Injury to the airway epithelium has been proposed as a key susceptibility factor for exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). Our goals were to establish whether airway epithelial cell injury occurs during EIB in athletes and whether inhalation of warm humid air inhibits this injury. Twenty-one young male athletes (10 with a history of EIB) performed two 8-min exercise tests near maximal aer...

Laboratory studies of variations in testicular activity (testicular weight and plasma testosterone concentration) were carried out on two populations of Arvicanthis niloticus, a Sahelian rodent that displays the particularity of being able to breed in the dry season. The animals were captured during phases of sexual activity or inactivity and were maintained in the laboratory for 50 days under ...

This study looked at the influence of inspired air water content on exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB). On separate days, 12 mild asthmatics (4M, 8F), aged 18-39 yrs (mean: 27 yrs), performed four six minute steady-state exercises on ergometer at 80% of their maximum workload. Exercises were randomized to the following inspired air conditions: dry air (0% relative humidity (RH] during exercise...

The biological processes affecting Ixodes scapularis Say survival are complex. Understanding these processes will be beneficial for predicting tick distribution and population dynamics. This research shows that the duration for which nymphal ticks are exposed to drying air is an important factor for their survival. Experimental analysis of variance results show that duration of exposure to dry ...

Spiders are a megadiverse group that can be useful indicators of the overall species richness and health of biotic communities. The spider diversity in subtropical forests of the Neotropical region are not yet well known, especially in Argentinean subtropical forests where systematic fieldwork has not been done until recently. The Great Chaco is very important as the unique dry subtropical fore...

The increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases in Chinese children has focused attention on indoor environmental quality. We investigated associations between perceived air quality in domestic environments and children's allergic diseases with a questionnaire survey study. A total of 4017 children aged 1-8 years old from 23 kindergartens in urban, suburban and industrial areas in Nanjing wer...

UNLABELLED Older adults may be at greater risk for occupational injuries given their reduced capacity to dissipate heat, leading to greater thermal strain and potentially cognitive decrements. PURPOSE To examine the effects of age and increased air velocity, during exercise in humid heat, on information processing and attention. METHODS Nine young (24 ± 1 years) and 9 older (59 ± 1 years) m...

Jurassic deposits are discovered in the Shahreza area, southwest of Isfahan city, central Iran. They yield plant macrofossils belonging to 22 species assigned to 17 genera of various orders such as Equisetales, Filicales, Bennettitales, Cycadales, Ginkgoales and Coniferales. According to the occurrence of Annulariopsis simpsonii, Coniopteris hymenophylloides, Cladophlebis aktashensis, Nilssonia...

Based on a great number of literatures, we established the database about the Chinese endemic seed plants and analyzed the compositions, growth form, distribution and angiosperm original families of them within three big natural areas and seven natural regions. The results indicate that the above characters of Chinese endemic plants take on relative rule at the different geographical scales. Am...

We study the temporal pattern of selected respiratory diseases and the influence of specific weather parameters on their morbidity in two eco-climatic zones in Nigeria for the period 19962006. Out of 2,056 and 2,647 cases of respiratory diseases (bronchial asthma, bronchopneumonia, lobar pneumonia, bronchiolitis, cardiac asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, sinusitis, tonsillitis and upper respirato...