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1. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were made either hyper- or hypothyroid with thyroxine or 4-methyl-2-thiouracil, respectively. Bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) contractility and lung cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) content were measured in both conditions. 2. Bronchial smooth muscle contractility was significantly weaker in hyperthyroid rats, while the BSM contractility of hypothyroid rats was the same as controls. 3. The cAMP content of hyperthyroid rat lungs was similar to controls but was decreased in hypothyroid rats. 4. These studies demonstrated that both the hyper- and hypothyroid states affect respiration, although the mechanisms involved with different for each condition.

The possible role of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in mediating the action of steroid hormones was investigated using the rat lung. Male rats were adrenalectomized and treated with olive oil, dexamethasone, corticosterone, deoxycorticosterone (DOC) or progesterone. At the end of 10 days, 100 micrograms isoprenaline/kg was injected intraperitoneally 5 min before the animals were killed to stimulate cAMP production. Adrenalectomy significantly decreased cAMP levels in the rat lung. Dexamethasone and corticosterone pretreatment reversed the effect of adrenalectomy whereas progesterone pretreatment but not DOC pretreatment significantly decreased lung cAMP levels. Cyclic AMP levels in normal female rats, whether pregnant or not, were not significantly different from those in male rats. We concluded that the absence of glucocorticoid, as after adrenalectomy, decreased the cAMP levels in rat lungs and that this could be reversed by either dexamethasone or corticosterone replacement. Progesterone reduced the cAMP content in rat lungs by acting as a glucocorticoid antagonist or by acting directly via progesterone receptors.

The effects of corticosteroid pretreatment on the contraction caused by acetylcholine or electrical stimulation of guinea-pig ileum and duodenum were studied. The acetylcholine dose-response curves for steroid pretreated ileum but not duodenum were significantly shifted to the right; evidence that pretreated ileum required higher dose of acetylcholine than normal to cause 50% maximal contraction. Naloxone enhanced the contraction of normal ileum caused by acetylcholine given at the dose of ED50, but not that of normal duodenum. The dose of morphine required to abolish electrically induced contraction was higher in steroid pretreated ileum than in normal ileum. Hence, corticosteroid pretreatment may affect intestinal contractility via opioidergic mechanisms which are found in the ileum but not in the duodenum.

The purpose of this study is to build an analytical rubric for Alternative Assessment for science activities in order to facilitate teachers in assessing multimedia communication skills by inculcating 21st Century Skills. The study attempts to answer a key question i.e. whether the analytical rubric for Alternative Assessment is appropriate to assess multimedia communication skills in science activities in school? The research was conducted by taking into account the advice of 11 experts in science education and five science teachers as assessors to evaluate the reliability of analytical rubric for multimedia communication skills in school. Three round Delphi technique was used to validate the analytical rubric and inter-rater reliability Intra-Class Correlation-ICC was computed to measure the reliability of the rubric. The study found that the rubric has a high validity of 82.0% and high absolute agreement for multimedia communication rubric (ICC = 0.90). Therefore the multimedia communication skill rubric can be adopted and implemented in schools. The study also found that there are a number of issues and constraints in the implementation of alternative assessment, but the construction of the rubric is a shift in assessing student outcomes that are emerging according to the global environment. However, further research on the validity and reliability of the rubric is necessary.