Reference values for whole body and cerebral multi-frequency bio-impedance data in neonates less than 12 h postpartum

Multiple frequency bio-electrical impedance analysis (MFBIA) may be useful for monitoring fluid balance in newborn infants or to provide early prediction of the outcome following perinatal asphyxia. A reference range of data is needed for identification of babies with abnormal impedance values. This was a cross-sectional observational study in 84 term and near-term healthy neonates less than 12 h postpartum. Whole body and cerebral MFBIA measurements were performed at the bedside in the post-natal ward. Gestational age, post-natal age, gender, birthweight, head circumference and foot length measures were recorded. Reference values for impedance at the characteristic frequency (Z(C)) and resistance at zero frequency (R-0) are reported for whole body and cerebral impedance. Significant correlations (p < 0.05) were observed between whole body impedance and birthweight, footlength and head circumference. Females had a significantly higher whole body R0 than males. Cerebral impedance did not correlate significantly with any of the demographic measures and therewere no gender differences observed for cerebral impedance. The reference range for whole body multi-frequency bio-impedance values in term and near-term infants within the first 12 h postpartum can be calculated from the footlength (FL) using the following equations: Z(C) = (942.9 - 4.818* FL) +/- 124.6 Omega; R-0 = (1042 - 4.520(*)FL) +/- 135.5 Omega. For cerebral impedance the reference range is 29.5-48.7 Omega for Z(C) and 33.7-58.0 Omega for R-0.

Origins and early development of human body knowledge

As a knowable object, the human body is highly complex. Evidence from several converging lines of research, including psychological studies, neuroimaging and clinical neuropsychology, indicates that human body knowledge is widely distributed in the adult brain, and is instantiated in at least three partially independent levels of representation. Sensori-motor body knowledge is responsible for on-line control and movement of one's own body and may also contribute to the perception of others' moving bodies; visuo-spatial body knowledge specifies detailed structural descriptions of the spatial attributes of the human body; and lexical-semantic body knowledge contains language-based knowledge about the human body. In the first chapter of this Monograph, we outline the evidence for these three hypothesized levels of human body knowledge, then review relevant literature on infants' and young children's human body knowledge in terms of the three-level framework. In Chapters II and III, we report two complimentary series of studies that specifically investigate the emergence of visuospatial body knowledge in infancy. Our technique is to compare infants' responses to typical and scrambled human bodies, in order to evaluate when and how infants acquire knowledge about the canonical spatial layout of the human body. Data from a series of visual habituation studies indicate that infants first discriminate scrambled from typical human body pictures at 15 to 18 months of age. Data from object examination studies similarly indicate that infants are sensitive to violations of three-dimensional human body stimuli starting at 15-18 months of age. The overall pattern of data supports several conclusions about the early development of human body knowledge: (a) detailed visuo-spatial knowledge about the human body is first evident in the second year of life, (b) visuo-spatial knowledge of human faces and human bodies are at least partially independent in infancy and (c) infants' initial visuo-spatial human body representations appear to be highly schematic, becoming more detailed and specific with development. In the final chapter, we explore these conclusions and discuss how levels of body knowledge may interact in early development.

Isolation of an imaginal disc growth factor homologue from Pieris rapae and its expression following parasitization by Cotesia rubecula

Endoparasitoid insects introduce maternal factors into the body of their host at oviposition to suppress cellular defences for the protection of the developing parasitoid. We have shown that transient expression of polydnavirus genes from a hymenopteran parasitoid Cotesia rubecula (CrPDV) is responsible for the inactivation of hemocytes from the lepidopteran host Pieris rapae. Since the observed downregulation of CrPDV genes in infected host tissues is not due to cis-regulatory elements at the CrV1 gene locus, we speculated that the termination of CrPDV gene expression may be due to cellular inactivation caused by the CrV1-mediated immune suppression of infected tissues. To test this assumption, we isolated an imaginal disc growth factor (IDGF) that is expressed in fat body and hemocytes, the target of viral infection and expression of CrPDV genes. Time-course experiments showed that the level of P. rapae IDGF is not affected by parasitization and polydnavirus infection. However, the amount of highly expressed genes, such as storage proteins, arylphorin and lipophorin, are significantly reduced following parasitization. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in body water distribution during treatment with inhaled steroid in pre-school children

Primary objective: The study aimed to examine the changes in water distribution in the soft tissue during systemic steroid activity. Research design: A three-way cross-over, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial was used, including 4 weeks of fluticasone propionate pMDI 200 mug b.i.d. delivered via Babyhaler(R), budesonide pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) 200 mug b.i.d. delivered via Nebuchamber(R) and placebo. Spacers were primed before use. In total, 40 children aged 1-3 years, with mild intermittent asthma were included. Twenty-five of the children completed all three treatments. At the end of each treatment period body impedance and skin ultrasonography were measured. Methods and procedures: We measured changes in water content of the soft tissues by two methods. Skin ultrasonography was used to detect small changes in dermal water content, and bioelectrical impedance was used to assess body water content and distribution. Main outcomes and results: We found an increase in skin density of the shin from fluticasone as measured by ultrasonography (p = 0.01). There was a tendency for a consistent elevation of impedance parameters from active treatments compared to placebo although overall this effect was not statistically significant (0.1< p <0.2). However, sub-analyses indicated a significant effect on whole-body and leg impedance from budesonide treatment (p <0.05). Conclusion: Decreased growth during inhaled steroid treatment seems to partly reflect generalized changes in body water.

Development of a non-intrusive heat transfer coefficient gauge and its application to high pressure die casting Effect of the process parameters

A heat transfer coefficient gauge has been built, obeying particular rules in order to ensure the relevance and accuracy of the collected information. The gauge body is made out of the same materials as the die casting die (H13). It is equipped with six thermocouples located at different depths in the body and with a sapphire light pipe. The light pipe is linked to an optic fibre, which is connected to a monochromatic pyrometer. Thermocouples and pyrometer measurements are recorded with a data logger. A high pressure die casting die was instrumented with one such gauge. A set of 150 castings was done and the data recorded. During the casting, some process parameters have been modified such as piston velocity, intensification pressure, delay before switch to the intensification stage, temperature of the alloy, etc.... The data was treated with an inverse method in order to transform temperature measurements into heat flux density and heat transfer coefficient plots. The piston velocity and the initial temperature of the die seem to be the process parameters that have the greatest influence on the heat transfer. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An exceptionally rich complex of Sanguinicolidae von Graff, 1907 (Platyhelminthes : Trematoda) from Siganidae, Labridae and Mullidae (Teleostei : Perciformes) from the Indo-West Pacific Region

We describe an unprecedented radiation of sanguinicolid blood flukes ( Digenea: Sanguinicolidae) from two species of Labridae (Choerodon venustus and C. cauteroma), seven species of Mullidae (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis, Parupeneus barberinoides, P. barberinus, P. bifasciatus, P. cyclostomus, P. indicus and P. multifasciatus) and ten species of Siganidae (Siganus argenteus, S. corallinus, S. doliatus, S. fuscescens, S. lineatus, S. margaritiferus, S. puellus, S. punctatus, S. virgatus and S. vulpinus) from sites off Australia and Palau. The flukes were morphologically similar in having the combination of a long thread-like body, tegumental spines in lateral transverse rows, a vestigial oral sucker bearing concentric rows of fine spines, an H-shaped intestine, a cirrussac, a notch level with the male genital pore, a lateral or post-ovarian uterus, a uterine chamber and separate genital pores. These species are divided into two genera on the basis of testis number. Sanguinicolids from Siganus fuscescens have a single large testis between the intestinal bifurcation and the ovary and are placed in Ankistromeces Nolan & Cribb, 2004. Species from the remaining nine species of Siganidae, Labridae and Mullidae are placed in Phthinomita n. g.; these species have two testes, the anterior testis being large and between the intestinal bifurcation and the ovary whereas the small posterior testis is at the posterior end of the body and appears rudimentary or degenerate and probably non-functional. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA ( rDNA) from 29 host/parasite/location combinations (h/p/l) was sequenced together with that of Ankistromeces mariae Nolan & Cribb, 2004 for comparison. From 135 samples we found 19 distinct genotypes which were interpreted as representing at least that many species. Replicate sequences were obtained for 25 of 30 h/p/l combinations ( including A. mariae); there was no intraspecific variation between replicates sequences for any of these. Interspecific variation ranged from 1 - 41 base differences (0.3 - 12.7% sequence divergence). The 19 putative species were difficult to recognise by morphological examination. We describe 13 new species; we do not describe (= name) six species characterised solely by molecular sequences and three putative species for which morphological data is available but for which molecular data is not. We have neither morphological nor molecular data for sanguinicolids harboured in five hosts species ( Siganus margaritiferus, S. puellus, Choerodon cauteroma, Parupeneus indicus and P. multifasciatus) in which we have seen infections. Where host species were infected in different localities they almost always harboured distinct species. Some host species ( for example, S. argenteus and S. lineatus from Lizard Island) harboured two or three species in a single geographical location. This suggests that, for parts of this system, parasite speciation has outstripped host speciation. Distance analysis of ITS2 showed species from each host family ( Siganidae, Mullidae and Labridae) did not form monophyletic clades to the exclusion of species from other host families. However, a host defined clade was formed by the sequences from sanguinicolids from S. fuscescens.

