Hopf fibration: geodesics and distances

Here we study geodesics connecting two given points on odd-dimensional spheres respecting the Hopf fibration. This geodesic boundary value problem is completely solved in the case of 3-dimensional sphere and some partial results are obtained in the general case. The Carnot-Carath\'eodory distance is calculated. We also present some motivations related to quantum mechanics.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Primary Headaches and their Relationship with the Autonomic Nervous System

Headache disorders, described as early as 3000 BC, represent both a treatment challenge and a serious public health concern, with impact on the individual and society. Existing research in primary headache syndromes (not being caused by any underlying problem) focuses mainly on pain mechanisms. However, the painful symptomatology is the main encounter for the decreased quality of life and discomfort, the vegetative manifestations that frequently accompany the cephalalgic syndromes represent an important source of distress. Despite the advancement of the understanding of the molecular basis of headache disorders and neurovascular complex interactions, there is still lack of a cohesive understanding of the neurovegetative modulation in different types of primary cephalalgic syndromes. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the neurochemical mechanisms and pathways, which subtend dysautonomic manifestations in headache

Human Dirofilaria repens Infection in Romania: A Case Report

Human dirofilariasis is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by the filarial nematodes of dogs Dirofilaria repens and Dirofilaria immitis. Depending on the species involved, human infections usually manifest as one cutaneous or visceral larva migrans that forms a painless nodule in the later course of disease. Dirofilariae are endemic in the Mediterranean, particularly in Italy. They are considered as emerging pathogens currently increasing their geographical range. We present one of the few known cases of human dirofilariasis caused by D. repens in Romania. The patient developed unusual and severe clinical manifestations that mimicked pathological conditions like cellulitis or deep venous thrombosis

OSMOLARITY AND APOPTOSIS IN IVF BOVINE EMBRYOS

The aim of this research was to establish the optimal conditions for culture of bovine embryos obtained in vitro and the effects of osmolarity on development and apoptosis. The embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure were divided into two different groups. The embryos from the control group were cultured for 7 days in B2-Menezo. The embryos from the experimental group were cultured in medium with NaCl, having variation of concentration and osmolarity. Results showed that there are differences in development stage and apoptosis. Increasing the concentration from 90 to 120mM NaCl generated decreasing of the blastocyst stage (P<0.05), and also the apoptosis was increased in the blastocyst stage. The optimum concentration of NaCl was 90mM and the optimum osmolarity of the medium was between 260-280 mOsmol for the studied IVF bovine embryos, affecting positively the embryos development

Pharmacoepidemiologic investigation in acute renal cholic in children

Acute renal colic is one of the most intense pains in pathology and represents a urologic and nephrologic emergency. This exploratory study was performed on 86 patients with a ages between 10 and more than 18 which completed a questionnaire consisting of some questions about intensity of acute renal colic measured with the visual analogue scale (range=0-10), associated symptoms and the drugs used to reduce pain. In summary this study shows that in most of the patients the pain semnificativelly affects the normal daily activities. Drug therapy plays an important role in pain management. Renal colic pain management consists especially in using spasmolytic drugs and their association with analgesics or anti-inflammatory drugs

Surgical conservative treatment of breast cancer in Constanta

Spitalul Clinic Județean, Constanța, Al XI-lea Congres al Asociației Chirurgilor „Nicolae Anestiadi” din Republica Moldova și cea de-a XXXIII-a Reuniune a Chirurgilor din Moldova „Iacomi-Răzeșu” 27-30 septembrie 2011În ultimele 4 decenii conceptul de chirurgie conservatoare s-a impus ca o alternativă viabilă în arsenalul terapeutic al cancerului de sân. Această evoluție a fost determinată de concluziile numeroaselor studii clinice randomizate şi de atenția deosebită acordată calității vieții pacientelor diagnosticate cu neoplasm mamar, astfel încât standardul actual al tratamentului cancerului de sân din stadiile I şi II este reprezentat de tehnicile de chirurgie conservatoare.Cu toate că această problematică reprezintă o preocupare constantă în ultimii 7 ani în cadrul Clinicii de Chirurgie din cadrul Spitalului Clinic Judetean Constanta, numărul de intervenții chirurgicale conservatoare reprezintă un procent de doar 11.18% din totalul operațiilor pentru neoplasmele mamare.Scopul acestei lucrări este de prezenta experiența colectivului Clinicii de Chirurgie în acest domeniu şi de a identifica problemele ridicate de aplicarea în practică a acestui concept în contextul medicinei româneşti, în dorința ca această opțiune terapeutică să devină o realitate a chirurgiei cancerului de sân din țara noastră.In the last 4 decades, the concept of conservative surgery imposed itself as a viable alternative in the therapeutic scheme of breast cancer. The evolvement was determined by the conclusions of numerous randomized clinical studies and by the special attention given to the quality of life of the patients diagnosed with breast cancer so that the actual standard of treatment in breast cancer in stages Ist, and IInd is represented by conservative surgery techniques. Although this pathology represents a constant preoccupation in the last 7 years in the Surgery Clinic of County Hospital Constanta, the number of conservative surgery in breast cancer represents only 11.18% out of the total number of interventions for breast cancer. The purpose of this article is to present the experience in this domain in the Surgery Clinic of County Hospital Constanta and to identify the problems of application into the practice of this concept in the context of Romanian medicine, wishing that this therapeutical option become a reality in the surgery of breast cancer in our country

