Search

The main question that Fernando Degiovanni raises in Los textos de la patria is a vast one: how was the canon of Argentine literature built? Such a broad question could [...]

Previous studies have demonstrated that pregnancy prevents protective hypertension-induced remodeling of cerebral arteries using nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition to raise mean arterial pressure (MAP). In the present study, we investigated whether this effect of pregnancy was specific to NOS inhibition by using the Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rat as a model of hypertension. Nonpregnant (n = 16) and late-pregnant (n = 17) Dahl SS rats were fed either a high-salt diet (8% NaCl) to raise blood pressure or a low-salt diet ( gestation; hypertension; brain

The rapid and efficient synthesis of different disubstituted 5,6-fused heterocycles is described using a microwave-assisted one-pot cyclization-Suzuki coupling approach. The work highlights the tolerance of the bronic ester functional group to a variety of reaction conditions and the utility of functionalized boronates as penultimate intermediates in the synthesis of diverse compound libraries.

Cerebral artery reactivity changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period: a role in eclampsia? Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 286: H2127-H212, 2004. First published January 29, 2004; 10.1152/ajpheart. 01154.2003.--Eclampsia is thought to be similar to hypertensive encephalopathy, whereby acute elevations in intravascular pressure cause forced dilatation (FD) of intrinsic myogenic tone of cerebral arteries and arterioles, decreased cerebrovascular resistance, and hyperperfusion. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that pregnancy and/or the postpartum period predispose cerebral arteries to FD by diminishing pressure-induced myogenic activity. We compared the reactivity to pressure (myogenic activity) as well as factors that modulate the level of tone of third-order branches ( 0.05). This level of myogenic activity was maintained in the NP arteries at all pressures; however, both LP and PP arteries dilated at considerably lower pressures compared with NP, which lowered the pressure at which FD occurred from >175 for NP to 146 [+ or -] 6.5 mmHg for LP (P < 0.01 vs. NP) and 162 [+ or -] 7.7 mmHg for PP (P < 0.01 vs. NP). The amount of myogenic tone was also significantly diminished at 175 mmHg compared with NP: percent tone for NP, LP, and PP animals were 35 [+ or -] 2, 11 [+ or -] 3 (P < 0.01 vs. NP), and 20 [+ or -] 7% (P < 0.01 vs. NP), respectively. Inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) with 0.1 mM [N.sup.[omega]]-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) caused constriction of all vessel types that was significantly increased in the PP arteries, which demonstrates significant basal NO production. Reactivity to 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) was assessed in the presence of L-NNA and indomethacin. There was a differential response to serotonin: PCAs from NP animals dilated, whereas LP and PP arteries constricted. These results suggest that both pregnancy and the postpartum period predispose the cerebral circulation to FD at lower pressures, a response that may lower cerebrovascular resistance and promote hyperperfusion when blood pressure is elevated, as occurs during eclampsia. postpartum; circulation; myogenic tone; encephalapathy

Myocardial Infraction and a therothrombotic ishemic stroke are considered to be caused by the rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, which are complex disorders that result from multifaceted interactions between an individual's genetic makeup and environmental factors.

The inner diameter and wall thickness of rat middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) were measured in vitro in both a pressure-induced, myogenically-active state and a drug-induced, passive state to quantify active and passive mechanical behavior. Elasticity parameters from the literature (stiffness derived from an exponential pressure-diameter relationship, [beta], and elasticity in response to an increment in pressure, [E.sub.inc-p]) and a novel elasticity parameter in response to smooth muscle cell (SMC) activation, [E.sub.inc-a], were calculated. [beta] for all passive MCAs was 9.11 [+ or -] 1.07 but could not be calculated for active vessels. The incremental stiffness increased significantly with pressure in passive vessels; [E.sub.inc-p] ([10.sup.6] dynes/[cm.sup.2]) increased from 5.6 [+ or -] 0.5 at 75 mmHg to 14.7 [+ or -] 2.4 at 125 mmHg, (p

Sperm quantity and quality were examined in 2 populations (from Mar de Cobo and Necochea, Argentina) of the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum (tuco-tuco) for which polygyny was confirmed as their mating system. Nonetheless, differential population attributes allow us to propose that polygyny may be exerted at different levels. Mean epididymal sperm counts were not different, but the Necochea population was characterized by higher variance in sperm counts. Low sperm production, with little variance, in the Mar de Cobo population is consistent with a more extreme polygyny, with aggression playing an important role in the males securing monopolization of females. In the Necochea population, where males were less likely to maintain female exclusivity, subordinant males are not driven away and may invest more in sperm production than in male--male interactions. However, C. talarum males from both populations produce high-quality sperm cells, based on their motility, percentage of live sperm cells, and morphology. Key words: Ctenomys talarum, sperm quality, sperm quantity, subterranean rodent, tuco-tuco

When the Frick Collection decided in around 2013 that the easiest way to obtain much-needed space would be to build a 60,000-square-foot addition in their Russell Page-designed garden, it must [...]

