169,929 research outputs found
Practical approach to obtain the mid-sagittal plane of the fetal face at 11-13 weeks' gestation by two-dimensional ultrasound
No full text'Bat-like' choroid plexus and other sonographic features in trisomy 22 at the first trimester of pregnancy.
No full textCerato-platanin from C. fimbriata f. sp. platani is an host resistance inducing protein and is produced by other strains of C. fimbriata and by some other species of the genus Ceratocystis
No full textCerato-platanin (CP) is a 120 amino acids protein [1, 5], produced by the Ascomycete Ceratocystis fimbriata f. sp. platani (Cfp), the causal agent of the plane canker stain. The species C. fimbriata attacks various other plants of considerable importance in agriculture, forestry and for their ornamental value; as a rule, one fungal strain isolated from one host is not virulent on the other plant species, and conversely, susceptible hosts are resistant to C. fimbriata strains if they come from hosts other than themselves. This means that the forma specialis platani of the species C. fimbriata attacks only the trees belonging to the genus Platanus, but not the hosts of the all other formae speciales of the fungus. CP is located in the cell walls of Cfp ascospores, hyphae and conidia, and is early secreted when Cfp is grown in liquid culture [2, 3]. CP elicits phytoalexin synthesis and/or cell necrosis in host and in non-host tissues; in plane leaves the main effects of CP are to cause a great increase in primary starch and a certain degree of intercellular and intracellular disorganization of the spongy parenchyma cells and plasmolysis processes; in addition, an increase of intracellular phenolic compounds has been observed in the palisade cells [3, 4]. In the present work we report that the minimum CP concentration able to induce the decrease of the 50% Cfp growth on plane leaves is of about 5 x 10-5 M; the maximum inducing effect has been obtained 24-48 hours post treatment. At this time, numerous defense-related genes are over-expressed, as it has been shown by Suppressive Subtractive Hybridisation. Moreover, results so far obtained by immunotechnical experiments on a total of 17 strains (9 of C. fimbriata, as well as 1 isolate each of C. moniliforme, C. allantospora, C. fagacearum, C. laricicola, C. ambrosia, Microascus cirrosus, Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo-ulmi) indicate that a CP-homologous protein occurs in all strains of C. fimbriata and in some other species of Ceratocystis. For some strains of C. fimbriata the coding sequences of the cp-hortologous genes have been obtained, and then the sequences of the deduced proteins. BIBLIOGRAFIA 1. Pazzagli L, Cappugi G, Manao G, Camici G, Santini A and Scala A, 1999. Purification of cerato-platanin, a new phytotoxic protein from Ceratocystis fimbriata f.sp. platani. Journal of Biological Chemistry 274: 24959-24964. 2. Boddi S, Comparini C, Calamassi R, Pazzagli L, Cappugi G and Scala A, 2004. Cerato-platanin protein is located in the cell walls of ascospores, conidia and hyphae of Ceratocystis fimbriata f. sp. platani. FEMS Microbiology Letters 233: 341-346. 3. Scala A, Pazzagli L, Comparini C, Santini A, Tegli S and Cappugi G, 2004. Cerato-platanin, an early-produced protein by Ceratocystis fimbriata f. sp. platani, elicits phytoalexin synthesis in host and non-host plants. Journal of Plant Pathology 86: 23-29. 4. Bennici A, Calamassi R, Pazzagli L, Comparini C, Schiff S, Bovelli R, Mori B, Tani C and Scala A, 2005. Cytological and ultrastructural responses of Platanus acerifolia (Ait.) Willd. leaves to cerato-platanin, a protein from Ceratocystis fimbriata f. sp. platani. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 44: 153-161. 5. Pazzagli L, Pantera B, Carresi L, Zoppi C, Pertinhez TA, Spisni A, Tegli S, Scala A, Cappugi G, 2006. Cerato-platanin, the first member of a new fungal protein family: cloning, expression and characterization. Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics 44: 512-521
Detailed fetal anatomy assessment in the first trimester at 11, 12 and 13 weeks of gestation.
No full textOBJECTIVE:
The aim of the present observational study was to evaluate the feasibility of a morphological scan and determine the detection rate of fetal organs, structures and systems in the first trimester of pregnancy.
METHODS:
977 single pregnant women attending our Fetal Medicine Section to undergo first trimester screening for aneuploidies were enrolled and divided into three groups depending on gestational age and crown-rump-length measurement. Scans targeted on a total of 26 fetal anatomical structures were performed by a single operator.
RESULTS:
The overall detection rate was 96% at 11 weeks and reached 100% at 12 and 13 weeks, with a significant statistical difference between 11 and 12/13 weeks for the majority of the investigated fetal anatomical structures.
CONCLUSIONS:
Evaluation of most part of the fetal anatomical structures is feasible with high accuracy in the first trimester. Visualization of the majority of the targeted fetal organs improves from 11 to 13 weeks
Does nuchal translucency thickness in the first trimester predict GDM onset during pregnancy?
No full textBACKGROUND AND AIMS:
This study was planned to evaluate whether increased nuchal translucency (NT) thickness in the first trimester of gestation can be related to onset of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy.
METHODS:
From January 2006 to August 2008, a group of 678 singleton pregnancies who had developed GDM has been selected as a study group among a total of 3966 pregnant women who had undergone first trimester screening for aneuploidies at 11-14 weeks of gestation. A group of 420 single pregnant women with physiological pregnancy were enrolled as control group. Both fetal structural and karyotype's anomalies were excluded in the two groups. NT was mesured by a Fetal Medicine Foundation certificated operator; GDM was diagnosed at 24-28 weeks of gestation following Carpenter and Coustan criteria. In the analyses of continuos variables, study and control group were compared by Student's t-test and Anova test.
RESULTS:
There was no significative difference (p = 0.585) between NT values in the study (mean = 1.56) and control group (mean = 1.54).
CONCLUSIONS:
NT thickness does not show a significative increase in those women who subsequently develop GDM. Therefore, NT assessment does not prove to be an useful ultrasound parameter for predicting GDM onset during pregnancy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Autenticidade: entre socialização e embriaguez
No full textLUCHI, José Pedro. Autenticidade: entre socialização e embriaguez. Argumentos Revista de Filosofia, Fortaleza, ano 8, n. 15, p. 189-201, jan./jun. 2016.This article confronts different aspects from the authenticity concept. Ch. Taylor
sees the authenticity as the construction of subjective originality that always implies
a reference to social values and also investigates their cultural roots and its risks.
His conceptual elaboration of the authenticity ideal includes expressionist shift, and
its expansion to all social levels. The proposal is not the rejection of the ideal of selfrealization
but to redeem their best promises. C. Menke, inspired by Nietzsche,
thinks the artistic-existential creativity, thematising the esthetic concept of force,
that points to pre-social sources of what is new. The complete well-being, for Menke,
must combine as much inclusion in the social rules as energy of unsocial forces.Este artigo confronta diferentes aspectos do conceito de autenticidade. Ch. Taylor
vê autenticidade como construção da própria originalidade subjetiva que implica
sempre uma referência aos valores sociais e investiga também suas raízes culturais
e seus riscos. Sua elaboração conceitual do ideal da autenticidade inclui a guinada
expressivista e sua ampliação a todas as camadas sociais. A proposta não é de
rejeição do ideal da autorrealização, mas de resgate de suas melhores promessas.
C. Menke, inspirando-se em Nietzsche, pensa a criatividade artístico-existencial,
tematizando o conceito estético de força, que acena para as fontes pré-sociais do
que é novo. O Bem completo, para Menke, deve conjugar tanto a inserção nas
regras sociais como a energia de forças associais
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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