Factors Associated With the Willingness of Clinical Health Care Professionals for Living Organ Donation.

Understanding the attitudes and willingness in regard to living organ donation of health care professionals is important for clinical practice and needs to be addressed. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine willingness and its influencing factors in regard to living organ donation in clinical health care professionals. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design. A total of 375 health care professionals from a regional teaching hospital in northern Taiwan were included in this study. RESULTS: Nearly 65% of the participants indicated a willingness to donate their living organ. Of these participants, 97.1% were willing to donate to family members, 80.8% were willing to donate to friends, and 78.9% were willing to donate to strangers. The predictors of willingness to engage in living organ donation were the desire to help others (odds ratio [OR] = 2.96; P < .01), positive attitude toward living organ donation (OR = 1.12; P < .01), financial support from the government (OR = 4.99; P < .01), and fewer physical concerns (OR = 0.97; P = .04). The willingness to donate a living organ was not associated with age, sex, religious belief, education level, participation in voluntary work, years of clinical work, type of profession, or knowledge about living organ donation. CONCLUSION: In general, health care professionals had a positive attitude toward and willingness to engage in living organ donation. It is hoped that the results of this study will serve as a referent framework for policymaking in regard to living organ donation and transplantation.

Nicotine enhances the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation of alpha4 subunits of neuronal nicotinic receptors.

Studies determined whether alpha4beta2 or alpha3beta2 neuronal nicotinic receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes are substrates for cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and whether nicotine affects receptor phosphorylation. The cRNAs for the subunits were coinjected into oocytes, and cells were incubated for 24 h in the absence or presence of nicotine (50 nM for alpha4beta2 and 500 nM for alpha3beta2 receptors). Nicotine did not interfere with the isolation of the receptors. When receptors isolated from oocytes expressing alpha4beta2 receptors were incubated with [gamma-32P]ATP and the catalytic subunit of PKA, separated by electrophoresis, and visualized by autoradiography, a labeled phosphoprotein with the predicted molecular size of the alpha4 subunit was present. Phosphorylation of alpha4 subunits of alpha4beta2 receptors increased within the first 5 min of incubation with nicotine and persisted for 24 h. In contrast, receptors isolated from oocytes expressing alpha3beta2 receptors did not exhibit a labeled phosphoprotein corresponding to the size of the alpha3 subunit. Results suggest that the PKA-mediated phosphorylation of alpha4 and not alpha3 subunits may explain the differential inactivation by nicotine of these receptor subtypes expressed in oocytes.

Male/female differences in drug-induced emesis and motion sickness in Suncus murinus.

In order to elucidate possible male/female differences in emesis, the effects of various emetogenic drugs (cisplatin, copper sulfate, veratrine, nicotine, serotonin) and motion stimulus were compared between male and female Suncus murinus. Cisplatin (IP), nicotine (SC), veratrine (SC) and copper sulfate (PO) induced dose-dependent emesis in either sex, and there was no apparent difference in estimated ED50 values. However, male animals tended to be more susceptible to serotonin-induced emesis. The ID50 values for tropisetron, a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, to block serotonin-induced emesis were also similar between male and female animals. However, tropisetron was less effective against cisplatin-induced emesis in females. Therefore, cisplatin may release more serotonin to induce emesis in females. Reciprocal shaking (horizontal oscillation 40 mm, frequency 0.5 to 2.0 Hz, duration 5 min) induced more frequent emesis in male animals, and the latency to the first vomit was shorter in males than in females. These results suggest that there is substantial sex-dependent difference in the emetic responses and male animals are in general more susceptible. These results are discussed in the light of similar studies in man.

Sustained nicotine exposure differentially affects alpha 3 beta 2 and alpha 4 beta 2 neuronal nicotinic receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes.

To determine whether prolonged exposure to nicotine differentially affects alpha 3 beta 2 versus alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes, oocytes were coinjected with subunit cRNAs, and peak responses to agonist, evoked by 0.7 or 7 microM nicotine for alpha 4 beta 2 and alpha 3 beta 2 receptors, respectively, were determined before and following incubation for up to 48 h with nanomolar concentrations of nicotine. Agonist responses of alpha 4 beta 2 receptors decreased in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 values in the 10 nM range following incubation for 24 h and in the 1 nM range following incubation for 48 h. In contrast, responses of alpha 3 beta 2 receptors following incubation for 24-48 h with 1,000 nM nicotine decreased by only 50-60%, and total ablation of responses could not be achieved. Attenuation of responses occurred within the first 5 min of nicotine exposure and was a first-order process for both subtypes; half-lives for inactivation were 4.09 and 2.36 min for alpha 4 beta 2 and alpha 3 beta 2 receptors, respectively. Recovery was also first-order for both subtypes; half-lives for recovery were 21 and 7.5 h for alpha 4 beta 2 and alpha 3 beta 2 receptors, respectively. Thus, the responsiveness of both receptors decreased following sustained exposure to nicotine, but alpha 4 beta 2 receptors recovered much slower. Results may explain the differential effect of sustained nicotine exposure on nicotinic receptor-mediated neurotransmitter release.

Effect of chlordecone exposure on thermoregulation in the rat.

Intraperitoneal administration of chlordecone (20-80 mg/kg) caused a dose-related fall in the rectal temperatures of rats at ambient temperatures of 8 and 22 degrees C. The chlordecone-induced hypothermia was brought about by a decrease in metabolism. The chlordecone hypothermia was antagonized by pretreatment of animals with haloperidol (a dopaminergic receptor antagonist), but not by phentolamine (an alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonist), propranolol (a beta-adrenergic antagonist), atropine (a cholinergic receptor antagonist), or p-chlorophenylalanine (a serotonin depletor). In addition, the dopamine levels in the hypothalamus were elevated significantly when evaluated 1 h after an intraperitoneal dose of chlordecone. The data suggest that systemic administration of chlordecone may act through the dopaminergic mechanisms in the hypothalamus to induce hypothermia (or decreased metabolic heat production) in rats.

Rotation-invariant discrimination between almost similar objects.

A modified circular harmonic filter may be used for the rotation-invariant discrimination of a target from another object which contains the same pattern as the target. The method is illustrated by the experimental rotation-invariant detection of the letter F in the presence of the letter E.

Incoherent method for rotation-invariant recognition.

An optodigital hybrid system using an incoherent circular correlator that has features suitable for space and industrial applications is introduced. The incoherent circular correlator uses a fiber-optics sampler and carries out the correlations in white light. The trade offs involved for efficient detection of objects are discussed. The system has been built, and experimental results on a real air photograph are presented.

Digital multiple correlation for pattern recognition.

A method of digital multiple correlation for rotation-invariant recognition has been developed. It is also a computer simulation of an incoherent optodigital hybrid system previously introduced. Speed and flexibility of the digital system are investigated.

Rotation-invariant digital pattern recognition using circular harmonic expansion.

A new method has been developed for rotation-invariant pattern recognition. One component of the circular harmonic expansion of the target is used in the preparation of the reference. Correlations between the input and reference objects are accomplished by FFT and multiplication in the frequency domain. In an experience with targets from an image with 192 x 192 pixels, target orientations were detected with an accuracy of approximately 0.1 degrees . This method is also suitable for optical implementation.

Optical pattern recognition using circular harmonic expansion.

Presented in this paper is an optical implementation of a shift- and rotation-invariant pattern recognition technique. A computer-generated hologram is designed to match with one of the circular harmonic components of the target. Experimental results with simple photographic objects show that targets with different locations and orientations can be simultaneously recognized by the optical system.