2,791 research outputs found
Molsidomine inhibits the chemoattractant-induced respiratory burst in human neutrophils via a no-independent mechanism
No full text3-Morpholino-sydnonimine (SIN-1) is a NO-releasing compound which mimics the effects of cGMP through activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase. Its prodrug, molsidomine (SIN-10), does not release NO but does modulate various cell functions. These findings prompted us to study the effects of SIN-10 and SIN-1 on the respiratory burst in human neutrophils. SIN-10 was more effective than SIN-1 in inhibiting superoxide anion (O2-) formation induced by N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMet-Leu-Phe) and by C5a. The effects of SIN-1 and SIN-10 on O2- formation were additive or less than additive, indicating the sydnonimines acted through a common mechanism. The sydnonimines showed no effect on O2- formations induced by gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, arachidonic acid and a phorbol ester. They did not inhibit O2- formation induced by xanthine oxidase, by autoxidation of pyrogallol and in a cell-free system from HL-60 leukemic cells. Neutrophils did not convert SIN-10 to SIN-1 as assessed by O2 consumption which accompanies NO release from SIN-1. The cell-permeant analogue of cGMP, N2,2'-O-dibutyryl guanosine 3':5'-monophosphate (Bt2cGMP), and SIN-10 but not SIN-1 inhibited fMet-Leu-Phe-induced O2 consumption. SIN-1 and SIN-10 slightly enhanced agonist binding to formyl peptide receptors, whereas Bt2cGMP was inhibitory. The sydnonimines did not affect GTP hydrolysis of heterotrimeric regulatory guanine nucleotide-binding proteins in HL-60 membranes. SIN-1 but not SIN-10 stimulated ADP-ribosylation of a 39-kDa protein in the cytosol of HL-60 cells. SIN-10 reduced fMet-Leu-Phe-induced rises in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in neutrophils. These data suggest that SIN-10 inhibits the respiratory burst via a NO-independent mechanism which may involve inhibition of rises in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration
Performances of the HL (Hyperloop) transport system
No full textThis paper deals with an analysis of performances of the HL (Hyperloop) transport system considered as an advanced transport alternative to the existing APT (Air Passenger Transport) and HSR (High Speed Rail) systems. The considered performances are operational, financial, social and environmental. The operational performance include capacity and quality of service provided to the system’s users-passengers with attributes such as door-to-door travel time consisting of the access and egress time, schedule delay, in-vehicle time, and interchange time. The economic performances embrace the costs and revenues of operating the system. The costs include that for infrastructure, vehicles, traffic management facilities and equipment, and employees. The revenues embrace earnings from pricing users/passengers. The environmental performances include energy consumption and related emissions of GHGs (Green House Gases), and land use. The social performances are considered to be noise and safety. The analytical models of indicators of these performances are developed and applied to the scenario of operating the HL system on the short- to medium-haul travel distances/routes. These are then compared to the corresponding performances of the HSR and APT. This comparison has shown that the HL system may possess some advantages but also disadvantages regarding particular performances.Transport and PlanningOLD Urban and Regional Developmen
Analysis and modelling of performances of the HL (Hyperloop) transport system
No full textIntroduction: Hyperloop (HL) is presented as an efficient alternative of HSR (High Speed Rail) and APT (Air Passenger Transport) systems for long-distance passenger transport. This paper explores the performances of HL and compares these performances to HSR and APT. Methods: The following performances of the HL system are analytically modeled and compared to HSR and APT: (i) operational performance; (ii) financial performance; (iii) social/environmental performance. Results: The main operational result is that the capacity of HL is low which implies a low utilization of the infrastructure. Because the infrastructure costs dominate the total costs, the costs per passenger km are high compared to those for HSR and APT. The HL performs very well regarding the social/environmental aspects because of low energy use, no GHG emissions and hardly any noise. The safety performance needs further consideration. Conclusions: The HL system is promising for relieving the environmental pressure of long-distance travelling, but has disadvantages regarding the operational and financial performances.Transport and PlanningOLD Urban and Regional Developmen
Justicia en clave bioética : inspirada en el pensamiento de Alasdair Macintyre
No full textEste texto considera los significados que se conjugan desde las
perspectivas dadas por la categoría justicia, al estudiar las relaciones:
individuo-sociedad, conocimiento–moral, en el pensamiento de
Alasdair MacIntyre. Toma como referencia las obras: El concepto de
inconsciente, Historia de la ética, Tras la virtud, Justicia y racionalidad, Tres
versiones rivales de la ética: enciclopedia, genealogía y tradición, Animales
racionales y dependientes: Por qué los seres humanos necesitamos las
virtudes. Con esta construcción epistémica se resignifican las relaciones
existentes entre bioética y vida cotidiana, al explicitar los nexos de la
justicia en sí: el sentido común, el conocimiento, la moral, el sentido y
la calidad de vida.
