140 research outputs found
Bradykinin: vasomotor tone and endogenous fibrinolysis in man
No full textBradykinin is a nonapetide released into plasma during the contact phase of blood
coagulation. It has a wide variety of physiological effects including vasodilatation,
tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) release, inflammatory mediator, ischaemic
preconditioning and vasculogenesis. It is inactivated in plasma by angiotensinconverting enzyme (ACE). Inhibition of this enzyme has been shown to be beneficial
in a variety of cardiovascular disorders including heart failure and hypertension, and
it is clear that this benefit is not due entirely to reduction in the bioavailability of
angiotensin II. We hypothesised that• bradykinin is a vasodilator and stimulates endothelial t-PA release via a
specific receptor and that this effect is augmented by ACE inhibition• in patients with heart failure, bradykinin contributes to peripheral and
systemic vascular tone during treatment with ACE inhibition.Forearm blood flow was measured using bilateral forearm plethysmography during
intrabrachial drug infusion. Bilateral venous cannulae were inserted to perform blood
sampling for estimation of plasma t-PA and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI1) concentrations. Cardiac output was measured with pulmonary artery
catheterisation. The novel peptide bradykinin receptor antagonist, B9340, was used
to oppose the effects of bradykinin.Studies were performed in healthy volunteers•
to demonstrate the pharmacodynamics of B9340 and to demonstrate the
selectivity of B9340 in opposing bradykinin-induced t-PA release.•
to demonstrate the safety and tolerability of systemic intravenous B9340
administration.Studies were performed in patients with heart failure•
to demonstrate the effect of ACE inhibition on endothelial t-PA release.•
to demonstrate the effect of bradykinin antagonism on peripheral and
systemic vascular tone in patients treated with ACE inhibition and
angiotensin receptor blockade.RESULTS
In healthy volunteers• Bradykinin and substance P caused dose-dependent vasodilatation in the
infused forearm (p<0.001). B9340 caused a dose-dependent inhibition of
bradykinin-induced forearm vasodilatation and t-PA release (p<0.001)
without affecting substance P-induced vasodilatation or t-PA release (p=NS).
B9340 caused a reversible inhibition of bradykinin-induced vasodilatation
(p<0.001) with a rapid onset and offset of action. Intravenous systemic
B9340 administration inhibited the local bradykinin-induced forearm
vasodilatation in a dose-dependent mannerIn patients with heart failure•
bradykinin and substance P caused dose-dependent vasodilatation and release
of t-PA from the infused forearm (p<0.05). Long-term ACE inhibitor therapy
caused an increase in forearm vasodilatation (p<0.05) and t-PA release
(p<0.001) during bradykinin, but not substance P, infusion.•
incremental doses of B9340 caused a dose-dependent reduction in forearm
blood flow (p<0.01). After withdrawal of ACE inhibitor therapy, B9340
produced no significant change in forearm blood flow.•
systemic intravenous B9340 administration resulted in greater mean arterial
pressure, systemic vascular resistance, pulmonary arterial wedge pressure,
and mean pulmonary arterial pressure during ACE inhibitor therapy
compared with losartan therapy (p<0.005, p<0.07, p<0.0001, and p<0.05
respectively) or placebo infusion (p<0.005 for all).We have shown that bradykinin is a potent vasodilator that stimulates endogenous
t-PA release and that these effects are receptor specific and can be blocked by a
bradykinin receptor antagonist. We have also shown that bradykinin does not
contribute to peripheral or systemic vascular tone in health but does contribute to
peripheral and systemic vascular tone in patients with heart failure treated with
chronic ACE inhibition. We believe this suggests that many of the beneficial actions
of ACE inhibition are mediated through bradykinin
The Concept of Physical Law (2nd ed)
No full textThis is an updated and reformatted version of The Concept of Physical Law first published by Cambridge University Press in 1985. Copyright was retained by the author
Beyond Experience : Metaphysical Theories and Philosophical Constraints (2nd ed.)
No full textThis book is an updated and reformatted edition of the original first edition published by the University of Toronto Press in 1991. The author retained copyright in the work
Perceptions of support for early career teachers engaged in generative dialogue
No full textEarly career teachers (ECTs) face a number of challenges, and in this study, generative dialogue was introduced as a framework to provide support for ECTs. A review of the literature on ECTs indicates that support plays a critical role in addressing the challenges they face, and that factors such as isolation and connection, professional learning, and teacher dialogue all relate to this issue of support. This study applies a generative dialogue framework to a series of dialogue sessions where ECTs engaged in conversations with one another about teaching and learning. The ECTs in the study were asked about their perceptions of support before and after the sessions, and then were interviewed after the final generative dialogue session. These teachers spoke about the challenges they face as ECTs, and they explained the importance of dialogue, collegial relationships, professional learning, and personal growth as it related to the implementation of generative dialogue. Finally, a series of next steps were identified in continuing this work with generative dialogue
Co-teaching partners and their experiences with a push-in co-teaching model
No full textThe aim of this capstone research study was to explore the experiences of two co-teaching dyads that participated in the push-in co-teaching support model. Co-teaching has been an increasingly popular approach to creating an inclusive class environment for all students
(Friend et al., 2010). The current study examined the experiences of co-teaching dyads using an interpretative phenomenological approach and analysis. Teachers participated in semi-structured focus-group interviews with their co-teaching partners, which aimed to answer the central research question: “What were the experiences of General Education (GE) teachers and Learning Support Services (LSS) teachers as they engaged in a co-teaching support model?” and the sub-question: “How did a push-in co-teaching model influence teachers and their classes?” Findings demonstrate how the classroom learning environment was influenced by co-teacher relationships, collaboration time, and knowledge of the models, providing insight to stakeholders for how to support the implementation of a positive co-taught learning environment.co-teachinginclusive educationclass communityteacher relationshipscollaboratio
Foster parenting practices that improve the placement stability of Canadian aboriginal youth in state residential foster care
