Reflexive Relationship Research Articles

Study of the effect of external urethral sphincter contraction on the mechanical activity of the ureterovesical junction and urinary bladder: recognition of the sphinctero-ureterovesical reflex

Objectives To study the effect of external urethral sphincter (EUS) contraction on the urinary bladder and ureterovesical junction (UVJ). Methods The study was comprised of 9 healthy volunteers (7 men, 2 women; mean age 40.8 ± 6.6 years). A manometric catheter was introduced into each of the two UVJs and urinary bladder. The EUS was made to contract by voluntary squeezing and by electromyographic stimulation with a needle electrode inserted into the sphincter. The response of the bladder and the UVJs to EUS contraction was determined before and after anesthetization of the EUS, bladder, and the two UVJs, each at a different time. Results On voluntary squeezing or electromyographic needle stimulation of the EUS, the pressure in both the UVJs and the urinary bladder showed a significant drop ( P < 0.05 in both instances). There was no pressure response in the UVJs or in the urinary bladder 10 minutes after separate anesthetization of either the EUS or the UVJs and the bladder; however, 2 hours later, the pressure response was similar to that before anesthesia ( P > 0.05). Conclusions Bladder and UVJ relaxation on EUS contraction postulate a reflex relationship that was reproducible and absent on anesthetization of either of the suggested two arms of the reflex: the EUS on one end and the bladder and UVJs on the other end. We call this reflex the “sphinctero-ureterovesical reflex.” Further studies are needed to evaluate the possible role of this reflex in the micturition mechanism and disorders.

Deflation reflex: description and clinical significance.

During our study of the defecation mechanism, we found that the external anal sphincter contracted not only upon rectal inflation but also upon deflation. As this reflex relationship was reproducible, it was studied to elucidate its clinical significance in the light of its function. A catheter with a condom at its end was introduced into the rectum of 16 healthy volunteers (mean age 45.2 years). The EMG response of the external anal sphincter to rapid rectal inflation and deflation was studied by means of a concentric needle electrode inserted into the muscle. The procedure was repeated in eight subjects after sphincter infiltration with xylocaine or saline. The external sphincter contracted twice on rectal distension: once on inflation and another time on deflation. The amplitude increased and latency decreased with increasing rectal inflation, while neither was affected on deflation. The anesthetized sphincter did not respond, while the saline-infiltrated sphincter responded to rectal distension. The deflation reflex functions to interrupt or terminate the act of defecation. It may prove of diagnostic significance in defecation disorders.

Tiling design patterns—a case study using the interpreter pattern

This paper explains how patterns can be used to describe the implementation of other patterns. It is demonstrated how certain design patterns can describe their own design. This is a fundamental reflexive relationship in pattern relationships. The process of assembling patterns by other patterns is named pattern tiling. Tiling enables us to interweave simple understood concepts of patterns into their complex real-life implementation. Several pattern tilings for the Interpreter design pattern are illustrated.

Bodies and Spaces: An Exploration of Disabled People's Experiences of Public Space

In this paper we consider the ways in which concepts of and attitudes towards ‘disability’ affect disabled people's ability to move freely within public spaces. We first set the paper in context by briefly discussing recent developments in and ongoing debates on the conceptualisation of disability which have accompanied the growing disability rights movement. Next we examine feminist literature relating to the links between biology and the body and the social status of women and draw out parallels for the analysis of disabled people's social situation. We then discuss a possible framework for the analysis of disabled people's experience of public space. Finally, to illustrate the reflexive relationship between bodily and social experience, we draw on in-depth interview material from a case study of visually impaired people in Reading and Leeds, England.

Chronic ANG II infusion and reflex control of norepinephrine and corticosterone in conscious rabbits.

