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BACKGROUND: Performing surgical procedures around the mitral valve (MV) annulus can cause iatrogenic lesions on the circumflex artery (Cx). The risk of this iatrogenesis comes from the proximity between this vessel and the MV annulus. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relation between the MV annulus and the Cx at different spots of its path and highlight the risks of its damage. METHODS: Fifty cadaveric adult human hearts were studied. Each heart was categorized depending on coronary dominance, and Cx was classified in type 1 (Cx giving off only the left posterior ventricular artery) and type 2 (Cx reaching the crux cordis and giving off the posterior interventricular branch). Three reference spots were chosen: A- when Cx begins to run across the coronary sulcus; B- immediately before the left posterior ventricular artery emerges and C- in the midpoint of the two previous points; to measure the diameter of the Cx and the MV annulus. Values of P<0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 43 (86%) hearts were classified in type 1. These hearts showed that the diameter of the Cx in spot A is bigger than in the B and C spots (P=0.001). The 7 hearts (14%) classified in type 2 did not exhibit a difference in the diameter of the Cx in the A, B and C spots (NS). Also, the thickness of the fibrous annulus, in type 1 and type 2 hearts were not different between the three spots (NS). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that the diameter of the Cx varies depending on the heart type. This knowledge might improve the success rate of cardiac surgeries and decrease the rates of iatrogenic Cx lesions.

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The left coronary artery is responsible for the irrigation of important heart structures. The objective of this study was to analyze the morphological characteristics of the main trunk of left coronary artery in the Brazilian population and its clinical implications. The study was carried out by using 63 adult human hearts of the human anatomy laboratory of the Federal university of Ceará, Brazil. The hearts were dissected for exposure and analysis of the left coronary artery and its branches. The data collected were statistically analyzed. The main trunk arose from the left aortic sinus under the left atrial auricle in all the 63 hearts. The mean length of the main trunk was 8.53±4.03mm. According to the criteria for the classification of the main trunk length, about 78% were medium-sized. The majority of the hearts (52.38%) showed trifurcation of the main trunk. Anova test followed by the Tukey's post hoc test showed that the main trunk length of hearts with trifurcation was significantly longer when compared with hearts with bifurcation (9.77±4.31mm vs. 6.44±3.01mm; P=0.0029). Similar findings were observed in the main trunk length of the hearts with tetrafurcation in comparison with hearts with bifurcation (10.78±1.4mm vs. 6.44±3.01mm; P=0.0387). This study showed that there is a correlation between the branching pattern and the length of the main trunk. Additionally, we showed that the most common branching pattern of the main trunk is the trifurcation, differing from other Brazilian studies and providing additional information to professionals of cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, and radiology.

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Avaliou-se o efeito da adição de plasma seminal ovino ao sêmen descongelado sobre a taxa de prenhez de ovelhas em rebanho comercial. Cento e setenta e quatro ovelhas cruza Texel foram distribuídas em quatro tratamentos: T1) inseminação artificial cervical (IAC) com sêmen descongelado (SD) diluído em solução tampão fosfato salino (PBS); T2) IAC com SD e adição de plasma seminal ovino; T3) grupo-controle I: IAC com sêmen fresco diluído em PBS; T4) grupo-controle II: inseminação artificial por laparoscopia com SD diluído em PBS. Para indução de cio, utilizaram-se esponjas impregnadas com acetato de medroxiprogesterona (MAP) por 12 dias, com aplicação intramuscular de 400 UI de eCG (Novormon®) e de 37,5µg de cloprostenol sódico (Sincrocio®), no dia da retirada das esponjas. O aparecimento de cio foi monitorado com rufiões vasectomizados a partir da retirada das esponjas até a inseminação artificial em tempo fixo - 54 a 60 horas. A taxa de prenhez do tratamento com adição de plasma seminal ao sêmen descongelado (7,0%) não diferiu (P>0,05) do tratamento sem adição de plasma (4,3%), entretanto foi menor (P<0,05) se comparada à taxa de prenhez dos grupos-controle I inseminação via cervical superficial com sêmen fresco diluído (50,0%) e II inseminação via laparoscopia com sêmen descongelado (39,4%). A inseminação artificial por via cervical superficial com adição de plasma seminal ao sêmen descongelado não elevou o percentual de prenhez em valores que justifiquem a indicação desta biotecnologia em rebanhos comerciais de ovinos.

