Léonard de Vinci (1452–1519): andrologue avant la lettre

Leonardo da Vinci devoted 41 years of his lifetime to anatomy and anatomical drawing and opened new horizons in these two disciplines. He is therefore justly considered to be the father of modern anatomy. Considering the great number of his anatomical drawings dealing with the male urogenital tract and its function, Leonardo da Vinci can also be considered to be the father of andrology.     

Leonardo da Vinci on atherosclerosis and the function of the sinuses of Valsalva

Although well studied by a medical scholar like Kenneth D. Keele, Leonardo da Vinci’s elaborate study of the heart is not generally known. This article focuses on two of Leonardo’s achievements concerning atherosclerosis and the sinuses of Valsalva. The first is his post-mortem observation on the degeneration of the vascular system in an old man, an early case history.     

On the trail of Leonardo

A night course taken almost 25 years ago sparked an interest in Leonardo da Vinci that has become a passion for a London, Ont., neurosurgeon. Dr. Rolando Del Maestro now boasts one of the largest collections of da Vinci artifacts in North America.     

Generation and visualization of root-like structures in a three-dimensional space

In his Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci describes his diameter squared rule for the branching of above-ground tree parts. We now apply this branching-rule to the study of root-branching. Repeated application of this rule in a recursive computer program (ArtRoot) produces the diameters of the branches. An algorithm in this recursive program calculates the orientation of the branches in a three-dimensional space. From these data three-dimensional root-like structures are visualized by a computer program (PLUTON) designed to draw three-dimensional molecular structures. The visualization shows that starting from a relatively simple, symmetrical structure of dichotomous branching, more complex, asymmetrical root-like structures arise even if only a few parameter values are changed. The introduction of randomness into parameter values produces structures that differ considerably in their architecture. An extra force has been added in order to influence the orientation of new branches in space and to increase the flexibility of the structure formation.     

Implications of streamlining theory for microbial ecology

Whether a small cell, a small genome or a minimal set of chemical reactions with self-replicating properties, simplicity is beguiling. As Leonardo da Vinci reportedly said, ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication''. Two diverging views of simplicity have emerged in accounts of symbiotic and commensal bacteria and cosmopolitan free-living bacteria with small genomes. The small genomes of obligate insect endosymbionts have been attributed to genetic drift caused by small effective population sizes (N_e). In contrast, streamlining theory attributes small cells and genomes to selection for efficient use of nutrients in populations where N_e is large and nutrients limit growth. Regardless of the cause of genome reduction, lost coding potential eventually dictates loss of function. Consequences of reductive evolution in streamlined organisms include atypical patterns of prototrophy and the absence of common regulatory systems, which have been linked to difficulty in culturing these cells. Recent evidence from metagenomics suggests that streamlining is commonplace, may broadly explain the phenomenon of the uncultured microbial majority, and might also explain the highly interdependent (connected) behavior of many microbial ecosystems. Streamlining theory is belied by the observation that many successful bacteria are large cells with complex genomes. To fully appreciate streamlining, we must look to the life histories and adaptive strategies of cells, which impose minimum requirements for complexity that vary with niche.     

Valéry et l’automatisme psychologique

While the name of Paul Valery is usually associated with that of Leonardo da Vinci or the character, Monsieur Teste, most people are unaware of Valery’s posthumous work, which he considered the most significant of his writings: Cahiers/Notebooks, a voluminous and dense work, in its dimensions (around 30,000 pages) as well as in what it discloses about the daily ponderings of a man who considered himself — in spite of himself — a philosopher. It is a multifaceted work, touching on all fields of thought: history, politics, and the sciences, in all their diversity, from mathematics to physics, and biology to the theory of evolution. Neither philosophy, nor theology, nor linguistics is left in the dark. But he clearly expressed a preference for psychology and, more specifically, the question of mental function: What is it to think? How does the mind link ideas? What is abstraction? What role do feelings play? What is the relationship between the mind and the machine? Must we concede the existence of the unconscious mind. These are some of the questions we address in elucidating the concept of automatism through what makes it work as well as its failings.     

