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Primary objective: To examine deficits in emotion perception for adults who had experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) during childhood and investigate relationships between emotion perception skills, empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM). Design: Participants consisted of a random selection of individuals ( n = 52) who had previously been recruited for a larger study. All participants had experienced an injury event as a child (0-17 years) (mild TBI, moderate/severe TBI or fractured limb) and were now aged between 18-30 years, with a minimum of 5 years post-injury. Methods and procedure: Each participant completed an emotion-sensitivity task, facial expression recognition task, the faux pas test (ToM) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Inventory (IRI: Empathy). Main outcomes: Individuals with moderate/severe TBI were less sensitivite to emotion and less accurate at facial expression recognition than those with mild TBI and orthopaedic controls. Difficulty with affective ToM but not empathy was also found. The emotion-sensitivity and the facial expression recognition tasks were unrelated, with only emotion sensitivity but not expression recognition related to ToM and IRI empathy. Conclusions: The current findings indicated that deficits in social skills are long lasting and raises the issue of whether intervention to improve sensitivity to genuine emotion can influence more complex social skills and improve quality of social interactions for individuals following TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: The primary objective was to investigate the public's general knowledge about concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) and to examine whether terminology influenced attributions made about individuals who experience concussion. Design: A random selection of the community was polled to identify public understanding of concussion. To encourage candid responses, a self-report survey method was used. Methods and procedures: One hundred and three members of the general public were asked to indicate if they associated specific attributes with brain injury or head injury, depending on the randomly assigned questionnaire they completed. Participants also completed a questionnaire about their knowledge of concussion and were asked to indicate whether they or someone they knew had experienced an injury to the head. Main outcomes and results: Participants incorrectly evaluated 20%% (2/10) of statements regarding concussion knowledge and were relatively uncertain about another 20%% (2/10) of statements. Negative attributes were associated more with brain than head injury, although those with prior experience made more positive attributions than those without. Fifty-nine per cent of participants who had experienced a concussion stated they had no brain/head injury. Conclusions: Overall, public knowledge about concussion and different terminology associated with this injury type is substantially inaccurate. More accurate information is required to increase understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protective clothing is integral to the task of firefighting, but at the same time can increase physiological strain and impair work capacity. Encapsulation of the head and the high thermal resistance and/or low water vapor permeability of the clothing ensemble impede evaporative heat dissipation, thus elevating the rate of heat storage and creating a state of uncompensable heat stress (UHS). In addition, the additional weight from carrying a supplemental air supply and the greater respiratory work of breathing through a regulator can create a negative spiral of thermal hyperpnea from greater respiratory demands and metabolic heat production. The elevated respiratory demands also increase cardiac strain and potentially the risk for myocardial events. Tolerance time during UHS is determined by three factors: the core temperature at the beginning of the heat stress exposure, the core temperature that can be tolerated before exhaustion or collapse ensues, and the rate of increase in core temperature from the beginning to end of the heat stress exposure. Protective clothing is often employed in highly dynamic environments, making portability, longevity and integration with the task requirements and clothing critical design characteristics for countermeasures. To date, most countermeasures have been relatively indirect in nature, primarily with alterations in work scheduling along with physiological manipulations such as cooling manipulations during recovery periods. Advances are required in materials science to develop lighter and less restrictive protective equipment, concurrent with cooling strategies that target specific regions or which can be effectively implemented during exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explicit and implicit attitudes toward people who have sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) were investigated to determine if negative attitudes exist and if the terminology used (brain vs. head injury) exacerbated predicted negativity. Participants (n = 103) rated Tony (brain/head injury) and Peter (limb-injury) on 10 characteristics using a 7-point scale. Familiarity with brain injury was also measured. Implicit Association Tests (IAT) assessed potential negative bias. Tony (M = 36.84) was judged more negatively than Peter (M = 31.69). The term "brain" versus "head" injury resulted in more negative evaluations (Ms = 38.72 vs. 34.78). Participants familiar with TBI were more positive toward Tony than those unfamiliar (Ms = 34.98 vs. 39.80). Only those unfamiliar with TBI demonstrated implicit negative bias. Negative attitudes toward TBI are expressed explicitly with individuals openly