Search

Twenty male Wistar rats were trained under an alternating-lever cyclic-ratio (ALCR) schedule of food reinforcement. When responding showed no trends, each subject was subcutaneously implanted with an Alzet osmotic mini-pump, connected to a chronic indwelling cannula extending into the lateral ventricle of the brain. The mini-pumps were primed to infuse 0.25 microl lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (1.0 microg/0.25 ml) or 0.25 microl artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) per hour and were implanted for 28 days. LPS infusion produced behavioural deficits which chronic ibuprofen treatment (40 mg/kg every 12 h) alleviated. Infusion of LPS induced R 1282-positive amyloid deposits, and activation of microglia and astrocytes. Ibuprofen treatment reduced the numbers of activated microglia, and withdrawal of ibuprofen resulted in an increase in activated microglia; however, ibuprofen treatment had no effect on numbers of activated astrocytes in the LPS-infused subjects.

It has been suggested that inflammatory processes may play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug treatments may provide protection against the onset of AD. In the current study male Wistar rats were trained in two-lever operant chambers under an alternating lever cyclic-ratio ratio (ALCR) schedule. When responding showed no trends, subjects were divided into groups. One group was bilaterally injected into the CA3 area of the hippocampus with 5 microl of aggregated beta-amyloid (Abeta) suspension, and one group was bilaterally injected into the CA3 area of the hippocampus with 5 microl of sterile saline. Subgroups were treated twice daily with 0.1 ml (40 mg/kg) ibuprofen administered orally. The results indicated that chronic administration of ibuprofen protected against detrimental behavioural effects following aggregated Abeta injections. Withdrawal of ibuprofen treatment from aggregated Abeta-injected subjects produced a decline in behavioural performance to the level of the non-treated aggregated Abeta-injected group. Ibuprofen treatment reduced the numbers of reactive astrocytes following aggregated Abeta injection, and withdrawal of ibuprofen resulted in an increase of reactive astrocytes. These results suggest that induced inflammatory processes may play a role in AD, and that ibuprofen treatment may protect against some of the symptoms seen in AD.

The expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was examined in subcutaneous (SQ) adipose tissue from 105-day pig fetuses by ribonuclease protection assays and in situ hybridization using a porcine IGF-1 riboprobe. Fetuses were hypophysectomized (hypox) at 70 days of gestation and at 90 days thyroxine (T4) pellets were implanted into some of the hypox fetuses. Fetuses were removed and SQ tissues collected on day 105 of gestation. RNase protection assays followed by scanning laser densitometry revealed that IGF-1 mRNA in SQ adipose tissue in hypox fetuses was significantly decreased to 19.8 +/- 1.2% of control values. T4 treatment increased the expression of IGF-1 by 174 +/- 26.6% of values for hypox fetuses. Using in situ hybridization we showed that fetal hypophysectomy reduced and T4 treatment increased expression of IGF-1 mRNA in the outer SQ adipose tissue layer (P0.05). However, T4 treatment after hypox did not influence IGF-1 expression in the inner SQ layer (P0.05). IGF-1 was expressed around capillaries, in small fat cells, and in fibroblasts in loose and dense connective tissue. Large fat cells, however, did not express IGF-1. Collectively, we concluded that (1) IGF-1 mRNA was decreased after hypox and increased by T4 treatment in SQ tissue of 105-day fetuses; (2) The expression of the IGF-1 gene was more sensitive to T4 treatment after hypox in outer SQ tissue than in inner SQ tissue; (3) Most stromal cells produced IGF-1 mRNA, and as a result they may influence adipogenesis in the outer layer of SQ adipose tissue; and (4) Once fat cells enlarged, expression of IGF-1 was not detected. Therefore, these studies provide evidence that IGF-1 may mediate the influence of T4 on fetal adipogenesis.

In situ vitrification (ISV) is a thermal process that converts contaminated soil into a highly leach-resistant material resembling natural obsidian. The ISV process was developed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL)(a) for the US Department of Energy (DOE) to treat soils contaminated with transuranics. Since 1980, ISV has grown from a concept to an innovative technology through bench-, engineering-, intermediate-, and full-scale tests. Efforts by PNL have developed ISV into a technology considered available for limited deployment to remediate contaminated soil. The technology has been transferred to a licensee for commercial application. In September 1991, PNL conducted an operational acceptance test (OAT) of the modified engineering-scale unit. The OAT provided an opportunity to conduct proof-of-principle testing of new concepts for ISV technology. This additional testing was permitted since it was determined that testing of these new concepts would have no impact on the OAT objective. In discussing the proof-of-principle portion of the engineering-scale test, this report presents conclusions from this work and also describes the conceptual bases of the tested concepts, the engineering-scale test equipment and setup, and test results.

Histochemistry and electron microscopy were used to study the adrenergic innervation of subcutaneous adipose tissue in fetal pigs. Adrenergic innervation was present around arteries, arterioles, and adipocyte-associated capillaries. Nerve fibers were infrequently observed around veins, venules, and adipocytes. Ultrastructural features of nerves included mitochondria, clear synaptic vesicles, and a small number of vesicles with a core of electron-dense material. Innervation of adipose tissue was similar in 70-, 90-, and 110-day-old fetuses. Examination of fetuses decapitated at 45 days of gestation and removed at 110 days showed that adrenergic innervation was absent in adipose tissue of decapitated fetuses. Adrenergic innervation was also absent in adipose tissue from fetuses hypophysectomized at 72–73 days of gestation and examined at 110 days. These data indicate that fetal porcine adipose tissue may be under neural control by day 70 of gestation. Furthermore, an intact pituitary is necessary for the development of adrenergic innervation in fetal adipose tissue.

