Multifractal analysis of radar rainfall fields over the area of Rome

A scale-invariance analysis of space and time rainfall events monitored by meteorological radar over the area of Rome (Italy) is proposed. The study of the scale-invariance properties of intense precipitation storms, particularly important in flood forecast and risk mitigation, allows to transfer rainfall information from the large scale predictive meteorological models to the small scale hydrological rainfall-runoff models. <P style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> Precipitation events are monitored using data collected by the polarimetric Doppler radar Polar 55C (ISAC-CNR), located 15 km Southeast from downtown. The meteorological radar provides the estimates of rainfall intensity over an area of about 10 000 km² at a resolution of 2&times;2 km² in space and 5 min in time. <P style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> Many precipitation events have been observed from autumn 2001 up to now. A scale-invariance analysis is performed on some of these events with the aim at exploring the multifractal properties and at understanding their dependence on the meteorological large-scale conditions

Dynamics of adaptive response and immune reactivity under the influence of adaptogenic drugs in pulmonary tuberculosis

Chiril Draganiuc Institute of Phthysiopneumology, Department of Pneumophthysiology, Nicolae Testemitsanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chisinau, the Republic of MoldovaBackground: Tuberculosis is a multifactorial disease, with the evolution and response to treatment being determined by the interaction between the genotype of M. tuberculosis and the human genotype. Immunological adaptogenic treatment is an important pathogenetical treatment of tuberculosis. BioR medicine obtained from the biomass of Spirulina platensis exhibits an antioxidant activity and immunomodulator activity. Extract of Eleuterococc increases the body’s resistance, diminishing the level of the body stress syndrome. The aim of the research was the comparative analysis of adaptive reactivity and immune resistance in the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis treated with immunomodulator drug BioR versus extract of Eleuterococ. Material and methods: adaptive reactivity and immune resistance indices were analyzed in a total number of 113 patients hospitalized in clinical subdivisions of Chiril Draganiuc Institute of Pneumophthysiology. Results: Both drugs showed a high adaptogenic capacity, a high efficiency on the level of immune reactivity, although it was appreciated that the immune modulator drug BioR is more efficient than Eleuterococ extract associated medicine to antituberculois treatment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Conclusions: The combination of adaptogenic drugs: extract of Eleuterococ and BioR with anti-TB treatment enhances its efficacy, demonstrated by normalizing of the adaptogenic reactions, also enhancing the immune and preimmune resistance indices. Both drugs can be recommended for inclusion as immune modulators in the standard anti-TB treatment with the aim to ensure high therapeutical effectiveness

Development of a taxonomy to describe massage treatments for musculoskeletal pain

BACKGROUND: One of the challenges in conducting research in the field of massage and bodywork is the lack of consistent terminology for describing the treatments given by massage therapists. The objective of this study was to develop a taxonomy to describe what massage therapists actually do when giving a massage to patients with musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: After conducting a review of the massage treatment literature for musculoskeletal pain, a list of candidate techniques was generated for possible inclusion in the taxonomy. This list was modified after discussions with a senior massage therapist educator and seven experienced massage therapists participating in a study of massage for neck pain. RESULTS: The taxonomy was conceptualized as a three level classification system, principal goals of treatment, styles, and techniques. Four categories described the principal goal of treatment (i.e., relaxation massage, clinical massage, movement re-education and energy work). Each principal goal of treatment could be met using a number of different styles, with each style consisting of a number of specific techniques. A total of 36 distinct techniques were identified and described, many of which could be included in multiple styles. CONCLUSION: A new classification system is presented whereby practitioners using different styles of massage can describe the techniques they employ using consistent terminology. This system could help facilitate standardized reporting of massage interventions

Caspase-3 dependent nitrergic neuronal apoptosis following cavernous nerve injury is mediated via RhoA and ROCK activation in major pelvic ganglion

Axonal injury due to prostatectomy leads to Wallerian degeneration of the cavernous nerve (CN) and erectile dysfunction (ED). Return of potency is dependent on axonal regeneration and reinnervation of the penis. Following CN injury (CNI), RhoA and Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) increase in penile endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Previous studies indicate that nerve regeneration is hampered by activation of RhoA/ROCK pathway. We evaluated the role of RhoA/ROCK pathway in CN regulation following CNI using a validated rat model. CNI upregulated gene and protein expression of RhoA/ROCK and caspase-3 mediated apoptosis in the major pelvic ganglion (MPG). ROCK inhibitor (ROCK-I) prevented upregulation of RhoA/ROCK pathway as well as activation of caspase-3 in the MPG. Following CNI, there was decrease in the dimer to monomer ratio of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) protein and lowered NOS activity in the MPG, which were prevented by ROCK-I. CNI lowered intracavernous pressure and impaired non-adrenergic non-cholinergic-mediated relaxation in the penis, consistent with ED. ROCK-I maintained the intracavernous pressure and non-adrenergic non-cholinergic-mediated relaxation in the penis following CNI. These results suggest that activation of RhoA/ROCK pathway mediates caspase-3 dependent apoptosis of nitrergic neurons in the MPG following CNI and that ROCK-I can prevent post-prostatectomy ED

