Pulmonary hypertension in infants with congenital heart defects: are leukotrienes involved?

The circulating levels of leukotriene E4 in infants with congenital heart defects, increased pulmonary blood flow and pulmonary arterial hypertension, were determined and compared with infants with decreased pulmonary blood flow (Tetralogy of Fallot). There was no correlation (r=0.38) between the pulmonary arterial pressure (56 ± 4 mmHg) and the leukotriene E4 levels (1.37 ± 0.67 ng/ml blood) measured in peripheral blood samples from the hypertensive group prior to surgery. There was considerable variation in the detectable leukotriene E4 levels in blood samples from different patients. The levels detected in the blood samples between the two groups of patients was similar. These data suggest that neither the surgical repair during cardiopulmonary bypass nor the pulmonary hypertension appeared to modify the leukotriene E4 blood levels in the small number of patients studied

The future of mammary stem cell biology: the power of in vivo transplants

The recent review by Smith and Medina [1] of in vivo transplantation models and their role in investigating mammary stem cell (MaSC) biology provides comprehensive coverage of the history and complexity of the ‘gold standard ’ MaSC assay in mice. This includes a description of the pioneering studies that showed that mammary epithelial outgrowths can be generated in cleared mammary fat pads transplanted with explants or admixtures of mammary cells [2]. However, this approach clearly does not lend itself to prospective analysis of isolated subpopulations in order to identify which cells possess in vivo regenerative activity. More recently, success in obtaining complex mammary gland structures from transplanted suspensions of single cells has now made this possible [3-7]. Moreover, the regenerated structures have been shown to contain daughter cells with the same in viv

Іван Франко - публіцист

Проаналізовано соціально-економічну і культурно-освітню публіцистику І. Франка, зокрема, його ставлення до податкової політики Австро-Угорщини, діяльності банківської системи, еміграції з Галичини, кооперативного руху, майбутнього української держави.The article analyses social and economic and cultural and educational publications by Ivan Franko, as well as his attitude to tax policies in Austro-Hungarian Empire, banking system activities, emigration from Halychyna, co-operative societies movement, and the future of Ukraine

Amélioration des performances du RAKE par pré-filtrage adaptatif autodidacte pour la liaison descendante de l'UMTS-FDD

é- Cet article présente un récepteur linéaire utilisant un égaliseur à réponse impulsionnelle infinie au niveau chip pour la liaison descendante de l'UMTS-FDD. Nous montrons que ce récepteur peut être réalisé en utilisant le principe du retournement temporel, des filtres récursifs adaptatifs autodidactes et un récepteur RAKE. Le récepteur ainsi constitué présente des performances supérieures à celles du récepteur RAKE pour un accroissement de complexité faible

Wastewater treatment improvement through an intelligent integrated supervisory system

Aquest article mostra el resultat de la col·laboració portada a terme durant els darrers anys entre grups d'enginyeria química, enginyeria ambiental i intel·ligència artificial. El treball se centra en el desenvolupament de tècniques per a la millora i supervisió de processos complexos, especialment del tractament biològic d'aigües residuals. L'experiència demostra que la millor opció requereix desenvolupar un sistema supervisor que combini i integri tècniques de control clàssic (controlador automàtic del nivell d'oxigen dissolt en el reactor biològic, ús de models descriptius del procés, etc.) amb sistemes basats en el coneixement (concretament sistemes experts i sistemes basats en casos). El present article descriu la complexitat de la gestió del procés de tractament de les aigües residuals, l'arquitectura integrada que es proposa i el desenvolupament i la construcció de cadascun dels mòduls d'aquesta proposta per a la implementació real a l'estació depuradora d'aigües residuals de Granollers. Finalment, es detallen alguns resultats del procés de validació del seu funcionament enfront de situacions quotidianes de la planta.This paper shows the result of years of work by a cooperative research group including chemical engineers, environmental scientists and computer scientists. This research has been focused on the development and implementation of new techniques for the optimisation of complex process management, mainly related to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The experience obtained indicates that the best approach is a Supervisory System that combines and integrates classical control of WWTP (automatic controller for maintaining a fixed dissolved oxygen level in the aeration tank, use of mathematical models to describe the process...) with the application of knowledge-based systems (mainly expert systems and case-based systems). The first part is an introduction to wastewater treatment processes and an explanation of the complexity of the management and control of such complex processes. The next section illustrates the architecture of the supervisory system and the work carried out to develop and build the expert system, the casebased system and the simulation model for implementation in a real plant (the Granollers WWTP). Finally, some results of the field validation phase of the Supervisory System when dealing with real situations in the plant are described

Conservation et introduction de lémuriens sur l'îlot Mbouzy (Mayotte)

À Mayotte, l'îlot Mbouzi est un lieu remarquable par son milieu naturel en grande partie préservé, alors qu'il se situe à proximité de la ville principale, Mamoudzou. Il fait l'objet d'une demande de classement en réserve naturelle. Nous pensons utile d'apporter quelques éléments pouvant servir à la réflexion sur l'avenir de cet îlot, et d'établir une sorte d'état des lieux concernant son intérêt biologique. Quelles sont les possibilités d'équilibre à long terme entre les populations animales et végétales, sachant qu'une association (loi de 1901) consacr

Anti-IgE Response in Human Airways: Relative Contribution of Inflammatory Mediators

Heman airway preparations at resting tone were relaxed with either the leukotriene synthesis inhibitor BAY x1005 (3 μM), chlorpheniramine (1 μM) or the thromboxane receptor antagonist BAY u3405 (0.1 μM). The response to anti-IgE (1:1000) was 58 ± 8% of acetylcholine pre-contraction (2.19 ± 0.28 g). Indomethacin (3 μM) enhanced the anti-IgE-induced contraction by 28%. The anti-IgE maximal response was not modified by either chlorpheniramine, BAY x1005 or BAY u3405. When the tissues were treated with either BAY xl005/indomethacin or BAY x1005/chlorpheniramine, the anti-IgE-induced contraction was reduced. In addition, in presence of BAY xl005/indomethacin/chlorpheniramine the response was completely blocked. These results suggest that mediatots released during anti-IgE challenge cause airway contraction which may mask the evaluation of the leukotriene component

Conservation et introduction de lémuriens sur l'îlot Mbouzy (Mayotte)

À Mayotte, l'îlot Mbouzi est un lieu remarquable par son milieu naturel en grande partie préservé, alors qu'il se situe à proximité de la ville principale, Mamoudzou. Il fait l'objet d'une demande de classement en réserve naturelle. Nous pensons utile d'apporter quelques éléments pouvant servir à la réflexion sur l'avenir de cet îlot, et d'établir une sorte d'état des lieux concernant son intérêt biologique. Quelles sont les possibilités d'équilibre à long terme entre les populations animales et végétales, sachant qu'une association (loi de 1901) consacr