Search results for "pine"
showing 10 items of 2022 documents
Co-Creation of Value for IT-Enabled Services : A Case of Geocaching
2013
This study explores how value is co-created in one particular IT-enabled service, geocaching. Consumer Information Systems (CIS) framework is used as a sensitizing framework to study experienced geocachers' (n=14) perceptions of what they value in geocaching. The following core values emerged that motivate people to co-create value in geocaching: challenging oneself and others, joy of success, learning, and social relations. The results reveal that geocaching is distinctively hedonic in nature, as people pursue happiness and utility via geocaching. Even support for the geocaching community was motivated by such values. In addition, the results reveal that the environment of geocaching and s…
Sense-Making, Meaningfulness, and Instrumental Music Education
2020
The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the nature of "meaning" and "meaningfulness" in the context of instrumental music education. By doing so, I propose to expand the ways in which instrumental music educators conceive their mission and the ways in which we may instill meaning in people's lives. Traditionally, pursuits of philosophical deliberation have claimed that meaningfulness comes from either personal happiness (e.g., Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill) or an impersonal sense of duty (e.g., St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant). However, philosopher Wolf (2010) criticizes these positions in favor of a broader perspective, one that arises from understanding that …
Staphylococcus aureus alpha toxin mediates polymorphonuclear leukocyte-induced vasocontraction and endothelial dysfunction.
2002
The effect of Staphylococcus aureus alpha toxin (alpha-toxin) on selectin-mediated neutrophil adhesion was investigated in polymorphonuclear leukocyte- (PMN) induced vasocontraction and endothelial dysfunction. Adherence of human PMNs to rat aortic endothelium increased significantly following stimulation of the endothelium with alpha-toxin (0.1, 0.5, and 1 microg/mL). This effect could be significantly attenuated by monoclonal antibodies directed against P-selectin or fucoidin, a carbohydrate known to block selectins. Unstimulated human PMNs (10(6)cells/mL) were added to organ chambers containing rat aortic rings stimulated with alpha-toxin (0.5 microg/mL). PMNs elicited a significant vaso…
Vasopressor-Sparing Strategies in Patients with Shock: A Scoping-Review and an Evidence-Based Strategy Proposition
2021
Despite the abundant literature on vasopressor therapy, few studies have focused on vasopressor-sparing strategies in patients with shock. We performed a scoping-review of the published studies evaluating vasopressor-sparing strategies by analyzing the results from randomized controlled trials conducted in patients with shock, with a focus on vasopressor doses and/or duration reduction. We analyzed 143 studies, mainly performed in septic shock. Our analysis demonstrated that several pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies are associated with a decrease in the duration of vasopressor therapy. These strategies are as follows: implementing a weaning strategy, vasopressin use, system…
Arginine Vasopressin Enhances Sympathetic Constriction Through the V1 Vasopressin Receptor in Human Saphenous Vein
1998
Background—Arginine vasopressin (AVP) not only acts directly on blood vessels through V1 receptor stimulation but also may modulate adrenergic-mediated responses in animal experiments in vivo and in vitro. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether AVP can contribute to an abnormal adrenergic constrictor response of human saphenous veins. Methods and Results—Saphenous vein rings were obtained from 32 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. The vein rings were suspended in organ bath chambers for isometric recording of tension. AVP (331029 mol/L) enhanced the contractions elicited by electrical field stimulation at 1, 2, and 4 Hz (by 80%, 70%, and 60%, respectively) …
Threshold-based vestibular adaptation to cross-coupled canal stimulation
2008
Prior experiments have demonstrated that people are able to adapt to cross-coupled accelerations associated with head movements while spinning at high rotation rates (e.g., 23 rpm or 138°/s). However, while adapting, subjects commonly experience serious side effects, such as motion sickness, non-compensatory eye movements, and strong and potentially disorienting illusory body tilt or tumbling sensations. In the present study, we investigated the feasibility of adaptation using a threshold-based method, which ensured that the illusory tilt sensations remained imperceptible or just barely noticeable. This was achieved by incrementally increasing the angular velocity of the horizontal centrifu…
Occurrence of selected antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs in Nairobi River Basin, Kenya.
2015
In this paper, we investigated the occurrence of three antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim and ciprofloxacin) and three antiretroviral (lamivudine, nevirapine and zidovudine) drugs in the Nairobi River Basin, Kenya. The analytical procedure involved extraction using solid phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (SPE-LC-ESI-MS/MS). In this study, 40 sites were selected for sampling, including 38 sites along the rivers and 2 wastewater treatment effluent sites. All the studied compounds were detected with sulfamethoxazole having the highest detection frequency of 97.5% and ciprofloxacin had the lowest at 60%. The results show…
Comparative Study of Different Methods for the Prediction of Drug–Polymer Solubility
2015
In this study, a comparison of different methods to predict drug-polymer solubility was carried out on binary systems consisting of five model drugs (paracetamol, chloramphenicol, celecoxib, indomethacin, and felodipine) and polyvinylpyrrolidone/vinyl acetate copolymers (PVP/VA) of different monomer weight ratios. The drug-polymer solubility at 25 °C was predicted using the Flory-Huggins model, from data obtained at elevated temperature using thermal analysis methods based on the recrystallization of a supersaturated amorphous solid dispersion and two variations of the melting point depression method. These predictions were compared with the solubility in the low molecular weight liquid ana…
Fatigue, sleep, and nocturnal complaints in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
2012
Background and purpose: Fatigue is a common symptom in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Although sleep disturbances are a candidate factor that may interfere with fatigue in patients with ALS, the role of sleep-related abnormalities in determining fatigue in ALS is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the frequency and determinants of fatigue in a group of 91 consecutive patients with ALS, with special attention to the relationship between fatigue and sleep problems. Methods: Measures included the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), ALS Functional Rating ScaleRevised (ALSFRS-R), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: The…
Adding the Mureş River Basin (Transylvania, Romania) to the List of Hotspots with High Contamination with Pharmaceuticals
2020
Background: The Mureș River Basin is a long-term heavily polluted watershed, in a situation of climate changes with increasing water flow and related decreasing dilution capacity. Here, a mixture of emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals were targeted to reveal potential risks regarding the natural lotic ecosystems. Due to the continuous discharge into the environment, pharmaceuticals are gaining persistent organic pollutant characteristics and are considered emerging pollutants. Based on the hazard quotient, this research highlights the dangerous concentrations of carbamazepine, ibuprofen, furosemide, and enalapril in river water. Results: High levels of four pharmaceutical compounds …