A rabbit model for liver fibrosis

This experiment was carried out to investigate the role of cells participating in fibrosis induced by bile-duct ligation in rabbits. Histologically, bile stasis, degeneration and focal necrosis of hepatocytes, bile ductular proliferation, and an increase of the connective tissue were seen in periportal regions. Immunohistochemically, it was found that the majority of cells observed in the fibrosis regions were positive cells (spindle cells) for alpha-smooth muscle actin (ASMA). It is suggested that the spindle cells, probably transforming from Ito cells or myofibroblasts, play an important role in the pathogenesis ofhepatic fibrosis

Beyond Transmitting Bits: Context, Semantics, and Task-Oriented Communications

Communication systems to date primarily aim at reliably communicating bit sequences. Such an approach provides efficient engineering designs that are agnostic to the meanings of the messages or to the goal that the message exchange aims to achieve. Next generation systems, however, can be potentially enriched by folding message semantics and goals of communication into their design. Further, these systems can be made cognizant of the context in which communication exchange takes place, thereby providing avenues for novel design insights. This tutorial summarizes the efforts to date, starting from its early adaptations, semantic-aware and task-oriented communications, covering the foundations, algorithms and potential implementations. The focus is on approaches that utilize information theory to provide the foundations, as well as the significant role of learning in semantics and task-aware communications

Pleural mesothelioma in a nine-month-old dog

This paper reports on an unusual case of pleural epitheloid mesothelioma in a nine-month-old male, mixed breed dog. The dog was presented in-extremis and, on post mortem examination, multiple, exophytic, frequently pedunculated, yellowish-red, soft to firm masses ranging from 3 mm to 6 cm in diameter were diffusely distributed over, and attached to, the pericardial and parietal pleural surfaces. Microscopically, these masses consisted of round to partially polygonalshaped, anaplastic cells with minimal cytoplasm and hyperchromatic nuclei covering papillomatous projections or as part of more densely cellular masses. A supporting fibrovascular stroma and mitotic figures were also evident. Constituent tumour cells were labeled positively with antibodies against both vimentin and cytokeratin. In contrast, the same cells exhibited equivocal labeling with an antibody directed against calretinin antigen and did not label with antibodies against carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and milk fat globule-related antigen (MFGRA). Such tumours are rare in dogs, particularly in such a young animal

Employment generation by small firms in Spain

Despite the relevance in terms of policy, we still know little in Spain about where and by whom jobs are created, and how that is affecting the size distribution of firms. The main innovation of this paper is to use a rich database that overcomes the problems encountered by other firm-level studies to shed some light on the employment generation of small firms in Spain. We find that small firms contribute to employment disproportionately across all sectors of the economy although the difference between their employment and job creation share is largest in the manufacturing sector. The job creators in that sector are both new and established firms whereas only new small firms outperform their larger counterparts in the service sector. The large annual job creation of the small firm size class is shifting the firm size distribution towards the very small production units, although not uniformly across industries of different technology intensit

Hypofibrinolysis in diabetes: a therapeutic target for the reduction of cardiovascular risk

An enhanced thrombotic environment and premature atherosclerosis are key factors for the increased cardiovascular risk in diabetes. The occlusive vascular thrombus, formed secondary to interactions between platelets and coagulation proteins, is composed of a skeleton of fibrin fibres with cellular elements embedded in this network. Diabetes is characterised by quantitative and qualitative changes in coagulation proteins, which collectively increase resistance to fibrinolysis, consequently augmenting thrombosis risk. Current long-term therapies to prevent arterial occlusion in diabetes are focussed on anti-platelet agents, a strategy that fails to address the contribution of coagulation proteins to the enhanced thrombotic milieu. Moreover, antiplatelet treatment is associated with bleeding complications, particularly with newer agents and more aggressive combination therapies, questioning the safety of this approach. Therefore, to safely control thrombosis risk in diabetes, an alternative approach is required with the fibrin network representing a credible therapeutic target. In the current review, we address diabetes-specific mechanistic pathways responsible for hypofibrinolysis including the role of clot structure, defects in the fibrinolytic system and increased incorporation of anti-fibrinolytic proteins into the clot. Future anti-thrombotic therapeutic options are discussed with special emphasis on the potential advantages of modulating incorporation of the anti-fibrinolytic proteins into fibrin networks. This latter approach carries theoretical advantages, including specificity for diabetes, ability to target a particular protein with a possible favourable risk of bleeding. The development of alternative treatment strategies to better control residual thrombosis risk in diabetes will help to reduce vascular events, which remain the main cause of mortality in this condition

Synthesis, stabilization, and functionalization of silver nanoplates for biosensor applications

Silver nanoplates (NPTs) were prepared by a seed-mediated growth method with different diameters (d = 25, 32, 53, and 100 nm) and with thicknesses of approximately 10 nm in all cases. As the concentration of silver seeds increased, the diameter of the nanoplates increased, resulting in an overall shift in the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band maximum from 570 to 900 nm, thus providing a novel method to tune the plasmon resonance. The LSPR was calculated from theory for both triangular and circular nanoplate geometries. In agreement with transmission electron micrographs, the model results confirmed the shape of nanoplates as being truncated prisms, intermediate between that of a prism and a disk. Because of the toxicity of the surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), the stabilizing CTAB bilayer surrounding the NPT was replaced by a nontoxic alkanethiol with surfactant properties. This enabled the extraction of metal nanoparticles into deionized water or buffer for bioconjugation without aggregation. Silver nanoplates were also coated with polyelectrolyte layers using the standard layer-by-layer (LbL) method. The LSPR was found to be very sensitive to the addition of polyelectrolyte layers, with a plasmon band shift from 728 to 740 nm after adding only one monolayer (thickness ~1.5 nm). Bioconjugation of these nanoplates was achieved with the addition of a mercaptolinker containing a carboxyl group. The carboxyl groups were activated with 1-ethyl-3-(3- dimethylaminopropyl) hydrochloride (EDC)/N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and conjugated to green fluorescent protein (GFP) in order to validate the potential of the NPTs for enhancement of bioassays. The fluorescence of the conjugated NPTs was 5.6-fold brighter than that of NPTs added to GFP without activation. © 2009 American Chemical Society

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between similar to 10,500 and similar to 400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between similar to 20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for similar to 4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic.Molecular Technology and Informatics for Personalised Medicine and Healt

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic