Morphometric Analysis of the Extensor Tendons of the Hallux and Potential Implications for Tendon Grafting

Although several tendon sources are available for reconstructive surgical procedures, all have one or more shortcomings. The aim of this work was to evaluate if the extensor tendons of the hallux showed anatomical characteristics that could make them an additional source for tendon grafting procedures.The authors performed a detailed morphometric analysis of the extensor tendons of the hallux in 26 lower limbs in order to evaluate the putative association of anatomical variants with hallux valgus, and to attempt to assess the feasibility of using part of the extensor apparatus of the hallux as a source of tendon for grafting procedures.An accessory extensor hallucis longus ten-don was found in 92.3% of cases. The extensor hallucis brevis tendon length was 10.5 ± 0.6 cm; its width was 0.5 ± 0.1 cm, and its thickness varied between 1-2 mm, making it a potentially good candidate as a source of ten-don grafts. Several anatomical variations were observed, namely the fusion of the tendons of the extensor hallucis brevis and the accessory extensor hallucis longus muscles in the distal part of the foot.This new therapeutic option, if implemented, would possibly increase the supply of autogenous donor tissue for reconstructive procedures, thereby enhancing the reconstructive surgeon’s armamentarium.

FIRST CASE OF HUMAN INFECTION BY Bertiella studeri (Blanchard, 1891) Stunkard,1940 (Cestoda; Anoplocephalidae) IN BRAZIL

SUMMARY Cestodes of the Bertiella genus are parasites of non-human primates found in Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Species Bertiella studeri and Bertiella mucronatacould, accidentally, infect human beings. The infection occurs from ingestion of mites from the Oribatida order containing cysticercoid larvae of the parasite. The objective of this report is to register the first case of human infection by Bertiella studeri in Brazil. Proglottids of the parasite, found in the stool sample of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, were fixed, stained and microscopically observed to evaluate its morphological characteristics. Eggs obtained from the proglottids were also studied. The gravid proglottids examined matched the description of the genus Bertiella. The eggs presented a round shape, with the average diameter of 43.7 µm, clearly showing the typical pyriform apparatus of B. studeri. The authors concluded that the child was infected with Bertiella studeri,based on Stunkard's (1940) description of the species. This is the fifth case of human Bertiellosis described in Brazil through morphometric analysis of the parasite, the third in Minas Gerais State and the first diagnosed case of Bertiella studeriin Brazil.

Structural investigation of the Bacillus subtilis morphogenic factor RodZ

A thesis to obtain a Master degree in Structural and Functional Biochemistry

Mutant Huntingtin impairs post-Golgi trafficking to lysosomes by delocalizing optineurin/Rab8 complex from the Golgi apparatus

Huntingtin regulates post-Golgi trafficking of secreted proteins. Here, we studied the mechanism by which mutant huntingtin impairs this process. Colocalization studies and Western blot analysis of isolated Golgi membranes showed a reduction of huntingtin in the Golgi apparatus of cells expressing mutant huntingtin. These findings correlated with a decrease in the levels of optineurin and Rab8 in the Golgi apparatus that can be reverted by overexpression of full-length wild-type huntingtin. In addition, immunoprecipitation studies showed reduced interaction between mutant huntingtin and optineurin/Rab8. Cells expressing mutant huntingtin produced both an accumulation of clathrin adaptor complex 1 at the Golgi and an increase of clathrin-coated vesicles in the vicinity of Golgi cisternae as revealed by electron microscopy. Furthermore, inverse fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis for lysosomal-associated membrane protein-1 and mannose-6-phosphate receptor showed that the optineurin/Rab8-dependent post-Golgi trafficking to lysosomes was impaired in cells expressing mutant huntingtin or reducing huntingtin levels by small interfering RNA. Accordingly, these cells showed a lower content of cathepsin D in lysosomes, which led to an overall reduction of lysosomal activity. Together, our results indicate that mutant huntingtin perturbs post-Golgi trafficking to lysosomal compartments by delocalizing the optineurin/Rab8 complex, which, in turn, affects the lysosomal function.

