Weeks In Areas Research Articles

Tomato flu/fever - An analysis of the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak reported in India.

The term “Tomato Flu” or “Tomato Fever” is the colloquial term in India used to describe multiple diseases that present with a fever and rash, with characteristic red, “tomato” shaped blister that appears on different parts of the body, which begin small and increase in size as disease progresses. Some controversy exists on this ‘new viral “flu” that emerged in May 2022 over a period of 2 weeks in areas in the south of India. Currently, local healthcare workers have been encouraged to address the disease as a variant of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease to avoid unnecessary panic on the emergence of a “new outbreak”. With the circulation of other viruses, inadequate testing and poor-quality surveillance in a low resource setting, where healthcare systems are already burdened with ongoing monkeypox outbreak and COVID-19 pandemic, the use of colloquial terms may cause unnecessary panic in the current hypervigilant climate. Confirmation from Government is required to confirm whether this outbreak is due to a mixed infection or a variant of the highly infectious Hand Foot and Mouth Disease virus.

Identifying early pathogenic events during vascular calcification in uremic rats

Vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease is a very complex process traditionally explained in multifactorial terms. Here we sought to clarify relevance of the diverse agents acting on vascular calcification in uremic rats and distinguish between initiating and complicating factors. After 5/6 nephrectomy, rats were fed a 1.2% phosphorus diet and analyzed at different time points. The earliest changes observed in the aortic wall were noticed 11 weeks after nephrectomy: increased Wnt inhibitor Dkk1 mRNA expression and tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) expression and activity. First deposits of aortic calcium were observed after 12 weeks in areas of TNAP expression. Increased mRNA expressions of Runx2, BMP2, Pit1, Pit2, HOXA10, PHOSPHO1, Fetuin-A, ANKH, OPN, Klotho, cathepsin S, MMP2, and ENPP1 were also found after TNAP changes. Increased plasma concentrations of activin A and FGF23 were observed already at 11 weeks post-nephrectomy, while plasma PTH and phosphorus only increased after 20 weeks. Plasma pyrophosphate decreased after 20 weeks, but aortic pyrophosphate was not modified, nor was the aortic expression of MGP, Msx2, several carbonic anhydrases, osteoprotegerin, parathyroid hormone receptor-1, annexins II and V, and CD39. Thus, increased TNAP and Dkk1 expression in the aorta precedes initial calcium deposition, and this increase is only preceded by elevations in circulating FGF23 and activin A. The expression of other agents involved in vascular calcification only changes at later stages of chronic kidney disease, in a complex branching pattern that requires further clarification.

Harvest of Superficial Layers of Fat With a Microcannula and Isolation of Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal and Vascular Cells

Adipose tissue is a source of stromal and vascular cells suitable for regenerative medical applications. Cell recovery depends on several factors, including the characteristics of the cannula used to harvest tissue. The authors assess whether aspiration of superficial layers of adipose tissue performed with a microcannula, rather than a standard cannula, allows for improved isolation of stromal and vascular cells, and they evaluate the angiogenic potential of the isolated cells in vitro and in vivo. Adipose-derived stromal and stem cells (ADSC) were collected from the lipoaspirate of the abdomen and hip regions of 6 healthy female donors. For adipose tissue harvest, several options were compared: (1) a rounded-tip cannula with a length of 170 mm, a diameter of 3 mm, and a single elliptic suction port on the side near its distal end (port diameter: 3 × 9 mm) or (2) a rounded-tip infiltration cannula with a length of 170 mm, a diameter of 2 mm, and 5 round ports placed spirally along the sides of the distal cannula shaft (each port diameter: 1 mm) (Shipper Medical Technologies Corporation, Centennial, Colorado). Isolated cells were characterized for (1) expression of the endothelial specific marker CD31 by immunohistochemical and cytofluorimetric analyses and (2) tubular-like structure formation using a 3-dimensional angiogenesis assay on Matrigel. Human ADSC were transduced to express firefly luciferase as a marker suitable for bioluminescent tracking and transplantation studies into immunosuppressed mice were performed. ADSC yield was determined to be significantly higher in samples collected with the microcannula (P = .04). Moreover, isolated cells acquired typical endothelial-like morphology in vitro, formed capillary-like structures, and expressed the distinctive endothelial cell marker CD31. Cells implanted into immunosuppressed mice persisted for several weeks in areas undergoing neovascularization. These results suggest that aspiration of adipose tissue with a microcannula can be a minimally invasive method to obtain clinically relevant numbers of stromal and vascular cells useful for autologous transplant procedures and for promoting tissue regeneration and neovascularization.

