“
“The metabolic syndrome (MS) represents a cluster of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors associated to CV disease and type 2 diabetes. It is still under debate whether MS is a mere aggregation of risk factors or it represents a clinical entity with visceral obesity as underlying pathophysiological trigger. The publication of several diagnostic criteria of MS by scientific associations or experts panels reflects this uncertainty in understanding the real nature of MS. Besides the metabolic disturbances of MS, as visceral obesity,

hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol, hypertension and hyperglycemia, novel mechanisms of arterial damage MG-132 clinical trial have been identified. This paper reviews the evidence showing that MS and MS factors are characterized by increased oxidative stress, a relevant factor contributing to the development of metabolic and cardiovascular complications. In the next future, the measure of plasma oxidative stress may contribute to identify a subset of MS patients at increased CV risk, candidates to more intensive therapies. (C) 2009 Elsevier Quisinostat B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Compositional effects

on optical band-gap energy using end members of ABO(3) perovskites have been investigated through an optical absorption with a UV-spectroscopy. Three examples are selected, namely, BaTiO3-CaTiO3, BaTiO3-BaZrO3, click here and SrTiO3-BaZrO3 solid solutions. To understand the role of high temperature phase equilibria on the band-gap compositional trends, structural and microscopy data were determined. In simple systems such as Si-Ge, the nonlinear variations in band gap with composition is usually associated with the effect

of the local lattice relaxations and provides a parabolic dependence, often referred to as the “”bowing”" phenomena. In the case of perovskite solutions, the cases are more complex, and a modified Vegard’s law is introduced to account for the trends. This has to be considered in relation to high temperature phase formation where incomplete solid solutions and two-phase regions exist. In addition to high temperature phases, low temperature displacive phase transitions and complex nonstoichiometry also perturb the band-gap variation in perovskite oxide materials.”
“Our working hypothesis is that constant interpulse interval (IPI) electrical stimulation would resonate with endogenous epileptogenic reverberating circuits, inducing seizures, whereas a random interinterval electrical stimulation protocol Would promote desynchronization of such neural networks, producing an anticonvulsant effect. Male Wistar rats were stereotaxically implanted with a bipolar electrical stimulation electrode in the amygdala.