Characterisation and comparison of immune response mechanisms in an indigenous and a commercial pig breed after classical swine fever vaccination.

The live attenuated classical swine fever (CSF) vaccine has been successfully used to prevent and control CSF outbreaks for 6 decades. However, the immune response mechanisms against the vaccine remain poorly understood. Moreover, very few reports exist regarding the breed differences in the response to CSF vaccine. In this study, we generated the peripheral blood mononuclear cell transcriptomes of indigenous Ghurrah and commercial Landrace pig breeds, before and 7 days after CSF vaccination. Subsequently, between and within-breed differential gene expression analyses were carried out. Results revealed large differences in pre-vaccination peripheral blood mononuclear cell transcriptome profiles of the two breeds, which were homogenised 7 days after vaccination. Before vaccination, gene set enrichment analysis showed that pathways related to antigen sensing and innate immune response were enriched in Ghurrah, while pathways related to adaptive immunity were enriched in Landrace. Ghurrah exhibited greater immunomodulation compared to Landrace following the vaccination. In Ghurrah, cell-cycle processes and T-cell response pathways were upregulated after vaccination. However, no pathways were upregulated in Landrace after vaccination. Pathways related to inflammation were downregulated in both the breeds after vaccination. Key regulators of inflammation such as IL1A, IL1B, NFKBIA and TNF genes were strongly downregulated in both the breeds after vaccination. Overall, our results have elucidated the mechanisms of host immune response against CSF vaccination in two distinct breeds and revealed common key genes instrumental in the global immune response to the vaccine.

MOF-derived Co2+-doped TiO2 nanoparticles as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells.

Facile synthesis and application of nano-sized semiconductor metal oxides for optoelectronic devices have always affected fabrication challenges since it involves multi-step synthesis processes. In this regard, semiconductor oxides derived directly from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) routes have gained a great deal of scientific interest owing to their high specific surface area, regular and tunable pore structures. Exploring the application potential of these MOF-derived semiconductor oxides systems for clean energy conversion and storage devices is currently a hot topic of research. In this study, titanium-based MIL-125(Ti) MOFs were used as a precursor to synthesize cobalt-doped TiO2-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time. The thermal decomposition of the MOF precursor under an air atmosphere at 400 °C resulted in mesoporous anatase-type TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of uniform morphology, large surface area with narrow pore distribution. The Co2+ doping in TiO2 leads to enhanced light absorption in the visible region. When used as photoanode in DSSCs, a good power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.86% with good photocurrent density (Jsc) of 13.96 mA cm-2 was obtained with the lowest recombination resistance and the longest electron lifetime, which is better than the performance of the pristine TiO2-based photoanode.

MRI characterization of hemodynamic patterns of human fetuses with cyanotic congenital heart disease.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the distribution of blood flow and oxygen transport in human fetuses with subtypes of congenital heart disease (CHD) that present with neonatal cyanosis. METHODS: Blood flow was measured in the major vessels of 152 late-gestation human fetuses with CHD and 40 gestational-age-matched normal fetuses, using cine phase-contrast MRI. Oxygen saturation (SaO2 ) was measured in the major vessels of 57 fetuses with CHD and 40 controls. RESULTS: Compared with controls, we found lower combined ventricular output in fetuses with single-ventricle physiology, with the lowest being observed in fetuses with severe forms of Ebstein's anomaly. Obstructive lesions of the left or right heart were associated with increased flow across the contralateral side. Pulmonary blood flow was reduced in fetuses with Ebstein's anomaly, while those with Ebstein's anomaly and tricuspid atresia had reduced umbilical flow. Flow in the superior vena cava was elevated in fetuses with transposition of the great arteries, normal in fetuses with hypoplastic left heart, tetralogy of Fallot or tricuspid atresia and reduced in fetuses with Ebstein's anomaly. Umbilical vein SaO2 was reduced in fetuses with hypoplastic left heart or tetralogy of Fallot. Ascending aorta and superior vena cava SaO2 were reduced in nearly all CHD subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Fetuses with cyanotic CHD exhibit profound changes in the distribution of blood flow and oxygen transport, which result in changes in cerebral, pulmonary and placental blood flow and oxygenation. These alterations of fetal circulatory physiology may influence the neonatal course and help account for abnormalities of prenatal growth and development that have been described in newborns with cyanotic CHD. © 2021 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Assessment of meat quality defect genes in indigenous pigs of Bareilly region.