The hypothesis that long-term increases in angiotensin II (ANG II) produce pressure-independent resetting of baroreflex control of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis was tested in rabbits by determining the effect of chronic ANG II infusion on reflex relationships between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) and corticosterone (CS). After 2 wk, ANG II increased MAP from 61 +/- 1 to 99 +/- 2 mmHg (P < 0.05) without altering heart rate or plasma NE concentration, but increased CS from 9.8 +/- 1.3 to 29.5 +/- 13.7 ng/ml (P < 0.05). Heart rate, NE, and CS baroreflex curves were all reset to a higher pressure level (P < 0.05) after 24 h, 1 wk, and 2 wk of ANG II. Forty minutes after stopping ANG II on the same days, MAP decreased, and curves were shifted back toward control (P < 0.05), indicating that ANG II was required for the resetting. Two findings suggest that the resetting action ofANG II is distinct from the pressor effect. First, although stopping ANG II reversed the hypertension as it reversed the resetting, reversal of the hypertension instead by prolonged infusion of nitroprusside along with ANG II did not have the same effect. Second, NE and heart rate baroreflex curves returned toward preinfusion positions after stopping ANG II (P < 0.05), even when the hypertension was nearly maintained by phenylephrine infusion. In conclusion, chronic increases in ANG II may have a global baroreflex resetting effect by a mechanism that is in part independent of the hypertension.

Coinciding Objects: Reply to Lowe and Denkel

1. Lowe is an advocate of what I call the 'standard account' of identity through time, an account developed mainly by Wiggins (1980). I, too, accept most of the elements of that account, including the absoluteness of identity, the essentiality of sort, the reality of the objects of our ordinary ontology, such as tables, stones, trees, cats, and cats' tails, the 3-dimensionality (rather than 4-dimensionality) of those objects, and the capacity of many of them to survive mereological change. I call it the 'standard' account both because of its popularity (see Burke 1992: 12-13, fn. 1) and because of its consistency with the metaphysic implicit in ordinary ways of thinking. There is one consequence of the standard account that many have found uncongenial, if not intolerable: that it is possible, indeed common, for one object to coincide with another. (As I use the term, objects 'coincide' just in case (a) they differ numerically, and (b) the whole of one wholly occupies the place wholly and simultaneously occupied by the whole of the other. I use 'coextension' and its cognates for the corresponding reflexive relationship. By an 'object' I mean an individual continuant.) In Burke 1992, I argue that coinciding objects indeed are intolerable and that the standard account is therefore untenable. In 1994a and 1994b, I offer an alternative. I dispense with coinciding objects, but without relativizing identity and without engaging in revisionist metaphysics, that is, without surrendering the elements of the standard account that are mentioned above.

Pelviureteral inhibitory reflex and ureteropelvic excitatory reflex: role of the two reflexes in regulation of urine flow from the renal pelvis to the ureter.

The mechanism by which the ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) regulates the passage of urine from the renal pelvis to the ureter, and prevents urinary backflow from the the ureter to the renal pelvis, is not completely understood. The current communication studies this mechanism in 18 dogs. With the dogs under anesthesia, nephrostomy was done through which two catheters (one pressure and one balloon-tipped) were introduced into the UPJ and the renal pelvis, respectively. Renal pelvis distension with a balloon filled with 1 ml of saline effected a rise of renal pelvic pressure from a mean basal pressure of 4.8 +/- 1.2 cm H2O to 6.9 +/- 2.3 cm H2O (P < 0.05). The basal UPJ pressure of 12.6 +/- 2.7 cm H2O showed no significant change with 1 ml distention of the renal pelvic balloon (P > 0.05). Renal pelvic distension with 2, 3, and 4 ml caused a significant rise of renal pelvic pressure to 8.4 +/- 2.7 (P < 0.05), 10.6 +/- 2.2 (P < 0.01), and 11.8 +/- 1.9 (P < 0.01) cm H2O, respectively, and a significant drop of UPJ pressure to 4.8 +/- 1.2, 4.7 +/- 1.1, and 4.6 +/- 1.2 cm H2O (P < 0.01), respectively. Ureteric distension with a balloon filled with 0.5 ml of saline significantly raised the ureteric pressure from a mean basal value of 4.3 +/- 1.4 cm H2O to 14.7 +/- 3.3 cm H2O (P < 0.01) and the UPJ pressure to a mean of 20.8 +/- 3.8 (P < 0.05). Ureteric distension with 1 and 1.5 ml of saline led to an elevation of ureteric and UPJ pressure which was not significantly different from that observed with distension with 0.5 ml (P > 0.05). In contrast, the UPJ showed no significant pressure change upon distension of the locally anesthetized renal pelvis or ureter, respectively. Likewise, the locally anesthetized UPJ exhibited no significant pressure response to renal pelvic or ureteric distension. The study demonstrates that urine might have to accumulate in the renal pelvis up to a certain volume and pressure so as to effect UPJ opening, which occurs at its maximum irrespective of the distending volume. UPJ opening upon renal pelvic distension postulates a reflex relationship which we call "pelviureteral inhibitory reflex." This reflex is believed to regulate the passage of urine from the renal pelvis to the ureter. Ureteric distension closes the UPJ; we call this reflex action the "ureteropelvic excitatory reflex" as it seems to prevent reflux of urine through the UPJ and thus protects the kidney. The concept that the UPJ acts as a physiologic sphincter is put forward.