Se usó como metodología la hermenéutica-fenomenológica a
partir de la teoría social elaborada por Alfred Schutz1
haciendo un
reconocimiento de las ideas claves, respecto a los significados internos
del comportamiento humano que favorecen abordar con eficacia
técnicas-métodos, para resolver problemas que se asocian con la justicia
en sí. Para el fenómeno social que denomino: vida cotidiana consideré
los cuatro esquemas de referencia de la propuesta de análisis de Schutz:
la personalidad social, el acto social, el grupo social y las relaciones sociales. “Las estructuras formales de las actividades comunes2
”
de Garfinkel permitieron determinar la condición ontológica del
fenómeno de la justicia en sí, al comprender su estructura, su dinámica
y significado; esto, posibilitó una reinterpretación del sentido de los
fenómenos del mundo de la vida en clave bioética.
De esta manera, establezco la justicia, como facultad humana que
reclama, por medio del constructo epistémico bioética, una revolución
en el pensar a favor de la conservación de la vida planetaria y de
la especie animal racional-dependiente llamada comúnmente ser
humano; igualmente, construyo consideraciones para reencontrar
la posibilidad de adaptarnos3
al medio, con nuestros proyectos e
ilusiones; encontrando en consecuencia, la resignificación de la moral
como proyección, futuro, esperanza, creación, inteligencia y capacidad
para poner nuestros proyectos en obra; en términos zubirianos es así
como nos apropiamos de nuestras mejores posibilidades.
Así, se reconoce cómo la forma de participar de los individuos en
la vida cotidiana, “con todos los aspectos de su individualidad… al
poner todos sus sentidos, todas sus capacidades intelectuales, sus
habilidades manipulativas, sus sentimientos, sus pasiones, ideas e
ideologías4
”, incide-orienta decisiones pues se convierte en factor
fundamental a la hora de establecer las formas de convivencia en las
sociedades y se instaura la medida con la que se decide vivir.
Por tanto, la justicia nos hace recordar que vivimos en un mundo
donde los individuos y las sociedades articulan diferentes fuerzas que
ostentan una tendencia a actuar en contra de la propia conservación de la vida5
, siendo los motivos67 en la vida cotidiana los que constituyen
el campo para la acción. Su análisis en relación con la justicia durante
nuestro comportamiento cotidiano es superlativo. Frente a este
entrecruzamiento de circunstancias y/o fuerzas este estudio usó como
pregunta orientadora: ¿Cuáles consideraciones permite construir la
relación justicia-dikaiosune- bioética para el mundo cotidiano, en la
propuesta ética de Alasdair MacIntyre?
Bajo esa perspectiva la Justicia en sí o justicia misma (dikaiosune)
es el término central usado por Alasdair MacIntyre8
, para poner en
relieve la esencia y la función de la justicia en el Alma del hombre;
es decir, el silencioso diálogo del alma consigo misma en torno al
ser; así, la justicia es la virtud que conserva (un buen orden) toda
cosa en su lugar apropiado, la justicia como unidad. Al apoyarse
en Sócrates hace referencia a la segunda clase de bienes indicando
que la justicia tiene valor por sí misma no por los efectos que pueda
tener. Prescinde del castigo que pueda llevar consigo, trata de ver
lo que es en sí misma, lo que produce esencialmente en el hombre
injusto. Lo explicita a la luz de la psicología de Agustín de Hipona;
citado por Tomás de Aquino, cuando complementa y articula los aportes de Aristóteles sobre la dinámica entre racionalidad práctica
y la justicia.
