Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “NASA Discipline Number 21-50”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

The endocrine system in space flight.

Hormones are important effectors of the body's response to microgravity in the areas of fluid and electrolyte metabolism, erythropoiesis, and calcium metabolism. For many years antidiuretic hormone, cortisol and aldosterone have been considered the hormones most important for regulation of body fluid volume and blood levels of electrolytes, but they cannot account totally for losses of fluid and electrolytes during space flight. We have now measured atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), a hormone recently shown to regulate sodium and water excretion, in blood specimens obtained during flight. After 30 or 42 h of weightlessness, mean ANF was elevated. After 175 or 180 h, ANF had decreased by 59%, and it changed little between that time and soon after landing. There is probably an increase in ANF early inflight associated with the fluid shift, followed by a compensatory decrease in blood volume. Increased renal blood flow may cause the later ANF decrease. Erythropoietin (Ep), a hormone involved in the control of red blood cell production, was measured in blood samples taken during the first Spacelab mission and was significantly decreased on the second day of flight, suggesting also an increase in renal blood flow. Spacelab-2 investigators report that the active vitamin D metabolite 1 alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 increased early in the flight, indicating that a stimulus for increased bone resorption occurs by 30 h after launch.

Aerospace Medicine↗

Effects of hemorrhagic hypotension on tyrosine concentrations in rat spinal cord and plasma.

Tyrosine is the precursor for catecholamine neurotransmitters. When catecholamine-containing neurons are physiologically active (as sympathoadrenal cells are in hypotension), tyrosine administration increases catecholamine synthesis and release. Since hypotension can alter plasma amino acid composition, we examined the effects of an acute hypotensive insult on tyrosine concentrations in plasma and spinal cord. Rats were cannulated and bled until the systolic blood pressure was 50 mmHg, or were kept normotensive for 1 h. Tyrosine and other large neutral amino acids (LNAA) known to compete with tyrosine for brain uptake were assayed in plasma and spinal cord. The rate at which intra-arterial [3H]tyrosine disappeared from the plasma was also estimated in hemorrhaged and control rats. In plasma of hemorrhaged animals, both the tyrosine concentration and the tyrosine/LNAA ratio was elevated; moreover, the disappearance of [3H]tyrosine was slowed. Tyrosine concentrations also increased in spinal cords of hemorrhaged-hypotensive rats when compared to normotensive controls. Changes in plasma amino acid patterns may thus influence spinal cord concentrations of amino acid precursors for neurotransmitters during the stress of hemorrhagic shock.

Amino Acids↗

Activity in the ferret: oestradiol effects and circadian rhythms.

The present study was conducted to determine whether oestradiol increases activity in the European ferret (Mustela furo), whether this effect is sexually dimorphic, and whether a 24-h rhythm is present in the ferret's daily activity. The activity of male and female adult, postpubertally gonadectomized ferrets was monitored while they were maintained singly on a 13:11 light-dark cycle, before and after implantation with oestradiol-17 beta. Gonadectomized male and female ferrets exhibited equal levels of activity, and neither sex exhibited a significant change in activity following oestradiol implantation. None of the ferrets exhibited a strong circadian rhythm, although weak 24-h rhythms and shorter harmonic rhythms were present. Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), monitored in an identical manner, exhibited strong circadian rhythms. It was concluded that oestradiol administration may not cause an increase in activity in the ferret, and that this species lacks a strong circadian activity rhythm.

Activity Cycles↗

The preservation of urine samples for determination of renal stone risk factors.

A preservation technique for urine specimens before determination of stone risk factors was evaluated. The purpose of these experiments was to prove the effectiveness of the preservatives used to prevent changes in the concentrations of those constituents measured. Measured concentrations in fresh specimens were compared with those in the same specimens after storage with the preservatives. Refrigeration at 4 degrees C up to five days was appropriate in a laboratory setting, as no significant changes in urinary concentrations occurred. Refrigeration, however, did not offer a convenient method for shipping. Chemical preservation was found to be an effective alternative to refrigeration. Thymol prevented changes in concentration of pH, citrate, uric acid, sulfate, sodium, potassium, and cyclic AMP, while a mixture of hydrochloric (HCl) acid and boric acid prevented changes in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, oxalate, ammonium, and creatinine. Thus, the addition of thymol or HCl/boric acid to urine specimens will prevent significant changes in the concentrations of stone risk factors.

Boric Acids↗

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition and the kidney.

Angiotensin II (Ang II) induces a marked reduction in renal blood flow at doses well below those required to induce a pressor response, and as blood flow falls there is a decline in glomerular filtration rate and sodium excretion. This striking sensitivity of the renal blood supply led many workers to consider the possibility that angiotensin functions as a local renal hormone. As angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was found in particular abundance in the lung, it seemed reasonable to suspect that most of the conversion occurred there, and that the function of Ang II would be primarily systemic, rather than intrarenal. In this review, I will explore the evidence that has accumulated on these two possibilities, since they have important implications for our current understanding of normal kidney function and derangements of kidney function in disease.