Olfactory-Corporeal Reflex: Description of a New Reflex and Its Role in the Erectile Process

The dog approaches the bitch and smells the vulva. The relationship which seems to exist between a special smell in the bitch and sexual arousal in the male dog was investigated. 12 male dogs and 25 bitches were studied. The bitches were divided into five equal groups, each representing 1 of the 5 phases of the estrous cycle. A vaginal swab that soaked in the bitches' vaginal secretions was divided into two pieces: one was sent for estradiol and progesterone determination, and the other was smelt by the male dog. The responses of the intracorporeal pressure (IP) and the electromyographic activity of the bulbo- and ischiocavernosus (BC, IC) muscles of the male dog to the smelling of bitch's vaginal odor were assessed. The pressure response was also determined 10 min and 1 h after either the nasal mucosa or the corporeal tissue was anesthetized. Elevated IP was recorded in 12 of 12, 10 of 12 and 8 of 12 dogs smelling vaginal swabs of bitches in metestrus (p < 0.001), estrus (p < 0.001), and diestrus (p < 0.01), respectively. No pressure response occurred when the vaginal swab was smelt while the nasal mucosa or the corporeal tissue was anesthetized. The BC and IC muscles exhibited no response to smelling of the vaginal swab of bitches in any phase of the estrous cycle. The results were reproducible. The study showed that the IP increased with smelling of vaginal secretions containing high progesterone levels, whereas estradiol-17 beta did not effect IP elevations. The higher the progesterone level, the greater the IP. The increased IP is not due to BC and IC muscle contraction. It is postulated that a reflex relationship exists between IP elevation and olfactory stimulation. This reflex response was reproducible and was not evoked when the two arms of the reflex were anesthetized. We call this reflex 'olfactory-corporeal reflex'. This reflex seems to prime the male dog for sexual intercourse.

Ureterovesical junction inhibitory reflex and vesicoureteral junction excitatory reflex: description of two reflexes and their role in the ureteric antireflux mechanism.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the response of the ureterovesical junction (UVJ) to ureteric distension and to bladder filling with the aim of elucidating the mechanism of UVJ antireflux. The study was performed on 13 healthy volunteers [age 41.4 +/- 10.2 (SD) years; nine men, four women]. A ureteric catheter connected to a pressure transducer was introduced into the ureter proper. After recording the ureteric pressure, the catheter was withdrawn to the bladder, and the resting pressures in the UVJ and bladder were registered. The catheter was positioned in the UVJ and a 3F balloon-tipped ureteric catheter was introduced into the ureter proper and filled saline in increments of 1 ml. The pressure response of the ureter and UVJ to ureteric distension was recorded. The bladder was then filled with 400 ml saline at two rates, slow (10 ml/min) and rapid (150 ml/min), and UVJ pressure response was registered. The aforementioned tests were repeated after anesthetizing the UVJ, the bladder musculature surrounding the UVJ and the ureteric wall at the site of the ureteric distension, respectively. Ureteric distension of the lower 2-3 cm effected ureteric pressure elevation (P < 0.05) and a UVJ pressure drop (P < 0.05); no pressure response of the UVJ occurred upon ureteric distension above this level. Slow bladder filling induced an increase in the UVJ (P < 0.01) and vesical (P < 0.01) pressures only when vesical filling reached a mean of 219.6 +/- 79.4 ml and above. Upon rapid vesical filling the pressure response occurred at a smaller volume (136.6 +/- 52.3 ml). The pressure response did not occur when the UVJ was anesthetized. The study showed that lower ureteric distension was associated with a UVJ pressure drop. This reflex relationship, which we call the "ureterovesical junction inhibitory reflex," was reproducible and disappeared on anesthetizing the UVJ or ureter. Vesical filling above a certain volume induced a UVJ pressure increase which was reproducible and disappeared on anesthetizing the UVJ; we call this reflex relationship the "vesicoureteral junction excitatory reflex." These two reflexes seem to regulate the entry of urine from the ureters to the bladder and prevent ureteric reflux during bladder filling. In conclusion, two reflexes are identified that might contribute to the mechanism of UVJ antireflux.

