Cotton crop condition was assessed from an analysis of multispectral aerial video imagery. Visible-near infrared imagery of two cotton fields was collected towards the end of the 1990 crop. The digital analysis was based on image classification, and the accuracies were assessed using the Kappa coefficient of agreement. The earliest of three images proved to be best for distinguishing plant variety. Vegetation index images were better for estimating potential yield than the original multispectral image; so too were multi-channel images that were transformed using vegetation indices or principal component analysis. The seedbed preparation rig used, the nitrogen application rate and three plant varieties, a weed species and two cotton cultivars, could all be discriminated from the imagery. Accuracies were moderate for the discrimination of plant variety, tillage treatment and nitrogen treatment, and low for the estimation of potential yield.

Our laboratory previously found that protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) existing prior to brain ischemia impaired functional outcome measured in an open field test, and one-third of animals showed a marked increase in reactive gliosis. It was hypothesized that PEM worsened stroke outcome by increasing inflammation via increased activation of the transcription factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB). Mongolian gerbils (11-12 wk old) were randomly assigned to a control diet (12.5% protein) or a protein-deficient diet (2%) for 28 days. The control group on average gained 4.9g and the PEM group lost 7.4g. PEM gerbils had significantly decreased food intake (P<0.001; unpaired t-test). Animals were then subjected to global ischemia or sham surgery, resulting in four experimental groups. Global ischemia was achieved by a 5 min bilateral common carotid artery occlusion with tympanic temperature regulated at 36.5 ± 0.2C. PEM independently increased hippocampal NFκB activation by three times higher than control diet animals at 6hr after surgery (p=0.014; 2-factor ANOVA) detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). There was no significant effect of ischemia on NFκB activation and there was no interaction of diet and ischemia. Serum glucose and serum cortisol were also measured since both variables can be affected by PEM and can influence stroke outcome, but there was no significant effect of diet or ischemia. Because of the increased NFκB activation observed in PEM-Sham animals, a second experiment investigated if PEM also increased NFκB activation in the absence of surgery. Gerbils of the same age were randomly assigned to either control diet or PEM for 28 days but did not receive any surgery. PEM consistently increased NFκB activation. Since PEM exists in 16% of elderly stroke patients at admission, the data suggest that PEM may worsen stroke outcome through increased activation of NFκB. Because increased NFκB activation was also observed in PEM independent of ischemia, the data also have implications for the inflammatory response of protein-energy malnourished elderly in general.

Our laboratory previously found that protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) existing prior to brain ischemia impaired functional outcome measured in an open field test, and one-third of animals showed a marked increase in reactive gliosis. It was hypothesized that PEM worsened stroke outcome by increasing inflammation via increased activation of the transcription factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB). Mongolian gerbils (11-12 wk old) were randomly assigned to a control diet (12.5% protein) or a protein-deficient diet (2%) for 28 days. The control group on average gained 4.9g and the PEM group lost 7.4g. PEM gerbils had significantly decreased food intake (P<0.001; unpaired t-test). Animals were then subjected to global ischemia or sham surgery, resulting in four experimental groups. Global ischemia was achieved by a 5 min bilateral common carotid artery occlusion with tympanic temperature regulated at 36.5 ± 0.2C. PEM independently increased hippocampal NFκB activation by three times higher than control diet animals at 6hr after surgery (p=0.014; 2-factor ANOVA) detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). There was no significant effect of ischemia on NFκB activation and there was no interaction of diet and ischemia. Serum glucose and serum cortisol were also measured since both variables can be affected by PEM and can influence stroke outcome, but there was no significant effect of diet or ischemia. Because of the increased NFκB activation observed in PEM-Sham animals, a second experiment investigated if PEM also increased NFκB activation in the absence of surgery. Gerbils of the same age were randomly assigned to either control diet or PEM for 28 days but did not receive any surgery. PEM consistently increased NFκB activation. Since PEM exists in 16% of elderly stroke patients at admission, the data suggest that PEM may worsen stroke outcome through increased activation of NFκB. Because increased NFκB activation was also observed in PEM independent of ischemia, the data also have implications for the inflammatory response of protein-energy malnourished elderly in general.

Abstract Neutrophils are the major cellular component of acute inflammatory response. The mechanism by which fMLP or PAF activates neutrophils is not fully elucidated. Stimulation of MAPKs and activation of NF-kappa B in neutrophils regulate various cell functions, including superoxide production. Neutrophils isolated from blood taken from healthy donors, were incubated with specific inhibitors, GF109203X (PKC inhibitor), calphostin C (PKC-gamma isoform inhibitor), wortmannin (PI3K inhibitor), U73122 (PLC inhibitor), aristolochic acid (PLA2 inhibitor), SKF96365 (SOC channel inhibitor), EGTA (extracellular calcium chelator), SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor), and PD98059 (MEK inhibitor), followed by fMLP or PAF treatment. MAPK activation by fMLP or PAF is based on immunoblot analysis. NF-kappa B activation is detected by EMSA, and superoxide production is measured by flow cytometry. The data indicate that neutrophil MAPK signaling pathways mediated by fMLP and PAF are different. PAF-induced ERK MAPK phosphorylation was involved PI3K, PKC, PLA2, PLC, and extracellular calcium, wheres fMLP-induced phosphorylation doesn¡¦t involve PKC

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / "Signaling" misspelled as "singaling" on title page of document. "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences." Title from title page of PDF document. Non-Latin script record Bibliography: p. 94-108.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology." Bibliography: leaves 135-146.

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2008 / Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 158 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-155).

No description available.

The study of interrater agreement and itnerrater reliability attract extensive attention, due to the fact that the judgments from multiple raters are subjective and may vary individually. To evaluate interrater agreement and interrater reliability, five different methods or indices are proposed: percentage of agreement, kappa coefficient, the correlation coefficient, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and generalizability (G) theory. In this study, we introduce and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these methods to evaluate interrater agreement and reliability. Then we review and explore the rank across these five indices by use of frequency in practice in the past five years. Finally, we illustrate how to use these five methods under different circumstances and provide SPSS and SAS code to analyze interrater agreement and reliability. We apply the methods above to analyze the data from Parent-Child Interaction System of global ratings (PARCHISY), and conclude as follows: (1) ICC is the most often used method to evaluate interrater reliability in recent five years, while generalizability theory is the least often used method. The G coefficients provide similar interrater reliability with weighted kappa and ICC on most items, based on the criteria. (2) When the reliability is high itself, different methods provide consistent indication on interrater reliability based on different criteria. If the reliability is not consistent among different methods, both ICC and G coefficient will provide better interrater reliability based on the criteria, and they also provide consistent results.