DEVELOPMENT OF METRICS FOR ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN PROFESSIONAL MASTER'S COURSE.

PubMed

Brito, Marcus Vinicius Henriques; Carneiro, Francisca Regina Oliveira

2015-01-01

Propose metric to qualify the production conveyed through articles published in Professional Master's Programs and, from there, to establish guidance for the evaluation of postgraduate programs of Medicine III. Analysis of the documents of 2013 area graduate programs strict sense concerning the application and measurement of score the articles published, and creation of proposal for metric of the theme with the quadrennial review of Medicine III. Were evaluated the medicines area documents I, II and III; Biological Sciences (I) and Interdisciplinary, as well as the 2013 reports of CAPES. All programs establish metrics for "Classification of Published Articles" within its bibliographic production although with different percentages respecting its specificities. With these data collected and correlating their relevance with the surgical areas, was drafted proposal for quantification of the quality of the published articles to "Professional Postgraduate Programs" at surgical area that have specific characteristics according to their guidelines, directing their scientific production to technique journals preferably. The metric suggested for published articles, that should be included in intellectual production of the Area Document, should be considered for the extract A1 = 100 points; A2 = 85 points; B1 = 80 points; B2 = 70 points; B3 = 60 points; B4 = 40 points and B5 = 20 points. Propor métrica para qualificar a produção veiculada através de artigos publicados em programas de mestrado profissional e, a partir daí, estabelecer orientação para a avaliação dos programas de pós-graduação da Medicina III. Análise dos documentos de área de 2013 dos programas de pós-graduação senso estrito no que concerne à aplicação e mensuração de pontuação a artigos publicados, e criação de proposta para métrica do tema com vistas à avaliação quadrienal da Medicina III. Foram avaliados os documentos de área das Medicinas I, II e III; Ciências Biológicas I e Interdisciplinar, assim como os relatórios de 2013 da CAPES. Todos os programas estabelecem métrica para "Classificação de Artigos Publicados" dentro de sua produção bibliográfica embora com percentuais diferentes respeitando suas especificidades. Com esses dados levantados e correlacionando-se sua pertinência com as áreas cirúrgicas, foi elaborada proposta de quantificação da qualidade dos artigos publicados para "Programas de Pós-graduação Profissionais" na área cirúrgica que possuem características próprias de acordo com suas diretrízes, direcionando assim sua produção científica preferencialmente para revistas técnicas. A métrica sugerida para artigos publicados, que deve ser incluída na produção intelectual do Documento de Área, deverá ser considerada para o extrato A1 = 100 pontos; A2 = 85 pontos; B1 = 80 pontos; B2 = 70 pontos; B3 = 60 pontos; B4 = 40 pontos e B5 = 20 pontos.

PubMed

Ávila García, Manuel; Huertas Delgado, Francisco Javier Huertas Delgado; Tercedor Sánchez, Pablo

2016-11-29

Introducción: España es el tercer país europeo con mayor prevalencia de obesidad infantil, dando lugar a la aparición de programas de intervención destinados a fomentar hábitos alimentarios saludables y/o de actividad física (AF).Objetivo: el propósito de esta revisión sistemática fue conocer aquellos programas de intervención para la promoción de hábitos alimentarios y de AF desarrollados en escolares españoles de Educación Primaria (EP) y analizar la influencia que han tenido las intervenciones sobre la composición corporal, los hábitos alimentarios y la AF.Método: se revisaron los artículos publicados entre los años 2000 y 2015 en las siguientes bases de datos: Web of Science, Scopus, Dialnet, PubMed, Eric, Sportdiscus y Psycinfo por dos revisores independientes.Resultados: se contabilizaron un total de 813 artículos, de los cuales tras la eliminación de duplicados (192), lectura de títulos y resumen (587) y lectura del texto completo (17), tan solo 7 cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión.Conclusiones: los programas de intervención analizados mostraron cambios positivos en la mejora de la composición corporal en algo menos de la mitad de los estudios analizados; por otro lado, casi todos los programas de intervención analizados tuvieron un efecto positivo sobre conductas respecto a ciertos hábitos alimentarios, como la ingesta de frutas, y sobre el incremento del nivel de AF.

Projeto do sistema anti-ressonante da fiação dos transdutores para o detector Mario Schenberg

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieira, S. J.., Jr.; Melo, J. L.

