Search

Individuals with minor ischaemic stroke and intracranial occlusion are at increased risk of poor outcomes. Intravenous thrombolysis with tenecteplase might improve outcomes in this population. We aimed to test the superiority of intravenous tenecteplase over non-thrombolytic standard of care in patients with minor ischaemic stroke and intracranial occlusion or focal perfusion abnormality.

Aims: To improve knowledge of the epidemiology of melanoma by comparing occupational risks of cutaneous melanoma (CM) by anatomic site in Swedish workers. Methods: Male workers employed in 1970 and [...]

The report of a new autochthonous case of human American Visceral Leishmaniasis (AVL) in 1992 in the village of Guayabita, Aragua State, Venezuela (10° 16'N, 67°28'W; 500 m asl), led us to undertake an epidemiological study in this locality. A demographic survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire in which data was collected regarding sex, age, occupation, length of residence in the area and migratory history. A leishmanin skin test (LST) was applied and samples of venous blood for counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and immunofluorescent antibodies (IFAT) tests were drawn. The prevalence of positive LST was 11.4 %. The positivity was highest among males and increased with age. Young males seemed to be more exposed to infection than females. Since occupation per sedid not seem to account for this association, it may be explained as a gender-associated behavior, leading to different degrees of exposure to sand flies. The canine population was also screened for leishmanial infection. One dog was shown to be parasitologically infected with Leishmaniasp. Four out of 71 dogs (5.6 %) were positive for FG, CIEP, IFAT and Western Blot and 11 (15.5 %) were positive for CIEP. These results suggest that after almost 30 years of epidemiological silence, American visceral leishmaniasis has re-emerged in this focus.

Introducción y objetivos: evaluar el efecto de la prostatectomía radical y la edad en los resultados urodinámicos antes y después de la radioterapia de intensidad modulada administrada a pacientes con cáncer de próstata.

Fine‐grained sediment is a natural and essential component of river systems and plays a major role in the hydrological, geomorphological and ecological functioning of rivers. In many areas of the world, the level of anthropogenic activity is such that fine‐grained sediment fluxes have been, or are being, modified at a magnitude and rate that cause profound, and sometimes irreversible, changes in the way that river systems function. This paper examines how anthropogenic activity has caused significant changes in the quantity and quality of fine‐grained sediment within river systems, using examples of: land use change in New Zealand; the effects of reservoir construction and management in different countries; the interaction between sediment dynamics and fish habitats in British Columbia, Canada; and the management of contaminated sediment in USA rivers. The paper also evaluates present programmes and initiatives for the management of fine sediment in river systems and suggests changes that are needed if management strategies are to be effective and sustainable. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The toxic profile of dinoflagellates varies even among identical species, raising an interesting question about the mechanism of toxin regulation and production. In consequence, it also poses a considerable problem in their control methods. In this paper, we report on the isolation and structural elucidation of several new ester derivatives of okadaic acid (OA) from artificial cultures of the genus Prorocentrum. These new compounds enlarge the range of target molecules that must be considered in the monitoring programs.

ABSTRACTScytalidium dimidiatumis a pigmented dematiaceous coelomycete that typically causes chronic superficial skin diseases and onychomycosis, as well as deeper infections, such as subcutaneous abscesses, mycetoma, and even fungemia in immunocompromised patients. A second species, Scytalidium hyalinum, has hyaline hyphae and arthroconidia and is considered by some authors to be an albino mutant of S. dimidiatum. This study aimed to confirm the presence of melanin or melanin-like compounds (which have been previously implicated in the virulence of other fungal pathogens) in S. dimidiatumfrom a patient with multiple subcutaneous nodules. Treatment of the hyphae and arthroconidia with proteolytic enzymes, denaturant, and concentrated hot acid yielded dark particles, which were stable free radicals, consistent with their identification as melanins. Extracted melanin particles from S. dimidiatumcultures were labeled by melanin-binding monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from Sporothrix schenckii, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Cryptococcus neoformans. Lesional skin from the patient infected with S. dimidiatumcontained fungal cells that were labeled by melanin-binding MAbs, and digestion of the tissue yielded dark particles that were also reactive. S. hyalinumwas also subjected to the melanin extraction protocol, but no dark particles were yielded.

The crack propagation along the bond coat / topcoat interface of a TBC system has been studied in a previous work under a certain mode ratio (K2/K1). In order to discuss a parameter that describes the crack propagation, the growth behavior of a crack has to be studied under various K2/K1 ratios. In this work, BEM was used to determine the modifications that change K2/K1 ratios of the specimen employed in the previous study. Six characteristics of the specimen were modified: location of the applied load; height; length, position and direction of the notch, and its separation from the bond coat / topcoat interface. Among these modifications, the change of location of load point can effectively change K2/K1 ratio to values greater and smaller than those of the previous study. Crack propagation tests with three different positions of load point were performed using specimens with topcoat porosity of 5%, 15% and 20%. The results indicated that, independently of K2/K1 ratio, the parameter Ki dominated the crack growth behavior for an interface crack under mixed mode.