Byline: J.A. Quinones (1), S.Y. Deleon (2), T.J. Bell (1), F. Cetta (1), S.M. Moffa (2), J.E. Freeman (2), D.A. Vitullo (1), E.A. Fisher (1) Keywords: Key words: Fontan procedure--Univentricular hearts--Paradoxical embolism Abstract: The Fenestrated Fontan procedure (FFP) has improved outcome in high risk patients. The technique is evolving, however, and complications are not fully known. Over a 3-year period 13 patients (mean age 35 +- 29 months) underwent an FFP in our institution. In the first two patients the fenestration had to be created because of high right atrial pressure and low cardiac output in 11 patients the FFP was planned. In three patients the sutures for the adjustable fenestration were crossing the defect. In 10 patients, purse-string sutures were placed around but not across the defect. Because large fenestrations were created in 11 patients (8--12 mm) Glenn shunts were performed to improve arterial saturation. The postoperative course was relatively uneventful, with chest tubes being removed 1--8 days (mean 4 +- 3 days) postoperatively and the hospital stay ranging from 7 to 27 days (mean 14 +- 6 days). One patient had bleeding and another had a mediastinal abscess. The first patient died (7.6%) because of hemodynamic instability due to prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass from the creation and enlargement of the fenestration. One patient had a paradoxical cerebral embolism from clots that formed on the sutures crossing the fenestration. Because of this problem the remaining patients were placed on salicylates while awaiting closure of their fenestration. All 12 patients had their fenestrations closed, performed under local anesthesia in 9, at mediastinal abscess drainage in 1, and spontaneously in 2. We conclude that creation of large fenestrations in combination with Glenn shunts and the use of adjustable fenestrations are viable modifications of the FFP. The use of purse-string sutures around the fenestration and antiplatelet drugs can probably minimize the occurrence of paradoxical embolism. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Pediatrics, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 S. First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153, USA, US (2) Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 S. First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153, USA, US

The evolutionary changes undergone by the spermatozoa of eutherian mammals were traced. The study used phylogenetic analysis based on morphological, biogeographic, chromosomal and genic data. The study focused mainly on changes in sperm head morphology and overall size, and relied mainly on rodent groups because they show great variability in sperm morphology. The results indicated that female selection within the female tract and inter-male sperm competition were the two major selective forces acting on sperm evolution.

The Devil's Playground A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square James Traub Random House, $24.95, 313 pp. I wish I'd been around when New Yorkers went to Harlem [...]

Myocardial Infraction and a therothrombotic ishemic stroke are considered to be caused by the rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, which are complex disorders that result from multifaceted interactions between an individual's genetic makeup and environmental factors.

On February 27, the day after the Supreme Court handed down its 8-1 decision overturning a federal racketeering conviction of anti-abortion protesters, I happened to get on the New York [...]

Since the death penalty in this country is reserved for 'a narrow category of the most serious crimes,' usually heinous ones, it is fitting that the murders involved in this [...]

The Radical Center The Future of American Politics Ted Halstead and Michael Lind Doubleday, $24.95, 264 pp. Dealignment and disengagement are the order of the day, and Ted Halstead and [...]

New York writer Kitty Barnes used to say that you had to pass a 'handsome test' to become a New York City firefighter. Firefighters have always had a glamour edge [...]

As National Guard troops in battle dress marched through downtown streets in the days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, New Yorkers asked one another whether this was [...]

Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience Edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Basic Civitas Books, $89.95, 2,095 pp. Encarta Africana 2000 Edited by [...]

When the Kansas Board of Education voted this summer to remove overt references to the theory of evolution from that state's science curriculum, specters of Tennessee's 'Monkey Trial' reappeared. The [...]

Summer would be unthinkable without water--its tempering of heat, its romance, its beauty, its infinite offerings of fun. Yet our benign view of water is a very recent phenomenon, as [...]