Surgical reconstruction of the oral commissure aims to restore both symmetry of the lips at rest and, more importantly, full oral competence. Moulding the lip commissure with functional and cosmetic fidelity remains till today a difficult task. A possible surgical solution, the 'elastic flap' principle described by Goldstein, may be found in the wide full-thickness mobilization of the upper and...

PURPOSE To investigate the process of fatigue in orbicularis oris muscles by analyzing the median frequency of electromyographic signal and the referred fatigue time, according to the breathing mode and the facial pattern. METHODS The participants were 70 children, aged 6 to 12 years, who matched the established criteria. To be classified as 36 nasal-breathing and 34 mouth-breathing children,...

The timing of the transition to flowering is carefully controlled by plants in order to optimize sexual reproduction and the ensuing production of seeds, grains, and fruits. The genetic networks that regulate floral induction are best characterized in the temperate eudicot Arabidopsis in which the florigen gene FT plays a major role in promoting the transition to flowering. Legumes are an impor...

FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes encode proteins that function as the mobile floral signal, florigen. In this study, we characterized five FT-like genes from the model legume, Medicago (Medicago truncatula). The different FT genes showed distinct patterns of expression and responses to environmental cues. Three of the FT genes (MtFTa1, MtFTb1, and MtFTc) were able to complement the Arabidopsis (Ara...

Plant genomes contain several hundred defensin-like (DEFL) genes that encode short cysteine-rich proteins resembling defensins, which are well known antimicrobial polypeptides. Little is known about the expression patterns or functions of many DEFLs because most were discovered recently and hence are not well represented on standard microarrays. We designed a custom Affymetrix chip consisting o...

Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana MYB transcription factor TRANSPARENT TESTA 2 (TT2) in Medicago trunculata hairy roots induces both proanthocyanidin accumulation and the ATP-dependent vacuolar/vesicular uptake of epicatechin 3'-O-glucoside; neither process is active in control roots that do, however, possess anthocyanidin 3-O-glucoside vacuolar uptake activity. A vacuolar membrane-localiz...

Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare visual estimation of onset of neuromuscular blockade at both the adductor pollicis (AP) and the orbicularis oculi (OO) in children and to determine if monitoring the OO could predict good intubating conditions dunng vecuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade. Methods: Thirty ASA I II children (1,5-9 yr) were studied. Anaesthesia was induced with 6-8 m...

This investigation was carried out with the aim of determining the effect of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG; 0, 3%, 6% and 9% w/v) treatment on six cultivars of Medicago sativa. PEG treatment significantly decreased the germination index in cultivars of Isfahani, Hamedani, Bami, Baghdadi, Yazdi and Ghare-Medicago, with the highest reduction in Ghare-Medicago and Hamedani cultivars by about 50% a...

the coastal areas of the caspian sea are geographically unique and provide habitats for different flora and fauna. one of the remarkable inhabitants of this area is the european pond turtle, emys orbicularis (linnaeus, 1758), about which very little is known. in our study thirty seven (37) adult males of e. orbicularis have been identified in the golestan, mazandaran, ardebil, and east azerbaij...