Mechanics of blood flow

The historical development of the mechanics of blood flow can be traced from ancient times, to Leonardo da Vinci and Leonhard Euler and up to the present times with increasing biological knowledge and mathematical analysis. In the last two decades, quantitative and numerical methods have steadily given more complete and precise understanding. In the arterial system wave propagation computations based on nonlinear one-dimensional modeling have given the best representation of pulse wave propagation. In the veins, the theory of unsteady flow in collapsible tubes has recently been extensively developed. In the last decade, progress has been made in describing the blood flow at junctions, through stenoses, in bends and in capillary blood vessels. The rheological behavior of individual red blood cells has been explored. A working model consists of an elastic membrane filled with viscous fluid. This model forms a basis for understanding the viscous and viscoelastic behavior of blood.     

The Renaissance or the cuckoo clock

‘…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock’.Orson Welles as Harry Lime: The Third Man

Orson Welles might have been a little unfair on the Swiss, after all cuckoo clocks were developed in the Schwartzwald, but, more importantly, Swiss democracy gives remarkably stable government with considerable decision-making at the local level. The alternative is the battling city-states of Renaissance Italy: culturally rich but chaotic at a higher level of organization. As our understanding of the cell cycle improves, it appears that the cell is organized more along the lines of Switzerland than Renaissance Italy, and one major challenge is to determine how local decisions are made and coordinated to produce the robust cell cycle mechanisms that we observe in the cell as a whole.     

The ischemic lung: Role of the bronchial arteries in lung function

A patient with a dissecting aortic aneurysm, Type 1, developed acute pulmonary edema unexplained by the usual etiologic factors. Pathologic evidence that bronchial arterial circulation was interrupted led us to hypothesize that pulmonary edema could be due to ischemia of the bronchial circulation. To test this hypothesis, two chronic studies were done in dogs. The first study consisted of selective ligation of the right posterior bronchial artery at its origin at the fifth or sixth intercostal artery. After recovery from surgery, biopsies were taken from the ipsilateral and contralateral lung at time periods from 5 hours to 11 days. Ischemic damage was found in seven of eight dogs (87.5%), and was confined to the right lung. Histological examination revealed initial congestion within 8 hours, followed by pulmonary edema within 72 hours, and finally, disruption of alveolar septa with small emphysematous bullae on the eleventh postoperative day. The left lung remained normal in histological appearance. The second study consisted of transplanting the bronchial artery to the pulmonary artery to create a low pressure system and low O(2) content, and to simulate a regional shock situation. In five of six dogs (83.3%), the anastomosis was occluded within 72 hours, probably due to pressure competition from small collateral bronchial circulation. However, in these five dogs, pulmonary vascular resistance increased by 53%, intrapulmonary shunting increased by 83%, and the alveolar-to-arterial oxygen gradient increased by 150 mm Hg. Pulmonary edema was again confined to the right lung. Bronchial arteriograms demonstrated the extensive and variable distribution of the bronchial circulation in dogs. In the sixth dog, the anastomosis remained patent with a left-to-right shunt, due to a larger bronchial arterial collateral circulation. In this animal, the pulmonary arterial resistance, intrapulmonary shunting, and alveolar-arterial O(2) gradient were normal. Pulmonary edema was absent in lung biopsies. Bronchial circulation is discussed with respect to its clinical implications for lung transplants, shock, thoracic aneurysms, and mediastinal surgery. The results of this study suggest that the systemic bronchial circulation is important for normal lung function.     