2003-08-01

O detector de ondas gravitacionais Mario Schenberg está sendo projetado e construído pelo grupo Gráviton. Sua construção está ocorrendo no Laboratório de Estado Sólido e Baixas Temperaturas (LESBT) da Universidade de São Paulo, na cidade de São Paulo. Esse detector possui uma massa ressonante esférica de cobre-alumínio, com 65 cm de diâmetro, pesando aproximadamente 1150 Kg, suspensa por um sistema de isolamento vibracional, que se encontra em fase de testes preliminares. A real eficácia desse sistema, entretanto, só poderá ser comprovada quando o detector estiver aparelhado com, pelo menos, um transdutor eletromecânico de altíssima sensibilidade acoplado à massa ressonante. Neste momento, não só este sistema de isolamento vibracional será posto em teste, como o do projeto da fiação que transporta os sinais de microondas até os transdutores e destes para a pré-amplificação. Apesar dessa fiação ter sido projetada para não apresentar nenhum contato com a superfície esférica da antena, de maneira a não haver nenhuma transmissão de ruído vibracional do laboratório para esta, deve-se minimizar o ruído microfônico produzido nessa fiação por oscilações mecânicas, uma vez que ela não utiliza nenhum sistema de isolamento vibracional. Com o intuito de resolver este problema, projetamos uma estrutura, formada por pequenos cilindros conectados por barras, a qual não terá nenhuma ressonância mecânica na faixa de freqüências de interesse para detecção (3000 - 3400 Hz). Desta forma, as vibrações nessa faixa não serão amplificadas. O projeto foi feito usando iterativamente, de maneira a otimizar os resultados obtidos, o programa de elementos finitos Msc/Nastran. Através de simulações feitas neste programa, determinamos os parâmetros geométricos ideais a serem utilizados, os quais proporcionam a maior região espectral de interesse livre de ressonâncias.

The good pharmacy practice on Einstein Program at Paraisópolis Community.

PubMed

Oliveira, Lara Tânia de Assumpção Domingues Gonçalves de; Silva, Camila Pontes da; Guedes, Maria das Vitorias; Sousa, Ana Célia de Oliveira; Sarno, Flávio

2016-01-01

To describe indicators and processes developed and implemented for pharmaceutical assistance at the Einstein Program at Paraisópolis Community pharmacy. This was a descriptive study of retrospective data from January 2012 to December 2015. Data were obtained from spreadsheets developed for monitoring the productivity and care quality provided at the pharmacy. The evaluated variables were pharmaceutical assistance to prescription, pharmaceutical intervention, orientation (standard and pharmaceutical) and pharmaceutical orientation rate. The pharmacy assisted, on average, 2,308 prescriptions monthly, dispensing 4,871 items, including medications, materials and food supplements. Since March 2015, virtually, the pharmacist analyzed all prescriptions, prior to dispensing. In the analyzed period, there was an increase in monthly pharmaceutical interventions from 7 to 32 on average, and, although there was a decrease in the number of standard orientation, the pharmaceutical orientation had an increase, causing a rise of pharmaceutical orientation rate from 4 to 11%. The processes developed and implemented at the program pharmacy sought to follow the good pharmacy practice, and help patients to make the best use of their medications. Descrever os indicadores e os processos desenvolvidos e implantados para assistência farmacêutica na farmácia do Programa Einstein na Comunidade de Paraisópolis. Tratase de um estudo descritivo de dados retrospectivos de janeiro de 2012 a dezembro de 2015. Os dados foram obtidos de planilhas desenvolvidas para acompanhamento da produtividade e da qualidade de assistência prestada na farmácia. As variáveis avaliadas foram: atenção farmacêutica à prescrição, intervenção farmacêutica, orientação (padrão e farmacêutica) e taxa de orientação farmacêutica. A farmácia atendeu, em média, 2.308 prescrições ao mês, dispensando 4.871 itens, incluindo medicamentos, materiais e suplementos alimentares. Desde março de 2015, praticamente todas as prescrições foram analisadas pelo farmacêutico antes da dispensação. Houve incremento nas intervenções farmacêuticas mensais, de 7 para 32 em média e, apesar de ter havido diminuição no número de orientações padrão, a orientação farmacêutica aumentou, fazendo com que a taxa de orientação subisse de 4 para 11%. Os indicadores e os processos desenvolvidos e implantados na farmácia do programa procuraram seguir as boas práticas de farmácia e ajudar os pacientes a fazerem melhor uso de seus medicamentos.

