of digital technology adoption took place, with leaders and members forced to work virtually from home (WFH). Categorized as a major and abrupt socio-technical change, we inquired into the experiences before, during and after lock-down, and discovered that member well-being and team productivity had prevailed. Drawing on critical realism, we took a grounded theory approach to explore the phenomenon of effective leadership in socio-technical change. After extensive coding, we abstracted an underlying pattern that explains how effective leaders apply situational leadership by continuously activating synergies between mechanisms of socialization, institutionalization, and individualization in their socio-technical work-systems. These findings can serve as an inspiration to researchers and managers that seek to find new ways of harmonizing social and technical structures during rapid digital transformation

Blood lactate as a predictor for in-hospital mortality in patients admitted acutely to hospital: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Using blood lactate monitoring for risk assessment in the critically ill patient remains controversial. Some of the discrepancy is due to uncertainty regarding the appropriate reference interval, and whether to perform a single lactate measurement as a screening method at admission to the hospital, or serial lactate measurements. Furthermore there is no consensus whether the sample should be drawn from arterial, peripheral venous, or capillary blood. The aim of this review was:</p> <p>1) To examine whether blood lactate levels are predictive for in-hospital mortality in patients in the acute setting, i.e. patients assessed pre-hospitally, in the trauma centre, emergency department, or intensive care unit.</p> <p>2) To examine the agreement between arterial, peripheral venous, and capillary blood lactate levels in patients in the acute setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a systematic search using PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and CINAHL up to April 2011. 66 articles were considered potentially relevant and evaluated in full text, of these ultimately 33 articles were selected.</p> <p>Results and Conclusion</p> <p>The literature reviewed supported blood lactate monitoring as being useful for risk assessment in patients admitted acutely to hospital, and especially the trend, achieved by serial lactate sampling, is valuable in predicting in-hospital mortality. All patients with a lactate at admission above 2.5 mM should be closely monitored for signs of deterioration, but patients with even lower lactate levels should be considered for serial lactate monitoring. The correlation between lactate levels in arterial and venous blood was found to be acceptable, and venous sampling should therefore be encouraged, as the risk and inconvenience for this procedure is minimal for the patient. The relevance of lactate guided therapy has to be supported by more studies.</p

Flow initiation study for proposed tube wind tunnel, phase I. Appendix - Re-evaluation of candidate systems

Reevaluating flow initiation systems for large tube wind tunne

The Italian media's latest scapegoat: youth and urban insecurity, especially in Siena and Catania

This thesis examines recent appeals to community which aim to improve crime prevention and urban quality of life. What follows is a comparison of the quality of life in Siena and Catania, the first and last-ranked cities in the 2006 Il Sole 24 Ore study. The media’s role in advancing the fear of crime and the blaming of the Italian youth minority are of particular interest. Sensationalistic criminality coverage, coupled with the low birth rate, nourishes a unique youth perspective on fear of crime. Juvenile crime levels remain relatively constant and the birth rate continues to drop. A higher percentage of the youth population is involved in crime. The percentages are misleading and, when emphasized by the media, reinforce the youth's urban insecurity. It is improbable that Italian youth, having been bombarded by the media's propaganda, will arrive at the opposite conclusion supported by this thesis

Stable oscillating nonlinear beams in square-wave-biased-photorefractives

We demonstrate experimentally that in a centrosymmetric paraelectric non-stationary boundary conditions can dynamically halt the intrinsic instability of quasi-steady-state photorefractive self-trapping, driving beam evolution into a stable oscillating two-soliton-state configuration.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figs, revtex os