Wellness is commonly conceptualized as having many dimensions, but little effort has been made to evaluate how spiritual and psychological dimensions are related to overall wellness. To explore the ...relationship between measures of spiritual and psychological wellness and perceived wellness in a college student population, the authors administered a series of survey instruments to 112 undergraduate students under quiet classroom conditions. They used the Life Attitude Profile to measure spiritual wellness, the Life Orientation Test and the Sense of Coherence Scale to measure psychological wellness, and the Perceived Wellness Survey to measure overall wellness. Path analysis performed with a proposed theoretical model revealed that the effect of life purpose on perceived wellness was mediated by optimism and sense of coherence, which had independent effects on perceived wellness beyond that of life purpose. The findings suggested that an optimistic outlook and sense of coherence must be present for life purpose to enhance a sense of overall well-being.
A comparative study was made on the efficacy of 5, 10 and 35% weight by weight (w/w) hydrogen peroxide solutions when applied using an automated room disinfection system. Six‐log biological ...indicators of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Geobacillus stearothermophilus were produced on stainless steel coupons and placed within a large, sealed, environmentally controlled enclosure. Five percent hydrogen peroxide was distributed throughout the enclosure using a Bioquell hydrogen peroxide vapour generator (BQ‐50) for 40 min and left to reside for a further 200 min. Biological indicators were removed at 10‐min intervals throughout the first 120 min of the process. The experiment was repeated for 10 and 35% hydrogen peroxide solutions. Five percent and 10% hydrogen peroxide solutions failed to achieve any reduction of MRSA, but achieved full kill of G. stearothermophilus spores at 70 and 40 min respectively. Thirty‐five percent hydrogen peroxide achieved a 6‐log reduction of MRSA after 30 min and full kill of G. stearothermophilus at 20 min. The concentration of 5% hydrogen peroxide within the enclosure after the 200‐min dwell was measured at 9·0 ppm. This level exceeds the 15‐min Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL) for hydrogen peroxide of 2·0 ppm. Users of automated hydrogen peroxide disinfection systems should review system efficacy and room re‐entry protocols in light of these results.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This research allows hospital infection control teams to consider the impact and risks of using low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide for disinfection within their facilities, and to question automated room disinfection system providers on the efficacy claims they make. The evidence that low concentration hydrogen peroxide solutions do not rapidly, autonomously break down, is in contradiction to the claims made by some hydrogen peroxide equipment providers and raises serious health and safety concerns. Facilities using hydrogen peroxide systems that claim autonomous break down of hydrogen peroxide should introduce monitoring procedures to ensure rooms are safe for re‐entry and patient occupation.
Significance and Impact of the Study: This research allows hospital infection control teams to consider the impact and risks of using low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide for disinfection within their facilities, and to question automated room disinfection system providers on the efficacy claims they make. The evidence that low concentration hydrogen peroxide solutions do not rapidly, autonomously break down, is in contradiction to the claims made by some hydrogen peroxide equipment providers and raises serious health and safety concerns. Facilities using hydrogen peroxide systems that claim autonomous break down of hydrogen peroxide should introduce monitoring procedures to ensure rooms are safe for re‐entry and patient occupation.
