Chronic administration of thiamine pyrophosphate decreases age-related histological atrophic testicular changes and improves sexual behavior in male Wistar rats.

Aging is a multifactorial universal process and constitutes the most important risk factor for chronic-degenerative diseases. Although it is a natural process, pathological aging arises when these changes occur quickly and the body is not able to adapt. This is often associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammation, and a decrease in the endogenous antioxidant systems, constituting a physiopathological state commonly found in chronic-degenerative diseases. At the testicular level, aging is associated with tissue atrophy, decreased steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis, and sexual behavior disorders. This situation, in addition to the elevated generation of ROS in the testicular steroidogenesis, provides a critical cellular environment causing oxidative damage at diverse cellular levels. To assess the effects of a reduction in the levels of ROS, thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) was chronically administered in senile Wistar rats. TPP causes an activation of intermediate metabolism routes, enhancing cellular respiration and decreasing the generation of ROS. Our results show an overall decrease of atrophic histological changes linked to aging, with higher levels of serum testosterone, sexual activity, and an increase in the levels of endogenous antioxidant enzymes in TPP-treated animals. These results suggest that TPP chronic administration decreases the progression of age-related atrophic changes by improving the intermediate metabolism, and by increasing the levels of antioxidant enzymes.

Residual pulmonary abnormalities in adult patients with chronic paracoccidioidomycosis: prolonged follow-up after itraconazole therapy.

Itraconazole effectively controls active paracoccidioidomycosis but appears not to hinder lung fibrosis. Clinical records and chest radiographs from 47 itraconazole-treated patients with prolonged posttherapy follow-up (mean follow-up period, 5.6 years) were analyzed; the radiographs were interpreted following pneumoconiosis standards that consider the lungs as 6 fields and grade damage according to the number of fields involved. Infiltrative lesions were observed at diagnosis in 93.6% of the patients. Fibrosis was observed in 31.8% of the patients at diagnosis and had not cleared at the end of the observation period in any of these patients. Fibrosis also developed de novo in 11 patients (25%), so that by the end of the follow-up period it was seen in 53.2% of patients overall. Fibrosis correlated with severity of infiltrates at diagnosis: fibrosis was present in 83% of patients with very severe infiltration and in 12.5% of patients with minor infiltration. Among patients with severe infiltration, fibrosis was present in 30%; this increased (to 75%) when bullae were concomitantly present at diagnosis. Prompt initiation of treatment is necessary to avoid the development of fibrosis.

How plants cope with water stress in the field. Photosynthesis and growth.

Plants are often subjected to periods of soil and atmospheric water deficit during their life cycle. The frequency of such phenomena is likely to increase in the future even outside today's arid/semi-arid regions. Plant responses to water scarcity are complex, involving deleterious and/or adaptive changes, and under field conditions these responses can be synergistically or antagonistically modified by the superimposition of other stresses. This complexity is illustrated using examples of woody and herbaceous species mostly from Mediterranean-type ecosystems, with strategies ranging from drought-avoidance, as in winter/spring annuals or in deep-rooted perennials, to the stress resistance of sclerophylls. Differences among species that can be traced to different capacities for water acquisition, rather than to differences in metabolism at a given water status, are described. Changes in the root : shoot ratio or the temporary accumulation of reserves in the stem are accompanied by alterations in nitrogen and carbon metabolism, the fine regulation of which is still largely unknown. At the leaf level, the dissipation of excitation energy through processes other than photosynthetic C-metabolism is an important defence mechanism under conditions of water stress and is accompanied by down-regulation of photochemistry and, in the longer term, of carbon metabolism.

Water deficits are more important in delaying growth than in changing patterns of carbon allocation in Eucalyptus globulus.

Potted cuttings of three Eucalyptus globulus Labill. clones (AR3, CN44, MP11) were either well watered or subjected to one of two soil water deficit regimes for six months in a greenhouse. Reductions in lateral branching, leaf production and leaf expansion were the leading contributors to the large differences observed in biomass production between well-watered and water-stressed plants. Although no significant differences among clones were observed in dry matter accumulation or in the magnitude of the response to soil water deficits, sensitivity of lateral branching, leaf initiation and whole-plant foliage to water stress was significantly lower in CN44 than in AR3 and MP11. When the confounding effect of differences in plant size resulting from the different watering regimes was removed, allometric analysis indicated that the genotypes differed in biomass allocation patterns. In addition to a drought-induced reduction in leaf number, water deficits also resulted in smaller leaves because leaf expansion was inhibited during dehydration events. Resumption of leaf expansion following stress relief occurred in all of the clones, but was particularly evident in severely stressed plants of Clone AR3, possibly as a result of the osmotic adjustment observed in this genotype.

Gradiente alveoloarterial de oxigeno durante la cirugia correctora de la comunicacion interauricular con circulacion extracorporea. / Alveolar arterial oxygen gradient during surgical repair of interauricular septal defects with extracorporeal circulation

El aumento en el gradiente alveoloarterial para el oxigeno encontrado en este estudio fue el princial factor influenciado por la anestesia general y la toracotomia. Probablemente, ambos, incrementaron el valor de la admision venosa y la hipoxemia observada 24 horas despues de la operacion. La disminucion de la PO2 arterial encontrada por otros investigadores, podria estar relacionada con el tipo de pacientes, principalmente los afectados de lesion mitral y sometidos a la cirugia cardiaca con circulacion extracorporea

Evaluacion de dos tipos de electrodos endocavitarios en implantes de marcapasos definitivos. / Evaluation of 2 types of endocardial electrodes in implants of permanent pacemakers

La incidencia de complicaciones en 477 implantes endocavitarios de marcapasos definitivos fue significativamente menor en aquellos en los que se utilizaron electrodos con aletas (3,7% vs. 18,1%)

Gradiente alveoloarterial de oxigeno durante la cirugia correctora de la comunicacion interauricular con circulacion extracorporea. / Alveolar arterial oxygen gradient during surgical repair of interauricular septal defects with extracorporeal circulation

El aumento en el gradiente alveoloarterial para el oxigeno encontrado en este estudio fue el princial factor influenciado por la anestesia general y la toracotomia. Probablemente, ambos, incrementaron el valor de la admision venosa y la hipoxemia observada 24 horas despues de la operacion. La disminucion de la PO2 arterial encontrada por otros investigadores, podria estar relacionada con el tipo de pacientes, principalmente los afectados de lesion mitral y sometidos a la cirugia cardiaca con circulacion extracorporea

Evaluacion de dos tipos de electrodos endocavitarios en implantes de marcapasos definitivos. / Evaluation of 2 types of endocardial electrodes in implants of permanent pacemakers

La incidencia de complicaciones en 477 implantes endocavitarios de marcapasos definitivos fue significativamente menor en aquellos en los que se utilizaron electrodos con aletas (3,7% vs. 18,1%)