The Role of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Uncoupling on Leukocyte-Endothelial Interactions in Rat Mesenteric Postcapillary Venules

Endothelial derived nitric oxide (NO) is essential in the regulation of blood pressure and attenuates leukocyte-endothelial interactions associated with vascular injury. However, when endothelial-derived NO is decreased, endothelial dysfunction results and promotes inflammation characterized by increased leukocyte-endothelial interactions. Under normal conditions, eNOS produces NO in the presence of an essential cofactor, tetrahydrobiopetrin (BH4) by facilitating the reduction of molecular oxygen to L-arginine oxidation and generation of L-citrulline. Whereas uncoupled eNOS refers to the electron transfer that becomes uncoupled to L-arginine oxidation and therefore superoxide (SO) is generated when the dihydrobiopetrin (BH2) to BH4 ratio is increased. SO is subsequently converted to hydrogen peroxide as a result. However, the role of uncoupled eNOS promoting endothelial dysfunction and leukocyte-endothelial interactions in not well characterized in vivo. This study examined the role of eNOS uncoupling by superfusing BH2 (100 or 200 μM) by itself and BH2 (100 μM) combined with BH4 (100 or 250 μM) in rat mesenteric venules on leukocyte rolling, adherence, and transmigration by using intravital microscopy. The effects of BH2 were compared to Krebs’ buffer, to NOS inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 50 μM), and to the combination of BH2/BH4. We found that superfusion of BH2 (100 μM n=6, 200 μM n=6, both

Is Administration of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Injections Every Three Months Effective in Decreasing Pain Associated with Endometriosis in Premenopausal Women?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic EBM review is to determine whether or not the administration of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate injections every three months are effective in decreasing pain associated with endometriosis in premenopausal women. STUDY DESIGN: A review of two randomized controlled trials and one randomized comparative trial comparing pain improvement from depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injections at different time intervals and/or in comparison to other hormonal birth control methods in premenopausal patients suffering from endometriosis. DATA SOURCES: Randomized controlled trials and a randomized comparative trial were found using PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE databases. OUTCOME MEASURED: Outcomes were measured for reduction of pain by a verbal rating scale and/or a 10-cm or a 100-mm visual analog scale. RESULTS: Wong et al found that the pain score was significantly reduced all through the study period as long as the therapy of 150mg DMPA intramuscular injection every three months was continued (in all patients but one). Both Cheewadhanaraks et al and Walch et al showed a decreased in pain scores with DMPA in comparison to the control, but neither article calculated statistics comparing these scores to the baseline, therefore results are inconclusive whether or not pain associated with endometriosis is decreased with administration of DMPA injections every three months in premenopausal women. CONCLUSION: Based on the articles reviewed, one of the articles showed evidence that 150mg injections of DMPA administered every three months is an effective means of decreasing endometriosis-associated pain in premenopausal women. The other two articles had inconclusive results, therefore further research is warranted

La modernidad y el mito de lo sagrado en el arte

El presente estudio pretende analizar la modernidad a partir del pensamiento estético y de las recurrentes crisis de valores, relacionándolos con ciertas prácticas artísticas y reflexiones teóricas, en las que se evidencian las construcciones de lo moderno, sus interpretaciones y la presencia del mito de lo sagrado. Como afirma Haber- mas, “es en el dominio de la crítica estética que se toma conciencia del problema de la fundamentación de la modernidad a partir de sí mism

Towards a ‘benchmarking raster’: A selection of indicators to measure and assess policies for cultural and creative industries

Research has devoted considerable attention to the contribution of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) to economic growth and innovation. Measuring and evaluative tools have played an increasingly important role in meeting the demand for the accountability of public money supporting this sector. Nevertheless, creativity remains an elusive subject for policy-makers. One of the major obstacles in adopting CCI policies is the difficulty in apprehending the value of support actions for cultural and creative enterprises. The present research is a first attempt to create a harmonised and simple set of indicators (the ‘benchmarking raster’) to assess local policies targeting economic development of CCIs. It has been completed in the framework of the INTERREG-funded CREA.RE network with the aim to encourage the authorities of small and medium-sized cities and regions to further invest Structural Funds in CCIs. It is also expected to contribute to CCI-focused economic development strategies (or Smart Specialisation Strategies)

Die Rolle der lokalen Therapie bei Patienten mit parameningeal lokalisierten rhabdomyosarkomartigen Weichteilsarkomen. Eine Analyse der CWS Studien 81-96

Die Rolle der lokalen Therapie bei Patienten mit parameningeal lokalisierten rhabdomyosarkomartigen Weichteilsarkomen. Eine Analyse der CWS Studien 81-9

Validierung des Diagramms „Massenanfall“ aus dem Manchester-Triage-System zur klinischen Sichtung im Massenanfall von Verletzten oder Erkrankten

Bisher ist die klinische Sichtung in der Notaufnahme bei einem Massenanfall nicht standardisiert. Es gibt keinen etablierten Algorithmus. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Publikationsdissertation anhand der Veröffentlichung "Das Präsentationsdiagramm „Massenanfall“ des Manchester-Triage-Systems". In dieser Studie wurde der Algorithmus erstmalig durch eine prospektive, monozentrische Studie an 400 traumatologischen und nichttraumatologischen Patient:innen untersucht. Es erfolgte eine Eingruppierung in die Sichtungskategorien I-III. Es zeigte sich hierbei eine gute Identifikation lebensbedrohlich verletzter traumatologischer Patient:innen durch einen schnell anzuwenden Algorithmus. Bei Patient:innen mit nichttraumatologischen Notfallbildern führte die Anwendung zu einer unsicheren Zuordnung zu einer Sichtungskategorie. Insbesondere die Diskriminante der Gehfähigkeit scheint problematisch

