Extracellular Hsp72 concentration relates to a minimum endogenous criteria during acute exercise-heat exposure

Extracellular heat-shock protein 72 (eHsp72) concentration increases during exercise-heat stress when conditions elicit physiological strain. Differences in severity of environmental and exercise stimuli have elicited varied response to stress. The present study aimed to quantify the extent of increased eHsp72 with increased exogenous heat stress, and determine related endogenous markers of strain in an exercise-heat model. Ten males cycled for 90 min at 50% O2peak in three conditions (TEMP, 20°C/63% RH; HOT, 30.2°C/51%RH; VHOT, 40.0°C/37%RH). Plasma was analysed for eHsp72 pre, immediately post and 24-h post each trial utilising a commercially available ELISA. Increased eHsp72 concentration was observed post VHOT trial (+172.4%) (P<0.05), but not TEMP (-1.9%) or HOT (+25.7%) conditions. eHsp72 returned to baseline values within 24hrs in all conditions. Changes were observed in rectal temperature (Trec), rate of Trec increase, area under the curve for Trec of 38.5°C and 39.0°C, duration Trec ≥ 38.5°C and ≥ 39.0°C, and change in muscle temperature, between VHOT, and TEMP and HOT, but not between TEMP and HOT. Each condition also elicited significantly increasing physiological strain, described by sweat rate, heart rate, physiological strain index, rating of perceived exertion and thermal sensation. Stepwise multiple regression reported rate of Trec increase and change in Trec to be predictors of increased eHsp72 concentration. Data suggests eHsp72 concentration increases once systemic temperature and sympathetic activity exceeds a minimum endogenous criteria elicited during VHOT conditions and is likely to be modulated by large, rapid changes in core temperature

Borderline personality disorder traits, social rejection, and risky behavior

The current study examined the moderating effect of social rejection on the association between borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits, assessed dimensionally, and risk-taking behavior. Undergraduate participants (n = 195) were randomly assigned to a social rejection or academic failure task in which they were asked to write about a time when they felt intensely socially rejected, or a time they experienced an academic failure, respectively. Participants then reported whether they engaged in risk-taking behavior (e.g., alcohol use, drug use, risky sexual behavior) immediately after or within a few days after the event they wrote about. In addition, behavioral risk-taking was indexed by performance on computerized analogue risk-taking tasks—the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A main effect of BPD traits was found for alcohol use, risky sexual behavior, drug use, other risk-taking behavior (e.g., reckless driving, self-injury), total risk-taking behavior (a composite sum of all self-reported risk-taking behavior scales), BART performance, and emotional reactions to the relived event. An interaction between rejection condition and level of BPD traits was found to predict alcohol use, risky sexual behavior, total self-reported risk-taking behavior, and the importance of the relived event. All IGT results were nonsignificant. Lastly, and contrary to expectation, a significant interaction between BPD traits and rejection in predicting Profile of Mood States Total Mood Disturbance was not found

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography for deep vein thrombosis

Background Ultrasound (US) has largely replaced contrast venography as the definitive diagnostic test for deep vein thrombosis (DVT). We aimed to derive a definitive estimate of the diagnostic accuracy of US for clinically suspected DVT and identify study-level factors that might predict accuracy. Methods We undertook a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of diagnostic cohort studies that compared US to contrast venography in patients with suspected DVT. We searched Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Database of Reviews of Effectiveness, the ACP Journal Club, and citation lists (1966 to April 2004). Random effects meta-analysis was used to derive pooled estimates of sensitivity and specificity. Random effects meta-regression was used to identify study-level covariates that predicted diagnostic performance. Results We identified 100 cohorts comparing US to venography in patients with suspected DVT. Overall sensitivity for proximal DVT (95% confidence interval) was 94.2% (93.2 to 95.0), for distal DVT was 63.5% (59.8 to 67.0), and specificity was 93.8% (93.1 to 94.4). Duplex US had pooled sensitivity of 96.5% (95.1 to 97.6) for proximal DVT, 71.2% (64.6 to 77.2) for distal DVT and specificity of 94.0% (92.8 to 95.1). Triplex US had pooled sensitivity of 96.4% (94.4 to 97.1%) for proximal DVT, 75.2% (67.7 to 81.6) for distal DVT and specificity of 94.3% (92.5 to 95.8). Compression US alone had pooled sensitivity of 93.8 % (92.0 to 95.3%) for proximal DVT, 56.8% (49.0 to 66.4) for distal DVT and specificity of 97.8% (97.0 to 98.4). Sensitivity was higher in more recently published studies and in cohorts with higher prevalence of DVT and more proximal DVT, and was lower in cohorts that reported interpretation by a radiologist. Specificity was higher in cohorts that excluded patients with previous DVT. No studies were identified that compared repeat US to venography in all patients. Repeat US appears to have a positive yield of 1.3%, with 89% of these being confirmed by venography. Conclusion Combined colour-doppler US techniques have optimal sensitivity, while compression US has optimal specificity for DVT. However, all estimates are subject to substantial unexplained heterogeneity. The role of repeat scanning is very uncertain and based upon limited data

