The Diabetic Nephropathy and the Development of Hypertension in Rats

The present study was designed to examine the development of hypertension in diabetic rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ, 1mg/g bw). The rats were studied at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 weeks. From the third week the rats were divided in diabetic rats according their glycemias and controls, along 15 weeks. After the third week a group, of rats showed increased urinary protein excretion (93, 134, 155 and 191%) compared to controls. In this group of rats the urinary kallikrein excretion was lower than control and the systolic blood pressure became significantly elevated between 3 and 6 weeks and persisted up to 15 weeks. On the other hand a group of diabetic rats were normotensive with urinary protein excretion similar to controls and urinary kallikrein lower compared to control but significantly higher compared diabetic hypertensive rats. These data suggest that the association of progressive diabetic nephropathy with abnormal endothelium-dependent vasodilation may produce a high prevalence of hypertensive diabetes

Persistent organic pollutants in feathers of the Greater rhea (Rhea americana), a near-threatened flightless bird of the Pampas grasslands

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are still globally distributed and can exert different effects on ecosystems. Little is known about the occurrence of these contaminants in terrestrial birds from South America. In this study, POPs were assessed for the first time in a flightless herbivorous species from the Pampas grasslands, the Greater rhea (Rhea americana). Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), were determined in 18 samples of feathers from free-ranging and captive individuals inhabiting four sites with different land use in central Argentina. Among the 16 POPs tested in those feathers, 6 PCBs (28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180) and 8 OCPs (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, p,p´-DDE, p,p´-DDD, o,p´-DDT, p,p´-DDT and HCB) were quantified. No PBDEs were detected. Total concentration of POPs was higher in populations living in an intensive crop production area (Agriculture: 159 ng.g-1 and Farm: 97.53 ng.g-1) compared to the population in an urban area (Zoo: 45.86 ng/g) and an agroecosystem with extensive rearing of livestock (Cattle rearing: 36.77 ng.g-1). PCBs were the most abundant pollutants in all the populations studied. Lower chlorinated CB 52 and CB 101 were the principal PCB congeners detected, representing at least 70% of the total quantified. All populations studied showed a DDE + DDD / DDT ratio > 1, indicating a historical application of this insecticide. This study provides a new contribution to the scarce data on POP concentrations in South American bird species. Further investigations are needed to evaluate their potential effects on the health individuals and populations.Fil: Leche, Alvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Gismondi, Eric. Université de Liège; BélgicaFil: Martella, Monica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Navarro, Joaquin Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaSETAC Europe 31 st Annual MeetingSevillaEspañaSociety of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Europ

Effects of dietary lipid level on growth, fatty acid profiles, antioxidant capacity and expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in juvenile swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus

The regulation of lipogenesis and lipolysis mechanisms related to consumption of lipid has not been studied in swimming crab. The aims of present study were to evaluate the effects of dietary lipid levels on growth, enzymes activities, and expression of genes of lipid metabolism in hepatopancreas of juvenile swimming crab. Three isonitrogenous diets were formulated to contain crude lipid levels at 5.8 %, 9.9 % and 15.1 %, respectively. Crabs fed the diet containing 15.1 % lipid had significantly lower weight gain, specific growth rate and survival, and higher feed conversion ratio than those fed the 5.8 % and 9.9 % lipid diets. Crabs fed 5.8 % lipid had lower malondialdehyde concentrations in the hemolymph and hepatopancreas than those fed the other diets. Highest glutathione peroxidase in hemolymph and superoxide dismutase in hepatopancreas were observed in crabs fed 5.8 % lipid. The lowest fatty acid synthase and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities in hepatopancreas were observed in crabs fed 15.1 % lipid, whereas crabs fed 5.8 % lipid had lower carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 activity than those fed the other diets. Crabs fed 15.1 % lipid showed lower hepatopancreas expression of genes involved in LC-PUFA biosynthesis, lipoprotein clearance, fatty acid uptake, fatty acid oxidation, lipid anabolism and lipid catabolism than those fed the other diets, whereas expression of some genes of lipoprotein assembly and fatty acid oxidation were up-regulated compared with crabs fed 5.8 % lipid. Overall, high dietary lipid level can inhibit growth, reduce feed utilization and reduce antioxidant enzyme activities. Moreover, dietary lipid influenced enzyme activities and gene expression involved in lipid metabolism of juvenile swimming crab

