Central lead administration inhibits water intake and sodium appetite in rats

We have demonstrated that acute third ventricle injections of lead acetate (PbAc) exert a powerful antidipsogenic effect and induce a significant increase in renal sodium excretion. In the present study we confirm the antidipsogenic effect of lead and demonstrate that central administration of this metal, in minute amounts, significantly reduces salt intake both during dehydration and after central angiotensinergic stimulation. Adult male Wistar rats had the third ventricle cannulated seven days before the experiments. During this period they had free access to distilled water and hypertonic saline solution (1.5%). After a 24-h period of fluid deprivation, experimental animals received third ventricle injections of PbAc (0.3, N = 8 and 3.0 nmol/rat, N = 14) while controls received sodium acetate (NaAc; 3.0 nmol/rat, N = 10). Rats treated with PbAc at the highest dose showed a significant reduction (P<0.05) both in water and hypertonic saline intake when compared to controls. When the effect of lead administration on angiotensin II-induced water and salt intake was studied, normohydrated animals received third ventricle injections of angiotensin II (9.6 nmol/rat) after pretreatment with 3.0 nmol/rat of PbAc (experimental group, N = 10) or NaAc (controls, N = 8). The group pretreated with PbAc presented a significant reduction (P<0.05) in both water and salt intake compared to controls. Thus, this study confirms the antidipsogenic effect of central lead injections and demonstrates that the presence of lead in the brain exerts a significant inhibition of sodium appetite.

Effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate on thyrotropin secretion in adult and old female rats

Steroid hormones have been implicated in the modulation of TSH secretion; however, there are few and controversial data regarding the effect of progesterone (Pg) on TSH secretion. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) is a synthetic alpha-hydroxyprogesterone analog that has been extensively employed in therapeutics for its Pg-like actions, but that also has some glucocorticoid and androgen activity. Both hormones have been shown to interfere with TSH secretion. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of MPA or Pg administration to ovariectomized (OVX) rats on in vivo and in vitro TSH release and pituitary TSH content. The treatment of adult OVX rats with MPA (0.25 mg/100 g body weight, sc, daily for 9 days) induced a significant (P<0.05) increase in the pituitary TSH content, which was not observed when the same treatment was used with a 10 times higher MPA dose or with Pg doses similar to those of MPA. Serum TSH was similar for all groups. MPA administered to OVX rats at the lower dose also had a stimulatory effect on the in vitro basal and TRH-induced TSH release. The in vitro basal and TRH-stimulated TSH release was not significantly affected by Pg treatment. Conversely, MPA had no effect on old OVX rats. However, in these old rats, ovariectomy alone significantly reduced (P<0.05) basal and TRH-stimulated TSH release in vitro, as well as pituitary TSH content. The results suggest that in adult, but not in old OVX rats, MPA but not Pg has a stimulatory effect on TSH stores and on the response to TRH in vitro.

Comparison of pre- versus post-incision administration of intraplantar indomethacin and MK886 in a rat model of postoperative pain

The amplification of pain long after the initial stimulus may be avoided if the treatment of pain is introduced before its initiation. However, conflicting evidence exists about the efficacy of such preemptive analgesia for the management of postoperative pain. This study compares the efficacy of intraplantar administration of indomethacin (a non-selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase) and MK886 (an inhibitor of 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein), separately or in combination to produce preemptive analgesia in a model of surgical incisional pain in male Wistar rats. All incised rats (5 to 6 rats per group) had allodynia at 2, 6, and 24 h after surgery as evaluated using von Frey filaments. MK886, but not indomethacin (50 to 200 µg/paw), reduced the allodynia when injected either 1 h before or 1 h after surgery. The effect of preoperative MK886 (160 µg/paw) against incisional allodynia had a magnitude apparently similar to that produced by postoperative MK886. Pre-, but not postoperative MK886 (80 µg/paw) reduced the allodynia but the effect was seen only at 6 h after surgery. In contrast, MK886 (40 µg/paw) intensified the allodynia observed 2 h after the incision either injected before or after surgery. MK886 or indomethacin alone did not provide preemptive analgesia in the model of incisional pain. In contrast, the combination of MK886 with indomethacin reduced the allodynia more effectively when used before than after surgery, thus fulfilling the criteria for preemptive analgesia. In conclusion, preoperative inhibition of the local generation of both prostaglandins and leukotrienes by surgical incision may be an alternative to provide preemptive analgesia.

