Abnormal hedgehog pathway in myelodysplastic syndrome and its impact on patients' outcome

sem informação10012e491e493CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOsem informaçãosem informaçã

LDV measurement and Navier-Stokes computation of parallel jet mixing in a rectangular confinement

Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements were taken in a rectangular confinement into which issues a row of parallel jets. Two-component measurements were taken with two optics orientations yielding three mean velocity components and four Reynolds stress components. As observed in isolated three dimensional wall bounded jets, the transverse diffusion of the jets is quite large. The data indicates that this rapid mixing process is due to strong secondary flows, transport of large inlet intensities and Reynolds stress anisotropy effects. Navier-Stokes analyses of this configuration underpredict the rate of transverse jet diffusion. Detailed numerical accuracy studies show that this is attributed to shortcomings in low-Reynolds number two-equation turbulence modelling. A low-Reynolds number full-Reynolds stress model is shown to provide improvement

Discovery of the First Hippocratic Cranial Trepanation from the Greek colony of Himera, Sicily (6th-5th century B.C.).

The cranium of the young woman from HimPT2004 has been trepanated during life for unknown reasons. Survival after trepanation, if any, was minimal and radiologically not detectable. It is the first Italian case of trepanation of classical Greek age and culture. The form of the trepanation is consistent with the utilisation of a cylindrical crown wheel drill, the prion or Hippocratic drill. This type of drill is mentioned in Hippocratic texts and it has been found in archeological excavations but the trepanated skull from Himera is the first direct evidence of its utilization. Moreover, the dating of the tomb (between 525 and 480 B.C.) proves that the instrument was invented before the birth of Hippocrates himself (460-355 B.C.). This find sheds new light on Greek pre-Hippocratic medicine and proves that sophisticated surgical techniques and surgical instruments already existed at least by the beginning of the 5th century B.C. This knowledge was later improved and formalized by Hippocrates, but not entirely discovered by him

The left ventricular contractility of the rat heart is modulated by changes in flow and <FONT FACE=Symbol>a</font>1-adrenoceptor stimulation

Myocardial contractility depends on several mechanisms such as coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) and flow as well as on <FONT FACE="Symbol">a</font>1-adrenoceptor stimulation. Both effects occur during the sympathetic stimulation mediated by norepinephrine. Norepinephrine increases force development in the heart and produces vasoconstriction increasing arterial pressure and, in turn, CPP. The contribution of each of these factors to the increase in myocardial performance needs to be clarified. Thus, in the present study we used two protocols: in the first we measured mean arterial pressure, left ventricular pressure and rate of rise of left ventricular pressure development in anesthetized rats (N = 10) submitted to phenylephrine (PE) stimulation before and after propranolol plus atropine treatment. These observations showed that in vivo <FONT FACE="Symbol">a</font>1-adrenergic stimulation increases left ventricular-developed pressure (P<0.05) together with arterial blood pressure (P<0.05). In the second protocol, we measured left ventricular isovolumic systolic pressure (ISP) and CPP in Langendorff constant flow-perfused hearts. The hearts (N = 7) were perfused with increasing flow rates under control conditions and PE or PE + nitroprusside (NP). Both CPP and ISP increased (P<0.01) as a function of flow. CPP changes were not affected by drug treatment but ISP increased (P<0.01). The largest ISP increase was obtained with PE + NP treatment (P<0.01). The results suggest that both mechanisms, i.e., direct stimulation of myocardial <FONT FACE="Symbol">a</font>1-adrenoceptors and increased flow, increased cardiac performance acting simultaneously and synergistically