Sequential therapist interventions and the therapeutic alliance: a pilot study

(from the journal abstract) Scientific interest for the concept of alliance has been maintained and stimulated by repeated findings that a strong alliance is associated with facilitative treatment process and favourable treatment outcome. However, because the alliance is not in itself a therapeutic technique, these findings were unsuccessful in bringing about significant improvements in clinical practice. An essential issue in modern psychotherapeutic research concerns the relation between common factors which are known to explain great variance in empirical results and the specific therapeutic techniques which are the primary basis of clinical training and practice. This pilot study explored sequences in therapist interventions over four sessions of brief psychodynamic investigation. It aims at determining if patterns of interventions can be found during brief psychodynamic investigation and if these patterns can be associated with differences in the therapeutic alliance. Therapist interventions where coded using the Psychodynamic Intervention Rating Scale (PIRS) which enables the classification of each therapist utterance into one of 9 categories of interpretive interventions (defence interpretation, transference interpretation), supportive interventions (question, clarification, association, reflection, supportive strategy) or interventions about the therapeutic frame (work-enhancing statement, contractual arrangement). Data analysis was done using lag sequential analysis, a statistical procedure which identifies contingent relationships in time among a large number of behaviours. The sample includes N = 20 therapist-patient dyads assigned to three groups with: (1) a high and stable alliance profile, (2) a low and stable alliance profile and (3) an improving alliance profile. Results suggest that therapists most often have one single intention when interacting with patients. Large sequences of questions, associations and clarifications were found, which indicate that if a therapist asks a question, clarifies or associates, there is a significant probability that he will continue doing so. A single theme sequence involving frame interventions was also observed. These sequences were found in all three alliance groups. One exception was found for mixed sequences of interpretations and supportive interventions. The simultaneous use of these two interventions was associated with a high or an improving alliance over the course of treatment, but not with a low and stable alliance where only single theme sequences of interpretations were found. In other words, in this last group, therapists were either supportive or interpretative, whereas with high or improving alliance, interpretations were always given along with supportive interventions. This finding provides evidence that examining therapist interpretation individually can only yield incomplete findings. How interpretations were given is important for alliance building. It also suggests that therapists should carefully dose their interpretations and be supportive when necessary in order to build a strong therapeutic alliance. And from a research point of view, to study technical interventions, we must look into dynamic variables such as dosage, the supportive quality of an intervention, and timing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved)

How Does Addressing Patient's Defenses Help to Repair Alliance Ruptures in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy?: An Exploratory Study.

Interpreting or addressing defenses is an important aspect of psychoanalytic technique. Previous research has shown that therapist addressing defenses (TADs) can produce a positive effect on alliance. The potential value of TADs during the process of alliance rupture and resolution has not yet been documented. We selected patients (n = 17) undertaking a short-term dynamic psychotherapy in which the therapeutic alliance, measured with the Helping Alliance Questionnaire and monitored after each session, showed a pattern of rupture and resolution. Two control sessions (5 and 15) were also selected. Presence of TADs was examined in each therapist interpretation. Compared with control sessions, rupture sessions were characterized by fewer TADs and especially fewer TADs addressing specifically intermediate-essentially neurotic-defenses. Resolution sessions were characterized by more TADs addressing specifically intermediate defenses. This confirms the link between therapist technique and alliance process in psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Differences in therapeutic alliance when working with an interpreter: a preliminary study

This preliminary study aims to analyze the therapeutic alliance in a crosscultural triadic setting, where there is a therapist and a client who speak a different language but are able to interact thanks to an interpreter/cultural mediator. The participants' (therapists, clients, interpreters) representations associated with the notion of therapeutic alliance, and the level of alliance between each group was obtained and compared. Clients (N = 9) were all from Albanese origin. The results show that the three groups of participants give particular meanings to the alliance and tend to evaluate their alliance level differently. The interpreter's mediating role in the construction of the therapeutic alliance is discussed.

