Relative food intake of rats submitted to a moderate transgenerational undernutrition

An experiment on rat undernutrition through seven generations was performed in order to see: (1) whether the nutritional stress on growth increases from one generation to the next, and (2) if an equilibrium point (AFP) in which the RFI--the amount of food intake (mg) per gram of body weight--reached is the same in both control and undernourished animals. The RFI values were calculated for each generation, between the 30th and 100th days of age. A moderate undernutrition was applied to the seven generations (F1 to F7) following the parental (P) one, which acted as controls. Undernourishment was made from conception to the end of the experiment (100 days old). The RFI values diminished with the age increment and increased through generations. There was, however, a clear AFP of 75.9 +/- 3.5 mg/g at 100 days of age in males, and of 78.7 +/- 4.2 mg/g at 90 days of age in females. A clear cumulative increment of RFI through the filial generations was also found at intermediate growth ages. The frequently argued nongenetic transmission of the nutritional deficiencies from parents to descendants was corroborated with the present results. Such cumulative effect was evident at ages before the AFP was reached; i.e., when the decrement in body mass of the undernourished animals was not yet equilibrated with the amount of available nutrients.     

Effects of dexamethasone and transient malnutrition on rabbits infected with aerosolized Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDC1551

Malnutrition is common in the developing world, where tuberculosis is often endemic. Rabbits infected with aerosolized Mycobacterium tuberculosis that subsequently became inadvertently and transiently malnourished had compromised cell-mediated immunity comparable to that of the rabbits immunosuppressed with dexamethasone. They had significant leukopenia and reduced delayed-type hypersensitivity responses. Malnutrition dampened cell-mediated immunity and would interfere with diagnostic tests that rely on intact CD4 T-cell responses.     

Combining diagnosis and treatment using ASBRU

Traditionally, diagnosis and treatment have been seen as two distinct tasks. Consequently, most approaches to computer supported health care focus on one of the two-mostly on diagnosis or rather on the interpretation of measurements which is much better understood and formalised. However, in practice diagnosis and treatment overlap and influence each other in many ways. Combinations range from repeatedly going through the diagnosis-treatment loop over a period of time to permanent monitoring of the patients' health condition as it is done in intensive care units. In this article we describe how to model these combinations using the clinical protocol-representation language ASBRU. It implements treatment steps in a hierarchy of skeletal, time-oriented plans. Diagnosis can either be described in a declarative way in the conditions, under which treatment steps are taken or it can be modelled explicitly as plans of their own right. We demonstrate our approach using examples taken from the American Association of Paediatricians' guideline for the treatment of hyperbilirubinemia in the new-born.     

Profilin-mediated food-induced allergic reactions are associated with oral epithelial remodeling

1. Download high-res image (218KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Management of chronic viral hepatitis in HIV-infected patients: Spanish Consensus Conference. October 2000

Co-infection by human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B and C viruses is quite common because they share similar routes of transmission. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy has significantly improved the life expectancy of HIV-infected patients in the last few years. However, chronic viral hepatitis represents an emerging cause of morbidity and mortality in this population, either as a result of end-stage liver disease or as a consequence of hepatotoxicity induced by antiretroviral drugs. The main goal of the Consensus Conference was to establish specific recommendations for the management of chronic viral hepatitis B and C in HIV-infected patients. The role of orthotopic liver transplantation for co-infected individuals with end-stage liver disease was also assessed.     

Postoperative spindle cell nodule of the breast: Pseudosarcomatous myofibroblastic proliferation following endo‐surgery

Despite the frequent use of fine‐needle aspiration, core biopsy and surgery, postoperative spindle cell nodule (PSCN) is a rare pathological complication that may be diagnostically treacherous. Presented herein is the case of a 52‐year‐old woman who developed a 7 mm mammary nodular lesion 66 days after removal of an area of columnar cell hyperplasia involving cellular and architectural atypia, performed with the Mammotome Breast Biopsy System. The lesion was highly cellular and composed of intersecting fascicles of plump spindle cells with blunt‐ended elongated nuclei and nucleoli easily visible. Interspersed mononuclear cells and hemosiderin‐laden macrophages were evident. PSCN is a reactive, benign myofibroblastic proliferation. Differential diagnosis includes benign and malignant spindle cell lesions of the breast. Recognition of this reactive lesion will avoid overdiagnosis of spindle cell malignant tumor. Attention to clinicopathological and histological features should result in accurate recognition of this lesion.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">rpl5</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">rps14</Emphasis> mitochondrial region: a hot spot for DNA rearrangements in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum</Emphasis> spp. somatic hybrids

Southern analysis with rpl5 and rps14 mtDNA gene probes of Solanum tuberosum, S. commersonii and a sample of somatic hybrids detected polymorphisms between parents and the appearance of a novel restriction fragment in various hybrids. In one of them, detailed mtDNA analyses revealed various configurations of the rpl5–rps14 region present at different stoichiometries. Multiple inter-parental recombination events across homologous sequences were assumed to have caused these rearrangements. Sequence similarity searches detected one sequence putatively involved in the recombination upstream of the rpl5 gene. The presence of a second recombinogenic sequence was inferred. We propose two models to explain the mechanism responsible for obtaining the different rpl5–rps14 arrangements shown after somatic hybridization. Variability in the rpl5–rps14 region observed in both the parental species and their somatic hybrids suggests this region is a hot spot for mtDNA rearrangements in Solanum spp.Contribution no. 39 from the Institute of Plant Genetics, Research Division of Portici.Communicated by A. Brennicke