Anorexia nervosa and reproduction: connecting brain to gonads

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric disorder that predominantly affects young women and is characterized by low caloric intake and a major dissatisfaction with one’s body image. It is often overlooked and, while patients and family seek medical help, emaciation and nutritional misbalances may become extreme and potentially life threatening. Among the many somatic complications, an accumulation of early endocrine adaptations occurs, leading to functional amenorrhea and impaired reproduction as a result of dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Even though these conditions are reversible, long-term consequences may affect the fertility of women with AN and can lead to maternal and fetal complications during pregnancy and birth. This review presents the clinical particularities of reproduction in the context of AN, along with the possible pathophysiological mechanisms involved

An Abstraction Theory for Qualitative Models of Biological Systems

Multi-valued network models are an important qualitative modelling approach used widely by the biological community. In this paper we consider developing an abstraction theory for multi-valued network models that allows the state space of a model to be reduced while preserving key properties of the model. This is important as it aids the analysis and comparison of multi-valued networks and in particular, helps address the well-known problem of state space explosion associated with such analysis. We also consider developing techniques for efficiently identifying abstractions and so provide a basis for the automation of this task. We illustrate the theory and techniques developed by investigating the identification of abstractions for two published MVN models of the lysis-lysogeny switch in the bacteriophage lambda.Comment: In Proceedings MeCBIC 2010, arXiv:1011.005

Strain induced stabilization of stepped Si and Ge surfaces near (001)

We report on calculations of the formation energies of several [100] and [110] oriented step structures on biaxially stressed Si and Ge (001) surfaces. It is shown that a novel rebonded [100] oriented single-height step is strongly stabilized by compressive strain compared to most well-known step structures. We propose that the side walls of ``hut''-shaped quantum dots observed in recent experiments on SiGe/Si films are made up of these steps. Our calculations provide an explanation for the nucleationless growth of shallow mounds, with steps along the [100] and [110] directions in low- and high-misfit films, respectively, and for the stability of the (105) facets under compressive strain.Comment: to appear in Appl. Phys. Lett.; v2=minor corrections,figs resize

On Lyndon's equation in some Λ-free groups and HNN extensions

In this paper we study Lyndon's equation xpyqzr = 1, with x, y, z group elements and p, q, r positive integers, in HNN extensions of free and fully residually free groups, and draw some conclusions about its behavior in Λ-free group

Rapidly Rotating Fermi Gases

We show that the density profile of a Fermi gas in rapidly rotating potential will develop prominent features reflecting the underlying Landau level like energy spectrum. Depending on the aspect ratio of the trap, these features can be a sequence of ellipsoidal volumes or a sequence of quantized steps.Comment: 4 pages, 1 postscript fil

Сердечнососудистые маркеры: предиктивные и патофизиологические значения

Department of Interventional Cardiology, Institute of CardiologyThe diagnostics arsenal of cardiovascular diseases is updated by the use of specific markers which are approved by European Society of Cardiology, American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. In this article an actual glance of opportune markers applied in myocardial necrosis, myocardial remodeling and endothelium dysfunction estimation is emphasized. The role of CK-MB, myoglobin and troponins (I and T) is underlined in the necrotic myocardial lesions diagnosis. For myocardium remodeling is basically important estimation of the circulating levels of galectin-3, BNP, connective tissue growth factor and matrix metalloproteinases. Endothelial dysfunction of systemic and coronary arteries is linked to soluble selectines, inflammatory cytokines, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine assessment.Диагностический арсенал сердечнососудистых заболеваний усовершенствован при помощи использования специфических маркеров, апробированых Европейской Ассоциацией Кардиологов и Американскими Ассоциациями Кардиологов. В этой статье освещены наиболее значимые маркеры, применяемые в диагностике некроза и ремоделирования миокарда, а также эндотелиальной дисфункции. Показана роль ККМВ, миоглобина и тропонинов в диагностике некротических повреждений миокарда. Рассмотрено значение галектина-3, натрийуретического пептида В, фактора роста соединительной ткани и матриксных металлопротеиназ в оценке ремоделирования миокарда. Выделена роль селектинов, воспалительных цитокинов, окиси азота, фосфолипазы А2 и ассиметричного диметиларгинина в определении эндотелиальной дисфункции

Long duration dynamics of oxidative stress markers in patients with in-stent restenosis after target repetitive revascularization