The Claisen rearrangement of allyl phenyl ether, allyl phenylamine, and allyl phenyl thioether, together with the family of H, CH3, OCH3, Cl, F, and CN, meta-substituted molecules, is studied within a density functional framework with B3LYP exchange-correlation energy functionals and 6-311G** basis set. Reactants, intermediates, and products have equilibrium configurations (with no imaginary frequency), and the two transition states possess one imaginary frequency each corroborating the proposed mechanism of a [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement. The energy profile for the systems containing oxygen and nitrogen atoms mirrors the hardness profile along the reaction path in agreement with the maximum hardness principle. However, the molecules with sulfur atom do not follow the maximum hardness principle. This is explained in terms of the participation of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) in the reaction. The minimum polarizability principle is obeyed in all cases.

It is shown that the topological analysis of the electron localization function (ELF), a measure of the local Pauli repulsion, is a useful tool to describe the bonding nature of transition structures of simple pericyclic processes. In this work, we have revisited the [1s,3a]hydrogen, [1a,3s]methyl, and [1a,3s]fluorine simple sigmatropic rearrangements in the allyl system. Results based on the integrated densities over the ELF basins and their related properties at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory showed explicitly a delocalized structure for the antarafacial (Cs) hydrogen rearrangement, a two radical interaction for the methyl suprafacial (C2) migration, and a pair−ion interaction for the fluorine suprafacial (Cs) transfer. Results on these well-studied systems confirm the topological analysis of the ELF as a useful descriptor for the study of bonding structure of pericyclic transition states. In this context, the ELF analysis is shown to be a complementary value to the Woodward−Hoffmann rules, which provide an orbital symmetry basis of understanding.

A thorough quantitative analysis of the HSAB principle is performed. Complex formation reactions of a typical soft acid, Ag⁺, and typical hard acid, HF, with the bases XH3 (X = N, P, As) are studied using the DFT/B3LYP method with the 6-311G** basis set. For the molecules containing Ag⁺ and As, corresponding pseudopotentials are used. Results of the calculations pertaining to the interactions of the hard acid, HF, are robust in comparison to those of Ag⁺. Correlation and nuclear relaxation effects are important in the case of the interactions of Ag⁺. Basis set superposition error changes the trend, and the results vary drastically with the quality of the basis set. Pseudopotentials do not introduce any error, and the zero-point energy represents at most 5% of the binding energy. The presence of the solvent, modeled as in Onsager's dipole method and in PCM, does not significantly change the trend. In the exchange reactions, both HSAB and maximum hardness principles are shown to be valid.

Les auteurs font un recensement des travaux médicaux réalisés dans les Universités, les Instituts et les Stations, et visant à montrer une composition chimique spécifique des Eaux pour pouvoir prétendre traiter les affections veineuses et lymphatiques.Tous les effets prouvés sont décrits quelles que soient les Stations Thermales Françaises. Il en résulte les éléments suivants : Thermalité 33° à 36°. Eaux sulfatées ou sulfurées calciques, Carbo-gazeuses, faiblement minéralisées.Les auteurs précisent dans le rappel de certains travaux, la différence fondamentale entre les eaux ordinaires et les eaux thermales. L'eau thermale est un médicament et la cure est à prescrire au bon moment.Il est rappelé la nécessaire démarche d'évaluer les thérapeutiques suivant une méthodologie rigoureuse, en double aveugle, contre placebo, avec des échantillons randomisés. C'est la méthodologie adoptée à Barbotan-les-Thermes, depuis de nombreuses années. L'importance bibliographie citée en références, permet de proposer aux médecins et aux enseignants les éléments indispensables pour prescrire et enseigner la crénothérapie en phlébologie.Les auteurs demandent aux pouvoirs publics de défendre la spécificité des eaux pour conserver à la FRANCE cette avancée thérapeutique.

