Slow Waves Promote Sleep-Dependent Plasticity and Functional Recovery after Stroke.

Functional recovery after stroke is associated with a remapping of neural circuits. This reorganization is often associated with low-frequency, high-amplitude oscillations in the peri-infarct zone in both rodents and humans. These oscillations are reminiscent of sleep slow waves (SW) and suggestive of a role for sleep in brain plasticity that occur during stroke recovery; however, direct evidence is missing.

Sleep as a model to understand neuroplasticity and recovery after stroke: Observational, perturbational and interventional approaches.

Our own experiences with disturbances to sleep demonstrate its crucial role in the recovery of cognitive functions. This importance is likely enhanced in the recovery from stroke; both in terms of its physiology and cognitive abilities. Decades of experimental research have highlighted which aspects and mechanisms of sleep are likely to underlie these forms of recovery.

Sleep-Wake Disorders in Stroke-Increased Stroke Risk and Deteriorated Recovery? An Evaluation on the Necessity for Prevention and Treatment.

Purpose Of Review: Sleep-wake disorders (SWD) are common not only in the general population but also in stroke patients, in whom SWD may be pre-existent or appear "de novo" as a consequence of brain damage. Despite increasing evidence of a negative impact of SWD on cardiocerebrovascular risk, cognitive functions, and quality of life, SWD are insufficiently considered in the prevention and management of patients with stroke. This narrative review aims at summarizing the current data on the bidirectional link between SWD and stroke.

Evidence of the Zanclean megaflood in the eastern Mediterranean Basin.

The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) - the most abrupt, global-scale environmental change since the end of the Cretaceous - is widely associated with partial desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea. A major open question is the way normal marine conditions were abruptly restored at the end of the MSC. Here we use geological and geophysical data to identify an extensive, buried and chaotic sedimentary body deposited in the western Ionian Basin after the massive Messinian salts and before the Plio-Quaternary open-marine sedimentary sequence.

ADALIMUMAB FOR ULCERATIVE COLITIS: RESULTS OF A BRAZILIAN MULTICENTER OBSERVATIONAL STUDY.

Background: Adalimumab is a monoclonal antibody, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) inhibitor that has efficacy for inducing and maintaining remission in moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. Real world studies with adalimumab in Latin American ulcerative colitis patients are scarce.

Objective: To assess the clinical remission rates in induction and maintenance with adalimumab therapy in ulcerative colitis.

Role of REM Sleep, Melanin Concentrating Hormone and Orexin/Hypocretin Systems in the Sleep Deprivation Pre-Ischemia.

Study Objectives: Sleep reduction after stroke is linked to poor recovery in patients. Conversely, a neuroprotective effect is observed in animals subjected to acute sleep deprivation (SD) before ischemia. This neuroprotection is associated with an increase of the sleep, melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) and orexin/hypocretin (OX) systems.

Disruption of Epithalamic Left-Right Asymmetry Increases Anxiety in Zebrafish.

Differences between the left and right sides of the brain are found throughout the animal kingdom, but the consequences of altered neural asymmetry are not well understood. In the zebrafish epithalamus, the parapineal is located on the left side of the brain where it influences development of the adjacent dorsal habenular (dHb) nucleus, causing the left and right dHb to differ in their organization, gene expression, and connectivity. Left-right (L-R) reversal of parapineal position and dHb asymmetry occurs spontaneously in a small percentage of the population, whereas the dHb develop symmetrically following experimental ablation of the parapineal.

Under-reporting of accidents involving biological material by nursing professionals at a Brazilian emergency hospital.

Background: Pathogens can be transmitted to health professionals after contact with biological material. The exact number of infections deriving from these events is still unknown, due to the lack of systematic surveillance data and under-reporting.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out, involving 451 nursing professionals from a Brazilian tertiary emergency hospital between April and July 2009.

Isolation and genetic characterization of mother-of-snow-white, a maternal effect allele affecting laterality and lateralized behaviors in zebrafish.

