Genes related to cell-mediated cytotoxicity and interferon response are induced in the retina of European sea bass upon intravitreal infection with nodavirus.

Viral diseases are responsible for high rates of mortality and subsequent economic losses in modern aquaculture. The nervous necrosis virus (NNV) produces viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER), which affects the central nervous system, is considered one of the most serious viral diseases in marine aquaculture. Although some studies have localized NNV in the retina cells, none has dealt with immunity in the retina.

Development and psychometric testing of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher evaluation scale (CLES+T): the Spanish version.

Background: The Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale is a reliable and valid instrument to evaluate the quality of the clinical learning process in international nursing education contexts.

Objectives: This paper reports the development and psychometric testing of the Spanish version of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale.

Design: Cross-sectional validation study of the scale.

Diet-related buccal dental microwear patterns in Central African Pygmy foragers and Bantu-speaking farmer and pastoralist populations.

Pygmy hunter-gatherers from Central Africa have shared a network of socioeconomic interactions with non-Pygmy Bantu speakers since agropastoral lifestyle spread across sub-Saharan Africa. Ethnographic studies have reported that their diets differ in consumption of both animal proteins and starch grains. Hunted meat and gathered plant foods, especially underground storage organs (USOs), are dietary staples for pygmies.

Semen parameters can be predicted from environmental factors and lifestyle using artificial intelligence methods.

Fertility rates have dramatically decreased in the last two decades, especially in men. It has been described that environmental factors as well as life habits may affect semen quality. In this paper we use artificial intelligence techniques in order to predict semen characteristics resulting from environmental factors, life habits, and health status, with these techniques constituting a possible decision support system that can help in the study of male fertility potential.

Identification and cellular location of glutamine synthetase in human sperm.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) catalyzes the de novo synthesis of glutamine, an amino acid that has been shown to influence sperm motility in mammals. To date, no information is available about GS content in human sperm. In this study, we have characterized the presence and cellular location of GS in fresh human normozoospermic samples.

Brief communication: Short- and long-term in vivo human buccal-dental microwear turnover.

Buccal-dental microwear depends on the abrasive content of chewed foodstuffs and can reveal long-term dietary trends in human populations. However, in vivo experimental analyses of buccal microwear formation processes are scarce. Here, we report the effects of an abrasive diet on microwear rates in two adult volunteers at intervals of 8 days over a period of 1 month and document long-term turnover over 5 consecutive years in the same subjects under an ad libitum Mediterranean diet.

Does Müller Cell Differentiation Occur Prior to the Emergence of Synapses in Embryonic Turtle Retina?

Müller cells are the main glial cells in the retina, and are related to plexiform layer activity. Recent studies have demonstrated that Müller cells are involved in the synaptic conservation, plasticity, development and metabolism of glutamate. During turtle retinal development, layers, cells and synapses appear at different times.

Aquaporin-4 immunoreactivity in Müller and amacrine cells of marine teleost fish retina.

Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane proteins that facilitate water transport across biological membranes and are essential for the proper function of neural tissue. Although AQPs have been extensively studied in mammalian retina, their presence in lower vertebrate retina is less frequently characterized. AQP4 expressed in mammalian and chick Müller cells plays a major part in maintaining retinal homeostasis.

Statistics of optical coherence tomography data from human retina.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has recently become one of the primary methods for noninvasive probing of the human retina. The pseudoimage formed by OCT (the so-called B-scan) varies probabilistically across pixels due to complexities in the measurement technique. Hence, sensitive automatic procedures of diagnosis using OCT may exploit statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of reflectance.

Morphological changes of short-wavelength cones in the developing S334ter-3 transgenic rat.

The S334ter-3 rat is a transgenic model of retinal degeneration (RD) developed to express a rhodopsin mutation similar to that found in human retinitis pigmentosa. Due to this advantage over other models of RD, a few retina transplant studies have been reported on this animal model. Currently, no information is available on cone photoreceptor changes that occur in the S334ter RD model.

Sperm immobilized before intracytoplasmic sperm injection undergo ultrastructural damage and acrosomal disruption.

The aim of this study was to describe morphologic sperm changes observed via scanning electron microscopy and the acrosomal status resulting from immobilization and micromanipulation. The manipulations made on sperm before intracytoplasmic sperm injection were the possible cause of sperm ultrastructural damages and could trigger an acrosome reaction.

Donor oocyte dysmorphisms and their influence on fertilization and embryo quality.

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of fertilization rate (FR) and embryo quality (EQ) in 126 donor women who underwent 160 intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Main outcome measures were oocyte dysmorphisms (OD) [perivitelline space (normal/large), perivitelline debris (no/yes), oocyte shape (spherical/non-spherical), zona pellucida (normal/abnormal), first polar body morphology (normal/fragmented or irregular), cytoplasmic granularity (normal/excessive), cytoplasmic vacuoles (no/yes) and colour of cytoplasm (normal/dark)], semen source (ejaculated or testicular), donor age, number of days of stimulation, plasma oestradiol concentration (pg/ml) on the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin administration, FR and day 2 EQ. No significant predictors of fertilization were identified.

Comparative analysis of dental enamel polyvinylsiloxane impression and polyurethane casting methods for SEM research.

Dental casting is a very common procedure for making high-quality replicas of paleo-anthropological remains. Replicas are frequently used, instead of original remains, to study both fossil and extant Primate teeth in morphological and metrical analyses. Several commercial products can be used in molds.

Specific detection of RNA on ultra-thin sections.

In this paper, we describe a specific method for ultrastructural detection of RNA. Our method is based in the bromination "in situ" of uridine residues in the RNA, which allows the detection of brominated RNA with specific antibodies against bromo-deoxyuridine. With this method we can achieve high specificity and resolution, and it can be applied to Epon or acrylic resin embedded material.

Carbohydrate analysis of the zona pellucida and cortical granules of human oocytes by means of ultrastructural cytochemistry.

Background: The zona pellucida (ZP), the mammalian oocyte coat, consists of a restricted number of highly glycosylated proteins. In vitro sperm binding studies suggest a higher binding affinity for the outer region of the ZP compared to its inner region in different species. However, the reason for this difference in binding distribution remains unresolved.

Sensory adaptation as Kalman filtering: theory and illustration with contrast adaptation.

Sensory adaptation allows biological systems to adjust to variations in the environment. A recent theoretical work postulated that the goal of adaptation is to minimize errors in the performance of particular tasks. The proposed minimization was Bayesian and required prior knowledge of the environment and of the limitations of the mechanisms processing the information.

Ultrastructural characteristics of distal duodenum mucosa in patients with cirrhosis.

Objectives: Morphological abnormalities observed by light microscopy, such as oedema or vasodilatation, have been described in intestinal mucosa of patients with cirrhosis, but no information is available regarding the ultrastructural characteristics of the intestinal epithelial layer. The aim of this observational study was to investigate the ultrastructural characteristics of the intestinal epithelial layer of duodenum mucosa in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: Six patients with advanced cirrhosis and six control patients without liver disease were included in the study.