This investigation was undertaken to assess the population of indigenous (Bareilly local) pigs for meat quality genes (RYR1, PRKAG3, HFABP, MYF-5, and MC4R). The results showed that indigenous pigs were monomorphic at RYR1locus (100% NN genotype), HFABP locus (100% HH genotype), and MYF-5 locus (100% DD genotype). Homozygote RR and heterozygote QR genotypes were observed at PRKAG3 (c.599 G>A) SNP locus with 89 and 11% frequency. The frequency of wild (R) and mutant (Q) allele at the said locus was 95 and 5%. The MC4R SNP had three genotypes; homozygote AA with 5% frequency, heterozygote AG with 53% frequency, and homozygote GG with 42% frequency. Corresponding frequency of A and G allele was 32 and 68%, respectively. Monomorphic status at RYR1locus for NN genotype, HFABP locus for HH genotype, and MYF-5 locus for DD genotype indicated that favorable genes for quality pork production have been fixed in the population. The higher frequency of RR genotype (89%) at PRKAG3 and GG genotype (42%) at MC4R locus further explained the existence of favorable genotypes in indigenous pigs.

Polymorphism distribution of RYR1, PRKAG3, HFABP, MYF-5 and MC4R genes in crossbred pigs.

This study was designed to screen the crossbred pigs for SNPs in five candidate genes, associated with pork quality traits and to differentiate their genotypes by PCR-RFLP. The results indicated that genotypes of crossbred pigs were NN (90%) and Nn (10%) for RYR1; RR (83%) and QR (17%) for PRKAG3; HH (98%), Hh (1%) and hh (1%) for HFABP; DD (99%) and CD (1%) for MYF-5; and AG (57%), GG (26%) and AA (17%) for MC4R SNPs, respectively. Allelic frequencies for five SNPs {RYR1 (1843C>T), PRKAG3 (c.599G>A), HFABP (c.1322C>T), MYF-5 (c.1205A>C) and MC4R (c.1426A>G)} were 0.95 and 0.05 (N/n), 0.08 and 0.92 (Q/R), 0.99 and 0.01 (H/h), 0.00 and 1.00 (C/D) and 0.45 and 0.55 (A/G), respectively. The effect of RYR1 (1843C>T) SNP was significant on pH45 (P < 0.05), pH24 (P < 0.05) and protein % (P < 0.05). The PRKAG3 (c.599G>A) and MC4R (c.1426A>G) SNP had significant association with dressing percentages. The results revealed that RYR1, PRKAG3 and MC4R SNPs may be used in marker associated selection for pork quality traits in crossbred pigs.

Design of tree structured matched wavelet for HRV signals of menstrual cycle.

An algorithm is presented for designing a new class of wavelets matched to the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) signals of the menstrual cycle. The proposed wavelets are used to find HRV variations between phases of menstrual cycle. The method finds the signal matching characteristics by minimising the shape feature error using Least Mean Square method. The proposed filter banks are used for the decomposition of the HRV signal. For reconstructing the original signal, the tree structure method is used. In this approach, decomposed sub-bands are selected based upon their energy in each sub-band. Thus, instead of using all sub-bands for reconstruction, sub-bands having high energy content are used for the reconstruction of signal. Thus, a lower number of sub-bands are required for reconstruction of the original signal which shows the effectiveness of newly created filter coefficients. Results show that proposed wavelets are able to differentiate HRV variations between phases of the menstrual cycle accurately than standard wavelets.

Medication education program for Indian children with asthma: A feasibility stud.

OBJECTIVE: It is postulated that children with asthma who receive an interactive, comprehensive, culturally relevant education program would improve their asthma knowledge (AK), asthma control, and adherence compared with children receiving usual care. The aim of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the efficacy of a culturally relevant asthma education intervention for children with asthma and their parents in India. METHODS: Children with asthma (7-12 years) and their parents were recruited from an outpatient clinic in a Chest Diseases Hospital in New Delhi, and were randomly assigned to either an intervention or usual care group. At baseline, outcome data collected included pediatric asthma caregiver quality of life (PACQL, primary outcome), AK, asthma control, adherence, inhaler technique, action plan ownership, and goal achievement. These data were collected again at 1 and 6 months after baseline. Outcomes were compared within and between groups using ANOVA techniques. RESULTS: Forty parent-child pairs were recruited. Of these, 24 pairs of children with asthma and their parents received the educational intervention. The PACQL significantly improved from baseline to 6 months in the intervention (5.87 ± 0.94-7.00 ± 0.03) versus the usual care group (5.90 ± 0.52-6.34 ± 0.56) (P < 0.001). Other outcomes such as the parents' and child's AK, child's asthma control and inhaler technique were significantly improved in the intervention group across the study. All the participants possessed a written asthma action plan at the end of the intervention. Eighty-five goals were set by children with asthma across all the visits and were achieved by completion. CONCLUSION: An asthma educator delivered interactive program simultaneously involving children with asthma and their parents, improved quality of life, empowered and promoted better self-management skills.

