Comparative study between African-American and Caucasian Normal Tension Glaucoma patients

Purpose. To evaluate differences in optic disc and visual field damage between African-American and Caucasian Normal Tension Glaucoma (NTG) patients. Methods. We retrospectively selected 33 African-American patients with the diagnosis of NTG and age-matched them with 33 Caucasian patients with the same diagnosis. Three masked observers graded disc photographs and visual fields as being normal, globally damaged or focally damaged for both eyes of the subject. Chi-square test was used to evaluate statistically significant differences between groups. Results. The results of the visual fields showed that in the African-American group, 24% were graded normal, 30% showed global damage, and 46% showed focal damage. This data was compared with the Caucasian group which showed 41% normal graded eyes, 22% with global damage, and 37% with focal damage (p = 0.28). The results of the optic disc photos showed that in the African-American group, 25% were graded normal, 45% showed global damage, and 30% showed focal damage. This data was compared with the Caucasian group which showed 43% graded normal, 32% with global damage, and 25% with focal damage (p=0.16). Conclusions. In our study there was no difference in the frequency of globally damaged, focally damaged, and normal graded discs or visual fields between African-American and Caucasian NTG patients.

Energy expenditure during activity in the American lobster Homarus americanus:Correlations with body acceleration

How animals manage time and expend energy has implications for survivorship. Being able to measure key metabolic costs of animals under natural conditions is therefore an important tool in behavioral ecology. One method for estimating activity-specific metabolic rate is via derived measures of acceleration, often 'overall dynamic body acceleration' (ODBA), recorded by an instrumented acceleration logger. ODBA has been shown to correlate well with rate of oxygen consumption (V ?o) in a range of species during activity in the laboratory. This study devised a method for attaching acceleration loggers to decapod crustaceans and then correlated ODBA against concurrent respirometry readings to assess accelerometry as a proxy for activity-specific energy expenditure in a model species, the American lobster Homarus americanus. Where the instrumented animals exhibited a sufficient range of activity levels, positive linear relationships were found between V ?o and ODBA over 20min periods at a range of ambient temperatures (6, 13 and 20°C). Mixed effect linear models based on these data and morphometrics provided reasonably strong predictive power for estimating activity-specific V ?o from ODBA. These V ?o-ODBA calibrations demonstrate the potential of accelerometry as an effective predictor of behavior-specific metabolic rate of crustaceans in the wild during periods of activity. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

AcT-2: A Novel Myotropic and Antimicrobial Type 2 Tryptophyllin from the Skin Secretion of the Central American Red-Eyed Leaf Frog, Agalychnis callidryas

Tryptophyllins are a diverse family of amphibian peptides originally found in extracts of phyllomedusine frog skin by chemical means. Their biological activities remain obscure. Here we describe the isolation and preliminary pharmacological characterization of a novel type 2 tryptophyllin, named AcT-2, from the skin secretion of the red-eyed leaf frog, Agalychnis callidryas. The peptide was initially identified during smooth muscle pharmacological screening of skin secretion HPLC fractions and the unique primary structure—GMRPPWF-NH2—was established by both Edman degradation and electrospray MS/MS fragmentation sequencing. A. cDNA encoding the biosynthetic precursor of AcT-2 was successfully cloned from a skin secretion-derived cDNA library by means of RACE PCR and this contained an open-reading frame consisting of 62 amino acid residues with a single AcT-2 encoding sequence located towards the C-terminus. A synthetic replicate of AcT-2 was found to relax arterial smooth muscle (EC50 = 5.1 nM) and to contract rat urinary bladder smooth muscle (EC50 = 9.3 μM). The peptide could also inhibit the growth of the microorganisms, Staphylococcus aureus, (MIC = 256 mg/L) Escherichia coli (MIC = 512 mg/L), and Candida albicans (128 mg/L). AcT-2 is thus the first amphibian skin tryptophyllin found to possess both myotropic and antimicrobial activities.

Arsenic Bioaccessibility in Cooked Rice as Affected by Arsenic in Cooking Water

Rice can easily accumulate arsenic (As) into its grain and is known to be the highest As-containing cereal. In addition, the As burden in rice may increase during its processing (such as when cooking using As-polluted water). The health risk posed by the presence of As in cooked rice depends on its release from the matrix along the digestive system (bioaccessibility). Two types of white polished long-grain rice, namely, nonparboiled and parboiled (total As: 202 and 190 mu g As kg(-1), respectively), were cooked in excess of water with different levels of As (0, 10, 47, 222, and 450 mu g As L-1). The bioaccessibility of As from these cooked rice batches was evaluated with an in vitro dynamic digestion process. Rice cooked with water containing 0 and 10 mu g As L-1 showed lower As concentrations than the raw (uncooked) rice. However, cooking water with relatively high As content (>= 47 mu g As L-1) significantly increased the As concentration in the cooked rice up to 8- and 9-fold for the nonparboiled and parboiled rice, respectively. Parboiled rice, which is most widely consumed in South Asia, showed a higher percentage of As bioaccessibility (59% to 99%) than nonparboiled rice (36% to 69%) and most of the As bioaccessible in the cooked rice (80% to 99%) was released easily during the first 2 h of digestion. The estimation of the As intake through cooked rice based on the As bioaccessibility highlights that a few grams of cooked rice (less than 25 g dry weight per day) cooked with highly As contaminated water is equivalent to the amount of As from 2 L water containing the maximum permissible limit (10 mu g As L-1).

