Browsing by Subject "rehydration"

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    Rehydration in acute gastro-enteritis - the value of going rapid and enteral
    (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2011) Westwood, A
    Acute gastro-enteritis (AGE) is a leading post-neonatal cause of death among South Africa's children. Almost all these deaths are caused by the consequences of dehydration. Many of these deaths occur in hospitals. AGE is also a significant nutritional insult at a critical time of growth. When the literature on therapy for AGE is reviewed, only four interventions recommend themselves for universal application for uncomplicated disease: rapid rehydration within 4 - 6 hours with hypotonic solutions, preferably via the gut; continuation of breastfeeding throughout the episode; early re-introduction of full-strength feeds; and zinc therapy. This article explores the first of these, but will show how its application enhances the positive effects of feeding on the diarrhoea as well as the child's nutritional status.
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    Use of metabolic inhibitors to elucidate mechanisms of recovery from desiccation stress in the resurrection plant Xerophyta humilis.
    (Springer, 1998) Dace, H; Sherwin, H; Illing, N; Farrant, J
    Xerophyta humilis (Bak.) Dur. and Schinz is a poikilochlorophyllous resurrection plant in that it is tolerant of considerable water loss (< 5% relative water content [RWC]) and thylakoid membranes are dismantled and chlorophyll is lost during dehydration. In this paper we examined the processes associated with recovery from desiccation upon rehydration. Dried leaf explants were rehydrated in water (control) or in solutions of actinomycin-D or cyclohexamide in order to determine to what extent initial recovery was dependant on de novo transcription and translation respectively. Our results suggest that considerable protection of subcellular organisation and components of metabolism occurs during drying such that the initial recovery of metabolism on rehydration is virtually independent of de novo transcription of nuclear genes. However recovery does require the synthesis of new proteins. The plasmalemma remains intact and macromolecular synthesis is not required for maintenance of its integrity. Messenger RNA's for chlorophyll biosynthesis appear to be stored in a stable form in the dried leaves and are translated on rehydration. Similarly most of the mRNA's necessary for recovery of electron transport in the chloroplast (as determined by measuring the quantum efficiency of photosystem II [FV/FM] using chlorophyll fluorescence) appear to be stabily present in the dried leaves. However, for total recovery of FV/FM new genomic transcription is necessary.