Defect structures in FeAl B2 alloys GIALANELLA, S; BRUSA, R. S; DENG, W ...
Journal of alloys and compounds,
2001, Letnik:
317-18
Conference Proceeding
Treatment of acute optic neuritis with steroids has been shown to hasten visual recovery without affecting the final degree of recovery. However, MRI-clinical studies indicate that patients with long ...optic nerve lesions, particularly those that involve the nerve within the optic canal, may have a worse prognosis for recovery of vision. Partly because such lesions could lead to swelling and subsequent ischemic optic nerve damage, steroids could have a selective beneficial effect on this subgroup of patients. The present randomized trial was designed to test this possibility. Sixty-six patients with acute optic neuritis received IV saline or IV methylprednisolone. The clinical, psychophysical, electrophysiologic, and MRI outcomes were assessed after 6 months. Patients with short lesions presented earlier than those with long lesions (involving three or more 5-mm-thick slices of any part of the optic nerve, as well as its intracanalicular portion), and lesion length was significantly less in patients presenting within a week of onset of symptoms. Lesions also tended to lengthen during follow-up in individual patients. Treatment did not limit lesion length in either the long or short lesion subgroup and had no significant effect on final visual outcome. We conclude that steroids do not improve visual outcome or lesion length in patients with acute optic neuritis.
Many species of turbellarians (Platyhelminthes) are known to live associated with other organisms, especially invertebrates, as commensals or parasites. The family Graffillidae (Rhabdocoela) includes ...two genera that parasitize mollusks, Graffílla and Paravortex. Within the latter genus, six species were described as associated with mollusks. In other instances, unnamed Paravortex species were mentioned as parasites of other bivalves and of the body surface of fishes. In the present work, a new Paravortex species that was found in the intestine of Mesodesma mactroides from the Atlantic coast of Uruguay is described. In addition, a bibliographical revision of the known Paravortex species with their respective hosts, location, and distribution is made. Paravortex nicolli, described by Szidat for the Argentinean coast, is mentioned for the first time after the original description, and the authorship and date of description of Paravortex tapetis Noury-Sraïri 1989 are elucidated.
The XXL Survey Pierre, M.; Pacaud, F.; Adami, C. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
2016, Letnik:
592
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context. The quest for the cosmological parameters that describe our universe continues to motivate the scientific community to undertake very large survey initiatives across the electromagnetic ...spectrum. Over the past two decades, the Chandra and XMM-Newton observatories have supported numerous studies of X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and the X-ray background. The present paper is the first in a series reporting results of the XXL-XMM survey; it comes at a time when the Planck mission results are being finalised. Aims. We present the XXL Survey, the largest XMM programme totaling some 6.9 Ms to date and involving an international consortium of roughly 100 members. The XXL Survey covers two extragalactic areas of 25 deg2 each at a point-source sensitivity of ~5 × 10-15 erg s-1 cm-2 in the 0.5−2 keV band (completeness limit). The survey’s main goals are to provide constraints on the dark energy equation of state from the space-time distribution of clusters of galaxies and to serve as a pathfinder for future, wide-area X-ray missions. We review science objectives, including cluster studies, AGN evolution, and large-scale structure, that are being conducted with the support of approximately 30 follow-up programmes. Methods. We describe the 542 XMM observations along with the associated multi-λ and numerical simulation programmes. We give a detailed account of the X-ray processing steps and describe innovative tools being developed for the cosmological analysis. Results. The paper provides a thorough evaluation of the X-ray data, including quality controls, photon statistics, exposure and background maps, and sky coverage. Source catalogue construction and multi-λ associations are briefly described. This material will be the basis for the calculation of the cluster and AGN selection functions, critical elements of the cosmological and science analyses. Conclusions. The XXL multi-λ data set will have a unique lasting legacy value for cosmological and extragalactic studies and will serve as a calibration resource for future dark energy studies with clusters and other X-ray selected sources. With the present article, we release the XMM XXL photon and smoothed images along with the corresponding exposure maps.
A direct pathophysiological role of Familial Alzheimer's Disease (FAD)-associated Presenilin 1 (PS1) mutations in neuronal vulnerability remains a controversial matter. We evaluated the relationship ...between PS1 and excitotoxicity in four different experimental models of neurotoxicity by using primary neurons from (i) transgenic (tg) mice overexpressing a human FAD-linked PS1 variant (L286V mutation), (ii) tg mice overexpressing human wild-type (wt) PS1, (iii) PS1 knockout mice, and (iv) wt mice in which PS1 gene expression was knocked down by antisense treatment. We found that primary neurons overexpressing mutated PS1 showed an increased vulnerability to both excitotoxic and hypoxic-hypoglycemic damage when compared with neurons obtained from either mice overexpressing human wt PS1 or in wt mice. In addition, reduced excitotoxic damage was obtained in neurons in which PS1 expression was absent or diminished. Data obtained in in vivo experimental models of excitotoxicity partially supported the in vitro observations. Accelerated neuronal death was demonstrated in the hippocampus of mice overexpressing mutated PS1 after peripheral administration of kainic acid in comparison with wt animals. However, measurement of the infarct volume after middle cerebral artery occlusion did not show significant difference between the two animal groups. The results altogether suggest that expression of FAD-linked PS1 variants increases the vulnerability of neurons to a specific type of damage in which excitotoxicity plays a relevant role. In addition, they support the view that reduction of endogenous PS1 expression results in neuroprotection.
Since the cannabinoid system is involved in regulating several physiological functions such as locomotor activity, cognition, nociception, food intake, and inflammatory reaction, it has been the ...subject of intense study. Research on the pharmacology of this system has enormously progressed in the last 20years. One intriguing aspect that emerged from this research is that cannabinoid receptors (CBs) express a high level of constitutive activity. Investigation on this particular aspect of receptor pharmacology has largely focused on CB1, the CB subtype highly expressed in several brain regions. More recently, research on constitutive activity on the other CB subtype, CB2, was stimulated by the increasing interest on its potential as target for the treatment of various pathologies (e.g., pain and inflammation). There are several possible implications of constitutive activity on the therapeutic action of both agonists and antagonists, and consequently, it is important to have valuable methods to study this aspect of CB2 pharmacology. In the present chapter, we describe three methods to study constitutive activity at CB2: two classical methods relying on the detection of changes in cAMP level and GTPγS binding and a new one based on cell impedance measurement. In addition, we also included a section on detection of protean agonism, which is an interesting pharmacological phenomenon strictly linked to constitutive activity.
PDF
