Vital Reserve Research Articles

Age and Sex Differences in the Genetic Architecture of Measures of Subjective Health: Relationships With Physical Health, Depressive Symptoms, and Episodic Memory.

Subjective health (SH) is not just an indicator of physical health, but also reflects active cognitive processing of information about one's own health and has been associated with emotional health measures, such as neuroticism and depression. Behavior genetic approaches investigate the genetic architecture of SH, that is, genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in SH and associations with potential components such as physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Previous twin analyses have been limited by sex, sample size, age range, and focus on single covariates. The current analysis used data from 24,173 adults ranging in age from 40 to 90 years from the international Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies consortium to investigate the genetic architecture of 3 measures of SH: self-rated health, health compared to others, and impact of health on activities. Independent pathways model of SH included physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory, with age, sex, and country included as covariates. Most or all of the genetic variance for SH measures were shared with physical health, depressive symptoms, and episodic memory. Genetic architecture of SH differed across measures, age groups (40-65, 66-90), and sexes. Age comparisons indicated stronger correlations with all 3 covariates in older adults, often resulting from greater shared genetic variance. The predictive value of SH has been amply demonstrated. The higher genetic contributions to associations between SH and its components in older adults support the increasing conceptualization with age of SH as an intuitive summation of one's vital reserve.

Comparative analysis of open versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A comparative study

Background and Aim: Gallstone disease (GSD or Cholelithiasis) is a significant health problem both worlds over (in both developing and developed nations). Earlier open cholecystectomy was the gold standard for treatment of stones in the gall bladder. The classical open cholecystectomy (OC) and the minimally invasive laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) are two alternative operations for removal of the gallbladder. The aim of the present study is to analyze the comparing Laparoscopic cholecystectomy and open cholecystectomy for cholecystitis. Material and Methods: The present study was a comparative prospective randomized study done in a period of one year in the department of general surgery at tertiary care Institute of India. The study pool comprised of 140 subjects, divided in two groups of 70 subjects each. The division was done on the basis of the procedure to be employed for cholecystectomy viz LC or OC. Pain was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS). Blood loss was calculated using by gravimetric method by swab weighing. Results: There were statistically significant differences among the average age between males and females of the study population. There was no statistical difference in the chief complaints between the two groups. In terms of operative characteristics, it was evident that the blood loss was statistically higher in open cholecystectomy cases. The commonest post-operative complication observed was nausea and vomiting, followed by abdominal distension, jaundice, wound infection and bleeding. The complications were higher among the open cholecystectomy cases. Conclusion: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a safe procedure in elderly patients, with no increased risk of complications compared with the open procedure. The recovery is faster and the hospitals stay, shorter. It is important the correctly assess the cardiovascular surgical risk, since this group of patients have lower vital reserve, being more sensitive to surgical trauma.

Perspectives on The Soviet Union and the Horn of Africa during the Cold War

Perspectives on <i>The Soviet Union and the Horn of Africa during the Cold War</i>

Norepinephrine control of ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus glucoregulatory neurotransmitter expression in the female rat: Role of monocarboxylate transporter function

The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) is a critical component of the neural circuitry that regulates glucostasis. Astrocyte glycogen is a vital reserve of glucose and its oxidizable metabolite L-lactate. In hypoglycemic female rats, estradiol-dependent augmentation of VMN glycogen phosphorylase (GP) protein requires hindbrain catecholamine input. Research here investigated the premise that norepinephrine (NE) regulation of VMN astrocyte metabolism shapes local glucoregulatory neurotransmitter signaling in this sex. Estradiol-implanted ovariectomized rats were pretreated by intra-VMN administration of the monocarboxylate transporter inhibitor alpha-cyano-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid (4CIN) or vehicle before NE delivery to that site. NE caused 4CIN-reversible reduction or augmentation of VMN glycogen synthase and phosphorylase expression. 4CIN prevented NE stimulation of gluco-inhibitory (glutamate decarboxylase65/67) and suppression of gluco-stimulatory (neuronal nitric oxide synthase) neuron marker proteins. These outcomes imply that effects of noradrenergic stimulation of VMN astrocyte glycogen depletion on glucoregulatory transmitter signaling may be mediated, in part, by glycogen-derived substrate fuel provision. NE control of astrocyte glycogen metabolism may involve down-regulated adrenoreceptor (AR), e.g. alpha1 and alpha2, alongside amplified beta1 AR and estrogen receptor-beta signaling. Noradrenergic hypoglycemia was refractory to 4CIN, implying that additional NE-sensitive VMN glucoregulatory neurochemicals may be insensitive to monocarboxylate uptake. Augmentation of circulating free fatty acids by combinatory NE and 4CIN, but not NE alone implies that acute hypoglycemia induced here is an insufficient stimulus for mobilization of these fuels, but is adequate when paired with diminished brain monocarboxylate fuel availability.