Effect of cooking method and rice type on arsenic concentration in cooked rice and the estimation of arsenic dietary intake in a rural village in West Bengal, India

Arsenic (As) contamination of rice plants can result in high total As concentrations (t-As) in cooked rice, especially if As-contaminated water is used for cooking. This study examines two variables: (1) the cooking method (water volume and inclusion of a washing step); and (2) the rice type (atab and boiled). Cooking water and raw atab and boiled rice contained 40 g As l-1 and 185 and 315 g As kg-1, respectively. In general, all cooking methods increased t-As from the levels in raw rice; however, raw boiled rice decreased its t-As by 12.7% when cooked by the traditional method, but increased by 15.9% or 23.5% when cooked by the intermediate or contemporary methods, respectively. Based on the best possible scenario (the traditional cooking method leading to the lowest level of contamination, and the atab rice type with the lowest As content), t-As daily intake was estimated to be 328 g, which was twice the tolerable daily intake of 150 g.

Due North? Do American Theories of Legislative Committees Apply to Canada?

Several theories of legislative organisation have been proposed to explain committee selection in American legislatures, but do these theories travel outside the United States? This paper tests whether these theories apply to data from the Canadian House of Commons. It was found that the distributive and partisan models of legislative organisation explain committee composition in Canada. In many cases, committees in the House of Commons are made up of preference outliers. As predicted by partisan models, it was also found that the governing party stacks committees with its members, but this is conditional upon the strength of the governing party.

Determination of the persistence of dimetridazole, metronidazole and ronidazole residues in black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) tissue and stability during cooking

The depletion of three banned nitroimidazole drugs (dimetridazole (DMZ), metronidazole (MNZ) and ronidazole (RNZ)) was investigated in black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) following in-water medication. The highest concentrations of residues were measured immediately after the 24 h immersion (day 0). At this time, MNZ and MNZ-OH residues were measured in shrimp tissue samples at concentrations ranging from 361–4189 and 0.28–6.6 μg kg−1, respectively. DMZ and its metabolites HMMNI ranged in concentration between 31509–37780 and 15.0–31.9 μg kg−1, respectively. RNZ and HMMNI concentrations ranged 14530–24206 and 25.0–55 μg kg−1, respectively. MNZ, DMZ and RNZ were the more persistent marker residues and can be detected for at least eight days post-treatment. MNZ-OH was only detectable on day 0 following treatment with MNZ. HMMNI residues were only detectable up to day 1 (0.97–3.2 μg kg−1) or 2 (1.2–4.5 μg kg−1) following DMZ and RNZ treatment, respectively. The parent drugs, MNZ, DMZ and RNZ were still measureable on day 8 at 0.12–1.00, 40.5–55 and 8.8–18.7 μg kg−1, respectively. The study also investigated the stability of nitroimidazole residues under various cooking procedures (frying, grilling, boiling and boiling followed by microwaving). The experiments were carried out in shrimp muscle tissue containing both high and low concentrations of these residues. Different cooking procedures showed the impact on nitroimidazole residue concentration in shrimp tissuetheir concentration depleted significantly, but partially, by boiling and/or microwaving but the compounds were largely resistant to conventional grilling or frying. Cooking cannot therefore be considered as a safeguard against harmful nitroimidazole residues in shrimp.

An official American thoracic society research statement: Comparative effectiveness research in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine

Background: Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is intended to inform decision making in clinical practice, and is central to patientcentered outcomes research (PCOR). Purpose: To summarize key aspects of CER definitions and provide examples highlighting the complementary nature of efficacy and CER studies in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Methods: An ad hoc working group of the American Thoracic Society with experience in clinical trials, health services research, quality improvement, and behavioral sciences in pulmonary, critical care, and sleepmedicinewas convened. The group used an iterative consensus process, including a reviewbyAmerican Thoracic Society committees and assemblies. Results: The traditional efficacy paradigm relies on clinical trials with high internal validity to evaluate interventions in narrowly defined populations and in research settings. Efficacy studies address the question, "Can it work in optimal conditions?" The CER paradigm employs a wide range of study designs to understand the effects of interventions in clinical settings. CER studies address the question, "Does it work in practice?" The results of efficacy and CER studies may or may not agree. CER incorporates many attributes of outcomes research and health services research, while placing greater emphasis on meeting the expressed needs of nonresearcher stakeholders (e.g., patients, clinicians, and others). Conclusions: CER complements traditional efficacy research by placing greater emphasis on the effects of interventions in practice, and developing evidence to address the needs of the many stakeholders involved in health care decisions. Stakeholder engagement is an important component of CER. Copyright © 2013 by the American Thoracic Society.

Hydroprocessing of waste cooking oil over a dispersed nano catalyst: Kinetics study and temperature effect

The kinetics of hydrodeoxygenation of waste cooking oil (WCO) is investigated with unsupported CoMoS catalysts. A kinetic model is established and a comprehensive analysis of each reaction pathway is carried out. The results show that hydrodecarbonylation/decarboxylation (HDC) routes are the predominant reaction pathways in the elimination of oxygen, with the rate constant three times as high as that of hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). However, the HDC activity of the CoMoS catalyst deactivates due to gradual loss of sulfur from the catalyst. HDO process is insensitive to the sulfur deficiency. The kinetic modeling shows that direct hydrodecarbonylation of fatty acids dominates the HDC routes and, in the HDO route, fatty acids are transferred to aldehydes/alcohols and then to C-18 hydrocarbons, a final product, and the reduction of acids is the rate limiting step. The HDO route via alcohols is dominant over aldehydes due to a significantly higher reaction rate constant. The difference of C-18/C-17 ratio in unsupported and supported catalysts show that a support with Lewis acid sites may play an important role in the selectivity for the hydrodeoxygenation pathways and promoting the final product quality