Absence of detectable pharmacological effects after oral administration of isoxsuprine

Isoxsuprine is reported to be a peripheral vasodilator used in human and veterinary medicine to treat ischaemic vascular disease. In horses, it is generally administered orally to treat navicular disease and other lower limb problems. To deflne the scope and duration of its pharmacological responses after oral administration, 6 horses were dosed with isoxsuprine HCI (1.2 mg/kg bwt) q. 12 h for 8 days and then tested to assess the duration and extent of pharmacological actions. There was no significant difference between isoxsuprine and control treatment values for heart rate, spontaneous activity, sweat production, anal muscle tone, core and skin temperatures, and cutaneous blood flow. The lack of pharmacological effect following oral administration was in sharp contrast to the marked response following i.v. dosing reported in earlier experiments

Frequency distribution of post race urine pH from Standardbreds compared with Thoroughbreds: research and regulatory significance

The concentration of drugs and drug metabolites in urine samples of racing horses is strongly influenced by urine pH(Tobin, 1981), depending on whether the drugs are weak acids or weak bases. Drugs that are weak acids tend to concentrate in besic urine. In contrast, drugs that are weak bases tend to concentrate in acidic urine. These relationships have a well-established theoretical basis (the Henderson-Hasselbalch relationship) and have been demonstrated repeatedly in experimental animals and man (Tobin, 1981). More recently, evidence suggests that these relationships also occur with clinically and forensically significant agents in equine urine (Wood, et al. 1990; Gerken et al.1991.

The integrated academic information system support for education 3.0 in higher education institution: lecturer perspective

Education 3.0 has been implemented in many higher education institutions (HEIs). Education 3.0 has been directed the institution toward better educational experience. But on the other hands, the implementation of Education 3.0 also caused some problems. Previous research has found administrative problem experienced by the lecturer. This research explores deeper from the lecturer and suggested the solution from lecturer perspective, combined with information technology capabilities owned by the HEIs. The research used a case study as the method and conducted a qualitative research with a semi-structured interview. The interview analysis has found that the increase of the administrative processes is caused by online and offline administrative activities. The online activities are from e-learning and the offline activities are from traditional learning (face-to-face). The administrative processes also involved the academic information system (AIS). Simplified all of the administrative processes are more preferred. To overcome the problems, integrating the AIS and e-learning become necessary. This research suggests transforming the existing AIS into an integrated AIS and hopes the solution can simplify the administration process

Surface Dynamics of Crude and Weathered Oil in the Presence of Dispersants: Laboratory Experiment and Numerical Simulation

Marine oil spills can have dire consequences for the environment. Research on their dynamics is important for the well-being of coastal communities and their economies. Propagation of oil spills is a very complex physical-chemical process. As seen during the Deepwater Horizon event in the Gulf of Mexico during 2010, one of the critical problems remaining for prediction of oil transport and dispersion in the marine environment is the small-scale structure and dynamics of surface oil spills. The laboratory experiments conducted in this work were focused on understanding the differences between the dynamics of crude and weathered oil spills and the effect of dispersants. After deposition on the still water surface, a drop of crude oil quickly spread into a thin slick; while at the same time, a drop of machine (proxy for weathered) oil did not show significant evolution. Subsequent application of dispersant to the crude oil slick resulted in a quick contraction or fragmentation of the slick into narrow wedges and tiny drops. Notably, the slick of machine oil did not show significant change in size or topology after spraying dispersant. An advanced multi-phase, volume of fluid computational fluid dynamics model, incorporating capillary forces, was able to explain some of the features observed in the laboratory experiment. As a result of the laboratory and modeling experiments, the new interpretation of the effect of dispersant on the oil dispersion process including capillary effects has been proposed, which is expected to lead to improved oil spill models and response strategies