Ethnic Minority Parents' Involvement in Education: Exploring and Understanding Their Experiences

Lopez, Scribner and Mahitivanichcha (2001) discuss the limited volume of literature that directly addresses ethnic minority parents' involvement in their children's education and they call upon researchers to fill this gap in the literature. This study is one such positive step with its focus on exploring how ethnic minority parents of secondary school students in southern Ontario understand their involvement in their children's education. Participants in the study included three ethnic minority parents recruited from a local adult education centre, and my parents who, as ethnics minority parents, also faced challenges trying to support their children as we progressed through the Ontario educational system. Primary data were collected through in-depth, open-ended interviews approximately one hour in length. Each of the five participants was interviewed twice. Secondary data included Ontario Ministry of Education documents that addressed programs, policies, and supports for ethnic minority students in Ontario secondary schools. Fieldnotes and a research journal also provided secondary data. The findings highlight, among other things, the challenges the participants faced as ethnic minority parents with a deep desire to support their children's education, but often lacking the cultural capital valued in the Ontario school system to meet that goal. As well, I benefited greatly from this research learning about the various ways in which, in my future work as a teacher of ethnic minority students, I can integrate the knowledge, skills, and experiences of ethnic minorities into my practice to ensure that parents of the non-dominant culture have an opportunity to become highly involved in the education of their children.

Construction management contracts: law and practice

The context of construction management (CM) reveals that this method of procurement is as much a management philosophy as a contract structure. It is important to consider legal and contractual issues in this context. The interplay between management and law is complex and often misunderstood. Before considering specific issues, the use of contractual remedies in business agreements is discussed. In addition, the extent to which standardising a form of contract detracts or contributes to the success of projects is also considered. The dearth of judicial decisions, and the lack of a standard form, render it difficult to be specific about legal issues. Therefore, the main discussion of legal issues is centred around a recently completed research project which involved eliciting the views of a cross-section of experienced construction management clients, consultants and trade contractors. These interviews are used as the basis for highlighting some of the most important legal points to consider when setting up CM projects. The interviews revealed that the advantage of CM is the proximity of the client to the trade contractors and the disadvantage is that it depends on a high degree of professionalism and experience; qualities which are unfortunately difficult to find in the UK construction industry.

The practice of sustainable facilities management: Design sentiments and the knowledge chasm

The construction industry with its nature of project delivery is very fragmented in terms of the various processes that encompass design, construction, facilities and assets management. Facilities managers are in the forefront of delivering sustainable assets management and hence further the venture for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. A questionnaire survey was conducted to establish perceptions, level of commitment and knowledge chasm in practising sustainable facilities management (FM). This has significant implications for sustainable design management, especially in a fragmented industry. The majority of questionnaire respondents indicated the importance of sustainability for their organization. Many of them stated that they reported on sustainability as part of their organization annual reporting with energy efficiency, recycling and waste reduction as the main concern for them. The overwhelming barrier for implementing sound, sustainable FM is the lack of consensual understanding and focus of individuals and organizations about sustainability. There is a knowledge chasm regarding practical information on delivering sustainable FM. Sustainability information asymmetry in design, construction and FM processes render any sustainable design as a sentiment and mere design aspiration. Skills and training provision, traditionally offered separately to designers and facilities managers, needs to be re-evaluated. Sustainability education and training should be developed to provide effective structures and processes to apply sustainability throughout the construction and FM industries coherently and as common practice.

