Hand hygiene compliance.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C S Price.
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BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether alcohol-naïve rats selectively bred for alcohol preference or nonpreference differ in alcohol withdrawal severity using two sets of rat lines selectively bred for the same phenotype. METHODS: Alcohol-naïve male rats from the high alcohol drinking (HAD1) and low alcohol drinking (LAD1) rat lines and from the alcohol preferring (P) and nonpreferring (NP) rat lines received an intragastric infusion of alcohol (4.0 g/20.3 ml/kg; 25% v/v) or an equal volume of water once a day for 10 consecutive days. Alcohol withdrawal severity was assessed at using a behavioral rating scale and a radiant heat assay measured analgesia at 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 24 hrs following infusion of alcohol or water on days 1, 5, and 10 of treatment. RESULTS: Data were analyzed using body weight as a co-factor to correct for differences in body weight between the HAD1/LAD1 and P/NP lines. Acute (1 day) but not repeated alcohol treatment (5 or 10 days) produced mild behavioral signs of withdrawal in LAD1 but not in HAD1 rats. HAD1 and LAD1 rats showed alcohol-induced analgesia after 1 and 5 days of alcohol treatment that disappeared by day 10 in both lines. Repeated alcohol treatment (5 days) produced mild behavioral signs of withdrawal in NP but not in P rats. Neither P nor NP rats showed alcohol-induced analgesia after 1, 5, or 10 days of alcohol treatment. CONCLUSIONS: An inverse genetic association was found between alcohol preference and severity of alcohol withdrawal in two sets of rat lines selected for the same phenotype. The pattern of alcohol withdrawal that emerged over the course of the 10 days of alcohol treatment differed between the two lines selected for low alcohol drinking (LAD1 and NP), suggesting that unique sets of genes may influence alcohol withdrawal severity in the two lines.
Dehydroascorbic acid, the oxidized form of vitamin C, is transported into mammalian cells via facilitative glucose transporters and hyperglycemia inhibits this process by competitive inhibition. This inhibited transport may promote oxidative stress and contribute to the increase in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease observed in patients with diabetes mellitus. This review explores the importance of this proposed mechanism in light of current research. For example, recent reports suggest that administration of antioxidants, such as vitamin C, may slow atherogenesis by improving endothelium-dependent vasodilation in individuals with abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism, perhaps by preventing the oxidation of nitric oxide, an important regulator of vasomotor tone. Endothelial dysfunction plays a key role in the development of atherosclerosis and endothelial cells may be particularly affected by hyperglycemia-induced ascorbic acid deficiency as they line the interior of blood vessels. In addition, we discuss evidence of several other mechanisms by which vitamin C status may affect the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, particularly its inverse relationship to multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors and indicators. Given these factors, vitamin C administration is recommended during periods of both acute and chronic hyperglycemia to help preserve endothelial function.
Forms of reproductive isolation that act after copulation but before fertilization are potentially important components of speciation, but are studied only infrequently. We examined postmating, prezygotic reproductive isolation in three hybridizations within the Drosophila simulans species complex. We allowed females to mate only once, observed and timed all copulations, dissected a subset of the females to track the storage and retention of sperm, examined the number and hatchability of eggs laid after insemination, counted all progeny produced, and measured the longevity of mated females. Each of the three hybridizations is characterized by a different set of cryptic barriers to heterospecific fertilization. When D. simulans females mate with D. sechellia males, few heterospecific sperm are transferred, even during long copulations. In contrast, copulations of D. simulans females with D. mauritiana males are often too short to allow sperm transfer. Those that are long enough to allow insemination, however, involve the transfer of many sperm, but only a fraction of these heterospecific sperm are stored by females, who also lay fewer eggs than do D. simulans females mated with conspecific males. Finally, when D. mauritiana females mate with D. simulans males, sperm are transferred and stored in abundance, but are lost rapidly from the reproductive tract and are therefore used inefficiently. These results add considerably to the list of reproductive isolating mechanisms in this well-studied clade and possibly to the list of evolutionary processes that could contribute to their reproductive isolation.
Seasonal changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) concentrations were assessed on multiple occasions in 103 free-ranging male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). At the time of sampling subjects ranged between the ages of 2 and 6 years. CSF samples were collected between the hours of 0900 and 1600 throughout the Fall, Winter, and Spring from 1990 through 1994. Data were analyzed in a general linear mixed model with random intercepts. Results indicated that CSF 5-HIAA concentrations decreased with age. CSF 5-HIAA concentrations were significantly increased in the Fall (October and November), which is the height of the breeding season, with no evidence of differences between Winter and Spring. There was also some evidence that the seasonal variation in CSF 5-HIAA concentrations was blunted in younger, more immature subjects.
The postmating, prezygotic isolating mechanism known as conspecific sperm precedence (CSP) may play an important role in speciation, and understanding the mechanism of CSP is important in reconstructing its evolution. When a Drosophila simulans female mates with both a D. simulans male and a D. mauritiana male, the vast majority of her progeny are fathered by D. simulans, regardless of the order of mating. The dearth of hybrid progeny does not result from inviability of eggs fertilized by heterospecific sperm or from the relative inviability of heterospecific larvae. Instead, CSP apparently results from a prefertilization obstacle to heterospecific sperm. We identified two independent barriers to heterospecific fertilization, sperm displacement and incapacitation, whose action depends on the order of mating. When a D. simulans female mates first with a conspecific male, the seminal fluid from this mating incapacitates heterospecific sperm transferred two days later. This sperm incapacitation occurs with no change in the retention of stored sperm over time, but does not occur when the conspecific mating lasts for only 5 min. When the order of matings is reversed, the seminal fluid from the second mating physically displaces heterospecific sperm from storage, even if the conspecific copulation lasts only 5 min. Conspecific sperm are not susceptible to displacement by a second conspecific copulation, but are susceptible to interference by heterospecific sperm if the conspecific copulation is interrupted after 12 min. Curing the D. mauritiana males of their infection with the endosymbiont Wolbachia had no effect on CSP. Sperm displacement and incapacitation involve the same basic mechanisms seen in second-male sperm precedence within species, supporting the hypothesis that CSP is an evolutionary by-product of adaptations affecting sperm competition within species.
