Air bubbles in the rectus abdominis muscle

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Optical coherence tomography features of the repair tissue following RPE tear and their correlation with visual outcomes

To assess the optical coherence tomography (OCT) features of the repair tissue after retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) tear in neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Retrospective, observational study. Medical and imaging records of patients that developed tears after starting anti-VEGF treatment and with at least 12 months of follow-up were reviewed. OCT reflectivity of the RPE-subretinal hyperreflective tissue (SHT) complex was measured at 6, 12 and 18 months (when available). Reflectivity of the adjacent unaffected RPE-Bruch’s membrane was taken as internal reference. Other variables: grade and rip occurrence (early/late); number of intravitreal injections; type of macular neovascularization; sub-macular hemorrhage (SMH) at onset. Forty-nine eyes (age: 76.1 ± 7.0 years; VA: 0.54 ± 0.27 LogMAR) were included. Thirty-eight eyes had OCT signs of healing during the follow-up, with 21 showing SMH at baseline. Final VA positively correlated with the number of injections and negatively correlated with the RPE-SHT reflectivity and the presence of SMH (p < 0.001). Reflectivity of the RPE-SHT complex was positively associated with time and SMH at baseline (p < 0.05). In our study, most eyes showed signs of tissue repair after RPE tear. The reflectivity of repair tissue, the SMH presence and the number of anti-VEGF injections appeared to be major predictors of visual outcomes

Determinação das características morfológica de petúnias comuns (petunia x hybrida) cultivadas em tubetes biodegradáveis

The market for ornamental plants and flowers has been growing a lot in recent years, in the country, due to its importance in interior design. Petunias are seeded first in seedbeds and then replanted in&nbsp; plastic bags. In order to examine the potential use of biodegradable containers, an experiment was conducted at the experimental site of the Department of Natural Resources/Forestry Science, at Agronomics Sciences College of UNESP, Botucatu, S&atilde;o Paulo (Brazil), with common petunias (Petunia x hybrida) grown in greenhouses. The irrigation system used in the experiment was the spraying, without added nutrients. Four irrigations of approximately 15 minutes each were carried out every day, two in the morning&nbsp; and two in the afternoon, for irrigation. The containers used for the formation of seedlings were lack polyethylene plastic bags and biodegradable plastic tubes. The development of the seedlings was accompanied taking into account the morphological characteristics of shoot height (H), diameter of the neck (D), leaf area (AF) and length of the root system (CSR). Analysis of the substrate, analysis of water quality and loss of weight of the biodegradable plastic tubes were also carried out. The results showed that the petunia seedlings develop better in plastic bags than in biodegradable containers and that the limiting factor was the water deficit of seedlings due to high permeability of the biodegradable containers. For a better development of seedlings in biodegradable containers, it would be necessary to adjust the irrigation regime so that water is better distributed.O mercado de plantas ornamentais e&nbsp; flores no pa&iacute;s v&ecirc;m crescendo muitos nos &uacute;ltimos anos, por sua caracter&iacute;stica na decora&ccedil;&atilde;o de ambientes. A pet&uacute;nia &eacute; propagada inicialmente em sementeiras e depois replantada em saquinhos pl&aacute;sticos. Para verificar o potencial do uso de recipientes biodegrad&aacute;veis, um experimento foi conduzido na &aacute;rea experimental do Departamento de Recursos Naturais/Ci&ecirc;ncias Florestais da Faculdade de Ci&ecirc;ncias Agron&ocirc;micas da UNESP de Botucatu-SP, com pet&uacute;nias comuns (Petunia x hybrida)&nbsp; cultivadas no interior de estufas. O sistema de irriga&ccedil;&atilde;o utilizado no experimento foi o de aspers&atilde;o, sem adi&ccedil;&atilde;o de nutrientes. Foram realizadas quatro irriga&ccedil;&otilde;es por dia, sendo duas no turno da manh&atilde; e duas no per&iacute;odo vespertino. O tempo de cada irriga&ccedil;&atilde;o foi aproximadamente 15 minutos. Os recipientes usados para a forma&ccedil;&atilde;o das mudas foram sacos pl&aacute;sticos de polietileno na cor preta e tubetes biodegrad&aacute;veis. O desenvolvimento das mudas foi acompanhado pelas caracter&iacute;sticas morfol&oacute;gicas altura da parte a&eacute;rea (H), di&acirc;metro do colo (D), &aacute;rea foliar (AF) e comprimento do sistema radicular (CSR). Foram feitas tamb&eacute;m an&aacute;lise do substrato, an&aacute;lise da qualidade da &aacute;gua e a perda de massa dos tubetes biodegrad&aacute;veis. A an&aacute;lise dos dados mostrou que as mudas de pet&uacute;nia em sacos pl&aacute;sticos se desenvolveram melhor que nos recipientes biodegrad&aacute;veis e que o fator limitante foi o d&eacute;ficit h&iacute;drico das mudas em raz&atilde;o da elevada permeabilidade dos recipientes biodegrad&aacute;veis. Para melhor desenvolvimento das mudas em recipientes biodegrad&aacute;veis haveria necessidade de ajustar o regime de irriga&ccedil;&atilde;o de forma a que a &aacute;gua seja melhor distribu&iacute;da

Doxorubicin and congo red effectiveness on prion infectivity in golden Syrian hamster

The effect of doxorubicin and Congo Red on prion protein (PrP) infectivity in experimental scrapie was studied to better understand the effect of these compounds in prion diseases and to establish whether a dose-response correlation exists for Congo Red. This was performed in order to test the effectiveness of compounds that may easily be used in human prion diseases. Brain homogenate containing membrane bound PrPSc monomers was used as inoculum and was previously incubated with doxorubicin 10(-3) M and with increasing concentrations of Congo Red ranging from 10(-7) to 10(-2) M. This study shows for the first time that doxorubicin, and confirms that Congo Red, may interact with pathological PrP monomers modifying their infectious properties. Pre-incubation of infected brain homogenate with Congo Red resulted in prolonged incubation time and survival, independently of Congo Red concentration (p&lt;0.05). Doxorubicin and Congo Red effects do not depend upon interaction with PrP amyloid material

Anti-HIV-1 Activity of CD4 Synthetic Oligopeptides Representative of the Putative gp120 Binding Site

Two CD4 oligopeptides, corresponding to residues (37–53) and (37–55) of the V1 domain of CD4, which recent structural studies propose as the most likely binding site of HIV-1 gp120, have been chemically synthesized by solid-phase techniques, modified by the addition of two side-chain protected cysteines at both termini and purified by HPLC. Their ability to inhibit the infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (HTLV-IIIB, RF and GB8 strains) in different cell lines was monitored by the production of progeny virus, p24 and reverse transcriptase activity in the culture supernatants and by electron microscopy. The results indicated that the peptides inhibited HIV-1 infectivity in a dose-dependent fashion without any detectable cytotoxicity

Biomaterials in Neurodegenerative Disorders : A Promising Therapeutic Approach

Neurodegenerative disorders (i.e., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and spinal cord injury) represent a great problem worldwide and are becoming prevalent because of the increasing average age of the population. Despite many studies having focused on their etiopathology, the exact cause of these diseases is still unknown and until now, there are only symptomatic treatments. Biomaterials have become important not only for the study of disease pathogenesis, but also for their application in regenerative medicine. The great advantages provided by biomaterials are their ability to mimic the environment of the extracellular matrix and to allow the growth of different types of cells. Biomaterials can be used as supporting material for cell proliferation to be transplanted and as vectors to deliver many active molecules for the treatments of neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we aim to report the potentiality of biomaterials (i.e., hydrogels, nanoparticles, self-assembling peptides, nanofibers and carbon-based nanomaterials) by analyzing their use in the regeneration of neural and glial cells their role in axon outgrowth. Although further studies are needed for their use in humans, the promising results obtained by several groups leads us to suppose that biomaterials represent a potential therapeutic approach for the treatments of neurodegenerative disorders

Major nutritional issues in the management of Parkinson\u2019s disease

As with other neurodegenerative diseases, neurologic and nutritional elements may interact affecting each other in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the long-term effects of such interactions on prognosis and outcome have not been given much attention and are poorly addressed by current research. Factors contributing to the clinical conditions of patients with PD are not only the basic features of PD, progression of disease, and the therapeutic approach but also fiber and nutrient intakes (in terms of both energy and protein content), fluid and micronutrient balance, and pharmaconutrient interactions (protein and levodopa). During the course of PD nutritional requirements frequently change. Accordingly, both body weight gain and loss may occur and, despite controversy, it seems that both changes in energy expenditure and food intake contribute. Nonmotor symptoms play a significant role and dysphagia may be responsible for the impairment of nutritional status and fluid balance. Constipation, gastroparesis, and gastro-oesophageal reflux significantly affect quality of life. Finally, any micronutrient deficiencies should be taken into account. Nutritional assessments should be performed routinely. Optimization of pharmacologic treatment for both motor and nonmotor symptoms is essential, but nutritional interventions and counseling could and should also be planned with regard to nutritional balance designed to prevent weight loss or gain; optimization of levodopa pharmacokinetics and avoidance of interaction with proteins; improvement in gastrointestinal dysfunction (e.g., dysphagia and constipation); prevention and treatment of nutritional deficiencies (micronutrients or vitamins). A balanced Mediterranean-like dietary regimen should be recommended before the introduction of levodopa; afterward, patients with advanced disease may benefit considerably from protein redistribution and low-protein regimens