Cyanobacteria from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes as an energy source and modulators of bioenergetic pathways

Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria that inhabit in a wide range of environments. They are versatile and multifaceted organisms with great possibilities for different biotechnological applications. For example, cyanobacteria produce molecular hydrogen (H2), which is one of the most important alternatives for clean and sustainable energy. Apart from being beneficial, cyanobacteria also possess harmful characteristics and may become a source of threat to human health and other living organisms, as they are able to form surface blooms that are producing a variety of toxic or bioactive compounds. The University of Helsinki Culture Collection (UHCC) maintains around 1,000 cyanobacterial strains representing a large number of genera and species isolated from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes. The culture collection covers different life forms such as unicellular and filamentous, N2-fixing and non-N2-fixing strains, and planktonic and benthic cyanobacteria. In this thesis, the UHCC has been screened to identify potential strains for sustainable biohydrogen production and also for strains that produce compounds modifying the bioenergetic pathways of other cyanobacteria or terrestrial plants. Among the 400 cyanobacterial strains screened so far, ten were identified as high H2-producing strains. The enzyme systems involved in H2 metabolism of cyanobacteria were analyzed using the Southern hybridization approach. This revealed the presence of the enzyme nitrogenase in all strains tested, while none of them are likely to have contained alternative nitrogenases. All the strains tested, except for two Calothrix strains, XSPORK 36C and XSPORK 11A, were suggested to contain both uptake and bidirectional hydrogenases. Moreover, 55 methanol extracts of various cyanobacterial strains were screened to identify potent bioactive compounds affecting the photosynthetic apparatus of the model cyanobacterium, Synechocystis PCC 6803. The extract from Nostoc XPORK 14A was the only one that modified the photosynthetic machinery and dark respiration. The compound responsible for this effect was identified, purified, and named M22. M22 demonstrated a dual-action mechanism: production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under illumination and an unknown mechanism that also prevailed in the dark. During summer, the Baltic Sea is occupied by toxic blooms of Nodularia spumigena (hereafter referred to as N. spumigena), which produces a hepatotoxin called nodularin. Long-term exposure of the terrestrial plant spinach to nodularin was studied. Such treatment resulted in inhibition of growth and chlorosis of the leaves. Moreover, the activity and amount of mitochondrial electron transfer complexes increased in the leaves exposed to nodularin-containing extract, indicating upregulation of respiratory reactions, whereas no marked changes were detected in the structure or function of the photosynthetic machinery. Nodularin-exposed plants suffered from oxidative stress, evidenced by oxidative modifications of various proteins. Plants initiated strategies to combat the stress by increasing the levels of alpha-tocopherol, mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), and mitochondrial ascorbate peroxidase (mAPX).

Chlorophyll a fluorescence in rice plants exposed of herbicides of group imidazolinone

The objective of this work was to investigate the injuries caused to the photosynthetic apparatus of three types of rice exposed to application of imidazolinone group herbicides. Two experiments were conducted using herbicides Imazethapyr+imazapic and Imazapyr+imazapic, in a split-plot experimental design, and a 3 x 3 factorial, with six replications. The first factor (A) consisted of the herbicide rates 0, 100 e 200 g ha-1 of Imazethapyr+imazapic and 0, 140 e 280 g ha-1 of Imazapyr+imazapic; factor B consisted of type of rice (cv. Puitá Inta CL, sensitive red rice ecotype and red rice ecotype with suspected herbicide tolerance to Imidazolinone). Chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters were evaluated in plants at 30 days after herbicide application, using a portable fluorometer (HandyPEA, Hanstech). The photosynthetic metabolism of cv. Puitá Inta CL was found to tolerate commercial dosages of both herbicides. High sensitivity to the herbicides was observed for the sensitive red rice ecotype, while the photosynthetic apparatus of red rice ecotype with suspected herbicide tolerance showed high tolerance to both herbicides applied at rates higher than the commercial rate. The application of chemical herbicides of the imidazolinone group on rice plants causes changes in the photosynthetic metabolism of plants, detected by evaluating the emission of transient chlorophyll a fluorescence. This method can be useful in helping detect resistance and/or tolerance of red rice plants to herbicides of the imidazolinone group.

