Orexin in the toad Rhinella schneideri: The location of orexinergic neurons and the role of orexin in ventilatory responses to hypercarbia and hypoxia

Recent reports have suggested that orexins, also known as hypocretins, play an important role in the modulation of respiratory control in mammals, but there are no data available describing the role of the orexinergic system in the peripheral and central chemoreception of non-mammalian vertebrates. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine the localization of orexin-immunoreactive neurons in the brain of toads (Rhinella schneideri) and to investigate the contribution of orexin receptor-1 (OX1R) to the hypoxic and hypercarbic ventilatory responses of these animals during light and dark phases. Our results demonstrated that the orexinergic neurons of R. schneideri are located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the diencephalon. Additionally, the intracerebroventricular injection of SB-334867 (OX1R selective antagonist) attenuated the ventilatory response to hypercarbia during the dark phase by acting on tidal volume and breathing frequency, while during the light phase, SB-334867 attenuated the ventilatory response to hypoxia by acting on tidal volume only. We conclude that in the toad R. schneideri, orexinergic neurons are located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and that OX1R contributes to hypercarbic and hypoxic chemoreflexes.

Location, morphology and function of nephrocytes in termites

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spindle cell lipoma occurring in the buccal mucosa: an unusual location of this benign lipomatous neoplasm

Spindle cell lipoma is a benign lipomatous neoplasm, which rarely occurs in the oral cavity. The aims of this paper are to report a case of spindle cell lipoma located in buccal mucosa and discuss the main clinical, histological, and immunohistochemical findings of this entity. Thus, we report a 4-year history of an asymptomatic smooth surface nodule in an elderly Caucasian man with clinical hypothesis of fibroma. The histopathological examination showed spindle cells, mature adipose tissue, and many mast cells in a stroma of connective tissue presenting ropey collagen fibers bundles. After immunohistochemical analysis, the final diagnosis was spindle cell lipoma.

A support system that delineates location-choice sets for firms seeking office space

Factors influencing the location decisions of offices include traffic, accessibility, employment conditions, economic prospects and land-use policies. Hence tools for supporting real-estate managers and urban planners in such multidimensional decisions may be useful. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to develop a GIS-based tool to support firms who seek office accommodation within a given regional or national study area. The tool relies on a matching approach, in which a firm's characteristics (demand) on the one hand, and environmental conditions and available office spaces (supply) on the other, are analyzed separately in a first step, after which a match is sought. That is, a suitability score is obtained for every firm and for every available office space by applying some value judgments (satisfaction, utility etc.). The latter are powered by a focus on location aspects and expert knowledge about the location decisions of firms/organizations with respect to office accommodation as acquired from a group of real-estate advisers; it is stored in decision tables, and they constitute the core of the model. Apart from the delineation of choice sets for any firm seeking a location, the tool supports two additional types of queries. Firstly, it supports the more generic problem of optimally allocating firms to a set of vacant locations. Secondly, the tool allows users to find firms which meet the characteristics of any given location. Moreover, as a GIS-based tool, its results can be visualized using GIS features which, in turn, facilitate several types of analyses.