Igualmente, al ser un estudio hermenéutico–fenomenológico9
que aborda la justicia en sí, consideré el método histórico-analíticodialéctico y simbólico inherente en el estilo del autor analizado. Él
concibe como inspiradores de su estilo filosófico narrativo a George
Edward Moore (1873-1958), filósofo británico, Ludwig Josef Johann
Wittgenstein (Viena, Austria, 1889, Cambridge, Reino Unido, de 1951)
y Gilbert Ryle (Brighton, 1900 – Oxford 1976). MacIntyre10, examina el
uso del lenguaje corriente a fin de captar su corrección e incorrección
en relación con los juegos lingüísticos que se entrecruzan en el habla.
Señala que los conceptos exhiben una interdependencia recíproca
pues lo inconsciente influye en todos. Sus obras explican la historia de
la justicia misma mediante el estudio de la importancia filosófica de la
historia de la ética. Así, redescubre que “aunque lo que se considera
correcto o bueno no es siempre lo mismo, de un modo general los
mismos conceptos de correcto y bueno son universales11” comprende
que la justicia es connatural al animal racional y social que tiene como
principal actividad la perfección en el obrar, tal cual asume Sócrates
cuando argumenta a favor del intelectualismo moral, y desarrollan:
Aristóteles en su Ética a Nicómaco, Tomas de Aquino en su propia teoría
moral, Max Scheler al referirse a la naturaleza humana, Hans George
Gadamer cuando considera que educación es educarse, Paul Ricoeur
con su preocupación fundamental por la comprensión del ser humano
y Paulo Freire al exponer la vocación ontológica del ser humano.
En consecuencia, la ética sólo puede ponerse en acto, practicando la
justicia en sí. Concebir su papel en la bioética, deja claro lo que se requiere
entender por justicia misma y cómo ésta requiere reorientarse en la práctica. Así, en perspectiva bioética, este estudio atiende la propuesta
de V.R. Potter12 en la cuestión de la justicia cuando visualiza la bioética,
como una nueva sabiduría que proporcionará a la humanidad nuevos
conocimientos y cómo usarlos para la conservación de la vida. A mi
entender el planteamiento de Potter es una muestra de interés por
estudiar las relaciones existentes entre bioética, justicia en sí y vida
cotidiana13. Esta investigación continúa el rumbo marcado por Potter;
por ello, resignifica del uso dado14 a los conceptos: juicio, juzgar, justo
por ser constitutivos de la moralidad, la cual “no es una categoría
de pensamiento y de práctica distinta y autónoma, es donde nos
movemos15” interfiere en nuestra manera de interpretar y comprender;
es decir, en nuestra forma de hacer y comprender la epistemología. Da
criterio para cuestionar los actuales avances en ciencia y tecnología
al requerir reconsiderar una revolución en el pensar en torno a si la
vida debe tener prioridad sobre los intereses de la ciencia. Bajo esta
perspectiva bioética, esta argumentación aporta elementos de análisis
para potenciar la reflexión, observación y vivencia del agenciamiento
como capacidad-funcionamiento que empodera a las personas,
permitiéndoles lograr una vida valiosa. Entiendo por tal, una vida en
que se tiene en cuenta la inmanencia a favor de la trascendencia al
comprender la respuesta de Alasdair MacIntyre a la pregunta de por
qué los seres humanos necesitamos de las virtudes.