Sedimentproduktion, -speicherung und -austrag: Die anteilige Rolle von Ereignissen mit hoher Magnitude in steilen Einzugsgebieten. - Die Magnitude-Frequenz Analyse stellt eine Methode dar, im 32 km2 großen Tutira-Einzugsgebiet und dem 2205 km2 großen Flußeinzugsgebiet des Waipaoa die Effektivität seltener Ereignisse für die Erzeugung und den Transport von Sediment abzuschätzen. Beide Einzugsgebiete liegen im mit leicht erodierbaren Gesteinen ausgestatteten Hügelland des östlichen Teils der Nordinsel von Neuseeland. Flachgründige Hangrutschungen, ausgelöst durch Niederschlagsereignisse mit hoher Intensität, sind ein wichtiger Erosionsprozeß in der gesamten Region. Die Sedimentfolge des Tutira-Sees offenbart die Beziehung zwischen der Magnitude eines Ereignisses und der Sedimentproduktion des Tutira-Einzugsgebietes während der letzten 100 Jahre und veranschaulicht das Ausmaß, zu dem Veränderungen des Klimas und der Landnutzung die Menge des durch Hangrutschungen produzierten Sedimentes während der letzten 2250 Jahre beeinflußt haben. Prozesse, die den Sedimentaustrag des Waipaoa beeinflussen, werden mit Hilfe eines Sedimentbudget-Ansatzes untersucht. Es existiert eine starke Beziehung zwischen Magnitude und Frequenz von Hangerosion und Sedimentablagerung im Tutira-Einzugsgebiet, und Hangrutschungsereignisse mit hoher Magnitude und niedriger Frequenz waren verantwortlich für einen Großteil der Ablagerungen im Tutira-See seit Beginn der Europäischen Besiedlung. Im Einzugsgebiet des Waipaoa scheinen starke Niederschlagsereignisse im Vergleich mit den kumulativen Effekten von Ereignissen mit höherer Frequenz und niedrigerer Magnitude eine geringere Rolle zu spielen. Der Unterschied in der Effektivität von Niederschlagsereignissen hoher Magnitude ist wahrscheinlich dem niedrigeren relativen Beitrag zum Sedimentaustrag von Hangrutschungen im Vergleich mit anderen Erosionsprozessen wie Gully- und Ufererosion zuzuschreiben, wo Sediment durch höherfrequente Niederschläge mit niedrigerer Magnitude produziert werden kann. Außerdem kann die Ablagerungsreaktion auf Stürme mit hoger Magnitude durch Transportverzögerungen, vorübergehende Speicherung und ein allgemeines Verschwimmen der Magnituden und Frequenzen der Sedimentbeiträge der räumlich variabel verteilten Erosionsprozesse in den verschiedenen Subeinzugsgebieten gepuffert werden. Die langzeitliche Sedimentationsfolge im Tutira-See legt außderdem nahe, daß die Magnitude und Frequenz der Erosionsreaktion mit Landnutzung, Vegetationstyp und Klimabedingungen variiert.

Background:Anisakis simplex is a parasite of fish, and in the case of human infestation, it should be considered as a possible cause of gastrointestinal disease, especially in countries where raw or undercooked fish is a frequent food. Clinical features of anisakiasis may simulate acute abdominal pain, such as that found in patients with gastric ulcers, appendicitis, and Crohn's disease. Furthermore, many cases of anisakiasis are diagnosed as eosinophilic gastroenteritis, which is a broad term for a specific disease. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immunopathogenesis of human gastrointestinal infestation by A simplex . Methods: Thirteen intestinal biopsy specimens from patients with anisakiasis were analyzed for the presence of messenger (m)RNA for different cytokines and inflammatory mediators by RT-PCR. Specific IgE, eosinophil cationic protein, eosinophil protein X, and tryptase levels were measured in each patient @?s serum. Also, cell cultures were set up with lymphocytes from some patients and stimulated in vitro with Anisakis and Ascaris antigens. Results: We performed immunologic phenotyping in 13 patients. All patients underwent biopsy after emergency surgery caused by episodes of acute abdominal pain. In all cases inflammatory infiltrate composed of eosinophils and lymphocytes was found in the intestinal wall. We demonstrated that after infestation, a T"H"2 -type immune response occurred. Also, major basic protein, nitric oxide, and eotaxin were found in the tissue, and eosinophil cationic protein and eosinophil protein X levels were elevated in sera. Conclusion: These data and in vitro lymphocyte cultures indicate that a T"H"2 mechanism plays an important role in the inflammatory infiltrate produced by the anchorage of parasites in the gastrointestinal wall. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;104:637-43.)

SummaryOverbank deposits of the Narrator Brook, exposed by the excavation of a drainage ditch, are described. The deposits, which consist of coarse (sand and gravel), fine (silt and clay) and peat units, were laid down in a floodbasin environment. The coarse units are interpreted as crevasse-splay deposits, rather than being classified as floodbasin sediments along with the fine units. Three stages of development in the evolution of the floodbasin are identified. The first stage is represented by the development of peat at a time when the area was not subjected to flooding, the second by deposition of the fine and coarse sediment units and the third by an upper peat horizon. No precise date for the formation of the deposits is at present available, but it is thought that they may be the result of man's activity in the catchment.

