BACKGROUND Endometriosis a highly prevalent, benign disease in which the angiogenic, fibrinolytic and metalloproteinase (MMP) systems may be implicated. The objective of this study is to analyse mRNA ...expression and protein levels of several angiogenic factors and to correlate them with several components of the fibrinolytic and MMP systems in samples from 71 women with endometriosis and 50 controls. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eutopic endometrium showed higher mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients than in controls. However, ovarian endometrioma had lower VEGF mRNA levels than did the eutopic endometrium of patients. Similar results were obtained for VEGF protein levels. On the other hand, a significant increase in thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) levels was observed in ovarian endometrioma than in eutopic endometrium. The peritoneal fluid from women with endometriosis showed a significant increase in VEGF, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and MMP-3 levels than that of controls. A significant correlation was observed between the levels of VEGF and uPA in endometrium and in peritoneal fluid. CONCLUSIONS Endometrium and peritoneal fluid from women with endometriosis have increased levels of VEGF, uPA and MMP-3 levels. Therefore, the development of endometriotic implants at ectopic sites may be facilitated, promoting the progress of the endometriosis.
Shunt active power filters have been proved as useful elements to correct distorted currents caused by nonlinear loads in power distribution systems. This paper presents an all-digital approach based ...on a particular repetitive control technique for their control. Specifically, a digital repetitive plug-in controller for odd-harmonic discrete-time periodic references and disturbances is used for the current control loops of the active filter. This approach does not introduce a high gain at those frequencies for which it is not needed and, thus, improves robustness of the controlled system. The active power balance of the whole system is assured by an outer control loop, which is designed from an energy-balancing perspective. The design is performed for a three-phase four-wire shunt active filter with a full-bridge boost topology. Several experimental results are also presented to show the good behavior of the closed-loop system
Caused by
, tuberculosis (TB) is an extremely contagious disease predominantly affecting the lungs. TB is found worldwide and has a major impact on public health safety primarily due to its high ...mortality rate. Applied for over a hundred years as a preventive measure,
BCG remains the only available TB vaccine. Only one seminal study about the apoptotic pathways induced by this vaccine in the monocytic lineage of the host cell has found the effects of BCG on regulation of apoptosis. The aim of this study was to explore beyond that pioneer study the pathway related to the in vitro cell-death pattern and the inflammatory response to the BCG vaccine in human monocytes.
Cohorts of HIV-negative volunteers were enrolled: adult Healthy Donors (HD) and neonates' Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) individuals. Host mononuclear cells were infected with the
Moreau strain of BCG vaccine at 16, 24, 48, and 72 h. The Real-Time RT-PCR for TRADD, Bcl-2, and Caspases-1 and -3 were performed, and supernatants were assayed in parallel for Caspase-1, NLRP3, HO-1, and IL-1β levels whereas caspases were assessed intracellularly. The effect of a BCG infection in monocytes was characterized via a metabolic activity assay by LDH release profiles.
Overall, the BCG vaccine induced significantly higher Caspase-1 and Bcl-2 mRNA levels in both the HD and UCB groups (
-value ≤0.05). In addition, a significant increase solely in Caspase-1 protein levels was also noted in both HD and UCB (
-value ≤0.05) notwithstanding the absence of any damaged cell membranes.
Our data directly corroborate other findings showing that BCG Moreau led to an increased secretion of IL-1β but not IL-18, two Caspase-1-activated cytokines, and are also in support of the model that the BCG Moreau infection of human mononuclear cells may induce a cell-death pattern involving Caspase-1 activation.
Recently, it has been reported that mitochondria possess a novel pathway for nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. This pathway is induced when cells experience hypoxia, is nitrite (NO₂⁻)-dependent, is ...independent of NO synthases, and is catalyzed by cytochrome c oxidase (Cco). It has been proposed that this mitochondrially produced NO is a component of hypoxic signaling and the induction of nuclear hypoxic genes. In this study, we examine the NO₂⁻-dependent NO production in yeast engineered to contain alternative isoforms, Va or Vb, of Cco subunit V. Previous studies have shown that these isoforms have differential effects on oxygen reduction by Cco, and that their genes (COX5a and COX5b, respectively) are inversely regulated by oxygen. Here, we find that the Vb isozyme has a higher turnover rate for NO production than the Va isozyme and that the Vb isozyme produces NO at much higher oxygen concentrations than the Va isozyme. We have also found that the hypoxic genes CYC7 and OLE1 are induced to higher levels in a strain carrying the Vb isozyme than in a strain carrying the Va isozyme. Together, these results demonstrate that the subunit V isoforms have differential effects on NO₂⁻-dependent NO production by Cco and provide further support for a role of Cco in hypoxic signaling. These findings also suggest a positive feedback mechanism in which mitochondrially produced NO induces expression of COX5b, whose protein product then functions to enhance the ability of Cco to produce NO in hypoxic/anoxic cells.
Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only vaccine available against tuberculosis, and the strains used worldwide represent a family of daughter strains with distinct genotypic ...characteristics. Here we report the complete genome sequence of M. bovis BCG Moreau, the strain in continuous use in Brazil for vaccine production since the 1920s.