Angiotensin II↗

Development and characterization of Histoplasma capsulatum-reactive murine T-cell lines and clones.

Experimental studies have suggested that antigen-specific T lymphocytes are important mediators of resistance to infection with the pathogenic fungus Histoplasma capsulation. To gain a better understanding of the role of T lymphocytes, we developed murine T-cell lines and clones that recognized Histoplasma antigens. These T cells were of the helper/inducer phenotype (Thy-1.2+ Lyt-1+ L3T4+ Lyt-2-) and exerted multiple immunological functions. T-cell lines and 12 clones proliferated vigorously in response to histoplasmin; the T-cell lines and 6 clones also were reactive with heterologous fungal antigens prepared from either Blastomyces dermatitidis or Coccidioides immitis. Recognition of antigen by T cells was H-2 restricted; in the absence of antigen, four clones demonstrated alloreactivity. All T-cell clones conferred local delayed-type hypersensitivity responses when injected with antigen into footpads of mice. Ten of 12 T-cell clones released interleukin-2 after stimulation with antigen, and all clones tested secreted interferon. Moreover, culture supernatants from antigen-stimulated clones armed peritoneal macrophages to inhibit intracellular growth of H. capsulatum yeast cells. All clones assayed exerted nonspecific help. Thus, development of T-cell clones should facilitate analysis of the regulatory properties of Histoplasma-specific T cells.

Animals↗

Different reactivity to angiotensin II of peripheral and renal arteries in spontaneously hypertensive rats: effect of acute and chronic angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition.

We assessed renal blood flow and pressor responses to graded angiotensin II doses in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats ingesting a diet containing 1.6% sodium basally and after acute and chronic angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition with captopril. In the basal state the pressor response to angiotensin II was enhanced (P<0.0005) and the renal vascular response was blunted (P<0.005) in SHR compared with WKY rats. After acute captopril administration the pressor response was enhanced in both strains, and the difference between them was maintained, while the renal vascular response was enhanced in both, but more in SHR, so that the renal vascular response in the SHR became larger than in WKY (P<0.0001). Chronic captopril treatment blunted both pressor and renal responses in WKY rats, but only the pressor response in SHR. The renal vessels of SHR seem to be different from those of WKY rats in reaction to exogenous angiotensin II, and in response to both acute administration of captopril (probably acting through blockade of angiotensin II production) and chronic administration of captopril (probably acting mainly through accumulation of kinin or production of prostaglandins).

Angiotensin II↗

Successful behavior changes in a man with hypertension.

Several years of stress, smoking, increased alcohol use, and weight gain accompanied hypertension in a young man with an ominous family history. Aided by short-term drug therapy, he changed his ways and reduced his blood pressure for the long term.

Adult↗

Preventing hypokalemia

Dietary modification is an inefficient and calorically unwise means of preventing hypokalemia; potassium supplements present compliance problems and are of little or no use in the patient with a concomitant magnesium deficiency. Prescribing potassium-sparing diuretics is the best prevention-oriented choice, but diabetics and older patients must be monitored for signs of hyperkalemia, and it is generally better not to use these agents in patients who are also taking ACE inhibitors.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors↗

Controversies in cardiovascular care: silent myocardial ischemia.

The objective evidence of silent myocardial ischemia--ischemia in the absence of classical chest pain--includes ST-segment shifts (usually depression), momentary left ventricular failure, and perfusion defects on scintigraphic studies. Assessment of angina patients with 24-hour ambulatory monitoring may uncover episodes of silent ischemia, the existence of which may give important information regarding prognosis and may help structure a more effective therapeutic regimen. The emerging recognition of silent ischemia as a significant clinical entity may eventually result in an expansion of current therapy--not only to ameliorate chest pain, but to minimize or eliminate ischemia in the absence of chest pain.

Angina Pectoris↗

Nutrients affecting brain composition and behavior.

This review examines the changes in brain composition and in various brain functions, including behavior, that can follow the ingestion of particular foods or nutrients. It details those that are best understood: the increases in serotonin, catecholamine, or acetylcholine synthesis that can occur subsequent to food-induced increases in brain levels of tryptophan, tyrosine, or choline; it also discusses the various processes that must intervene between the mouth and the synapse, so to speak, in order for a nutrient to affect neurotransmission, and it speculates as to additional brain chemicals that may ultimately be found to be affected by changes in the availability of their nutrient precursors. Because the brain chemicals best known to be nutrient dependent overlap with those thought to underlie the actions of most of the drugs used to treat psychiatric diseases, knowledge of this dependence may help the psychiatrist to understand some of the pathologic processes occurring in his/her patients, particularly those with appetitive symptoms. At the very least, such knowledge should provide the psychiatrist with objective criteria for judging when to take seriously assertions that particular foods or nutrients do indeed affect behavior (e.g., in hyperactive children). If the food can be shown to alter neurotransmitter release, it may be behaviorally-active; however, if it lacks a discernible neurochemical effect, the likelihood that it really alters behavior is small.

Acetylcholine↗