Females in almost all animal groups copulate with multiple males. This behaviour allows different males to compete for fertilization and gives females the opportunity to mediate this competition. In many animals and most insects, the second male to copulate with a female typically sires most of her offspring. In Drosophila melanogaster, this second-male sperm precedence has long been studied but, as in most species, its mechanism has remained unknown. Here we show, using labelled sperm in doubly mated females, that males can both physically displace and incapacitate stored sperm from earlier-mating males. Displacement occurs only if the second male transfers sperm to the female, and in only one of her three sperm-storage organs. Incapacitation can be caused by either fertile or spermless second males, but requires extended intervals between matings. Sperm from different males are not 'stratified' in the storage organs but mix freely. Many animal species may have multiple mechanisms of sperm competition like those observed here, and revealing these mechanisms is necessary to understand the genetic and evolutionary basis of second-male sperm precedence in animals.
Environmental stressors and stable individual differences in human behavior have both been implicated etiologically in injuries. Because stress-related injuries are difficult to study experimentally in humans, the authors examined injury incidence in a troop of 21 male and 15 female free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) before, during, and after a 6-month group confinement. Individual differences in behavioral inhibition to novelty were assessed, using multiple, quantified observations of behavior by 3 independent raters during 3 previous years. Incidence and severity of medically attended injuries were ascertained from veterinary records over a 2-year study period. A 5-fold increase in the incidence of injuries was documented during confinement stress, and an interaction was found between the stressor and behavioral inhibition in the prediction of injury incidence. Highly inhibited animals had significantly higher injury rates during confinement, compared with their uninhibited peers, but equal or lower rates in the low stress periods that preceded and followed confinement. Inhibited individuals appeared to have been specifically targeted for violence during the group stressor but were protected under normative, more predictable conditions.
Traits that influence the interactions between males and females can evolve very rapidly through sexual selection or sexually antagonistic coevolution. Rapid change in the fertilization systems of independent populations can give rise to reproductive incompatibilities between populations, and may contribute to speciation. Here I provide evidence for cryptic reproductive divergence among three sibling species of Drosophila that leads to a form of postmating isolation. When a female mates with both a conspecific and a heterospecific male, the conspecific sperm fertilize the vast majority of the eggs, regardless of the order of the matings. Heterospecific sperm fertilize fewer eggs after these double matings than after single matings. Experiments using spermless males show that the seminal fluid of the conspecific male is largely responsible for this conspecific sperm precedence. Moreover, when two males of the same species mate sequentially with a female from a different species, a highly variable pattern of sperm precedence replaces the second-male sperm precedence that is consistently found within species. These results indicate that females mediate sperm competition, and that second-male sperm precedence is not an automatic consequence of the mechanics of sperm storage.
Latent scurvy is characterized by a reversible atherosclerosis that closely resembles the clinical form of this disease. Acute scurvy is characterized by microvascular complications such as widespread capillary hemorrhaging. Vitamin C (ascorbate) is required for the synthesis of collagen, the protein most critical in the maintenance of vascular integrity. We suggest that in latent scurvy, large blood vessels use modified LDL--in particular lipoprotein(a)--in addition to collagen to maintain macrovascular integrity. By this mechanism, collagen is spared for the maintenance of capillaries, the sites of gas and nutrient exchange. The foam-cell phenotype of atherosclerosis is identified as a mesenchymal genetic program, regulated by the availability of ascorbate. When vitamin C is limited, foam cells develop and induce oxidative modification of LDL, thereby stabilizing large blood vessels via the deposition of LDL. The structural similarity between vitamin C and glucose suggests that hyperglycemia will inhibit cellular uptake of ascorbate, inducing local vitamin C deficiency.
Cell suspensions of normal adult rad adrenals have been prepared by trypsinization and incubated in Ham's nutrient mixture F10 containing horse serum, fetal calf serum, and lima bean trypsin inhibitor. In most experiments culture medium was not changed during incubation. In this system the number of cells fell to 50% after 2 days, then slowly declined to 20% after 1 month of incubation. A corticosterone (B) response was seen to as little as 5 muU of ACTH per millilitre, a concentration which is within the range found in normal rat serum. With maximal stimulation (100 mU ACTH/ml) the rate of accumulation was highest during the first 24 h then slowly decreased over the following 9 days. When in separate experiments ACTH was added after various times of incubation up to 3 weeks, there was a B response which continued for as long as 1 week after the ACTH was added; the later the time at which ACTH was added the lesser was the initial B response and the longer the lag period before a substantial response occurred. In cell suspensions in medium containing 5.0 mequiv. of K+ per litre, aldosterone content increased for approximately 24 h, then showed little or no change over the next 9 days. With increased K+ concentration, aldosterone was found in greater amounts and accumulation continued for longer periods, both without and with ACTH. This adrenal cell system appears suitable for long term study of factors affecting steroidogenesis.
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