Adriamycin-induced Fetal Hydronephrosis

Introduction: At the end of pregnancy, the amniotic fluid (AF) depends basically on renal function, corresponding to fetal urine. Changes in AF, especially oligohydramnios, are reported in association with fetal hydronephrosis (FH). The experimental model using adriamycin in pregnant female rats has a teratogenic effect and has been classically employed to study esophageal atresia. Nevertheless, adriamycin promotes FH with high frequency as well. In the present study, using this animal model, we tried to identify the incidence and microscopic changes of FH, as well as its correlation with AF weight. Materials and Methods: Eight Spreague-Dawley pregnant female rats received adriamycin 2.2 mg/kg on the 8th and 9th gestational days (considering term gestation = 22 days). Those fetuses that received adriamycin (Adriamycin Group) were compared with fetuses from 2 female rats (Control Group), which received 0.9% saline solution. On the 21.5 gestational day, the fetuses were collected by cesarean incision, sacrificed, and examined for macro and microscopic changes in kidneys and ureters. Fetuses with bilateral hydronephrosis formed the Hydronephrosis Group. AF weight was determined as well. Results: Hydronephrosis occurred in 70 (95%) of the 74 fetuses in the adriamycin group against none of the 21 fetuses from the control group. The amniotic fluid weight was increased in the adriamycin group in relation to the control group (p < 0.001). The histomorphometric study revealed dilation of the renal pelvis and reduction of renal parenchyma in the hydronephrosis group in relation to the control group. Severe cortical atrophy, cortical tubular atrophy and medullar atrophy were observed in the hydronephrosis group. Conclusions: Slight renal lesions were in agreement with changes in AF weight, since they suggest that there was production of urine with the maintenance of AF.306508513Brace, R.A., Physiology of amniotic fluid volume regulation (1997) Clin. Obstet. Gynecol., 40, pp. 280-289Harrison, M.R., Nakayama, D.K., Noall, R., de Lorimier, A.A., Correction of congenital hydronephrosis in utero II. Decompression reverses the effects of obstruction on the fetal lung and urinary tract (1982) J. Pediatr. Surg., 17, pp. 965-974Chevalier, R.L., Thornhill, B.A., Chang, A.Y., Unilateral ureteral obstruction in neonatal rats leads to renal insufficiency in adulthood (2000) Kidney Int., 58, pp. 1987-1995Seseke, F., Thelen, P., Hemmerlein, B., Kliese, D., Zoller, G., Ringert, R.H., Histologic and molecular evidence of obstructive uropathy in rats with hereditary congenital hydronephrosis (2000) Urol. Res., 28, pp. 104-109Freedman, A.L., Bukowski, T.P., Smith, C.A., Evans, M.I., Johnson, M.P., Gonzalez, R., Fetal therapy for obstructive uropathy: Diagnosis specific outcomes (1996) J. Urol., 156 (2 PART 2), pp. 720-723. , [corrected]. discussion 723-4Erratum in: J Urol. 1996156: 1786Bernstein, J., Risdon, R.A., Gilbert-Barness, E., Renal System (1997) Potter's, Pathology of the Fetus and Infant, pp. 863-903. , Gilbert-Barness E (ed.), St Louis, MosbyBastide, A., Manning, F., Harman, C., Lange, I., Morrison, I., Ultrasound evaluation of amniotic fluid: Outcome of pregnancies with severe oligohydramnios (1986) Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 154, pp. 895-900Reddy, P.P., Mandell, J., Prenatal diagnosis. Therapeutic implications (1998) Urol. Clin. North Amer., 25, pp. 171-180Beasley, S.W., Diez Pardo, J., Qi, B.Q., Tovar, J.A., Xia, H.M., The contribution of the adriamycin-induced rat model of the VATER association to our understanding of congenital abnormalities and their embryogenesis (2000) Pediatr. Surg. Int., 16, pp. 465-472Merei, J., Hasthorpe, S., Farmer, P., Hutson, J.M., Visceral anomalies in prenatally adriamycin-exposed rat fetuses: A model for the VATER association (1999) Pediatr. Surg. Int., 15, pp. 11-16Merei, J., Batiha, A., Hani, I.B., El-Qudah, M., Renal anomalies in the VATER animal model (2001) J. Pediatr. Surg., 36, pp. 1693-1697Franca, W.M., Goncalves, A., Moraes, S.G., Pereira, L.A., Sbragia, L., Esophageal atresia and other visceral anomalies in a modified Adriamycin rat model and their correlations with amniotic fluid volume variations (2004) Pediatr. Surg. Int., 20, pp. 602-608Steinhardt, G.F., Liapis, H., Phillips, B., Vogler, G., Nag, M., Yoon, K.W., Insulin-like growth factor improves renal architecture of fetal kidneys with complete ureteral obstruction (1995) J. Urol., 154, pp. 690-693Steinhardt, G.F., Salinas-Madrigal, L., deMello, D., Farber, R., Phillips, B., Vogler, G., Experimental ureteral obstruction in the fetal Opossum: Histologic assessment (1994) J. Urol., 152, pp. 2133-2138Tewey, K.M., Rowe, T.C., Yang, L., Halligan, B.D., Liu, L.F., Adriamycin-induced DNA damage mediated by mammalian DNA topoisomerase II (1984) Science, 226 (4673), pp. 466-468Orford, J.E., Cass, D.T., Dose response relationship between adriamycin and birth defects in a rat model of VATER association (1999) J. Pediatr. Surg., 34, pp. 392-398Beasley, S.W., Diez Pardo, J., Qi, B.Q., Tovar, J.A., Xia, H.M., The contribution of the adriamycin-induced rat model of the VATER association to our understanding of congenital abnormalities and their embryogenesis (2000) Pediatr. Surg. Int., 16, pp. 465-472Kimble, R.M., Harding, J.E., Kolbe, A., Does gut atresia cause polyhydramnios? (1998) Pediatr. Surg. Int., 13, pp. 115-117Liu, M.I., Hutson, J.M., Cloacal and urogenital malformations in adriamycin-exposed rat fetuses (2000) BJU Int., 86, pp. 107-112Liu, M.I., Hutson, J.M., Zhou, B., Critical timing of bladder embryogenesis in an adriamycin-exposed rat fetal model: A clue to the origin of the bladder (1999) J. Pediatr. Surg., 34, pp. 1647-165