Cardicola Short, 1953 and Braya n. gen. (Digenea : Sanguinicolidae) from five families of tropical Indo-Pacific fishes

A survey of Pacific coral reef fishes for sanguinicolids revealed that two species of Lutjanidae (Lutjanus argentimaculatus, L. bohar), six species of Siganidae (Siganus corallinus, S. fuscescens, S. lineatus, S. margaritiferus, S. punctatus, S. vulpinus), seven species of Chaetodontidae (Chaetodon aureofasciatus, C. citrinellus, C. flavirostris, C. lineolatus, C. reticulatus, C. ulietensis, C. unimaculatus), three species of Scombridae (Euthynnus affinis, Scomberomorus commerson, S. munroi) and three species of Scaridae (Chlorurus microrhinos, Scarus frenatus, S. ghobban) were infected with morphologically similar sanguinicolids. These flukes have a flat elliptical body, a vestigial oral sucker, a single testis, separate genital pores and a post-ovarian uterus. However, these species clearly belong in two genera based on the position of the testis and genital pores. Sanguinicolids from Lutjanidae, Siganidae, Chaetodontidae and Scombridae belong in Cardicola Short, 1953; the testis originates anteriorly to, or at the anterior end of, the intercaecal field and does not extend posteriorly to it, the male genital pore opens laterally to the sinistral lateral nerve chord and the female pore opens near the level of the ootype ( may be anterior, lateral or posterior to it) antero-dextral to the male pore. Those from Scaridae are placed in a new genus, Braya; the testis originates near the posterior end of the intercaecal field and extends posteriorly to it, the male pore opens medially at the posterior end of the body and the female pore opens posterior to the ootype, antero-sinistral to the male pore. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA from these sanguinicolids and a known species, Cardicola forsteri Cribb, Daintith & Munday, 2000, were sequenced, aligned and analysed to test the distinctness of the putative new species. Results from morphological comparisons and molecular analyses suggest the presence of 18 putative species; 11 are described on the basis of combined morphological and molecular data and seven are not because they are characterised solely by molecular sequences or to few morphological specimens (n= one). There was usually a correlation between levels of morphological and genetic distinction in that pairs of species with the greatest genetic separation were also the least morphologically similar. The exception in this regard was the combination of Cardicola tantabiddii n. sp. from S. fuscescens from Ningaloo Reef ( Western Australia) and Cardicola sp. 2 from the same host from Heron Island ( Great Barrier Reef). These two parasite/ host/location combinations had identical ITS2 sequences but appeared to differ morphologically ( however, this could simply be due to a lack of morphological material for Cardicola sp. 2). Only one putative species ( Cardicola sp. 1) was found in more than one location; most host species harboured distinct species in each geographical location surveyed ( for example, S. corallinus from Heron and Lizard Islands) and some ( for example, S. punctatus, S. fuscescens and Chlorurus microrhinos) harboured two species at a single location. Distance analysis of ITS2 showed that nine species from siganids, three from scombrids and five from scarids formed monophyletic clades to the exclusion of sanguinicolids from the other host families. Cardicola milleri n. sp. and C. chaetodontis Yamaguti, 1970 from lutjanids and chaetodontids, respectively, were the only representatives from those families that were sequenced. Within the clade formed by sanguinicolids from Siganidae there wasa further division of species; species from the morphologically similar S. fuscescens and S. margaritiferus formed a monophyletic group to the exclusion of sanguinicolids from all other siganid species.