Induced-hypercholesterolemia as a probable cause of alterations in pulse pressure in wistar kyoto rats

Background: The involvement of hypercholesterolemia in cardiovascular disorders has been widely researched but the impact on the specific cardiovascular (CV) indices following remodeling and cardiac malfunction remain to be fully elucidated. The aim this research is intended to further the understanding of cardiovascular function under hypercholesterolemic condition in mammals and serve as a guide to pharmaceutical formulation and medical interventions. Methods: The telemetry technique was used to investigate the cardiovascular dysfunctions in induced hypercholesterolemia in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. Methods for this investigation include: inducing hypercholesterolemic condition in Wistar Kyoto rats through diet; measuring the blood cholesterol levels of the experimental animals; measuring cardiovascular indices in conscious rats to establish vascular dysfunction and/or cardiac malfunction. Results: Our study showed that pulse pressure decreases in experimental WKY rats with increasing cholesterol content in the diet. It also shows that diet related pulse pressure decrease occurs in both low and high animal activities. The pulse pressure was reduced at both low and high animal activities in the 2% cholesterol diet (N=6) when compared to control (N=4) and 1% cholesterol diet (N=7). All results presented were statistically significant at a P value < 0.05. Our study has shown that pulse pressure (PP) declined significantly in the 2% cholesterol loaded diet, but not in the 1% diet. We also observed that in overall, the 1% diet group maintained close to normal cardiovascular indices compared to the control and 2%. Conclusion: Our results show that a high cholesterol diet may have negatively impacted the cardiac function more than the vascular function.Keywords: hypercholesterolemia, remodeling, vascular, pharmaceutical, dysfunctions, cardiovascular, telemetry, WKY rat

Chimpanzee coordination and potential communication in a two-touchscreen turn-taking game

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the question of whether and how groups of nonhuman primates coordinate their behaviors for mutual benefit. On the one hand, it has been shown that chimpanzees in the wild and in captivity can solve various coordination problems. On the other hand, evidence of communication in the context of coordination problems is scarce. Here, we investigated how pairs of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) solved a problem of dynamically coordinating their actions for achieving a joint goal. We presented five pairs of chimpanzees with a turn-taking coordination game, where the task was to send a virtual target from one computer display to another using two touch-screens. During the joint practice of the game some subjects exhibited spontaneous gesturing. To address the question whether these gestures were produced to sustain coordination, we introduced a joint test condition in which we simulated a coordination break-down scenario: subjects appeared either unwilling or unable to return the target to their partner. The frequency of gesturing was significantly higher in these test trials than in the regular trials. Our results suggest that at least in some contexts chimpanzees can exhibit communicative behaviors to sustain coordination in joint action

‘Mining the materials’: A framework for student-led self-study task creation

Meaningful independent learning is rightly viewed as a central component of successful study in L2. Given that the considerable majority of learners’ time is spent outside the classroom, the self-study space has become a source of great intrigue for English language teachers (Benson and Reinders, 2011). However, precisely because self-directed learning lies beyond the typical boundaries of the teacher’s gaze, it is influenced by a variety of factors, not least learners’ familiarity with effective independent learning practices. This summary article traces and evaluates the implementation of a framework for student-led self-study task creation with a group of 14 foundation pre-sessional students making the transition from secondary to tertiary study at the University of Glasgow with little or no existing concept of effective self-study practices. The trial aimed to provide a space for students to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in English and establish independent learning priorities, as well as a more critical awareness (‘mining’) of regular classroom tasks as potential models for independent learning activities. Obtaining feedback at regular intervals, coupled with data from weekly reflection cycles, the investigation tracked developments in self-study practices while highlighting obstacles to enhanced independent learning. The trial also presented plentiful opportunities to reflect on the definition of effectiveness with regard to independent learning

Persistence of Left Superior Vena Cava Associated to Esophageal Atresia: Presentation of 5 Cases

