Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) and rheumatoid arthritis

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), one of the world's most celebrated impressionist painters, suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for most of his life. His symptoms developed when he was in his 50s and they became aggressive at about the age of 60 years that led to almost complete disability when he was 70 years old. Although the deformities he suffered because of the rheumatoid arthritis were disabling, Renoir never stopped painting nor decreased the quality of his work. The transition between styles adopted by the painter (Impressionist, Dry and Pearly periods) bear no relationship to the stages of flare-ups or the establishment of joint deformities due to rheumatoid arthritis. His work shows aspects of the body's ability to overcome pain and physical limitation.

The evolutionary implications of hemipenial morphology of rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus (Laurent, 1768) (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae)

Most amniotes vertebrates have an intromittent organ to deliver semen. The reptile Sphenodon and most birds lost the ancestral penis and developed a cloaca-cloaca mating. Known as hemipenises, the copulatory organ of Squamata shows unique features between the amniotes intromittent organ. They are the only paired intromittent organs across amniotes and are fully inverted and encapsulated in the tail when not in use. The histology and ultrastructure of the hemipenes of Crotalus durissus rattlesnake is described as the evolutionary implications of the main features discussed. The organization of hemipenis of Crotalus durissus terrificus in two concentric corpora cavernosa is similar to other Squamata but differ markedly from the organization of the penis found in crocodilians, testudinata, birds and mammals. Based on the available data, the penis of the ancestral amniotes was made of connective tissue and the incorporation of smooth muscle in the framework of the sinusoids occurred independently in mammals and Crotalus durissus. The propulsor action of the muscle retractor penis basalis was confirmed and therefore the named should be changed to musculus hemipenis propulsor.The retractor penis magnus found in Squamata has no homology to the retractor penis of mammals, although both are responsible for the retraction of the copulatory organ