794 research outputs found
Neural Control of the Carotid Baroreflex During Exercise
No full textGallagher, Kevin Matthew, Neural Control of the Carotid Baroreflex During Exercise. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy (Biomedical Sciences), May 2000; 151 pages; 13 tables; 19 figures; bibliography; 161 titles. Carotid baroreflex (CBR) function is reset upward and rightward to the prevailing blood pressure during dynamic and static exercise. Feedforward central neural inputs (central command) and negative feedback from skeletal muscle (exercise pressor reflex) both contribute to the resetting. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the individual roles of central command and the exercise pressor reflex in the resetting of the CBR during dynamic and static exercise. First, it was necessary to determine which receptor group that comprises the exercise pressor reflex, chemically-sensitive (chemoreceptors) or mechanically-sensitive (mechanoreceptors) receptors, was primarily involved in the regulation of the cardiovascular system. We observed the cardiovascular responses during exercise to individual action of the chemoreceptors and the mechanoreceptors. We demonstrated an increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) response to mechanoreceptor activation that was not identified during chemoreceptor stimulation. This finding suggested that the mechanoreflex was the primary exercise pressor mediated of arterial blood pressure during exercise. To identify the role of central command on CBR resetting, a second investigation increased central command by partial neuromuscular blockade during dynamic and static exercise. Resetting of CBR control of heart rate (carotid-cardiac; CSP-HR) and MAP (carodtid-vasomotor; CSP-MAP) during control exercise was further reset upward and rightward by increased central command without alterations in sensitivity. In conclusion, central command, a feedforward mechanism, was actively involved in the resetting of the CBR during exercise. To investigate the role of the exercise pressor reflex on CBR function, a third investigation activated by the exercise pressor reflex with the application of medical anti-shock trousers (MAS) during dynamic and static exercise. From control exercise, carotid-vasomotor function was further reset upward and rightward by the application of MAS trousers while CSP-HR function was only reset rightward. Sensitivity of the CSP-MAP and CSP-HR function curves were unaltered. The negative feedback mechanism of exercise pressor reflex, primarily mediated by mechanoreceptors, appeared to act as a modulator of CBR resetting during exercise
Artful living and the eradication of worry in Søren Kierkegaard's interpretation of Matthew 6:24-34
No full textDanish thinker Søren Kierkegaard published fourteen discourses, across four collections, on Matthew 6:24-34. The repeated readings of the biblical text, whose themes include the choice between God and mammon, worry, what it means to consider the birds and lilies, and how to seek first the kingdom of God, converge with Kierkegaard’s interest in anxiety, despair, worry, subjectivity, indirect communication, choice, the moment, and life before God. Accordingly, the discourses make connections with his larger works, elucidate frequently explored Kierkegaardian themes in recent scholarship, and contribute to his critique of nineteenth-century Copenhagen. Additionally, the collections present an interpretation of each verse and phrase of Matthew’s text and, held up against modern Matthew scholarship, they correlate with and contribute to Sermon on the Mount and New Testament studies. Kierkegaard’s reading of Matthew also holds implications for the practice of biblical interpretation as it promotes the importance of awareness of sin, interestedness, and appropriation as central to proper reading. His emphasis on Christ as the primary exemplar of Matthew’s text adds an additional Christological element to his hermeneutic. Furthermore, the discourses serve as spiritual treatises which provide the reader with theological terminology to help confront the problem of worry and suffering. In light of a human being’s distinctiveness as imago Dei, Kierkegaard elucidates ways an individual may respond artfully to the ongoing possibility of worry, a possibility which the discourses connect with Christian anthropology and external labels associated with possessions and status. The Matthew 6 discourses intimate Kierkegaard’s sympathy with classic Christian spirituality and, in combination with the cultural-ecclesiastical critique, the creative exegesis, and the in-depth analysis of the cause of and cure for worry, his work emerges as an excellent example of spiritual theology
Author Correction: Global diversity and biogeography of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants (Nature Microbiology, (2019), 4, 7, (1183-1195), 10.1038/s41564-019-0426-5)
No full textIn the version of this Article originally published, the name of the author ‘Mathew Robert Brown’ was incorrectly written as ‘Mathew Brown’ in the main author list and as ‘Matthew Brown’ in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list. In addition, in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list, the names of the authors ‘Kevin F. Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola’ were incorrectly written as ‘Kevin Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria Gómez’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola Robles’, respectively. The names have now been corrected and the author initials in the author contributions section updated accordingly
The effects of dietary carotenoid supplementation and retinal carotenoid accumulation on vision-mediated foraging in the house finch.
No full textBACKGROUND: For many bird species, vision is the primary sensory modality used to locate and assess food items. The health and spectral sensitivities of the avian visual system are influenced by diet-derived carotenoid pigments that accumulate in the retina. Among wild House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), we have found that retinal carotenoid accumulation varies significantly among individuals and is related to dietary carotenoid intake. If diet-induced changes in retinal carotenoid accumulation alter spectral sensitivity, then they have the potential to affect visually mediated foraging performance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In two experiments, we measured foraging performance of house finches with dietarily manipulated retinal carotenoid levels. We tested each bird's ability to extract visually contrasting food items from a matrix of inedible distracters under high-contrast (full) and dimmer low-contrast (red-filtered) lighting conditions. In experiment one, zeaxanthin-supplemented birds had significantly increased retinal carotenoid levels, but declined in foraging performance in the high-contrast condition relative to astaxanthin-supplemented birds that showed no change in retinal carotenoid accumulation. In experiments one and two combined, we found that retinal carotenoid concentrations predicted relative foraging performance in the low- vs. high-contrast light conditions in a curvilinear pattern. Performance was positively correlated with retinal carotenoid accumulation among birds with low to medium levels of accumulation (∼0.5-1.5 µg/retina), but declined among birds with very high levels (>2.0 µg/retina). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that carotenoid-mediated spectral filtering enhances color discrimination, but that this improvement is traded off against a reduction in sensitivity that can compromise visual discrimination. Thus, retinal carotenoid levels may be optimized to meet the visual demands of specific behavioral tasks and light environments
Author Correction:Global diversity and biogeography of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants (Nature Microbiology, (2019), 4, 7, (1183-1195), 10.1038/s41564-019-0426-5)
No full textIn the version of this Article originally published, the name of the author ‘Mathew Robert Brown’ was incorrectly written as ‘Mathew Brown’ in the main author list and as ‘Matthew Brown’ in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list. In addition, in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list, the names of the authors ‘Kevin F. Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola’ were incorrectly written as ‘Kevin Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria Gómez’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola Robles’, respectively. The names have now been corrected and the author initials in the author contributions section updated accordingly.</p
Author Correction:Global diversity and biogeography of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants (Nature Microbiology, (2019), 4, 7, (1183-1195), 10.1038/s41564-019-0426-5)
No full textIn the version of this Article originally published, the name of the author ‘Mathew Robert Brown’ was incorrectly written as ‘Mathew Brown’ in the main author list and as ‘Matthew Brown’ in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list. In addition, in the Global Water Microbiome Consortium list, the names of the authors ‘Kevin F. Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola’ were incorrectly written as ‘Kevin Boehnke’, ‘Janeth Sanabria Gómez’ and ‘Adalberto Noyola Robles’, respectively. The names have now been corrected and the author initials in the author contributions section updated accordingly.</p
Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)
No full textPMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Iris Murdoch and Artistic Inspiration Iris Murdoch Society Podcast
No full textIn this episode Miles is joined by artists Kevin Petrie (University of Sunderland), Matthew Richardson (University of Kingston) and Carol Sommer to discuss their latest work which has been inspired by Murdoch's writing.
Kevin Petrie is Head of the School of Art and Design and Professor of Glass and Ceramics at University of Sunderland. He is known for his artwork on ceramics and glass, especially in combination with printmaking and drawing. Kevin has also written and edited a number of books and articles about ceramics and glass and lectured around the World. Kevin’s artwork is held in a number of private and public collections including National Glass Centre and National Museums of Scotland. In recent years, Kevin has focused on his painting practice and this work can be seen on his website at kevinpetrieart.com.