Objectivos: A atresia do esófago está associada a uma variedade de malformações congénitas de outros órgãos. A persistência da veia cava superior esquerda e uma das malformações venosas torácicas mais comuns, ocorrendo em 0,3% da população. O objectivo deste estudo é caracterizar a persistência da veia cava superior esquerda nos doentes com atresia do esófago tratados no Hospital Dona Estefânia. Métodos: Estudo retrospectivo dos doentes admitidos por atresia do esófago desde Janeiro 2002 a Dezembro 2013. As seguintes variáveis foram estudadas, considerando, idade gestacional, o peso à nascença, o sexo, tipo de atresia do esófago, ecocardiograma no pré-operatório, malformações associadas, abordagem cirúrgica, eventual ecocardiograma no pós-operatório e angioressonância. Resultados: De um total de 107 doentes, em cinco casos foi diagnosticada persistência da veia cava superior esquerda. Destes, apenas um tinha diagnostico pré-natal. A restante investigação revelou um doente com atresia duodenal e outro com malformação do aparelho urinário, coloboma e malformação bilateral dos pavilhões auriculares. Todos os cinco doentes foram submetidos a toracotomia, esofagoesofagostomia primária após laqueação da fístula traqueo-esofágica e angio-ressonância para caracterizar a malformação vascular. Não houve registo de complicações, quer intra-operatórias quer pós-operatórias. Conclusão: Apesar do estudo pré-operatório, apenas se diagnosticou persistência da veia cava superior esquerda num dos doentes. O diagnóstico é geralmente feito de forma incidental durante a colocação rotineira de catéteres venosos centrais à esquerda. É importante identificar estes doentes e caracterizar o seu padrão de retorno venoso cardíaco, pelo risco de complicações embó1icas paradoxais para o sistema arterial

How animals collaborate : underlying proximate mechanisms

Funding: Templeton World Charity Foundation (Grant Number(s): TWCF0264).Collaboration or social interactions in which two or more individuals coordinate their behavior to produce outcomes from which both individuals benefit are common in nature. Individuals from many species hunt together, defend their territory, and form coalitions in intragroup competition. However, we still know very little about the proximate mechanisms underlying these behaviors. Recent theories of human cognitive evolution have emphasized the role collaboration may have played in the selection of socio‐cognitive skills. It has been argued that the capacity to form shared goals and joint intentions with others, is what allows humans to collaborate so flexibly and efficiently. Although there is no evidence that nonhuman animals are capable of shared intentionality, there is conceivably a wide range of proximate mechanisms that support forms of, potentially flexible, collaboration in other species. We review the experimental literature with the aim of evaluating what we know about how other species achieve collaboration; with a particular focus on chimpanzees. We structure the review with a new categorization of collaborative behavior that focuses on whether individuals intentionally coordinate actions with others. We conclude that for a wider comparative perspective we need more data from other species but the findings so far suggest that chimpanzees, and possibly other great apes, are capable of understanding the causal role of a partner in collaboration.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A Case of Late-Diagnosed Ovotesticular Disorder of Sex Development

We report acase of!ovotesticular disorder of sex development!(DSD) with ambiguous genitalia, 46XX presenting the clinical, laboratory, imaging and operative findings and highlighting the pertinent features of this case. Results of hormonal, genetic testing and histopathology findings are reviewed. Diagnosis of true hermaphroditism is well defined and the condition can be recognized even prenatally. Conservative gonadal surgery is the procedure of choice after the diagnosis of true hermaphroditism, if the risk of a gonadal malignancy is low. Continued follow-up is necessary because of the multiple psychological, gynecological and urological problems encountered postpubertally by these patients

Interacting mindreaders

Could interacting mindreaders be in a position to know things which they would be unable to know if they were manifestly passive observers? This paper argues that they could. Mindreading is sometimes reciprocal: the mindreader's target reciprocates by taking the mindreader as a target for mindreading. The paper explains how such reciprocity can significantly narrow the range of possible interpretations of behaviour where mindreaders are, or appear to be, in a position to interact. A consequence is that revisions and extensions are needed to standard theories of the evidential basis of mindreading. The view also has consequences for understanding how abilities to interact combined with comparatively simple forms of mindreading may explain the emergence, in evolution or development, of sophisticated forms of social cognition

Sharing tasks or sharing actions? Evidence from the joint Simon task.

