The distribution of fishes found below a depth of 2000 meters.

v.36:no.2(1956)

Water depth selection during foraging and efficiency in prey capture by the egrets Casmerodius albus and Egretta thula (Aves, Ardeidae) in an urban lagoon in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the water depth selection during foraging, the efficiency in prey capture, and the food items captured by Casmerodius albus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Egretta thula (Molina, 1782). The work was conducted at an urban lagoon, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Rio de Janeiro. Four transects were made each month (two in the morning and two in the afternoon) for six months. When the birds were detected foraging, the water depth and the types of prey captured were recorded. There was no significant relationship between the foraging efficiencies of the two species. However, they differed in relation to the water depth when foraging, and also in the food items captured. Casmerodius albus captured mainly fishes while Egretta thula captured mainly invertebrates. The results suggest that the differences in water depth when foraging and the food items captured allow a differential use of the food resources available by C. albus and E. thula at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.

A regulação do lobo anterior da hypophyse por um hormonio testicular, especialmente sob o ponto de vista morphologico

The authors summarize the results of former works, based on the technics of parabiosis. After parabiotic union of two infantile rats, normal + castrate, the normal fellow enters into precocious puberty in about 7 days (Kallas). In the case of pairs: castrated male + normal female, the implants of testicles, or injection of maceration or aqueous extracts of testis in the castrated fellow, prevents the induction of early puberty in the normal female. In the case: castrated female + normal female, no inhibiting effect is provoked by that treatment. There is therefore a testicular hormone that regulates the hypophysis. After castration, this gland manifests a hyper-function and shows histological alterations, the chief character of these being the appearing in the anterior lobe, of the so-called castration cells, probably originated from basophile cells. Implants or injections of testis material prevent those alterations. This is a useful test; the effect is controlled by estimating the castration cells in the microscopic field. The testicular hormone that regulates the anterior lobe is probably another one, quite different from that which regulates the accessory genitalia. On account of the facts and experiments, it may be assumed that this new hormone is elaborated by the germinal epithelium of the testicles.

The unbounded dead-end depth propertie is not a group invariant

Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt

Miocardite na forma aguda da doença de Chagas

The autopsy of a case of CHAGAS'S disease or American tryponosomiasis (a girl, 5 years old), dead in the 22nd day of illness is reported. The anatomic diagnosis was a follows: Acute diffuse chagasic nyocarditis. Chagasic encephalitis. Chagasic lymphadenitis of the right posterior auricular node. Tuberculosis of the bronchial and pulmonary nodes. Chronic passive hyperemia and atelectasia of the lungs. Chronic passive congestion and hemorrhages of the spleen. Serous hepatitis. Parotiditis. Edema of the right eyelids. Bilateral hydrothorax. Hydropericardium. Hydroperitoneum. The morphology of Schizotrypanum cruzi in the myocardium is considered. Besides agglomerates with typical small oval or round intracellular bodies, pre-flagellate and flagellate organisms, others are found in which the great amount of parasites and marked pressure exerted by them against each other render very difficult their identification; sometimes the similitude of such agglamerates to Toxoplasma is striking (Fig. 1 and 1 A). In such a case, the structure of the blepharoplast (Fig. 1 and IA), usually preserved, is profitable and allows the identification of the pre-flagellate and flagellate forms of Schizotrypanum cruzi. Most of the small sensitive nerves in the epicardium shows mononuclear infiltration of the perineurium (perineuritis, Figs. 12-14). Microscopically there is extensive Zenker's degeneration (Figs. 6-8) and parasitism of the heart muscle fibers, marked cellular infiltration of the interstitial connective tissue, which are found in the ordinary musculature of every chamber of the heart (Figs. 10-11) as well as in Tawara's node (Fig. 9), main bundle (Fig. 2) and right (Fig. 4) and left (Fig. 5) septal divisions of the bundle of His, and perineuritis. Those anatomic changes are associated to an abnormal electrocardiogram presenting some similitude to that of an anemic infarct of the anterior wall of the heart and which will be discussed elsewhere (unpublished paper by Dias, Nobrega & Laranja).

