Regulation of energy balance in two models of reversible obesity in the rat.

Reports on 2 experiments with 114 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Ss were made obese either by tube feeding varying fractions (34, 47, 68, or 75%) of their normal food intake or by offering them a varied and palatable diet (cafeteria diet). After 17–30 days of these regimens, the treatments were withdrawn, and Ss were allowed free access to the normal stock diet. Tube-fed Ss precisely adjusted voluntary food intake to compensate for the energy delivered by tube but nevertheless became obese as a result of an increased metabolic efficiency. Cafeteria-fed Ss were hyperphagic and became obese without any apparent change in metabolic efficiency. Recovery from obesity was more rapid in cafeteria Ss and was due to a pronounced increase in heat production as well as concomitant hypophagia. Ss previously made obese by tube feeding exhibited hypophagia and returned to normal weight without any change in heat production. The relevance of these results to the concept of lipostasis and the relative roles of energy intake and expenditure in the regulation of energy balance are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discovery of 3-methyl-2-buten-1-yl acetate,a new alarm component in the sting apparatus of Africanized honeybees

We analyzed the alarm pheromone components from five colonies of Africanized honeybees and three colonies of European honeybees collected in Mexico. Analyses revealed a novel alarm pheromone component that was only present in appreciable quantities in the Africanized bee samples. Analysis of the mass spectrum and subsequent synthesis confirmed that this compound is 3-methyl-2-buten-1-yl acetate (3M2BA), an unsaturated derivative of IPA. In Africanized honeybees, sampling from stings of guards showed that 3M2BA was present at levels of 0–38% the amount of isoamyl acetate (IPA). Behavioral assays from three colonies each of Africanized and European bees showed that 3M2BA recruited worker bees from hives of both Africanized bees and European bees at least as efficiently as isopentyl acetate IPA, a compound widely reported to have the highest activity for releasing alarm and stinging behavior in honeybees. However, a mixture of of 3M2BA and IPA (1:2) recruited bees more efficiently than either of the compounds alone. None of the compounds differed in their efficacy for inducing bees to pursue the observers.     

The application of optical microscopy to studies of dust filtration: II. Specimen preparation techniques for analysing the distribution of dusts in filter fabrics

Microscopic examination of dust cakes supported on filter fabrics is limited by difficulties in preparing useful sections by impregnating in cold setting resins; cake movement and sedimentation of dust particles result in sections which are not representative of the initial materials. An evaporator-condenser assembly has been designed to enable sections to be prepared in which the fibres and dust particles are retained in their initial locations. Specimens of dust cakes supported on filter fabrics are placed in a thermal gradient in this assembly and a volatile monomer is condensed from the vapour phase on to dust particles and fibres of the fabrics. In situ polymerization effectively cements individual dust particles to each other and to the supporting fabric. After this treatment, specimens are vacuum impregnated in cold setting resin and sectioned by established techniques.     

Predicting dissolved inorganic nitrogen leaching in European forests using two independent databases

Regional-scale databases can be particularly useful for identifying relationships between dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N) leaching in forests and environmental drivers, which in turn allow an assessment of the risk of ecosystem damage, such as forest acidification and eutrophication of downstream water bodies. However, detecting the ‘signal’ of a significant correlate to N leaching against a background of wide variability in other factors requires a large number of sites, and the validation of models developed requires a similarly large number of independent sites. Here we use two large and fully independent databases of forest ecosystems across Europe to develop and validate indicators of N saturation and leaching. One database was used for model development and the other for validating these models.Among 35 variables considered, the most significant indicators of N leaching in the model development database were: the flux of dissolved inorganic N in deposition, mean annual temperature, mean altitude, the site drainage (plot vs catchment), needle- and litter-N concentration, organic horizon C:N ratio, and subsoil pH. Altitude was not a consistent predictor (it was significant in the development database but not in the validation database), and needle and litter N concentration, plot vs catchment, and subsoil pH all showed high intercorrelation with N deposition and so were not significant in models already including N deposition. The most consistent and useful indicators of N leaching were throughfall N deposition, organic horizon C:N ratio and mean annual temperature. Sites receiving low levels of N deposition (< 8 kg N ha^− 1 y^− 1) showed very low output fluxes of N and were simulated separately from more polluted forests. In general, the models successfully predicted N leaching (mean of ± 5 kg N ha^− 1 y^− 1 between observed and predicted) from forests at early to intermediate stages of nitrogen saturation but not from nitrogen-saturated sites. Thus, simple relationships developed from combining (1) external drivers (deposition, temperature) and (2) site conditions (nitrogen status of soils) can successfully estimate nitrogen leaching from forests that have not yet been highly damaged by N deposition.     

