Aplasia of the gallbladder in a dog

A young, female Maltese dog was presented with intermittent vomiting of bile. Biochemical evidence of persistent mild hepatopathy had been present for 11 months. Exploratory celiotomy was performed. Absence of the gallbladder with malformation of the quadrate lobe of the liver was identified. There was histological evidence of bile duct proliferation and portal fibrosis.     

Spatial Variability of Turbulent Mixing in the Abyssal Ocean

Ocean microstructure data show that turbulent mixing in the deep Brazil Basin of the South Atlantic Ocean is weak at all depths above smooth abyssal plains and the South American Continental Rise. The diapycnal diffusivity there was estimated to be less than or approximately equal to 0.1 x 10(-4) meters squared per second. In contrast, mixing rates are large throughout the water column above the rough Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the diffusivity deduced for the bottom-most 150 meters exceeds 5 x 10(-4) meters squared per second. Such patterns in vertical mixing imply that abyssal circulations have complex spatial structures that are linked to the underlying bathymetry.     

Ordering of ruthenium cluster carbonyls in mesoporous silica

The anionic ruthenium cluster carbonylates [Ru6C(CO)16]2- or [H2Ru10(CO)25]2- interspersed with bis(triphenylphosphino)iminium counterions (PPN+) are incorporated from solution into the pores of MCM-41 mesoporous silica (3 nanometers in diameter), where they form tightly packed arrays. These arrays were shown by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform optical diffraction, and computer simulations to be well ordered both along and perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical pores. In their denuded state produced by gentle thermolysis, the cluster carbonylates yield nanoparticles of ruthenium that are less well ordered than their assimilated precursors but show good activity as hydrogenation catalysts for hexene and cyclooctene. In both their as-prepared and denuded states, these encapsulated clusters are likely to exhibit interesting electronic and other properties.     

Deleterious Effects of Progestagen Treatment in VEGF Expression in Corpora Lutea of Pregnant Ewes

The aim of the current study was to determine the possible effects of progestagen oestrous synchronization on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression during sheep luteogenesis and the peri‐implantation period and the relationship with luteal function. At days 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 21 of pregnancy, the ovaries from 30 progestagen treated and 30 ewes cycling after cloprostenol injection were evaluated by ultrasonography and, thereafter, collected and processed for immunohistochemical evaluation of VEGF; blood samples were drawn for evaluating plasma progesterone. The progestagen‐treated group showed smaller corpora lutea than cloprostenol‐treated and lower progesterone secretion. The expression of VEGF in the luteal cells increased with time in the cloprostenol group, but not in the progestagen‐treated group, which even showed a decrease between days 11 and 13. In progestagen‐treated sheep, VEGF expression in granulosa‐derived parenchymal lobule capillaries was correlated with the size of the luteal tissue, larger corpora lutea had higher expression, and tended to have a higher progesterone secretion. In conclusion, the current study indicates the existence of deleterious effects from exogenous progestagen treatments on progesterone secretion from induced corpora lutea, which correlate with alterations in the expression of VEGF in the luteal tissue and, this, presumably in the processes of neoangiogenesis and luteogenesis.