3,602 research outputs found
Gastrointestinal neuromuscular apparatus: An underestimated target of gut microbiota
Over the last few years, the importance of the resident
intestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis of several gastro-
intestinal diseases has been largely investigated. Growing
evidence suggest that microbiota can influence gastro-
intestinal motility. The current working hypothesis is that
dysbiosis-driven mucosal alterations induce the production
of several inflammatory/immune mediators which affect
gut neuro-muscular functions. Besides these indirect
mucosal-mediated effects, the present review highlights
that recent evidence suggests that microbiota can directly
affect enteric nerves and smooth muscle cells functions
through its metabolic products or bacterial molecular
components translocated from the intestinal lumen. Toll-
like receptors, the bacterial recognition receptors, are
expressed both on enteric nerves and smooth muscle and
are emerging as potential mediators between microbiota
and the enteric neuromuscular apparatus. Furthermore,
the ongoing studies on probiotics support the hypothesis
that the neuromuscular apparatus may represent a target
of intervention, thus opening new physiopathological and
therapeutic scenarios
Association of endometrioid ovarian carcinoma arising from endometriosis, endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, and high-grade undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma. a case report
Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects women of reproductive age. Malignant transformation in endometriosis is considered to be an unusual event, only occurring in 0.7-0.1% of cases. However the association between endometriosis and endometrial cancer is not well defined. Also in literature, rare cases of uterine sarcoma, about 3% of all uterine malignancies, associated with endometriosis have been reported. The authors report a case of a 47-years-old Italian woman with histologic diagnosis of endometrioid ovarian carcinoma arising from endometriosis, endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, and undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma. Therefore there have been few studies addressing the relationship between endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESS), and endometriosis. Novel scientific findings are necessary to investigate a possible common pathway and an effective treatment, although complete tumor resection can reduce the recurrence rate
Ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinoma diagnosed in pregnancy. a case report
The prevalence of adnexal masses pregnancy is about 0.19-8.8%. The malignancy rate is around 1-6%, and indeed most cases are benign masses. During pregnancy adnexal masses should be accurately evaluated to identify the patients who need surgery from those who need a 'wait-and-see' strategy. The authors report a case of 36-year-old woman (gravida 2, para 2, two vaginal deliveries) referred to the Gynecologic Department with diagnosis of endometrioid ovarian adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent laparotomic surgery with left salpingo-oophorectomy, total hysterectomy, pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy, and peritoneal washing for optimal surgery staging. No ascites or residual tumour in the abdominal cavity were found macroscopically. Histopathology was negative for residual ovarian cancer. Currently the treatment and the management of ovarian cancer are not well established because scientific evidence is limited
Precise determination of muon and electromagnetic shower contents from shower universality property
We consider two new aspects of Extensive Air Shower development universality
allowing to make accurate estimation of muon and electromagnetic (EM) shower
contents in two independent ways. In the first case, to get muon (or EM) signal
in water Cherenkov tanks or in scintillator detectors it is enough to know the
vertical depth of shower maximum and the total signal in the ground detector.
In the second case, the EM signal can be calculated from the primary particle
energy and the zenith angle. In both cases the parametrizations of muon and EM
signals are almost independent on primary particle nature, energy and zenith
angle. Implications of the considered properties for mass composition and
hadronic interaction studies are briefly discussed. The present study is
performed on 28000 of proton, oxygen and iron showers, generated with CORSIKA
6.735 for spectrum in the energy range log(E/eV)=18.5-20.0 and
uniformly distributed in cos^2(theta) in zenith angle interval theta=0-65
degrees for QGSJET II/Fluka interaction models.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Development of matte finishes in electrostatic (EFB) and conventional hot dipping (CHDFB) fluidized bed coating process
This study focuses on the correlation between the thermo-rheological properties of a thermosetting powder coating system with its surface structure build-up. Epoxy powder coating systems, which displayed surface matting and surface wrinkling, were examined. Firstly, the evolution of the complex viscosity was correlated with the cure kinetic. Secondly, the structure build-up on the surface of the coatings was investigated with a combined SEM-CLA profilometry analysis at different stages of curing process for both EFB and CHDFB coating processes. Different finishes were found to characterize the films applied by using EFB and CHDFB coating processes as a result of the different way the film is heated by. Finally, a strict relationship of film morphology to the degree of conversion and to the evolution of the complex viscosity was found out for both EFB and CHDFB coating processes. The surface structure is built up after gelation point and continues to evolve after gelation with a full development of the film fine structure. Differences were observed in the surface structure build-up when different curing temperature was used, thereby indicating an influence of minimum viscosity on achievable finishing. These experimental results lead to further advances in a better understanding of the formation of surface topography and morphology of polymeric films. They also provide important indications for the settings of curing parameters in both EFB and CHDFB coating processes as well as for the development of new powder coating formulations. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Mechanics of snake biting: Experiments and modelling.