Upstream pressure for systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation in dogs

Systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation, important in perfusing potentially ischemic regions distal to pulmonary vascular obstructions, depends on driving pressure between an upstream site in intrathoracic systemic arterial network and pulmonary vascular bed. The reported increase of pulmonary infarctions in heart failure may be due to a reduction of this driving pressure. We measured upstream element for driving pressure for systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation by raising pulmonary venous pressure (Ppv) until the systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation ceased. We assumed that this was the same as upstream pressure when there was flow. Systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation was measured in left lower lobes (LLL) of 21 anesthetized open-chest dogs from volume of blood that overflowed from pump-perfused (90-110 ml/min) pulmonary vascular circuit of LLL and was corrected by any changes of LLL fluid volume (wt). Systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation upstream pressure was linearly related to systemic arterial pressure (slope = 0.24, R = 0.845). Increasing Ppv caused a progressive reduction of systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation, which stopped when Ppv was 44 +/- 6 cmH2O and pulmonary arterial pressure was 46 +/- 7 cmH2O. A further increase in Ppv reversed systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation with blood flowing back into the dog. When net systemic to pulmonary flow from bronchial circulation by the overflow and weight change technique was zero a small bidirectional flow (3.7 +/- 2.9 ml.min-1 X 100 g dry lobe wt-1) was detected by dispersion of tagged red blood cells that had been injected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

张广才岭西坡次生林不同生境胡桃楸幼树根系构型及细根特征

采用全根挖掘法对张广才岭西坡次生林林缘、林隙、林冠3种生境下5～6年生胡桃楸幼树根系构型及细根功能进行研究,分析根系拓扑指数、平均连接长度、根系分支前后横截面积比,以及细根化学成分,探索胡桃楸幼树根系构型对生境变化的响应。结果表明: 林缘下胡桃楸根系趋向于叉状分支(拓扑指数TI=0.68),林冠下则偏向于鲱鱼骨形分支(TI=0.79),林隙居于两者之间(TI=0.72)。林缘、林隙和林冠下根系平均连接长度差异不显著,根系分支前后横截面积比分别为1.06、1.04、1.07,不受根系直径变化的影响,符合Leonardo da Vinci法则。从林缘、林隙到林冠下,不同生境下同一根序细根的比根长、比表面积逐渐增大,N含量先降低再升高,而C含量和C/N则先升高再降低。从林缘、林隙到林冠下,胡桃楸根系通过减少次级分支和根系间的重叠,使其由叉状分支趋向于鲱鱼骨形分支,并通过增大比根长、比表面积和改变C、N含量应对环境的变化,提高根系对养分的吸收效率。     

Options for histological study of the structure and ultrastructure of human urinary bladder epithelium

The urothelium lines all urinary passages, with exception of the distal portions of the urethra. For the first time the structure of the human bladder was described by Leonardo Da Vinci in 15^th century, however, the exact ultrastructure and function of the bladder’s epithelium have not been fully understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the structure of normal human urinary bladder epithelium with methods of classical histology, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We obtained biopsies from non-tumor areas from the human urinary bladder of tumor-bearing patients during transurethral resections of these tumours in general or spinal anaesthesia. Totally we investigated biopsies from 20 patients, 16 males and 4 females. The mean age of this group of patients was averaged 66.5 years. The urothelium is comprised of three cell types including polyhedral basal cells, piriform intermediate cells, and superficial umbrella cells. In human urinary bladder epithelium we found a direct connection between intermediate cells and the basement membrane. These thin cytoplasmic projections are detectable not only on slides for light microscopy (semi-thin sections), but also in transmission electron-micrographs. In semi-thin sections we found also direct connections between superficial umbrella cells and basement membrane. These connections we were not able to verify via transmission electron-microscopy. Nevertheless our results show that the human urinary bladder urothelium is a special type of pseudostratified epithelium and each cell has a thin cytoplasmic projection with a direct contact with basement membrane.     