An alternative approach to approximate entropy threshold value (r) selection: application to heart rate variability and systolic blood pressure variability under postural challenge.

This study presents an alternative approach to approximate entropy (ApEn) threshold value (r) selection. There are two limitations of traditional ApEn algorithm: (1) the occurrence of undefined conditional probability (CPu) where no template match is found and (2) use of a crisp tolerance (radius) threshold 'r'. To overcome these limitations, CPu is substituted with optimum bias setting ɛ opt which is found by varying ɛ from (1/N - m) to 1 in the increments of 0.05, where N is the length of the series and m is the embedding dimension. Furthermore, an alternative approach for selection of r based on binning the distance values obtained by template matching to calculate ApEnbin is presented. It is observed that ApEnmax, ApEnchon and ApEnbin converge for ɛ opt = 0.6 in 50 realizations (n = 50) of random number series of N = 300. Similar analysis suggests ɛ opt = 0.65 and ɛ opt = 0.45 for 50 realizations each of fractional Brownian motion and MIX(P) series (Lu et al. in J Clin Monit Comput 22(1):23-29, 2008). ɛ opt = 0.5 is suggested for heart rate variability (HRV) and systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) signals obtained from 50 young healthy subjects under supine and upright position. It is observed that (1) ApEnbin of HRV is lower than SBPV, (2) ApEnbin of HRV increases from supine to upright due to vagal inhibition and (3) ApEnbin of BPV decreases from supine to upright due to sympathetic activation. Moreover, merit of ApEnbin is that it provides an alternative to the cumbersome ApEnmax procedure.

Abdomen disease diagnosis in CT images using flexiscale curvelet transform and improved genetic algorithm.

This paper presents an abdomen disease diagnostic system based on the flexi-scale curvelet transform, which uses different optimal scales for extracting features from computed tomography (CT) images. To optimize the scale of the flexi-scale curvelet transform, we propose an improved genetic algorithm. The conventional genetic algorithm assumes that fit parents will likely produce the healthiest offspring that leads to the least fit parents accumulating at the bottom of the population, reducing the fitness of subsequent populations and delaying the optimal solution search. In our improved genetic algorithm, combining the chromosomes of a low-fitness and a high-fitness individual increases the probability of producing high-fitness offspring. Thereby, all of the least fit parent chromosomes are combined with high fit parent to produce offspring for the next population. In this way, the leftover weak chromosomes cannot damage the fitness of subsequent populations. To further facilitate the search for the optimal solution, our improved genetic algorithm adopts modified elitism. The proposed method was applied to 120 CT abdominal images; 30 images each of normal subjects, cysts, tumors and stones. The features extracted by the flexi-scale curvelet transform were more discriminative than conventional methods, demonstrating the potential of our method as a diagnostic tool for abdomen diseases.

Adaptive correlation dimension method for analysing heart rate variability during the menstrual cycle.

Correlation dimension (CD) is used for analysing the chaotic behaviour of the nonlinear heart rate variability (HRV) time series. In CD, the autocorrelation function is used to calculate the time delay. However, it does not provide optimum values of time delays, which leads to an inaccurate estimation of the HRV between phases of the menstrual cycle. Thus, an adaptive CD method is presented here to calculate the optimum value of the time delay based upon the information content in the HRV signal. In the proposed method, the first step is to divide the HRV signal into overlapping windows. Afterwards, the time delay is calculated for each window based on the features of the signal. This procedure of finding the optimum time delay for each window is known as adaptive autocorrelation. Then, the CD for each window is calculated using optimum time delays. Finally, adaptive CD is calculated by averaging the CD of all windows. The proposed method is applied on two data sets: (i) the standard Physionet dataset and (ii) the dataset acquired using BIOPAC(®)MP150. The results show that the proposed method can accurately differentiate between normal and diseased subjects. Further, the results prove that the proposed method is more accurate in detecting HRV variations during the menstrual cycles of 74 young women in lying and standing postures. Three statistical parameters are used to find the effectiveness of adaptive autocorrelation in calculating time delays. The comparative analysis validates the superiority of the proposed method over detrended fluctuation analyses and conventional CD.

Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions in community pharmacy.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: With the emerging and promising role of healthcare professionals in implementing smoking cessation services, community pharmacists, in particular, can play a pivotal role. The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions delivered by community pharmacists in assisting smokers to quit. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts and ISI Web of Knowledge were searched from inception to May 2013. Original research articles were selected for review, if they addressed the effectiveness of pharmacy-based interventions in smokers vs. a control group and reported smoking abstinence rates as an outcome. Obtained studies were assessed for methodological quality using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group risk of bias tool. The primary outcome of measure was smoking abstinence based on the 'most rigorous criterion'. Pooled relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using the Dersimonian and Laird random-effects models. Corresponding subgroup met-analysis was performed. RESULTS: Of the 1168 articles extracted, five studies (three randomized controlled trials and two controlled before-after studies) met the inclusion criteria, involving a total of 1426 smokers. Pharmacist interventions showed better abstinence rates as compared with controls (RR 2·21, 95% CI 1·49-3·29). Compared with the control group, the RR (95% CI) in the intervention group was 3·21 (1·81-5·72) for clinically validated abstinence and 1·66 (1·08-2·54) for self-reported abstinence. In the intervention group, the RR for short-term and long-term abstinence was 2·48 (1·15-5·31) and 2·40 (1·37-4·23), respectively. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacist-led interventions can significantly impact abstinence rates in smokers. Health policymakers should direct incentives for community pharmacists to provide such services.

Provider perceptions of pharmacy-initiated tuberculosis referral services in Cambodia, 2005-2010.

SETTING: Since 2005, private pharmacies linked to the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) and the Municipal Health Department in Phnom Penh have referred tuberculosis (TB) symptomatic patients to public sector TB clinics. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the attitudes and practices of pharmacy-initiated referral service providers in Phnom Penh from 2005 to 2010. METHODS: In a qualitative study, participants were purposively selected from the register of pharmacy owners providing referral services. Discussions were conducted in Khmer by trained facilitators. Participants discussed topics relating to their experiences and participation in the referral programme. RESULTS: In January 2011, 54 pharmacy owners participated in six focus group discussions held in Phnom Penh. Interpreted data showed consistency of message across all topics. The emergent themes-altruism, pragmatism and professionalism-underpinned owner commitment to programme goals. Issues associated with patient counselling, fear of infection and quality of care in public sector clinics were of concern to participants. Owners believed ongoing professional support, improved public sector patient care and media campaigns would strengthen their role. CONCLUSION: Pharmacy outlets provide further options for NTPs engaging with private sector providers. Recognising private provider needs and aspirations may be an essential component of public/private mix programmes to meet public health goals.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of private sector providers of tuberculosis care: a scoping review.

SETTING: The past decade has seen a significant increase in private sector provision of tuberculosis (TB)care. While patients often seek and select treatment from private providers at significant out-of-pocket expense,treatment outcomes remain largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of private sector TB care providers in high burden countries. METHODS: Medline, PubMed, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases were searched using Medical Subject Headings terms,Emtree terms and key words. Searches were limited to the English language and published between 1998 and week 2 of November 2009. Studies were included if they reported the knowledge, attitudes or practice behaviours of private health care providers working in one of 22 high-TB-burden countries. Each included study was critically assessed using a structured data extraction tool. Data extracted included the study setting, objective, design, sample, response rate, outcomes and limitations. RESULTS: The 34 studies that met review inclusion criteriaen compassed diverse study methods and designs.All categories of TB care providers lacked comprehensive knowledge of national treatment guidelines. Procedures for referral, treatment monitoring, record keeping and case holding were not systematically implemented.However, there was a high degree of willingness to collaborate with national TB programmes. CONCLUSION: Research using standardised data collection methods may assist in identifying gaps in knowledge and practice among all providers of TB care. Further studies in developing and evaluating needs-based interventions should be undertaken; systematic reviews of such studies may then assist in strategic decision making in public-private mix DOTS expansion.

