Recent

Recent click here X-ray crystal structures of the bacterial ribosome and new technologies have allowed a greater interrogation of in vitro ribosome assembly; however, substantially less is known about ribosome biogenesis in vivo. Ongoing investigations are focused on elucidating the cellular processes that facilitate biogenesis of the ribosomal subunits, and many extraribosomal factors, including modification enzymes, remodeling enzymes and GTPases, are being uncovered. Moreover, specific roles for ribosome

biogenesis factors in subunit maturation are now being elaborated. Ultimately, such studies will reveal a more complete understanding of processes at work in in vivo ribosome biogenesis.”
“Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of empiric Galardin clinical trial transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for patients with massive bleeding from duodenal ulcers.\n\nMaterials and Methods: During January 2000 and December 2009, 59 patients with duodenal ulcer bleeding in whom TAE was attempted

after endoscopic therapy failed were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into empiric TAE (n = 36) and identifiable TAE (n = 23) groups according to angiographic findings with or without identification of the bleeding sites. The technical and clinical success rate, recurrent bleeding rate, procedure-related complications, and clinical outcomes were evaluated.\n\nResults: The technical and clinical success rates of TAE were 100% and 83%. The recurrent bleeding rate, clinical success, duodenal stenosis, and 30-day mortality after TAE were not significantly different between the empiric and identifiable TAE groups.\n\nConclusions: A high rate of technical and clinical success was obtained with empiric TAE comparable to identifiable TAE in patients with massive bleeding from duodenal ulcers. There were no severe complications. Empiric TAE is

an effective and safe method when a bleeding www.selleckchem.com/products/qnz-evp4593.html site cannot determined by angiography.”
“In horses, gastrointestinal (GI) disorders occur frequently and cause a considerable demand for efficient medication. 5-Hydroxytryptamine receptors (5-HT) have been reported to be involved in GI tract motility and thus, are potential targets for treating functional bowel disorders. Our studies extend current knowledge on the 5-HT7 receptor in equine duodenum, ileum and pelvic flexure by studying its expression throughout the intestine and its role in modulating contractility in vitro by immunofluorescence and organ bath experiments, respectively.\n\n5-HT7 immunoreactivity was demonstrated in both smooth muscle layers, particularly in the circular one, and within the myenteric plexus. Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), identified by c-Kit labeling, show a staining pattern similar to that of 5-HT7 immunoreactivity.

5-34 5 degrees C) within 6 h after birth AHA, ERC and ILCOR used

5-34.5 degrees C) within 6 h after birth. AHA, ERC and ILCOR used nearly identical literature for their evidence evaluation process. While the AHA and ILCOR guidelines are almost identical, the ERC guidelines differ slightly from the

latter with regards to (i) promoting sustained inflations at birth, (ii) promoting a wider range in applied inflations during resuscitation, and (iii) to suction the airways in infants born from meconium stained amniotic fluid, before inflations are given.”
“The aim of this study was to determine the mortality rate and burden of urinary tract cancers among residents of Inner Mongolia. We analyzed mortality data reported by the Death Registry System from 2008 to 2012. The rate of mortality due to urinary tract cancer was 2.04 per 100,000 person-years for the total population, 2.91 for men, Proteasome inhibitor and 1.11 for women. Therefore, the mortality rate for men was 2.62-fold the mortality rate for women, constituting

a statistically significant difference (p smaller than 0.001). Over the period 2008 through 2012, the total potential years of life lost was 1388.1 person-years for men and 777.1 person-years for women, and the average years of life lost were 7.71 years per male decedent and 12.0 years per female decedent. Mortality due to urinary tract cancers is substantially greater among the elderly population. Further, the mortality rate associated with urinary tract cancers is greater for elderly men than it is for elderly women. Therefore, in Inner Mongolia, urinary tract cancers appear to pose a greater mortality Mizoribine supplier risk for men than they

do for women.”
“Introduction. Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating neurological disease that usually gives rise to motor, perceptive, affective and cognitive disorders in patients. These symptoms can lead the person to lose his or her job and lower the quality of life of both patients and A-1210477 their relatives. Aim. To review the literature on demographic, clinical, cognitive, psychiatric, occupational and social variables associated with the work situation. Development. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have detected variables related with unemployment. Empirical research has shown how physical disability, fatigue and the progression of the disease exert a clear influence on the patient’s work situation. Yet, the same degree of evidence is not true for gender, depression, age, duration of the disease and cognitive variables. Little attention has been given to work characteristics such as job discrimination, employer’s attitude, labour laws, colleagues’ attitudes and transport problems. Conclusions. Many of the factors that determine job loss in a patient with multiple sclerosis can be identified in time to allow them to be modified or offset.

