Adv Exp Med Biol
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A number of countries have developed regulations or guidelines for cyanotoxins and cyanobacteria in drinking water, and in some cases in water used for recreational activity and agriculture. The main focus internationally has been upon microcystin toxins, produced predominantly by Microcystis aeruginosa. This is because microcystins are widely regarded as the most significant potential source of human injury from cyanobacteria on a world-wide scale. ⋯ The major limitations that need to be overcome include: the capacity to deal with multiple toxin congeners, the absence of robust analytical methods for compliance monitoring, and the absence of certified toxin standards to support analyses. However, the current WHO provisional guideline for microcystin-LR, or the other national guideline variants that are based upon it, (e.g., Canadian, Australian) may be appropriate to adopt as a health advisory in the short-term, while regulations are developed. The bathing and recreationa water guidelines developed in other countries could also be translated fo use as recreational water guidelines situation in the US.
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We now have more than 30 years of solid, scientific research about Lyme disease, a relatively common, vector-borne illness in parts of the United States and of Europe. Although there is still widespread misunderstanding of and misinformation about the disease among the lay public, its clinical manifestations as well as how to diagnose and to treat it are now well understood. In the vast majority of cases simple treatment with a relatively short course of orally administered antimicrobials results in long-term cure with no adverse sequelae.
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Pharyngeal muscle tone decreases in sleep and this predisposes some individuals to obstructive sleep apnea. This review summarizes the control of the genioglossus muscle by sleep-state dependent neuromodulators at the hypoglossal motor nucleus, the source of motor output to the genioglossus muscle of the tongue. Knowledge of such mechanisms is relevant to identifying and developing new strategies to augment pharyngeal muscle activity in sleep, potentially as treatments for obstructive sleep apnea.
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Respiratory long-term facilitation (LTF), a prolonged augmentation of respiratory motor output, is induced by intermittent hypoxia in anesthetized or sleeping rats (and humans in limited conditions). Whether such augmentation in the controller response is of physiological benefit in terms of ventilatory stability remains uncertain; its impact on ventilatory stability will be determined to some extent by its effects on CO2 chemoreflex loop gain. ⋯ Whereas a decreased chemoreflex threshold would promote ventilatory stability, increased chemoreflex gain represents a destabilizing influence. Based on these considerations alone, the impact of respiratory LTF on respiratory stability remains unclear.