Z-Set Unknotting in Large Cubes

We introduce a notion of a Z -set and prove various versions of Z -set unknotting theorems in the Tychonov cube of weight of r. These results are applied to the study of Sigma-products. In particular, we obtain a topological characterization of the space Sigma(, +) consisting of those points of the cube I + whose at most -coordinates differ from zero

Urban vegetation and the environmental health of sixteen global cities

Vegetation plays an important role in regulating the health of urban ecosystems (Sanders, 2004; Jim, 2004). Riparian zones, parks, nature reserves, and other forms of urban vegetation help minimize atmospheric and hydrologic pollution and reduce the urban heat island effect (Weng, 2003). In this study I used satellite imagery to classify and quantify vegetative cover for sixteen of the most populated cities on Earth. It was found that London England had the greatest percentage of urban vegetation with 53% while Karachi Pakistan had the least at 3.06%. The highest correlating physical variables with urban vegetation were year of origin (r² = -.602), population density (r²=.531) and latitude (r²=.215). Satellite imagery collected from NASA was analyzed to determine the percentage of vegetation cover in each of sixteen sample cities. The amount of vegetation recorded within the urban environments was dependent upon multiple variables. Climatic variables play a large role as habitat dictates vegetation cover. Physical independent variables including latitude, temperature, average annual rainfall, and elevation were tested for correlations with the dependent variable of urban vegetation. Further methods and analysis in this study include basic statistics, t-tests, and multiple step regression. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were utilized in this thesis to objectively measure vegetative and geographic variables within major global cities. Outside of physical variables, vegetation within the urban environment is largely determined by human decisions and behavior. Public planning, non-profit organizations, and private owners may have had more influence on the percentage of vegetation within urban environments than the restrictions of climatic variables. Further, the examination of physical and sociological variables in relation to urban vegetation is included in the discussion. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the academic field of geography specific to vegetation and environmental services in urban environments. Results may be a reference or guide to scholars, planners, developers, and residents of urban environments

Complemented Subspaces of Locally Convex Direct Sum of Banach Spaces

We show that a complemented subspace of a locally convex direct sum of an uncountable collection of Banach spaces is a locally convex direct sum of complemented subspaces of countable subsums. As a corollary we prove that a complemented subspace of a locally convex direct sum of arbitrary collection of l1(Gamma)-spaces is isomorphic to a locally convex direct sum of l1(Gamma)-spaces

Topological AE(0)-Groups

We investigate topological AE(0)-groups class of which contains the class of Polish groups as well as the class of all locally compact groups. We establish the existence of an universal AE(0)-group of a given weight as well as the existence of an universal action of AE(0)-group of a given weight on a AE(0)-space of the same weight. A complete characterization of closed subgroups of powers of the symmetric group S1 is obtained. It is also shown that every AE(0)-group is Baire isomorphic to the product of Polish groups. These results are obtained by using the spectral descriptions of AE(0)-groups which are presented in Section 3

Extraordinary Dimension Theories Generated by Complexes

We study the extraordinary dimension function dimL introduced by ? S?cepin. An axiomatic characterization of this dimension function is obtained. We also introduce inductive dimensions indL and IndL and prove that for separable metrizable spaces all three coincide. Several results such as characterization of dimL in terms of partitions and in terms of mappings into n-dimensional cubes are presented. We also prove the converse of the Dranishnikov-Uspenskij theorem on dimension-raising maps

On Commutative and Non-Commutative C* -Algebras with the Approximate n-th Rott Property

We say that a C *-algebra X has the approximate n-th root property (n = 2) if for every a ? X with kak = 1 and every " &gt; 0 there exits b ? X such that kbk = 1 and ka - bnk &lt; ". Some properties of commutative and non-commutative C *-algebras having the approximate nth root property are investigated. In particular, it is shown that there exists a non-commutative (resp., commutative) separable unital C *-algebra X such that any other (commutative) separable unital C *-algebra is a quotient of X. Also we illustrate a commutative C *-algebra, each element of which has a square root such that its maximal ideal space has infinitely generated first ?Cech cohomology

Notes on Two Conjectures in Extension Theory

It is noted that conjectures about the non-existence of universal compacta and compactifications of the given extension dimension for non finitely dominated complexes are not valid for all CW complexes of the form L ? S2, where L is of finite type and has a finite fundamental group, but is not finitely dominated