43 to 0 94 in RAPD, 0 38 to 0 89 in ISSR and 0 43 to 0 87 with co

43 to 0.94 in RAPD, 0.38 to 0.89 in ISSR and 0.43 to 0.87 with combined markers suggested a diversity (dissimilarity) ranging from 6 to 57%. 11 QNZ cell line to 62% and 13 to 57% respectively and the diversity skewed around 50% indicated moderate diversity. The Cluster analysis with UPGMA method separated the accessions broadly into 13 clusters and in that three into smaller Clusters, Some correspondence between the molecular groupings and the morphological clusters were

observed. Among the accessions, NRC-142 and NRC-12 were highly divergent and NRC-231 and NRC-232 were genetically similar. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Background. Dysmenorrhea is a common problem for which acupuncture provides effective analgesia. Although acupoint selection affects the effectiveness of acupuncture, the basic rules of acupoint selection are little understood. This study aims to investigate the principles of acupoint selection and characteristics of acupoints used for primary dysmenorrhea. Methods. PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Chinese Biomedical Database were searched for clinical trials published in English or Chinese from January 1978 to April 2014 evaluating find more the effect of acupuncture on primary dysmenorrhea, with or without

methods of randomization and/or control. Three authors extracted information and two reviewers inputted information on titles, journals, interventions, main acupoints, and outcomes find protocol using the self-established Data Excavation Platform of Acupoint Specificity for data mining. Results. Sanyinjiao (SP06), Guanyuan (CV04), and Qihai (CV06) were used most frequently. The most frequently used meridians were Conception Vessel, Spleen Meridian of Foot Taiyin, and Bladder Meridian of

Foot Taiyang. 67.24% of acupoints used were specific acupoints. Acupoints on lower limbs were most frequently used. Conclusion. Data mining is a feasible approach to identify the characteristics of acupoint selection. Our study indicated that modern acupuncture treatment for primary dysmenorrhea is based on selection of specific acupoints according to traditional acupuncture theory.”
“We study whether an inverse modeling approach is applicable for characterizing vascular tissue subjected to various levels of internal pressure and axial stretch that approximate in-vivo conditions. To compensate for the limitation of axial-displacement/pressure/diameter data typical of clinical data, which does not provide information about axial force, we propose to constrain the ratio of axial to circumferential elastic moduli to a typical range. Vessel wall constitutive behavior is modeled with a transversely isotropic hyperelastic equation that accounts for dispersed collagen fibers. A single-layer and a bi-layer approximation to vessel ultrastructure are examined, as is the possibility of obtaining the fiber orientation as part of the optimization.

The prevalence of microbleeds was 83% amongst 53 patients with in

The prevalence of microbleeds was 83% amongst 53 patients with intracerebral

hemorrhage (ICH), 49% amongst 173 with infarction, and 20% amongst 163 without any type Dactolisib in vitro of stroke. In the multivariate analyses, the odds ratio (95% CIs) of microbleed detection was 10.1, (4.12-24.8) for ICH, 2.33 (1.12-4.85) for atherosclerotic infarction, 1.66 (1.10-2.48) for PVH, and 1.49 (1.02-2.19) for DWMH. In the Pearson ‘ s correlation analysis, cerebral microbleeds were closely related to PVH (Pearson’s correlation coefficient; 0.48) and DWMH (0.37), compared with age (0.16). Conclusions: High-grade PVH, high-grade DWMH, ICH, and atherosclerotic infarction were significantly independent predictors for cerebral microbleeds. In addition, we found that the grades of PVH and DWMH have a closer association with the number of cerebral microbleeds than age.”
“The American Association of Diabetic Educators suggests that educating patients about their diabetes management facilitates problem solving and coping skills. This paper will describe

