Antioxidant status in the aqueous humour of patients with glaucoma associated with exfoliation syndrome

PURPOSE: To establish the antioxidant status of the aqueous humour in glaucoma associated with exfoliation syndrome (XFG) and to compare it to primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and cataract patients. METHODS: Patients were diagnosed with POAG, XFG, or cataract (n=25 for each group). Total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP) was measured by chemiluminescence. Ascorbic acid levels and the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured spectrophotometrically.ResultsTRAP value was lower in XFG (28+/-2 microM Trolox) than in POAG (55+/-8 microM Trolox; P<0.001). TRAP values in both glaucomas were lower than the cataract value (124+/-5 microM Trolox; P<0.001). A decrease in ascorbic acid was measured in XFG (230+/-20 microM) compared with POAG (415+/-17 microM; P<0.001). Ascorbic acid in both glaucomas was lower than in cataract (720+/-30 microM; P<0.001). A significant increase in GPx was found in XFG (30+/-2 U/ml) compared with POAG (16+/-3 U/ml). GPx activity in both glaucomas was increased when compared with cataracts (6+/-2 U/ml; P<0.001). A significant increase of 67% in SOD activity was observed in the glaucoma group vscataract group (27+/-3 U/ml; P<0.001), but no changes were found between both glaucomas. CONCLUSIONS: The antioxidant status of the aqueous humour may play a role in the pathophysiology of both glaucomas.Fil: Ferreira, Sandra María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica; ArgentinaFil: Lerner, S.F. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica; ArgentinaFil: Brunzini, R. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica; ArgentinaFil: Evelson, Pablo Andrés. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Llesuy, Susana Francisca. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; Argentin

Registros novos e adicionais de Agalliinae, Gyponinae e Nirvaniinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) para o Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil

Coelho LBN, Da-Silva ER, Ferreira PSF. 2001. Registros novos e adicionais de Agalliinae, Gyponinae e Nirvaniinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) para o Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Entomotropica 16(2):131-135 . Agallia alvarengai , A. configurata, A. cucata, Agalliopsis ornaticollis (Agalliinae), Curtara antica , C. atomaria, Gypona validana , Hecalapona ferosa (Gyponinae) e Neonirvana hyalina (Nirvaniinae) s\ue3o pela primeira vez registradas para o Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Agallia albidula , A. cezia (Agalliinae) e Acuera gloma (Gyponinae) s\ue3o pela primeira vez registradas para o munic\uedpio de Vi\ue7osa.Coelho LBN, Da-Silva ER, Ferreira PSF. 2001. New and additional records of Agalliinae, Gyponinae e Nirvaniinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) from State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Entomotropica 16(2):131-135. Agallia alvarengai , A. configurata, A. cucata, Agalliopsis ornaticollis (Agalliinae), Curtara antica , C. atomaria, Gypona validana , Hecalapona ferosa (Gyponinae) and Neonirvana hyalina (Nirvaniinae) are for the first time recorded from Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Agallia albidula , A. cezia (Agalliinae) and Acuera gloma (Gyponinae) are for the first time recorded from the county of Vi\ue7osa

Cistercian Pavements from Santa Maria de Alcobaça Abbey: first examples of tin-glazed tiles in Portugal

The Mosteiro de Alcobaça (Alcobaça Monastery, founded in 1153) was built to the image of Clairvaux Abbey, founded by the Cistercian abbot St. Bernard. In many ways Alcobaça mirrored the original concepts of the Cistercian Order, with an austere architectural style and shedding signs of richness. The glazed tiles found on the pavement of the deambulatory and some adjacent chapels are some of the first examples of lead-tin glazes in Christian Portugal. For the first time, these tiles were analytically characterized, to determine their chemical composition, production technology and decoration technique. The analytical techniques used were μ-PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission), SEM-EDS (scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry), and μ-Raman spectroscopy

Fractional isoperimetric Noether's theorem in the Riemann-Liouville sense

We prove Noether-type theorems for fractional isoperimetric variational problems with Riemann-Liouville derivatives. Both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations are obtained. Illustrative examples, in the fractional context of the calculus of variations, are discussed.Comment: Submitted 12-Oct-2012; revised 05-Jan-2013; accepted 23-Jan-2013; for publication in Reports on Mathematical Physics. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1001.450