Responses of 96 extracellular spontaneous active cortical and hippocampal neurons to microiontophoretically applied four types of α interferons (α-IFNs), one type of γ interferon (γ-IFN) as well as three fractions of γ-IFNs were examined. All four types of α-IFN ejections increased the discharge of the majority of neuron tested. Significant differences of the number of cells excited and the intensity of the excitation among the 4 types of α-IFN were observed. The most significant effects were induced by Cantell's human leukocyte α-IFN followed by the Hoffman-LaRoche recombinant α-IFN which exhibited a dose dependent effect (i.e., each higher dose of IFN affected more neurons and intensified the excitation) on the hippocampal and cortical cells respectively. Neither the IFN carrier (albumin), nor the γ-IFNs and its fractions, as well as current ejection, altered the extracellular spontaneous active of these 96 cortical and hippocampal neurons respectively. These observations show that the immunomodulator α-IFNs, but not γIFNs, exerts excitatory effects on neuronal activity recorded from these two brain structures and support the view that the brain is capable of communicating with the immune system.

The spontaneous activity and the inputs to the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) following dorsal raphe (DR), spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve (SpV), medial lemniscus (ML), reticular lateral magnocellular nucleus (RLM) and acoustic (Ac) stimulation and the effects of morphine and the opioid antagonist, naloxone, on these inputs, were investigated in morphine-naive and morphine-dependent animals. The observations were obtained in freely behaving animals previously implanted with permanent electrodes. The spontaneous activity of MBH neurons exhibits heterogenic spontaneous firing rates. This spontaneous activity is affected by acute and chronic morphine treatment. The MBH neuronal population exhibits neurophysiological patterns of tolerance of morphine dependence and withdrawal. The central input exerts a marked influence on MBH neurons in both naive and morphine-dependent animals. These inputs are modified by morphine challenge dose in both preparations, i.e., in morphine-naive and morphine-dependent animals, and are reversed by naloxone. The DR and Ac inputs affect the MBH neuronal activity differently from that observed following SpV, ML and RLM stimuli. The effects of morphine and naloxone on the DR and Ac input in morphine-naive and morphine-dependent animals differ from those observed following SpV, ML and RLM inputs. The MBH neurons exhibited a high percentage of convergence to Ac, DR, SpV, ML and RLM stimulation.

The Guaymas basin (Gulf of California) provides a particularly interesting extreme environment. Temperatures ranged from 3°C to 11°C at the organic‐rich sediment surface and increased with depth, ranging from 59.7°C to 150°C from 20 cm to 30 cm. After either acidic or alkaline hydrolysis of rock and sediment samples collected near active hydrothermal mounds, 3‐hydroxyalkanoic acids have been detected by gas chromatography and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry with 3‐hydroxyoctanoic and 3‐hydroxydecanoic acids predominating. These acids appear to be of microbial origin, arising from the endogenous storage polymers poly(3‐hydroxyalkanoates). With respect to the microbial community structure as previously determined from lipid biomarkers, these 3‐hydroxyalkanoic acids seem to be associated with either anaerobic bacteria and/or type II methanotrophs. Conversely these polymers were not associated with Beggiotamats present on the surface of the sediments. The presence of 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylbutanoic acid in trace amounts as well as of 2‐hydroxyoctanoic acid is reported. The occurrence of these hydroxyalkanoic acids raises interesting questions about their origin.

A total of 977 White individuals living in five Brazilian cities, as well as 173 Black individuals from two of these cities have been studied in relation to HLA-A and HLA-B. Allele frequency similarities among these populations are much more impressive than dissimilarities, and the differences, considering putative ancestors, are not remarkable. This limited variability can be only partially explained in terms of racial admixture, estimates of the latter using different alleles in the various populations showing disparate results. Linkage disequilibrium values vary between groups, that for A1-B8 being the most consistent, independent of sample or race. But four other haplotypes observed to be in significant disequilibrium in Portugal showed the same pattern in at least one of the five Brazilian White samples.

The distribution of 12 HLA-A, 14 HLA-B, seven HLA-C, seven HLA-DR and three HLA-DQ antigens was determined in 32 non-consanguineous white Brazilians suffering from chromoblastomycosis and 77 healthy controls, matched for ethnic background, sex and age and living in the same geographical area. A significant difference between the two groups was seen only in respect to one HLA-A antigen: A29 was present in 28% of patients as opposed to 4% of the controls (P corrected=0·03). This finding indicates that susceptibility to chromoblastomycosis may be influenced by a gene located on chromosome 6, in the region of the major histocompatibility complex. The relative risk for an HLA-A29 carrier to develop chromoblastomycosis was estimated as 10.

The presence of 9 HLA-A and 14 HLA-B specificities was determined in 83 patients with paracoccidioidomycosis. The finding of a higher than normal incidence of HLA-B40 (χχ2=10··8; corrected P<0··026) supports the hypothesis that genetic factors may play a role in susceptibility to paracoccidioidomycosis. The risk of developing paracoccidioidomycosis is 4··3 times higher for individuals carrying HLA-B40 than for those lacking this antigen.