The Metamorphosis of Tidally Stirred Dwarf Galaxies

We present results from high-resolution N-Body/SPH simulations of rotationally supported dwarf irregular galaxies moving on bound orbits in the massive dark matter halo of the Milky Way.The dwarf models span a range in disk surface density and the masses and sizes of their dark halos are consistent with the predictions of cold dark matter cosmogonies. We show that the strong tidal field of the Milky Way determines severe mass loss in their halos and disks and induces bar and bending instabilities that transform low surface brightness dwarfs (LSBs) into dwarf spheroidals (dSphs) and high surface brightness dwarfs (HSBs) into dwarf ellipticals (dEs) in less than 10 Gyr. The final central velocity dispersions of the remnants are in the range 8-30 km/s and their final $v/\sigma$ falls to values $< 0.5$, matching well the kinematics of early-type dwarfs. The transformation requires the orbital time of the dwarf to be \simlt 3-4 Gyr, which implies a halo as massive and extended as predicted by hierarchical models of galaxy formation to explain the origin of even the farthest dSph satellites of the Milky Way, Leo I and Leo II. Only dwarfs with central dark matter densities as high as those of Draco and Ursa Minor can survive for 10 Gyr in the proximity of the Milky Way: this is naturally achieved within hierarchical models, where the densest objects should have small orbital times due to their early formation epochs. Part of the gas is stripped and part is funneled to the center due to the bar, generating one strong burst of star formation in HSBs and smaller, multiple bursts in LSBs. Extended low-surface brightness stellar and gaseous streams originate from LSBs and, when projected along the line of sight, can lead to overestimate the mass-to-light ratio of the bound remnant by a factor \simlt 2,Comment: 29 pages, 34 figures, submitted to ApJ. Figures 5,11 and 32 are given as separate GIF files. Other figures and the movies of the simulations can be found at http://pcblu.mib.infn.it/~lucio/LG/LG.htm

Inflammatory myoglandular polyp of the cecum: case report and review of literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inflammatory myoglandular polyp (IMGP) is a rare non-neoplastic polyp of the large bowel, commonly with a distal localization (rectosigmoid), obscure in its pathogenesis. Up till now, 60 cases of IMGP have been described in the literature, but none located in the cecum.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 53-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital for further evaluation of positive fecal occult blood test associated to anemia. A colonoscopy identified a red, sessile, lobulated polyp of the cecum, 4.2 cm in diameter, partially ulcerated. The histological examination of the biopsy revealed the presence of inflammatory granulation tissue with lymphocytic and eosinophil infiltration associated to a fibrous stroma: it was diagnosed as inflammatory fibroid polyp. Considering the polyp's features (absence of a peduncle and size) that could increase the risk of a polypectomy, a surgical resection was performed. Histological examination of the specimen revealed inflammatory granulation tissue in the lamina propria, hyperplastic glands with cystic dilatations, proliferation of smooth muscle and multiple erosions on the polyp surface: this polyp was finally diagnosed as IMGP. There was also another little polyp next to the ileocecal valve, not revealed at the colonoscopy, 0.8 cm in diameter, diagnosed as tubulovillous adenoma with low grade dysplasia.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first case of IMGP of the cecum. It is a benign lesion of unknown pathogenesis and must be considered different from other non-neoplastic polyps of the large bowel such as inflammatory cap polyps (ICP), inflammatory cloacogenic polyps, juvenile polyps (JP), inflammatory fibroid polyps (IFP), polyps secondary to mucosal prolapse syndrome (MPS), polypoid prolapsing mucosal folds of diverticular disease. When symptomatic, IMGP should be removed endoscopically, whereas surgical resection is reserved only in selected patients as in our case.</p

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis

Measurement of the Lifetime Difference Between B_s Mass Eigenstates

We present measurements of the lifetimes and polarization amplitudes for B_s --> J/psi phi and B_d --> J/psi K*0 decays. Lifetimes of the heavy (H) and light (L) mass eigenstates in the B_s system are separately measured for the first time by determining the relative contributions of amplitudes with definite CP as a function of the decay time. Using 203 +/- 15 B_s decays, we obtain tau_L = (1.05 +{0.16}/-{0.13} +/- 0.02) ps and tau_H = (2.07 +{0.58}/-{0.46} +/- 0.03) ps. Expressed in terms of the difference DeltaGamma_s and average Gamma_s, of the decay rates of the two eigenstates, the results are DeltaGamma_s/Gamma_s = (65 +{25}/-{33} +/- 1)%, and DeltaGamma_s = (0.47 +{0.19}/-{0.24} +/- 0.01) inverse ps.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; as published in Physical Review Letters on 16 March 2005; revisions are for length and typesetting only, no changes in results or conclusion

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis