Recent molecular studies have shown that the Antarctic limpet was

Recent molecular studies have shown that the Antarctic limpet was separated from its South American relatives since the end of the Miocene without any evidence of recent or recurrent gene flow events between these regions ( González-Wevar et al., 2010). Antarctic organisms adapt to their environment by changing their physiology, ecology and genomic architecture (Peck and Clark, 2012). Several studies developed mainly in fishes concluded that cold adaptation includes a variety of evolutionary changes such as loss of genes, change in gene expression, genomic rearrangements and evolutionary innovation (Peck and Clark, 2012).

In marine invertebrates, adaptation to cold and the genetic basis http://www.selleckchem.com/products/BMS-777607.html involved are poorly understood. Only few recent works are intended to describe the transcriptome architecture of some invertebrate species. In Laternula elliptica, an infaunal stenothermal bivalve mollusk with a circumpolar distribution, Clark et al. (2010) described their transcriptome focusing on the shell deposition and repair in mollusks. For the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba, a keystone species in the Antarctic food chain, two works are describing the transcriptomic architecture placing the attention on genes associated with stress and neuropeptide hormones ( Clark et al., 2011 and Toullec et al., 2013). In

the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae, the transcriptome Androgen Receptor screening was described to characterize the genes involved in regeneration ( Burns et al., 2013). In patellogastropods, only one mitochrondrial genome is available (NCBI DQ238599) and only recently the draft genome of Lottia gigantea was released (NCBI KB199650). In terms of the available sequence data for nacellid species, there are 667 sequences described in the NCBI database, corresponding mostly to Cytochrome Oxidase I, analyzed in a phylogeographic study ( González-Wevar et al., 2013). Thus, here we describe the head transcriptome in three limpet species inhabiting in South America and Antarctica with the aim to generate useful genomic information to study the molecular basis on adaptation in marine crotamiton invertebrate species.

Samples of adult individuals of the Antarctic limpet N. concinna were collected from the intertidal zone during a low tidal period near Base Escudero Station at Fildes bay, King George Island, South Shetland Island (62°10′S, 58°51′W), during the summer of 2012. Adult specimens of N. magallanica were obtained from the intertidal zone from Punta Santa Ana, Strait of Magellan (53° 37′S, 70° 54′W) during the summer of 2012. N. clypeater individuals were collected from the intertidal zone of La Mision, Valdivia, Chile (39° 46′ S, 73° 23′W) during the summer of 2012. For each species, head tissue extracted from 15 individuals was immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at − 80 °C. See Supplementary methods for RNA preparation, cDNA library and sequencing.

A Unidade deve ser informada sobre os resultados bacteriológicos

A Unidade deve ser informada sobre os resultados bacteriológicos da água da instituição/edifício havendo um PCI-32765 in vitro plano de intervenção descrevendo medidas a tomar no caso de resultado bacteriológicos positivos. A compra de material endoscópico e equipamento de reprocessamento deve envolver, sempre que aplicável, uma equipa multidisciplinar (os utilizadores e a Comissão de Controlo da Infeção e o Serviço de Saúde Ocupacional, Serviço de Instalações e Equipamento). Deve haver um plano com critérios para substituição e manutenção dos endoscópios e do equipamento de reprocessamento dos endoscópios (a Rede de

Referenciação Hospitalar de Gastrenterologia)22. Na atualidade, a endoscopia digestiva tem vindo a tornar-se um procedimento progressivamente mais complexo e mais generalizado sendo realizado em todo o país, em hospitais, clínicas e consultórios médicos. A descontaminação apropriada de material e equipamentos utilizados em endoscopia digestiva é uma componente essencial dos programas de Segurança do Doente

e Qualidade selleckchem das Instituições de Saúde. Assim, cumprindo o plano de ação do Programa Nacional de Controlo de Infeção (PNCI) e por determinação do Diretor-Geral da Saúde foi criado um Grupo de Trabalho para desenvolver as «Recomendações para o reprocessamento em Endoscopia Digestiva» por Despacho n.° 11/2011 a fim de uniformizar a prática baseada na evidência seguindo as orientações estabelecidas a nível europeu. O Grupo de Trabalho insere-se no âmbito da Divisão de Segurança do Doente do Departamento da Qualidade na Saúde. “
“O espectro de atividade da colite

ulcerosa (CU) é variável e o seu curso clínico pode ser imprevisível. Embora a maioria destes doentes apresente evolução favorável da doença com episódios de agudização e remissão capazes de serem resolvidos com recurso a salicilatos e corticoesteroides per os, cerca de 15-20% irá apresentar agudizações graves com necessidade de hospitalização 1. Recentemente o American College of Gastroenterology e o European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization definiram como agudização grave Mirabegron a presença de 6 ou mais dejeções por dia e evidência de sinais de toxicidade sistémica demonstrados por febre, taquicardia, anemia ou elevação da velocidade de sedimentação 2 and 3. Se existir dilatação cólica não obstrutiva (mais de 6 cm de diâmetro no cólon transverso) associada aos achados tóxicos sistémicos, estamos perante um quadro de megacólon tóxico, uma emergência médica potencialmente fatal que exige rápida e agressiva monitorização e intervenção médica-cirúrgica 4. Ainda que a maioria dos doentes com CU grave responda à corticoterapia, cerca de 30% são refratários, restando a terapêutica médica de 2.ª linha com infliximab ou ciclosporina, ou a abordagem cirúrgica5.

The authors concluded that this secondary trapping effect was sig

The authors concluded that this secondary trapping effect was significantly more cytotoxic than catalytic inhibition based on the observation that olaparib-treated wild type DT40 cells were significantly more sensitive to the alkylating agent, methylmethane sulfonate (MMS), compared to PARP1−/− DT40 cells treated with MMS alone, thereby suggesting a secondary mechanism of action responsible for the enhanced sensitivity. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report on ABT-888-mediated radiosensitization of pancreatic cancer in vivo. Similar to preclinical studies in other disease sites, we noted limited clinical

benefit of ABT-888 when used as a single-agent. However, in combination with radiation, we saw at least an additive effect of treatment on survival. Whereas check details these findings were consistent with in vitro results, the benefit was not as robust, and may be attributable Akt assay to differences in treatment dose(s) and method of treatment delivery among other factors. We believe, however, that these clinical findings are appropriately representative of what might be expected in the clinical

setting given the novel preclinical platform (SARRP) used to deliver radiation [19]. Similar to clinical studies, the potential therapeutic benefit of PARP-inhibition with ABT-888 may be further potentiated when used in combination with radiosensitizing chemotherapeutic agents. Jacob et al. have reported on the gemcitabine-sensitizing effects of the PARP-inhibitor, 3-aminobenzamide [27]. Co-treatment of heterotopic

Capan-1 pancreatic tumors in mice with both agents resulted in a significant synergistic improvement in survival relative to either treatment alone. As a fluorine-substituted analog of cytarabine, the primary mechanism of gemcitabine cytotoxicity is due to impairment of DNA synthesis through inhibition of DNA polymerase and ribonucleoside reductase by gemcitabine diphosphate and triphosphate with subsequent depletion of deoxyribonucleotide pools necessary for DNA synthesis [28]. As these mechanisms seem independent of PARP-regulated SSB DNA repair, the mechanism of potential synergism with gemcitabine remains unclear. Consistent with the findings of Jacob et al, however, we have noted similar dose enhancement Etoposide chemical structure and cytotoxicity following co-treatment of MiaPaCa-2 cells with radiation, gemcitabine and ABT-888 further suggesting that ABT-888 acts as both a radiation- and chemo-sensitizer. A recent clinical study compared full dose gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2) to a lower dose of gemcitabine (600 mg/m2) combined with standard fractionated radiation (50.4 Gy over 5.5 weeks) in patients with locally advanced PDAC [29]. Although the study was closed prior to reaching its planned accrual, there was a significant improvement in survival with combined gemcitabine and radiation compared to gemcitabine alone.

Though phase II enzymes catalyze the detoxification

Though phase II enzymes catalyze the detoxification Selleck Everolimus of BPDE, some of the reactive electrophiles interact

covalently with DNA to form adducts that mark an early initiation event. Unrepaired/misrepaired adducts lead to mutation in genes involved in proliferation, growth, apoptosis and finally to a disease condition such as cancer [4]. Plant-derived natural compounds have been receiving increased attention as chemopreventives because of their low toxicity and high tolerability. The efficacy of polyphenols when administered before or after the carcinogen treatment has been established and shown to modulate carcinogen-induced incidence/multiplicity/latency period of tumor development [5]. Curcumin/turmeric has been shown to possess chemopreventive activity at both initiation and promotion stages of chemical-induced carcinogenesis ([6], [7], [8], [9] and [10]). Earlier studies have shown that dietary curcumin pre-treatment decreases the formation of B(a)P-derived DNA adducts in mouse tissues by inhibiting carcinogen-induced phase I enzymes and directly selleck inhibitor inducing

phase II enzymes [7]. Effects of turmeric/curcumin after exposure to carcinogens on the repair or disappearance of adducts, if any, are not known. Hence, in the present study, the post-treatment effect of curcumin on the disappearance of BPDE-DNA adducts in tissues of mice have been evaluated. Herein, we show that dietary curcumin treatment subsequent to B(a)P exposure enhances the disappearance of BPDE-DNA adducts. This could possibly be due to the curcumin-mediated enhancement of apoptosis of DNA adduct-containing Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase cells

and/or repair of DNA-adducts in mouse tissues. Benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P] (purity ∼98%) and curcumin (purity ∼65-70%) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Antibodies for Bax, Bcl-2, cyclin D1, β-actin, anti-mouse horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated secondary antibodies were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) and caspase-3 from Abcam (Cambridge, MA, USA). Monoclonal antibody for BPDE-DNA adduct clone 5D11 was obtained from Hycult Biotechnology (Uden, Netherlands). The monoclonal antibody for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was procured from BD Pharmingen (San Diego, CA, USA). The anti-rabbit HRP conjugated secondary antibodies were obtained from Amersham Biosciences (Buckinghamshire, UK). All animal studies were conducted with approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee endorsed by the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), Government of India guidelines.

For example, the fact that methylation-dependent silencing of arg

For example, the fact that methylation-dependent silencing of argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS1) [40], a rate-limiting enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of arginine, has been implicated in therapeutic resistance in several cancer types including renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, malignant melanoma, glioblastoma multiforme, and platinum-resistant epithelial

ovarian cancer suggests a role for demethylating agents in these ASS1 drug-resistant Bak apoptosis cancers [41]. Nevertheless, despite their current nonspecific promiscuity, epigenetic agents may act on most or all tumor types, since aberrant methylation and deacetylation patterns are a hallmark of cancer cells. In particular, several of the anticancer agents described in this review activate and upregulate p53, which itself affects multiple targets [19]. Following genotoxic stress

in response to traditional therapeutic strategies such as cisplatin, doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil, fludarabine, mitoxantrone, etoposide, or X-ray radiation, p53 is upregulated; the capacity to maximally induce p53 is only limited by the systemic toxicity of these agents. One strategy to promote episensitization might be to administer azacytidine and entinostat sequentially after progression on RRx-001 followed by therapies that have been previously tried and failed. Another strategy might be to combine several genotoxic and nongenotoxic therapies with p53 upregulating properties click here at lower and potentially less toxic doses. The success of this strategy could be measured with standard imaging procedures such as fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) – positron emission tomography (PET). RRx-001, HDACis, and DNMTIs all disrupt multiple signaling pathways and it is perhaps this lack of specificity that is responsible for their ability

to resensitize cells to ineffective treatments [1]. The failure of so-called targeted agents to significantly increase overall Bay 11-7085 survival and quality of life supports an evidence-based paradigm shift away from the systematic avoidance of previously tried therapies toward their potential reuse for resensitization. With this resensitization paradigm shift, it would be theoretically possible to continue treatment instead of giving up after all conventional options have been exhausted, with reverted and reprogrammed tumors that are repeatedly susceptible to the same chemotherapies. Instead of a one-way arrow pointing inevitably in the direction of therapeutic failure, treatment would thereby alternate between resistance and resensitization, like a swinging pendulum. The desideratum is for patients to live out the rest of their lives with metastatic cancer in the form of a chronic condition, which is manageable and survivable, like diabetes, psoriasis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and not under the shadow of a progressively fatal disease.

The most prevalent resistance genes were tetM, tetW and ermC and

The most prevalent resistance genes were tetM, tetW and ermC and many cases were also positive for more than one target gene. An intriguing finding was that http://www.selleckchem.com/products/BIBW2992.html the blaTEM gene was only found in acute cases and as one of the most prevalent resistance genes. TEM beta-lactamases are widespread in Gram-negative bacteria and are known to attack several beta-lactamic

antibiotics. 26 and 27 TEM confers resistance to penicillins and early cephalosporins and has shown an astonishing functional plasticity in response to the introduction of novel derivatives of these antibiotics. 28 The gene blaTEM has been reported to be widely distributed among periodontal biofilm samples, regardless of the disease state. 3 and 5 Jungermann et al. 20 found that blaTEM was the most prevalent antibiotic resistance gene in samples from primary and persistent/secondary root canal infections, but there

are no reports on the association with symptoms. The reasons why this gene was found only in symptomatic cases are Transmembrane Transproters modulator not clear, but the possibility exists that patients with abscesses may have experienced previous acute episodes and made use of beta-lactam antibiotics (before the 3-month period exclusion criterion), which may have promoted a selection of resistant strains. Also, because some species may be more associated with symptomatic infections, 29 and if hypothetically the blaTEM gene occurs more frequently in these same species, it would be possible to speculate that the high prevalence of blaTEM in abscesses is coincidental. Further studies are required to clarify this issue. Noteworthy was also that the tetM gene was significantly more prevalent in asymptomatic cases. The mechanism of antibiotic resistance encoded by tetM gene is ribosomal protection and this gene has been very prevalent in oral samples. also 2, 3, 4 and 5 Similar to this study, the genes tetM and tetW were also commonly found in root canal infections in a previous study. 20 The high prevalence not only of tetM but also of tetW calls into question the use of tetracyclines as irrigants during root canal treatment. Theoretically,

not only should the efficacy of these antibiotics be reduced, but they might select for resistant strains. Clinical implications of these phenomena require further elucidation. Resistance to erythromycin has been widely shown for endodontic isolates.15, 16 and 17 It is most commonly due to the acquisition of erm genes which codes for rRNA methylases. In the present study, the ermC gene was found in one-fourth of both acute and asymptomatic cases. After root canal instrumentation of the asymptomatic cases, two samples were still positive for this gene, while it was eliminated from 4 other cases. The second purpose of this study was to examine the ability of chemomechanical preparation to reduce the number of cases positive for the target resistance genes.

To evaluate the impact of snowmelt runoff on nutrient pollution i

To evaluate the impact of snowmelt runoff on nutrient pollution in the River Mukhavets, the total

amount of phosphate and ammonium ions during the winter period (December 2012–April 2013) was calculated for snowmelt runoff and river runoff in Brest (Table 3). The calculation was done for the overall mean concentrations of these pollutants in the Mukhavets selleck for the last 3 years (Loginov 2012) and the overall mean concentrations in snowmelt runoff obtained in our study. The amounts of phosphate and ammonium ions discharged with snowmelt runoff make up 11.27% and 3.31% respectively of the total amount of these pollutants found in the Mukhavets during winter, showing that surface snowmelt runoff is a significant source of pollution by nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. If we take into account the fact that four towns with populations from 13 to 330 thousand people (Brest) are situated on the Mukhavets, the total pollutant load arising from surface snowmelt runoff from urban areas is even higher and presents a serious environmental threat at not only a regional but also a European scale. A potential threat arises from the fact that the River Mukhavets is a tributary of the Western Bug, a trans-boundary river of the Baltic Sea catchment area. As the mouth of the this website Mukhavets is very close to the city, a significant

Aspartate percentage of the pollution released may be involved in trans-boundary transport, thereby contributing to the pollution and eutrophication of the

Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, we could not make similar calculations for the other pollutants because of the lack of appropriate river water monitoring data. The surface runoff formed during snow melting periods in Brest carries a significant pollutant load that exceeds national regulation levels and can cause long-term environmental effects on watercourses if the runoff is discharged into them without prior treatment. In Brest a significant percentage of the surface runoff is allowed to drain untreated into the River Mukhavets and flows with the river waters into the Western Bug, a trans-boundary river of the Baltic Sea catchment area. Thus, surface runoff from the Brest area can contribute to the trans-boundary transport of elements. The pollutants of primary concern during the winter period are TSS and chloride ions, because their concentrations show the greatest excess compared to MPCs, and phosphate and ammonium ions because of the eutrophication they may cause. “
“As defined in the EU Floods Directive (CEC 2007), the term ‘flood’ means ‘the temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water’. The notion includes floods from rivers and mountain torrents, as well as floods from sea surges in coastal areas.

Authors publishing in Marine Pollution Bulletin have the possibil

Authors publishing in Marine Pollution Bulletin have the possibility of depositing data at the digital library PANGAEA (http://www.pangaea.de) and linking this data with their online article on ScienceDirect. PANGAEA functions as an Open Access data repository, where authors (or data managers for large projects) can deposit their data and provide the relevant publication information.

This data is quality-controlled and archived Venetoclax mouse by an editor in standard machine-readable formats to help improve re-usability and interoperability – adding value in a way that is very specific to this scientific domain. By establishing reciprocal links between PANGAEA and ScienceDirect, we are helping to improve the visibility and discoverability of both data sets

selleck chemicals llc and articles in order to make it easier for researchers to find primary data and to find articles using a specific data set. In addition, these links add valuable context to primary data by connecting them to published articles that may describe how the data was gathered and analyzed, how it can be interpreted, and whether there are any limitations to re-use. Taking the concept of connecting data and articles to a next level, PANGAEA and Elsevier have bundled forces to develop an application on ScienceDirect that integrates data into the article view, bringing the data even closer to the journal reader. The application is shown in the screenshot in Fig. 1. When an article is displayed on ScienceDirect, the application queries PANGAEA to find out which data sets have been used for the research described

in this paper. The locations Adenosine triphosphate of these data sets are displayed on a Google Map viewer, giving the reader a sense of the relevance of these data sets right away. The map is interactive, allowing the reader to explore the data by zooming out for context, zooming in for detail, etc. The data place-markers are linked to PANGAEA, providing easy access to the actual primary data sets. As an author of Marine Pollution Bulletin (as well as 140+ other participating journals), you are able to enrich your next publication to the benefit of your readers with this feature by depositing your data at PANGAEA. More information and instructions are available in the Guide for Authors at http://www.elsevier.com/journals/marine-pollution-bulletin/0025-326X/guide-for-authors#88100. In addition to the existing PANGAEA data-integration application, we are exploring additional ways to enrich the online article and add information to enable a better connection of oceanographic data and sampling, for example by linking cruise information or by exposing related data to interested readers. All these new features are made possible by a close collaboration with scientists and institutes that make us, as publishers, aware of the specific needs of the diverse scientific communities.

5 After all Haenawa sutures have been placed, first the most
<

5 After all Haenawa sutures have been placed, first the most

cranial side Haenawa suture is ligated. Then, inner layer procedures are performed, and the other Haenawa sutures are ligated in sequence from the cranial to caudal side (Fig. 3). The choledocojejunostomy and duodeno- or gastro-jejunostomy are then performed. Before closing the abdomen, a closed-suction drain is placed in the pancreatic anastomosis area. From August 2011 to November 2012, 20 patients underwent laparoscopic PD and 3 patients underwent laparoscopic MP at Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious diseases Center Komagome Hospital. The 23 patients Natural Product Library had a median age of 68 years (range 34 to 86 years). The male:female ratio was 14:9. Histopathologic diagnosis was intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in 10, papilla carcinoma in 5, pancreatic carcinoma in 3 patients, and pancreatic

SCH727965 mw neuroendocrine tumor, bile duct neuroendocrine tumor, duodenal carcinoma, solid and pseudo-papillary neoplasm, and serous cystadenoma in 1 patient, respectively. In 17 of 23 patients, excluding 5 patients for whom we performed P-JS via the open approach and a patient for whom we performed P-JS via the laparoscopic approach for the first time, P-JS was performed by our standardized method using Haenawa. Of these 17, the internal drainage method was performed in 12 and duct-to-mucosal anastomosis was performed in 5 patients for the inner layer. The mean overall operative time among 17 patients was 462 minutes (range 341 to 656 minutes), with mean blood loss of 126 g (range 0 to 350 g). Of 17 patients who underwent laparoscopic P-JS using Haenawa, in 12 with the internal drainage method and 5 with duct-to-mucosal anastomosis, the mean times for P-JS were 81 minutes (range 48 to 111 minutes) and 103 minutes (range 79 to 156 minutes), respectively. Postoperative complications occurred in 8 patients. Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) of Grades A and B6 occurred

in 1 and 2 patients, respectively, and peptic ulcer, portal vein thrombus, congestion of the afferent Alanine-glyoxylate transaminase loop jejunum, abdominal abscess, and pneumonitis occurred in 1 patient, respectively. In all patients, complications were resolved with conservative measures. Laparoscopic PD has yet to be accepted as a generalized surgical method because of both the difficulty and time consumption of pancreaticoenteric anastomosis.1 and 2 In our first case of totally laparoscopic P-JS, for which we did not use our current procedure, we felt marked stress, especially during P-JS. More than 1 hour on average is required for P-JS; however, we feel that our stress was reduced by eliminating the tangles of sutures retained without ligation after stitching. Therefore, we believe that totally laparoscopic P-JS is feasible using our current procedure with Haenawa.

The present data demonstrated that despite impaired relaxation in

The present data demonstrated that despite impaired relaxation in response to acetylcholine, the vasodilator response

AG-014699 cell line evoked by an NO donor was not changed by PM2.5 exposure, suggesting that smooth muscle responsiveness to NO was not modified by PM2.5. It is known that NOS activity inhibition with L-NAME is able to abolish acetylcholine-induced relaxation in rat pulmonary arteries, suggesting that NO is the pivotal endothelial derived factor in rat pulmonary arteries (Shahbazian et al., 2007). In addition, it was previously demonstrated that eNOS is the main isoform of NOS involved in the synthesis of NO in health pulmonary artery (Steudel et al., 1998). Thus, we investigated whether in vivo PM2.5 SB203580 research buy exposure could modulate the protein expression of eNOS in pulmonary arteries. It was found that 2 weeks of PM2.5 exposure significantly reduced the eNOS protein content in pulmonary arteries. A previous

study from our group showed that long term exposure (45 days), but not an early exposure, to air pollution in São Paulo city is able to decrease eNOS protein expression detected by immunohistochemistry in pulmonary arterioles ( Matsumoto et al., 2010). However, eNOS expression and vascular reactivity of extralobar circulation were not evaluated in that study. Here, we demonstrated that there is a positive correlation between eNOS and maximal relaxation evoked by acetylcholine in extralobar pulmonary arteries and the arterial rings from PM2.5-exposed animals that show lower values of relaxation to acetylcholine and also less eNOS protein expression. Taken together, our data suggest for the first time that the endothelial dysfunction elicited by early PM2.5 exposure in healthy Vasopressin Receptor rats is related to an impairment in the vasodilator effect of eNOS-derived NO in the pulmonary circulation. The animals here were daily exposure to concentrated PM2.5 at a level of 600 μg/m3 that represents a mean of 25 μg/m3 over 24 h. Considering that ambient annual concentration of PM2.5 in São Paulo city is 28 μg/m3 ( Miranda et al., 2012), the rodents were expose to

a PM2.5 concentration near the real environmental that São Paulo people are exposed. In addition to a reduction in NO synthesis, superoxide anions scavenge NO, reducing its bioavailability and thus contributing to endothelial dysfunction (Förstermann, 2010 and Grunfeld et al., 1995). The present results demonstrated for the first time that enhanced formation of superoxide anion was present in pulmonary arteries from animals exposed to 14 days of concentrated urban PM2.5, which could contribute to even more reduced endothelial-dependent relaxation evoked by acetylcholine. The enhanced superoxide anion generation in pulmonary arteries from PM2.5-exposed rats was confirmed by the effect of PEG-SOD incubation in reducing to control levels the fluorescent signal of hydroethidine.