In a joint Simon task, a pair of co-acting individuals divide labors of performing a choice-reaction task in such a way that each actor responds to one type of stimuli and ignores the other type that is assigned to the co-actor. It has been suggested that the actors share the mental representation of the joint task and perform the co-actor’s trials as if they were their own. However, it remains unclear exactly which aspects of co-actor’s task-set the actors share in the joint Simon task. The present study addressed this issue by manipulating the proportions of compatible and incompatible trials for one actor (inducer actor) and observing its influences on the performance of the other actor (diagnostic actor) for whom there were always an equal proportion of compatible and incompatible trials. The design of the present study disentangled the effect of trial proportion from the confounding effect of compatibility on the preceding trial. The results showed that the trial proportions for the inducer actor had strong influences on the inducer actor’s own performance, but it had little influence on the diagnostic actor’s performance. Thus, the diagnostic actor did not represent aspects of the inducer actor’s task-set beyond stimuli and responses of the inducer actor. We propose a new account of the effect of preceding compatibility on the joint Simon effect.Action Contro

Vólvulo Intestinal en el Periodo Neonatal: 8 Años de Experiencia en un Hospital Pediátrico Terciario

Análise dos casos de volvo intestinal ocorridos no período neonatal nos últimos 8 anos (2002 a 2010). Material e métodos: Foram estudados os recém-nascidos admitidos na UCIN cujo diagnóstico de saída foi volvo intestinal. Foram estudados os seguintes parâmetros: idade gestacional e pós-natal, apresentação clínica e imagiológica, intervenção cirúrgica e resultados. Resultados: Foram identificados 15 doentes 7 dos quais no último ano do estudo. Sete RN eram pré-termo (PT) ou ex pré-termo. A mediana de peso ao nascer foi de 2665g (660-3900); 4 RN eram muito baixo peso. A mediana de idade de início dos sintomas foi 7 dias; em 5 RN a doença teve início nas primeiras 24 horas de vida; em 3 destes, o volvo ocorreu in utero. Sinais e sintomas: grande distensão abdominal-12; resíduo gástrico bilioso-11; alterações da parede abdominal-5; dejecções com sangue-4; instabilidade hemodinâmica-6. Imagiologia: grande distensão de ansas, sem ar ectópico- 10 doentes; ausência de ar no abdómen-4; trânsito intestinal contrastado sugestivo de malrotação e volvo-3; ecografia e Doppler abdominal com sinal de “whirlpool”-2. Todos foram submetidos a cirurgia de urgência, sendo o volvo confirmado intraoperatoriamente; foi necessária ressecção intestinal em 9 doentes; 3 ficaram com síndrome do intestino curto; registou-se um óbito por falência multi-orgânica no período pós-operatório. Conclusão: Foi encontrado um elevado número de casos de volvo intestinal em RN pré-termo ou ex pré-termo, de volvo in utero e de elevada ocorrência de casos no último ano do estudo. Resíduo gástrico bilioso e distensão abdominal foram os sintomas mais frequentes de volvo e devem ser tomados em consideração no diagnóstico diferencial com outras situações cirúrgicas abdominais. As sequelas são potencialmente graves

The role of motor simulation in action perception: a neuropsychological case study

Research on embodied cognition stresses that bodily and motor processes constrain how we perceive others. Regarding action perception the most prominent hypothesis is that observed actions are matched to the observer’s own motor representations. Previous findings demonstrate that the motor laws that constrain one’s performance also constrain one’s perception of others’ actions. The present neuropsychological case study asked whether neurological impairments affect a person’s performance and action perception in the same way. The results showed that patient DS, who suffers from a frontal brain lesion, not only ignored target size when performing movements but also when asked to judge whether others can perform the same movements. In other words DS showed the same violation of Fitts’s law when performing and observing actions. These results further support the assumption of close perception action links and the assumption that these links recruit predictive mechanisms residing in the motor system