The effect of immunoneutralization of of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on LH secretion and concentrations of GnRH receptor, GnRH receptor mRNA, and gonadotropin subunit mRNA in pituitary ...tissue of orchidectomized sheep (wethers) was assessed. Thirty-six wethers were assigned at random to one of six treatment groups (six wethers per group). Thirty wethers (groups 2 to 6) received 200 mL ( i. v. ) of anti-GnRH antisera at passive immunization (PI). Anterior pituitary tissue was collected 0.5, 1, 2, 4, or 8 d after PI from wethers in groups 2 to 6, respectively. Pituitary tissue was also collected from unimmunized wethers (Group 1). Intravenous administration of anti-GnRH sera increased anti-GnRH activity to 69.1 +/-0.7% (percentage of total 125I-labeled GnRH bound by a 1:1,000 serum: GEL-PBS dilution) within 1 h of PI. Anti-GnRH activity declined gradually during the period after PI, and 8 d after PI anti-GnRH activity was 57.2 +/- 1.7%. Serum concentration of LH was significantly reduced, relative to the pretreatment (16.1 +/- 1.8 ng/mL) level, within 4 h (7.6 + 1.5 ng/mL) of PI, and the LH level was 10% of the pretreatment concentration 8 d after PI (1.6 + 0.2 ng/mL). Steady-state concentration of GnRH receptor mRNA decreased progressively during the period after PI and was significantly reduced, relative to the level in unimmunized control wethers (.44 +/- 0.03 pg/micrograms total RNA), 4 (.33 +/- 0.03 pg/micrograms total RNA), and 8 (.31 +/- 0.02 pg/micrograms total RNA) d after PI. Tissue concentrations of GnRH receptor and mRNA for the alpha LH beta, and FSH beta, subunits were also reduced ( P 0.05) by PI. These data indicate that maintenance of steady-state concentrations of GnRH receptor and GnRH receptor mRNA requires continued GnRH stimulation
Genetic variation in drought hardiness traits and their genetic correlations with growth potential and recovery traits were investigated in 39 full-sib families of coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga ...menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) from southwestern British Columbia. Seedlings of these families were grown in raised nursery beds and subjected to three moisture regimes each in the second (well-watered or control, mild, and moderate drought) and third (control, severe drought, and recovery from second-year moderate drought) seasons. Traits assessed included drought hardiness (foliage damage, cavitation of xylem tracheids, xylem hydraulic conductivity, and height and diameter growth increment) in the drought treatments, growth potential (total height and diameter) in the control treatment, and height and diameter growth increments in the recovery treatment. Xylem cavitation in the growth ring produced in a particular year was nearly three times greater under the moderate drought and four times greater under the severe drought than in the control treatment. Xylem hydraulic conductivity of seedlings in the severe drought treatment was 40% lower than conductivity of seedlings under the control treatment. Mean foliage damage in seedlings subjected to severe drought (third season) was much greater (33%) than in seedlings subjected to mild or moderate drought (second season). Families differed significantly in most drought hardiness traits, with individual tree heritabilities averaging 0.19. Thus, much potential exists for identifying drought-hardy families at the seedling stage and using this information for deployment or breeding purposes. In addition, most hardiness traits were strongly intercorrelated (genetic correlations often exceeded |0.80|) indicating that these traits are controlled largely by the same set of genes and that selection for hardiness based on one trait will increase hardiness as reflected in the other traits as well. Genetic correlations were only moderate (0.49) between hardiness traits measured in different years, perhaps due to the large difference in severity of the drought applied in the two seasons. Although injury to seedlings, as reflected in foliage damage and xylem cavitation, was relatively low under the moderate drought of the second season, it did result in reduced growth increment the following (recovery) year. Growth potential under favorable moisture regimes was nearly uncorrelated with drought hardiness, suggesting that drought hardiness could be improved in this southwestern British Columbia breeding population without negatively impacting growth potential in favorable moisture conditions.
The effect of nutrient restriction on serum concentrations of the gonadotropins, on the pattern of LH secretion, and on sensitivity
to estradiol (E2) was assessed in orchidectomized sheep (wethers). ...Thirty-six wethers (initial weight = 42.3 +/- 0.6 kg) were
fed to gain, maintain, or lose body weight (feeding groups G, M, and L, respectively; n = 12 wethers/group). After 7 wk of
controlled feeding, G, M, and L wethers weighed 57.0 +/- 1.7, 42.5 +/- 0.6, and 36.6 +/- 0.8 kg, respectively. At the end
of controlled feeding, serum concentrations of LH and FSH in M and L wethers were significantly higher than levels in G wethers.
During Days 51-54 of controlled feeding, six animals from each feeding group received E2 or vehicle as a continuous infusion.
The pattern of LH secretion was assessed 48 h after initiation of infusion. Although E2 infusion did not affect (p > 0.05)
LH pulse frequency in G and M wethers, pulse frequency was reduced (p < 0.05) in L wethers receiving E2. These data indicate
that serum concentrations of gonadotropins are increased in wethers fed to maintain or lose body weight. In addition, the
negative feedback potency of E2 is enhanced during prolonged weight loss.