a clinic-in-a-clinic BI-2536 model of care delivery founded on the principles of the Chronic Care Model and focused towards the outcomes proposed by the American Association of Diabetic Educators. The reader will be introduced to the use of the ‘plan, do, study, act’ process used to develop this model in a clinical setting.\n\nSelf-management support, a key component of the Chronic Care Model, focuses on providing patients with the skills to make healthcare decisions. Self-management encourages patient to be responsible for his/her own health care. Because diabetes outcomes and complication prevalence are related to the degree of self involvement in illness care, self-management support is an important component of disease management.\n\nPlan,

do, study, act model for program development.\n\nThe ‘plan, do, study, act’ cycles outlined the steps needed to implement the clinic-in-a-clinic program with success related to coordination of all components and continual assessment and revision. Each cycle was initiated in a sequential order allowing click here for evaluation and goal adjustment before the next cycle was implemented.\n\nThe majority of patients seen were middle-aged, obese, females with HbA1cs greatly above the recommended 7.0. Patients selected a variety of topics related to diabetes management for their clinical session. Participation rates were consistent with regular clinic visit attendance. Barriers to success of the program were related to both structure and process.\n\nThe clinic-in-a-clinic design moves disease management from individual practice into a property of the health systems and places importance on the collaboration of patient, provider and delivery system in reducing the consequences of chronic illness. Use of the ‘plan, do, study, act’ cycle model offers a method for changing the process of care delivery in a structured, sequential approach.

The increasing incidence of breast cancer in Asia and the limitat

The increasing incidence of breast cancer in Asia and the limitations of existing treatments pose additional challenges. In this review, we summarize the preclinical and clinical evidence that indicates how lapatinib, a novel inhibitor that targets the human epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1) and ErbB2 may help

Selleck GW4869 clinicians address four particularly challenging issues in the management of ErbB2+ breast cancer. These issues are: (i) trastuzumab therapy failure, (ii) development of central nervous system metastases, (iii) minimizing toxicity and (iv) selecting the most appropriate partners (chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy) for combination therapy with lapatinib. Lapatinib, in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, such as capecitabine, provides clinical benefits to patients with ErbB2+ breast cancer, including patients who develop progressive disease on trastuzumab. Lapatinib, in combination with non-chemotherapeutic agents, such as letrozole, may also provide GSK1838705A a chemotherapy-free treatment option for postmenopausal patients with estrogen receptor-positive/ErbB2+ metastatic breast cancer. Encouraging results have also emerged regarding the synergistic effects of lapatinib in combination with other

agents for the treatment of ErbB2+ breast cancer. Promising findings have also been reported for the use of lapatinib to prevent and treat central nervous system metastases. Collectively, these

results indicate that the judicious use of lapatinib, an effective oral therapy with a manageable toxicity profile, can enhance the management of patients with ErbB2+ breast cancer.”
“Background: Drug addiction is a multifactorial disorder. Researchers have posited that an individual’s inherited behavioral propensity or temperament contributes to the disorder by shaping a personality strongly linked with the risk of drug abuse. Further, they hypothesize that the polymorphism of dopamine D2 receptor increases the susceptibility to and severity of addiction. We, therefore, investigated possible associations between dopamine selleck compound D2 receptor (DRD2) and personality traits among intravenous heroin addicts. Methods: We assessed 93 intravenous heroin addicts and controls using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). We confirmed drug-dependence status using a questionnaire based on DSM-IV criteria. We extracted DNA from the subjects’ whole blood and genotyped it for DRD2 allelic variants. Results: Genotype analysis showed a significantly higher frequency for the TaqIA polymorphism among the addicts (69.9%) compared to control subjects (42.6%; Fisher’s exact chi(2), p < .05). We observed no significant differences for other variants between the addicts and controls.