The quality control of glycoprotein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, a trip from trypanosomes to mammals

The present review deals with the stages of synthesis and processing of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides occurring in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and their relationship to the acquisition by glycoproteins of their proper tertiary structures. Special emphasis is placed on reactions taking place in trypanosomatid protozoa since their study has allowed the detection of the transient glucosylation of glycoproteins catalyzed by UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase and glucosidase II. The former enzyme has the unique property of covalently tagging improperly folded conformations by catalyzing the formation of protein-linked Glc1Man7GlcNAc2, Glc1Man8GlcNac2 and Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 from the unglucosylated proteins. Glucosyltransferase is a soluble protein of the endoplasmic reticulum that recognizes protein domains exposed in denatured but not in native conformations (probably hydrophobic amino acids) and the innermost N-acetylglucosamine unit that is hidden from macromolecular probes in most native glycoproteins. In vivo, the glucose units are removed by glucosidase II. The influence of oligosaccharides in glycoprotein folding is reviewed as well as the participation of endoplasmic reticulum chaperones (calnexin and calreticulin) that recognize monoglucosylated species in the same process. A model for the quality control of glycoprotein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, i.e., the mechanism by which cells recognize the tertiary structure of glycoproteins and only allow transit to the Golgi apparatus of properly folded species, is discussed. The main elements of this control are calnexin and calreticulin as retaining components, the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase as a sensor of tertiary structures and glucosidase II as the releasing agent.

Behavioral characteristics of the offspring of adolescent rats

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that, during adulthood, the offspring of adolescent rats differ in emotionality, learning and memory from the offspring of adult rats. The behavior of the offspring of adolescent (age, 50-55 days) and adult rats (age, 90-95 days) was tested in the open field, activity cage, and passive and active avoidance apparatus. The latencies during training and testing in the passive avoidance apparatus of the offspring of adolescent parents were shorter than the latencies of control offspring (P<0.001 on both training and testing days). Offspring of adolescent parents showed shorter latency time in acquisition trials during active avoidance testing compared to control offspring (P<0.001). They also showed a higher number of active avoidance responses in the last four blocks of acquisition (P<0.001) and first two blocks of extinction trials (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). The offspring of adolescent parents showed higher latency on the first day of testing in the open field (P<0.01) and a lower latency on the third day of testing (P<0.01). They also showed higher activity during all three days of testing (1st and 2nd day: P<0.01; 3rd day: P<0.05). The spontaneous activity of the offspring of adolescent parents in the activity cage was higher in the last three intervals of testing (P<0.001). In summary, the offspring of adolescent parents were less anxious and tended to be more active. The results of two learning and memory tests were opposite, but could be explained by a higher exploratory drive of the offspring of adolescent parents. This was probably due to chronic malnutrition stress and the disturbed mother-infant relationship in the litters of adolescent mothers.

Quest/ion of Identities in African American Feminist Postmodern Drama: A Study of Selected Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks

Innovative and unconventional, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks belongs to the continuum of African American playwrights who have contributed to the quest/ion – the quest for and question – of identities for African Americans. Her plays are sites in which the quest/ion of identities for African Americans is pursued, raised and enacted. She makes use of both page and stage to emphasize the exigency of reshaping African Americans’ identities through questioning the dominant ideologies and metanarratives, delegitimizing some of the prevailing stereotypes imposed on them, drawing out the complicity of the media in perpetuating racism, evoking slavery, lynching and their aftereffects, rehistoricizing African American history, catalyzing reflections on the various intersections of sex, race, class and gender orientations, and proffering alternative perspectives to help readers think more critically about issues facing African Americans. In my dissertation, I approach three plays by Parks – The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Venus (1996) and Fucking A (2000) – from the standpoints of postmodern drama and African American feminism with a focus on the terrains that reflect the quest/ion of identities for African Americans, especially African American women. I argue that postmodern drama and African American feminism provide the ground for Parks to promote the development of a political agenda in order to call into question a number of dominant ideologies and metanarratives with regard to African Americans and draw upon the roles of those metanarratives as a powerful apparatus of racial and sexual oppressions. I also explore how Parks engages with postmodern drama and African American feminism to incorporate her own mininarratives in the dominant discourses. I argue that Parks in these plays uses postmodern drama and African American feminism to encourage reflections on intersectionality in order to reveal the concerns of African Americans, particularly African American women. Her plays challenge the dominant order of hierarchy and patriarchy, while in some cases urging unity and solidarity between African American men and women by showing how unity and solidarity can help them confront race, class and gender oppressions. Furthermore, I discuss how the utilization of postmodern techniques and devices helps Parks to transform the conventional features of playwriting, to create incredulity toward the dominant systems of oppression and to incorporate her mininarratives within the context of dominant discourses.