No full textResidential instability, or disruptions with children and youth in state-funded foster care, is a common occurrence with large financial and human costs. There is little Canadian or British Columbian (BC) research on what risk and protective factors and what foster parent practices create placement stability with Aboriginal children in [foster] care (CIC). This study was based on qualitative interviews with five veteran foster parents who have 48 years of combined caregiver experience serving BC Aboriginal youth with complex behaviours. The foster parents identified relationship practices between the foster parent, CIC, social worker, and the child welfare agency that were either a risk or protective factors for residential placement stability of their Aboriginal children. Foster parents reported utilizing specific practices of attachment, empathy, and communication that improved relationship building. Understanding what relationship-building practices reduce disruptions with CIC can inform both agency policy and foster parent and social worker training.disruptionsfoster parentsaboriginalplacement stabilityCanadia
Political life writing in the Pacific
No full textThis book aims to reflect on the experiential side of writing political lives in the Pacific region. The collection touches on aspects of the life writing art that are particularly pertinent to political figures: public perception and ideology; identifying important political successes and policy initiatives; grappling with issues like corruption and age-old political science questions about leadership and ‘dirty hands’. These are general themes but they take on a particular significance in the Pacific context and so the contributions explore these themes in relation to patterns of colonisation and the memory of independence; issues elliptically captured by terms like ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’; the nature of ‘self’ presented in Pacific life writing; and the tendency for many of these texts to be written by ‘outsiders’, or at least the increasingly contested nature of what that term means
Integrating basic remote sensing, terrain analysis and geostatistical methods to generate spatially explicate continuous soil attribute maps for Fraser Experimental Forest
No full text2010 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Hans Jenny's Factors of Soil Formation, a system of quantitative pedology (1941), concisely summarized and illustrated many of the basic principles of pedology utilized to date (Jenny, 1941). This state factor model became the backbone for soil survey research and production because it proposed that a limited number of environmental factors could largely explain the distribution of soils within and among ecosystems. Advances in soil chemistry, soil physics, soil mineralogy, and soil biology, as well as in the basic sciences have helped increase our fundamental understanding of the spatial distribution of soil. In addition, new tools and new dimensions to the study of soil formation have evolved with the increasing power and utility of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and geostatistical analysis to further quantify the complex spatial relationships of soils and landscapes. These advances have resulted in a new field of study termed pedometrics, which focuses on the application of mathematical and statistical methods for the study of the distribution and evolution of soils. This study implements pedometric principles and methods to develop high resolution and spatially explicate soil attribute maps for Fraser Experimental Forest (FEF) based on simple terrain, remote sensing and geostatistical analyses. The soil attribute models developed for this study provided a continuous representation of soil properties (Total soil depth, A-horizon and O-horizon thickness) at a fine scale (0.001 ha). These spatial models can be used as inputs to hydrological and ecological models to further evaluate the soil's influence on water chemistry and vegetation distributions, and to provide an initial platform for future soil survey activities in FEF. In addition to developing soil attribute surfaces for FEF, I tested the statistical, spatial and cost efficiencies of the Spatially Balances Survey (SBS) design developed to sample soils and inform the geostatistical models for FEF
Art, Biography, Sexuality: Patrick Procktor and Keith Vaughan
No full textThis critical review forms a reflection on the research published within the following publications:
Patrick Procktor: Art and Life (Unicorn Press, 2010)
Keith Vaughan: The Mature Oils 1946-1977, (Sansom & Co., 2012)
The research is on two artists, Patrick Procktor (1936-2003), and Keith Vaughan (1912-1977). The monograph on Procktor – previously one of the least documented of the generation of artists who came to prominence in London in the Sixties – positions him in a history of art from which he had been notably absent. The research on Vaughan asserts a new reading of his work, one that is both deeper and more nuanced in its analysis of the ways in which personal experience and sexuality are encoded autobiographically within his work. Crucially, in both artists biography and work are symbiotically linked; the research therefore examines the links between life and art.
Revisionary in intent, the work examines trajectories of experience of gay British (or rather, English) artists in the twentieth century, artists who sought to express themselves and forge careers within the constraints of a heteronormative society, albeit one in which attitudes to sexuality were undergoing change. As gay men, both were constrained by the social mores of their times, and each used painting as a means to affirm personal and sexual identities. A key research interest is in the ways in which sexuality and persona are reflected in critical responses to the artist’s work: in Vaughan, Procktor and other gay male artists of the period. The writing on both Procktor and Vaughan examines the relationship between their personal and professional/artistic lives, framed within a broader socio-political and art historical context. It asserts the place of biography as a means to understand and form new readings of the work. The work adds substantially to the literature and wider discourse on post-war British painting and social history
The Canadian Elder Standard - Pricing the Cost of Basic Needs for the Canadian Elderly
No full textWe determined the after-tax income required to fi nance basic needs for Canadian elders living with different circumstances in terms of age, gender, city of residence, household size, homeowner or renter status, means of transportation, and health status. Using 2001 as our base year, we priced the typical expenses for food, shelter, medical, transportation, miscellaneous basic living items and home-based long-term care for elders living in fi ve Canadian cities. This is the fi rst Canadian study of basic living expenses tailored to elders instead of adults in general, prepared on an absolute rather than a relative basis. We also accounted for an individual’s unique life circumstances and established the varying effect that they have on the cost of basic expenses, particularly for home care. We found that the maximum Guaranteed Income Supple ment and Old Age Security benefi t did not meet the cost of basic needs for an elder living in poor circumstances.Canadian seniors, poverty measure, economic security, aging-in-place, cost-of-living, absolute measure, home care
- …
