There is strong and consistent evidence from in vitro studies that disturbed blood flow produces a proatherogenic vascular endothelial phenotype. However, data from human studies are lacking. To address this, a 220 mm Hg occlusion cuff was placed on the distal forearm of 10 young, healthy men to induce a localized region of disturbed blood flow in the proximal vasculature for 20 minutes. We hyp...

Forest disturbance often results in changes in soil properties and microbial communities. In the present study, we characterized a soil bacterial community subjected to disturbance using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. The community was from a disturbed broad-leaved, low mountain forest ecosystem at Huoshaoliao (HSL) located in northern Taiwan. This locality receives more than 4,000 mm annual pr...

A nationwide Finnish sample of schizophrenic mothers' offspring given up for adoption has been compared blindly with matched controls; i.e., adopted-away offspring of non-schizophrenic biologic parents. The families have been investigated thoroughly by joint and individual interviews and psychological tests. In the 91 pairs where both the index and control families have already been investigate...

This paper addresses the L2-gain analysis and control synthesis problem for a class of switched nonlinear systems affected by both time-varying uncertainties and external disturbances. Firstly, the L2-gain for the autonomous switched disturbed uncertain system is analyzed. Then, a switched state feedback control law is designed and the L2 -gain is analyzed for the disturbed uncertain non-autono...

Disturbed blood flow with low-oscillatory shear stress (OSS) is a predominant atherogenic factor leading to dysfunctional endothelial cells (ECs). Recently, it was found that disturbed flow can directly induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in ECs, thereby playing a critical role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a naturally occurring bile ac...

Nam D, Ni CW, Rezvan A, Suo J, Budzyn K, Llanos A, Harrison D, Giddens D, Jo H. Partial carotid ligation is a model of acutely induced disturbed flow, leading to rapid endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 297: H1535–H1543, 2009. First published August 14, 2009; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00510.2009.—Atherosclerosis is closely associated with disturbed flow char...

BACKGROUND Oxidative stress occurs with disturbed blood flow, inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet free-radical scavenging antioxidants have shown limited benefit in human CVD. Thioredoxin-1 (Trx1) is a thiol antioxidant protecting against non-radical oxidants by controlling protein thiol/disulfide status; Trx1 translocates from cytoplasm to cell nuclei due to stress signaling, fa...

INTRODUCTION Disturbed sleep is a public health problem, but few studies describe the prevalence of sleep problems among Hispanic adolescents. We estimated the prevalence of disturbed sleep and associated factors among ninth graders living on the Texas-Mexico border. METHODS We used probabilistic sampling to conduct 2 cross-sectional, school-based surveys: 1 during the 2000-2001 school year i...

The downward movement of carbofuran in two Malaysian soil types was studied using soil columns. The columns were filled with disturbed and undisturbed soils of either the Bagan Datoh soil (clay) or the Labu soil (sandy clay). The average total percentage of carbofuran in the leachate of the undisturbed Labu soil after 14 days of watering (80.8%) was approximately similar to that of the total am...