Saint Louis University

About: Saint Louis University is a education organization based out in St Louis, Missouri, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 18927 authors who have published 34895 publications receiving 1267475 citations. The organization is also known as: SLU & St. Louis University.

Selective Passage of Prostaglandins across the Lung

Abstract: STIMULATION of the splenic nerves releases prostaglandins from the spleen to give concentrations of as much as 0.2 µg/ml. in splenic venous blood1. The release of prostaglandins might influence organs remote from the site of release, for prostaglandins can exert potent actions on smooth muscle2. The lung has recently been shown to determine the fate of many vasoactive substances; some are activated—conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II (ref. 3)—and some inactivated. The degree of inactivation seems to be specific for a given substance, ranging from almost complete (bradykinin4, 5-hydroxytryptamine5, prostaglandins E1 E2 and F2α (ref. 1)), to minor (noradrenaline6), to allowance of their free passage (adrenaline6 and angiotensin II (ref. 7)). The removal of prostaglandins by the lung restricts their activities to the organs from which they are released and between their organ of origin and the site in the pulmonary circulation where they are inactivated1. A prostaglandin which passed through the lungs after its release from an organ could be considered a circulating hormone, as long as it is not rapidly degraded in the blood. Ferreira and Vane1 reported that prostaglandins E1 E2 and F2α were stable in blood, though rapidly inactivated by the lung. Removal of prostaglandins A1 and A2 by the lung was not determined because the assay organs are insensitive to them. Vascular smooth muscle, however, unlike other smooth muscle, is reactive to low concentrations of prostaglandins A1 and A2 (refs. 8–10) and the renal vasculature is probably most sensitive to prostaglandins A1 and A2 (refs. 10 and 11). Because the renal vasculature is also sensitive to prostaglandins E1 and E2 (ref. 12), it has been used as an index of the fate of prostaglandins infused into the venous and arterial circulations.

Tropospheric emissions: Monitoring of pollution (TEMPO)

Abstract: TEMPO was selected in 2012 by NASA as the first Earth Venture Instrument, for launch between 2018 and 2021. It will measure atmospheric pollution for greater North America from space using ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy. TEMPO observes from Mexico City, Cuba, and the Bahamas to the Canadian oil sands, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, hourly and at high spatial resolution (~2.1 km N/S×4.4 km E/W at 36.5°N, 100°W). TEMPO provides a tropospheric measurement suite that includes the key elements of tropospheric air pollution chemistry, as well as contributing to carbon cycle knowledge. Measurements are made hourly from geostationary (GEO) orbit, to capture the high variability present in the diurnal cycle of emissions and chemistry that are unobservable from current low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that measure once per day. The small product spatial footprint resolves pollution sources at sub-urban scale. Together, this temporal and spatial resolution improves emission inventories, monitors population exposure, and enables effective emission-control strategies. TEMPO takes advantage of a commercial GEO host spacecraft to provide a modest cost mission that measures the spectra required to retrieve ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (H2CO), glyoxal (C2H2O2), bromine monoxide (BrO), IO (iodine monoxide),water vapor, aerosols, cloud parameters, ultraviolet radiation, and foliage properties. TEMPO thus measures the major elements, directly or by proxy, in the tropospheric O3 chemistry cycle. Multi-spectral observations provide sensitivity to O3 in the lowermost troposphere, substantially reducing uncertainty in air quality predictions. TEMPO quantifies and tracks the evolution of aerosol loading. It provides these near-real-time air quality products that will be made publicly available. TEMPO will launch at a prime time to be the North American component of the global geostationary constellation of pollution monitoring together with the European Sentinel-4 (S4) and Korean Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) instruments.