Antibiofilm effect of some main components of essentials oils on E. coli biofilm

Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)European Community - fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, Project PTDC/SAUESA/6460912006 /FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-00748

Sildenafil improves microvascular O-2 delivery-to-utilization matching and accelerates exercise O-2 uptake kinetics in chronic heart failure

Sperandio PA, Oliveira MF, Rodrigues MK, Berton DC, Treptow E, Nery LE, Almeida DR, Neder JA. Sildenafil improves microvascular O-2 delivery-to-utilization matching and accelerates exercise O-2 uptake kinetics in chronic heart failure. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 303: H1474-H1480, 2012. First published September 28, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00435.2012.-Nitric oxide (NO) can temporally and spatially match microvascular oxygen (O-2) delivery (QO(2mv)) to O-2 uptake (VO2) in the skeletal muscle, a crucial adjustment-to-exercise tolerance that is impaired in chronic heart failure (CHF). To investigate the effects of NO bioavailability induced by sildenafil intake on muscle QO(2mv)-to-O-2 utilization matching and VO2 kinetics, 10 males with CHF (ejection fraction = 27 +/- 6%) undertook constant work-rate exercise (70-80% peak). Breath-by-breath VO2, fractional O-2 extraction in the vastus lateralis {similar to deoxy-genated hemoglobin + myoglobin ([deoxy-Hb + Mb]) by near-infrared spectroscopy}, and cardiac output (CO) were evaluated after sildenafil (50 mg) or placebo. Sildenafil increased exercise tolerance compared with placebo by similar to 20%, an effect that was related to faster on-and off-exercise VO2 kinetics (P 0.05). On-exercise [deoxy-Hb + Mb] kinetics were slowed by sildenafil (similar to 25%), and a subsequent response overshoot (n = 8) was significantly lessened or even abolished. in contrast, [deoxy-Hb + Mb] recovery was faster with sildenafil (similar to 15%). Improvements in muscle oxygenation with sildenafil were related to faster on-exercise VO2 kinetics, blunted oscillations in ventilation (n = 9), and greater exercise capacity (P < 0.05). Sildenafil intake enhanced intramuscular QO(2mv)-to-VO2 matching with beneficial effects on VO2 kinetics and exercise tolerance in CHF. the lack of effect on CO suggests that improvement in blood flow to and within skeletal muscles underlies these effects.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Resp Dis, Pulm Funct & Clin Exercise Physiol Unit, BR-04020050 São Paulo, BrazilQueens Univ, Dept Med, Div Resp & Crit Care Med, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, CanadaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Cardiol, BR-04020050 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Resp Dis, Pulm Funct & Clin Exercise Physiol Unit, BR-04020050 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Cardiol, BR-04020050 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Simple heuristics for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem

We propose simple heuristics for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem. This problem typically occurs in assembly lines in sheltered work centers for the disabled. Different from the classical simple assembly line balancing problem, the task execution times vary according to the assigned worker. We develop a constructive heuristic framework based on task and worker priority rules defining the order in which the tasks and workers should be assigned to the workstations. We present a number of such rules and compare their performance across three possible uses: as a stand-alone method, as an initial solution generator for meta-heuristics, and as a decoder for a hybrid genetic algorithm. Our results show that the heuristics are fast, they obtain good results as a stand-alone method and are efficient when used as a initial solution generator or as a solution decoder within more elaborate approaches.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Morphological and genetic evidence supports the separation of two tapinoma ants (Formicidae, dolichoderinae) from the atlantic forest biome

The taxonomic boundaries of many Neotropical ant species of the genus Tapinoma are still unclear. Tapinoma atriceps and T. atriceps breviscapum are two morphologically similar taxa which occur sympatrically in the southern Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Some characters such as the scape length and head shape suggest that these taxa may be different species. We used DNA analysis and morphological evidence, including scanning electron microscopy, to evaluate the taxonomic validity of these taxa. We found distinct morphological characteristics that allow separating them as two different species, Tapinoma atriceps and Tapinoma breviscapum status novo, and this decision is supported by the DNA results, where Tapinoma atriceps was recovered as a lineage independent of T. breviscapum

Early invasive vulvar squamous cell carcinoma arising in a woman with vulvar pemphigus vulgaris and systemic lupus erythematosus

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. Genital involvement occurs when most other common sites are concurrently affected or are in remission. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that may affect many parts of the body and the skin with occasional bullous lesions. Pemphigus vulgaris and SLE may be associated, albeit rarely. Here, we report the first case of a woman affected with SLE presenting with early invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) arising from Pemphigus Vulgaris of the vulva

Ragweed Pollen: Morphological Changes on Incubation with Saliva from Ragweed-Allergic and Non-Allergic Humans

1. The interactions between ragweed pollen and the saliva from ragweed-sensitive and non-sensitive humans have been examined. A number of morphological changes of the pollen grains take place under the conditions of the incubation. Of these changes, two occur only with incubation in allergic saliva and one occurs with the use of ‘inflammatory’ saliva, allergic or non-allergic. 2. The two changes that are associated only with incubation in saliva from an individual who is ragweed-sensitive appear to be related. They consist of a clearing of the background material surrounding the pollen grain and the formation of a halo of white, mat-like material around the grain. 3. The incubation of pollen with ‘congestive’ or ‘inflammatory’ saliva resulted in the exudation of granular material, encased in a membrane, from the pollen grain. 4. Kinetic studies give the development time of particular changes and their duration.</jats:p

An Attention-Driven Model for Grouping Similar Images with Image Retrieval Applications

Recent work in the computational modeling of visual attention has demonstrated that a purely bottom-up approach to identifying salient regions within an image can be successfully applied to diverse and practical problems from target recognition to the placement of advertisement. This paper proposes an application of a combination of computational models of visual attention to the image retrieval problem. We demonstrate that certain shortcomings of existing content-based image retrieval solutions can be addressed by implementing a biologically-motivated, unsupervised way of grouping together images whose salient regions of interest (ROIs) are perceptually similar regardless of the visual contents of other (less relevant) parts of the image. We propose a model in which only the salient regions of an image are encoded as ROIs whose features are then compared against previously seen ROIs and assigned cluster membership accordingly. Experimental results show that the proposed approach works well for several combinations of feature extraction techniques and clustering algorithms, suggesting a promising avenue for future improvements, such as the addition of a top-down component and the inclusion of a relevance feedback mechanism