OBJECTIVE:To determine the point prevalence of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and its relationship with respiratory disturbances in obese patients living at moderate altitude. SUBJECTS: A total of 57 obese patients comprised the final sample and consisted of 34 women and 23 men, with a mean age of 42.7712.1 ys and a mean body mass index (BMI) 47.1710.6 kg/m 2 (range from 30.1 to 76.1). The mean living altitude was 2248.7 m, range 2100-2400 m above sea level. MEASUREMENTS: Doppler echocardiography, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gas analysis, and polysomnography were performed. RESULTS: Data showed that 96.5% of the studied sample had daytime PH defined as calculated systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PSAP) 430 mmHg (mean PSAP ¼ 50, s.d. ¼ 13 mmHg). The severity of diurnal PH was found to be related to the presence of alveolar hypoventilation and BMI. The main risk factor for severity of diurnal PH was hypoventilation with a significant odds ratio (OR) 7.96, 95% CI 1.35-46.84, BMI was (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.02-1.25) and apnea/hypopnea index was not a predictor of pulmonary hypertension severity (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97-1.02). CONCLUSION: We concluded that prevalence of diurnal PH is high in obese patients living at moderate altitude, and that hypoventilation is the main risk factor associated with the severity of pulmonary hypertension.
Mangrove dynamics in the Cispata lagoon system (Colombian Caribbean) during last 900 years. The lagoon complex of Cispatá (old Sinú river delta) located at the Northwestern coast of the Colombian Caribbean, encloses one of the biggest mangrove areas in this region. This area has changed during the last 330 years because of several environmental and climatic causes, mainly changes in the position of the delta (Sinú River), which is the main freshwater source in this area, and sea level rise. We hypothesized that the climatic and geomorphologic dynamics has caused changes in the extension and composition of mangrove vegetation, especially during last 150 years. The dynamics of mangroves during the last 900 years was reconstructed based on the changes in the stratigraphy, pollen record, calcite concentrations (CaCO 3 ) and C/N ratio, along two sediment cores from La Flotante and Navio lagoons, located in Cispatá complex. The age model was built based on lineal interpolation of 210 Pb ages and changes in granulometry. Establishment and expansion of mangrove forests during the last 900 years were related to fluviomarine dynamics in the area and the lagoon formation. During the period encompassed between 1064 and 1762 A.D., the Mestizos spit was formed when marine conditions predominated in the surroundings of La Flotante Lagoon. At the site of Navío, a river dominated lagoon, terrigenous conditions dominated since 1830. Although the colonization of herbaceous pioneer vegetation started between 1142 and 1331 A.D., mangrove colonization only took place since 1717 A.D. Mangrove colonization was a result of the delta progradation. in 1849 A.D. the Sinú river delta migrated to the Cispatá bay. The eustatic sea level rise, the increase in river discharges and sedimentation rates produced the establishment of mangrove forests dominated by Rhizophora since 1849. Since 1900 a marine intrusion was recorded in both lagoons. in 1938, the migration of the delta toward its actual location in Tinajones gave place to the formation of the present lagoon system and to the expansion of mangrove forests, which reflects the balance between the high alluvial sediment input and the current sea level rise as has been recorded in similar ecosystems. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58 (4): 1347-1366. Epub 2010 December 01.
Nitrogen mustards (NMs) react with two bases on opposite strands of a DNA duplex to form a covalent linkage, yielding adducts called DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). This prevents helix unwinding, blocking essential processes such as replication and transcription. Accumulation of ICLs causes cell death in rapidly dividing cells, especially cancer cells and ICL-forming agents like nitrogen mustards are valuable in chemotherapy. However, the repair of ICLs can contribute to chemoresistance through a number of pathways that remain poorly understood. One of the impediments in studying NM ICL repair mechanisms has been the difficulty of generating site-specific and stable NM ICLs. Here we describe two methods to synthesize stable NM ICL analogs that make it possible to study DNA ICL repair. As a proof of principle of the suitability of these NM ICLs for biochemical and cell biological studies, we use them in primer extension assays with Klenow polymerase. We show that the NM ICL analogs block the polymerase activity and remain intact under our experimental conditions.
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