Distribution of blood flow and neutrophil kinetics in bronchial vasculature of sheep

Baile, Elisabeth M., Peter D. Paré, David Ernest, andPeter M. Dodek. Distribution of blood flow and neutrophil kinetics in bronchial vasculature of sheep. J. Appl.Physiol. 82(5): 1466-1471, 1997.The bronchialcirculation, as opposed to the pulmonary circulation, is the likelysource of the edema and inflammatory cells that contribute to airflowobstruction and airway narrowing associated with asthma and pulmonaryedema. The purpose of this study was to understand the mechanism ofedema formation and inflammation in airway walls. Therefore, we soughtfirst to determine the normal bronchial venous drainage pathways. Inanesthetized, ventilated, open-chest sheep we measured the relativedistribution of ⁵¹Cr-labeled redblood cells to the right and left ventricles after injection into thebronchial artery (n = 7).Using this information, we then studied the kinetics of leukocytes inthe bronchial vascular bed. We measured the extraction of¹¹¹In-labeled neutrophils duringtheir first pass through the microvasculature after injection into thebronchial artery or right ventricle (n = 6). In the first set of experiments, we found >85% of the systemic blood flow to the lung returns to the left ventricle. In the second setof experiments, we found that extraction of neutrophils in thebronchial vasculature (50-60%) was less(P < 0.05) than that in thepulmonary vasculature (80%). This finding may be explained bydifferences in the anatomy and/or hydrodynamic dispersal forces between the pulmonary and bronchial vascular beds or may reflect sequestration of neutrophils within the pulmonary microvasculature while traversing bronchial-to-pulmonary anastomotic pathways.

     

Bronchial blood flow affects recovery from constriction in dog lung periphery

We investigated the effect of eliminating the bronchial circulation on recovery time from intravenous histamine challenge in canine lung periphery. Results from animals with intact bronchial circulations were compared with a second group in which the left lower lobe was isolated in situ. The pulmonary artery to this lobe was perfused and a bronchoscope was wedged in a small airway, which provided an index of resistance to airflow through the collateral system. The lobe was challenged with intravenous histamine, and the time constant of recovery (tau) from bronchoconstriction was measured. With or without pulmonary blood flow, elimination of the bronchial circulation increased tau 44.4 and 48.5%, respectively. This increase was similar to that found by stopping pulmonary blood flow alone (56.5%). Histamine challenges were also performed in sympathectomized or vagotomized animals with intact bronchial circulations. Neither of these conditions increased tau. We conclude that blood flow through the bronchial circulation affects the recovery time from intravenous histamine challenge in the lung periphery to a degree similar to that of the pulmonary circulation.     

Thoracoscopic lobectomy with the da vinci surgical system

Thoracoscopic upper lobectomy has been performed with the da Vinci surgical system in human cadavers. A minithoracotomy and two additional thoraco ports provided access to the thoracic cavity. An auxiliary port was used for both retraction of the lung and suction. The pulmonary vessels were ligated by robotic instruments, and the bronchi were divided after suturing robotically or with automatic staplers. A standard lymph node dissection was performed. The current da Vinci surgical system provided superior optics and enhanced dexterity. The application of the system for minimally invasive lobectomy may add benefits for both surgeon and patients.     

河西走廊中部两种荒漠植物根系构型特征

在河西走廊中部,采用挖掘法挖取红砂和白刺根系,应用拓扑学与分形理论分析了根系构型的特征.结果表明: 2种荒漠植物根系的拓扑指数均较小,根系分支模式均近似为叉状分支结构.红砂和白刺根系具有较好的分形特征,其分形维数分别为(1.18±0.04)和(1.36±0.06);分形维数、分形丰度与根系平均连接长度均呈显著正相关.2种荒漠植物根系的平均连接长度均较大,以扩大植物的有效营养空间,从而适应干旱贫瘠的土壤环境.2种荒漠植物根系分支前的横截面积等于根系分支后的横截面积之和,验证了Leonardo da Vinci法则.对17个根系构型参数进行主成分分析,根系拓扑指数、根系连接数量、逐步分支率和根系直径4个根系构型参数能很好地表示2种荒漠植物根系构型特征.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地3种植物根系构型及其生境适应策略

