Effects of Personal Exposure to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter on Acute Change in Nocturnal Heart Rate Variability in Subjects Without Overt Heart Disease.

The immediate effect within minutes to hours of personal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on cardiac autonomic function is limited, particularly at night. Our study aimed to assess the lagged association between personal exposure to PM2.

Evaluation of community response to wind turbine-related noise in western New York state.

As the boundaries of harvesting wind energy expand to meet the ever-increasing societal energy demands, the number and size of wind turbines being constructed rises. As part of a larger project to monitor sound in an operating wind park in western New York State, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among individuals living in and around the wind park to characterize the perception, level of annoyance, and self-reported health effects of residents. We conducted the study in a 126 MW wind park consisting of 84 turbines spanning approximately 19 square miles of farmland.

Cardiac autonomic dysfunction from occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Objectives: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been associated with cardiopulmonary mortality and cardiovascular events. This study investigated the association between a biological marker of PAH exposure, assessed by urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), and heart-rate variability in an occupational cohort of boilermakers.

Methods: Continuous 24 h monitoring of the ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) and pre- and postshift urinary 1-OHP were repeated over extended periods of the work week.

Association between fine particulate matter and oxidative DNA damage may be modified in individuals with hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the association between particulate matter (PM2.5) and urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in hypertensive and non-hypertensive individuals.

Methods: Twelve hypertensives and nine non-hypertensives were monitored during a 36-hour period using a repeated-measures panel study design.

Penalized solutions to functional regression problems.

Recent technological advances in continuous biological monitoring and personal exposure assessment have led to the collection of subject-specific functional data. A primary goal in such studies is to assess the relationship between the functional predictors and the functional responses. The historical functional linear model (HFLM) can be used to model such dependencies of the response on the history of the predictor values.

Comparison of fine particle measurements from a direct-reading instrument and a gravimetric sampling method.

Particulate air pollution, specifically the fine particle fraction (PM2.5), has been associated with increased cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality in general population studies. Occupational exposure to fine particulate matter can exceed ambient levels by a large factor.

The association of particulate air metal concentrations with heart rate variability.

Numerous studies show an association between particulate air pollution and adverse health effects. Particulate matter is a complex mixture of elemental carbon, ammonium, sulfates, nitrates, organic components, and metals. The mechanisms of action of particulate matter less than or equal to 2.

The association between personal measurements of environmental exposure to particulates and heart rate variability.

Background: Epidemiologic evidence indicates that airborne particulates are associated with mortality risk, predominately from heart disease. This may occur through changes in the cardiac autonomic nervous system, witnessed by changes in heart rate variability.

Methods: This short-term longitudinal study used continuous personal particulate matter measurements to examine the effects of exposure to particulate matter less than 2.

Association of heart rate variability with occupational and environmental exposure to particulate air pollution.

Background: Airborne particulate matter has been linked to excess morbidity and mortality. Recent attention has focused on the effects of particulate exposure on cardiac autonomic control. Inhaled particulates may affect the autonomic nervous system either directly, by eliciting a sympathetic stress response, or indirectly, through inflammatory cytokines produced in the lungs and released into the circulation.

Redesigning an FKBP-ligand interface to generate chemical dimerizers with novel specificity.

FKBP ligand homodimers can be used to activate signaling events inside cells and animals that have been engineered to express fusions between appropriate signaling domains and FKBP. However, use of these dimerizers in vivo is potentially limited by ligand binding to endogenous FKBP. We have designed ligands that bind specifically to a mutated FKBP over the wild-type protein by remodeling an FKBP-ligand interface to introduce a specificity binding pocket.

Pharmacologic control of a humanized gene therapy system implanted into nude mice.

Systemic delivery of specific therapeutic proteins by a parenteral route of administration is a recognized practice in the management of several gene defects and acquired diseases. As an alternative to repetitive parenteral administration, gene therapy may provide a novel means for systemic delivery of therapeutic proteins while improving patient compliance and therapeutic efficacy. However, for gene therapy to be an efficacious and safe approach to the clinical management of such diseases, gene expression must be tightly regulated.

A humanized system for pharmacologic control of gene expression.

Gene therapy was originally conceived as a medical intervention to replace or correct defective genes in patients with inherited disorders. However, it may have much broader potential as an alternative delivery platform for protein therapeutics, such as cytokines, hormones, antibodies and novel engineered proteins. One key technical barrier to the widespread implementation of this form of therapy is the need for precise control over the level of protein production.

Mini-review: Mechanical factors affecting cartilage regeneration in vitro.

In the last 5 to 10 years, tissue engineering has revolutionized the way in which medical researchers and clinicians are thinking of and, in some cases, actually treating diseases involving tissue damage and destruction. One such disease, osteoarthritis, results from progressive degeneration of articular cartilage, which has a limited ability to repair itself. With tissue engineering, scientists are now able to regenerate cartilage in vitro from isolated mature chondrocytes.

Distribution and possible origins of substance P-containing nerve fibers in the rat liver.

The distribution and possible origins of substance P-containing nerve fibers in the rat liver were investigated by immunohistochemistry and nerve transection. Nerve fibers with substance P-like immunoreactivity formed a more complex network than previously known in the walls of portal vein branches. Substance P-immunoreactive fibers were seen not only in and around the walls of the hepatic artery, but also in close association with the hepatic veins and bile ducts.

Lymphatics and pre-lymphatics of the rabbit pericardium and epicardium with special emphasis on particulate absorption and milky spot-like structures.

The lymphatics and pre-lymphatic connective tissue of rabbit pericardium and epicardium were examined by light and electron microscopy under normal conditions and after the injection of India ink and latex particles into the pericardial cavity. A characteristic lattice structure of connective tissue was present between the small mesothelial cells and the submesothelial lymphatic capillaries in the basal region of the pericardium, but not in the epicardium. Milky spot-like structures bulging toward the pericardial cavity were found in the pericardium, similar to those in the omentum and mediastinal pleura.