Vestibular hypersensitivity to clicks is characteristic of the Tullio phenomenon

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a smoking cessation and relapse-prevention program for hospitalized adult smokers from the perspective of an implementing hospital. It is an economic analysis of a two-group, controlled clinical trial in two acute care hospitals owned by a large group-model health maintenance organization. The intervention included a 20-minute bedside counseling session with an experienced health counselor, a 12-minute video, self-help materials, and one or two follow-up calls. METHODS: Outcome measures were incremental cost (above usual care) per quit attributable to the intervention and incremental cost per discounted life-year saved attributable to the intervention. RESULTS: Cost of the research intervention was $159 per smoker, and incremental cost per incremental quit was $3,697. Incremental cost per incremental discounted life-year saved ranged between $1,691 and $7,444, much less than most other routine medical procedures. Replication scenarios suggest that, with realistic implementation assumptions, total intervention costs would decline significantly and incremental cost per incremental discounted life-year saved would be reduced by more than 90%, to approximately $380. CONCLUSIONS: Providing brief smoking cessation advice to hospitalized smokers is relatively inexpensive, cost-effective, and should become a part of the standard of inpatient care.     

Design and optimization of laminated conical shells for buckling

Optimum laminate configuration for the maximum buckling load of filament-wound laminated conical shells is investigated. In the case of a laminated conical shell, the thickness and the ply orientation (the design variables) are functions of the shell coordinates, influencing both the buckling load and the weight of the structure. Thus, optimization can be performed by maximization of the buckling load for a specific weight, or by minimization of the weight of the structure under the constraint of applied buckling load. Due to the complex nature of the problem a preliminary investigation is made into the characteristic behavior of the buckling load with respect to the volume as a function of the ply orientation.The exact buckling load is calculated by means of the computer code STAGS-A (Structural Analysis of General Shells [Almroth BO, Brogan FA, Meller E, Zele F, Petersen HT. Collapse analysis for shells of general shape, user's manual for STAGS-A computer code. Technical report AFFDL TR-71-8; 1973]) by adding a user written subroutine WALL, see Ref. [Goldfeld Y, Arbocz J. Buckling of laminated conical shells taking into account the variations of the stiffness coefficients. AIAA J 2004; 42(3):642–649]. The optimization problem is solved using response surface methodology.     

A spatial and seasonal assessment of river water chemistry across North West England

This paper presents information on the spatial and seasonal patterns of river water chemistry at approximately 800 sites in North West England based on data from the Environment Agency regional monitoring programme. Within a GIS framework, the linkages between average water chemistry (pH, sulphate, base cations, nutrients and metals) catchment characteristics (topography, land cover, soil hydrology, base flow index and geology), rainfall, deposition chemistry and geo-spatial information on discharge consents (point sources) are examined. Water quality maps reveal that there is a clear distinction between the uplands and lowlands. Upland waters are acidic and have low concentrations of base cations, explained by background geological sources and land cover. Localised high concentrations of metals occur in areas of the Cumbrian Fells which are subjected to mining effluent inputs. Nutrient concentrations are low in the uplands with the exception sites receiving effluent inputs from rural point sources. In the lowlands, both past and present human activities have a major impact on river water chemistry, especially in the urban and industrial heartlands of Greater Manchester, south Lancashire and Merseyside. Over 40% of the sites have average orthophosphate concentrations > 0.1 mg-P l^− 1. Results suggest that the dominant control on orthophosphate concentrations is point source contributions from sewage effluent inputs. Diffuse agricultural sources are also important, although this influence is masked by the impact of point sources. Average nitrate concentrations are linked to the coverage of arable land, although sewage effluent inputs have a significant effect on nitrate concentrations. Metal concentrations in the lowlands are linked to diffuse and point sources. The study demonstrates that point sources, as well as diffuse sources, need to be considered when targeting measures for the effective reduction in river nutrient concentrations. This issue is clearly important with regards to the European Union Water Framework Directive, eutrophication and river water quality.     

Perfusion fixation of the kidney of the domestic fowl

A technique is described for the fixation of the fowl kidney using vascular perfusion through the renal portal system. This technique should be generally applicable to avian species.     

Natural frequency extraction using late-time evolutionary programming-based CLEAN

In this paper, we present a novel method for natural frequency extraction. Our algorithm is called late-time evolutionary programming (EP)-based CLEAN, and has many advantages compared to conventional methods. The accuracy of our algorithm is not affected by the false estimation of the number of natural resonance modes. Furthermore, our method is insensitive to random noise. Insensitivity is a very important characteristic in the resonance extraction algorithm since the late-time response usually has small energy. Using synthetic data, we show these characteristics by comparing them to Prony's method and the E-pulse technique. We also applied our method to the numerical data and B-52 measured data which is obtained at Michigan State University (MSU) arch range.