Robert Boyle's 'Memoirs for the natural history of human blood' (1684): print, manuscript and the impact of Baconianism in seventeenth-century medical science

Robert Boyle's 'Memoirs for the natural history of human blood', which appeared in its first and only edition in 1684, is a well-known but much misunderstood book. In this paper, we will argue that a consideration of its history before and after its publication is not only significant in itself but also does much to enhance our understanding of Boyle's intellectual method, and especially the implications of his commitment to Baconianism and his attitude to print as a medium

Evaluation of cytosine DNA methylation of the Biomphalaria glabratahe at shock protein 70 locus after biological and physiological stresses

Deoxyribonucleic (DNA) methylation is one of the widespread epigenetic modifications of genomic DNA, and has been postulated to be a predisposing influence on disease onset and infections. The ability to quantify differences in DNA methylation between the genomes of normal vs.stressed Biomphalaria glabrata would help to profile changes potentially linked to resistance to Schistosoma mansoni infection. Thus, this study sought to measure differences in cytosine DNA methylation of various B. glabrata tissues responding over time to either biological or physiological stresses (S. mansoni exposure vs. heat shock). Here, this study measured DNA methylation at the B. glabrataheat shock protein 70 (Bg-hsp 70) intragenic regionto profile the regions methylome with a simple and cost-effective method. The study found DNA hypomethylation of the Bg-hsp 70 region occurs in the snails in response to both stressors; heat shock and parasite exposure, however, overall DNA hypomethylation after heat shock was similar among the tissues examined. In contrast, DNA methylation remained suppressed for up to 5 h when snails were responding to stress from parasite exposure. In parasite exposed snails, the levels of Bg-hsp 70 methylation in whole body, head foot and ovotestis decreased from 30 min to 2 h, and the reduction persisted in the hepatopancreas for up to 5 h. The DNA hypomethylation of the Bg-hsp 70 intragenic region correlated negatively with the level of Bg-hsp 70 mRNA in infected snails but not in thermally stressed snails. From this study results, the study conclude that the hepatopancreas is the most active host organs in terms of differential DNA methylation events following parasite infection. Also, from these data the study postulate that different epigenetic mechanisms underlie, Bg-hsp70 gene regulation in this snails while responding to stress due either to parasite exposure or heat shock

Endocarditis with aortic root pseudoaneurysm rupture

We report a case of aortic valve endocarditis complicated by aortic root pseudoaneurysm and rupture. (Cardiol J 2007; 14: 202-204

A spatiotemporal theory for MRI T2 relaxation time and apparent diffusion coefficient in the brain during acute ischaemia:Application and validation in a rat acute stroke model

The objective of this study is to present a mathematical model which can describe the spatiotemporal progression of cerebral ischaemia and predict magnetic resonance observables including the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of water and transverse relaxation time T(2). This is motivated by the sensitivity of the ADC to the location of cerebral ischaemia and T(2) to its time-course, and that it has thus far proven challenging to relate observations of changes in these MR parameters to stroke timing, which is of considerable importance in making treatment choices in clinics. Our mathematical model, called the cytotoxic oedema/dissociation (CED) model, is based on the transit of water from the extra- to the intra-cellular environment (cytotoxic oedema) and concomitant degradation of supramacromolecular and macromolecular structures (such as microtubules and the cytoskeleton). It explains experimental observations of ADC and T(2), as well as identifying the rate of spread of effects of ischaemia through a tissue as a dominant system parameter. The model brings the direct extraction of the timing of ischaemic stroke from quantitative MRI closer to reality, as well as providing insight on ischaemia pathology by imaging in general. We anticipate that this may improve patient access to thrombolytic treatment as a future application