 在塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地, 采用挖掘法挖取塔克拉玛干柽柳(Tamarix taklamakanensis)、塔克拉玛干沙拐枣(Calligonum roborovskii)和罗布麻(Apocynum venetum )根系, 对根系的拓扑结构特征进行了测定与分析。结果表明: 1) 3种植物根系均以水平分布占优势, 根系浅层化。2) 3种植物根系结构的适应性不同, 表现为两种不同的根系分支模式, 塔克拉玛干柽柳根系为叉状分支结构(q_a=0.15、q_b=0.09、TI=0.658), 罗布麻(q_a=0.43、q_b=0.35、TI=0. 83)和沙拐枣(q_a=0.52、q_b=0.38、TI=0.86)根系趋向于鱼尾形分支结构。3) 3种植物根系的连接长度都较大, 最小也达1.12 m, 说明在塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地, 3种植物通过增加连接长度来扩大根系在土层中的分布范围, 从而提高根系的有效营养空间, 增加根系连接长度是根系对沙漠腹地贫瘠土壤环境的一个良好适应。4)研究验证了Leonardo da Vinci法则, 即根系分支前的横截面积等于根系分支后的横截面积之和, 3种植物根系分支前后的横截面积符合Leonardo da Vinci法则。研究表明沙漠腹地3种植物根系构型特征既有相似性又有差异性, 在相似的沙漠环境中具有不同的根系适应策略。     

Meeting review: a summary of the Label-Free Summit

‘All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.’ Leonardo da Vinci

Scientific progress is often enabled by the development of new tools and technologies that have given us new ways of perceiving the world. In the early days of our science, optical microscopy gave us the ability to observe cells for the first time and opened the new world of cell biology. More recently, advances in cloning and labeling technologies have permitted us to study the interactions of individual proteins. Now, label-free detection technology provides another promising advance – the means to generically study signal transduction in living cells through the dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) of intracellular contents. On October 6–7, 2008 a group of researchers gathered in Corning, NY to share recent advances in the field of label-free detection. Attendees came from nearby Ithaca, NY and as far away as Tokyo, Japan, representing a diverse set of institutions engaged in drug discovery research. Topics ranged from seven transmembrane receptor (7TMR) signaling, to high throughput screening and profiling, and to new applications such as ion channels and viral infection assays. Overall, the Label-Free Summit has given us additional perspective on the potential of this promising technology.     

喀斯特峰丛洼地不同植被恢复阶段优势种根系构型特征

以喀斯特峰丛洼地不同植被恢复阶段灌丛、次生林、原生林为研究对象,采用全挖法分析了各阶段4个优势种的根系构型参数,探讨该特殊生境条件下植物根系构型的差异性、相似性以及资源合理高效的利用方式。结果表明:(1)各个植被恢复阶段优势种拓扑指数TI均趋向于0.5,呈叉状分支结构,并表现为次生林(0.57)原生林(0.49)灌丛(0.46),有利于根系在贫瘠且浅薄的土壤环境中拓展生存空间。(2)3种植被恢复阶段优势种的根系平均连接长度在34.29cm以上,平均为37.01cm,增加连接长度对植物在养分贫瘠的喀斯特土壤环境的生存有利。(3)次生林根系分支率低于灌丛和原生林,这是不同植被恢复阶段优势种对环境所采取的不同适应策略。(4)3种植被恢复阶段优势种根系的横截面积比均符合Leonardo da Vinci法则,且不随直径的变化而变化。(5)3种植被恢复阶段优势种在土壤养分、水分获取及土壤空间拓展方面没有显著差异性。研究认为,在喀斯特峰丛洼地异质性很强的生境下,3种植被恢复阶段优势种的根系均为叉状分支结构,且均以较长的连接长度和较低的分支率策略适应其特殊的生态环境。