Type 2 transverse testicular ectopia: A case report.

Transverse testicular ectopia(TTE) is a rare anomaly defined by the presence of both testis in the same hemiscrotum or in the same inguinal canal.The main treatment of TTE is surgical intervention. Here we report a case of type 2 transverse testicular ectopia in an eight months old child. The boy had a right side inguinal hernia and a non-palpable testis on the left side. Ultrasonography confirmed the presence of both testis at the right inguinal region. Our case was associated with the persistence of Mullerian duct. After the excision of the Mullerian duct remnant, bilateral orchiopexy was performed.

Migrating Epithelial Monolayer Flows Like a Maxwell Viscoelastic Liquid.

We perform a bidimensional Stokes experiment in an active cellular material: an autonomously migrating monolayer of Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells flows around a circular obstacle within a long and narrow channel, involving an interplay between cell shape changes and neighbor rearrangements. Based on image analysis of tissue flow and coarse-grained cell anisotropy, we determine the tissue strain rate, cell deformation, and rearrangement rate fields, which are spatially heterogeneous. We find that the cell deformation and rearrangement rate fields correlate strongly, which is compatible with a Maxwell viscoelastic liquid behavior (and not with a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic solid behavior). The value of the associated relaxation time is measured as τ=70±15 min, is observed to be independent of obstacle size and division rate, and is increased by inhibiting myosin activity. In this experiment, the monolayer behaves as a flowing material with a Weissenberg number close to one which shows that both elastic and viscous effects can have comparable contributions in the process of collective cell migration.

Shaping the zebrafish myotome by intertissue friction and active stress.

Organ formation is an inherently biophysical process, requiring large-scale tissue deformations. Yet, understanding how complex organ shape emerges during development remains a major challenge. During zebrafish embryogenesis, large muscle segments, called myotomes, acquire a characteristic chevron morphology, which is believed to aid swimming. Myotome shape can be altered by perturbing muscle cell differentiation or the interaction between myotomes and surrounding tissues during morphogenesis. To disentangle the mechanisms contributing to shape formation of the myotome, we combine single-cell resolution live imaging with quantitative image analysis and theoretical modeling. We find that, soon after segmentation from the presomitic mesoderm, the future myotome spreads across the underlying tissues. The mechanical coupling between the future myotome and the surrounding tissues appears to spatially vary, effectively resulting in spatially heterogeneous friction. Using a vertex model combined with experimental validation, we show that the interplay of tissue spreading and friction is sufficient to drive the initial phase of chevron shape formation. However, local anisotropic stresses, generated during muscle cell differentiation, are necessary to reach the acute angle of the chevron in wild-type embryos. Finally, tissue plasticity is required for formation and maintenance of the chevron shape, which is mediated by orientated cellular rearrangements. Our work sheds light on how a spatiotemporal sequence of local cellular events can have a nonlocal and irreversible mechanical impact at the tissue scale, leading to robust organ shaping.

Fast determination of coarse-grained cell anisotropy and size in epithelial tissue images using Fourier transform.

Mechanical strain and stress play a major role in biological processes such as wound healing or morphogenesis. To assess this role quantitatively, fixed or live images of tissues are acquired at a cellular precision in large fields of views. To exploit these data, large numbers of cells have to be analyzed to extract cell shape anisotropy and cell size. Most frequently, this is performed through detailed individual cell contour determination, using so-called segmentation computer programs, complemented if necessary by manual detection and error corrections. However, a coarse-grained and faster technique can be recommended in at least three situations: first, when detailed information on individual cell contours is not required; for instance, in studies which require only coarse-grained average information on cell anisotropy. Second, as an exploratory step to determine whether full segmentation can be potentially useful. Third, when segmentation is too difficult, for instance due to poor image quality or too large a cell number. We developed a user-friendly, Fourier-transform-based image analysis pipeline. It is fast (typically 10^{4} cells per minute with a current laptop computer) and suitable for time, space, or ensemble averages. We validate it on one set of artificial images and on two sets of fully segmented images, one from a Drosophila pupa and the other from a chicken embryo; the pipeline results are robust. Perspectives include in vitro tissues, nonbiological cellular patterns such as foams and xyz stacks.

Combustion Processes as a Source of High Levels of Indoor Hydroxyl Radicals through the Photolysis of Nitrous Acid.

Hydroxyl radicals (OH) are known to control the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere but their influence on reactivity within indoor environments is believed to be of little importance. Atmospheric direct sources of OH include the photolysis of ozone and nitrous acid (HONO) and the ozonolysis of alkenes. It has been argued that the ultraviolet light fraction of the solar spectrum is largely attenuated within indoor environments, thus, limiting the extent of photolytic OH sources. Conversely, the ozonolysis of alkenes has been suggested as the main pathway of OH formation within indoor settings. According to this hypothesis the indoor OH radical concentrations span in the range of only 10(4) to 10(5) cm(-3). However, recent direct OH radical measurements within a school classroom yielded OH radical peak values at moderate light intensity measured at evenings of 1.8 × 10(6) cm(-3) that were attributed to the photolysis of HONO. In this work, we report results from chamber experiments irradiated with varying light intensities in order to mimic realistic indoor lighting conditions. The exhaust of a burning candle was introduced in the chamber as a typical indoor source causing a sharp peak of HONO, but also of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The photolysis of HONO yields peak OH concentration values, that for the range of indoors lightning conditions were estimated in the range 5.7 ×· 10(6) to 1.6 × 10(7) cm(-3). Excellent agreement exists between OH levels determined by a chemical clock and those calculated by a simple PSS model. These findings suggest that significant OH reactivity takes place at our dwellings and the consequences of this reactivity-that is, formation of secondary oxidants-ought to be studied hereafter.