Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables improves microvascular function in hypertensive subjects in a dose-dependent manner.

Background: Observational evidence has consistently linked increased fruit and vegetable consumption with reduced cardiovascular morbidity; however, there is little direct trial evidence to support the concept that fruit and vegetable consumption improves vascular function. This study assessed the dose-dependent effects of a fruit and vegetable intervention on arterial health in subjects with hypertension.

Methods And Results: After a 4-week run-in period during which fruit and vegetable intake was limited to 1 portion per day, participants were randomized to consume either 1, 3, or 6 portions daily for the next 8 weeks.

Regional brain volumes and symptom severity in body dysmorphic disorder.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a severe psychiatric condition in which individuals are preoccupied with perceived defects in their appearance. Little is known of the pathophysiology or neurobiology of BDD. Recent evidence from a functional MRI study examining visual processing of faces demonstrated abnormal activation patterns in regions including left-sided inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and amygdala.

Thiol and cardiovascular risk factor status in a male northern Irish population.

Objectives: Raised plasma homocysteine is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cysteine has also been associated with CVD risk. In this study, we investigated the association between known CVD risk factors, dietary factors, and total plasma cysteine, cysteinyl-glycine, and homocysteine.

Drinking-induced thermoregulatory panting in rehydrated sheep: influences of oropharyngeal/esophageal signals, core temperature, and thirst satiety.

Dehydrated mammals conserve body water by reducing thermoregulatory evaporative cooling responses e.g., panting and sweating.

Recognizing and responding to acute liver failure.

By quickly recognizing the signs and symptoms of acute liver failure, you can help your patient improve his odds of surviving this often-deadly condition.

Roles of two preoptic cell groups in tonic and febrile control of rat tail sympathetic fibers.

In response to cold and in fever, heat dissipation from the skin is reduced by sympathetic vasoconstriction. The preoptic region has been implicated in regulating basal, thermal, and febrile vasoconstriction of cutaneous vessels such as the rat's tail, but the neurons responsible for these functions have not been well localized. We recorded activity from single sympathetic nerve fibers supplying tail vessels in urethane-anesthetized rats, while microinjections of GABA (300 mM, 15-30 nl) were used to inhibit neurons in different parts of the preoptic region.

Go to the head of the class: clinical educator role transition.

Facing that first day as an educator who is new to the role or new to the institution can be daunting. An organized orientation program can facilitate educators' assimilation into their role and provide assistance in understanding their duties and responsibilities. Orientation should be individualized according to the learning needs of the new educator and should provide information on hospital expectations, structure, and environment.

Basis for the preferential activation of cardiac sympathetic nerve activity in heart failure.

In heart failure (HF), sympathetic nerve activity is increased. Measurements in HF patients of cardiac norepinephrine spillover, reflecting cardiac sympathetic nerve activity (CSNA), indicate that it is increased earlier and to a greater extent than sympathetic activity to other organs. This has important consequences because it worsens prognosis, provoking arrhythmias and sudden death.

Walking on water and other lessons learned as a clinical educator.

The clinical educator role in acute and critical care is complex and challenging and in health care today it is often an essential role. This article focuses on lessons learned in implementing the role that may assist other nurses as they implement or develop the role.

Saturated and trans fatty acids and coronary heart disease.

Dietary intake of both saturated and trans fatty acids has been associated with an increase in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Evidence comes mainly from controlled dietary experiments with intermediate end points, such as blood lipoproteins, and from observational studies. A few small, randomized controlled trials with clinical end points have been carried out in which saturated fat was replaced with polyunsaturated fat, leading to a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and a reduction in CHD risk.

Alcohol increases homocysteine and reduces B vitamin concentration in healthy male volunteers--a randomized, crossover intervention study.

Background: Few studies have examined the effect of alcohol consumption on total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations.

Aim: To assess the effect of an 8-week intervention with vodka or red wine on plasma tHcy and B vitamin concentrations in healthy male volunteers. To assess the effect on tHcy according to methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C>T genotype.

The role of primordial emotions in the evolutionary origin of consciousness.

Primordial emotions are the subjective element of the instincts which are the genetically programmed behaviour patterns which contrive homeostasis. They include thirst, hunger for air, hunger for food, pain and hunger for specific minerals etc. There are two constituents of a primordial emotion--the specific sensation which when severe may be imperious, and the compelling intention for gratification by a consummatory act.

Effect of central urotensin II on heart rate, blood pressure and brain Fos immunoreactivity in conscious rats.

Central administration of urotensin II (UII) increases heart rate (HR), cardiac contractility, and plasma levels of epinephrine and glucose. To investigate the mechanisms causing these responses we examined the effects of i.c.

Central nitric oxide synthase inhibition restores behaviorally mediated lipopolysaccharide induced fever in near-term rats.