0 min by using 0 2% formic acid: methanol (15:85) as mobile phase

0 min by using 0.2% formic acid: methanol (15:85) as mobile phase on hypurity advance C-18 column (5 mu; 100 x 4.6 mm) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. Ion signals m/z “274.1/167.3, 237.0/192.0″ for armodafinil and internal standard respectively were measured in the positive ion mode. A detailed validation of the method was performed as per US-FDA guidelines (ICH Q2B). The results of all validation parameters were found to be within the acceptance limits. The drug concentration range from 50-10000 ng/mL was shown to be linear (r(2) = 0.9989). Accuracy of the method was found to be > 94%, and lower limit Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor of quantification was found at 50 ng/mL. The extraction

recoveries were found to be 70.6 +/- 0.96% and 67.7 +/- 1.32%

for ARM and IS, respectively. The recoveries CH5183284 mouse of the stability of sample at different conditions were found to be more than 95%. From the results, it is suggested that the proposed method is simple, reproducible, accurate and precise. So, this method can be applied for the future investigative studies of ARM in human plasma.”
“Being intracellular parasites, microsporidia can only be propagated in cell culture systems. This study evaluated three cell lines to determine the most suitable host-parasite In vitro system. Confluent monolayers of vero, SIRC, and HeLa cell lines, grown in 24-well tissue culture plates, were inoculated with varying concentrations (1 x 10 (4) to 1 x 10 (8) spores/mL) of Vittaforma corneae, Encephalitozoon hellem, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, and Encephalitozoon intestinalis Pevonedistat spores. Growth was compared quantitatively at weekly intervals. Encephalitozoon species showed the highest amount of growth when cultured in vero cell line, while there was no significant difference in their growth in SIRC and HeLa cell lines. In comparison, V. corneae showed the highest growth in SIRC cells, followed by

vero cells. The analytical sensitivity was found to be 1 x 10 (4) spores/mL for vero cell line compared to 1 x 10 (5) spores/mL for SIRC cell line and 1 x 10 (7) spores/mL for HeLa cell line. HeLa cells also showed rapid disruption of cells, and the spores could not be easily distinguished from cell debris. This is the first report of the comparison of vero, SIRC, and HeLa for the propagation of microsporidial spores. Vero cell line was found to be more sensitive than SIRC and HeLa cells, and we believe that the inclusion of vero cell line in the routine culture protocols of ocular parasitology laboratories would result in a significant increase in the diagnostic yield.”
“It is generally accepted that beam-column joints are critical elements of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings subjected to lateral loads, and that they may require specific design treatment following the accepted design philosophy of the strong-column weak-beam.

We have used Red homologous

We have used Red homologous selleck kinase inhibitor recombination to add a to a previously described

vector to construct a new BAC vector with a 250.3-kb insert containing the whole coding region of the CFTR gene along with 40.1 kb of DNA 5′ to the gene and 25 kb 3′ to the gene. This includes all the known control elements of the gene. We evaluated expression by RT-PCR in CMT-93 cells and showed that the gene is expressed both from integrated copies of the BAC and also from episomes carrying the oriP/EBNA-1 element. Sequencing of the human CFTR mRNA from one clone showed that the BAC is functional and can generate correctly spliced mRNA in the mouse background. The BAC described here is the only CFTR genomic construct available on a convenient vector that can be readily used for gene expression studies or in vivo studies to test its potential application in gene therapy for cystic fibrosis.”
“OBJECTIVE: To

perform a systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teamwork training in a simulation setting for the reduction of medical adverse outcomes in obstetric emergency situations.\n\nDATA SOURCES: We searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception to June 2009. The search strategy contained medical subject heading terms (“patient care team” and “patient simulation” and “obstetrics” or “gynecology” and “education” GSK3235025 purchase or “teaching”) and additional text words (“teamwork,” “simulation,” “training”).\n\nMETHODS OF STUDY SELECTION:

Studies describing and evaluating teamwork training programs with simulation models for labor ward staff in acute obstetric emergencies were selected. The search revealed 97 articles.\n\nTABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: All studies were assessed independently by two reviewers for methodological quality using the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS) criteria. Only eight articles assessed the effect of teamwork training in a simulation setting. Four of them were randomized controlled trials and four were cohort studies. The only study that reported on perinatal outcome INCB028050 research buy showed an improvement in terms of 5-minute Apgar score and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The seven other studies showed that teamwork training in a simulation setting resulted in improvement of knowledge, practical skills, communication, and team performance in acute obstetric situations. Training in a simulation center did not further improve outcome compared with training in a local hospital.\n\nCONCLUSION: Introduction of multidisciplinary teamwork training with integrated acute obstetric training interventions in a simulation setting is potentially effective in the prevention of errors, thus improving patient safety in acute obstetric emergencies. Studies on its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are needed before team training can be implemented on broad scale.

2 (95%

confidence interval, 4 4-7 9) episodes per 1000 pa

2 (95%

confidence interval, 4.4-7.9) episodes per 1000 patient-years. Of the 39 patients with DIOS, 20% experienced a relapse, 92% were pancreatic insufficient, 44% had a history of meconium ileus at birth, and 82% had a severe genotype. Conservative treatment was effective in 49 of 51 DIOS episodes (96%).\n\nConclusions: The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition CF Working Group definitions of DIOS and”
“The aim of this AZD5363 supplier work was to evaluate capability of site-specific delivery of a transdermal patch through determination of letrozole in local tissues disposition in female mice. After transdermal administration, the letrozole levels in skin, muscle, and plasma were 10.4-49.3 mu g/g, 1.64-6.89 mu g/g, and 0.35-1.64 mu g/mL, respectively. However, after the mice received letrozole suspension, the drug concentration of plasma and muscle were 0.20-4.80 mu g/mL and 0.15-2.38 mu g/g. There was even no drug determined in skin through all experiments. Compared with oral administration, the transdermal patch for site-specific delivery of letrozole could produce high drug concentrations in skin and muscle and meanwhile obtain

low drug level in plasma. These findings show that letrozole transdermal patch is an appropriate delivery system for application to the breast tumor region for site-specific drug delivery to obtain a high local drug concentration and low circulating drug concentrations avoiding the risk of systemic side effects.”
“Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) may Etomoxir in vitro switch their phenotype between LY2157299 a quiescent contractile phenotype and a synthetic phenotype in response to cyclic strain, and this switch may contribute to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and restenosis. SIRT 6 is a member of the sirtuin family, and plays an important role in different cell processes, including differentiation. We hypothesized that cyclic strain modulates the differentiation of VSMCs via a transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta

1)-Smad-SIRT6 pathway. VSMCs were subjected to cyclic strain using a Flexercell strain unit. It was demonstrated that the strain stimulated the secretion of TGF-beta 1 into the supernatant of VSMCs. After exposed to the strain, the expressions of contractile phenotype markers, including smooth muscle protein 22 alpha, alpha-actin, and calponin, and phosphorylated Smad2, phosphorylated Smad5, SIRT6 and c-fos were up-regulated in VSMCs by western blot and immunofluorescence. And the expression of intercellular-adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was also increased detected by flow cytometry. The strained-induced up-regulation of SIRT6 was blocked by a TGF-beta 1 neutralizing antibody. Furthermore, the effects of strain on VSMCs were abrogated by SIRT6-specific siRNA transfection via the suppression c-fos and ICAM-1. These results suggest that SIRT6 may play a critical role in the regulation of VSMC differentiation in response to the cyclic strain.

All rights reserved “
“The Human Metabolome Database (HMDB,

All rights reserved.”
“The Human Metabolome Database (HMDB, http://www.hmdb.ca) is a richly annotated resource that is designed to address the broad needs of biochemists, clinical chemists, physicians, medical geneticists, nutritionists and members of the metabolomics community. Since its first release in 2007, the HMDB has been used to facilitate the research for nearly 100 published studies in metabolomics, clinical biochemistry and systems biology. The most recent release of HMDB (version 2.0) has been significantly expanded and enhanced over the previous release (version 1.0). In particular, the number of fully annotated metabolite entries has grown from 2180 to more than 6800 (a 300%

