Fetal toxicity of valsartan and possible reversible adverse side effects

BACKGROUND: Published cases suggest that the use of angiotensin II receptor antagonists is fetotoxic during the third trimester, but not in early pregnancy. CASE: We report a case in which the adverse fetal effect of angiotensin II receptor antagonist treatment was reversed. A woman with chronic hypertension was treated with valsartan until gestation week (GW) 20, when a complete anhydramnios was observed. Six days after interruption of the treatment, amniotic fluid reappeared. It reached a normal level at GW 23.5. The plasmatic creatinine level and the renal ultrasound examination were within normal limits at the six-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Whereas angiotensin-II-receptor antagonist generates a severe renal toxicity, this case suggests that, at least in the first half of pregnancy, these effects can be reversed.     

Scanning by DOVAM-S detects all unique sequence changes in blinded analyses: evidence that the scanning conditions are generic

The [detection of virtually all mutations]-SSCP (DOVAM-S) is a highly sensitive variant of single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Mutations in the factor IX gene were used to find a set of five SSCP conditions that detects virtually all mutations. A blinded analysis of the factor IX gene in patients with hemophilia B detected 82 of 82 unique mutations. Since the method was developed and tested on the factor IX gene, it is possible that the conditions selected work more efficiently in the factor IX gene than in other genes. To test the general applicability of the conditions under which DOVAM-S detected all mutations in this gene, blinded analyses were performed in the human factor VIII and ataxia-telangiectasia (ATM) genes. Segments were amplified individually, combined into groups of 16 to 18 amplified segments and electrophoresed in five different nondenaturing conditions of varying matrices, buffers, temperatures and additives. Blinded analyses were performed in 92 samples from patients with hemophilia A (factor VIII gene) and 19 samples from A-T patients (ATM gene). Combined with an earlier blinded analysis in the factor IX gene, all of the 250 mutations and polymorphisms (180 of which are unique) were detected in both analyses. For two, three and four joint conditions, the average detection frequency ranged from 77%-97%, 91%-100% and 95%-100%, respectively. For each of the genes, one mutation may have been missed if only four conditions were used. With DOVAM-S, approximately 500 kb of autosomal sequence can be scanned in five gels with virtually 100% detection of mutations within the scanned region. The detection of 180 out of 180 unique sequence changes implies that DOVAM-S detects at least 96.5% (P = 0.03) of mutations. Blinded analyses that detect 400 unique sequence changes are required to determine that a scanning method detects at least 98.5% of mutations.     

Consequences of Cathodal Stimulation for Behavior: When Does It Help and When Does It Hurt Performance?

Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (C-tDCS) has been reported, across different studies, to facilitate or hinder performance, or simply to have no tangible effect on behavior. This discrepancy is most prominent when C-tDCS is used to alter a cognitive function, questioning the assumption that cathodal stimulation always compromises performance. In this study, we aimed to study the effect of two variables on performance in a simple cognitive task (letter Flanker), when C-tDCS was applied to the left prefrontal cortex (PFC): (1) the time of testing relative to stimulation (during or after), and (2) the nature of the cognitive activity during stimulation in case of post-tDCS testing. In three experiments, we had participants either perform the Flanker task during C-tDCS (Experiment 1), or after C-tDCS. When the Flanker task was administered after C-tDCS, we varied whether during stimulation subjects were engaged in activities that posed low (Experiment 2) or high (Experiment 3) demands on the PFC. Our findings show that the nature of the task during C-tDCS has a systematic influence on the outcome, while timing per se does not.     

Effects of host on functional response of offspring in two populations of Trissolcus grandis on the sunn pest

Trissolcus grandis Thompson is the most important egg parasitoid of Eurygaster integriceps Put. in Iran. It can be reared on some alternative hosts such as eggs of Podisus maculiventris (Say). In this study, the functional response of female wasps that emerged from the factitious host, P. maculiventris, has been compared with that of females that emerged from the primary host, E. integriceps. In both wasp groups, at 23 ± 1°C, 70 ± 10% relative humidity and 15.00 : 9.00 hours (L : D) photoperiod, a type III functional response was observed. Parameters of Holling's disk equation for both populations were estimated and compared with an equation with indicator variable. Estimated handling time for females that emerged from Eurygaster and Podisus eggs are 0.62 and 0.77 h and parameter b, which describes the change in attack rate with host density in a type III functional response, was 0.004 and 0.005, respectively. The results indicated that the functional responses of the two populations differed in handling time. Longer handling time in wasps that emerged from factitious host showed that the wasps have lower quality in comparison with the wasps that emerged from primary host. This may be the first evidence of the effect of host on functional response of offspring and a promising result for use of functional response in quality testing.     