Magnetically‐actuated microcages for cells entrapment, fabricated by laser direct writing via two photon polymerization

The manipulation of biological materials at cellular level constitutes a sine qua non and provocative research area regarding the development of micro/nano‐medicine. In this study, we report on 3D superparamagnetic microcage‐like structures that, in conjunction with an externally applied static magnetic field, were highly efficient in entrapping cells. The microcage‐like structures were fabricated using Laser Direct Writing via Two‐Photon Polymerization (LDW via TPP) of IP‐L780 biocompatible photopolymer/iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) composite. The unique properties of LDW via TPP technique enabled the reproduction of the complex architecture of the 3D structures, with a very high accuracy i.e., about 90 nm lateral resolution. 3D hyperspectral microscopy was employed to investigate the structural and compositional characteristics of the microcage‐like structures. Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Spectroscopy was used to prove the unique features regarding the morphology and the functionality of the 3D structures seeded with MG‐63 osteoblast‐like cells. Comparative studies were made on microcage‐like structures made of IP‐L780 photopolymer alone (i.e., without superparamagnetic properties). We found that the cell‐seeded structures made by IP‐L780/MNPs composite actuated by static magnetic fields of 1.3 T were 13.66 ± 5.11 folds (p < 0.01) more efficient in terms of cells entrapment than the structures made by IP‐L780 photopolymer alone (i.e., that could not be actuated magnetically). The unique 3D architecture of the microcage‐like superparamagnetic structures and their actuation by external static magnetic fields acted in synergy for entrapping osteoblast‐like cells, showing a significant potential for bone tissue engineering applications

Dysregulation of MicroRNA-34a Expression in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Promotes Tumor Growth and Tumor Angiogenesis

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that play an important role in cancer development where they can act as oncogenes or as tumor-suppressors. miR-34a is a tumor-suppressor that is frequently downregulated in a number of tumor types. However, little is known about the role of miR-34a in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).miR-34a expression in tumor samples, HNSCC cell lines and endothelial cells was examined by real time PCR. Lipofectamine-2000 was used to transfect miR-34a in HNSCC cell lines and human endothelial cells. Cell-proliferation, migration and clonogenic survival was examined by MTT, Xcelligence system, scratch assay and colony formation assay. miR-34a effect on tumor growth and tumor angiogenesis was examined by in vivo SCID mouse xenograft model. Our results demonstrate that miR-34a is significantly downregulated in HNSCC tumors and cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-34a in HNSCC cell lines significantly inhibited tumor cell proliferation, colony formation and migration. miR-34a overexpression also markedly downregulated E2F3 and survivin levels. Rescue experiments using microRNA resistant E2F3 isoforms suggest that miR-34a-mediated inhibition of cell proliferation and colony formation is predominantly mediated by E2F3a isoform. In addition, tumor samples from HNSCC patients showed an inverse relationship between miR-34a and survivin as well as miR-34a and E2F3 levels. Overexpression of E2F3a completely rescued survivin expression in miR-34a expressing cells, thereby suggesting that miR-34a may be regulating survivin expression via E2F3a. Ectopic expression of miR-34a also significantly inhibited tumor growth and tumor angiogenesis in a SCID mouse xenograft model. Interestingly, miR-34a inhibited tumor angiogenesis by blocking VEGF production by tumor cells as well as directly inhibiting endothelial cell functions.Taken together, these findings suggest that dysregulation of miR-34a expression is common in HNSCC and modulation of miR34a activity might represent a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HNSCC

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements