"Vulnerable" plaques are atherosclerotic plaques that have a high likelihood to cause thrombotic complications, such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Plaques that tend to progress rapidly are also considered to be vulnerable. Besides luminal stenosis, plaque composition and morphology are key determinants of the likelihood that a plaque will cause cardiovascular events. Noninvasive magnetic ...

Sperm morphology evolves rapidly, resulting in an exceptional diversity of sperm size and shape across animal phyla. This swift evolution has been thought to prevent fertilizations between closely related species. Alternatively, recent correlative analyses suggest that competition among sperm from more than one male may cause sperm diversity, but these hypotheses have not been tested. Here, we ...

Asbestos has been established as the cause of most cases of diffuse malignant mesothelioma occurring in the industrialized world. The morphology of mesothelioma may be complex, and the employment of chemical, histochemical and ultrastructural studies are often helpful in identification. Diagnostic difficulties may to some degree blur the extent of its prevalence and reliance on exposure history...

Despite recent advances in the study of animal flight, the biomechanical determinants of maneuverability are poorly understood. It is thought that maneuverability may be influenced by intrinsic body mass and wing morphology, and by physiological muscle capacity, but this hypothesis has not yet been evaluated because it requires tracking a large number of free flight maneuvers from known individ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the effects of pneumoperitoneum with carbon dioxide and helium on renal function and morphology in a rat model. METHODS Twenty four rats were randomized into three groups (n=8): gasless insufflation ('open', Pressure=0 mmHg), carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum at 12 mmHg, and helium pneumoperitoneum at 12 mmHg; all lasting 90 minutes.. A cystostomy was performed and the bladd...

Animal locomotion causes head rotations, which are detected by the semicircular canals of the inner ear. Morphologic features of the canals influence rotational sensitivity, and so it is hypothesized that locomotion and canal morphology are functionally related. Most prior research has compared subjective assessments of animal "agility" with a single determinant of rotational sensitivity: the m...

Purpose As an active component in wolfberry, lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) are capable of protecting retinal neurons in several animal disease models. Here, we asked whether LBP rescues the retinal morphology and function in rd1 mouse, a photoreceptor fast-degenerating animal model of retinitis pigmentosa, and in particular focused on LBP's effects on the function of retinal ganglion ce...

The response of the thoracic aorta to balloon-catheter-induced endothelial denudation was studied in two animal models of diabetes: the obese Zucker rat and the streptozotocin-treated Wistar rat. The obese Zucker rat, an animal with a metabolic profile similar to that of noninsulin-dependent human diabetics, was characterized by excessive body weight, hyperinsulinemia, hyperlipidemia, and a mil...

PURPOSE To evaluate the importance of morphology in quantifying expression after in vivo gene transfer and to compare gene expression after intra-arterial (IA) and intra-tumoral (IT) delivery of adenovirus expressing a SSTR2-based reporter gene in a large animal tumor model. MATERIALS AND METHODS Tumor directed IA or IT delivery of adenovirus containing a human somatostatin receptor type 2A (...

Whiskers are versatile sensors for short-range navigation and exploration that are widespread in many animal species, especially in rodents. Their arrangement is in very precise rows and arcs on both sides of the animal’s head. The controlled variations between species and the conservation within a species indicates a prominent role of their morphology for their functioning. Because of their en...