Getrennt schreiben oder zusammenschreiben? Eine Untersuchung zu den Regeln der Getrennt- und Zusammenschreibung der zusammengesetzten Verben

This thesis explores the usage of the new spelling rules in the complex area of separate and compound spelling. This area was a main topic in the reform of German orthography 1996/98. The old rules can be characterized as a complex and incoherent system. The primary ambition in defining new rules for separate and compound spelling was to simplify the writing process in order to facilitate an easier usage of written language for the German speaking community. The basic concept of the new rules is the declaration of separate spelling as the default, making compound spelling the exception. As a consequence, most words of the German vocabulary, which were spelled as compounds before, are now to be spelled separately. The publication of the new rules for this orthographic area in the year 1996 caused a lot of criticism amongst linguists, the main point of criticism being that words, which grew together on the basis of grammatical processes, had been robbed of their status as words. They are now word-groups in which the two parts do not belong together and have their own individual status and meaning in the sentence. These rules are in opposition to the productive tendency of ?Univerbierung? in the German written language. This means a process whereby words, which stand next to each other in a written text, grow together under special conditions. This thesis has two main aims: The first aim is to define the system of separate and compound spelling as a combination of grammatical and orthographic aspects. It will be shown how grammatical categories are influencing the orthography of these words. Additionally, it will be shown how the new rules produce spellings which are grammatically incorrect. The second is to verify the prognosis that the new rules were not accepted by the German language community. This thesis presents the results of a corpus analysis drawn from the text corpora of contemporary German language which is available on the website of the Institut für deutsche Sprache. Articles from six different newspapers were analyzed to see if and how the new rules for the groups verb and verb, adjective and verb and noun and verb were used in these texts. The results of this research have been compiled for the period of time from August 1999 to December 2000 (Corpus 1) and August 1999 to June 2003 (Corpus 2). It was uncovered that for more than half of the analyzed verbs the new rules were not used consistently. The divergence from the spelling norms ranged from 10 to 50 percent. In particular the group adjective and verb showed a high deviation from the new rules for compound and separate spelling. These results can be explained both with semantic and syntactic reasoning

Joaquín Torres-García: a arte como lugar da utopia e do mito

“A atividade criativa do homem se situa como um dos meios de controle do sentido, e por consequência uma das condições de sua liberdade.” Philippe Sers ’Tinha que ordenar esse mundo que agora, parecia um caos.’ Torres-García O artista moderno, ao aspirar revolucionar os sentidos de arte e de mundo, enfrenta a necessidade de criação da obra autônoma, independente da literatura e das representações naturalistas, com objetivo de elaborar novas linguagens formais e meios expressivos. Consciente ..

Avaliação do transtorno de estresse pós-traumático em sobreviventes de câncer infantil

Objetivo: avaliar sintomas de transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT) em sobreviventes de câncer infantil. Método: Participaram 65 sobreviventes que responderam a uma ficha de dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, Escala de Rastreio de Sintomas de Stress Pós-Traumático (SPTSS-17) e PTSD Checklist - Civilian Version (PCL-C). Resultados: A presença de sintomas de TEPT variou entre 9,2% e 18,5% nessa amostra. Com relação à sintomatologia, 41% apresentaram sintomas aumentados de revivência, 16,9% de evitação e 35,4% de excitabilidade aumentada. Não foram encontradas correlações significativas nos índices de TEPT e características sociodemográficas e clínicas da amostra. Conclusão: Os prejuízos dos sintomas de TEPT e a própria experiência traumática do câncer repercutem negativamente na vida do sobrevivente em longo prazo e podem não ser avaliados adequadamente pelos profissionais da saúde.Purpose: evaluate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in childhood cancer survivors. Method: 65 survivors who answered to a clinical and sociodemographic questionnaire. PTSD symptoms screening scale (PTSDS-17) and PTSD checklist- Civilian version (PCL-C). Results: within the sample, PTSD symptoms presence varied between 9,2% and 18,5%. Referred to symptomatology, 41% showed symptoms of revival, 16,9% of avoidance and 35,4% of increased excitability. The PTSD, sociodemographic and clinical indexes of the sample showed no significant correlations. Conclusion: Cancer traumatic experience and PTSD symptoms harms will be of negative repercussion on survivors life in the long run and may not be adequately evaluated by health professionals

Cellulose in Foliage and Changes during Seasonal Leaf Development of Broadleaf and Conifer Species.

Stable isotope approaches are widely applied in plant science and many improvements made in the field focus on the analysis of specific components of plant tissues. Although technical developments have been very beneficial, sample collection and preparation are still very time and labor-consuming. The main objective of this study was to create a qualitative dataset of alpha-cellulose content of leaf tissues of arboreal species. We extracted alpha-cellulose from twelve species: Abies alba Mill., Acer pseudoplatanus L., Fagus sylvatica L., Larix decidua Mill., Picea abies (L.) Karst., Pinus sylvestris L., Quercus cerris L., Quercus petrea (Matt.) Liebl., Quercus pubescens Wild., Quercus robur L., Tilia platyphyllos Scop. and Ulmus glabra Huds. While these species show an increase in cellulose yield from bud break to full leaf development, the rates of increase in cellulose content and the duration of the juvenile phase vary greatly. Moreover, the veins display significantly higher alpha-cellulose content (4 to 11%) compared to blade tissues, which reflects their different structural and biochemical functions. A guide for the mass of sample material required to yield sufficient alpha-cellulose for a standard stable isotope analysis is presented. The additional benefits of the assessment of the mass of required sample material are reduced sample preparation time and its usefulness in preparing samples of limited availability (e.g., herbarium material, fossil samples)