By introducing additional T-DNA borders into a binary plasmid used in Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation, previous studies have demonstrated that the marker gene and the gene of interest ...(GOI) can be carried by independent T-strands, which sometimes integrate in unlinked loci in the plant genome. This allows the recovery of marker-free transgenic plants through genetic segregation in the next generation. In this study, we have found that by repositioning the selectable marker gene in the backbone and leaving only the GOI in the T-DNA region, a regular two-border binary plasmid was able to generate marker-free transgenic maize plants more efficiently than a conventional single binary plasmid with multiple T-DNA borders. These results also provide evidence that both the right and left borders can initiate and terminate T-strands. Such non-canonical initiation and termination of T-strands may be the basis for the elevated frequencies of cotransformation and unlinked insertions.
The ability of furfural to induce unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in hepatocytes of male and female B6C3F
1 mice and male F344 rats after in vivo administration and in vitro in precision-cut human ...liver slices has been studied. Preliminary toxicity studies established the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of furfural to be 320 and 50 mg/kg in the mouse and rat, respectively. Furfural was dosed by gavage at levels of 0 (control), 50, 175 and 320 mg/kg to male and female mice and 0, 5, 16.7 and 50 mg/kg to male rats. Hepatocytes were isolated by liver perfusion either 2–4 h or 12–16 h after treatment, cultured in medium containing
3Hthymidine for 4 h and assessed for UDS by grain counting of autoradiographs. Furfural treatment did not produce any statistically significant increase or any dose-related effects on UDS in mouse and rat hepatocytes either 2–4 h or 12–16 h after dosing. In contrast, UDS was markedly induced in mice and rats 2–4 h after treatment with 20 mg/kg dimethylnitrosamine and 12–16 h after treatment of mice and rats with 200 mg/kg
o-aminoazotoluene and 50 mg/kg 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF), respectively. Precision-cut human liver slices from four donors were cultured for 24 h in medium containing
3Hthymidine and 0–10 m
m furfural. Small increases in the net grain count (i.e. nuclear grain count less mean cytoplasmic grain count) observed with 2–10 m
m furfural were not due to any increase in the nuclear grain count. Rather, it was the result of concentration-dependent decreases in the mean cytoplasmic grain counts and to a lesser extent in nuclear grain counts, due to furfural-induced cytotoxicity. In contrast, marked increases in UDS (both net grain and nuclear grain counts) were observed in human liver slices treated with 0.02 and 0.05 m
m 2-AAF, 0.002 and 0.02 m
m aflatoxin B
1 and 0.005 and 0.05 m
m 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo4,5-
bpyridine. This study demonstrates that furfural does not induce UDS in the hepatocytes of male and female B6C3F
1 mice and male F344 rats after oral treatment at doses up to the MTDs. Moreover, human liver slice studies suggest that furfural is also not a genotoxic agent in human liver.
The effect of stress-like concentrations of cortisol on oestradiol-induced change in LH secretion and GnRH receptor expression was evaluated in orchidectomized sheep (wethers). Twenty-four wethers ...were assigned at random to one of the four treatment groups in a 2×2 factorial design (
n=6 wethers/group). Wethers received cortisol (90 μg/kg/h; groups 2 and 4) or a comparable volume of cortisol delivery vehicle (groups 1 and 3) by continuous infusion for 48 h. During the final 24 h of infusion, wethers received oestradiol (6 ng/kg/h; groups 3 and 4) or oestradiol delivery vehicle (groups 1 and 2). The pattern of LH secretion was assessed during a 3-h period of intensive blood collection beginning 21 h after initiation of oestradiol infusion. Although neither cortisol nor oestradiol alone affected (
P>0.05) mean serum concentration of LH or LH pulse frequency, serum LH and the frequency of secretory episodes of LH were significantly reduced (
P<0.05) in wethers receiving cortisol and oestradiol in combination. Anterior pituitary tissue was collected at the end of the infusion period. Oestradiol increased (
P<0.05) tissue concentrations of GnRH receptor and GnRH receptor mRNA. Although cortisol alone did not affect (
P>0.05) basal concentrations of receptor or receptor mRNA, the magnitude of oestradiol-induced increase in GnRH receptor and GnRH receptor mRNA was significantly reduced in wethers receiving cortisol and oestradiol concurrently. Conversely, steady-state concentrations of mRNA encoding the LHβ and FSHβ subunits were increased (
P<0.05) in wethers receiving cortisol. These observations demonstrate that stress-like concentrations of cortisol act in concert with oestradiol to suppress LH secretion. In addition, cortisol blocks oestradiol-dependent increase in pituitary tissue concentrations of GnRH receptor and GnRH receptor mRNA.
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