In 34 hypothalamic slices of rats, spontaneous discharging of 63 paraventricular neurons was extracellulariy recorded by glass microelectrode. When the slices were perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) containing noradrenaline (NA) (10-6 mol/L), firing rates of 20 units significantly increased, those of 8 units decreased or even ceased, and those of 35 units, not affected. When low Ca2+ high Mg2+-ACSF was applied to block synaptic transmission, of 20 units which were excited by NA, 14 units still had excitatory responses and 6 units had no significant response to NA. When synaptic transmission was blocked, of 8 units which were inhibited by NA, 7 units still had inhibitory responses and only one unit had no significant response to NA. The results of this experiment strongly suggest the existence of direct effects of NA on paraventricular neurons.

BACKGROUND: There are few multi-city studies on the association between temperature and mortality in basin climates. This study was based on the Sichuan Basin in southwest China to assess the association of basin temperature with non-accidental mortality in the population and with the temperature-related mortality burden. METHODS: Daily mortality data, meteorological and air pollution data were collected for four cities in the Sichuan Basin of southwest China. We used a two-stage time-series analysis to quantify the association between temperature and non-accidental mortality in each city, and a multivariate meta-analysis was performed to obtain the overall cumulative risk. The attributable fractions (AFs) were calculated to access the mortality burden attributable to non-optimal temperature. Additionally, we performed a stratified analyses by gender, age group, education level, and marital status. RESULTS: A total of 751,930 non-accidental deaths were collected in our study. Overall, 10.16% of non-accidental deaths could be attributed to non-optimal temperatures. A majority of temperature-related non-accidental deaths were caused by low temperature, accounting for 9.10% (95% eCI: 5.50%, 12.19%), and heat effects accounted for only 1.06% (95% eCI: 0.76%, 1.33%). The mortality burden attributable to non-optimal temperatures was higher among those under 65 years old, females, those with a low education level, and those with an alternative marriage status. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggested that a significant association between non-optimal temperature and non-accidental mortality. Those under 65 years old, females, and those with a low educational level or alternative marriage status had the highest attributable burden.
Female ; Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Cities ; Cold Temperature ; Hot Temperature ; Mortality ; Temperature ; Time Factors ; Middle Aged ; Male