Transplantação de baço de coelho com mixoma infeccioso na câmara anterior do ôlho da cobaia: sôbre a degeneração mixomatosa: inclusões intranucleares

Heterotranplantability of myxoma of rabbits was formely demonstrated when grafts from subcutaneous tissue in skin were used (MARGARINOS TÔRRES & RITA CARDOSOS, 1949). Better results are reported in this paper when grafts from the spleen of infected rabbits were employed. While grafts from normal spleen are almost completely absorbed in sixteen days, those from infected rabbits give origin to full-grown and vascularised tissue in which typical myxoma cells are predominant elements. Progressive growth of heterotransplantated myxoma cells is another similarity between infectious myxoma and malignant tumors. Formation of clear areas of circular contour (interference of a diffusible substance?) associated to myxomatous degeneration is very conspicuous. Peculiar changes of the ground substance, reticular and collagenous fibers (globular swelling, rosary and bulb formation) apparently related to myxomatous degeneration are described. An unexpected finding was the presence of typical intranuclear inclusion bodies in five among forty-eight grafts examined in the sixth day.

Subclinical femoral neuropathy after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Background and aim of the study: Patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and femoral catheter analgesia may develop quadriceps amyotrophy. We aimed to determine whether this amyotrophy might be related to a femoral neuropathy. Material and method: After Ethical Committee approval and patients' written informed consent, 17 patients ASA I and II scheduled to undergo ACL reconstruction were recruited. An electromyography (EMG) was performed before the operation in order to exclude a femoral neuropathy. A femoral nerve catheter was inserted before the surgery with the aid of a nerve stimulator, and 20 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine was injected. The operation was done under spinal or general anaesthesia. Postoperative analgesia was provided with 0.2% ropivacaine for 72 hours, in association with oxycodone, paracetamol and ibuprofen. A second EMG was performed 4 weeks after the ACL repair. A femoral neuropathy was defined as a reduction of the surface of the motor response of more than 20%, compared to the first EMG. A third EMG was performed at 6 months if a neuropathy was present. Results: Mean age of this group of patients was 27 years old (range 18-38 y.). Among the 17 patients, 4 developed a transient femoral neuropathy (incidence of 24%) without clinical complain. Conclusion: In this study, the incidence of subclinical femoral neuropathy after ACL reconstruction is high. This lesion may be caused by the femoral catheter (mechanical damage, toxicity of local anaesthesia) or by the Tourniquet. Further studies are needed to investigate the incidence of subclinical neuropathy, according to the type of analgesia (epidural analgesia, PCA) and surgery.

Glutathione deficit during development induces anomalies in the rat anterior cingulate GABAergic neurons: Relevance to schizophrenia.

A series of studies in schizophrenic patients report a decrease of glutathione (GSH) in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and cerebrospinal fluid, a decrease in mRNA levels for two GSH synthesizing enzymes and a deficit in parvalbumin (PV) expression in a subclass of GABA neurons in PFC. GSH is an important redox regulator, and its deficit could be responsible for cortical anomalies, particularly in regions rich in dopamine innervation. We tested in an animal model if redox imbalance (GSH deficit and excess extracellular dopamine) during postnatal development would affect PV-expressing neurons. Three populations of interneurons immunolabeled for calcium-binding proteins were analyzed quantitatively in 16-day-old rat brain sections. Treated rats showed specific reduction in parvalbumin immunoreactivity in the anterior cingulate cortex, but not for calbindin and calretinin. These results provide experimental evidence for the critical role of redox regulation in cortical development and validate this animal model used in schizophrenia research.

Behavior of Biomphalaria glabrata, the intermediate host snail of Schistosoma mansoni, at different depths in water in laboratory conditions

Using three columns of different depths (1.10m, 8.40m and 10.40m), we investigated the possibility of Biomphalaria glabrata moving towards deep regions. In the 1.10m column, we noted that locomotion can occur in two manners: 1) when the foot is in contact with the substrate: a) sliding descent; b) sliding ascent; c) creeping descent; d) creeping ascent, 2) when the foot is not in contact with the substrate: a) sudden descent without emission of air bules; b) sudden descent with emission of air bules; c) sudden ascent. In the 8.40m column containing food on the bottom (experimental group), the snails remained longer at this depth when compared to those of the group which received no food (control). The sliding behavior was characteristic of locomotion occurring at 0 to 1m both in upward and downward directions. Creeping behavior was typical for the ascent of the snails that reached deeper levels. When the snails were creeping, the shell remained hanging as if it were heavier, a fact that may have been due to water entering the pulmonary chamber. In the 10.40m column, the snails slid downward to a depth of 4m or descended suddenly all the way to the bottom. Ascent occurred by creeping from the bottom to the surface. In the 8.40m and 10.40m columns, copulation, feeding and oviposition occurred at the deepest levels.