Low birth rates and reproductive skew limit the viability of Europe’s captive eastern black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis michaeli

Ex situ populations play a critical role for the conservation of endangered species, especially where in situ populations face imminent threats. For such populations to act as vital reserves, they must be viable and sustainable. Eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) epitomise the delicate nature of conservation, as a steady increase in the in situ population over the last two decades is threatened to reverse due to intense poaching pressures on rhinoceros across sub-Saharan Africa. This study utilized population viability analysis to evaluate the demographic and genetic viability of the European captive population of eastern black rhinoceros, and compared demographic parameters to in situ reference populations. Although self-sustaining, the ex situ population performs poorly relative to in situ counterparts, growing at a rate of only 1–2 % per annum compared to 6–8 % for managed wild populations. Captive females start reproducing later, have longer inter-calving intervals, and a lower proportion breed each year. Furthermore, over 40 % of reproductive-age animals have yet to reproduce, with additional implications for the maintenance of genetic diversity. Pedigree analysis highlights the unequal contribution of wild-caught founders to the current population; 69 % of which have no living descendants, and more than a third of the current population are related to five founders. This results in a current genome equivalent of just 13.39 equally reproducing founders. Although reproductive skew is not unusual in wild populations, it severely undermines efforts to maintain genetic and phenotypic diversity in captive breeding programmes. We suggest that understanding and alleviating the causes of reproductive skew must be an important consideration for small population management to maintain the genetic and demographic viability of ex situ populations.

Flux of dissolved organic carbon from U.K. rivers

The rise in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere in recent decades has been taken as indicative of increased turnover of terrestrial carbon and in particular in the vital reserve of peat. Hypotheses for this rise have been hotly debated in the literature. This study proposes that, although trends in concentration have been the main focus of attention, it is trends in DOC flux that need to be examined to understand changes in terrestrial carbon storage. This study uses data from 208 rivers over the period 1975–2003 to calculate the trend of DOC flux from Great Britain. The DOC flux peaks at 1.68 Mt C/yr, or an export of 6.6 tonnes C/km2/yr. The trend in flux is inconsistent with the pattern of atmospheric deposition, but regression analysis shows that the major control is hydrological throughput followed by an underlying upward, linear temporal trend. There is a small but significant effect ascribable to drought and storage effects. This suggests that there is additional biogeochemical production as a result of drought but that the overwhelming control in DOC flux is controlled by hydrological throughput overprinting an underlying increase in trend in DOC production. The underlying trend is consistent with increases in air temperature and or atmospheric CO2.

Designing the Electric Body: Sexuality, Masculinity and the Electric Belt in America, 1880 1920

Electric belts, devices typically overlooked by historians of both medicine and technology, offer important evidence that the motifs of electric energy and powerful bodies used in deco design of the 1920s were part of an actual attempt to add physical power to the body through electricity in the early twentieth century. In spite of their limited medicinal value, belts sold heartily between their introduction in the 1890s and their demise in the 1920s, primarily because they offered a method by which electrical energy could add to the body's vital reserves and overcome what were perceived to be masturbation's depleting effects. In doing so, they helped, primarily, male consumers understand technology as the means by which their bodies could achieve the physical power necessary to meet the modern era's public and private physical demands.

Methanotrophs for Clean-Up of Polluted Aquifers

Aquifers are vital reserves of drinking water which are under threat from pollution. Particular problems are posed by chlorinated compounds such as pesticides and solvents which native microbial populations are unable to degrade. Pump and treat regimes have proved unsuccessful since pollutants remain adsorbed to sediments but a possible solution is the use of introduced microorganisms to degrade pollutants in-situ. It is suggested that methanotrophs may be suitable candidates. Methanotrophs have an extraordinary range of degradative powers due to the non-specificity of their methane mono-oxygenase enzyme. We have shown that Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b is capable of degrading many common chlorinated pollutants co-metabolically when it is grown in a copper-depleted, oxygen-rich medium at neutral pH. In the subsurface however, such conditions do not exist and cultures grown in a medium made with untreated Cambridge aquifer water have a reduced range of degradative powers compared to similar cells grown in a medium made with distilled water. This means that to use methanotrophs for aquifer clean-up, the cells may need to be cultured above ground in ideal conditions and then introduced by some method of injection or infiltration. This may be possible because the degradative reactions are not coupled to growth and Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b cells maintain pollutant degrading ability up to 19 days after they have stopped growing. A suspension of these cells may thus be treated as a biocatalyst.

Notes for a Theology of Liberation

T GET at the theological meaning of liberation, we first have to define our terms. That will make up the first part of this article. It will permit us to emphasize that in these pages we are particularly sensitive to the critical function of theology regarding the Church's presence and activity in the world. The principal fact about that presence today, especially in underdeveloped countries, is the participation by Christians in the struggle to construct a just and fraternal society in which men can live in dignity and be masters of their own destinies. We think that the word development does not well express those profound aspirations. Liberation seems more exact and richer in overtones; besides, it opens up a more fertile field for theological reflection. The situation of Latin America, the only continent of underdeveloped and oppressed peoples who are in a majority Christians, is particularly interesting for us. An effort to describe and interpret the Church's ways of being present there will enable us to pose the fundamental question upon which we can then turn our theological reflection. That will make up the second part of this article. This will permit us to see that asking the theological meaning of liberation is really asking the meaning of Christianity itself and the Church's mission. There used to be a time when the Church answered problems by calmly appealing to its doctrinal and vital reserves. Today, however, the gravity and scope of the process we call liberation is such that Christian belief and the Church itself are called radically in question. They are asked what right they have to address the mighty human task now before us. A few paragraphs will allow us to outline that problem, or rather to state, without attempting to answer them, the new questions.

Pharmacological action of sodium amytal; including a study of its effects upon respiration and circulation in relation to local, regional, and general anesthesia

Pharmacological action of sodium amytal; including a study of its effects upon respiration and circulation in relation to local, regional, and general anesthesia