111 research outputs found
Microvascular engineering in perfusion culture: immunohistochemistry and CLSM findings
BACKGROUND: One of the most challenging problems in tissue engineering is the establishment of vascular supply. A possible approach might be the engineering of microvasculature in vitro and the supply by engineered feeder vessels. METHODS: An in vitro model for a small-diameter vessel was developed and made from adipose tissue stromal cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells in a tube-like gelatine scaffold. The number of "branches" emerging from the central lumen and the morphology of the central lumen of the vessel equivalent were assessed after 16 days of either pulsatile perfusion culture or culture in rotating containers by evaluation of immunohistochemically stained sections (n = 6 pairs of cultures). Intramural capillary network formation was demonstrated in five experiments with confocal laser scanning microscopy. RESULTS: Perfused specimens showed a round or oval lumen lined by a single layer of endothelial cells, whereas following rotation culture the lumen tended to collapse. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed more extended network formation in perfused specimens as compared to specimens after rotation culture. Partially highly interconected capillary-like networks were imaged which showed orientation around the central lumen. Perfused specimens exhibited significantly more branches emerging from the central lumen. There were, however, hardly any capillary branches crossing the whole vessel wall. CONCLUSION: Pulsatile perfusion supports the development of vascular networks with physiological appearance. Advances in reactor development, acquisition of functional data and imaging procedures are however necessary in order to attain the ultimate goal of a fully functional engineered supplying vessel
Antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide don’t decrease after 6 months of infliximab treatment in refractory rheumatoid arthritis
Anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA) and the rheumatoid factor (RF) are well-established serological markers for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ACPA are very useful in the diagnosis of RA, especially at the early stages of the disease when ACPA have a greater diagnostic value than RF. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of infliximab treatment on RF IgM and ACPA serum levels and RA activity during 6 months of treatment. Thirty-two patients with refractory RA were treated with infliximab during a 6-month period. At baseline, 3 and 6 months of treatment the patients were examined for the number swollen and tender joints out of 28 (SJC, TJC) and the visual analogue scale of arthritis activity according to the patient (VAS). Serum samples were tested for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein level (CRP), ACPA and RF IgM. The disease activity score (DAS-28) parameter was also calculated at the same time. During the course of our study, we observed statistically significant improvement in ESR, CRP, TJC, SJC, VAS DAS-28, and RF IgM after 3 and 6 months of infliximab treatment when compared to the baseline, whereas the ACPA level remained unchanged after 3 and 6 months of treatment (P = 0.96 and P = 0.85). The changes in the ACPA level are not a factor for evaluation of successful infliximab treatment but the changes in RF IgM are. According to different behavior of these antibodies during infliximab treatment, we suggest that the roles of ACPA and RF in the pathogenesis of RA are different
Measuring Multi-Joint Stiffness during Single Movements: Numerical Validation of a Novel Time-Frequency Approach
This study presents and validates a Time-Frequency technique for measuring 2-dimensional multijoint arm stiffness throughout a single planar movement as well as during static posture. It is proposed as an alternative to current regressive methods which require numerous repetitions to obtain average stiffness on a small segment of the hand trajectory. The method is based on the analysis of the reassigned spectrogram of the arm's response to impulsive perturbations and can estimate arm stiffness on a trial-by-trial basis. Analytic and empirical methods are first derived and tested through modal analysis on synthetic data. The technique's accuracy and robustness are assessed by modeling the estimation of stiffness time profiles changing at different rates and affected by different noise levels. Our method obtains results comparable with two well-known regressive techniques. We also test how the technique can identify the viscoelastic component of non-linear and higher than second order systems with a non-parametrical approach. The technique proposed here is very impervious to noise and can be used easily for both postural and movement tasks. Estimations of stiffness profiles are possible with only one perturbation, making our method a useful tool for estimating limb stiffness during motor learning and adaptation tasks, and for understanding the modulation of stiffness in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases
Transcriptome profiling and comparison of maize ear heterosis during the spikelet and floret differentiation stages
The effect of basic fibroblast growth factor on regeneration in a surgical wound model of rat submandibular glands
This study developed an animal model of surgically wounded submandibular glands (SMGs) and investigated the effects of collagen gel with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on tissue regeneration of surgically wounded SMGs in vivo. The animal model was produced by creating a surgical wound using a 3-mm diameter biopsy punch in SMGs. The wound was filled with collagen gel with bFGF (bFGF group) or without bFGF (control group). In the animal model of surgically wounded SMGs, salivary glands without scar tissue around the wound area were observed with smaller areas of collagen gel. Small round and spindle-shape cells invaded the collagen gel in both groups after operation day (AOD) 5, and this invasion dramatically increased at AOD 7. Host tissue completely replaced the collagen gel at AOD 21. The invading immune cells in the group treated with collagen gel with bFGF were positive for vimentin, α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA), CD49f, c-kit and AQP5 at AOD 7. Similarly, the mRNA expression of vimentin, αSMA, CD49f, keratin19 and AQP5 was also increased. This study suggests that the use of collagen gels with bFGF improves salivary gland regeneration
A remarkable synergistic effect at the transcriptomic level in peach fruits doubly infected by Prunus necrotic ringspot virus and Peach latent mosaic viroid
[EN] Background: Microarray profiling is a powerful technique to investigate expression changes of large amounts of
genes in response to specific environmental conditions. The majority of the studies investigating gene expression
changes in virus-infected plants are limited to interactions between a virus and a model host plant, which usually is
Arabidopsis thaliana or Nicotiana benthamiana. In the present work, we performed microarray profiling to explore
changes in the expression profile of field-grown Prunus persica (peach) originating from Chile upon single and
double infection with Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) and Peach latent mosaic viroid (PLMVd), worldwide
natural pathogens of peach trees.
Results: Upon single PLMVd or PNRSV infection, the number of statistically significant gene expression changes
was relatively low. By contrast, doubly-infected fruits presented a high number of differentially regulated genes.
Among these, down-regulated genes were prevalent. Functional categorization of the gene expression changes
upon double PLMVd and PNRSV infection revealed protein modification and degradation as the functional category
with the highest percentage of repressed genes whereas induced genes encoded mainly proteins related to
phosphate, C-compound and carbohydrate metabolism and also protein modification. Overrepresentation analysis
upon double infection with PLMVd and PNRSV revealed specific functional categories over- and underrepresented
among the repressed genes indicating active counter-defense mechanisms of the pathogens during infection.
Conclusions: Our results identify a novel synergistic effect of PLMVd and PNRSV on the transcriptome of peach
fruits. We demonstrate that mixed infections, which occur frequently in field conditions, result in a more complex
transcriptional response than that observed in single infections. Thus, our data demonstrate for the first time that
the simultaneous infection of a viroid and a plant virus synergistically affect the host transcriptome in infected
peach fruits. These field studies can help to fully understand plant-pathogen interactions and to develop
appropriate crop protection strategies.We thank Drs M.A. Perez-Amador y J. Gadea for helping in the result analysis. This work was supported by grant BIO2011-25018 from the Spanish granting agency Direccion General de Investigacion Cientifica for the transcriptomic analyses and from the grant 2009CL0020 from the bilateral project INIA-Chile/CSIC-Spain for the phytosanitary evaluation. MC Herranz was the recipient of a contract from the Juan de la Cierva program of the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia of Spain.Herranz Gordo, MDC.; Niehl, A.; Rosales, M.; Fiore, N.; Zamorano, A.; Granell Richart, A.; Pallás Benet, V. (2013). A remarkable synergistic effect at the transcriptomic level in peach fruits doubly infected by Prunus necrotic ringspot virus and Peach latent mosaic viroid. Virology Journal. 10:11-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-10-164S111510Pallas V, Garcia JA: How do plant viruses induce disease? Interactions and interference with host components. 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Harmful Elements in Estuarine and Coastal Systems
Estuaries and coastal zones are dynamic transitional systems which provide many economic and ecological benefits to humans, but also are an ideal habitat for other organisms as well. These areas are becoming contaminated by various anthropogenic activities due to a quick economic growth and urbanization. This chapter explores the sources, chemical speciation, sediment accumulation and removal mechanisms of the harmful elements in estuarine and coastal seawaters. It also describes the effects of toxic elements on aquatic flora and fauna. Finally, the toxic element pollution of the Venice Lagoon, a transitional water body located in the northeastern part of Italy, is discussed as a case study, by presenting the procedures adopted to measure the extent of the pollution, the impacts on organisms and the restoration activities
A novel approach for studying angiogenesis : a human skin equivalent with a capillary-like network
Angiogenesis results from an ordered set of events that can be modulated in vivo by a variety of angiogenesis-enhancing or inhibiting agents. We review in vitro angiogenesis models and the agents that enhance or inhibit angiogenesis. We also discuss a new in vitro angiogenesis model created within a skin equivalent. Briefly, endothelial cells were combined with the cutaneous cells of a standard skin equivalent and cultured in a chitosan cross-linked collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffold of this endothelialized skin. This model enables the formation of capillary-like structures in a coculture environment containing newly synthesized extracellular matrix by fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Several morphological characteristics associated with the microvasculature in vivo were observed in the endothelialized skin equivalent such as histotypic organization of tubular structures, basement membrane deposition, and intercellular junction formation
Real-time database systems: concepts and design
This qualifying dissertation is intended to review the state-of-the-art of Real-Time Database Systems under a uniprocessor and centralized environments. Due to the heterogeneity of the issues, the large amounts of infor-mation, and space limitation, we limit our presentation to the most important issues to the overall design, con-struction, and advancement of Real-Time Database Systems. Such topics are believed to include Transactio
Russia’s WTO Accession: Interregional Barriers to Agricultural Trade in the Russian Federation
Master’s Projec
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