United States Coast Guard Academy

About: United States Coast Guard Academy is a education organization based out in New London, Connecticut, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gas chromatography & Curriculum. The organization has 270 authors who have published 375 publications receiving 17109 citations. The organization is also known as: USCGA & Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction.

Inflammatory Effects Of Phthalates In Neonatal Neutrophils

Abstract: Hospitalized infants are exposed to numerous devices containing the plasticizer di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Urinary levels of the phthalate metabolite, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), are markedly elevated in premature infants. Phthalates inactivate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ), a nuclear transcription factor that mediates the resolution of inflammation, a process impaired in neonates. We speculate that this increases their susceptibility to MEHP, and this was analyzed. MEHP inhibited neutrophil apoptosis; neonatal cells were more sensitive than adult cells. In neonatal, but not in adult neutrophils, MEHP also inhibited chemotaxis, stimulated oxidative metabolism, and up-regulated expression of NADPH oxidase-1. In both adult and neonatal neutrophils, MEHP stimulated IL-1β and VEGF production, whereas IL-8 production was stimulated only in adult cells. In contrast, MEHP-inhibited production of MIP-1β by adult cells, and Regulated on Activation Normal T Cell Expressed and Secreted (RANTES) by neonatal neutrophils. The effects of MEHP on apoptosis and oxidative metabolism in neonatal cells were reversed by the PPAR-γ agonist, troglitazone. Whereas troglitazone had no effect on MEHP-induced alterations in inflammatory protein or chemokine production, constitutive IL-8 and MIP-1β production was reduced in adult neutrophils, and RANTES and MIP-1β in neonatal cells. These findings suggest that neonatal neutrophils are more sensitive to phthalate-mediated inhibition of PPAR-γ, which may be related to decreased anti-inflammatory signaling.

Bipolarity and Bipolarization in the Cold War Era Conceptualization, Measurement, and Validation

Abstract: There is little consensus and some degree of confusion over the meanings of the polarity and polarization concepts. An argument is advanced for viewing these phenomena as distinctly separate with p...

Domain Validity and Generalizability

Abstract: An alternative derivation of Tryon's basic formula for the coefficient of domain validity or the coefficient of generalizability developed by Cronbach, Rajaratnam, and Gleser is provided: This derivation, which is also the generalized Kuder-Richardson coefficient, requires a relatively minimal number of assumptions compared with that in previously proposed approaches.