Role of community pharmacists in asthma - Australian research highlighting pathways for future primary care models.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting the Australian population. Amongst primary healthcare professionals, pharmacists are the most accessible and this places pharmacists in an excellent position to play a role in the management of asthma. Globally, trials of many community pharmacy-based asthma care models have provided evidence that pharmacist delivered interventions can improve clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes for asthma patients. In Australia, a decade of coordinated research efforts, in various aspects of asthma care, has culminated in the implementation trial of the Pharmacy Asthma Management Service (PAMS), a comprehensive disease management model.There has been research investigating asthma medication adherence through data mining, ways in which usual asthma care can be improved. Our research has focused on self-management education, inhaler technique interventions, spirometry trials, interprofessional models of care, and regional trials addressing the particular needs of rural communities. We have determined that inhaler technique education is a necessity and should be repeated if correct technique is to be maintained. We have identified this effectiveness of health promotion and health education, conducted within and outside the confines of the pharmacy, in public for a and settings such as schools, and established that this outreach role is particularly well received and increases the opportunity for people with asthma to engage in their asthma management.Our research has identified that asthma patients have needs which pharmacists delivering specialized models of care, can address. There is a lot of evidence for the effectiveness of asthma care by pharmacists, the future must involve integration of this role into primary care.

Improved HRV characterization using OCDWT.

In this paper an over-complete discrete wavelet transform (OCDWT) algorithm, obtained by blending two wavelet transform implementations that is redundant wavelet transform and the Mallat's multiresolution decomposition, has been proposed to retrieve the time-varying characteristics of HRV under two different postures, supine and standing. The OCDWT algorithm is critically sub-sampled to a given level of decomposition, below which it is then fully sampled. Five subjects were included to investigate posture-related HRV. The results showed that the high frequency fluctuations are larger in supine and get significantly reduced in standing in comparison to low frequency variations. Moreover, the very low frequency heart beat fluctuations during supine were greater than during standing. Further a comparative analysis has also been made between the Mallat's and OCDWT implementation in order to show the superiority of proposed algorithm.

Sleep health awareness in pharmacy undergraduates and practising community pharmacists.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pharmacists are in an optimal position to provide health care to patients with sleep disorders, however, at present their involvement in sleep services is limited. This study aimed to (i) establish an understanding of baseline levels of sleep health awareness, and attitudes towards sleep health in pharmacists and pharmacy undergraduate students in comparison with sleep physicians and (ii) collate the expressed preferences for sleep health training by final year pharmacy undergraduate students and practising community pharmacists. METHODS: Two previously validated instruments, the Dartmouth sleep knowledge survey and the ASKME (attitudes section) were used to construct a self-report style questionnaire. Data from respondents were collated and analysed to evaluate differences in responses and test scores between the groups, using the statistical software package-spss 14.0. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Responses from 14 specialized sleep pharmacists, 14 general community pharmacists, 134 final-year undergraduate pharmacy students and 26 sleep physicians were obtained. The mean knowledge score per cent (35.5 +/- 14.0% for students, 48.2 +/- 19.5% for general and 50.6 +/- 16.6% for specialized sleep pharmacists, 86.7 +/- 9.3% for sleep physicians) and attitudes scores (37.3 +/- 4.0 for students, 37.2 +/- 5.4 for general and 40.3 +/- 5.3 for sleep specialist pharmacists, 42.6 +/- 4.7 for sleep physicians, expressed as a score out of 50) were significantly different between groups (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < 0.001). All groups reported slightly different preferences for future training formats and topics. There is a need to improve practising pharmacists' as well as undergraduate students' knowledge of sleep health. The positive attitude reported by the respondents indicates a high level of interest in acquiring knowledge and suggests that a tailored educational programme would be well received and timely. CONCLUSION: These results provide a valid indication of the pharmacy profession's expressed and actual training needs, and should be used to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of a sleep health educational strategy, which targets practising community pharmacists and students.

In vitro antioxidant activity of pet ether extract of black pepper.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the in vitro antioxidant activity of different fractions (R1, R2 and R3) obtained from pet ether extract of black pepper fruits (Piper nigrum Linn.) MATERIALS AND METHODS: The fractions R1, R2 and R3 were eluted from pet ether and ethyl acetate in the ratio of 6:4, 5:5 and 4:6, respectively. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical, superoxide anion radical, nitric oxide radical, and hydroxyl radical scavenging assays were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the extract. RESULTS: The free radical scavenging activity of the different fractions of pet ether extract of P. nigrum (PEPN) increased in a concentration dependent manner. The R3 and R2 fraction of PEPN in 500 microg/ml inhibited the peroxidation of a linoleic acid emulsion by 60.48+/-3.33% and 58.89+/-2.51%, respectively. In DPPH free radical scavenging assay, the activity of R3 and R2 were found to be almost similar. The R3 (100microg/ml) fraction of PEPN inhibited 55.68+/-4.48% nitric oxide radicals generated from sodium nitroprusside, whereas curcumin in the same concentration inhibited 84.27+/-4.12%. Moreover, PEPN scavenged the superoxide radical generated by the Xanthine/Xanthine oxidase system. The fraction R2 and R3 in the doses of 1000microg/ml inhibited 61.04+/-5.11% and 63.56+/-4.17%, respectively. The hydroxyl radical was generated by Fenton's reaction. The amounts of total phenolic compounds were determined and 56.98 microg pyrocatechol phenol equivalents were detected in one mg of R3. CONCLUSIONS: P. nigrum could be considered as a potential source of natural antioxidant.