A new species of Angelopteromyia Korneyev, 2001 (Diptera,Platystomatidae) from Iran,with the key to the species

Angelopteromyia korneyevi Mohamadzade Namin, sp. n. from Iran is described and figured. The new species is similar to other species of Angelopteromyia in having abdominal spiracles 5 of females not approximated medially, as well as clypeus extended postero-ventrally, antenna shorter than face, and R₁ and R₄₊₅ setulose on dorsal side. It differs from other species of Angelopteromyia by having mostly brown wing with 3 hyaline crossbands and a few hyaline spots, and dark brownish basal and costal cells without hyaline spots.     

Detection of virtually all mutations-SSCP (DOVAM-S): a rapid method for mutation scanning with virtually 100% sensitivity.

Dideoxy fingerprinting (ddF) was used as a tool to search for a generic set of conditions with sufficient power to detect virtually all mutations. For each condition tested, a very large sample of mutation-containing, single-stranded segments (about 1500) were analyzed with ddF. Correlation coefficients identified pairs of conditions in which single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) mobilities were poorly correlated. The data strongly suggest that tertiary structure (e.g., base-sugar and sugar-sugar interactions) rather than secondary structure is the predominant determinant of mobility shifts by SSCP. Five conditions were selected with sufficient redundancy to detect all the mutations. The sensitivity of detection of virtually all mutations-SSCP (DOVAM-S) was determined by blinded analyses on samples containing additional mutations scattered throughout the eight exons and splice junctions in the factor IX gene. The factor IX gene sequence (2.5 kb) was scanned in one lane by 15 PCR-amplified segments (125 kb of sequence scanned per gel). All of the 84 single-base substitutions were detected in the blinded analyses, the first consisting of 50 hemizygous mutant and wild-type (WT) samples and the second consisting of 50 heterozygous mutant and WT samples. DOVAM-S is estimated to be five times faster than fluorescent DNA sequencing for the detection of virtually all mutations when the five conditions are applied.     

A new species of Urophora Robineau-Desvoidiy, 1830 (Diptera, Tephritidae) from Iran

Urophora merzisp. n. reared from flower heads of Centaurea behen Linnaeus is described from Iran. It is similar to Urophora campestris, Urophora sachalinensis, Urophora stylata, Urophora tsoii and Urophora vera in wing pattern with 3 well developed crossbands and indistinct subbasal crossband, differing in aculeus tip with two pairs of diminished preapical steps and different host plants.     

Comparison of assays for antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi in rabbits

Two indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assays, two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and the carbon immunoassay (CIA) for determination of antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi were compared using 210 sera of rabbits, 135 of which originated from seven infected colonies, while 75 originated from four uninfected colonies. There was no evidence of a difference between the different assays with respect to the number of positive sera. There was a clear correlation between the quantitative response measured by IIF and CIA and the other assays, and between both IIF tests, while no such correlation was found in the quantitative response measured by ELISAs, which might be explained by the less quantitative nature of the ELISA. Therefore quantitative determination of antibodies to E. cuniculi should be performed by IIF and not by ELISA. The nosographic sensitivities N1 and specificities N2 of the assays were > or = 0.94 and > or = 0.97 respectively. Small differences in N1 and N2 between the assays, although not statistically significant, were responsible for differences in the calculated predictive values of a positive test and of a negative test. As expected, the magnitude of these differences depended on the fraction of positive sera sampled from a given colony. There was strong evidence of such a difference between the fraction of positive sera found in different colonies, but the sample size from some colonies was too small to allow any conclusion, whether this was due to differences in the prevalences of the infection in the colonies or something else. We conclude that any of the assays will be suitable for the routine health monitoring of laboratory rabbit colonies for E. cuniculi infection, as recommended by the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations.     

Discrimination among the transcripts of the allelic human beta-globin genes beta A, beta S and beta C using oligodeoxynucleotide hybridization probes

Three nonadecadeoxynucleotides complementary to the sense strand of the normal human beta-globin gene, beta A, and to the two allelic genes beta S and beta C were synthesized. The beta S and beta C globin genes both differ from the beta A gene by a single nucleotide substitution in the sequence coding for codon 6. The oligodeoxynucleotides are complementary to the genes in the region of the mutations and are therefore allele-specific. When radiolabeled and used as hybridization probes, the oligodeoxynucleotides are found to hybridize specifically to the mRNA transcribed from each allele.     

Haemoglobin Avicenna (beta 47 (CD6) Asp replaced by Ala). A new abnormal haemoglobin.

In a survey for abnormal haemoglobin variants in voluntary blood donors in Iran, a new variant was found in a young male who presented no clinical symptoms. It had the same electrophoretic mobility as haemoglobin D in alkaline buffers. Separation of the constituent polypeptide chains in acid urea buffer revealed it to be different from haemoglobin D previously found among Iranians. Analysis of its structure demonstrated a substitution to alanine (beta 47 Asp replaced by Ala) in the same residue as involved in haemoglobin G-Copenhagen (beta 47 Asp replaced by Asn).