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Objectives: The study sought to compare the vasomotor and microcirculatory function of the infarct-related artery (IRA) between bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) and everolimus-eluting stents (EES) at 3 years. Background: The ABSORB STEMI TROFI II study showed similar outcomes between BVS and EES in the context of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction at 3 years. Methods: Sixty-three consecutive event-free patients of the randomized TROFI II study were screened to undergo coronary angiography with vasomotor, microcirculatory, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination at 3 years. Vasomotion was defined as >4% change in mean lumen diameter to acetylcholine (ACH) and nitroglycerin as assessed by quantitative angiography. Microcirculatory examination was performed with pressure or thermodilution techniques. Results: A total of 38 patients (20 BVS and 18 EES) were included. At 3 years, ≥60% of patients exhibited paradoxical vasoconstriction to ACH in the periscaffold or stent segments. Vasoconstriction to ACH and vasodilatation to nitroglycerin were more often observed in the scaffold or stent segment with BVS than with EES (77.8% vs. 25.0%; p = 0.008 and 61.1% vs. 18.8%; p = 0.018). The IRA-depending microcirculation showed similar index of resistance (23.8 vs. 22.4; p = 0.781), coronary flow reserve (2.4 vs. 1.9; p = 0.523), fractional flow reserve (0.91 vs. 0.93; p = 0.317), and absolute flow (135.5 ml/min vs. 147.3 ml/min; p = 0.791). OCT showed remaining strut footprints and larger number of intraluminal scaffold dismantling (26.3% vs. 0%; p = 0.049) in the BVS group. Conclusions: Both endothelium-dependent and -independent vasomotion of the IRA were more evident with BVS, as compared with EES, at 3 years. Functional microcirculatory parameters were mostly adequate and similar between BVS and EES. Clinical implications of these findings warrant further investigations.

Soil biochemical properties are important bio-indicators of soil quality. In the present study, the effects of different management practices on soil biochemical properties were evaluated in three different pairs of grassland soils (unmanaged and managed) located in three areas of Galicia (NW Spain) where different types of climate prevail. Variations in soil biochemical properties were monitored throughout one year. Changes throughout the year in soil temperature, soil moisture content and particularly soil location and soil management affected the values of the biochemical properties. Comparatively higher levels of enzyme activity were observed in the unmanaged grasslands than in the managed grasslands, especially for  -glucosidase and the enzymes involved in the P and S cycles (phosphodiesterase, phosphomonoesterase and arylsulphatase). A biochemical equilibrium index was used to evaluate soil quality. Although variations in the index were observed throughout the year, the values mainly depended on soil management and revealed that unmanaged grasslands were in a situation of biochemical equilibrium throughout the study period, while no such equilibrium was observed in managed grasslands for most of the study period., This research was financed by the Xunta de Galicia (Project No. XUGA 40003B94) and by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project No. BTE 2001–0987). J. Paz-Ferreiro thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education for financial support (FPU grant).

Texto completo: acesso restrito. p.47–56 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-07-04T12:10:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1-s2.0-S0016706110000376-main.pdf: 654909 bytes, checksum: 5cb0147e074d89bc62c08c8f5948bc0d (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva(sivalda@ufba.br) on 2013-08-16T19:17:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1-s2.0-S0016706110000376-main.pdf: 654909 bytes, checksum: 5cb0147e074d89bc62c08c8f5948bc0d (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-16T19:17:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1-s2.0-S0016706110000376-main.pdf: 654909 bytes, checksum: 5cb0147e074d89bc62c08c8f5948bc0d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-30 Soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is a fundamental soil physical attribute with dominant influence on many other soil properties. Laser diffraction combined with multifractal analyses have proven to be useful to obtain precise information from PSDs. The aim of this work was to assess similitude or difference of PSDs sampled on plots of an experimental field and belonging to the same textural class using multifractal parameters. The field experiment consisted of two tillage treatments and two cropping systems. It was conducted following a randomized complete split-block design with four replications on a Humic Dystrudept. Tillage treatments were conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) while crop rotations were ryegrass–sorghum (RS) and ryegrass–corn (RC). Particle-size distribution analysis by the sieve–pipette and by laser diffraction corroborate that all the samples were assigned to the same textural class. Singularity spectra f(α) and Rényi spectra, Dq, showed that multifractal distribution was a suitable model for PSDs obtained by laser diffraction. However, in the range of moments − 10 < q < 10, the r2 values for the linear fits leading to a Rényi spectrum, Dq, were higher than those for the singularity spectrum, suggesting the former was better defined than the latter. No significant differences in multifractal parameters were found between plots with contrasted crop rotation, RS and RC. In contrast, Hölder exponent of order zero (α0) and several parameters derived from the left branch of both, the f(α) and the Dq spectra, were significantly different between CT and NT treatments. No effects of mixing by cultivation were detected in our work, so that differences in PSDs between no-tilled and conventionally-tilled plots were simply attributed to patchiness and variation on the experimental field. Multifractal analysis of PSDs measured by laser diffraction provides further insight in verifying patterns of between plot soil texture variations (i.e. randomness or trends) in completely randomized block designs.

Intimal sarcoma (IS) is a rare, malignant, and aggressive tumor that shows a relentless course with a concomitant low survival rate and for which no effective treatment is available. In this study, 21 cases of large arterial blood vessel IS were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization and selectively by karyotyping, array comparative genomic hybridization, sequencing, phospho-kinase antibody arrays, and Western immunoblotting in search for novel diagnostic markers and potential molecular therapeutic targets. Ex vivo immunoassays were applied to test the sensitivity of IS primary tumor cells to the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitors imatinib and dasatinib. We showed that amplification of platelet-derived growth factor receptor a (PDGFRA) is a common finding in IS, which should be considered as a molecular hallmark of this entity. This amplification is consistently associated with PDGFRA activation. Furthermore, the tumors reveal persistent activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), concurrent to PDGFRA activation. Activated PDGFRA and EGFR frequently coexist with amplification and overexpression of the MDM2 oncogene. Ex vivo immunoassays on primary IS cells from one case showed the potency of dasatinib to inhibit PDGFRA and downstream signaling pathways. Our findings provide a rationale for investigating therapies that target PDGFRA, EGFR, or MDM2 in IS. Given the clonal heterogeneity of this tumor type and the potential cross-talk between the PDGFRA and EGFR signaling pathways, targeting multiple RTKs and aberrant downstream effectors might be required to improve the therapeutic outcome for patients with this disease. Cancer Res; 70(18); 7304-14. (C) 2010 AACR.

p.2989-3004 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-07-23T11:41:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 bg-7-2989-2010.pdf: 1730622 bytes, checksum: 0f5435f84bee5c9e38271e07b0819627 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Meirelles(rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2013-10-15T15:19:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 bg-7-2989-2010.pdf: 1730622 bytes, checksum: 0f5435f84bee5c9e38271e07b0819627 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-15T15:19:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 bg-7-2989-2010.pdf: 1730622 bytes, checksum: 0f5435f84bee5c9e38271e07b0819627 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 Most of the indices currently employed for assessing soil surface micro-topography, such as random roughness (RR), are merely descriptors of its vertical component. Recently, multifractal analysis provided a new insight for describing the spatial configuration of soil surface roughness. The main objective of this study was to test the ability of multifractal parameters to assess in field conditions the decay of initial surface roughness induced by natural rainfall under different soil tillage systems. In addition, we evaluated the potential of the joint use of multifractal indices plus RR to improve predictions of water storage in depressions of the soil surface (MDS). Field experiments were performed on an Oxisol at Campinas, São Paulo State (Brazil). Six tillage treatments, namely, disc harrow, disc plough, chisel plough, disc harrow + disc level, disc plough + disc level and chisel plough + disc level were tested. In each treatment soil surface micro-topography was measured four times, with increasing amounts of natural rainfall, using a pin meter. The sampling scheme was a square grid with 25 × 25 mm point spacing and the plot size was 1350 × 1350 mm (≈1.8 m2), so that each data set consisted of 3025 individual elevation points. Duplicated measurements were taken per treatment and date, yielding a total of 48 experimental data sets. MDS was estimated from grid elevation data with a depression-filling algorithm. Multifractal analysis was performed for experimental data sets as well as for oriented and random surface conditions obtained from the former by removing slope and slope plus tillage marks, respectively. All the investigated microplots exhibited multifractal behaviour, irrespective of surface condition, but the degree of multifractality showed wide differences between them. Multifractal parameters provided valuable information for characterizing the spatial features of soil micro-topography as they were able to discriminate data sets with similar values for the vertical component of roughness. Conversely, both, rough and smooth soil surfaces, with high and low roughness values, respectively, can display similar levels of spectral complexity. Although in most of the studied cases trend removal produces increasing homogeneity in the spatial configuration of height readings, spectral complexity of individual data sets may increase or decrease, when slope or slope plus tillage tool marks are filtered. Increased cumulative rainfall had significant effects on various parameters from the generalized dimension, Dq, and singularity spectrum, f(α). Overall, micro-topography decay by rainfall was reflected on a shift of the singularity spectra, f(α) from the left side (q>>0) to the right side (q<>0) to the left side (q<

