Inflation of antishock trousers increases bronchial response to methacholine in healthy subjects

We studied changes in lung volumes and in bronchial response to methacholine chloride (MC) challenge when antishock trousers (AST) were inflated at venous occlusion pressure in healthy subjects in the standing posture, a maneuver known to shift blood toward lung vessels. On inflation of bladders isolated to lower limbs, lung volumes did not change but bronchial response to MC increased, as evidenced by a greater fall in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) at the highest dose of MC used compared with control without AST inflation (delta FEV1 = 0.94 +/- 0.40 vs. 0.66 +/- 0.46 liter, P less than 0.001). Full inflation of AST, i.e., lower limb and abdominal bladder inflated, significantly reduced vital capacity (P less than 0.001), functional residual capacity (P less than 0.01), and FEV1 (P less than 0.01) and enhanced the bronchial response to MC challenge compared with partial AST inflation (delta FEV1 = 1.28 +/- 0.47 liter, P less than 0.05). Because there was no significant reduction of lung volumes on partial AST inflation, the enhanced bronchial response to MC cannot be explained solely by changes in base-line lung volumes. An alternative explanation might be a congestion and/or edema of the airway wall on AST inflation. Therefore, to investigate further the mechanism of the increased bronchial response to MC, we pretreated the subjects with the inhaled alpha 1-adrenergic agonist methoxamine, which has both direct bronchoconstrictor and bronchial vasoconstrictor effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Automatic individual calibration in fall detection – an integrative ambulatory measurement framework

The objective of the current study was to demonstrate the utility of a new integrative ambulatory measurement (IAM) framework by developing and evaluating an individual calibration function in fall detection application. Ten healthy elderly persons were involved in a laboratory study and tested in a protocol comprising various types of activities of daily living and slip-induced backward falls. Inertial measurement units attached to the trunk and thigh segments were used to measure trunk angular kinematics and thigh accelerations. The effect of individual calibration was evaluated with previously developed fall detection algorithm. The results indicated that with individual calibration, the fall detection performance achieved approximately the same level of sensitivity (100% vs. 100%) and specificity (95.25% vs. 95.65%); however, response time was significantly lower than without (249 ms vs. 255 ms). It was concluded that the automatic individual calibration using the IAM framework improves the performance of fall detection, which has a greater implication in preventing/minimising injuries associated with fall accidents.     

Identification of chloroplast genome loci suitable for high‐resolution phylogeographic studies of Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott (Araceae) and closely related taxa

Recently, we reported the chloroplast genome‐wide association of oligonucleotide repeats, indels and nucleotide substitutions in aroid chloroplast genomes. We hypothesized that the distribution of oligonucleotide repeat sequences in a single representative genome can be used to identify mutational hotspots and loci suitable for population genetic, phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies. Using information on the location of oligonucleotide repeats in the chloroplast genome of taro (Colocasia esculenta), we designed 30 primer pairs to amplify and sequence polymorphic loci. The primers have been tested in a range of intra‐specific to intergeneric comparisons, including ten taro samples (Colocasia esculenta) from diverse geographical locations, four other Colocasia species (C. affinis, C. fallax, C. formosana, C. gigantea) and three other aroid genera (represented by Remusatia vivipara, Alocasia brisbanensis and Amorphophallus konjac). Multiple sequence alignments for the intra‐specific comparison revealed nucleotide substitutions (point mutations) at all 30 loci and microsatellite polymorphisms at 14 loci. The primer pairs reported here reveal levels of genetic variation suitable for high‐resolution phylogeographic and evolutionary studies of taro and other closely related aroids. Our results confirm that information on repeat distribution can be used to identify loci suitable for such studies, and we expect that this approach can be used in other plant groups.