The Neurological Manifestations of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Purpose of Review: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global health challenge. This review aims to summarize the incidence, risk factors, possible pathophysiology, and proposed management of neurological manifestations of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or neuro-PASC based on the published literature. Recent Findings: The National Institutes of Health has noted that PASC is a multi-organ disorder ranging from mild symptoms to an incapacitating state that can last for weeks or longer following recovery from initial infection with SARS-CoV-2. Various pathophysiological mechanisms have been proposed as the culprit for the development of PASC. These include, but are not limited to, direct or indirect invasion of the virus into the brain, immune dysregulation, hormonal disturbances, elevated cytokine levels due to immune reaction leading to chronic inflammation, direct tissue damage to other organs, and persistent low-grade infection. A multidisciplinary approach for the treatment of neuro-PASC will be required to diagnose and address these symptoms. Tailored rehabilitation and novel cognitive therapy protocols are as important as pharmacological treatments to treat neuro-PASC effectively. Summary: With recognizing the growing numbers of COVID-19 patients suffering from neuro-PASC, there is an urgent need to identify affected individuals early to provide the most appropriate and efficient treatments. Awareness among the general population and health care professionals about PASC is rising, and more efforts are needed to understand and treat this new emerging challenge. In this review, we summarize the relevant scientific literature about neuro-PASC

CharProtDB: a database of experimentally characterized protein annotations

CharProtDB (http://www.jcvi.org/charprotdb/) is a curated database of biochemically characterized proteins. It provides a source of direct rather than transitive assignments of function, designed to support automated annotation pipelines. The initial data set in CharProtDB was collected through manual literature curation over the years by analysts at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) [formerly The Institute of Genomic Research (TIGR)] as part of their prokaryotic genome sequencing projects. The CharProtDB has been expanded by import of selected records from publicly available protein collections whose biocuration indicated direct rather than homology-based assignment of function. Annotations in CharProtDB include gene name, symbol and various controlled vocabulary terms, including Gene Ontology terms, Enzyme Commission number and TransportDB accession. Each annotation is referenced with the source; ideally a journal reference, or, if imported and lacking one, the original database source

Assessing constancy of substitution rates in viruses over evolutionary time

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phylogenetic analyses reveal probable patterns of divergence of present day organisms from common ancestors. The points of divergence of lineages can be dated if a corresponding historical or fossil record exists. For many species, in particular viruses, such records are rare. Recently, Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using sequences from closely related organisms isolated at different times have been used to calibrate divergences. Phylogenetic analyses depend on the assumption that the average substitution rates that can be calculated from the data apply throughout the course of evolution. </p> <p>Results</p> <p>The present study tests this crucial assumption by charting the kinds of substitutions observed between pairs of sequences with different levels of total substitutions. Datasets of aligned sequences, both viral and non-viral, were assembled. For each pair of sequences in an aligned set, the distribution of nucleotide interchanges and the total number of changes were calculated. Data were binned according to total numbers of changes and plotted. The accumulation of the six possible interchange types in retroelements as a function of distance followed closely the expected hyperbolic relationship. For other datasets, however, significant deviations from this relationship were noted. A rapid initial accumulation of transition interchanges was frequent among the datasets and anomalous changes occurred at specific divergence levels. </p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The accumulation profiles suggested that substantial changes in frequencies of types of substitutions occur over the course of evolution and that such changes should be considered in evaluating and dating viral phylogenies.</p

Analysis of the Aedes albopictus C6/36 genome provides insight into cell line utility for viral propagation

BACKGROUND: The 50-year-old Aedes albopictus C6/36 cell line is a resource for the detection, amplification, and analysis of mosquito-borne viruses including Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. The cell line is derived from an unknown number of larvae from an unspecified strain of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Toward improved utility of the cell line for research in virus transmission, we present an annotated assembly of the C6/36 genome. RESULTS: The C6/36 genome assembly has the largest contig N50 (3.3 Mbp) of any mosquito assembly, presents the sequences of both haplotypes for most of the diploid genome, reveals independent null mutations in both alleles of the Dicer locus, and indicates a male-specific genome. Gene annotation was computed with publicly available mosquito transcript sequences. Gene expression data from cell line RNA sequence identified enrichment of growth-related pathways and conspicuous deficiency in aquaporins and inward rectifier K+ channels. As a test of utility, RNA sequence data from Zika-infected cells were mapped to the C6/36 genome and transcriptome assemblies. Host subtraction reduced the data set by 89%, enabling faster characterization of nonhost reads. CONCLUSIONS: The C6/36 genome sequence and annotation should enable additional uses of the cell line to study arbovirus vector interactions and interventions aimed at restricting the spread of human disease