NEGOTIATING POWER, IDENTITY, FAMILY, AND COMMUNITY

Women's community participation re(creates) community and identity. In this article, the author explores the collective identities that are built around motherhood, rape-crisis work, Latino empowerment, and political activism for 39 Anglo and 11 Latina women. The reflexive relationship between communities and identities in relation to class background, gender, age, generation, and race-ethnicity are examined. It is argued that women embrace—as well as negotiate—cultural expectations of mothers, homemakers, and elders through their community participation. The author explores work in the community as a venue for women to stretch across class-based interests and race-ethnic identities even while both influence women's community involvements. Finally, the often overlooked relationships between women's community participation and discourses of state responsibility for citizens are considered by indicating ways in which women channel state resources and expand the parameters of the needs and meaning of “community.”

The Fatal Flaw: A Narrative of the Fragile Body-Self

This article considers the way in which specific narrative forms can be utilized to explore the reflexive relationships between the body and self over time in ways that fuse the personal and the societal. It does so by providing moments from my own narrative of self that focus upon an interrupted body project and its impact upon my relationship to past, present, and future selves. In the telling, Iattempt to engage the reader by communicating the subjectivity of such moments in a provocative, disruptive, fragmented, and emotionally charged manner. My own narrative, its performative element, and its gendered nature are then considered in relation to the inevitable fragility of self-narratives in contemporary society. Finally, I discuss issues of access to specific narratives within a political economy of developmental opportunities, and the implications of this differential resourcing for who, and what, people can become.

Reflex relationships between the cervical esophagus and the respiratory system in cats

The present study focused on reflex relationships between the esophagus and the respiratory system in cats, namely the changes in airway tone and pulmonary circulation elicited by mechanical or acid (pH 2) stimulation of esophageal afferents. One-minute of sustained distension of the cervical esophagus increased tracheal pressure (P t r), decreased pulmonary artery pressure (P PA ) and to a higher extent pulmonary blood flow (Q PA ) and lowered arterial blood pressure (Pa). This was associated with significant variations in arterial blood gases (increased PaO 2 and decreased PaCO 2 ). Acid stimulation of the cervical esophagus caused a marked increase in PTT and a modest fall in QPA. In both circumstances, cervical bivagotomy abolished P t r changes, whereas the changes in pulmonary hemodynamics but not in Pa were then accentuated. Further cervical sympathectomy suppressed the vascular response. These observations show the existence of reflex influences of esophageal afferents on the control of airway tone and pulmonary vascular resistance. The vagus nerve is the efferent arm of the bronchomotor reflex whereas modulation of the sympathetic control of pulmonary circulation seems to be responsible for the changes in pulmonary hemodynamics.

Reflex relationships between the cervical esophagus and the respiratory system in cats

The present study focused on reflex relationships between the esophagus and the respiratory system in cats, namely the changes in airway tone and pulmonary circulation elicited by mechanical or acid (pH 2) stimulation of esophageal afferents. One-minute of sustained distension of the cervical esophagus increased tracheal pressure (P tr), decreased pulmonary artery pressure (P PA) and to a higher extent pulmonary blood flow (Q PA) and lowered arterial blood pressure (Pa). This was associated with significant variations in arterial blood gases (increased PaO 2 and decreased PaCO 2). Acid stimulation of the cervical esophagus caused a marked increase in PTT and a modest fall in QPA. In both circumstances, cervical bivagotomy abolished P tr changes, whereas the changes in pulmonary hemodynamics but not in Pa were then accentuated. Further cervical sympathectomy suppressed the vascular response. These observations show the existence of reflex influences of esophageal afferents on the control of airway tone and pulmonary vascular resistance. The vagus nerve is the efferent arm of the bronchomotor reflex whereas modulation of the sympathetic control of pulmonary circulation seems to be responsible for the changes in pulmonary hemodynamics.