Kierkegaard : the temporality of becoming a self

Introduction In Difference and Repetition, Deleuze compares and contrasts Kierkegaard's and Nietzsche's ideas of repetition. He argues that neither of them really give a representation of repetition. Repetition for them is a sort of selective task: the way in which they determine what is ethical and eternal. With Nietzsche, it is a theater of un belie f. ..... Nietzsche's leading idea is to found the repetition in the etemal return at once on the death of God and the dissolution of the self But it is a quite different alliance in the theater of faith: Kierkegaard dreams of alliance between a God and a self rediscovered. I Repetition plays a theatrical role in their thinking. It allows them to dramatically stage the interplay of various personnae. Deleuze does give a positive account ofKierkegaard's "repetition"; however, he does not think that Kierkegaard works out a philosophical model, or a representation of what repetition is. It is true that in the book Repetition, Constantin Constantius does not clearly and fully work out the concept of repetition, but in Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard gives a full explanation of the self and its temporality which can be connected with repetition. When Sickness Unto Death is interpreted according to key passages from Repetition and The Concept of Anxiety, a clear philosophical concept of repetition can be established. In my opinion, Kierkegaard's philosophy is about the task of becoming a self, and I will be attempting to show that he does have a model of the temporality of self-becoming. In Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard explains his notions of despair with reference to sin, self, self-becoming, faith, and repetition. Despair is a sickness of the spirit, of the self, and accordingly can take three forms: in despair not to be conscious of having a self (not despair in the strict sense); in despair not to will to be oneself; in despair to will to be oneself2 In relation to this definition, he defines a self as "a relation that relates itself to itself and in relating itself to itself relates to another.''3 Thus, a person is a threefold relationship, and any break in that relationship is despair. Despair takes three forms corresponding to the three aspects of a self s relation to itself Kierkegaard says that a selfis like a house with a basement, a first floor, and a second floor.4 This model of the house, and the concept of the stages on life's way that it illustrates, is central to Kierkegaard's philosophy. This thesis will show how he unpacks this model in many of his writings with different concepts being developed in different texts. His method is to work with the same model in different ways throughout his authorship. He assigns many of the texts to different pseudonyms, but in this thesis we will treat the model and the related concepts as being Kierkegaard's and not only the pseudonyms. This is justified as our thesis will show this modelremains the same throughout Kierkegaard's work, though it is treated in different ways by different pseudonyms. According to Kierkegaard, many people live in only the basement for their entire lives, that is, as aesthetes ("in despair not to be conscious of having a self'). They live in despair of not being conscious of having a self They live in a merely horizontal relation. They want to get what they desire. When they go to the first floor, so to speak, they reflect on themselves and only then do they begin to get a self In this stage, one acquires an ideology of the required and overcomes the strict commands of the desired. The ethical is primarily an obedience to the required whereas the aesthetic is an obedience to desire. In his work Fear and Trembling (Copenhagen: 1843), Johannes de Silentio makes several observations concerning this point. In this book, the author several times allows the desired ideality of esthetics to be shipwrecked on the required ideality of ethics, in order through these collisions to bring to light the religious ideality as the ideality that precisely is the ideality of actuality, and therefore just as desirable as that of esthetics and not as impossible as the ideality of ethics. This is accomplished in such a way that the religious ideality breaks forth in the dialectical leap and in the positive mood - "Behold all things have become new" as well as in the negative mood that is the passion of the absurd to which the concept "repetition" corresponds.s Here one begins to become responsible because one seeks the required ideality; however, the required ideality and the desired ideality become inadequate to the ethical individual. Neither of them satisfy him ("in despair not to will to be oneself'). Then he moves up to the second floor: that is, the mystical region, or the sphere of religiousness (A) ("despair to will to be oneself). Kiericegaard's model of a house, which is connected with the above definition ofdespair, shows us how the self arises through these various stages, and shows the stages of despair as well. On the second floor, we become mystics, or Knights of Infinite Resignation. We are still in despair because we despair ofthe basement and the first floor, however, we can be fiill, free persons only ifwe live on all the floors at the same time. This is a sort of paradoxical fourth stage consisting of all three floors; this is the sphere of true religiousness (religiousness (B)). It is distinguished from religiousness (A) because we can go back and live on all the floors. It is not that there are four floors, but in the fourth stage, we live paradoxically on three at once. Kierkegaard uses this house analogy in order to explain how we become a self through these stages, and to show the various stages of despair. Consequently, I will be explaining self-becoming in relation to despair. It will also be necessary to explain it in relation to faith, for faith is precisely the overcoming of despair. After explaining the becoming of the self in relation to despair and faith, I will then explain its temporality and thereby its repetition. What Kierkegaard calls a formula, Deleuze calls a representation. Unfortunately, Deleuze does not acknowledge Kierkegaard's formula for repetition. As we shall see, Kierkegaard clearly gives a formula for despair, faith, and selfbecoming. When viewed properly, these formulae yield a formula for repetition because when one hasfaith, the basement, firstfloor, and secondfloor become new as one becomes oneself The self is not bound in the eternity ofthe first floor (ethical) or the temporality of the basement (aesthete). I shall now examine the two forms of conscious despair in such a way as to point out also a rise in the consciousness of the nature of despair and in the consciousness that one's state is despair, or, what amounts to the same thing and is the salient point, a rise in the consciousness of the self The opposite to being in despair is to have faith. Therefore, the formula set forth above, which describes a state in which there is not despair at all, is entirely correct, and this formula is also the formula for faMi in ^elating itself to itself and in willing to be itself, the self rests transparently in the power that established it.

On Complexity of Lobbying in Multiple Referenda

In this paper we show that lobbying in conditions of “direct democracy” is virtually impossible, even in conditions of complete information about voters preferences, since it would require solving a very computationally hard problem. We use the apparatus of parametrized complexity for this purpose.

Bridging The Unknown : An Interdisciplinary Case Study of Paratext in Electronic Literature

This chapter presents a dual perspective on the paratextual apparatus of a work of electronic literature, The Unknown: The Original Great American Hypertext Novel by William Gillespie, Scott Rettberg, Dirk Stratton, and Frank Marquardt. Approaches from literature studies and information science are combined to offer qualitative content analyses and close readings of the table of contents, titular apparatus, comments hidden in the source code, and other paratextual elements, in relation to the narrative. Findings indicate that the work's paratextual content presents inconsistencies and contradictions, both in terms of the use of the paratextual structure and of the information conveyed. The paratextual elements are analyzed through the lens of Gérard Genette's theory, as outlined in Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, in order to gauge their role and efficiency as identifiers, organizational components, and information providers, as well as their literary effect. The value of the theory as an interdisciplinary tool is also discussed.