The Effects of Cortisol on Blood Coagulation in Zebrafish

In humans, increased cortisol can lead to pathological increases in blood coagulation, in turn leading to thrombotic events such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli. Cortisol appears to promote coagulation by upregulating the transcription of coagulation factors, thereby increasing the likelihood of the coagulation cascade. It is possible that cortisol has a similar effect on clotting in zebrafish, via effects on transcription of coagulation factors. If so, this would support the use of zebrafish as a model organism for testing anti-coagulant medications. I hypothesized that cortisol induces transcriptional upregulation of genes encoding coagulation factors in zebrafish, as in humans. Additionally, that transcript levels of the coagulation factor genes will be higher in stressed females than stressed males. Male and female zebrafish (n=34) were exposed to acute stressors for 7 days, resulting in an unpredictable chronic stress environment. Additional males and females (n=34) were not exposed to the stress environment and were used as control. Twenty-four hours after the seven-day treatment, the fish were euthanized, and their livers transferred to TriReagent. The RNA from the livers was isolated and cDNA synthesized for qPCR. qPCR measured transcript levels of clotting factors X and VII. Mean (SE) Factor VII transcript levels of the control group (-0.211) were not significantly different from stressed groups (-0.367), nor in Factor X control group (-0.100) and stressed groups (-0.576) (p\u3e0.05). Difference in transcript levels between each sex were also determined, with no significant difference in Factor VII control females (0.063), stressed females (-0.583), control males (-0.063), or stressed males (-0.004). No significant difference was found between transcript levels of Factor X control females (0.051), stressed females (-1.361), control males (0.1) or stressed males (0.122) (p\u3e0.05). There is no evidence that increased cortisol causes differences in the transcription of genes coding for coagulation Factors VII or X

Epithelioma of the Eye

Cancer Eye is a term commonly used by cattlemen when referring to ocular squamous cell carcinoma in cattle. The Meat Inspection Division, Agriculture Research Service has adopted the term epithelioma of the eye for the same condition and this term will be used interchangeably with cancer eye throughout this report

Testicular Anomalies

During rail inspection of hog carcasses in a Sioux City meat packing plant, a carcass was tagged U.S. Retained for further examination

Selected Anthropometric, Cardiorespiratory, and Hematological Parameters in Health Care Personnel

Fitness parameters of health-care employees and physicians at a small rural hospital were investigated. Subjects (N = 82), aged 22-75 years, were health-care deliverers at Tompkins Community Hospital in Ithaca, New York. The study examined anthropometric, cardiorespiratory, and hematological para­meters of the two groups of subjects over a 4-month period. During this time they engaged in an exercise program that was developed according to the wellness concept, aiming at improved health through preventive medicine. The parameters of interest were body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol/HDL ratio, and maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max). The subjects were tested using the Balke (substandard) treadmill protocol. Results indicated that the parameters measured were not signi­ficantly (p\u3e .05) different between the male employees of any age group and the male population in general. The female employee group (ages 30-39) had a significantly(p\u3c .05) lower body fat percentage and diastolic blood pressure than the norm. The female employee group (ages 40-49) had a higher systolic blood pressure and body fat percentage than the general population of the same gender and age. The only difference between the physician group and age-matched controls was in body fat percentage, which was significantly(p\u3c .05) lower in the 40-49 age group category. However, there was no significant difference observed between the employee and physician groups. For all the classifications studied, the mean for the cholesterol/HDL ratio was worse than the population standard. While several of the t tests indicated significant differences, these tests represented only a small percentage of the total number of significance tests run in this study, a percentage certainly within the limits of chance established by the overall probability level for this study. Therefore, the results of this investigation indicate that no significant difference in the health/fitness status exists between these hospital allied health care professionals and the general population, at least as assessed by the parameters of body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol/HDL ratio, and aerobic capacity

Analogy Between Linear Optical Systems and Linear Two-Port Electrical Networks

Attention is called to the analogy between linear optical systems and linear two-port electrical networks. For both, the transformation of a pair of oscillating quantities between input and output is of interest. The mapping of polarization by an optical system and of impedance (admittance) by a two-port network is described by a bilinear transformation. Therefore for each transfer property of a system of one type, there is a similar property for the system of the other type. Two-port electrical networks are synthesized whose impedance-(or admittance-) mapping properties are the same as the polarization-mapping properties of a given optical system. The opposite problem of finding the optical analogs of two-port networks is also considered. Besides unifying the methods of handling these two different kinds of systems, the analogy appears fruitful if used reciprocally to simulate electrical networks by optical systems, and vice versa. Linear mechanoacoustic systems have optical analogs besides their well-known electrical analogs

Analogy Between Linear Optical Systems and Linear Two-Port Electrical Networks

Attention is called to the analogy between linear optical systems and linear two-port electrical networks. For both, the transformation of a pair of oscillating quantities between input and output is of interest. The mapping of polarization by an optical system and of impedance (admittance) by a two-port network is described by a bilinear transformation. Therefore for each transfer property of a system of one type, there is a similar property for the system of the other type. Two-port electrical networks are synthesized whose impedance-(or admittance-) mapping properties are the same as the polarization-mapping properties of a given optical system. The opposite problem of finding the optical analogs of two-port networks is also considered. Besides unifying the methods of handling these two different kinds of systems, the analogy appears fruitful if used reciprocally to simulate electrical networks by optical systems, and vice versa. Linear mechanoacoustic systems have optical analogs besides their well-known electrical analogs

Loci of Invariant-Azimuth and Invariant-Ellipticity Polarization States of an Optical System

The loci of polarization states for which either the ellipticity alone or the azimuth alone remains invariant upon passing through an optical system are introduced. The cartesian equations of these two loci are derived in the complex plane in which the polarization states are represented. The equations are quartic and are conveniently expressed in terms of the elements of the Jones. matrix of the optical system. As an exple the loci are determined for a system composed of a π/4 rotator followed by a quarter-wave retarder

The relationship between teacher Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi) on 3rd-5th Grade Students on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores at Alamo Heights Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas

The purpose of this study was to examine Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) teacher self-ratings and Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores. The study assessed the relationship between LoTi ratings and TAKS scores of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School District (AHISD), San Antonio, Texas. The study determined the degree to which teacher LoTi ratings were a predictor of success on TAKS exam scores as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas. In addition, the study determined whether a teacher's LoTi scores impacted students' achievement levels for the variable of socioeconomic status. School and student performance analysis included only Cambridge and Woodridge Elementary Schools in the Alamo Heights Independent School District. The student data in the study came from approximately 278 3rd graders, 268 4th graders, and 283 5th graders (829 total students). A total of 47 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade reading and math teachers from the two elementary campuses made up the population under study. The research findings of this study included: 1. There was no significant relationship at the elementary level between teacher LoTi ratings and TAKS scores for reading and math for grades 3, 4, 5 students. 2. The grade 4 reading analysis results demonstrate that teachers with a higher LoTi level do impact student achievement on the TAKS test for students who are in the economically disadvantaged subpopulation. The following recommendations were made: 1. Additional research is needed to examine how technology is specifically implemented in both reading and math classrooms at the elementary level. 2. Additional research is needed to examine how staff development on the LoTi instrument affected classroom practice and teacher responses on the LoTi survey. 3. Continued support is needed to provide teachers with professional development regarding the integration of technology as a teaching tool and repeat the research procedures after this initial year of using the LoTi instrument