The effect of seminal plasma addition to thawed-frozen ram semen on the pregnancy rate of commercial herd ewes was evaluated. One hundred and seventy-four crossbred Texel sheep were allocated to four treatments: T1) cervical artificial insemination (CAI) using frozen-thawed semen (FTS) diluted in phosphate buffered saline solution (PBS); T2) CAI using FTS diluted in ovine seminal plasma; T3) control group I: CAI using fresh semen diluted in PBS; T4) control group II: laparoscopic insemination using FTS diluted in PBS. Estrus induction was performed with medroxiprogesterone acetate (MAP) impregnated sponges for 12 days, followed by intramuscular injection of 400 IU of eCG (Novormon®) and 37.5µg of sodium cloprostenol (Sincrocio®) on the day of sponge removal. Estrus was monitorated with vasectomized rams, beginning at the time of the sponge removal until the fixed time artificial insemination - 54 to 60 hours. The pregnancy rate of FTS diluted in seminal plasma treatment (7.0%) did not differ (P>0.05) for the treatment without addition of seminal plasma (4.3%), however it was lower (P<0.05) when compared to the pregnancy rate of the cervical inseminated control I group with PBS diluted fresh semen (50.0%) and laparoscopic inseminated control group II with PBS diluted FTS (39.4%). The cervical artificial insemination with the addition of seminal plasma to frozen-thawed semen did not increase the pregnancy rate at acceptable values to make this biotechnology useful on commercial herds.

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Avaliou-se o efeito da adição de plasma seminal ovino ao sêmen descongelado sobre a taxa de prenhez de ovelhas em rebanho comercial. Cento e setenta e quatro ovelhas cruza Texel foram distribuídas em quatro tratamentos: T1) inseminação artificial cervical (IAC) com sêmen descongelado (SD) diluído em solução tampão fosfato salino (PBS); T2) IAC com SD e adição de plasma seminal ovino; T3) grupo-controle I: IAC com sêmen fresco diluído em PBS; T4) grupo-controle II: inseminação artificial por laparoscopia com SD diluído em PBS. Para indução de cio, utilizaram-se esponjas impregnadas com acetato de medroxiprogesterona (MAP) por 12 dias, com aplicação intramuscular de 400 UI de eCG (Novormon®) e de 37,5µg de cloprostenol sódico (Sincrocio®), no dia da retirada das esponjas. O aparecimento de cio foi monitorado com rufiões vasectomizados a partir da retirada das esponjas até a inseminação artificial em tempo fixo - 54 a 60 horas. A taxa de prenhez do tratamento com adição de plasma seminal ao sêmen descongelado (7,0%) não diferiu (P>0,05) do tratamento sem adição de plasma (4,3%), entretanto foi menor (P<0,05) se comparada à taxa de prenhez dos grupos-controle I inseminação via cervical superficial com sêmen fresco diluído (50,0%) e II inseminação via laparoscopia com sêmen descongelado (39,4%). A inseminação artificial por via cervical superficial com adição de plasma seminal ao sêmen descongelado não elevou o percentual de prenhez em valores que justifiquem a indicação desta biotecnologia em rebanhos comerciais de ovinos.(AU)

The effect of seminal plasma addition to thawed-frozen ram semen on the pregnancy rate of commercial herd ewes was evaluated. One hundred and seventy-four crossbred Texel sheep were allocated to four treatments: T1) cervical artificial insemination (CAI) using frozen-thawed semen (FTS) diluted in phosphate buffered saline solution (PBS); T2) CAI using FTS diluted in ovine seminal plasma; T3) control group I: CAI using fresh semen diluted in PBS; T4) control group II: laparoscopic insemination using FTS diluted in PBS. Estrus induction was performed with medroxiprogesterone acetate (MAP) impregnated sponges for 12 days, followed by intramuscular injection of 400 IU of eCG (Novormon®) and 37.5µg of sodium cloprostenol (Sincrocio®) on the day of sponge removal. Estrus was monitorated with vasectomized rams, beginning at the time of the sponge removal until the fixed time artificial insemination - 54 to 60 hours. The pregnancy rate of FTS diluted in seminal plasma treatment (7.0%) did not differ (P>0.05) for the treatment without addition of seminal plasma (4.3%), however it was lower (P<0.05) when compared to the pregnancy rate of the cervical inseminated control I group with PBS diluted fresh semen (50.0%) and laparoscopic inseminated control group II with PBS diluted FTS (39.4%). The cervical artificial insemination with the addition of seminal plasma to frozen-thawed semen did not increase the pregnancy rate at acceptable values to make this biotechnology useful on commercial herds.(AU)