The treatment of enteric fever

The treatment of enteric fever

Rayon Flock: A New Cause of Respiratory Morbidity in a Card Processing Plant

Following employee respiratory concerns, we investigated the health effects of rayon flock exposure at a card manufacturing plant. We conducted a cross-sectional survey including environmental evaluation, standardized questionnaires, spirometry, carbon monoxide diffusing capacity testing, and methacholine challenge testing. From a total of 239 participants, 146 (61%) reported working at least 1 hr per week in areas where flock-coated cards are processed (flock workers) and 47 (20%) reported cleaning equipment with compressed air. These workers had generally higher prevalences of respiratory symptoms. Flock workers and employees with longer tenure at areas where flock-coated cards are processed were more likely to have restrictive impairment of lung function. Although dust and fiber samples were largely below the detection limits, peak exposures to airborne particulate occurred during cleaning with compressed air. Working with rayon flock and cleaning with compressed air were associated with health effects in workers at this plant.

A Comparison Study of Nonanoic Acid and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in Skin Irritation

The cutaneous response to irritants can be influenced by various factors including the characteristic of irritants, the mode of exposure, environmental and host-related factors. It has been suggested that irritants can be divided into two types: corrosive and noncorrosive. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) has been considered as a typical corrosive irritant and nonanoic acid (NAA) an example of a noncorrosive irritant. We applied SLS and NAA solutions on the volar forearm skin for 24 h and measured transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and erythema indices to evaluate some differences in the profile of irritant reaction and skin functions between corrosive and noncorrosive irritation. In our study of TEWL measurements, SLS solutions caused higher TEWL values than NAA solutions, and the slope of the SLS curve was steeper than that of the NAA curve in relation to the concentrations of SLS and NAA. There was a tendency for the TEWL values to plateau at higher NAA concentrations. In the study of the time course of TEWL and erythema indices, TEWL values returned to baseline after 3 weeks in areas patch-tested with 50% NAA, but they did not recover baseline values until 3 weeks in the corresponding areas tested with 5% SLS. However, both SLS and NAA solutions showed a very similar pattern of erythema indices. Our data suggest that skin injuries induced by SLS might need a more prolonged recovery time for TEWL than NAA injuries. SLS, the corrosive irritant, showed a different pattern of cutaneous functional change compared with NAA, the noncorrosive irritant. NAA could also be considered as one of the model irritants in a study of irritant contact dermatitis using a noncorrosive irritant.

Accounting for What Counts

o Child Left Behind legislation makes it clear that outside evaluators determine what gets taught in the classroom. must ensure they measure what truly counts in school. This fact is poignantly and sadly true for the under funded, poorly resourced, low schools that may be hammered by administration accountants in the near future. However, the discrepancy between teaching and testing is equally important for high performing special schools, such as the North Carolina Governor's School. These schools serve the top ranked students of our nation. Although state or federal regulations do not drive the Governor's School's curriculum, we used it as a test case to measure if one special program was having the intended impact--a matter not often counted. At the North Carolina Governor's School, a six-week residential program gives bright students an opportunity to deepen and expand their academic knowledge through exposure to new points of view and divergent ways of thinking. The program is designed to challenge intelligent and highly motivated twelfth graders to think analytically, critically, and creatively about themselves and the ideas they encounter. The Governor's School's unique curriculum includes intensive work in Area I, II, and III courses. Area I includes advanced course study. Half of Governor's School's four hundred students choose one of five core academic areas. The other half does intense creative work in the arts. Students attend Area I classes five days a week for seventy-five minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon, plus once again on Saturday. In addition to their specialized study in Area I, students attend three classes each week in Area II. Area II examines the relationships between special fields of knowledge and considers the varied epistemological stances of the ten disciplines. Students attend another three classes in Area III, focusing on self-knowledge and exploration of individual values and social constructs. The faculty and staff are aware of the substantial impact this special curriculum has on most of the students who attend each summer. Parents also know because their returning sons and daughters offer glowing testimony about the summer experience. Students overwhelmingly (95 percent) describe the program on their final evaluations as one of the most powerful experiences in their lives (Milner 2002). The Director of the Morehead Foundation, who interviews exceptional students from all of North Carolina's schools, concurs: We know for certain that many Morehead Scholars have benefited greatly from their Governor's School experience. I personally have heard hundreds of Morehead candidates identify it as the most important intellectual experience of their high school careers (Lovelace 2002). play a major role in shaping these students' intellectual lives but have not obtained quantitative data to substantiate the success we believe we achieve. This past summer we decided to find ways to measure the Governor's School's life-changing quality. Our students were selected in part because they did well at their regular schools and had high intellectual potential. But we wanted to reach further, to see how the core of their thinking had been changed by the experience. For years, Robert Sternberg (1997) has celebrated a triarchic model of intelligence that offers a broader measure of intellect than mere analytical capacity. He believes we

The mesoscale sediment transport due to technical activities in the deep sea

This paper presents a mesoscale model for sediment transport in the deep sea resulting from technical activities such as manganese nodule mining. The model includes the temporal variability of ambient currents, the modification of the water density due to suspended sediments (density driven flow), bottom boundary-layer effects, and the influence of flocculation on the sediment settling velocity. It yields the three-dimensional sediment concentration and the bottom blanketing for time periods of up to a few weeks in areas of up to a few hundred square kilometers. The model also allows simulation of the mobilization, sorption and the transport of heavy metals. Two applications are presented. One treats the sediment transport during the NOAA Benthic Impact Experiment. The other is concerned with dispersion of heavy metals, including the interaction with suspended sediment in the Disturbance and Recolonization Experiment Experimental Area. The model is highly sophisticated with regard to the processes and numerical methods. Nevertheless, a final conclusion concerning the quantification of its prognostic capability for industrial scale operations cannot presently be drawn because of the lack of complete and coherent data sets.