endorsing less desirable characteristics. When people have more knowledge about or experience with brain injury, they are less likely to endorse negative stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined intracellular cytokine, heat shock protein (HSP) 72, and cellular apoptosis in classic and inflammatory CD14+ monocyte subsets during exertional heat stress (EHS). Subjects were divided into en- durance-trained [TR; n = 12, peak aerobic power (VO2peak) = 70 ± 2 ml·1kg lean body mass (LBM)-1min-1] and sedentary-untrained (UT; 11 = 11, VO2peak = 50 ± I ml·kg LBM-1 min-1)groups before walking at 4.5 km/h with 2% elevation in a climatic chamber (40°C, 30% relative humidity) wearing protective clothing until exhaustion (Exh). Venous blood samples at baseline and 0.5°C rectal temperature increments (38.0, 38.5, 39.0, 39.5, and 40.0°C/Exh) were analyzed for cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-1ra, and IL-10) in CD14++CD116-/CD14+CD 1 6+ and HSP72/apoptosis in CD14Bri/ CD14Dim subsets. In addition, serum levels of extracellular (e)HSP72 were also examined. Baseline and Exh samples were separately stimulated with LPS (1 pμ/ml) or heat shocked (42°C) and cultured in vitro for 2 h. A greater temperature-dependent increase in CD14+CD16+ cells was observed in TR compared with UT subjects as well as a greater LPS tolerance following in vitro LPS stimulation. TNF--α and IL-1β cytokine expression was elevated in CD14+CD16+ but not in CD14++CD16 cells. A greater induction of intracellular HSP72 and eHSP72 was observed in TR compared with UT subjects, which coincided with reduced apoptosis at Exh and following in vitro heat shock. Induced HSP in vitro was not uniform across CD14 subsets. Findings suggest that circulating CD14~CD16+ but not CD14+CD16- monocytes, contribute to the proinflammatory cytokine profiles observed during EHS. In addition, the enhanced HSP72 response in endurance-trained individuals may confer improved heat tolerance through both anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined endotoxin-mediated cytokinemia during exertional heat stress (EHS). Subjects were divided into trained [TR; n = 12, peak aerobic power (Vo2peak) = 70 ± 2 ml·kg lean body mass-1·min-1] and untrained (UT; n = 11, Vo2peak = 50 ± 1 ml·kg lean body mass-1·min-1) groups before walking at 4.5 km/h with 2% elevation in a climatic chamber (40°C, 30% relative humidity) wearing protective clothing until exhaustion (Exh). Venous blood samples at baseline and 0.5°C rectal temperature increments (38.0, 38.5, 39.0, 39.5, and 40.0°C/Exh) were analyzed for endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide binding protein, circulating cytokines, and intranuclear NF-κB translocation. Baseline and Exh samples were also stimulated with LPS (100 ng/ml) and cultured in vitro in a 37°C water bath for 30 min. Phenotypic determination of natural killer cell frequency was also determined. Enhanced blood (104 ± 6 vs. 84 ± 3 ml/kg) and plasma volumes (64 ± 4 vs. 51 ± 2 ml/kg) were observed in TR compared with UT subjects. EHS produced an increased concentration of circulating endotoxin in both TR (8 ± 2 pg/ml) and UT subjects (15 ± 3 pg/mI) (range: not detected to 32 pg/mi), corresponding with NF-κB translocation and cytokine increases in both groups. In addition, circulating levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and IL-6 were also elevated combined with concomitant increases in IL-1 receptor antagonist in both groups and IL-10 in TR subjects only. Findings suggest that the threshold for endotoxin leakage and inflammatory activation during EHS occurs at a lower temperature in UT compared with TR subjects and support the endotoxin translocation hypothesis of exertional heat stroke, linking endotoxin tolerance and heat tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used partitional calorimetry to determine the influence of fluid replacement on heat storage during uncompensable heat stress. Eight males performed either light (L; level treadmill walking at 0.97 m · s[sup -1] (3.5 km · h[sup -1]) or heavy (H; 1.33 m · s[sup -1] (4.8 km · h[sup -1]) at a 4% grade) exercise at 40°C and 30% relative humidity while wearing nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protective clothing. Subjects received either no fluid (NF), or 200 or 250 ml of fluid (F) as warm water at ∼35°C immediately before and every 15 min during the L and H trials respectively. Similar reductions in heart rate were observed at both metabolic rates with F but rectal temperature responses were not different between F and NF. Tolerance time was extended during L/F (106.5±22.1 min) compared with L/NF (93.1±20.8 min) but fluid replacement had no influence during H (59.8±9.5 min and 58.3±11.1 min for F and NF respectively). Fluid replacement also had no effect on the rate of heat storage during L (108.2±20.6 W · m[sup -2] and 111.0±22.6 W · m[sup -2] for F and NF respectively) and H (172.5±11.5 W · m[sup -2] and 182.1±15.8 W · m[sup -2] for F and NF respectively). However, heat storage expressed per unit of mass was significantly increased during L/F (18.5±4.0 kJ · kg[sup -1]) compared with the other trials (16.3± 4.8 kJ · kg[sup -1], 16.6±3.0 kJ · kg[sup -1] and 16.7±4.0 kJ · kg[sup -1] for L/NF, H/F and H/NF respectively). It was concluded that fluid replacement does not alter the rate of heat storage during uncompensable heat stress but does increase the heat storage capacity during light exercise when tolerance times are >60 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares genetic structure of heavily and lightly exploited populations of Flagellaria guineensis. Predictions about the genetic population structure of the species; Factor causing the loss of genetic variation; Factors that affect maintenance and development of genetic structure in plant populations.