Consumers, Identities, and Consumption Spaces in Early-Modern England

In this paper we consider practices of shopping in early modern (17th- and 18th-century) England, and various features of the spaces in which it occurred. We emphasise the density of retail shops in England; the reflexive relationships among ‘consumers’, shopkeepers, and consumption sites; and the inability of current theorisations based on the semiotics of advertising to address questions about consumers' understandings and identities in an age prior to widespread product advertising, department stores, and mass retail outlets. We contend that, then as now, peoples' interpretation of objects and identities involved practical, embodied knowledges rather than the sorts of explicit, intellectualised understandings central to most contemporary accounts of consumption. Such practical knowledges have been underresearched, and we point to some concepts in recent work which can assist in their theorising.

Cervico‐motor reflex: Description of the reflex and role in sexual acts

A recently identified reflex, termed the “cervico‐motor reflex,” was studied in 15 healthy women (mean age 36.6 years). The response of levator ani (LA) and puborectalis (PR) muscles to electrical and mechanical stimulation of the cervix uteri (CU) was determined. One concentric needle electrode was inserted into the CU (stimulating), a second into the LA (recording), and a third into the PR (recording). The vaginal pressure was measured at rest and on cervical stimulation by balloon‐tipped catheters. Electrical stimulation of the CU led to a reduction in pressure in the upper portion of the vagina (p < .05) and an increase in pressure in the middle and lower portions (p < .001). Stimulation also caused an increase in the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the LA and PR muscles (p < .01). Mechanical stimulation induced the same effects but to a lesser degree. Stimulation of the anesthetized CU, LA, or PR did not evoke the response. The data suggested the presence of a reproducible reflex relationship bet...

The ‘clitoromotor’ reflex

The effect of glans clitoris (GC) stimulation on the vagina, uterus and pelvic floor muscles (levator ani (LA) or pubococcygeus, puborectalis (PR)) was studied in 16 healthy volunteers (mean age 34.9 years). The GC was stimulated mechanically and electrically while recording the vaginal and uterine pressures and the electromyographic activity of PR and LA. Stimulation caused a drop in the uterine (P<0.001) and upper vaginal (P<0.05) pressures (1.6 and 2.9 cmH2O, respectively) and an increase in the middle (P<0.001) and lower (P<0.001) vaginal pressures (58.6 and 89.2 cmH2O, respectively). It also effected an increase of EMG activity in the PR (P<0.01) and LA (P<0.01). Response was greater with electrical than with mechanical stimulation (P<0.05). No response occurred upon stimulation of the anesthetized GC or the anesthetized PR or LA. The reproducibility of the PR and LA contraction on GC stimulation postulates a reflex relationship which we call the ‘clitoromotor reflex’. This induces uterovaginal changes that enhance the sexual response of both partners, and also prepares the uterus and vagina for the reproductive process. LA contraction pulls open and reduces the pressure in the upper vagina as well as elevating the cervix uteri. PR contraction constricts the middle and lower vagina and increases their pressure.

A survey of spinal dorsal horn neurones encoding the spatial organization of withdrawal reflexes in the rat.