HIV Seroprevalence, Associated Risk Behavior, and Alcohol Use Among Male Rwanda Defense Forces Military Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

los programas efectivos de prevención basada en apoyo de los grupos lı́deres. Los datos sugieren una epidemia concentrada, más que gener- alizada...concentrated rather than generalized epidemic, with targets identified for intervention. Resumen Se realizó un estudio transversal en soldados de género...masculino en servicio activo, mayores de 21 años de edad, en las Fuerzas de Defensa de Ruanda (RDF, por sus siglas en inglés), y se incluyó una

Identificabilidade e estabilidade dos parâmetros no método Grade of Membership (GoM): considerações metodológicas e práticas

PubMed Central

Guedes, Gilvan Ramalho; Caetano, André Junqueira; Machado, Carla Jorge; Brondízio, Eduardo Sonewend

2011-01-01

O método Grade of Membership (GoM) tem sido cada vez mais utilizado por demógrafos brasileiros e tem a vantagem de possuir um parâmetro que mensura a heterogeneidade individual, com base nas correlações não-observáveis entre as categorias de resposta das variáveis de interesse, gerando um medida do grau de pertencimento de cada indivíduo a perfis extremos. Alguns autores, contudo, chamam atenção para questões importantes na calibragem dos modelos finais que utilizam o programa GoM versão 3.4, como o problema de identificabilidade – soluções múltiplas para parâmetros estimados. Neste artigo, é sugerido um procedimento capaz de identificar um modelo final com solução única que descreva os tipos puros mais fidedignos à base de dados, em uma tentativa de otimização. Para ilustrar esse processo, utilizou-se uma base de dados correspondente a um levantamento econômico e sociodemográfico de uma população de pequenos agricultores residentes ao longo da Rodovia Transamazônica, no Estado do Pará. Também identificou-se a existência de instabilidade nos parâmetros estimados pelo programa GoM 3.4, sendo proposto um método de estabilização de seus valores. Com esses procedimentos combinados, os usuários do programa GoM 3.4 poderão descrever sua base de dados de forma mais adequada e responder às críticas sobre questões de identificabilidade e estabilidade dos modelos resultantes. Essas soluções empíricas são relevantes por afetarem cálculos de prevalência e de incidência de eventos de interesse, além de trazerem consequências importantes sobre o ponto e o momento corretos para intervenções de políticas públicas ou de planejamento prospectivo em análises de projeção. PMID:21709732

Care coordination in PMAQ-AB: an Item Response Theory-based analysis.

PubMed

Souza, Miriam Francisco de; Santos, Alaneir de Fatima Dos; Reis, Ilka Afonso; Santos, Marcos Antônio da Cunha; Jorge, Alzira de Oliveira; Machado, Antônio Tomaz Gonzaga da Matta; Andrade, Eli Iola Gurgel; Cherchiglia, Mariangela Leal

2017-01-01

Analyze the quality of the National Program for Primary Care Access and Quality Improvement variables to evaluate the coordination of primary care. A cross-sectional study based on data from 17,202 primary care teams that participated in the National Program for Primary Care Access and Quality Improvement in 2012. Based on the Item Response Theory, Samejima's Gradual Response Model was used to estimate the score related to the level of coordination. The Cronbach's alpha and Spearman' coefficients and the point-biserial correlation were used to analyze the internal consistency and the correlation between the items and between the items and the total score. We evaluated the assumptions of unidimensionality and local independence of the items. Cloud-type word charts aided in the interpretation of coordination levels. The Program items with the greatest discrimination in coordination level were: telephone/Internet existence, institutional communication flows, and matrix support actions. The specialists' contact frequency with the primary care and integrated electronic medical record required a greater level of coordination among the teams. The Cronbach' alpha was 0.8018. The institutional communication flows and telephone/Internet items had a higher correlation with the total score. Coordination scores ranged from -2.67 (minimum) to 2.83 (maximum). More communication, information exchange, matrix support, health care in the territory and the domicile had a significant influence on the levels of coordination. The ability to provide information and the frequency of contact among professionals are important elements for a comprehensive, continuous and high-quality care. Analisar a qualidade das variáveis do Programa de Melhoria do Acesso e da Qualidade da Atenção Básica para avaliar a coordenação na atenção básica do cuidado. Estudo transversal baseado em dados de 17.202 equipes de atenção básica que participaram do Programa de Melhoria do Acesso e da Qualidade da Atenção Básica em 2012. Baseado na Teoria de Resposta ao Item, o Modelo de Resposta Gradual de Samejima foi utilizado para estimação do escore relacionado ao nível de coordenação. Os coeficientes alfa de Cronbach, Spearman e ponto bisserial foram utilizados para análise da consistência interna e da correlação entre os itens e de itens com o escore total. Foram avaliadas as suposições de unidimensionalidade e de independência local dos itens. Gráficos do tipo nuvem de palavras auxiliaram na interpretação dos níveis de coordenação. Os itens do Programa com maior discriminação do nível de coordenação foram: existência de telefone/internet, fluxos institucionais de comunicação e ações de apoio matricial. A frequência de contato de especialistas com a atenção básica e prontuário eletrônico integrado exigiram maior nível de coordenação das equipes. O coeficiente alfa de Cronbach total 0,8018. Os itens fluxos institucional de comunicação e telefone/internet tiveram maior correlação com o escore total. Os escores de coordenação variaram entre -2,67 (mínimo) e 2,83 (máximo). Maior grau de comunicação, troca de informações, apoio matricial, cuidado no território e domicílio tiveram peso relevante nos níveis de coordenação. A capacidade de disponibilizar a informação e a frequência de contato entre os profissionais são elementos importantes para o cuidado abrangente, contínuo e de qualidade.