Among all the vertebrates, snakes possess the most sophisticated venom delivering system using their fangs. Fangs of many animals are well adapted to the mechanical loads experienced during the functions such as breaking the diet and puncturing the skin of the prey. Thus, investigation and modelling of puncturing mechanics of snakes is of importance to understand the form-function relationship of the fangs and tissue-fang interactions in detail. We have thus chosen fangs of two snake species, i.e., viper (Bitis arietans) and burrowing snake (Atractaspis aterrima), with different shape and size, and performed insertion experiments using tissue phantoms. Our results showed that the fangs of both species have similar mechanical properties but there was a difference in the insertion forces owing to the difference in shape of the fang. Also, we developed an analytical model of the fang-tissue interaction and obtained a good agreement with the experimental results. Thus, our study can help in the development of bioinspired needles that can potentially have reduced insertion forces and optimised tissue penetration
A review on life cycle environmental impacts of emerging solar cells
The development of solar technologies requires increased efficiency in converting solar radiation to energy, as
well as innovative materials and structure to go beyond the conventional power conversion ratio. In line with
these innovations, there are concerns about greenhouse gas emissions of the solar cells, materials for the solar
technologies and other relevant environmental impacts of the manufacturing processes. This review is conducted
on life cycle assessments of solar cells, considering the climate change and natural resource shortage context. It is
identified that the majority of existing life cycle assessments on solar cells take into account four typical environmental
impacts: energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, material depletion, and toxicity. Though the
diverse methodological aspects make it difficult to directly compare these environmental impacts among various
types of solar cells, the obtained results hinder that emerging solar cells such as perovskite solar cells or tandem
solar cells are likely to have better environmental profiles than conventional silicon based and thin film solar
cells, in terms of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and material consumption. However, the
emerging solar cells may utilize toxic materials in which their eco-toxicity and human toxicity should be further
considered during the design of the technologies. Moreover, it is identified that the energy and environmental
hotspot lies in the manufacturing process, regardless of impact indicators and types of solar cells
MRP4 over-expression has a role on both reducing nitric oxide-dependent antiplatelet effect and enhancing ADP induced platelet activation
The impact of inhibition of multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4) on nitric oxide (NO) resistance and on ADP-induced platelet aggregation is unknown. The aim of this investigation was to verify whether platelet NO resistance correlates with MRP4 expression and evaluate whether this can be reduced by in vitro MRP4 inhibition mediated by cilostazol. Moreover, we assessed if inhibition of MRP4-mediated transport reduces ADP-induced platelet reactivity. The inhibitory effect of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO-donor that enhances cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) cytosolic concentration, was assessed in platelets obtained from aspirin treated patients and in a control population. The inhibitory effect of SNP was evaluated by ADP-induced aggregation in SNP-treated platelets. The impact of MRP4 on ADP-induced platelet aggregation was performed in high on aspirin residual platelet reactivity (HARPR) patients and compared to healthy volunteers (HV), and a control cohort (CTR). In aspirin-treated patients with high levels of MRP4, reduced SNP inhibition was found compared to those with low levels of MRP4. MRP4 inhibition by cilostazol significantly reduced ADP-induced platelet aggregation in HARPR population, and to a lesser extent in HV and CTR populations. In conclusion, cilostazol can mitigate the hyper-reactive platelet phenotype of HARPR patients by reducing residual ADP-induced platelet aggregation and increasing NO-dependent endothelial antiplatelet effects
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