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The antioxidant activities of aqueous extract (AE) of Orbignya phalerata were assessed in vitro as well as its effect on locomotor activity and motor coordination in mice. AE does not possesses a strong antioxidant potential according to the scavenging assays; it also did not present scavenger activity in vitro. Following oral administration, AE (1, 2 and 3 g/kg) did not significantly change the motor activity of animals when compared with the control group, up to 24 h after administration and did not alter the remaining time of the animals on the Rota-rod apparatus. Further studies currently in progress will enable us to understand the mechanisms of action of the aqueous extract of Orbignya phalerata widely used in Brazilian flok medicine.

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Rhamdia quelen is an important Neotropical catfish species for fisheries and aquaculture in southern Brazil, where it is called Jandia. Like other native Brazilian species of economic importance, R. quelen genetics needs more attention for animal breeding programs. The growth hormone gene is known to be linked to a number of molecular markers and quantitative trait loci. We sequenced the coding region of the growth hormone gene with the primer walking technique. As in other Siluriformes, the R. quelen growth hormone gene has four introns and five exons, in a 1465-bp coding region. The tertiary structure of the encoded protein was predicted by bioinformatics; it has four α-helix structures connected by loops, which form a compressed complex maintained by two disulfide bridges.

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Schistosoma mansoni is a digenetic trematode and a human parasite responsible for high social and economic impact. Although some authors have studied the effect of host hormones on parasites, not much is known about the effects of host sex on gene expression in Schistosomes. In order to study gene transcripts associated with the host sex, we compared the gene expression profiles of both male and female unisexual adult S. mansoni parasites raised on either male or female hosts, using DNA microarrays. Our results show that host sex caused differential expression of at least 11 genes in female parasites and of 134 in male parasites. Of the differentially expressed genes in female worms, 10 were preferentially expressed in female worms from male mice, while of the 134 differentially expressed genes in male parasites, 79 (59%) were preferentially expressed in worms from female mice. Further investigation of the role of each of those genes will help understand better their importance in the pathogenesis of Schistosomiasis.

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Microorganisms with large genomes are commonly the subjects of single-round partial sequencing of cDNA, generating expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Usually there is a great distance between gene discovery by EST projects and submission of amino acid sequences to public databases. We analyzed the relationship between available ESTs and protein sequences and used the sequences available in the secondary database, clusters of orthologous groups (COG), to investigate ESTs from eight microorganisms of medical and/or economic relevance, selecting for candidate ESTs that may be further pursued for protein characterization. The organisms chosen were Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Dictyostelium discoideum, Fusarium graminearum, Plasmodium yoelii, Magnaporthe grisea, Emericella nidulans, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Eimeria tenella, which have more than 10,000 ESTs available in dbEST. A total of 77,114 protein sequences from COG were used, corresponding to 3,201 distinct genes. At least 212 of these were capable of identifying candidate ESTs for further studies (E. tenella). This number was extended to over 700 candidate ESTs (C. reinhardtii, F. graminearum). Remarkably, even the organism that presents the highest number of ESTs corresponding to known proteins, P. yoelii, showed a considerable number of candidate ESTs for protein characterization (477). For some organisms, such as P. brasiliensis, M. grisea and F. graminearum, bioinformatics has allowed for automatic annotation of up to about 20 of the ESTs that did not correspond to proteins already characterized in the organism. In conclusion, 4093 ESTs from these eight organisms that are homologous to COG genes were selected as candidates for protein characterization

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