It has recently been established that the febrile response to bacterial endotoxin attenuated late in pregnancy is partially restored by central inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). To determine if this restoration of the febrile response also extends to warm-seeking behavior, we used a thermocline to allow animals to select their preferred ambient temperature. Near-term pregnant (day 19-20) and aged matched non-pregnant rats were given an i.

Mice lacking angiotensin-converting enzyme have increased energy expenditure, with reduced fat mass and improved glucose clearance.

In addition to its role in the storage of fat, adipose tissue acts as an endocrine organ, and it contains a functional renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) plays a key role in the RAS by converting angiotensin I to the bioactive peptide angiotensin II (Ang II). In the present study, the effect of targeting the RAS in body energy homeostasis and glucose tolerance was determined in homozygous mice in which the gene for ACE had been deleted (ACE(-/-)) and compared with wild-type littermates.

The brain as an endocrine target for Peptide hormones.

Unlike circulating steroid hormones, which have a relatively unhindered passage into the central nervous system, blood-borne peptides are usually restricted by the blood-brain barrier. Some circulating peptides, such as angiotensin II, atrial natriuretic peptide and relaxin, influence central neural pathways subserving cardiovascular and body fluid homeostasis by acting on neurons in the subfornical organ, organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and area postrema, all of which lack a blood-brain barrier. There are some circulating peptides such as insulin and leptin that are transported from the bloodstream across cerebral blood vessel walls into sites in the hypothalamus that have appropriate neural connections to influence food intake and sympathetic control of brown fat.

Worker exposure to methanol vapors during cleaning of semiconductor wafers in a manufacturing setting.

An exposure simulation was conducted to characterize methanol exposure of workers who cleaned wafers in quality control departments within the semiconductor industry. Short-term (15 min) and long-term (2-4 hr) personal and area samples (at distances of 1 m and 3-6 m from the source) were collected during the 2-day simulation. On the first day, 45 mL of methanol were used per hour by a single worker washing wafers in a 102 m(3) room with a ventilation rate of about 10 air changes per hour (ACH).

An evaluation of reported no-effect chrysotile asbestos exposures for lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Numerous investigators have suggested that there is likely to be a cumulative chrysotile exposure below which there is negligible risk of asbestos-related diseases. However, to date, little research has been conducted to identify an actual "no-effect" exposure level for chrysotile-related lung cancer and mesothelioma. The purpose of this analysis is to summarize and present all of the cumulative exposure-response data reported for predominantly chrysotile-exposed cohorts in the published literature.

Osmoregulatory fluid intake but not hypovolemic thirst is intact in mice lacking angiotensin.

Water intakes in response to hypertonic, hypovolemic, and dehydrational stimuli were investigated in mice lacking angiotensin II as a result of deletion of the angiotensinogen gene (Agt-/- mice), and in C57BL6 wild-type (WT) mice. Baseline daily water intake in Agt-/- mice was approximately threefold that of WT mice because of a renal developmental disorder of the urinary concentrating mechanisms in Agt-/- mice. Intraperitoneal injection of hypertonic saline (0.

The trajectory of sensory pathways from the lamina terminalis to the insular and cingulate cortex: a neuroanatomical framework for the generation of thirst.

The pathways involved in the emotional aspects of thirst, the arousal and affect associated with the generation of thirst and the motivation to obtain satiation, have been studied but remain poorly understood. Rats were therefore injected with the neurotropic virus pseudorabies in either the insular or cingulate cortex. After 2 days of infection, pseudorabies-positive neurons were identified within the thalamus and lamina terminalis.

Genetic lesions in a preleukemic aplasia phase in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In a small fraction ( approximately 2%) of cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) clinical presentation of leukemia is preceded, some 2-9 months earlier, by a transient, remitting phase of nonclassical aplastic anemia, usually in connection with infection. The potential "preleukemic" nature of this prodromal phase has not been fully explored. We have retrospectively analyzed the blood and bone marrow of a child who presented with aplastic anemia 9 months before the development of ETV6-RUNX1 fusion gene positive ALL.

Effect of aging on regional cerebral blood flow responses associated with osmotic thirst and its satiation by water drinking: a PET study.

Levels of thirst and ad libitum drinking decrease with advancing age, making older people vulnerable to dehydration. This study investigated age-related changes in brain responses to thirst and drinking in healthy men. Thirst was induced with hypertonic infusions (3.

Central osmoregulatory influences on thermoregulation.

1. Many mammals maintain a constant core body temperature in the face of a heat load by using evaporative cooling responses, such as sweating, panting and spreading of saliva. These cooling mechanisms incur a body fluid deficit if the fluid lost as sweat, saliva or respiratory moisture is not replaced by the ingestion of water; body fluid hypertonicity and hypovolaemia result.