Cardiovascular responses to arginine vasopressin blockade during acute hypoxemia in the llama fetus

The fetal llama has a marked increase in the peripheral vascular resistance and no augmentation of brain blood flow during hypoxemia. In spite of the substantial plasma arginine-vasopressin (AVP) increase during hypoxemia, up to 8 times greater than in fetal sheep, there are no changes of carotid and femoral blood flows during hypoxemia with a V1 receptor blockade, as is seen in the fetal sheep. The aim of this study was to assess the role of AVP function in mediating the combined ventricular output and organ blood flow in the hypoxemic llama fetus. Six fetal llamas at 0.65 of gestation were instrumented under general anesthesia, and cardiorespiratory responses and blood flows determined under normoxemic and hypoxemic conditions. The AVP effect was determined using a V1 antagonist during normoxemic and hypoxemic conditions. Organ blood flows were measured with the radioactive microsphere technique. No significant differences in organ blood flow or in their vascular resistances were seen between the control and treated fetuses during hypoxemia. We conclude that V1 blockade did not have any important role in the cardiovascular response to acute hypoxemia in the llama fetus, in contrast with lowland fetuses. AVP may be playing a role in other regions, possibly in kidney or lung, during hypoxemia.     

Forensic identification of skeletal remains from members of Ernesto Che Guevara’s guerrillas in Bolivia based on DNA typing

We report the positive identification of several members of the guerrillas led by Ernesto “Che” Guevara on the 1960 s in Bolivia by means of DNA fingerprinting. Successful DNA typing of both short tandem repeat loci and the hypervariable region of the human mitochondrial DNA was achieved after extracting total DNA from bones obtained from two burial sites. Given the size of the Cuban database for the STR allele frequencies, a conservative approach was followed to estimate the statistical significance of the genetic evidence. The estimated probabilities of paternity for the two cases in which the paternity logic was applied were higher than 99%. One case was analyzed using mitochondrial DNA and could not be excluded from the identity proposed by the forensic anthropology team. A fourth case was identified by exclusion, on the basis of the positive identification of the other remains, the historical and other anthropological evidence. Received: 19 January 1999 / Received in revised form: 15 April 1999     

Condylomas of the uterine cervix initially interpreted as squamous carcinoma: a report of four cases including a lesion resembling the Buschke-Loewenstein giant condyloma

The recognition of human papilloma virus (HPV)-induced cervicovaginal condylomatous lesions is in a period of dynamic development. It is estimated that condylomatous involvement of the uterine cervix is epidemic and that is particularly true in the younger, more sexually active woman. While cervical condylomas are often associated with cervical dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, or even invasive carcinoma, they are sometimes misdiagnosed as these entities. Four cases of cervical condylomas are presented that were clinically suspicious for malignancy and initially interpreted as squamous carcinomas on the basis of the histopathological findings.     

Assessment of Angiogenesis and Cell Survivability of an Inkjet Bioprinted Biological Implant in an Animal Model

The rapidly growing field of tissue engineering hopes to soon address the shortage of transplantable tissues, allowing for precise control and fabrication that could be made for each specific patient. The protocols currently in place to print large-scale tissues have yet to address the main challenge of nutritional deficiencies in the central areas of the engineered tissue, causing necrosis deep within and rendering it ineffective. Bioprinted microvasculature has been proposed to encourage angiogenesis and facilitate the mobility of oxygen and nutrients throughout the engineered tissue. An implant made via an inkjet printing process containing human microvascular endothelial cells was placed in both B17-SCID and NSG-SGM3 animal models to determine the rate of angiogenesis and degree of cell survival. The implantable tissues were made using a combination of alginate and gelatin type B; all implants were printed via previously published procedures using a modified HP inkjet printer. Histopathological results show a dramatic increase in the average microvasculature formation for mice that received the printed constructs within the implant area when compared to the manual and control implants, indicating inkjet bioprinting technology can be effectively used for vascularization of engineered tissues.     

Long-term PM2.5 exposure before diagnosis is associated with worse outcome in breast cancer

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment - Many patients seek breast reconstruction following mastectomy. Debate exists regarding the best reconstructive option. The authors evaluate outcomes comparing...     

Agar Biopolymer Films for Biodegradable Packaging: A Reference Dataset for Exploring the Limits of Mechanical Performance

This article focuses on agar biopolymer films that offer promise for developing biodegradable packaging, an important solution for reducing plastics pollution. At present there is a lack of data on the mechanical performance of agar biopolymer films using a simple plasticizer. This study takes a Design of Experiments approach to analyze how agar-glycerin biopolymer films perform across a range of ingredients concentrations in terms of their strength, elasticity, and ductility. Our results demonstrate that by systematically varying the quantity of agar and glycerin, tensile properties can be achieved that are comparable to agar-based materials with more complex formulations. Not only does our study significantly broaden the amount of data available on the range of mechanical performance that can be achieved with simple agar biopolymer films, but the data can also be used to guide further optimization efforts that start with a basic formulation that performs well on certain property dimensions. We also find that select formulations have similar tensile properties to thermoplastic starch (TPS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polypropylene (PP), indicating potential suitability for select packaging applications. We use our experimental dataset to train a neural network regression model that predicts the Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation at break of agar biopolymer films given their composition. Our findings support the development of further data-driven design and fabrication workflows.