Association and interaction analyses of eight genes under asthma linkage peaks

Background: Linkage studies have implicated the 2q33, 9p21, 11q13 and 20q13 regions in the regulation of allergic disease. The aim of this study was to test genetic variants in candidate genes from these regions for association with specific asthma traits. Methods: Ninety-five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) located in eight genes (CD28, CTLA4, ICOS, ADAM23, ADAMTSL1, MS4A2, CDH26 and HRH3) were genotyped in >5000 individuals from Australian (n = 1162), Dutch (n = 99) and Danish (n = 303) families. Traits tested included doctor-diagnosed asthma, atopy, airway obstruction, total serum immunoglobulin (Ig) E levels and eosinophilia. Association was tested using both multivariate and univariate methods, with gene-wide thresholds for significance determined through simulation. Gene-by-gene and gene-by-environment analyses were also performed. Results: There was no overall evidence for association with seven of the eight genes tested when considering all genetic variation assayed in each gene. The exception was MS4A2 on chromosome 11q13, which showed weak evidence for association with IgE (gene-wide P < 0.05, rs502581). There were no significant gene-by-gene or gene-by-environment interaction effects after accounting for the number of tests performed. Conclusions: The individual variants genotyped in the 2q33, 9p21 and 20q13 regions do not explain a large fraction of the variation in the quantitative traits tested or have a major impact on asthma or atopy risk. Our results are consistent with a weak effect of MS4A2 polymorphisms on the variation of total IgE levels. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S

Sarcocystis spp. detection in cattle using different diagnostic methods

ABSTRACT: Cattle are considered intermediate hosts of Sarcocystis, which can cause clinical signs and lower performance in the acute phase of infection. Sarcocystis spp. are usually not visible to the naked eye during the post mortem inspection. Moreover, fresh microscopic examination and transmission electron microscopy techniques are difficult to apply to large samples. Therefore, extensive studies on Sarcocystis infection in cattle using molecular and serological methods are required. Here, we investigated Sarcocystis spp. infection in cattle using fresh microscopic examination and polymerase chain reaction of myocardium samples and compared the results with the presence of antibodies against Sarcocystis spp. in corresponding serum samples detected using indirect fluorescent antibody test. Microscopic Sarcocystis were observed in 100% of the myocardial samples, and Sarcocystis DNA was present in 86% (43/50) of these samples. Antibodies against Sarcocystis spp. were detected in 96% (48/50) and 80% (40/50) of the serum samples at 1:25 and 1:200 dilutions, respectively. The three associated methods (fresh microscopic examination, PCR and serology) showed good sensitivity and detection for Sarcocystis spp. compared with fresh microscopic examination (only), and they may facilitate diagnosis in live animals on a large scale as well as monitoring of the herd status

Non-Perturbative QCD Treatment of High-Energy Hadron-Hadron Scattering

Total cross-sections and logarithmic slopes of the elastic scattering cross-sections for different hadronic processes are calculated in the framework of the model of the stochastic vacuum. The relevant parameters of this model, a correlation length and the gluon condensate, are determined from scattering data, and found to be in very good agreement with values coming from completely different sources of information. A parameter-free relation is given between total cross-sections and slope parameters, which is shown to be remarkably valid up to the highest energies for which data exist.Comment: 60 pages, Heidelberg preprin

Softening the Supersymmetric Flavor Problem in Orbifold GUTs

The infra-red attractive force of the bulk gauge interactions is applied to soften the supersymmetric flavor problem in the orbifold SU(5) GUT of Kawamura. Then this force aligns in the infra-red regime the soft supersymmetry breaking terms out of their anarchical disorder at a fundamental scale, in such a way that flavor-changing neutral currents as well as dangerous CP-violating phases are suppressed at low energies. It is found that this dynamical alignment is sufficiently good compared with the current experimental bounds, as long as the diagonalization matrices of the Yukawa couplings are CKM-like.Comment: 15 pages,4 figure