Sex Trafficking and Substance Use: Identifying High-Priority Needs Within the Criminal Justice System.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is common among victims of sex trafficking. Traffickers may exploit individuals' existing opioid use or other SUDs to coerce them into sex trafficking, or they may facilitate substance use to keep trafficking victims from exiting. Additionally, trafficking victims may use substances to cope with trauma.

The challenge of measuring emergency preparedness: integrating component metrics to build system-level measures for strategic national stockpile operations.

Objective: Although significant progress has been made in measuring public health emergency preparedness, system-level performance measures are lacking. This report examines a potential approach to such measures for Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) operations.

Methods: We adapted an engineering analytic technique used to assess the reliability of technological systems-failure mode and effects analysis-to assess preparedness.

Evaluating the Reliability of Emergency Response Systems for Large-Scale Incident Operations.

The ability to measure emergency preparedness-to predict the likely performance of emergency response systems in future events-is critical for policy analysis in homeland security. Yet it remains difficult to know how prepared a response system is to deal with large-scale incidents, whether it be a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or industrial or transportation accident. This research draws on the fields of systems analysis and engineering to apply the concept of system reliability to the evaluation of emergency response systems.

Effects of chromium(III) picolinate on cortisol and DHEAs secretion in H295R human adrenocortical cells.

Dietary chromium(III) picolinate (CrPic) effects on circulating steroid hormones have been reported in various experimental animals. However, direct effects of CrPic on adrenocortical steroidogenesis are uncertain. Therefore, the objective was to determine the effects of CrPic on cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAs) secretion from H295R cells.

Bioterrorism with zoonotic disease: public health preparedness lessons from a multiagency exercise.

Responding to agricultural bioterrorism with pathogenic agents that are communicable from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases) requires effective coordination of many organizations, both inside and outside of government. Action must be simultaneously taken to address public health concerns, respond to the agricultural dimensions of the event, and carry out the necessary law enforcement investigation. As part of a project focused on examining public health preparedness in Georgia, an exercise was carried out in July 2005 examining the intentional introduction of avian influenza (H5N1) in commercial poultry operations.

Modulation of hypoglycemia-induced increases in plasma epinephrine by estrogen in the female rat.

Clinical studies have demonstrated that estrogen replacement therapy suppresses stress-induced increases in plasma catecholamines. The present study determined whether normal circulating levels of estrogen can modulate hypoglycemia-induced increases in plasma epinephrine (EPI). In anesthetized female rats, insulin-induced hypoglycemia (0.

Guanylin and uroguanylin induce natriuresis in mice lacking guanylyl cyclase-C receptor.

Background: Guanylin (GN) and uroguanylin (UGN) are intestinally derived peptide hormones that are similar in structure and activity to the diarrhea-causing Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxins (STa). These secretagogues have been shown to affect fluid, Na+, K+, and Cl- transport in both the intestine and kidney, presumably by intracellular cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent signal transduction. However, the in vivo consequences of GN, UGN, and STa on renal function and their mechanism of action have yet to be rigorously tested.

Dopamine D1 receptor-dependent inhibition of NaCl transport in the rat thick ascending limb: mechanism of action.

Our previous in vitro microperfusion studies established that dopamine inhibits sodium chloride transport in the rat medullary thick ascending limb. The present study was designed to determine the intracellular signaling pathway mediating this response. The dopamine D1 receptor agonist fenoldopam (1 microM) inhibited sodium chloride transport in the thick ascending limb by 42+/-5%.

Innovations and intellectual property: the case of genomic patenting.

In an effort to balance static and dynamic efficiency in the production and use of knowledge, societies institute intellectual property policies. In the United States, the patent system is a well-established mechanism to provide inventors with time-limited protection of new technologies in exchange for disclosure of information about their inventions. Emerging biotechnology, specifically the filing of patents on gene sequences, raises serious questions about whether the patent system is appropriately weighing societal costs and benefits in its grants of intellectual property protection.

High density lipoprotein binding to scavenger receptor, Class B, type I activates endothelial nitric-oxide synthase in a ceramide-dependent manner.

Recently it has been demonstrated that high density lipoprotein (HDL) binding to scavenger receptors, class B, type I (SR-BI) stimulates endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) activity. In the present studies we used a Chinese hamster ovary cell system and a human microvascular endothelial cell line to confirm that HDL stimulates eNOS activity in a SR-BI-dependent manner. Importantly, we have extended these studies to examine the mechanism whereby HDL binding to SR-BI stimulates eNOS.

Inhibition of voltage-gated Ca(2+) current by PACAP in rat adrenal chromaffin cells.

It is well established that pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) can stimulate catecholamine biosynthesis and secretion in adrenal chromaffin cells. Recent studies from this laboratory demonstrated that PACAP pretreatment inhibits nicotine (NIC)-induced intracellular Ca(2+) transients and catecholamine secretion in porcine adrenal chromaffin cells. Mechanistically, this effect is mediated by protein kinase C (PKC), and based on indirect evidence, is thought to primarily target voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels.

Spectral and Structural Characterization of 5,6-Chrysenequinone Diimine Complexes of Rhodium(III): Evidence for a pH-Dependent Ligand Conformational Switch.

Rhodium(III) complexes containing 9,10-phenanthrenequinone diimine (phi) ligands have been broadly applied for the construction of DNA binding and recognition molecules, and more recently, derivatives containing the 5,6-chrysenequinone diimine (chrysi) ligand have been shown specifically to recognize base mismatches in DNA. Here the structural properties of [Rh(bpy)(2)(chrysi)]Cl(3) and spectroscopic properties of derivatives are examined and compared to those of phi complexes of rhodium. Although similar in many respects, phi and chrysi complexes display distinctly different protonation behavior.