Morphologic changes in detrusor muscles of patients with chronic obstruction of lower urinary tract. Electronmicroscopic and immunohistochemical findings.

The anterior bladder wall and actin- and myosin-like immunoreactivities within the detrusor muscles in patients with chronic obstruction of the lower urinary tract were examined by means of a MOP Videoplan image-processing system, electronmicroscopy, and light microscopic immunohistochemistry. The image-processing system demonstrated an excess of connective tissue elements between smooth muscle bundles in the anterior wall of the bladder similar to the results of previous studies dealing with the trabeculated posterior wall. Under electronmicroscopy, myofilaments were shown to be multidirectionally arranged in the smooth muscle cells in contrast to the regular arrangement in controls.

Immunoelectron microscopy of cell populations in regional and central lymph of sheep.

The immunoreactivity and the ultrastructural localization of monoclonal anti-sheep lymphocyte antibodies conjugated with colloidal gold particles were examined in free-floating cells of sheep central lymph from the thoracic duct, postnodal lymph draining either the popliteal nodes or the mesenteric nodes, and prenodal lymph draining the pregnant uterus. The monoclonal antibodies used in this study were SBU-T1 (CD5), SBU-T4 (CD4), SBU-T8 (CD8), SBU-II (anti DR antibody), and E53 which are reported to be sheep homologues of human T1, T4, T8, HLA-DR, and pan B cell antibodies, respectively. Colloidal gold particles were evenly distributed or segmentally aggregated on the surfaces of lymphocytes and macrophages incubated with monoclonal antibodies and in vesicles in the cytoplasm of anti DR antibody labeled macrophages.

Fine structure of substance P-containing nerve fibers in the rat lateral septum; simultaneous localization in pre- and postsynaptic elements.

The fine structure of nerve fibers with substance P (SP)-like immunoreactivity in the rat lateral septum (LS) was investigated by preembedding immunoelectron microscopy. SP axon terminals frequently made synapses with non-immunoreactive neuronal soma and dendrites in the LS. Occasionally, two closely apposed nerve endings with SP immunoreactivity were presynaptic to the soma.

Lymphatics, intraepithelial lymphocytes and endometrial lymphoid tissues in the rabbit uterus: an electron microscopic and immunohistological study.

Rabbit uterine intraepithelial lymphocytes, endometrial lymphoid aggregates and lymphatic capillaries were examined electron-microscopically and immunohistochemically at well-defined intervals after the injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Lymphatic capillaries originated near the bases of the glands in the uterine cervix and in the border zone between the lamina propria mucosae and myometrium in the uterine body. The lymphatic capillaries were maximally dilated, and their endothelial cells were thinnest 8 hours after hCG injection.

Distribution of peptidergic nerve fibers in rat bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue: light microscopic observations.

The localization of neuropeptide Y (NPY), substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in the nerve fibers of rat bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) was investigated by light microscopic immunohistochemistry. Nerve fiber bundles revealing NPY-like immunoreactivity were shown to enter the BALT together with pulmonary artery branches. They frequently reached the central zone of the BALT to give rise to fine, tortuous fibers.

Immunogold-silver staining method for light and electron microscopic detection of lymphocyte cell surface antigens with monoclonal antibodies.

We used the immunogold-silver staining method (IGSS) for detection of lymphocyte cell surface antigens with monoclonal antibodies in light and electron microscopy and compared this procedure with the immunogold staining method. Two different sizes of colloidal gold particles (5 nm and 15 nm) were used in this study. Immunolabeling on cell surfaces was visualized as fine granules only by IGSS in light microscopy.

Somatostatin co-localizes with tyrosine hydroxylase in the nerve cells of discrete hypothalamic regions in rats.

The co-expression of somatostatin (SOM)- and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-like immunoreactivities in nerve cells of the rat hypothalamus was investigated by the simultaneous application to the same sections of immuno-beta-galactosidase staining and the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) method. SOM-like immunoreactive cells stained blue with immuno-beta-galactosidase staining and TH-like immunoreactive cells stained brown with the PAP method. Double-labeled cells with overlapping blue and brown immunoreaction products were frequently identified in the preoptic periventricular nucleus (pope).

Co-localization of arginine vasopressin- and enkephalin-like immunoreactivities in nerve cells of the rat hypothalamus.

The co-localization of arginine vasopressin- and enkephalin-like immunoreactivities in nerve cells of the rat paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus and adjacent areas was investigated by the simultaneous application of immuno-beta-galactosidase staining and the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method to sections. Arginine vasopressin-like immunoreactive cells were stained blue with immuno-beta-galactosidase staining and enkephalin-like immunoreactive cells brown with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. Double-labeled cells with overlap of blue and brown immunoreaction products were identified in the anterior, medial, and lateral parvocellular parts of the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus as well as in the previously indicated posterior magnocellular part.

Immunohistochemical differentiation between lymphatic vessels and blood vessels--use of anti-basement membrane antibodies and anti-factor VIII-related antigen.

Several immunohistochemical methods using Factor VIII-Related antigen (FVIIIR:Ag), laminin, Type IV collagen and fibronectin antisera were applied for the purpose of differentiating rat lymphatics from blood vessels by light and electron microscopy. Weibel-Palade bodies (WPB) were demonstrated in both types of vessels by conventional electron microscopy. The immunoreactivity to laminin and Type IV collagen in blood vessels showed a strong, continuous, linear subendothelial staining pattern in contrast to lymphatic vessels in which immunoreactivity was absent or weak in paraffin-embedded sections stained with the indirect immunoperoxidase technique.