Healthcare professional versus patient goal setting in intermittent allergic rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of healthcare professional versus patient goal setting for the self-management of intermittent allergic rhinitis (AR) on symptom severity and quality of life. METHODS: This was a 6 week, parallel group study. Group A participants, with pharmacist facilitation, nominated personally relevant goals and strategies relating to their AR. Group B participants had their goals and strategies set by the pharmacist. The main outcome measures used included perceived symptom severity and quality of life. In addition, goals and strategies data from participants of both groups were collected and analysed. RESULTS: Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in symptom severity and quality of life scores however Group B symptom severity scores improved more. Group B set a greater number of goals and strategies which were better structured and more task specific. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to investigate the impact of goal setting on patient behaviour in a chronic yet episodic illness. Our results suggest that self-management goals set by the healthcare professional which are clinically indicated but tailored to the patient's nominated symptoms yields better outcomes than goals nominated by the patient. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A brief, structured intervention, tailored to patient symptoms, can enhance self-management of intermittent allergic rhinitis.

Time-evolution of cardiovascular variability during autonomic function tests in physiological investigations.

Autonomic function testing forms an integral part of physiological investigations both for human and animal research. Clinically, recent times have seen them emerging as tools in settling diagnosis in several neurological, cardiovascular, endocrinal disorders where autonomic function are compromised. The reasons for such emergence have been their simplicity, noninvasiveness, and their ability to decipher the control systems. A time-varying spectrum estimation method for analyzing heart rate variability signals dynamics is presented. As a case study, the dynamics of heart rate variability during autonomic function tests is examined using wavelets. The obtained spectrum estimates have further been decomposed into separate components and, thus, the lime variation of low and high frequency components of heart rate variability can be examined separately. Thus, the present study aims to ascertain the association between heart rate changes and HRV parameters. The wavelet based HRV analysis has been found to faithfully represent the sympathovagal balance during standard autonomic battery test.

Modulation of diaspirin crosslinked hemoglobin induced systemic and regional hemodynamic response by ethanol in normal rats.

DCLHb, a hemoglobin based oxygen carrier, has been extensively studied for the treatment of hemorrhagic shock in both animal models and humans. Numerous accidents resulting in trauma are due to ethanol intoxication, in particular cases of car accidents. Therefore, trauma patients might be intoxicated with drugs of abuse like ethanol. Ethanol has significant effects on the cardiovascular system including peripheral vasodilation and decreased myocardial contractility. Such effects are likely to alter the cardiovascular actions of DCLHb, a resuscitative agent. Hence, this study investigated the effect of ethanol on the cardiovascular actions of DCLHb. Urethane anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into following groups (i) Saline + DCLHb (400 mg/kg) (n = 9), (ii) Ethanol (1 g/kg) + DCLHb (400 mg/kg) (n = 9), and (iii) Ethanol (4 g/kg) + DCLHb (400 mg/kg) (n = 8). Cardiovascular parameters were determined using a radioactive microsphere technique. DCLHb when administered to saline treated rats produced an increase in MAP, TPR, decreased renal and hepatic blood flow and increased blood flow to the skin and mesentery & pancreas. A high dose of ethanol (4 g/kg) significantly attenuated the DCLHb induced pressor response (p < 0.05) and increase in TPR (p < 0.05). Cardiac output was severely reduced by DCLHb in rats treated with high dose ethanol as compared to saline. No changes in TPR and cardiac output were observed in the low dose ethanol (1 g/kg) group. DCLHb reduced blood flow to the heart and mesentery & pancreas in rats treated with high dose ethanol. DCLHb caused a decrease in musculo-skeletal vascular resistance in rats treated with high dose ethanol. This decrease in vascular resistance in the musculo-skeletal system appears to be contributing to a decrease in TPR. It is concluded that ethanol in higher doses significantly alters the hemodynamic effects of DCLHb and may interfere with the resuscitative effects of DCLHb.