Cardiovascular Pressor Reactivity After Chronic Converting Enzyme Inhibition

In addition to inhibiting the formation of angiotensin II, chronic converting enzyme inhibition may affect other blood pressure modulating factors. The influence of an 8 week treatment phase with Cilazapril on the activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and sympathetic nervous systems, the pressor reactivity to infused angiotensin II or norepinephrine, the chronotropic response to isoproterenol, and body sodium and plasma atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations was assessed in 11 normal subjects and 12 patients with essential hypertension. As compared to a 4 week placebo phase, Cilazapril decreased arterial pressure in both study groups (from 124/83 ± 9/6 to 114/77 ± 9/5 mm Hg and from 143/102 ± 13/7 to 137/96 ± 10/10 mm Hg; Ρ < .025); exchangeable sodium (−158 mmol and, respectively, −104 mmol) and upright plasma aldosterone (−24% and −15%) also tended to fall. Heart rate, the chronotropic response to posture or isoproterenol, plasma norepinephrine levels, the concentration/pressor response curve to norepinephrine, plasma atrial natriuretic peptide concentration, plasma angiotensin II and the responses of blood pressure or plasma aldosterone to angiotensin II were unchanged after 8 weeks of Cilazapril. Plasma renin activity increased (+175% to + 650%) These findings indicate that the blood pressure lowering effect of Cilazapril in the stable phase of pharmacological intervention is not associated with modifications of sympathetic-dependent pressor reactivity or ^-adrenergic sensitivity. Plasma angiotensin II concentration and angiotensin II-dependent pathways including the pressor and aldosterone responsiveness to angiotensin II are also unchanged. Am J Hypertens 1991;4:348-35

Cardiovascular Pressor Reactivity After Chronic Converting Enzyme Inhibition

Surfaces with built-in antimicrobial activity have the potential to reduce hospital-acquired infections. One promising strategy is to create functionalised surfaces which, following illumination with visible light, are able to generate singlet oxygen under aerobic conditions. In contrast to antibiotics, the mechanism of bacterial kill by species derived from reactions with singlet oxygen is completely unselective, therefore offering little room for evolutionary adaptation. Here we consider five commercially available organic photosensitiser dyes encapsulated in silicone polymer that show varied antimicrobial activity. We correlate density functional theory calculations with UV-Vis spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and singlet oxygen production measurements in order to define and test the elements required for efficacious antimicrobial activity. Our approach forms the basis for the rational in silico design and spectroscopic screening of simple and efficient self-sterilising surfaces made from cheap, low toxicity photosensitiser dyes encapsulated in silicone

Relational Arenas in a Regional Higher Education System: Insights from an Empirical Analysis

Extant indicators on research and higher education do not consider the complex relational structure in which universities are embedded and that influences their performance on one side, and the impact of policies on the other. This article investigates the overall pattern of universities’ relational arenas in a Regional environment by considering their two main domains of activity, namely research and teaching. We study their structure, determinants, and existing interactions, in order to understand the possible consequences for policy making and management, and to identify synthetic indicators to represent them

Reporting the rapid warming of italian lakes derived from homogenized multi-sensor satellite data

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Implementation and further development of the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER)

This report presents the current status of the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER), as well as recommendations for its future development. As an outcome of this work, the ETER database is now consolidated in terms of methodology and data content, but also of a technical infrastructure, which allows an efficient management of the data and allows users to access the data through a variety of options (direct download, automated download, API access). As documented in this report, ETER is establishing itself as the reference dataset for European higher education and is being widely used both for policy analysis and for scholarly purposes. The final recommendations of this report deal with further consolidating and extending the system and better embedding it in a broader landscape of higher education databases at the international level. The report advises that, in the long term, ETER should be established as a lasting activity run by the European Commission with the support of EUROSTAT and the participation of member states. To this aim, future ETER activities should focus to a stronger extent on establishing institutional collaborations with statistical data providers, Commission services and users, while maintaining and further developing the data collection, communication and dissemination activities.JRC.B.7-Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growt

RNA analysis of consensus sequence splicing mutations: implications for the diagnosis of Wilson disease

Wilson disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by a defective function of the copper-transporting ATP7B protein. This results in progressive copper overload and consequent liver, brain, and kidney damage. Approximately 300 WD-causing mutations have been described to date. Missense mutations are largely prevalent, while splice-site mutations are rarer. Of these, only a minority are detected in splicing consensus sequences. Further, few splicing mutations have been studied at the RNA level. In this study we report the RNA molecular characterization of three consensus splice-site mutations identified by DNA analysis in WD patients. One of them, c.51 + 4 A --> T, resides in the consensus sequence of the donor splice site of intron 1; the second, c. 2121 + 3 A --> G, occurred in position + 3 of intron 7; and the c.2447 + 5 G --> A is localized in the consensus sequence of the donor splice site of intron 9. Analysis revealed predominantly abnormal splicing in the samples carrying mutations compared to the normal controls. These results strongly suggest that consensus sequence splice-site mutations result in disease by interfering with the production of the normal WD protein. Our data contribute to understanding the mutational spectrum that affect splicing and improve our capability in WD diagnosis

Morcellation worsens survival outcomes in patients with undiagnosed uterine leiomyosarcomas: A retrospective MITO group study

Objective To investigate the impact of morcellation on survival outcomes of patients affected by undiagnosed uterine sarcoma. Methods This is a retrospective study performed in 8 referral centers of MITO group. Data of women undergoing morcellation for apparent benign uterine myomas who were ultimately diagnosed with stage I uterine sarcoma on final pathology were compared with data of women who did not undergo morcellation. Uterine sarcoma included: leiomyosarcomas (LMS), smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP), low-grade endometrial stromal sarcomas (LG-ESS) and undifferentiated uterine sarcomas (UUS). Two-year survival outcomes were evaluated using Kaplan-Meir and Cox models. Results Overall 125 patients were identified: 31(24.8%), 21(16.8%) and 73(58.4%) patients had power morcellation during laparoscopy, non power morcellation during open surgery and non morcellation during open procedures, respectively. Considering patients affected by LMS, morcellation did not correlated with disease-free survival. However, patients undergoing either morcellation or power morcellation experienced a 3-fold increase risk of death in comparison to patients who had not morcellation (p&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.02). A trend towards an increase of recurrence was observed for patients undergoing morcellation for STUMP (HR 7.7, p&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.09); while no differences in survival outcomes were observed for patients with LG-ESS and UUS. Conclusions Our data suggest that morcellation increase the risk of death in patients affected by undiagnosed LMS. Further prospective studies are warranted in order to assess the risk to benefit ratio of power morcellator utilization in patients with apparent benign uterine myomas