Scanning electron microscopy of the dorsal vessel of Panstrongylus megistus (Burmeister, 1835) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

In this study we analyzed the microanatomy of the dorsal vessel of the triatomine Panstrongylus megistus. The organ is a tuble anatomically divided into an anterior aorta anad a posterior heart, connected to the body wall through 8 pairs of alary muscles. The heart is divided in 3 chambers by means of 2 pairs of cardiac valves. a pair of ostia can be observed in the lateral wall of each chamber. A bundle of nerve fibers was found outside the organ, running dorsally along its major axis. A group of longitudinal muscular fibers was found in the ventral portion of the vessel. The vessel was found to be lined both internally and externally by pericardial cells covered by a thin laminar membrane. Inseide the vessel the pericardial cells were disposed in layers and on the outside they formed clusters or rows.

The Early Cretaceous San Juan Plutonic Suite, Ecuador: A magma chamber in an oceanic plateau ?

Sections through an oceanic plateau are preserved in tectonic slices in the Western Cordillera of Ecuador (South America). The San Juan section is a sequence of mafic-ultramafic cumulates. To establish that these plutonic rocks formed in an oceanic plateau setting, we have developed criteria that discriminate intrusions of oceanic plateaus from those of other tectonic settings. The mineralogy and crystallization sequence of the cumulates are similar to those of intra-plate magmas. Clinopyroxene predominates throughout, and orthopyroxene is only a minor component. Rocks of intermediate composition are absent, and hornblende is restricted to the uppermost massive gabbros within the sequence. The ultramafic cumulates are very depleted in light rare-earth elements (LREE), whereas the gabbros have flat or slightly enriched LREE patterns. The composition of the basaltic liquid in equilibrium with the peridotite, calculated using olivine compositions and REE contents of clinopyroxene, contains between 16% and 8% MgO and has a flat REE pattern. This melt is geochemically similar to other accreted oceanic plateau basalts, isotropic gabbros, and differentiated sills in western Ecuador. The Ecuadorian intrusive and extrusive rocks have a narrow range of epsilonNd(i) (+8 to +5) and have a rather large range of Pb isotopic ratios. Pb isotope systematics of the San Juan plutonic rocks and mineral separates lie along a mixing line between the depleted mantle (DMM) and the enriched-plume end members. This suggests that the Ecuadorian plutonic rocks generated from the mixing of two mantle sources, a depleted mid-oceanic ridge basalt (MORB) source and an enriched one. The latter is characterized by high (Pb-207/Pb-204)(i) ratios and could reflect a contamination by recycled either lower continental crust or oceanic pelagic sediments and (or) altered oceanic crust (enriched mantle type I, EMI). These data suggest that the San Juan sequence represents the plutonic components of an Early Cretaceous oceanic plateau, which accreted in the Late Cretaceous to the Ecuadorian margin.

Colloidal systems for the delivery of cyclosporin A to the anterior segment of the eye.

Due to the eye's specific anatomical and physiological conformation, the treatment of eye diseases is a real challenge for pharmaceutical therapy. The presence of efficient protective barriers (i.e., the conjunctival and corneal membranes) and protective mechanisms (i.e., blinking and nasolachrymal drainage) makes this organ particularly impervious to local drug therapy. To overcome these issues, numerous strategies have been envisioned using pharmaceutical technology. Many formulations currently on the market or still under development are emulsions or colloidal systems intended to enhance precorneal residence time and corneal penetration, causing a consequent increase in drug bioavailability after instillation. After a review of some recent developments in the field of cyclosporin A formulations for the eye, a novel micellar formulation of cyclosporine A based on a diblock methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-hexysubstituted poly(lactides) (MPEG-hexPLA) is described.