Learning qualitative aspects of the ethics of biomedical and psychosocial research program of the Interdisciplinary Center for Studies on Bioethics, University of Chile1

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Eduardo

2012-01-01

El presente trabajo reflexiona sobre la experiencia de 10 años en procesos de aprendizaje grupal y adquisición de competencias, de los participantes en el Programa de Ética de la Investigación Biomédica y Psicosocial del Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios en Bioética de la Universidad de Chile, Fogarty Grant R25TW6056. Considera el papel de la bioética en la formación en su carácter transdisciplinario. PMID:22833694

Products purchased from family farming for school meals in the cities of Rio Grande do Sul.

PubMed

Ferigollo, Daniele; Kirsten, Vanessa Ramos; Heckler, Dienifer; Figueredo, Oscar Agustín Torres; Perez-Cassarino, Julian; Triches, Rozane Márcia

2017-02-16

This study aims to verify the adequacy profile of the cities of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in relation to the purchase of products of family farming by the Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE - National Program of School Meals). This is a quantitative descriptive study, with secondary data analysis (public calls-to-bid). The sample consisted of approximately 10% (n = 52) of the cities in the State, establishing a representation by mesoregion and size of the population. We have assessed the percentage of food purchased from family farming, as well as the type of product, requirements of frequency, delivery points, and presence of prices in 114 notices of public calls-to-bid, in 2013. Of the cities analyzed, 71.2% (n = 37) reached 30% of food purchased from family farming. Most public calls-to-bid demanded both products of plant (90.4%; n = 103) and animal origin (79.8%; n = 91). Regarding the degree of processing, fresh products appeared in 92.1% (n = 105) of the public calls-to-bid. In relation to the delivery of products, centralized (49.1%; n = 56) and weekly deliveries (47.4%; n = 54) were the most described. Only 60% (n = 68) of the public calls-to-bid contained the price of products. Most of the cities analyzed have fulfilled what is determined by the legislation of the PNAE. We have found in the public calls-to-bid a wide variety of food, both of plant and animal origin, and most of it is fresh. In relation to the delivery of the products, the centralized and weekly options prevailed. Verificar o perfil de adequação dos municípios do Rio Grande do Sul no que tange à aquisição de produtos da agricultura familiar pelo Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar. Trata-se de estudo quantitativo descritivo, com análise de dados secundários (chamadas públicas). A amostra foi composta por aproximadamente 10% (n = 52) dos municípios do estado, tomando-se o cuidado de estabelecer uma representatividade por mesorregião e tamanho da população. Foi avaliado o percentual destinado às compras de gêneros alimentícios da agricultura familiar, bem como o tipo de produto, exigências de periodicidade, pontos de entrega e presença de preços em 114 editais de chamadas públicas, no ano de 2013. Dos municípios analisados, 71,2% (n = 37) atingiram 30% de gêneros alimentícios oriundos de agricultura familiar. A maioria das chamadas públicas demandou tanto produtos de origem vegetal (90,4%; n = 103) como de origem animal (79,8%; n = 91). Quanto ao grau de processamento dos alimentos, os produtos in natura apareceram em 92,1% (n = 105) das chamadas públicas. Em relação à entrega dos produtos, a centralizada (49,1%; n = 56) e as entregas semanais (47,4%; n = 54) foram as mais descritas. Apenas 60% (n = 68) das chamadas públicas continham preço dos produtos. A maioria dos municípios analisados cumpriu o determinado pela legislação do Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar. Encontrou-se nas chamadas públicas uma grande diversidade de alimentos, tanto de origem vegetal quanto de origem animal, sendo a maior parte deles in natura. Em relação à entrega dos produtos, prevaleceu a centralizada e a semanal.

