The role of microclot formation in an acute subarachnoid hemorrhage model in the rabbit

BACKGROUND Microvascular dysfunction and microthrombi formation are believed to contribute to development of early brain injury (EBI) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine (i) extent of microthrombus formation and neuronal apoptosis in the brain parenchyma using a blood shunt SAH model in rabbits; (ii) correlation of structural changes in microvessels with EBI characteristics. METHODS Acute SAH was induced using a rabbit shunt cisterna magna model. Extent of microthrombosis was detected 24 h post-SAH (n = 8) by fibrinogen immunostaining, compared to controls (n = 4). We assessed apoptosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick end labeling (TUNEL) in cortex and hippocampus. RESULTS Our results showed significantly more TUNEL-positive cells (SAH: 115 ± 13; controls: 58 ± 10; P = 0.016) and fibrinogen-positive microthromboemboli (SAH: 9 ± 2; controls: 2 ± 1; P = 0.03) in the hippocampus after aneurysmal SAH. CONCLUSIONS We found clear evidence of early microclot formation in a rabbit model of acute SAH. The extent of microthrombosis did not correlate with early apoptosis or CPP depletion after SAH; however, the total number of TUNEL positive cells in the cortex and the hippocampus significantly correlated with mean CPP reduction during the phase of maximum depletion after SAH induction. Both microthrombosis and neuronal apoptosis may contribute to EBI and subsequent DCI.

Scaling the Costs of 404 Testing to Fit the Needs of Small Public Companies

In July of 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress, including section 404 which requires the auditors to test and opine on the company's internal controls. Since that time there has been much debate about whether the intended benefits of increased investor confidence and financial statement transparency trump the unexpectedly high compliance costs, especially for public companies with market-caps less than $75 million. Before these companies begin complying in the upcoming year, interest groups are calling for the requirements to be 'scaled' to better fit the needs of these companies. While auditors already are expected to scale their audit approach to each individual client, more must be done to significantly decrease the costs in order to reverse the trend of small companies foregoing listing on U.S. capital markets. Increased guidance from the PCAOB, SEC, and other related parties could help the small-cap companies and their auditors be aware of best practices. Also, exempting industries that already follow similar guidelines or are significantly injured by the compliance requirements could help. Lastly, the controversial proposal of rotational audits could be put in place if the affected parties cooperate to remove the undue burden on these small-cap companies. Without some form of significant action, the investors could soon lose the ability to buy small-cap companies in U.S. markets.

A model of economic management of cultural heritage: the rehabilitation of fort christmas as an interpretation center of defensive architecture of the Mediterranean in Cartagena (Spain)

The Cultural Heritage constitutes a way to generate social identities and play an important role in the development of the Spanish Mediterranean cities that opt to sustainable quality tourism. The reflection on the necessity of intervention on this heritage, in addition to establishing what should be done, brings up the need to define the reasons for taking action, why and what-for. These decisions are essential to establish if its maintenance and recovery are economically sustainable. The Project "Cartagena Port of Cultures", with support from the European Union, is an example of effective instrument for ensuring the sustainability of our built heritage conservation. Its main objective was to enable sustainable development of tourism in Cartagena based on sustainability and seasonality. This was achieved through a process of recovery of heritage resources and their optimum promotion and marketing.

Signaling of need, sibling competition, and the cost of honesty

Young birds and mammals frequently solicit food by means of extravagant and apparently costly begging displays. Much attention has been devoted to the idea that these displays are honest signals of need, and that their apparent cost serves to maintain their honesty. Recent analyses, however, have shown that the cost needed to maintain a fully informative, honest signal may often be so great that both offspring (signaler) and parent (receiver) would do better to refrain from communication. This apparently calls into question the relevance of the costly signaling hypothesis. Here, I show that this argument overlooks the impact of sibling competition. When multiple signalers must compete for the attention of a receiver (as is commonly the case in parent–offspring interactions), I show that (all other things being equal) individual equilibrium signal costs will typically be lower. The greater the number of competitors, the smaller the mean cost, though the maximum level of signal intensity employed by very needy signalers may actually increase with the number of competitors. At the same time, costs become increasingly sensitive to relatedness among signalers as opposed to relatedness between signalers and receivers. As a result of these trends, signaling proves profitable for signalers under a much wider range of conditions when there is competition (though it is still likely to be unprofitable for receivers).

