Analyzing causes of urban blight using cognitive mapping and DEMATEL.

Blight is a concept not commonly discussed. However, blight is a problem that exists in the lives of many people, especially if they reside in urban areas. Blight originates whenever properties are neglected, contributing to both a functional and social depreciation process and ultimately leading to uninhabitable dwellings.

Land cover impacts on storm flow suspended solid and nutrient concentrations in southwest Ohio streams.

Impacts between urban and agricultural land cover on storm flow water quality are poorly understood for the Eastern Corn Belt Ecoregion in SW Ohio. Storm flow water samples were collected from May 2017 to October 2017 across seven SW Ohio watersheds which ranged in urban land cover from 6% to 92% and in agricultural land cover from 4% to 70%. Two watersheds contained water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs).

Patient satisfaction and physician productivity: complementary or mutually exclusive?

Motivating physicians to increase productivity and maximize patient satisfaction may result in conflicted behavior, raising questions about whether one must be sacrificed for the other. To determine if high satisfaction (measured by Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey) can be achieved while maintaining high productivity (measured in McGladrey relative value units, MRVU), longitudinal data collected from January 2002 to July 2004 were modeled using repeated measures regression. A total of 136 000 patient-completed satisfaction questionnaires evaluating 417 physicians were collected for analysis.

2-Fluoroadenosine uptake by erythrocytes and endothelial cells studied by 19F-NMR.

Transport and phosphorylation of 2-fluoroadenosine (F-AR) were studied in human erythrocytes and porcine aortic endothelial cells by 19F-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. F-AR (590 microM) added to a human erythrocyte suspension (15% hematocrit) was rapidly incorporated into adenine nucleotides at a rate of 38 nmol.min-1.

Macromolecule permeability of coronary and aortic endothelial monolayers under energy depletion.

The dependence of macromolecule permeability (MP; indicator fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled albumin) of endothelial cells on their energetic state was investigated using confluent monolayers of rat coronary microvascular endothelial cells and porcine aortic macrovascular endothelial cells. When oxidative and glycolytic energy productions were inhibited (5 mM KCN plus 5 mM 2-deoxy-D-glucose) 90% of the endothelial ATP contents were lost within 15 min, followed by a progressive increase of MP, disintegration of the actin cytoskeleton, and the opening of intercellular gaps. Elution of the blocker and a subsequent 3-h incubation in complete culture medium reversed the effects of 2-h metabolic blockade, completely for MP and partially for ATP levels.

Metabolism of exogenous substrates by coronary endothelial cells in culture.

The ability of coronary endothelial cells in 14 day confluent cultures to metabolize glucose, palmitate, lactate and various amino acids was investigated. Under aerobic conditions, 99% of glucose, (5 mM) was degraded to lactate and only 0.04% was oxidized in the Krebs cycle.

Automated and conventional ABR screening techniques in high-risk infants.

Test validity is determined by the proportion of results that are diagnostically confirmed and predicted on the measures used to identify the disease process. This article summarizes the results of a series of 224 stable high-risk infants who were screened by automated (ALGO-1) and conventional (Bio-logics LT) ABR instrumentation. Failure criteria was defined as the absence or prolongation of a replicable wave V response (conventional) or Refer by the automated system.

Hyperbaric oxygen use in neonates. A report of four patients.

We report the use of hyperbaric oxygen in four neonates with delayed wound healing. Three presented with cyanotic congenital heart disease and had wounds associated with surgical procedures; the fourth had a nonhealing wound as a result of a complication of an umbilical-artery catheter. All were treated in a hyperbaric chamber with 100% oxygen at 2 atmospheres absolute.

Changes in the energy metabolism of cultured lens epithelial cells in comparison with the fresh lens.

Energy metabolism of bovine cultured lens epithelial cells (CLEC) was compared to that of fresh bovine lens. CLEC contained high levels of ATP (44 nmol mg protein-1) and creatine phosphate (13 nmol mg protein-1). An ATP/ADP ratio of ten and a creatine phosphate/creatine ratio of two indicated the cells were in a well-energized state.