Neural correlates of a single-session massage treatment

The current study investigated the immediate neurophysiological effects of different types of massage in healthy adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Much attention has been given to the default mode network, a set of brain regions showing greater activity in the resting state. These regions (i.e. insula, posterior and anterior cingulate, inferior parietal and medial prefrontal cortices) have been postulated to be involved in the neural correlates of consciousness, specifically in arousal and awareness. We posit that massage would modulate these same regions given the benefits and pleasant affective properties of touch. To this end, healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1. Swedish massage, 2. reflexology, 3. massage with an object or 4. a resting control condition. The right foot was massaged while each participant performed a cognitive association task in the scanner. We found that the Swedish massage treatment activated the subgenual anterior and retrosplenial/posterior cingulate cortices. This increased blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal was maintained only in the former brain region during performance of the cognitive task. Interestingly, the reflexology massage condition selectively affected the retrosplenial/posterior cingulate in the resting state, whereas massage with the object augmented the BOLD response in this region during the cognitive task performance. These findings should have implications for better understanding how alternative treatments might affect resting state neural activity and could ultimately be important for devising new targets in the management of mood disorders

A High Incidence of Meiotic Silencing of Unsynapsed Chromatin Is Not Associated with Substantial Pachytene Loss in Heterozygous Male Mice Carrying Multiple Simple Robertsonian Translocations

Meiosis is a complex type of cell division that involves homologous chromosome pairing, synapsis, recombination, and segregation. When any of these processes is altered, cellular checkpoints arrest meiosis progression and induce cell elimination. Meiotic impairment is particularly frequent in organisms bearing chromosomal translocations. When chromosomal translocations appear in heterozygosis, the chromosomes involved may not correctly complete synapsis, recombination, and/or segregation, thus promoting the activation of checkpoints that lead to the death of the meiocytes. In mammals and other organisms, the unsynapsed chromosomal regions are subject to a process called meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin (MSUC). Different degrees of asynapsis could contribute to disturb the normal loading of MSUC proteins, interfering with autosome and sex chromosome gene expression and triggering a massive pachytene cell death. We report that in mice that are heterozygous for eight multiple simple Robertsonian translocations, most pachytene spermatocytes bear trivalents with unsynapsed regions that incorporate, in a stage-dependent manner, proteins involved in MSUC (e.g., γH2AX, ATR, ubiquitinated-H2A, SUMO-1, and XMR). These spermatocytes have a correct MSUC response and are not eliminated during pachytene and most of them proceed into diplotene. However, we found a high incidence of apoptotic spermatocytes at the metaphase stage. These results suggest that in Robertsonian heterozygous mice synapsis defects on most pachytene cells do not trigger a prophase-I checkpoint. Instead, meiotic impairment seems to mainly rely on the action of a checkpoint acting at the metaphase stage. We propose that a low stringency of the pachytene checkpoint could help to increase the chances that spermatocytes with synaptic defects will complete meiotic divisions and differentiate into viable gametes. This scenario, despite a reduction of fertility, allows the spreading of Robertsonian translocations, explaining the multitude of natural Robertsonian populations described in the mouse

Enzymatic Mechanisms Involved in Evasion of Fungi to the Oxidative Stress: Focus on Scedosporium apiospermum

The airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are frequently colonized by various filamentous fungi, mainly Aspergillus fumigatus and Scedosporium species. To establish within the respiratory tract and cause an infection, these opportunistic fungi express pathogenic factors allowing adherence to the host tissues, uptake of extracellular iron, or evasion to the host immune response. During the colonization process, inhaled conidia and the subsequent hyphae are exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) released by phagocytic cells, which cause in the fungal cells an oxidative stress and a nitrosative stress, respectively. To cope with these constraints, fungal pathogens have developed various mechanisms that protect the fungus against ROS and RNS, including enzymatic antioxidant systems. In this review, we summarize the different works performed on ROS- and RNS-detoxifying enzymes in fungi commonly encountered in the airways of CF patients and highlight their role in pathogenesis of the airway colonization or respiratory infections. The potential of these enzymes as serodiagnostic tools is also emphasized. In addition, taking advantage of the recent availability of the whole genome sequence of S. apiospermum, we identified the various genes encoding ROS- and RNS-detoxifying enzymes, which pave the way for future investigations on the role of these enzymes in pathogenesis of these emerging species since they may constitute new therapeutics targets

SLXL1, a novel acrosomal protein, interacts with DKKL1 and is involved in fertilization in mice

BACKGROUND: Spermatogenesis is a complex cellular developmental process which involves diverse families of genes. The Xlr (X-linked, lymphocyte regulated) family includes multiple members, only a few of which have reported functions in meiosis, post-meiotic maturation, and fertilization of germ cells. Slx-like1 (Slxl1) is a member of the Xlr family, whose expression and function in spermatogenesis need to be elucidated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The mRNA and protein expression and localization of Slxl1 were investigated by RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry in different tissues and at different stages of spermatogenesis. The interacting partner of SLXL1 was examined by co-immunoprecipitation and co-localization. Assessment of the role of SLXL1 in capacitation, acrosome reaction, zona pellucida binding/penetration, and fertilization was carried out in vitro using blocking antisera. The results showed that Slxl1 mRNA and protein were specifically expressed in the testis. SLXL1 was exclusively located in the acrosome of post-meiotic germ cells and interacts with DKKL1 (Dickkopf-like1), which is an acrosome-associated protein and plays an important role in fertilization. The rates of zona pellucida binding/penetration and fertilization were significantly reduced by the anti-SLXL1 polyclonal antiserum. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: SLXL1 is the first identified member of the XLR family that is associated with acrosome and is involved in zona pellucid binding/penetration and subsequent fertilization. These results, together with previous studies, suggest that Xlr family members participate in diverse processes from meiosis to fertilization during spermatogenesis