Department of Interventional Cardiology, Institute of Cardiology, Chisinau, the Republic of MoldovaBackground: The oxidative stress as a key mechanism of vascular injury and remodeling represents an important subject of in-stent restenosis (ISR) pathogenesis study. Material and methods: This article is aimed at the evaluation of the circulating levels of oxidative stress markers in 68 patients with ISR, which are the following: malonic dialdehyde (MDA) advanced oxidized protein products (AOPP), glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant activity (TAA), advanced glycation end products (AGEPs) and arginase. These markers were assayed before the repetitive target revascularization and after 1, 3, 6 and 12 months (40 healthy persons served as a control group). Results: The obtained outcomes indicate that the oxidative stress activity has been markedly increased in the patients with ISR and has remained raised after the revascularization what has been demonstrated by significantly increased MDA and AOPP levels compared to the control markers during all study period. Antioxidant enzymes have been decreased in restenosis, and the most conspicuous reduction has been found for TAA – by 56%. After the revascularization this marker practically has not been changed. The levels of AGEPs and arginase have had a similar dynamics whose main trait has been their rise by 20-28% after 3 months compared to pre-conditioning indices. The pathophysiological significance of the period concerning implication of both factors in free oxygen radicals release and endothelium dysfunction cannot be overestimated. Conclusions: The results confirm the pathogenetic role of oxidative stress in the in-stent restenosis evolution, whose activity assay in practice may be supported by MDA, AOPP, TAA, AGEPs and arginase circulating levels estimation

Evaluation of the oxidative stress markers in the early period after coronary angioplasty

Oxidative stress refers to a well known pathogenic tool of cell lesions. This article aims at the identification of the circulating levels of the oxidative stress basic markers in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. Before the stent implantation the activation of oxidative stress has been found in patients who need a coronary angioplasty, the fact that has been manifested by a significant increase (up to 118%) of malonic dialdehyde (MAD) and advanced oxidation protein products and by a significant decrease of glutathionreductase (GR) and superoxiddismutase (SOD) (within 19.75-26.8% compared to the indices of healthy persons). In the early studied period (60 min-24 hours) following the angioplasty such a significant rise of MAD as by 32.3% has been detected while the blood content of main antioxidant enzymes, GR, SOD and glutathionperoxidase has fallen by 10-24.6% in comparison with the pre-procedure values. Along with the oxidative stress activation, a significant decline of the nitric oxide concentration in blood has been found before the angioplasty, the amount of which becomes more conspicuous in the first 48 hours after the stent implantation. Generally the obtained data suggest that the traumatic impact of stent implantation on heart and coronary endothelium enhances free oxygen radicals production whose damaging action is poorly limited in the early period due to the antioxidant defense lessening. The decline of nitric oxide level, the predictor of endothelium injuring, mainly due to its anion superoxide metabolization, is correlated with the antioxidant enzymes reducing. So it is proven that DAM, SOD and glutathion-redox system enzymes are the markers of oxidative stress level assessment after angioplasty

Permutations of context-free, ET0L and indexed languages

© 2016 Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DMTCS), Nancy, France. For a language L, we consider its cyclic closure, and more generally the language Ck(L), which consists of all words obtained by partitioning words from L into k factors and permuting them. We prove that the classes of ET0L and EDT0L languages are closed under the operators Ck. This both sharpens and generalises Brandstädt's result that if L is context-free then Ck(L) is context-sensitive and not context-free in general for k ≥ 3. We also show that the cyclic closure of an indexed language is indexed

Histological and immunohistochemical evaluation of mandibular bone tissue regeneration

The purpose of the study was to perform an immunohistochemical and histological evaluation of samples taken from different bone regeneration procedures in atrophic human mandible. 30 patients (15 men and 15 women, age range of 35-60 years), non-smokers, with good general and oral health were recruited in this study and divided into three groups. The first group included patients who were treated with blood Concentration Growth Factors (bCGF), the second group included patients who were treated with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone, while the third group of patients was treated with bCGF and tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite (TCP-HA). Six months after the regenerative procedures, all patients undergone implant surgery, and a bone biopsy was carried out in the site of implant insertion. Each sample was histologically and immunohistochemically examined. Histological evaluation showed a complete bone formation for group II, partial ossification for group I, and moderate ossification for group III. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the three groups, and the best clinical result was obtained with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone