Lipid content and fatty acid composition of 11 species of Queensland (Australia) fish

The fatty acid composition of 11 species of fish caught off the northeast coast of Australia was determined. No fatty acid profiles have been previously published for fish from this area nor for nine of these species. Although the percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PU FA) was the same as the calculated average for Australian fish (42.3%), the percentage of n-3 fatty acids was lower (24.4 +/- 5.4% vs. 30.7 +/- 10.1%) and the n-6 fatty acids higher (16.5 +/- 4.5% vs. 11.2 +/- 5.9%), P < 0.001 in each case. The major n-3 PUFA were docosahexaenoic (15.6 +/- 6.3%) and eicosapentaenoic acid (4.3 +/- 1.1%) while the major n-6 PUFA were arachidonic (8.3 +/- 3.2%) and n-6 docosatetraenoic acid (3.1 +/- 1.3%). The second-most abundant class of fatty acid was the saturates (31.6 +/- 3.5%) while the monounsaturates accounted for 17.4 +/- 4.3% of the total fatty acids. The monounsaturate with the highest concentration was octadecenoic acid (11.8 +/- 2.6%). There was a positive correlation between the total lipid content and saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (r = 0.675 and 0.567, respectively) and a negative correlation between the total lipid content and PUFA(r = 0.774).

The rms1 mutant of pea has elevated indole-3-acetic acid levels and reduced root-sap zeatin riboside content but increased branching controlled by graft-transmissible signal(s)

Rms1 is one of the series of five ramosus loci in pea (Pisum sativum L.) in which recessive mutant alleles confer increased branching at basal and aerial vegetative nodes. Shoots of the nonallelic rms1 and rms2 mutants are phenotypically similar in most respects. However, we found an up to 40-fold difference in root-sap zeatin riboside ([9R]Z) concentration between rms1 and rms2 plants. Compared with wild-type (WT) plants, the concentration of [9R]Z in rms1 root sap was very low and the concentration in rms2 root sap was slightly elevated. To our knowledge, the rms1 mutant is therefore the second ramosus mutant (rms4 being the first) to be characterized with low root-sap [9R]Z content. Like rms2, the apical bud and upper nodes of rms1 plants contain elevated indole-3-acetic acid levels compared with WT shoots. Therefore, the rms1 mutant demonstrates that high shoot auxin levels and low root-sap cytokinin levels are not necessarily correlated with increased apical dominance in pea. A graft-transmissible basis of action has been demonstrated for both mutants from reciprocal grafts between mutant and WT plants. Branching was also largely inhibited in rms1 shoots when grafted to rms2 rootstocks, but was not inhibited in rms2 shoots grafted to rms1 rootstocks. These grafting results are discussed, along with the conclusion that hormone-like signals other than auxin and cytokinin are also involved.

Water deficit and ABA application on leaf gas exchange and flavonoid content in marigold (Calendula officinalis L.)

Water deficit and ABA application on leaf gas exchange and flavonoid content in marigold (Calendula officinalis L.).The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of water deficit and abscisic acid (ABA) application on physiological parameters and flavonoid production in marigold plant. The experiment was performed under nursery conditions with potted plants. It was tested water deficit by withholding water (control - diary irrigation, 3, 6 and 9 days without irrigation) followed by 3 ABA concentrations (0, 10 e 100 mu M) applied in the beginning of blooming. It was evaluated the relative water content and the leaf gas exchange using a portable infrared gas analyzer (A: net photosynthesis, gs: stomatal conductance, E: transpiration, Ci: CO(2) intercellular concentration and EUA: water use efficiency). At the end of 9 days of water deficit there were significant decreases in all the characteristics evaluated, independent of ABA application. This suggests that the main effect of ABA was to cause a reduction on gs which was accompanied of a reduction in A, only when the plants were submitted to the water deficit. There was no significant difference among the levels of water deficit tested in relation to the total flavonoid content in inflorescences. However, ABA restricted the flavonoids biosynthesis both in control plant and stressed plants.

Low doses of silver nitrate induce pleurodesis with a limited systemic response

Background and objective: Both talc and 0.5% silver nitrate have been shown to induce effective pleurodesis. However, acute adverse systemic inflammatory effects have been described with both agents. The aim of this study was to assess in rabbits the systemic effects associated with a new technique of pleurodesis using repeated low doses of 0.1% silver nitrate. Methods: Rabbits were injected intrapleurally through a chest tube with 0.1% silver nitrate at 0, 24 and 48 h. Other groups received a single injection of 0.5% silver nitrate or 400 mg/kg of talc. Blood samples were collected at 24, 48 and 72 h, and at 7 days, and cytological and biochemical measurements were performed. After 28 days, the presence of macroscopic pleural adhesions and microscopic pleural fibrosis in the pleural cavity were evaluated. Results: Both talc and 0.5% silver nitrate caused significant increases in blood neutrophils, serum LDH, IL-8, transforming growth factor-beta and CRP in comparison with control at almost all time points, whereas sequential doses of 0.1% silver nitrate only increased LDH and CRP in the first 24 h and transforming growth factor-beta at all time points. All groups showed efficient pleurodesis, with no differences in pleural adhesions or fibrosis. Conclusions: Sequential doses of 0.1% silver nitrate produced efficient pleurodesis in rabbits, with a low systemic inflammatory response in comparison with 400 mg/kg of talc or 0.5% silver nitrate.

Is Silver Nitrate Pleurodesis for Patients with Malignant Pleural Effusion Feasible and Safe When Performed in an Outpatient Setting?

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness and safety of silver nitrate pleurodesis (SNP) in patients with recurrent malignant pleural effusion (RMPE) when performed in an outpatient setting. Prospective study including patients with RMPE recruited in a tertiary university-based hospital from February 2008 to June 2009. Elected patients underwent pleural catheter insertion (Day 1) followed by 0.5% SNP (Day 2), and on 7th day the drain was removed. All procedures were performed in an outpatient facility. Pleurodesis was considered successful when no additional pleural procedure was necessary by the 30th day. Complications were registered and graded according to the CTCAE3.0. Quality of life was evaluated before and 30 days after SNP. A total of 68 patients (54 female, 14 male, mean age: 57.3 years) were included. In addition, 7 had bilateral pleural effusions; therefore, 75 hemithoraces were drained. Also, 5 were excluded, and 70 hemithoraces (63 patients) underwent SNP. During the period of 30 days postpleurodesis, 8 deaths not related to the procedure occurred, and we lost contact with 10 patients who were followed elsewhere. At the 30th day, 48 hemithoraces (45 patients) were reevaluated, and 2 recurrences observed. The most frequent complication was pain-graded as 3 or more in 7 patients; infection occurred in 2 patients. Physical and environmental aspects of quality of life improved significantly after pleurodesis. In this study, SNP could be performed safely in an outpatient setting, with pain the most frequent complication. Recurrences occurred in 4% of the patients.

A low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet increases the adipose lipid content without increasing the glycerol-3-phosphate or fatty acid content in growing rats

Le taux de triacylglycerol (TAG) qui s`accumule dans le tissu adipeux depend de 2 mecanismes opposes : la lipogenese et la lipolyse. Nous avons montre anterieurement que le poids des lipides du tissu adipeux de l`epididyme (EPI) de meme que leur taux augmentent chez les rats en croissance soumis a une diete hypoproteique hyperglucidique (HPHG) pendant 15 jours. La presente etude a eu pour but d`examiner les voies impliquees dans la lipogenese et la lipolyse qui regulent l`accumulation des lipides dans le tissu. On a evalue in vivo la synthese de novo des acides gras, qui s`est revelee similaire chez les rats soumis a la diete HPHG ou a une diete temoin; toutefois, chez les rats soumis a la diete HPHG, une diminution de l`activite de la lipoproteine lipase dans le tissus adipeux de l`EPI a ete observee, ce qui laisse croire a une diminution de la capture des acides gras des lipoproteines circulantes. La diete HPHG n`a eu aucun effet sur la synthese du glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) par la glycolyse ou la glyceroneogenese. L`activite de la glycerokinase, c.-a-d. la phosphorylation du glycerol issu de l`hydrolyse du TAG endogene pour former le GP3, n`a pas ete modifiee non plus par la diete HPHG. A l`oppose, les adipocytes des rats HPHG stimules par la norepinephrine ont eu une plus faible reponse lipolytique, meme si le taux lipolytique basal des adipocytes a ete similaire chez les 2 groupes. Ainsi, les resultats donnent a penser que la diminution de l`activite lipolytique stimulee par la norepinephrine joue un role essentiel dans l`augmentation du TAG observee dans le tissu adipeux de l`EPI des animaux HPHG, probablement en perturbant le processus d`activation de la lipolyse.

Plasma nitrate/nitrite (NOx) is not a useful biomarker to predict inherent cardiopulmonary bypass inflammatory response

Background and Aim: There were strong evidences that nitric oxide has capital importance in the progressive vasodilatation associated with varied circulatory shock forms, including systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), in patients undergoing cardiac surgeries for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). If CPB procedures, per se, are the inciting stimulus for inflammation, plasma nitrate/nitrite (NOx) excretion would be expected to be higher in these patients rather than in patients operated without CPB. In consequence, we hypothesized that increased levels of NOx would be predictive for vasoplegic syndrome. Methods: Thirty patients were assigned to three groups: Group 1-coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) roller pump CPB; Group 2-CABG centrifugal vortex pump CPB; and Group 3-heart valve surgery roller pump CPB. Sampling of venous blood for chemiluminescence plasma NOx dosage was achieved at the following time points: (1) before anesthesia induction; (2) after anesthesia induction; (3) before heparin infusion; (4) after heparin infusion; (5) CPB-30 minutes; (6) CPB-60 minutes; (7) before protamine infusion; (8) after protamine infusion; and (9) on return to the recovery area. Results: There were no intergroup differences regarding age and anesthetic regimen, and the number of arteries grafted was not different between the CABG groups. There were no NOx statistic differences, neither among the three groups of patients or among the surgery time. In addition, there was no correlation among NOx, lactate, and hemoglobin. Conclusions: Considering the inflammatory process intrinsic to CPB, this study reinforces the idea that plasma NOx is not useful as a biomarker of inflammatory response onset, which may or may not lead to SIRS and/or vasoplegic syndrome.

Chronic Acetonemia Alters Liver Oxidative Balance and Lipid Content in Rats. A Model of Nash?

Acetone is considered to be a substance that can disturb cellular oxidative status, being also associated with the production of glucose during its metabolization. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of chronic treatment with acetone in oxidative stress and metabolic parameters in rats. Twenty male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: control (CG) and chronic acetone group (CAG). After 28 days of acetone ingestion in a 5% aqueous solution (CAG) or water (CG) the animals were euthanized and urine, plasma and liver were collected for the determination of acetone, glucose, lipemia, hepatic fat, malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and vitamin E. As expected, urinary and plasma acetone levels were higher in CAG. There was no difference in hepatic MDA values between groups, whereas hepatic GSH was lower in CAG than in CG and hepatic vitamin E was higher in CAG than in CG. There was also an increase in glycemia, cholesterolemia and hepatic fat in CAG compared to CG. Chronic treatment with a 5% acetone solution produced an increase in acetonemia that was able to promote changes in hepatic oxidative metabolism and in lipid content in rats similar to those observed in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Supporting content-based image retrieval and computer-aided diagnosis systems with association rule-based techniques

In this work, we take advantage of association rule mining to support two types of medical systems: the Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems and the Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems. For content-based retrieval, association rules are employed to reduce the dimensionality of the feature vectors that represent the images and to improve the precision of the similarity queries. We refer to the association rule-based method to improve CBIR systems proposed here as Feature selection through Association Rules (FAR). To improve CAD systems, we propose the Image Diagnosis Enhancement through Association rules (IDEA) method. Association rules are employed to suggest a second opinion to the radiologist or a preliminary diagnosis of a new image. A second opinion automatically obtained can either accelerate the process of diagnosing or to strengthen a hypothesis, increasing the probability of a prescribed treatment be successful. Two new algorithms are proposed to support the IDEA method: to pre-process low-level features and to propose a preliminary diagnosis based on association rules. We performed several experiments to validate the proposed methods. The results indicate that association rules can be successfully applied to improve CBIR and CAD systems, empowering the arsenal of techniques to support medical image analysis in medical systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Antioxidant Effect of Thiamine on Acutely Alcoholized Rats and Lack of Efficacy Using Thiamine or Glucose to Reduce Blood Alcohol Content

Although there is no consensus about the use of glucose and thiamine for the treatment of acute ethanol intoxication, this is a routine practice in many countries. Our objective was to determine the efficacy of this treatment and the changes it causes in the antioxidant status of the liver. Male Wistar rats were intoxicated with an ethanol dose of 5 g/kg and divided into three groups: ethanol (EtOH; untreated), EtOH+G (treated with glucose), and EtOH+B1 (treated with thiamine). Blood and urinary ethanol as well as hepatic malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione and vitamin E were determined in all animals. Blood alcohol levels did not differ between groups, although urinary excretion was about four times higher in the group treated with thiamine (EtOH+B1). The malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione and vitamin E values used here as parameters of the antioxidant system of the liver showed improvement for the thiamine-treated group (EtOH+B1). Treatment with glucose or thiamine was ineffective in reducing blood alcohol levels in rats with acute ethanol intoxication. However, the beneficial effect of thiamine as an antioxidant for ethanol metabolism was demonstrated. Further investigations are necessary to clarify the urinary excretion of ethanol reported here for the first time and the possibility of using thiamine as an antioxidant in situations of chronic alcohol use.

Food energy content influences food portion size estimation by nutrition students

Background: Food portion size estimation involves a complex mental process that may influence food consumption evaluation. Knowing the variables that influence this process can improve the accuracy of dietary assessment. The present study aimed to evaluate the ability of nutrition students to estimate food portions in usual meals and relate food energy content with errors in food portion size estimation. Methods: Seventy-eight nutrition students, who had already studied food energy content, participated in this cross-sectional study on the estimation of food portions, organised into four meals. The participants estimated the quantity of each food, in grams or millilitres, with the food in view. Estimation errors were quantified, and their magnitude were evaluated. Estimated quantities (EQ) lower than 90% and higher than 110% of the weighed quantity (WQ) were considered to represent underestimation and overestimation, respectively. Correlation between food energy content and error on estimation was analysed by the Spearman correlation, and comparison between the mean EQ and WQ was accomplished by means of the Wilcoxon signed rank test (P < 0.05). Results: A low percentage of estimates (18.5%) were considered accurate (+/- 10% of the actual weight). The most frequently underestimated food items were cauliflower, lettuce, apple and papaya; the most often overestimated items were milk, margarine and sugar. A significant positive correlation between food energy density and estimation was found (r = 0.8166; P = 0.0002). Conclusions: The results obtained in the present study revealed a low percentage of acceptable estimations of food portion size by nutrition students, with trends toward overestimation of high-energy food items and underestimation of low-energy items.

Efficacy and tolerance of metronidazole and miconazole nitrate in treatment of vaginitis

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a vaginal pessary containing 750 mg of metronidazole and 200 mg of miconazole nitrate used daily for 7 days in the treatment of vaginitis. Methods: Ninety-two women with vaginitis participated in this phase 3 study using one vaginal pessary daily for 7 days. Gynecological and microbiological evaluations were carried out prior to and following treatment. Results: Reductions occurred in symptoms and signs of vaginitis. Clinical cure rate was 87.7%, while the cure rates according to microscopy and Candida albicans culture were 81.8% and 73.9%, respectively. The cure rate for bacterial vaginosis was 75% and culture of Gardnerella vaginalis turned negative in 63.6% of cases following treatment. The medication was well tolerated. Conclusion: Use of a combination of 750 mg of metronidazole and 200 mg of miconazole in a single daily application was found to be effective in the treatment of the most common causes of vaginitis. (c) 2008 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.