Gravitational Collapse: Expanding and Collapsing Regions

We investigate the expanding and collapsing regions by taking two well-known spherically symmetric spacetimes. For this purpose, the general formalism is developed by using Israel junction conditions for arbitrary spacetimes. This has been used to obtain the surface energy density and the tangential pressure. The minimal pressure provides the gateway to explore the expanding and collapsing regions. We take Minkowski and Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes and use the general formulation to investigate the expanding and collapsing regions of the shell.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Gen. Relativ. Gra

Representações sociais de alunas de pedagogia sobre suas trajetórias escolares

The article analyzes the social representations of pedagogy students about their school trajectories. It is based on Moscovici’s theory of social representations and on sociological studies about life trajectories. Twenty-six pedagogy students were asked to write a text with the title, “My school trajectory” and to answer a questionnaire on their profile. The narratives were submitted to the Alceste software (Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d’un Ensemble de Segments de Texte), which classified the material in five categories, which were rearranged in three themes, due totheir similarity of meanings: Theme 1 – How school was experienced; Theme 2 – Social interactions in the school context; Theme 3 – Entering higher education: challenges and dreams. The results indicate trajectories marked by the idea of triumph, observed at the different phases of their school trajectory. There is a social construction that relates educational success to the school’s pedagogical and structural conditions, to the families’ social-economical and cultural situation and to the access to higher education as a coming true of a dream of social ascent. Keywords: social representations, school trajectory, pedagogy, Alceste software.O objetivo do trabalho é analisar as representações sociais de alunas de Pedagogia sobre suas trajetórias escolares. A pesquisa fundamenta-se na teoria moscoviciana das representações sociais e em estudos sociológicos referentes a trajetórias. Solicitou-se que 26 alunas de um curso de Pedagogia escrevessem uma redação intitulada “Minha trajetória escolar” e preenchessem um questionário de perfil. As narrativas foram submetidas ao programa informático Alceste (Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d’un Ensemble de Segments de Texte), que dividiu o material em cinco classes, reagrupadas em três temas, devido à aproximação de significados: Tema 1 - A escola vivida; Tema 2 - Interações sociais no contexto escolar; Tema 3 - O ingresso no Ensino Superior: desafios e sonhos. Os resultados indicaram trajetórias marcadas pela idéia de superação, observada nas diferentes etapas da escolarização. Percebeu-se uma construção social que relaciona o sucesso escolar às condições pedagógicas e estruturais da escola, à situação socioeconômica e cultural da família e ao ensino superior como realização de um sonho de ascensão social. Palavras-chave: representações sociais, trajetórias escolares, pedagogia, programa Alceste

In silico analysis of cytochrome p450 genes involved in the metabolism of diterpenes in Coffea.

Brazil is the largest world producer and exporter of coffee, being also the second largest consumer market. Among the main goals of coffee breeders, studies aiming the improvement of cup quality and plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses have extreme importance. Beverage nutraceutical properties and plant defense mechanisms are directly linked to diterpenes present in the lipid fraction of coffee beans, such as cafestol (Caf ) and caveol (Cav). Many members of P 450 gene family are involved in plant secondary metabolism, including diterpenes synthesis. In order to depict biochemical and genetic aspects of diterpenes byosinthesis, we did an in silico characterization of p450 gene family in Coffea spp., and we also quantified Caf and Cav in coffee fruit tissues for further gene expression studies involving diterpens metabolism. Using keyword and Blast search, 1396 ESTs related to Cyt p450 were selected from the Brazilian Coffee Genome Project (http://www.lge.ibi. unicamp.br/cafe). After assembling, we observed 157 putative unigenes, distributed in 92 contigs and 65 singlets. The contigs were analyzed using BLAST X versus public sequences databases (GenBank and Harvest Coffea), confirming their identity to 91 Cyt P450 genes. Expression profiles were inferred by electronic Northern blot of all contigs, allowing the selection of 7 candidate genes for transcriptional analysis based in fruit cDNA library expression. Caf and Cav were measured using HPLC in two different fruit developmental stages: 90 DAF (Days After Flowering) vs 120 DAF and in fruits (120 DAF) treated with 2?M methyl Jasmonate (MJ). Fruits at 120 DAF had an increase of 42% in Cav and 19% in Caf levels in relation to 90DAF fruits. MJ treatment resulted in samples with an average increase of 18% of Cav and 35% of Caf. RNAs were extracted from these samples for future transcriptional analyses. This study establish a platform for expression analysis of cyt P450 candidate genes in RNA samples from tissues with contrasting accumulation of Cav and Caf. (Texte intégral

Rotating metrics admitting non-perfect fluids in General Relativity

In this paper, by applying Newman-Janis algorithm in spherical symmetric metrics, a class of embedded rotating solutions of field equations is presented. These solutions admit non-perfect fluidsComment: LaTex, 39 page