Does ergometric stress test induce a procoagulative condition in patients with previous myocardial infarction

A regularly scheduled physical training program seems to have antithrombotic effects. Moreover, the hemostatic changes occurring in patients with coronary artery disease during acute exercise have not been clearly elucidated. Since stress testing is routinely performed in clinical cardiology, it would be helpful to assess whether patients with coronary artery disease are exposed to acute coronary thrombosis during or soon after sustained physical exercise. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of acute physical exercise (stress test by bicycle ergometer) on blood coagulation in a group of patients with previous myocardial infarction, and to determine whether the antithrombotic therapy commonly administered favorably influences hemostatic equilibrium. Our results suggest that exercise testing is not harmful to patients with previous myocardial infarction in regard to hemostasis and fibrinolysis and that antithrombotic therapy reduces postexercise increase in platelets

Duality and Self-Duality (Energy Reflection Symmetry) of Quasi-Exactly Solvable Periodic Potentials

A class of spectral problems with a hidden Lie-algebraic structure is considered. We define a duality transformation which maps the spectrum of one quasi-exactly solvable (QES) periodic potential to that of another QES periodic potential. The self-dual point of this transformation corresponds to the energy-reflection symmetry found previously for certain QES systems. The duality transformation interchanges bands at the bottom (top) of the spectrum of one potential with gaps at the top (bottom) of the spectrum of the other, dual, potential. Thus, the duality transformation provides an exact mapping between the weak coupling (perturbative) and semiclassical (nonperturbative) sectors.Comment: Latex, 8 eps figure

The Oldest Case of Decapitation in the New World (Lapa do Santo, East-Central Brazil)

We present here evidence for an early Holocene case of decapitation in the New World (Burial 26), found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in 2007. Lapa do Santo is an archaeological site located in the Lagoa Santa karst in east-central Brazil with evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 11.7-12.7 cal kyBP (95.4% interval). An ultra-filtered AMS age determination on a fragment of the sphenoid provided an age range of 9.1-9.4 cal kyBP (95.4% interval) for Burial 26. The interment was composed of an articulated cranium, mandible and first six cervical vertebrae. Cut marks with a v-shaped profile were observed in the mandible and sixth cervical vertebra. The right hand was amputated and laid over the left side of the face with distal phalanges pointing to the chin and the left hand was amputated and laid over the right side of the face with distal phalanges pointing to the forehead. Strontium analysis comparing Burial 26's isotopic signature to other specimens from Lapa do Santo suggests this was a local member of the group. Therefore, we suggest a ritualized decapitation instead of trophy-taking, testifying for the sophistication of mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas during the early Archaic period. In the apparent absence of wealth goods or elaborated architecture, Lapa do Santo's inhabitants seemed to use the human body to express their cosmological principles regarding death

Differential activation of defence genes and enzymes in mayze genotypes with contrasting levels of resistance to Fusarium verticillioides

We attempt to identify genes involved in Fusarium ear rot resistance using resistant and susceptible maize genotypes. Gene expression data were obtained from microarray hybridizations using seeds inoculated at 15 days after silking. At 48 hours after infection, differentially expressed sequences were identified and classified into 11 functional categories, principally assigned to the category cell rescue, defence and virulence in both lines. These genes encode for PR proteins, detoxification enzymes and beta-glucosidases. The differentialy expressed genes were validated in qPCR, also performed in silks 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after F. verticillioides infection. Parallel, we have studied the detoxifying enzymes ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), total peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in seedlings, before and at five days after F. verticillioides infection. In resistant seedlings, before infection, the defence genes, APX and SOD enzymatic activities were higher than in the susceptible ones while, after treatment, they remained unchanged. On the other hand, in susceptible seedlings, except for SOD, all enzymes and defence genes were activated by the pathogen