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Subchronic intoxications induced in male rats by repeated intraperitoneal injections of lead acetate and cadmium chloride, administered either alone or in combination, are shown to affect the biochemical, cytological and morphometric parameters of blood, liver, heart and kidneys. The single twitch parameters of myocardial trabecular and papillary muscle preparations were measured in the isometric regime to identify changes in the heterometric (length-force) and chronoinotropic (frequency-force) contractility regulation systems. Differences in the responses of these systems in trabecules and papillary muscles to the above intoxications are shown. A number of myocardium mechanical characteristics changing in rats under the effect of a combined lead-cadmium intoxication and increased proportion of α-myosin heavy chains were observed to normalize fully or partially if such intoxication was induced against background administration of a proposed bioprotective complex. Based on the experimental results and literature data, some assumptions are suggested concerning the mechanisms of the cardiotoxic effects produced by lead and cadmium.

Left ventricular non-compaction is characterized by the presence of multiple trabecules in the left ventricle myocardium, associated with multiple inter-trabecular recesses communicated with the ventricular cavity. The medical community needs an objective quantification of non-compacted cardiomyopathy, characterized by a trabeculated mass in the left ventricle myocardium. A software tool for the automatic quantification of the exact hyper-trabeculation degree in the left ventricle myocardium for a population of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (QLVTHC) patients is developed and tested. End-diastolic cardiac magnetic resonance images of the patients are the input of the software, while the volumes of the compacted zones and the trabeculated zones are necessary to produce the percentage quantification of the trabecular zone with respect to the compacted zone. Significant improvements are obtained with respect to the manual process, by saving valuable diagnosis time. The development of a self-optimized software tool (SOST) based on the outputs of 50 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy automatically produces the volumes of the compacted zones and the trabeculated zones, as a percentage quantification. Now, the SOST is tested with a different population of patients, with different characteristics. Besides, a parallelization for the detection of the external layer of the compacted zone allows the real-time analysis per slice in a patient, obtaining important speedups with regard to the QLVTHC proposed and the manual process used traditionally by cardiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family Melastomataceae is an important component of the Brazilian Cerrado flora, inhabiting different environments from those with well-drained soils to swamp soil sites. Several members of this family are recognized as aluminum (Al)-accumulating. We studied the wood anatomy of six species of Melastomataceae ( Miconia albicans (Sw.) Triana, M. fallax DC., M. chamissois Naudin, M. ligustroides (DC.) Naudin, Microlepis oleaefolia (DC.) Triana, Rhynchanthera dichotoma DC.), growing in different environments of Cerrado, exploring the occurrence of trabeculae and Al-accumulation sites. We processed the material following the usual techniques in wood anatomy and histochemistry. We used a chrome azurol-S spot-test in fresh material to detect Al-accumulation. The common features were diffuse porosity, vessel elements with simple perforation plates and vestured pits, abundant parenchyma-like fiber bands and septate fibers, axial parenchyma scanty to vasicentric, and heterocellular rays. The presence of trabeculae in vessel elements, septa in parenchyma cells, and aluminum in the G-layer of the gelatinous fiber walls, in the septa of fibers, in cambial initials and derivatives cell walls, and in the vacuole of ray cells are recorded for the first time for Melastomataceae. The results of this study indicate an additional role for gelatinous fibers in Al-accumulation, and offer a new perspective on Al-compartmentalization in the wood cells from Cerrado species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study was the analysis of the very mechanisms of the heart wall trabeculation and compactization, as well as these processes interaction and their morphogenetic role in the development of spatial myocardium organization. The serial sections of the embryonic human and rat myocardium have been processed with standard histological methods. It has been revealed that myocardial compactization is related to the trabecules internal structure rebuilding. Spatial-directional role belongs to the developing capillary network. Proliferation of the endothelal cells growing into trabecules activates proliferation of cardiomyocites. Therefore, vasculogenesis and myocardial compactization, based on cyclic proliferation of cardiomyocytes and endotheliocytes, are the topologically correlated and phase-synchronized processes.

The medical community needs an objective quantification of non-compacted cardiomyopathy, characterized by a trabeculated mass in the left ventricle myocardium. Based on a software tool proposed for the automatic quantification of the exact hyper-trabeculation degree in the left ventricle myocardium, where the trabecular and the compacted zones are detected, we have designed, developed and tested a training engine for an automatic adjustment of the threshold to identify the trabecular zones and the intensity of the black zone in order to determine the external layer of the compacted zone. Significant improvements are obtained with respect to the manual process and the automatic software tool aided by cardiologists, so saving valuable diagnosis time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolated left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) is a myocardial disorder characterised by prominent ventricular trabeculations and deep recesses extending from the LV cavity to the subendocardial surface of the LV. Up to now, there is no common and stable solution in the medical community for quantifying and valuing the non-compacted cardiomyopathy. A software tool for the automatic quantification of the exact hyper-trabeculation degree in the left ventricle myocardium is designed, developed and tested. This tool is based on medical experience, but the possibility of the human appreciation error has been eliminated. The input data for this software are the cardiac images of the patients obtained by means of magnetic resonance. The output results are the percentage quantification of the trabecular zone with respect to the compacted area. This output is compared with human processing performed by medical specialists. The software proves to be a valuable tool to help diagnosis, so saving valuable diagnosis time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subchronic intoxications induced in male rats by repeated intraperitoneal injections of lead acetate and cadmium chloride, administered either alone or in combination, are shown to affect the biochemical, cytological and morphometric parameters of blood, liver, heart and kidneys. The single twitch parameters of myocardial trabecular and papillary muscle preparations were measured in the isometric regime to identify changes in the heterometric (length-force) and chronoinotropic (frequency-force) contractility regulation systems. Differences in the responses of these systems in trabecules and papillary muscles to the above intoxications are shown. A number of myocardium mechanical characteristics changing in rats under the effect of a combined lead-cadmium intoxication and increased proportion of α-myosin heavy chains were observed to normalize fully or partially if such intoxication was induced against background administration of a proposed bioprotective complex. Based on the experimental results and literature data, some assumptions are suggested concerning the mechanisms of the cardiotoxic effects produced by lead and cadmium., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.)