Oxygen chemisorption capacities of sulfided alumina-supported NiMo catalysts were determined by pulse and static adsorption methods at ambient temperatures. The pulse method resulted in lower chemisorption uptakes compared to the static method. Static to pulse uptake ratios of 2.12 to 3.03 were observed for freshly sulflded catalysts while values of 1.70 to 1.92 were obtained for catalysts which had been tested for hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) activity. A general trend of increasing O 2 chemisorption uptake with increasing activity for removal of basic nitrogen, total nitrogen, and sulfur was observed for NiMo catalysts. However, because variations in the specific O 2 chemisorption capacity per activity unit among these three reactions were small (±10%), it does not appear that O 2 adsorption is selective for the active sites of any one reaction, rather, it is probably proportional to the sum of these different sites. Comparison of the O 2 adsorption capacity with the activity data (reproducibility ±3%) indicates the use of O 2 adsorption can distinguish large differences in catalyst activity (>25%) but not smaller differences.

This study utilized scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques to observe primary cultures of stromal-vascular (SV) cells derived from postnatal rat inguinal adipose tissue. Cells were grown on collagen-coated, fibronectin-coated, or uncoated glass coverslips. Coverslips were normally fixed in glutaraldehyde, osmium tetroxide, dehydrated, and critical-point-dried. Other coverslips were frozen in isopentane (cooled in LN2) and dried or fixed in Baker's formalin for demonstration of inosine diphosphatase (IDPase) by X-ray microprobe analysis (XRMA). Adipocyte morphologies were similar on all substrates. At 2 days of culture, actin cables were detected extending from developing adipocytes. No difference in actin cable structure, cellular shape, or lipid accumulation was observed among the different substrates. Some stromal cells did not accumulate lipid but proliferated into a multilayer by 9 days in culture. Inosine diphosphatase was detected in the Golgi apparatus of developing adipocytes utilizing the technique of XRMA. This study demonstrates the potential for using SEM and XRMA techniques to define morphological features and cytochemical markers of adipocytes in vitro and the response of primary cultured rat SV cells to other attachment substrates.

The effect of fetal decapitation on skeletal muscle growth and development in utero was studied in the pig. Pig fetuses were decapitated at 45 days of gestation and the peroneus longus muscle was analyzed at 110 days of gestation. Muscle wet weight, length, minimum fiber diameter, DNA, RNA, protein content, and incidence of muscle fiber nuclei and satellite cell nuclei were determined in the decapitated fetus and in sham-decapitated control fetuses. Decapitation did not significantly influence (p > 0.05) any of the traits measured. Muscle and satellite cell ultrastructure was not altered by decapitation. Therefore, an intact brain and hypothalamic-hypophyseal axis are not critical to growth and development of fetal pig skeletal muscle as measured in this study.

Any basis function of a generalized Fourier series takes on many values in an interval. In contrast, the binary nature of the basis functions of Walsh-Fourier series (WFS) allows them to be considered self-reciprocal1 except for a finite number of discontinuities. Hence, quotients of linear combinations of Walsh functions may be used to generate series representations of reciprocals of periodic functions. Thus the usual summation techniques employed to evaluate series representations of nonsquare-integrable periodic functions may, in some instances, be circumvented.

The main task of the study was to select an ''alternate'' station electric service supply system for multiple plants in the HNEC situation. A nuclear energy center at Hanford in the year 2000 is envisaged as five groups of generating units with three to five units in each group, served by three main 500 kV switching stations. The bulk power system for the Northwest Power Pool is at 500 kV; in addition, a 230 kV system that traverses the area will be interconnected with the 500 kV system at Vantage and Grand Coulee to the north and at McNary to the south of the Hanford Reservation. The power source for the station service circuits can be either the 500 or 230 kV systems or a 24 kV generator bus to the step-up transformer to the 500 kV system. The latter alternative, with a switch to isolate the generator, has both functional and economic merit, and was adopted in the study for the ''normal'' power source in all cases examined. It is equally attractive for dispersed plants or centralized plants.

Calculi that accumulated in 18 weeks on the teeth of cats were measured quantitatively by determining the ash weight and calcium content of specimens. Calculi accumulating in a control period were compared with that developing in the same cats in an experimental period, and the difference analyzed for statistical significance ( P = 0·05 or less). Erythromycin, penicillin, dihydrostreptomycin, and a combination of penicillin and dihydrostreptomycin produced significant or near significant reductions of calculi of 66, 43, 35, and 20 per cent, respectively. Tetracycline and chloramphenicol caused statistically insignificant decreases of 43 and 31 per cent, respectively. Saline caused an insignificant reduction of 8 per cent. Antibiotics (and saline) were administered daily intramuscularly and each tested on five cats. Ten cats with the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual glands removed formed the same amount of calculi after the glands were removed as before. Ten sham-operated cats (controls) showed-an 11 per cent increase after the operation, but the increase was of doubtful significance. Teeth brushed either daily or twice-weekly on one side of the mouth had 95 per cent less calculi than unbrushed teeth on the opposite side. Teeth brushed once-weekly had 76 per cent less calculi than unbrushed teeth. Reductions from toothbrushing were all statistically significant.