p. 457-468 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-12-09T14:17:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva (sivalda@ufba.br) on 2014-02-13T18:13:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-02-13T18:13:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 Understanding and describing the spatial characteristics of soil surface microrelief are required for modelling overland flow and erosion. We employed the multifractal approach to characterize topographical point elevation data sets acquired by high resolution laser scanning for assessing the effect of simulated rainfall on microrelief decay. Three soil surfaces with different initial states or composition and rather smooth were prepared on microplots and subjected to successive events of simulated rainfall. Soil roughness was measured on a 2×2 mm2 grid, initially, i.e. before rain, and after each simulated storm, yielding a total of thirteen data sets for three rainfall sequences. The vertical microrelief component as described by the statistical index random roughness (RR) exhibited minor changes under rainfall in two out of three study cases, which was due to the imposed wet initial state constraining aggregate breakdown. The effect of cumulative rainfall on microrelief decay was also assessed by multifractal analysis performed with the box-count algorithm. Generalized dimension, Dq, spectra allowed characterization of the spatial variation of soil surface microrelief measured at the microplot scale. These Dq spectra were also sensitive to temporal changes in soil surface microrelief, so that in all the three study rain sequences, the initial soil surface and the surfaces disturbed by successive storms displayed great differences in their degree of multifractality. Therefore, Multifractal parameters best discriminate between successive soil stages under a given rain sequence. Decline of RR and multifractal parameters showed little or no association.

p. 457-468 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-12-09T14:17:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva (sivalda@ufba.br) on 2014-02-13T18:13:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-02-13T18:13:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 10.5194npg-15-457-2008.pdf: 417638 bytes, checksum: cee53a88b458335c0691fc03c6c37df4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 Understanding and describing the spatial characteristics of soil surface microrelief are required for modelling overland flow and erosion. We employed the multifractal approach to characterize topographical point elevation data sets acquired by high resolution laser scanning for assessing the effect of simulated rainfall on microrelief decay. Three soil surfaces with different initial states or composition and rather smooth were prepared on microplots and subjected to successive events of simulated rainfall. Soil roughness was measured on a 2×2 mm2 grid, initially, i.e. before rain, and after each simulated storm, yielding a total of thirteen data sets for three rainfall sequences. The vertical microrelief component as described by the statistical index random roughness (RR) exhibited minor changes under rainfall in two out of three study cases, which was due to the imposed wet initial state constraining aggregate breakdown. The effect of cumulative rainfall on microrelief decay was also assessed by multifractal analysis performed with the box-count algorithm. Generalized dimension, Dq, spectra allowed characterization of the spatial variation of soil surface microrelief measured at the microplot scale. These Dq spectra were also sensitive to temporal changes in soil surface microrelief, so that in all the three study rain sequences, the initial soil surface and the surfaces disturbed by successive storms displayed great differences in their degree of multifractality. Therefore, Multifractal parameters best discriminate between successive soil stages under a given rain sequence. Decline of RR and multifractal parameters showed little or no association.