The development of the Virtual Construction Simulator 3: an interactive simulation environment for construction management education

This paper discusses the development of the Virtual Construction Simulator (VCS) 3 - a simulation game-based educational tool for teaching construction schedule planning and management. The VCS3 simulation game engages students in learning the concepts of planning and managing construction schedules through goal driven exploration, employed strategies, and immediate feedback. Through the planning and simulation mode, students learn the difference between the as-planned and as-built schedules resulting from varying factors such as resource availability, weather and labor productivity. This paper focuses on the development of the VCS3 and its construction physics model. Challenges inherent in the process of identifying variables and their relationships to reliably represent and simulate the dynamic nature of planning and managing of construction projects are also addressed.

The Generation Gap: What Generation Gap? : Management, Technology, Training, and Evolving Skills

Contrary to divisive labels to describe generations, members of different age groups have much to teach each other: Younger workers bring fresh perspectives to old issues, while older workers' valuable organizational history help inform current contexts. All age groups in the workplace benefit in learning from each other's perspectives.

Equity and Efficiency in Education: motivations and targets

The recently released "Educational PAC" attempts to place basic education at the center of the social debate. We have subsidized this debate, offering a diagnosis of how different education levels can impact individuals' lives through broad and easily interpreted indicators. Initially, we analyze how much each educational level reaches the poorest population. For example, how are those in the bottom strata of income distribution benefited by childcare centers, private secondary education, public university or adult education. The next step is to quantify the return of educational actions, such as their effects on employability and an individual's wages, and even health as perceived by the individual, be that individual poor, middle class or elite. The next part of the research presents evidence of how the main characters in education, aka mothers, fathers and children, regard education. The site available with the research presents a broad, user-friendly database, which will allow interested parties to answer their own questions relative to why people do not attend school, the time spent in the educational system and returns to education, which can all be cross-sectioned with a wide array of socio-demographic attributes (gender, income, etc.) and school characteristics (is it public, are school meals offered, etc.) to find answers to: why do young adults of a certain age not attend school? Why do they miss classes? How long is the school day? Aside from the whys and hows of teaching, the research calculates the amount of time spent in school, resulting from a combination between absence rates, evasion raters and length of the school day. The study presents ranks of indicators referring to objective and subjective aspects of education, such as the discussion of the advantages and care in establishing performance based incentives that aim at guiding the states in the race for better educational indicators.

Public debt management, monetary policy and financial institutions

Despite the large size of the Brazilian debt market, as well the large diversity of its bonds, the picture that emerges is of a market that has not yet completed its transition from the role it performed during the megainflation years, namely that of providing a liquid asset that provided positive real returns. This unfinished transition is currently placing the market under severe stress, as fears of a possible default from the next administration grow larger. This paper analyzes several aspects pertaining to the management of the domestic public debt. The causes for the extremely large and fast growth ofthe domestic public debt during the seven-year period that President Cardoso are discussed in Section 2. Section 3 computes Value at Risk and Cash Flow at Risk measures for the domestic public debt. The rollover risk is introduced in a mean-variance framework in Section 4. Section 5 discusses a few issues pertaining to the overlap between debt management and monetary policy. Finally, Section 6 wraps up with policy discussion and policy recommendations.

Physical education undergraduates and dental trauma knowledge

The aim of the present study was to assess the level of knowledge of undergraduates from the College of Physical Education (Toledo, Aracatuba) concerning dental avulsion injuries. Data showed that 95% of the respondents did not know what dental avulsion is, 73.5% said they know how to define dental replantation, however, only 26% were able to do it correctly. When asked about first emergency measures after an avulsion, 50% of the respondents said they know what they should do, and the most cited measure was to seek a dentist. When asked about optimal storage media, 45.5% would keep it in a favorable one, and 28% did not know where to keep the tooth until treatment. Only 25.6% indicated a suitable extra-oral time for replantation; 90.3% of the respondents had received no advice about the emergency management of dental avulsion; 90% said they consider this an important and necessary subject. The results indicated that educational campaigns are necessary to improve the emergency management of dental injuries by those future P.E. professors for a better prognosis of dental replantation.