Brush border myosin-I truncated in the motor domain impairs the distribution and the function of endocytic compartments in an hepatoma cell line.

Myosins I, a ubiquitous monomeric class of myosins that exhibits actin-based motor properties, are associated with plasma and/or vesicular membranes and have been suggested as players for trafficking events between cell surface and intracellular membranous structures. To investigate the function of myosins 1, we have transfected a mouse hepatoma cell line (BWTG3) with cDNAs encoding the chicken brush border myosin-I (BBMI) and two variants truncated in the motor domain. One variant is deleted of the first 446 amino acids and thereby lacks the ATP binding site, whereas the other is deleted of the entire motor domain and lacks the ATP and actin binding sites. We have observed (i) that significant amounts of the truncated variants are recovered with membrane fractions after cell fractionation, (ii) that they codistribute with a compartment containing alpha2-macroglobulin internalized for 30 min as determined by fluorescent microscopy, (iii) that the production of BBMI-truncated variants impairs the distribution of the acidic compartment and ligands internalized for 30 min, and (iv) that the production of the truncated variant containing the actin binding site decreases the rate of alpha2-macroglobulin degradation whereas the production of the variant lacking the ATP binding site and the actin binding site increases the rate of a2-macroglobulin degradation. These observations indicate that the two truncated variants have a dominant negative effect on the distribution and the function of the endocytic compartments. We propose that an unidentified myosin-I might contribute to the distribution of endocytic compartments in a juxtanuclear position and/or to the regulation of the delivery of ligands to the degradative compartment in BWTG3 cells.

Functional haplodiploidy: a mechanism for the spread of insecticide resistance in an important international insect pest.

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most important insect pest of coffee worldwide and has an unusual life history that ensures a high degree of inbreeding. Individual females lay a predominantly female brood within individual coffee berries and because males are flightless there is almost entirely full sib mating. We investigated the genetics associated with this interesting life history after the important discovery of resistance to the cyclodiene type insecticide endosulfan. Both the inheritance of the resistance phenotype and the resistance-associated point mutation in the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor gene Rdl were examined. Consistent with haplodiploidy, males failed to express and transmit paternally derived resistance alleles. Furthermore, while cytological examination revealed that males are diploid, one set of chromosomes was condensed, and probably nonfunctional, in the somatic cells of all males examined. Moreover, although two sets of chromosomes were present in primary spermatocytes, the chromosomes failed to pair before the single meiotic division, and only one set was packaged in sperm. Thus, the coffee berry borer is "functionally" haplodiploid. Its genetics and life history may therefore represent an interesting intermediate step in the evolution of true haplodiploidy. The influence of this breeding system on the spread of insecticide resistance is discussed.

The Adequacy of Wildlife Management on an Endangered Species: A Design Template for Ecosystems Management in Alabama

The Alabama beach mouse (ABM) was listed an an endangered species in 1985. The ABM has been cited as being minimally managed since its listing. The Sierra Club points out the lack of Primary Consituent Elements (PCE) that are required by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. While traditional habitat status is mired in legal and bureaucratic delays, effective management remains less than optimal. Ecosystem management presents with it, new observable and technological tools that may present a panacea in the ABM's paradox. This Capstone looks at the possible implementation of an ecosystems management alternative in aiding the persistence of a small isolated and endangered species.

Wage earning women and girls in Baltimore: a study of the cost of living in 1918

by Josephine A. Roche.

Report of the Commission on the cost of living: May, 1910

Robert Luce, chairman.

The cost of living in New York City, 1926

National Industrial Conference Board.

The cost of living in the United States

"Addendum": 1 leaf laid in.