Dicho de otro modo, una persona al buscar lo bueno y lo mejor en
el aquí y él ahora es racional, requiere considerar cinco habilidades
relacionadas entre sí. La primera, consiste en que el agente es capaz de
caracterizar la situación particular en la que se encuentra destacando
los rasgos relevantes de esa situación para la acción inmediata. En
segundo lugar, razona entre las cosas buenas para él como agente
hacia un concepto del bien en cuanto tal. La tercera habilidad, es como
agente “el haber sido capaz también de comprender sus bienes en
cuanto participante en una variedad de tipos de actividad apropiados
para uno de su edad, de su estado de desarrollo educativo, metido
en su profesión particular, etc16”. En cuarto lugar, tiene que haber
sido capaz de razonar a partir de su comprensión del bien en general,
del bien al que le sobran cualificaciones, a una conclusión acerca de
cuál de los bienes específicos -cuyo logro le resulta inmediatamente
posible- debería de hecho proponerse alcanzar inmediatamente
como lo mejor para él. MacIntyre17 aclara que estas habilidades se
desarrollan por medio de un entrenamiento en contextos altamente
especializados, donde la quinta habilidad consiste en emplear
conjuntamente las cuatro anteriores; por tanto, requiere auto
desarrollarlas sistemáticamente y demostrarlo durante el ejercicio de
apropiación de la virtud de las promesas; aclara, que es en la casa y
en la polis donde se aprende a ejercer esta quinta habilidad. Así, la
disposición para servir los deseos de hacer lo que la razón le indica es
la evidencia de que ésta se posee. Es decir, los deseos de hacer lo que
la razón indica junto con las disposiciones para la acción deben estar
organizados sistemáticamente para servir a lo que la razón propone; de lo contrario, se actuará movida por consideraciones que distraen su
atención o ignorará lo que sabe que es mejor
Health literacy and adherence to psychiatric appointments: Study of an urban academic center
No full textIntroductionHealth literacy (HL) measures the ability of an individual to use health-related information in order to make appropriate health-related decisions and to navigate the healthcare system. It influences a variety of behaviors such as breastfeeding, medication adherence, or the use of screening tests. Research has shown that it is related to the treatment outcome of conditions such as HIV and diabetes.ObjectiveIt is the assumption of this study that health literacy also plays a role in psychiatric patients’ adherence to treatment; in particular, to outpatient psychiatric appointments.AimsWe hypothesized that patients with different health literacy levels would have different adherence rates to outpatient psychiatric appointments.MethodsThe study was conducted in 2006 in the Outpatient Psychiatry Department (OPD) of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All English and Spanish-speaking patients of the OPD (potential N = 150) were invited to complete the short version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (sTOFHLA), yielding three HL groups: adequate, marginal and inadequate. We explored the demographic and clinical correlates of HL and compared the three literacy groups with respect to their adherence to appointments during a 12-month period.ResultsOur study showed that, for our patient population, HL was not significantly related to any of the demographic and clinical variables included in our analysis except appointment adherence.ConclusionPatients with lower HL had lower adherence to appointments. These findings invite further research to explore the significance of HL.</jats:sec
Fine-Scale Vertical Resolution of Chlorophyll and Photosynthetic Parameters in Shallow-Water Benthos
No full textThe vertical distributions of chlorophyll concentration and photosynthetic parameters of sediment-associated microalgae were measured with a resolution of 1 mm. Sediment and the overlying water were sampled at 3 sandy, shallow-water sites near Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, USA. All sediment samples had a floc in the surficial millimeter that contained as much as or more chlorophyll than the 0.2 to 0.6 m of water overlying them. The photosynthetic responses of the sediment-associated microalgae were comparable with those of the suspended phytoplankton. Below the surficial floc, constancy of chlorophyll concentration and photosynthetic-irradiance (PI) responses indicated the existence of a physically mixed layer in the underlying 8 to 15 mm. Photosynthetically competent algae were found below the mixed layer and well below the depth to which Light penetrates the sediment (ca 1 mm). Primary production was more or less equally distributed between the surficial millimeter of benthos and the overlying water. The surficial flee and some of the underlying sediment may be readily resuspended so that 'benthic' microalgae can contribute significantly to both water column and benthic primary production
Primary production by suspended and benthic microalgae in a turbid estuary: Time-scales of variability in San Antonio Bay, Texas