The withdrawal reflex pathways to hindlimb muscles have an elaborate spatial organization in the rat. In short, the distribution of sensitivity within the cutaneous receptive field of a single muscle has a spatial pattern that is a mirror image of the spatial pattern of the withdrawal of the skin surface ensuing on contraction in the respective muscle. In the present study, a search for neurones encoding the specific spatial input-output relationship of withdrawal reflexes to single muscles was made in the lumbosacral spinal cord in halothane/nitrous oxide-anaesthetized rats. The cutaneous receptive fields of 147 dorsal horn neurones in the L4-5 segments receiving a nociceptive input and a convergent input from A and C fibres from the hindpaw were studied. The spatial pattern of the response amplitude within the receptive fields of 118 neurones was quantitatively compared with those of withdrawal reflexes to single muscles. Response patterns exhibiting a high similarity to those of withdrawal reflexes to single muscles were found in 27 neurones located in the deep dorsal horn. Twenty-six of these belonged to class 2 (responding to tactile and nociceptive input) and one belonged to class 3 (responding only to nociceptive input). None of the neurones tested (n = 20) with reflex-like response patterns could be antidromically driven from the upper cervical cord, suggesting that they were spinal interneurones. With some overlap, putative interneurones of the withdrawal reflexes to the plantar flexors of the digits, the plantar flexors of the ankle, the pronators, the dorsiflexors of the ankle, and a flexor of the knee, were found in succession in a mediolateral direction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Myocardial m-[123I]iodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy for the assessment of adrenergic cardiac innervation in patients with IDDM. Comparison with cardiovascular reflex tests and relationship to left ventricular function

Myocardial m-[123I]iodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy for the assessment of adrenergic cardiac innervation in patients with IDDM. Comparison with cardiovascular reflex tests and relationship to left ventricular function

Study of the response of the urinary bladder to stimulation of the cervix uteri and clitoris — The ‘genitovesical reflex’: An experimental study

There is a debate as to whether, during the sexual act, some women eject a fluid that could be urine. As a part of investigation into this subject, the effect of stimulation of the clitoris and cervix on urinary bladder pressure and external urethral sphincter (EUS) activity was studied in 12 bitches. The clitoris and cervix were stimulated both electrically and mechanically. Upon clitoral or cervical stimulation, the vesical pressure dropped (P<0.05) and the EMG activity of EUS increased; action potentials increased and latency decreased when the stimulation frequency increased. No fluid came out of the external urethral orifice or the vagina. Stimulation of the anesthetized clitoris and cervix effected no vesical pressure or EUS response. These results were reproducible. The study has shown that on clitoral and cervical stimulation, which closely simulates the conditions during coitus, the bladder neck was firmly closed by EUS contraction, whereas the vesical detrusor was relaxed. A constant and reproducible reflex relationship existed between the clitoris, or the cervix, and the urinary bladder, which the author calls the ‘genitovesical reflex’ and which probably acts to prevent urinary leak during coitus. The genitovesical reflex may prove to be of diagnostic significance in genitourinary disorders.

Utero-cervical inhibitory reflex. The description of a reflex and its clinical significance.

The functional relationship of the uterine corpus to the cervix was studied in 14 healthy women. The uterus was stimulated by an electro-myographic (EMG) needle electrode and the cervical pressure recorded by a balloon-tipped catheter. The test was repeated in seven women after the uterus had been anaesthetized. In the other seven patients, the response of both the uterine EMG and pressure to cervical dilatation was registered. The EMG needle electrode was then inserted into the cervix and the uterine pressure response to both stimulation and dilatation of the non-anaesthetized and anaesthetized cervix was recorded. Uterine muscle stimulation led to a cervical pressure drop from a mean of 15.8 +/- 6.6 to 5.3 +/- 2.2 cm H2O (P < 0.01). The cervical pressure did not respond to stimulation of the anaesthetized uterus. Cervical dilatation caused increase of the uterine pressure from a mean of 16.2 +/- 5.2 to 42.8 +/- 10.5 cm H2O (P < 0.01), whereas cervical stimulation effected a uterine pressure drop to a mean of 3.6 +/- 1.8 cm H2O (P < 0.01). Stimulation or dilatation of the anaesthetized cervix did not cause uterine pressure changes. The invariable cervical dilatation upon uterine stimulation suggests a reflex relationship which we have named 'utero-cervical inhibitory reflex' (UCIR). It seems that the reflex comes into action during labour and in conditions of uterine retention of blood or a dead ovum. Its impairment may interfere with cervical dilatation or lead to cervical incompetence. The UCIR could be included as an investigative tool in utero-cervical disorders.