check details increase), while the number of metabolites with bio-fluid

or tissue concentration data has grown by a factor of five (from 883 to 4413). Similarly, the number of purified compounds with reference to NMR, LC-MS and GC-MS spectra has more than doubled (from 380 to more than 790 compounds). In addition to this significant expansion in database size, many new database searching tools and new data content has been added or enhanced. These include better algorithms for spectral searching and matching, more powerful chemical substructure searches, faster text searching software, as well as dedicated pathway searching tools and customized, clickable metabolic maps. Changes to the user-interface have also been implemented to accommodate future expansion and to make database navigation much easier. VX-680 supplier These improvements should make the HMDB much more useful to a much wider community of users.”
“Acute tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life-threatening complication of cancer therapy requiring prompt recognition and aggressive management. It occurs particularly

in patients with lymphoproliferative disease Selleckchem GDC 973 during potent myelosuppressive therapy. To our knowledge, acute TLS in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with malignancy is extremely rare and has never been reported in English literature. We report the first case of acute TLS in an ESRD woman with diffuse large B cell lymphoma after chemotherapy. Aggressive treatments with daily hemodialysis and allopurinol rather than hydration benefit the patient. There is neither optimal therapy in treating ESRD patients with TLS nor adequate guidelines for how to adjust the chemotherapy drug in hemodialysis patients. This case provides our experience to clinician how to treat acute TLS in ESRD patients.”
“In the title compound, C(21)H(19)N(3)O(4), the central benzene ring makes dihedral angles of 78.54 (6) and 75.30 (6)degrees with the pyridine and 3-methoxyphenyl rings, respectively. An intramolecular N-H center dot center dot center dot N interaction occurs, generating an S((?) over bar). The crystal packing shows intermolecular N-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen-bonding interactions between the N-H groups and the O atoms of the 3-methoxyphenyl ring and the carbonyl groups of the amide functions.

0 +/- 8 1 degrees and 5 9 +/- 6 4 degrees, respectively The aver

0 +/- 8.1 degrees and 5.9 +/- 6.4 degrees, respectively. The average change

in fusion area length was a 1.2 mm increase from before to after the operation and a 1.8 mm decrease from after the operation to the final follow-up. The average recovery rate of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score was 63.0%. The surgical outcome of ACF with an ACP is satisfactory.\n\nConclusions: Insertion of an ACP is a good solution for preventing problems with the grafted bone after ACF. Our study suggests that the indications for an 3-deazaneplanocin A inhibitor anterior-only procedure for the management of cervical OPLL can be expanded.”
“The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a modified two-dimensional electrical inclinometer to measure scapular upward rotation during static humeral elevation. Numerous techniques have been proposed to qualitatively and quantitatively measure upward rotation of the scapula. These techniques are limited by expense or an inability to be synchronized with other measurements, such as muscle activity and force output. For validity testing, static scapular upward rotation was measured separately with a digital protractor and electrical inclinometer while participants were at rest and 60 degrees, 90 degrees and 120 degrees of humeral elevation in the scapular plane. For reliability testing,

either 20 min before or 20 min after validity testing, participants performed the testing positions while measurements were taken with the electrical inclinometer C59 inhibitor only. Significant correlations existed between the modified electrical inclinometer Galardin ic50 and digital protractor at all four positions (r > 0.996, p < 0.001). The electrical inclinometer demonstrated good to excellent intra-rater reliability (ICC3,1 > 0.892, 95% CI: 0.785-0.988 and SEM < 1.8

degrees). These results support the use of the electrical inclinometer to measure scapular upward rotation. These findings provide clinicians and researchers with a practical instrument that can accurately measure scapular upward rotation in synchrony with other measurements, such as electromyography and isokinetic data. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The elastic properties of the vocal folds (VFs) vary as a function of depth relative to the epithelial surface. The poroelastic anisotropic properties of porcine VFs, at various depths, were measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based indentation. The minimum tip diameter to effectively capture the local properties was found to be 25 mu m, based on nonlinear laser scanning microscopy data and image analysis. The effects of AFM tip dimensions and AFM cantilever stiffness were systematically investigated. The indentation tests were performed along the sagittal and coronal planes for an evaluation of the VF anisotropy.