VEGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 immunoreactivity in the porcine arteries of vascular subovarian plexus (VSP) during the estrous cycle.

Abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important angiogenic factor in the female reproductive tract. It binds to cell surface through ligand-stimulatable tyrosine kinase receptors, the most important being VEGFR-1 (flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (flk-1). The broad ligament of the uterus is a dynamic organ consisting of specialized complexes of blood vessels connected functionally to the uterus, oviduct and ovary. Endothelial cells form an inner coating of the vessel walls and thus they stay under the influence of various modulators circulating in blood including ovarian steriods involved in developmental changes in the female reproductive system. The aim of the present study was to immunolocalize VEGF and its two receptors: VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 in the broad ligament of the uterus in the area of vascular subovarian plexus during different phases of the estrous cycle in pig and to determine the correlation between immunoreactivity of the investigated factors and phases of the estrous cycle. The study was performed on cryostat sections of vascular subovarian plexus stained immunohistochemically by ABC method. Specific polyclonal antibodies: anti-VEGF, anti-VEGFR-1 and anti-VEGFR-2 were used. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. Our study revealed the presence of VEGF and its receptors in endothelial and smooth muscle cells of VSP arteries. All agents displayed phase-related differences in immunoreactivity suggesting the modulatory effect of VEGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 on the arteries of the VSP in the porcine broad ligament of the uterus

Exact and heuristic approaches for the ship-to-shore problem

After a natural disaster such as a hurricane or flooding, the navy can help by bringing supplies, clearing roads, and evacuating victims. If destinations cannot be reached over land, resources can be transported using smaller ships and helicopters, called connectors. To start aid on land as soon as possible this must be done efficiently. In the ship-to-shore problem, trips with their accompanying resources are determined while minimising the makespan. Limited (un)loading capacities, heterogeneous connector characteristics and constraints posed by priority of the resources and grouping of the resources (resource sets) all require that the connector trips are carefully coordinated. Despite the criticality of this coordination, existing literature does not consider resource sets and has only developed heuristics. We provide a formulation that incorporates resource sets and develop (i) an exact branch-and-price algorithm and (ii) a tailored greedy heuristic that can provide upper bounds. We find that 84% of our 98 practical instances terminate within an hour in on average 80 s. Our greedy heuristic can find optimal solutions in two-thirds of these instances, mostly for instances that are very constrained in terms of the delivery order of resources. When improvements are found by the branch-and-price algorithm, the average gap with the makespan of the greedy solution is 40% and, in most cases, these improvements are obtained within three minutes. For the 20 artificial instances, the greedy heuristic has consistent performance on the different types of instances. For these artificial instances improvements of on average 35% are found in reasonable time.</p

Scanning-helium-ion-beam lithography with hydrogen silsesquioxane resist

A scanning-helium-ion-beam microscope is now commercially available. This microscope can be used to perform lithography similar to, but of potentially higher resolution than, scanning electron-beam lithography. This article describes the control of this microscope for lithography via beam steering/blanking electronics and evaluates the high-resolution performance of scanning helium-ion-beam lithography. The authors found that sub-10 nm-half-pitch patterning is feasible. They also measured a point-spread function that indicates a reduction in the micrometer-range proximity effect typical in electron-beam lithography.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

VEGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 immunoreactivity in the porcine arteries of vascular subovarian plexus (VSP) during the estrous cycle.

Abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important angiogenic factor in the female reproductive tract. It binds to cell surface through ligand-stimulatable tyrosine kinase receptors, the most important being VEGFR-1 (flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (flk-1). The broad ligament of the uterus is a dynamic organ consisting of specialized complexes of blood vessels connected functionally to the uterus, oviduct and ovary. Endothelial cells form an inner coating of the vessel walls and thus they stay under the influence of various modulators circulating in blood including ovarian steriods involved in developmental changes in the female reproductive system. The aim of the present study was to immunolocalize VEGF and its two receptors: VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 in the broad ligament of the uterus in the area of vascular subovarian plexus during different phases of the estrous cycle in pig and to determine the correlation between immunoreactivity of the investigated factors and phases of the estrous cycle. The study was performed on cryostat sections of vascular subovarian plexus stained immunohistochemically by ABC method. Specific polyclonal antibodies: anti-VEGF, anti-VEGFR-1 and anti-VEGFR-2 were used. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. Our study revealed the presence of VEGF and its receptors in endothelial and smooth muscle cells of VSP arteries. All agents displayed phase-related differences in immunoreactivity suggesting the modulatory effect of VEGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 on the arteries of the VSP in the porcine broad ligament of the uterus