Matthew Richardson is an artist and illustrator who works across physical and digital media seeing how things fit or collide through processes of collage and assemblage. He is interested in how, why and what is kept or discarded, lost or found, and left behind. He studied at Central St. Martins and Cardiff University and is currently completing a practice-based PhD at Kingston School of Art, titled Para-illustration: Gaps, fragments and spaces of the literary imagination, which explores the materiality of a writer’s notes, drafts and archives as a method for making literary images.
matthew-richardson.co.uk/
Carol Sommer visual artist and art educator based in Darlington, Co. Durham. I’m interested in the potential of piracy to interrogate value systems. Sometimes within the aesthetic context of conceptual writing, my practice includes making books, videos, performances, installation and an Instagram account @cartography_for_girls. In 2019 I completed a practice led Ph.D. at Leeds Beckett University, and I am the author of ‘Cartography for Girls, an A-Z of Orientations Identified within the Novels of Iris Murdoch’. Her work is currently being exhibited at the Phoenix Art Space in Brighton until the 19th November as part of the ‘Are you a Woman in Authority’ exhibition. www.carolsommer.net/
www.phoenixbrighton.org/Events/are-yo…in-authority
Are schools panoptic?
No full textSchools are often understood by social researchers as panoptic spaces, where power is exercised through constant surveillance and monitoring. In this paper, I use Foucault’s notorious account of the Panopticon as a point of departure for a detailed empirical investigation of the specificities of surveillance in schools. Drawing on ethnographic data from fieldwork in a primary school, I argue that how surveillance actually operated in this context diverged from the panoptic programme in two crucial ways: surveillance was (i) discontinuous rather than total, and therefore open to resistance and evasion, and (ii) exercised through sound and hearing as much as through vision
The Entertainment Presidency: American Politics in the Digital Age
No full textThe essential issue of this project is the relationship between the American people and their president. As technology changes, people adapt to new methods of communication which simultaneously allow them to connect with others and the wider world more easily and yet also separate themselves from others and the wider world more easily. The need for presidential candidates and sitting presidents to connect with citizens has led to the adoption of diverse media strategies that include traditional news initiatives with established journalists, face to face interaction with small groups of supporters, and visits to traditionally non-political entertainment-based venues. This dissertation research examines that last element of presidential-level communication: an embrace of entertainment forums for political purposes. This project is a necessary contribution to the field because there has not been a thorough and exclusive examination of the embrace of the entertainment-based venue by presidential campaigns guided by the thoughts of veterans of presidential campaigns themselves. Some scholars and journalists have partially analyzed this phenomenon as part of a larger examination of presidential communication strategy, but this specific element has largely been uninspected and has become especially relevant in the context of the presidency of Barack Obama, a trailblazer in the use of entertainment-based venues for political purposes, and in the context of presidential campaigns and administrations going forward. The 2016 presidential primaries have only made the purpose of this project more urgent because of the rise of Donald Trump, perhaps the ultimate example of the fusing of politics and entertainment. To understand the phenomena driving presidential campaigns to embrace entertainment-based venues, I conducted interviews with twenty-two veterans of presidential campaigns dating back to the 1980 election. Between them, these twenty-two political strategists have worked for five administrations – Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama – and a number of major campaigns in every election cycle since 1980, including the 2016 campaign. I also conducted two interviews with veterans of the most viewed entertainment platforms of the 1990s and 2000s: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. These twenty-four interviews, including with one individual who worked for both a presidential campaign and a late night entertainment talk show, were conducted between March 2015 and February 2016 and included targeted questions and an oral history component. Presidential candidates have increasingly needed to stress the lighter sides of their personalities to appeal to a voting public fascinated by the horserace media coverage of presidential politics but largely uninterested in the minutiae of day-to-day policymaking. Slowly, sitting presidents have attempted to do the same but have had to balance revelation with the responsibilities of holding the highest office in the land. This project evaluates the implications of the moves that presidential campaigns and presidential administrations have made to become more accessible and connected with the citizenry in a constantly changing media environment. Based on the data collected through the interview process, his project offers a new theoretical underpinning for this media strategy based on a synthesis of role theory, the postmodern presidency theory, and technological determinism that allows for the significant influence of individual personality in the decision-making process and predicts how future campaigns will operate in this regard as media technology and American political culture evolve.Media & Communicatio
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