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Biomedical subjects

G A Carpenter

Publications and source records attributed to G A Carpenter.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Air hygiene in a pullet house: effects of air filtration on aerial pollutants measured in vivo and in vitro.

1. The natural history of air hygiene in a pullet house was assessed at three-weekly intervals using a combination of in vitro and in vivo assays. The performance of an internal air filter was also examined as an experimental technique for providing clean air. 2. Overall, air hygiene was poor by comparison with occupational standards for human health. The mass concentrations of respirable and inspirable dust were 1.4 and 11.3 mg/m3 compared to human exposure limits of 5 and 10 mg/m3 respectively. The concentration of ammonia was typically about 20 ppm. 3. The majority (greater than 99%) of airborne particles were non-viable. Commensal bacteria from the skin were the most numerous airborne bacteria. Scopulariopsis and Aspergillus spp. were the most prevalent fungi recovered from the air and bird's lungs respectively. The concentrations of airborne and lung fungi were positively correlated with ammonia concentrations. 4. The differences between in vivo and in vitro assays of airborne microorganisms suggest that an aerosol sampler should be devised which better mimics the physical and biochemical environment of the respiratory tract.

Air Microbiology

A neural theory of circadian rhythms: split rhythms, after-effects and motivational interactions.

A neural theory of the circadian pacemaker within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) is used to explain parametric data about mammalian operant behavior. The intensity, duration, and patterning of ultradian activity-rest cycles and the duration of circadian periods due to parametric (LL) and nonparametric (LD) lighting regimes are simulated. Paradoxical data about split rhythms and after-effects are explained using homeostatic and nonhomeostatic neural mechanisms that modulate pacemaker activity. These modulatory mechanisms enable the pacemaker to adjust to pervasive changes in its lighting regime, as during the passage of seasons, and to ultradian changes in internal metabolic conditions. The model circadian mechanisms are homologous to mechanisms that model hypothalamically mediated appetitive behaviors, such as eating. The theory thus suggests that both circadian and appetitive hypothalamic circuits are constructed from similar neural components. Mechanisms of transmitter habituation, opponent feedback interactions between on-cells and off-cells, homeostatic negative feedback, and conditioning are used in both the circadian and the appetitive circuits. Output from the SCN circadian pacemaker is assumed to modulate the sensitivity of the appetitive circuits to external and internal signals by controlling their level of arousal. Both underarousal and overarousal can cause abnormal behavioral syndromes whose properties have been found in clinical data. A model pacemaker can also be realized as an intracellular system.

Animals

A neural theory of circadian rhythms: Aschoff's rule in diurnal and nocturnal mammals.

A neural model of the suprachiasmatic nuclei suggests how behavioral activity, rest, and circadian period depend on light intensity in diurnal and nocturnal mammals. These properties are traced to the action of light input (external zeitgeber) and an activity-mediated fatigue signal (internal zeitgeber) on the circadian pacemaker. Light enhances activity of the diurnal model and suppresses activity of the nocturnal model. Fatigue suppresses activity in both diurnal and nocturnal models. The asymmetrical action of light and fatigue in diurnal vs. nocturnal models explains the more consistent adherence of nocturnal mammals to Aschoff's rule, the consistent adherence of both diurnal and nocturnal mammals to the circadian rule, and the tendency of nocturnal mammals to lose circadian rhythmicity at lower light levels than diurnal mammals. The fatigue signal is related to the sleep process S of Borbély (Hum. Neurobiol. 1: 195-204, 1982.) and contributes to the stability of circadian period. Two predictions follow: diurnal mammals obey Aschoff's rule less consistently during a self-selected light-dark cycle than in constant light, and if light level is increased enough during sleep in diurnal mammals to compensate for eye closure, then Aschoff's rule will hold more consistently. The results are compared with those of Enright's model.

Animals

Which behavior does the lamprey central motor program mediate?

The isolated lamprey spinal cord, when bathed in 2 millimolar D-glutamic acid, will generate a pattern of motor neuron discharge that has generally been assumed to represent the central motor program for swimming. Motion pictures of behaving lampreys were analyzed by a computer algorithm to estimate undulatory movement parameters that could be directly compared with those generated during D-glutamate--induced undulations. The D-glutamate--induced movement parameters were significantly different from those observed during normal behaviors, including swimming, but accurately predicted the undulations produced by spinally transected adult lampreys.

Animals

An analysis of the mammalian ventricular action potential.

A Hodgkin-Huxley model for ventricular excitation is abstracted from electrophysiological data. A singular perturbation analysis of the 8-dimensional phase portrait of the model characterizes the role of calcium during the plateau phase of the ventricular action potential and demonstrates how the calcium refractory period prevents tetanization.

Action Potentials