Role of bradykinin in acid-induced mesenteric hyperemia and duodenal villous damage

Intestinal mucosal capsaicin-sensitive afferent nerves mediate, in part, the mesenteric hyperemia after intraduodenal acidification. The hyperemia plays a role in protecting the duodenal mucosa against acid damage. We tested the hypothesis that bradykinin contributes to this protective hyperemia. A specific antagonist of bradykinin will attenuate the hyperemia and exacerbate duodenal villous damage induced by acid. Study 1: Intravenous vehicle, or the specific bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist (HOE 140) was administered to anesthetized rats. This was followed by intraduodenal bolus administration of 160 microM capsaicin or 0.1 N HCl, and then intravenous bradykinin. Study 2: Intravenous administration of vehicle or HOE 140 was followed by duodenal perfusion with 0.1 N HCl. Superior mesenteric artery blood flow (pulsed Doppler flowmetry) (Study 1) and duodenal villous damage (histology) (Study 2) were recorded. HOE 140 significantly reduced the hyperemia induced by bradykinin and intraduodenal capsaicin or acid. Deep villous injury was significantly increased after treatment with HOE 140. These findings support the hypothesis that acid-induced and afferent nerve-mediated mesenteric hyperemia is modulated by a mechanism that involves bradykinin B2 receptor. Antagonism of bradykinin B2 receptor also increased acid-induced deep duodenal villous damage. Thus, maintenance of bradykinin-mediated mesenteric hyperemia, is a previous unrecognized mechanism associated with protection of the rat duodenal mucosa against acid-induced damage.     

区域气候变化情景下气候变率对我国水稻产量影响的模拟研究

利用中国随机天气模型将中国区域气候模式ＲＣＭ与作物模式ＣＥＲＥＳ－Ｒｉｃｅ相连接，模拟了３种气候变率（０％，１０％，２０％）水平下未来气候（２０５０年，假定此时ＣＯ２浓度为５５０ｍｇ／Ｌ）对我国水稻主产区（广州，长沙，南京）灌溉水稻和雨养水稻在考虑ＣＯ２肥效与否条件下的产量，模拟结果表明；（１）气候变率对水稻产量的影响因经营方式和研究地区的不同而有差异，对灌溉水稻来说，气候变率对其产量有负面影响，     

Understorey vegetation moderates climate in open forests: The role of the skirt-forming grass tree Xanthorrhoea semiplana F.Muell

Microsites are created by abiotic and biotic features of the landscape and may provide essential habitats for the persistence of biota. Forest canopies and understorey plants may moderate wind and solar radiation to create microclimatic conditions that differ considerably from regional climates. Skirt-forming plants, where senescent leaves create hut-like cavities around the stem, create microsites that are sheltered from ambient conditions and extreme weather events, constituting potential refuges for wildlife. We investigate day and night temperatures and humidity for four locations (grass tree cavities, soil, 20 cm above-ground, 1 m above-ground) in a South Australian forest with relatively open canopy of stringybark eucalypts (Eucalyptus baxteri, E. obliqua) and an understorey of skirt-forming grass trees (Xanthorrhoea semiplana) at 5, 10, 20, and 40 m from the forest edge. We also measured the percentage of canopy and understorey covers. Generally, temperature and humidity differed significantly between more sheltered (grass tree cavities, soil) and open-air microsites, with the former being cooler during the day and warmer and more humid during the night. Furthermore, our results suggest that canopy cover tends to decrease, and understorey cover tends to increase, the temperature of microsites. Distance to the edge was not significantly related to temperature for any microsite, suggesting that the edge effect did not extend beyond 10 m from the edge. Overall, grass trees influenced microclimatic conditions by forming a dense understorey and providing cavities that are relatively insulated. The capacity of grass tree cavities to buffer external conditions increased linearly with ambient temperatures, by 0.46°C per degree increase in maximum and 0.25°C per degree decrease in minimum temperatures, potentially offsetting climate warming and enabling persistence of fauna within their thermal limits. These climate moderation properties will make grass trees increasingly important refuges as extreme weather events become more common under anthropogenic climate change.     

泌尿系造影联合彩色多普勒对小儿先天性肾积水的诊断价值评估

摘要 目的：探讨泌尿系造影联合彩色多普勒对小儿先天性肾积水的诊断价值。方法：选取2018年11月～2021年11月在本院治疗的88例先天性肾积水患儿为研究对象,所有患儿均完善静脉肾盂造影及彩色多普勒超声检查,以病理诊断结果为金标准,对比两种检查方法对小儿先天性肾积水的诊断价值。结果：彩色多普勒超声检查结果显示,肾积水轻度、中度、重度患儿分别为10例、39例、39例,不同病情程度患儿比较,重度组收缩期峰值速度（PSV）、舒张期最小流速（EDV）均低于中度组和轻度组,重度组血流阻力指数（RI）高于中度组和轻度组（P<0.05）,但轻度组与中度组PSV、EDV、RI比较差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。与病理学诊断检查结果对比,彩色多普勒超声对中度、重度先天性肾积水患儿具有较高的诊断效能,其准确度分别为90.91%、93.18%,与病理诊断kappa值分别为0.795、0.862,具有较高的一致性;但对轻度肾积水诊断效能较低,kappa值为0.629,一致性一般。静脉肾盂造影对轻度先天性肾积水患儿具有较高的诊断效能,准确度为96.59%,与病理诊断kappa值为0.824,具有较高的一致性;但对中度、重度肾积水诊断效能较低,kappa值分别为0.583、0.565,一致性一般。彩色多普勒超声联合静脉肾盂造影诊断准确率高达94.32%,明显高于两检查方法单独应用（P<0.05）。结论：不同病情程度的先天性肾积水患儿具有不同超声征象,彩色多普勒超声对中、重度肾积水患儿具有较好的诊断价值,而静脉肾盂造影诊断轻度肾积水患儿的效能较好,将二者联合可提高对先天性肾积水的诊断准确率。     

Electronic tags for the tracking of insects in flight: effect of weight on flight performance of adult Colorado potato beetles

The wing loading of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), was found to decrease slightly with increasing size over a wide range of individual sizes and independent of sex. This makes it possible to use tags of the same weight for beetles of all sizes and suggests that if the addition of light electronic tags has any effect on the beetle's flight it will be similar across beetle size. The wing loading of individual potato beetles ranged from an average minimum 10.9 N m^–2 to an average maximum of 15.6 N m^–2 as their weights fluctuated over time following water and food uptake or dispersal. However, tests carried out in flight chambers indicate that beetles become incapable of upward flight as they go beyond an average wing loading of 11.8 N m^–2, that is 101 N (10.3 mg) beyond their minimum weight. It is estimated from our results that electronic tags should weigh no more than 23–33% of the potato beetle's acceptable extra loading for the technique to have no or minimal impact on the number and quality of upward flights taken.     

A new method to model change in cutaneous blood flow due to mechanical skin irritation part II: parameter identification procedure

Mechanical skin irritation, for example a light scratch with a needle, induces histamine and neuropeptide release on the line of stroke and in the surrounding tissue. Both histamine and neuropeptides are vasodilators. They cause vasodilation by changing the contraction state of the vascular smooth muscles and hence vessel compliance. Smooth muscle contraction state is very difficult to measure in vivo. For that reason we propose in this article an identification procedure to establish an irritation law. The law gives change in vessel compliance as a function of space, time and the intensity of the stroke. We have showed that vessel compliance increases immediately after the stroke not only on the line of stroke, but also in the surrounding tissue. Then, after a short delay, vessel compliance starts decreasing in the surrounding tissue, whereas vessel compliance on the line of stroke keeps increasing. Hence, blood is transported from the surrounding tissue to the line of stroke. In this way, higher blood volume on the line of stroke can be obtained than by only changing vessel compliance locally.     

天气变化对人口死亡率的影响——以广州市和上海市为例

人口死亡率与天气有一定的关系,以广州、上海两市１０个冬季和夏季的逐日死亡资料和气象资料,利用统计学和天气学方法得出,在最高温度达３４℃的“热日”,各类死亡数明显增多;而冬季死亡数随最低温度的下降而略有增加;广州夏季最大死亡率出现在“阴凉型”天气,而上海则是在“晴热型”天气,且上海死亡率受最高温度的影响大于广州;广州和上海冬季死亡率最大的天气均是“严寒型”,但广州死亡率受低温的影响要比上海大．在其他气象要素相似的情况下,风速对死亡率有一定的影响．     

Body Position,Age and Mass Effect of Adiposity on Adipose Tissue Red Cell Flux in Morbid Obesity

Objective: To measure red cell flux of adipose tissue in morbidly obese patients' pannus in the upright and supine position to determine factors which would render the lower pannus susceptible to ischemic necrosis. Design: A cohort study of morbidly obese subjects without ischemic necrosis. Setting: University teaching hospital. Patients: Twenty-three consecutive morbidly obese patients referred for gastroplasty. Measurements: Red cell flux, measured as RMS voltage by a laser Doppler velocimeter. An optical fiber with a tip diameter of 250μ was inserted into the upper and lower pannus and output recorded in the upright and supine positions. Other variables recorded were age, BMI, blood pressure and serum lipids. Results: Adipose tissue red cell flux demonstrates considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneity from subject to subject and in various locations in the pannus. No differences in red cell flux were detected in response to change in position. However, regression analysis demonstrated that the gradient between the upper and lower abdomen in the supine position was increasingly positive with age and in the upright position it was increasingly positive with increasing weight or BMI. Conclusions: These data suggest that red cell flux is heterogeneously distributed in the abdominal pannus and is not greatly influenced by body position. However, with increasing age and adiposity there is a gradient for decreased red cell flux to the lower portion of the pannus. This may be a factor in rendering this part of the pannus prone to ischemic fat necrosis.