Appearance of alpha-smooth muscle actin in human eye lens cells of anterior capsular cataract and in cultured bovine lens-forming cells.

Using light and electron-microscopic immunolocalization techniques, and gel electrophoresis combined with immunoblotting, we have examined the expression of cytoskeletal proteins in normal human fetal, child and adult lenses, in human anterior capsular cataract and in bovine lens cells in vivo and in vitro. In this report, we focus our observations on the pattern of actin-isoform expression during normal and pathological situations in vivo and culture conditions. We have noted that cells of developing and mature human lenses as well as bovine lens cells in situ contain only beta- and gamma-actins.

Energetic response of coronary endothelial cells to hypoxia.

The response of endothelial energy metabolism to oxygen supply was studied in cultured coronary endothelial cells from the rat at defined PO2 levels between 0.1 and 100 Torr. In the presence of glucose (5 mM), endothelial respiration (4 nmol O2.

Resistance of endothelial cells to anoxia-reoxygenation in isolated guinea pig hearts.

The release of cytosolic enzymes from myocardial and endothelial cells in the anoxic-reoxygenated guinea pig heart was investigated. Isolated hearts were perfused with Tyrode solution in the Langendorff mode. Sixty-minute anoxic perfusion with or without glucose (5 mM) was followed by 15-min normoxic perfusion with glucose.

Biological activity of des-(B26-B30)-insulinamide and related analogues in rat hepatocyte cultures.

Short-term and long-term biological activities were studied in adult rat hepatocytes cultured in the presence of the insulin analogues des-(B26-B30)-insulinamide, [TyrB25]des-(B26-B30)-insulinamide and [HisB25]des-(B26-B30)-insulinamide. When compared to insulin, full potency of des-(B26-B30)-insulinamide has been reported in rat adipocytes and an enhanced potency has been reported for the other analogues. Steady state binding characteristics of the analogues to hepatocytes were indistinguishable from those of native insulin with half-maximal binding occurring at concentrations of about 0.

Fatty acids are not an important fuel for coronary microvascular endothelial cells.

The metabolism by coronary microvascular endothelial cells (CMEC) of the heart typical substrates palmitate and lactate was compared to that of glucose and glutamine. Confluent cultures of CMEC were used. Palmitate oxidation was saturable and independent of the exogenous albumin concentration.

Substrate oxidation by adult cardiomyocytes in long-term primary culture.

In medium 199 plus 20% fetal calf serum adult rat cardiomyocytes establish a long-term culture (25 days). During the first 10 days they change their gross morphology from the typical elongated in vivo shape (day 1), to a smooth spherical intermediate form (days 2 to 5), to a spread cell type beating spontaneously (days 10 to 15). During the first 10 days in culture, protein content per cell increases and the cell population decreases.

Quantitative and kinetic characterization of nitric oxide and EDRF released from cultured endothelial cells.

Endothelial cells (EC) contribute to the control of local vascular diameter by formation of an endothelium derived relaxant factor (EDRF) (1). Whether nitric oxide (NO) is identical with (EDRF) or might represent only one species of several EDRFs has not been decided as yet (2-5). Therefore, we have directly compared in cultured EC the kinetics of NO formation determined in a photometric assay with the vasodilatory effect of EDRF and NO in a bioassay.

A non-linear goal programming approach to modeling intraregional economic development.

"This paper provides a one-period normative model that may be used as a guide or benchmark by which the economic planner may develop policies and plans for regional economic development. The model can accomodate a region that could be as large as a small country or as small as a city, provided sufficient relevant data are available." The authors outline "a procedure for modeling and solving economic planning and analysis problems with 'intergoal trade-offs' while retaining the deviational variable as a measure of satisfaction.

Oxidative metabolism of cultured adult cardiomyocytes.

Cultured adult cardiomyocytes from rat exhibit, if unstimulated, low rates of substrate oxidation, corresponding to their mechanical inactivity. They oxidize exogenous fatty acids and lactate preferentially to glucose. Endogenous lipolysis provides the largest portion of oxidative substrates.