No full textThe within-day, between-day and month-to-month variability of light attenuation and microalgal chlorophyll a (chl a) and photosynthetic response was measured in San Antonio Bay, Texas, USA. Waters were shallow (<2 m) and turbid (attenuation coefficients of 0.7 to 15.3 m(-1), yet daily rates of primary production (0.1 to 2.5 g C m(-2) d(-1)) were comparable to those in much deeper and clearer estuaries. Chl a concentrations in the sediment (459 to 7837 mg m(-3) in the surficial millimeter) were much higher than those in the water column (4 to 48 mg m(-3)). The benthic assemblages were photosynthetically competent, but daily benthic primary productivity was low (0.00 to 0.09 g C m(-2) d(-1); an average of 2 % of productivity in the water column) because of the very low irradiances at the sediment-water interface. The high rates of production by the suspended microalgae were largely due to high chlorophyll-specific light-saturated rates of photosynthesis, P-m(chl) [3.0 to 24.4 g C (g chl a)(-1) h(-1)], which were correlated positively with temperature and inversely with the mean irradiance in the water column. The between-day and temperature-independent variation in P-m(chl) was also correlated with F(v)Chl(-1), an index of the proportion of functional photosystem II reaction centers. In turn, within-day variability in F(v)Chl(-1) was inversely correlated with the mean irradiance in the water column in 8 of 10 observations, a pattern consistent with photoinhibition. A depression of P-m(chl) caused by photoinhibition throughout the water column may therefore be responsible for the inverse trend of P-m(chl) with mean irradiance in the water column. Short-term (h) variability in suspended chl a and turbidity was high (coefficient of variation = 13 to 75 %), but estimates of daily productivity could be predicted with reasonable fidelity (mean error 27 %) from a single midday determination of chl a, the photosynthesis versus irradiance response and the attenuation coefficient, along with daily incident radiation. The predictive power of a single observation was due to coherence in the variation of chl a, P-m(chl) and the attenuation coefficient in the water column: the decrease in mean irradiance caused by resuspension was compensated for by concomitant increases in P-m(chl) and suspended chl a. Between-day variability in productivity of 15 to 52% approached month-to-month differences, so the optimal use of resources in monitoring productivity would be to take single samples daily
Studies on the HL--A antigens Distributions among Normal Korean Population and Gastric Cancer Patients
No full textEven though the HL-A antigens as the major
histocompatibility antigens have been contributing
an important role in the immunological aspect of the
clinical transplantation. and recently considerable
attentions are focusing on the possible association
of various disease or malignant disease with the
certain HL-A specifities, any datas for the distribution
of the HL-A antigens in Korean population and
the HL-A serotyping for the kidney transplant is
not available at present time.
This present report is a studies on the HL-A
antigens distribution among 155 normal Korean
population and 76 gastric cancer patients with the
method of Boyum's lymphocyte isolation technic
with Ficoll and Isopaque mixture and the method
of Terasaki's microlymphocytotoxicity test with 29
NIH standard antisera for 16 HL-A specificities at
Seoul National University Hospital.
The results are as following;
1. The HL-A antigens are rather evenly distributed
throughout the first and second series in both normal
Koreans and gastric cancer patient which is a good
evidence of diversity in the polymorphism of HL-A
antigens.
2. The most frequent HL-A antigens are HL-A 2,13.12 and 10 in normal control group. and HL-A
10.5.2 and 13 in gastric cancer patient. HL-A 9 is
rather infrequent compared to other Oriental populations,
and HL-A 1 which has heen recognized to be
absent from Orientals occurs 17.4%.
3. It is interesting findings that in gastric cancer
group HL~A 10 from first sublocus and 5 from second
sublocus are markedly increased than normal control
group and HL-A 11 from first sublocus and 12 from
second sublocus are markedly decreased than normal
control group. The author strongly feels that
. additional study to confirm the above findings
should be done.
4. There is a relatively large proportion of blank
alleles: 24% (first series) and 15% (second series) in
normal control group, and 22% (first series) and
15% (second series) in gastric cancer group, which
seems to be related to the limited number of antisera
and the limited number of serum panels used in this
study, and related to the probable existence of
unknown specifities in OUf native Korean population
Sawtooth-driven neoclassical tearing modes in HL-2A plasmas
No full textNeoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) of m = 2, n = 1 induced by sawtooth crashes in tokamak plasmas are studied based on the results of HL-2A tokamak experiments. A model of sawtooth-driven Delta' for NTMs due to the toroidal coupling effect is proposed and applied to the observed growth of 2/1 islands with the sawtooth oscillation observed in the HL-2A experiment. The neoclassical tearing island growth is calculated based on the model and the result is found to be in good agreement with experimental data.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000312579500002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Physics, Fluids & PlasmasPhysics, NuclearSCI(E)EI4ARTICLE12null5
Mesoscopic counterpart of a hyperchaos
No full textThe effect of intrinsic fluctuations was analyzed on hyperchaos having positive Lyapunov exponents using Stochastic simulations. Individual simulations of the Markov processes were derived from the deterministic hyperchaos. The chemical master equation was examined to determine the effect of intrinsic fluctuations on hyperchaos. The individual simulations were found in close accordance with the deterministic hyperchaos.Physics, Atomic, Molecular & ChemicalSCI(E)EI1ARTICLE115099-510111
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