ana ani

Peripheral nerves possess the capacity of self-regeneration after traumatic injury but the extent of regeneration is often poor and may benefit from exogenous factors that enhance growth. The use of cellular systems is a rational approach for delivering neurotrophic factors at the nerve lesion site, and in the present study we investigated the effects of enwrapping the site of end-to-end rat sciatic nerve repair with an equine type III collagen membrane enriched or not with N1E-115 pre-differentiated neural cells. After neurotmesis, the sciatic nerve was repaired by end-to-end suture (End-to-End group), end-to-end suture enwrapped with an equine collagen type III membrane (End-to-EndMemb group); and end-to-end suture enwrapped with an equine collagen type III membrane previously covered with neural cells pre-differentiated in vitro from N1E-115 cells (End-to-EndMembCell group). Along the postoperative, motor and sensory functional recovery was evaluated using extensor postural thrust (EPT), withdrawal reflex latency (WRL) and ankle kinematics. After 20 weeks animals were sacrificed and the repaired sciatic nerves were processed for histological and stereological analysis. Results showed that enwrapment of the rapair site with a collagen membrane, with or without neural cell enrichment, did not lead to any significant improvement in most of functional and stereological predictors of nerve regeneration that we have assessed, with the exception of EPT which recovered significantly better after neural cell enriched membrane employment. It can thus be concluded that this particular type of nerve tissue engineering approach has very limited effects on nerve regeneration after sciatic end-to-end nerve reconstruction in the rat.

The conceptual model developed in this paper for the airline industry examines the relationship between quality of past service performance and consumers’ responses to service failures (causal attributions, emotions and satisfaction). The empirical results obtained indicate that for those consumers with higher perceptions of quality the causes underlying service failures are seen as less stable and less controllable by the firm than the causes identified by consumers with lower perceptions of quality. Attributions about the failure not only influence satisfaction directly but also moderate the effect of quality on satisfaction. We also analyse the mediating effect of negative emotions on the relationship between service failure attributions and consumer satisfaction.

Adult idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disease that may be associated with other autoimmune disorders and a positive antinuclear antibody (ANA). This pilot study aimed to determine the clinical significance of a positive ANA test on the presentation and response to steroids. The medical records of 46 patients aged 15 years or older who were diagnosed with ITP at King Abdullah University Hospital from January, 2004 to December, 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. ANA results were available for 41 patients, and only 10 patients had a positive test. The study showed no association between the ANA and any of the patients’ characteristics at presentation. This included the age, sex, presence of autoimmune diseases, a family history of autoimmune diseases, platelet count, hemoglobin level, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). It is interesting to note that the mean platelet count after 2 weeks of steroids was 99,323 per cu/ml in patients with a negative ANA, and 32,800 per cu/ml in those with a positive ANA (P = 0.006). The difference in mean platelet count between positive and negative ANA-tested patients remained significant after adjusting for sex, age, and ESR (P = 0.001). Also, patients with a positive ANA were 6.25 times more likely of not achieving a complete response defined as a platelet count of 100,000 per cu/ml or more for a minimum of 3 months after discontinuation of therapy. In conclusion, the ANA test could be a useful screening test that predicts initial response to steroid therapy. Patients who test positive are expected to have lower response and should be monitored closely.

In this paper, we introduce the one-two descriptor. The one-two descriptors is the sum of the vertex contributions such that each pendant vertex contributes 1, each vertex of degree two adjacent to pendant vertex contributes 2, and each vertex of degree higher than two also contributes 2. We test this descriptor on the benchmark data set of the octane isomers proposed by the International Academy of Mathematical Chemistry. We show that this descriptor is a good predictor of the heat capacity at P constant (CP) and of the total surface area (TSA). Linear model predictions for both these properties are better then predictions of any of the benchmark descriptors proposed by International Academy of Mathematical Chemistry. Linear model predictions of TSA are also better then predictions of any of Adriatic descriptors, while linear model predictions of CP are not as good as predictions by Adriatic descriptor called inverse sum lordeg index. We also analyze the mathematical properties of this descriptor and we find tight upper and lower bounds in the families of the trees with n vertices and the chemical trees with n vertices.

Apomixis, an asexual mode of reproduction through seeds, holds much promise for agricultural advances. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this trait are still poorly understood. We previously isolated several transcripts representing novel sequences differentially expressed in reproductive tissues of sexual and apomictic plants. Here, we report the characterization of two of these unknown RNA transcripts (experimental codes N17 and N22). Since original fragments showed no significant homologies to sequences at databases, preliminary genomic PCR experiments were carried out to discard possible contaminations. RACE extension on flanking regions provided longer sequences for the candidates and additional related transcripts, which revealed similarity to LTR retrotransposons carrying short transduplicated segments of protein-coding genes. Interestingly, some transduplicated segments corresponded to genes previously associated with apomictic development. Gene copy number estimations revealed a moderate representation of the elements in the genome, with significantly increased numbers in a sexual genotype with respect to an apomictic one. Genetic mapping of N17 showed that a copy of this particular element was located onto Paspalum notatum linkage group F3c, at a central non-recombinant region resembling a centromere. Expression analysis showed an increased activity of N17 and N22 sense strands in ovules of the sexual genotypes. A retrotransposon-specific differential display analysis aimed at detecting related sequences allowed the identification of a complex family, with the majority of its members represented in the sexual genotype. Our results suggest that these elements could be participating in regulatory pathways related to apomixis and sexuality.