In the present work we report evidence compatible with a maternal effect allele affecting left-right development and functional lateralization in vertebrates. Our study demonstrates that the increased frequency of reversed brain asymmetries in a zebrafish line isolated through a behavioral assay is due to selection of mother-of-snow-white (msw), a maternal effect allele involved in early stages of left-right development in zebrafish. msw homozygous females could be identified by screening of their progeny for the position of the parapineal organ because in about 50% of their offspring we found an altered, either bilateral or right-sided, expression of lefty1 and spaw.

The stucco decorations from St. Lorenzo in Laino (Como, Italy): The materials and the techniques employed by the "Magistri Comacini".

The paper reports a cross-cutting and systematic approach to the analytical study of Baroque stucco decorations by Italian artists known as "Magistri Comacini". Samples from the Church of St. Lorenzo in Laino (Como, Italy) were analysed using chemical and mineralogical techniques and the results interpreted with the help of art historians in order to enlighten the artistic techniques.

Determining the function of zebrafish epithalamic asymmetry.

As in many fishes, amphibians and reptiles, the epithalamus of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, develops with pronounced left-right (L-R) asymmetry. For example, in more than 95 per cent of zebrafish larvae, the parapineal, an accessory to the pineal organ, forms on the left side of the brain and the adjacent left habenular nucleus is larger than the right. Disruption of Nodal signalling affects this bias, producing equal numbers of larvae with the parapineal on the left or the right side and corresponding habenular reversals.

Lines of Danio rerio selected for opposite behavioural lateralization show differences in anatomical left-right asymmetries.

Previous studies suggest that laterality of the viscera, morphological asymmetries of the brain, and lateralization of cognitive functions have a common genetic origin. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an artificial selection experiment for behavioural lateralization of eye use in two strains (TL and GT) of zebrafish (Danio rerio), maintaining one selected line in each strain for five generations. In addition, we investigated, using molecular markers, whether there was any correlation among directionality in eye preference, diencephalic left-right asymmetries in the brain and positioning of the viscera.

Artificial selection on laterality in the teleost fish Girardinus falcatus.

We performed five generations of artificial selection on laterality of eye preference in Girardinus falcatus using a detour test. Two lines were selected for right turning when encountering a potential predator, two for left turning, one for no turning bias and one unselected line was used as control. We observed a prompt response to directional selection in all lines and the response was approximately symmetrical in left and right turning lines.

Heritability of lateralization in fish: concordance of right-left asymmetry between parents and offspring.

The poeciliid fish Girardinus falcatus shows a consistent population bias to detour a vertical-bar barrier preferentially leftwise when approaching a dummy predator to inspect it; the asymmetry seems to be due to a preferential use of the lateral field of the right eye during fixation of biologically relevant stimuli such as a predator. In order to unravel the origins of this lateral bias, we took advantage of the individual variability present in the natural population to perform artificial selection experiments. Males and females that scored similarly at the detour test were mated together and their progeny were tested in the same task.

What causes lateralization of detour behavior in fish? Evidence for asymmetries in eye use.

A consistent population bias to detour a vertical-bar barrier preferentially leftwise during approach to inspect a dummy predator was demonstrated in the poeciliid fish Girardinus falcatus. The asymmetry seems to be due to a preferential use of the lateral visual field of the right eye during fixation of biologically relevant stimuli such as a predator. Viewing tests revealed in fact that fish which tended to detour the barrier on the left side used the right eye to scrutiny a dummy predator and the left eye to scrutiny a neutral stimulus, whereas fish which tended to detour the barrier on the right side showed the reverse pattern of eye use; fish that did not show any consistent bias in the detour test did not reveal any significant preference in the viewing test.

[Role of hypertension in determining valvular diseases in patients with chronic uremia and dialytic treatment].

Patients in chronic dialysis have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, together with higher prevalence of hypertension and valvular diseases. It is not clear whether aortic and mitral defects are linked to the effect of chronic dialysis (for instance hypercalcaemia or hyperparathyroidism) or to hypertension. In order to see whether these factors could independently affect the single valve diseases we studied 48 patients in chronic dialysis.

Improved exercise tolerance after losartan and enalapril in heart failure: correlation with changes in skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain composition.

Background: In congestive heart failure, fatigue-resistant, oxidative, slow type I fibers are decreased in leg skeletal muscle, contributing to exercise capacity (EC) limitation. The mechanisms by which ACE inhibitors and AII antagonists improve EC is still unclear. We tested the hypothesis that improvement in EC is related to changes in skeletal muscle composition toward type I fibers.

[Integrated echocardiography (transthoracic-transesophageal) in the differential diagnosis of left atrial myxoma. Description of three clinical cases].

Myxomas are the most common of all primary cardiac tumors among adults; most of them originate from the left atrium in the area of the fossa ovalis. Although atrial myxomas are histologically and clinically benign tumors, they can rarely cause severe complications including embolization and sudden death caused by left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and coronary or cerebral embolization. Echocardiography (Transthoracic and transesophageal) has been considered as the procedure of choice for the diagnosis of atrial myxomas.

Lateralization of detour behaviour in poeciliid fish: the effect of species, gender and sexual motivation.

We studied detour responses of two species of poeciliid fish (Gambusia hoolbroki and Girardinus falcatus) faced with a vertical-bar barrier, through which conspecifics of the same or different sex or a simulated-predator (which induced detour behaviour for predator-inspection responses) were visible. Both species showed a consistent bias to turn leftward when faced with the predator, and a consistent bias to turn rightward when faced with an opaque barrier. Sexual stimuli (conspecifics of different sex) elicited a leftward bias in females that had been deprived of the presence of males for 2 months, whilst no bias was apparent in non-deprived females.

Skeletal muscle myosin heavy chains in heart failure: correlation between magnitude of the isozyme shift, exercise capacity, and gas exchange measurements.

Background: Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) have a reduced exercise capacity because of the early appearance of fatigue and dyspnea. Qualitative changes in the skeletal muscle composition and metabolism can be responsible for the origin of symptoms

Methods: We correlated the myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition of the gastrocnemius in 20 patients with different degrees of CHF to NYHA class, diuretic consumption, echocardiographic parameters, and expiratory gases measured during cardiopulmonary exercise testing. MHC composition was determined electrophoretically in skeletal muscle needle microbiopsies and the percent distribution was calculated by densitometry.

[Myosin isoforms in skeletal muscle in patients with chronic heart decompensation: distribution and correlation with with exercise tolerance].

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is accompanied by a reduced exercise capacity, and the symptoms can be at least in part explained by qualitative and quantitative changes in the skeletal muscle composition and metabolism. We have correlated the myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition of the gastrocnemius in 20 patients with different degrees of CHF to expiratory gases measured during maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing, NYHA functional class and echocardiographic parameters. MHC composition was determined electrophoretically in skeletal muscle needle microbiopsies and the percent distribution calculated by laser densitometry.

[99mTc-MIBI scintrigraphy for detecting viable myocardium in patients with previous infarction and ventricular dysfunction].

Background: The detection of hibernating myocardium involved different imaging procedures, trying to predict the functional recovery of this tissue, which survives at a low metabolic rate in regions exposed to chronic ischemia.

Materials And Methods: A small group of patients with prior myocardial infarction and severe left ventricular dysfunction has been evaluated by echo-dobutamine and 99mTc-MIBI myocardial SPET. This radiopharmaceutical drug has been considered of low usefulness for the detection of viability.

Specific changes in skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain composition in cardiac failure: differences compared with disuse atrophy as assessed on microbiopsies by high resolution electrophoresis.

Objective: In congestive heart failure (CHF) the skeletal muscle of the lower limbs develops a myopathy with atrophy and shift from the slow type to the fast type fibres. The aim was to test the hypothesis that this myopathy is specific and not simply related to detraining, by comparing patients with different degrees of CHF with patients with severe muscle atrophy due to disuse.

Design: Case-control study involving 50-150 micrograms needle biopsies of the gastrocnemius muscle.