Kaoliniferous sand and washed industrial kaolin obtained from it were calcined (750 degree C) or milling prior to activation with NaOH. The changes were characterized by pH, cation exchange capacity ...(CEC), water capacity after calcination (WCC), particle size distribution (PSD) and specific surface area (S sub(BET)), as well as by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermal methods (TGA and DTA), and scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Alkali activation of thermally or mechanically modified kaolin increased the cation exchange capacity from 2.4 to 292.8 and from 3.0 to 279.9 cmol kg super(-) super(1) (samples WT and WM respectively). Alkali activation of mechanically modified kaoliniferous sand (OMA), and thermally and mechanically modified washed kaolin (WTA and WMA), yielded zeolite A. An unnamed zeolite, forming microspheres of 0.8-2.3 mu m in size, was also formed in mechanically modified kaoliniferous sand (OMA), washed kaolin (WA) and calcined washed kaolin (WTA) after alkali-activation. Structural disorder in the mechanically modified washed kaolin (WMA) favored the formation of a single type of zeolite.
Interscalene brachial plexus block is associated with phrenic nerve paralysis. The objective of this study was to evaluate an alternative approach to interscalene brachial plexus blocks in terms of ...efficacy, grade of motor and sensory blockade, and phrenic nerve blockade.
The study was prospective and interventional. The ten living patients studied were 18 to 65 years old, ASA physical status I or II, and submitted to correction of rotator cuff injury. A superior trunk blockade was performed at the superior trunk below the omohyoid muscle, without blocking the phrenic nerve. The needle was advanced below the prevertebral layer until contacting the superior trunk. In order to guarantee the correct positioning of the needle tip, an intracluster pattern of the spread was visualized. The block was performed with 5.ßmL of 0.5% bupivacaine in ten patients. In the six cadavers, 5.ßmL of methylene blue was injected. Diaphragmatic excursion was assessed by ultrasonography of the ipsilateral hemidiaphragm. In three patients, pulmonary ventilation was evaluated with impedance tomography. Pain scores and analgesic consumption were assessed in the recovery room for 6.ßhours after the blockade.
In the six cadavers, methylene blue didn...t reach the phrenic nerve. Ten patients underwent arthroscopic surgery, and no clinically phrenic nerve paralysis was observed. No patient reported pain during the first 6.ßhours.
This study suggests that this new superior trunk approach to block the superior trunk may be an alternative technique to promote analgesia for shoulder surgery in patients with impaired respiratory function.
Shunt active power filters have been proved as useful elements to correct distorted currents caused by nonlinear loads in power distribution systems. This work presents an all-digital approach, based ...on the repetitive control technique, for their control. In particular, a special digital repetitive plug-in controller for odd-harmonic discrete-time periodic references and disturbances is used. This approach does not introduce high gain at those frequencies for which it is not needed, and thus it improves robustness. Additionally, the necessary data memory capacity is lower than in traditional repetitive controllers. The design is performed for the particular case of single-phase shunt active filter with a full-bridge boost topology. Several experimental results are also presented to show the good behavior of the closed-loop system.
This paper presents a fully integrated CMOS receiver front-end based on a direct conversion architecture for UMTS/802.11b-g and a low-IF architecture at 100 kHz for DCS1800. The two key building ...blocks are a multiband low-noise amplifier (LNA) that uses positive feedback to improve its gain and a highly linear mixer. The front-end, integrated in a 0.13 mu m CMOS process, exhibits a minimum noise figure of 5.2 dB, a programmable gain that can be varied from 13.5 to 28.5 dB, an IIP3 of more than -7.5 dBm and an IIP2 better than 50 dBm. The total current consumption is 20mA from a 1.2V supply.
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is currently the second greatest killer worldwide and is caused by a single infectious agent. Since Bacillus Calmette−Guérin (BCG) is the only vaccine currently in use ...against TB, studies addressing the protective role of BCG in the context of inducible surface biomarkers are urgently required for TB control. Methods: In this study, groups of HIV-negative adult healthy donors (HD; n = 22) and neonate samples (UCB; n = 48) were voluntarily enrolled. The BCG Moreau strain was used for the in vitro mononuclear cell infections. Subsequently, phenotyping tools were used for surface biomarker detection. Monocytes were assayed for TLR4, B7-1, Dectin-1, EP2, and TIM-3 expression levels. Results: At 48 h, the BCG Moreau induced the highest TLR4, B7-1, and Dectin-1 levels in the HD group only (p-value < 0.05). TIM-3 expression failed to be modulated after BCG infection. At 72 h, BCG Moreau equally induced the highest EP2 levels in the HD group (p-value < 0.005), and higher levels were also found in HD when compared with the UCB group (p-value < 0.05). Conclusions: This study uncovers critical roles for biomarkers after the instruction of host monocyte activation patterns. Understanding the regulation of human innate immune responses is critical for vaccine development and for treating infectious diseases.
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