Flood and velocity effects on periphyton and silt accumulation in two New Zealand rivers

Effects of water velocity on the accumulation of periphyton and silt were investigated in two unenriched rivers (Tongariro and West Kowai Rivers) of New Zealand. Artificial substrata were incubated for up to 5 weeks in areas of moderate (0.2–0.5 m s−1) and high (0.6–0.9 m s−1) velocity. In the Tongariro River, periphyton accrual was significantly higher in moderate velocities than in high velocities, but not in the West Kowai River. The accumulation of silt was significantly higher under the moderate velocity treatment in both rivers. Silt densities were closely correlated with periphyton chlorophyll a and stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that periphyton biomass was a more significant determinant of silt densities than water velocity. Neither chlorophyll a nor silt densities showed any significant variation with depth within the ranges measured (0.2–0.6 m). Several floods occurred during the study period and these, together with water velocities greater than c. 0.3 m s−1, tended to affect periphyton ash‐free dry mass (AFDM) and silt more than they affected chlorophyll a. It appeared that growing periphyton were resisting the effects of high shear stress and that unattached inorganic and organic particles were flushed from the periphyton matrix during higher flows. Spatial variation in periphyton and silt accrual as functions of velocity and depth were too variable to be useful for prediction of abundance and distribution using hydraulic‐habitat models.

Early postnatal development of cholecystokinin-immunoreactive structures in the visual cortex of the cat.

The early postnatal development of cholecystokinin-immunoreactive (CCK-ir) neurons was analyzed in visual areas 17 and 18 of cats aged from postnatal day 0 to adulthood. Neurons were classified mainly by axonal criteria. According to their chronology of appearance neurons are grouped into three neuronal populations. The first population consists of five cell types which appear perinatally in areas 17 and 18. Four of them have axons terminating in layer VI. Neurons with columnar dendritic fields of layers IV and V display a conspicuous dendritic arborization with the long dendrites always arranged parallel to each other. This way they form a vertically oriented dendritic column. The neurons differentiate at around P 2 and are present until the end of the second postnatal week. They disappear possibly by degeneration and cell death. Multipolar neurons of layer VI have long dendrites and axonal domains of up to 800 micron in diameter. Three percent of these neurons send out two axons instead of only one. Neurons differentiate at P 0 and the cell type persists into adulthood. Bitufted to multipolar neurons of layer V constitute a frequent type; 10% of these cells issue two axons. They differentiate at P 2 and the type survives into adulthood. Bitufted to multipolar neurons of layers II/III appear at P 2 and send their axons into layer VI. So, early postnatally an axonal connection from superficial cortical layers to layer VI is established. The cell type persists into adulthood. The fifth cell type of the first population is constituted by the neurons of layer I with intralaminar axons which differentiate at P 2. Although they derive from the early marginal zone, the cell type survives into adulthood. The second population consists of two cell types which appear around the end of the second and during the third postnatal week in areas 17 and 18. Multipolar neurons of layer II have horizontally or obliquely arranged basket axons which, during the second postnatal month, form patches of high fiber and terminal density along the layer I/II border. Neurons with descending main axons issuing horizontal and oblique collaterals of layers II-IV form broad axonal fields. The third population in area 17 is constituted by three cell types: Bitufted neurons with axons descending in form of loose bundles of layers II/III differentiate during the fifth postnatal week. Small basket cells of layers II/III with locally restricted axonal plexuses and somewhat larger basket cells of layer IV appear during the sixth and seventh week.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Incubation time of epidemic polyarthritis.

The incubation time of epidemic polyarthritis was estimated in 20 patients with evidence of Ross River virus infection after spending less than three weeks in areas of risk. The smallest estimate consistent with all cases was a range of seven to nine days.

FORMATION OF GIANT NUCLEI IN CONTINUOUSLY IRRADIATED TUMORS.

Transplantable malignant tumors of mice and rats have been irradiated continuously for several days by means of embedded glass beads containing Sr90-Y90. Concomitant enlargement of tumor cell nuclei occurs in areas where mitosis is inhibited, i.e. associated with doses of 1200–2000 rads per day and above. Some enlarged cells survive at least a week in areas where the dose rate is much higher than this. Intense incorporation of thymidine into enlarged cells can be seen at least a week after beginning irradiation.