Inauguração do Telescópio SOAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, João

2004-04-01

A comunidade astronômica brasileira de há muito almeja ter a sua disposição um instrumento científico com o qual possa fazer pesquisa de vanguarda e manter a competitividade científica a nível internacional. Hoje este sonho se torna uma realidade. O Brasil tem tido uma política de pesquisa e de pós-graduação bem sucedida. Estamos formando 7000 doutores por ano e produzimos 1,5% da ciência mundial. Nosso desafio, hoje, é associar a esta capacidade de gerar conhecimento também a capacidade de usar o conhecimento em beneficio da sociedade. A Astronomia não é exceção. Temos 7 programas de pós-graduação em nível de doutorado e 11 em nível de mestrado. O telescópio SOAR será o principal instrumento que sustentará estes programas nas próximas décadas. A inauguração do telescópio SOAR simboliza de forma concreta e decidida o apoio do MCT, do CNPq e da FAPESP para o financiamento à pesquisa básica em nosso país. O Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, criado a cerca de 20 anos pelo CNPq, a par do Laboratório Nacional de Luz Sincrotron, são até hoje, os únicos laboratórios nacionais do Brasil e ambos voltados basicamente ao avanço do conhecimento. Os vinte anos de existência do LNA foram decisivos para a estruturação da comunidade astronômica no Brasil e para a construção das parcerias como o SOAR.

Colombia’s Experience Developing Its Capacity - To the Brink and Back

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

millones Movilidad 2.074.324 Inteligencia/ comunicaciones 539.587 Pie de fuerza (Incluye activación y sostenimiento 4 años) Total 37.849 2.095.216...integral y otros programas sectoriales 145.262 Subtotal 6.041.350 MANTENIMIENTO DE LAS CAPACIDADES ESTRATÉGICAS MÍNIMAS 1.437.653 Total 7.479.003 Asignado...Feb 1007 FLb 2008 Fab 2005’ Fc!b 20:Ul F1b :10] 1 FLb 2m2 I ro d,t; rf.IIODNAL I FU Eill:.S MR.ITAR.ES - ? f ... - s·JTu.A.cl6N._AcTuAL -oe-- LA

ASSESSMENT FORM - NEW IMPROVEMENT OF ACTIONS: CONCENTRATION AND RESEARCH AREAS / CURRICULUM STRUCTURE / FUNDRAISING.

PubMed

Calderon, Iracema Mp

2015-01-01

This review aims to develop a critical and current analysis of the basic structure of a Postgraduate program for proposing improvement actions and new evaluation criteria. To examine the items that are areas of concentration (AC), research lines (LP), research projects (PP), curricular structure and fundraising were consulted the Area Document, the 2013 Evaluation Report and the Assessment Sheets of Medicine III programs, evaluated in the 2010-2012 period. Consistency is recommended especially among AC, LP and PP, with genuine link between activities and permanent teachers skills and based on structured curriculum in the education of the student. The Program Proposal interfere, and much, in qualifying a program. The curriculum should provide subsidy to the formation of the researcher, through the core subjects, and development of PP, being the concept of disciplines to support lines and research projects. Fundraise should be set out in research projects and in the CV-Lattes. The area recommended that at least 40-50% of permanent teachers present fundraising and the minimum 20-25% of these teachers to have productivity scholarship PQ / CNPq during the triennium. It is necessary to promote wide discussion and find a consensus denominator for these issues. The actions should contribute to the improvement of evaluation forms and certainly for the qualification of the programs but graduate. Essa revisão tem como objetivo elaborar uma análise crítica e atual da estrutura básica de um programa de Pós-Graduação para a proposição de ações de aperfeiçoamento e novos critérios de avaliação. Para analisarem-se os itens áreas de concentração (AC), linhas de pesquisa (LP), projetos de pesquisa (PP), estrutura curricular e captação de recursos/fomentos foram consultados o documento de área, o relatório de avaliação 2013 e as fichas de avaliação dos programas da Medicina III, avaliados no triênio 2010-2012. A coerência é recomendada especialmente entre AC, LP e PP, com substancial vínculo entre atividades e competências do corpo de docentes permanentes e embasamento da grade curricular na formação do aluno. A Proposta do Programa interfere, e muito, na qualificação de um programa. A estrutura curricular deverá dar subsídio à formação do pesquisador, por meio das disciplinas nucleares, e ao desenvolvimento dos PP, de competência das disciplinas de apoio às linhas e aos projetos de pesquisa. Os fomentos devem ser indicados nos projetos de pesquisa e no CV-Lattes dos beneficiados/responsáveis pelos projetos. A área recomenda que, no mínimo, 40 a 50% dos docentes permanentes apresentem captação de recursos e que o mínimo de 20 a 25% desses docentes tenham bolsa de produtividade PQ/CNPq durante o triênio. Há que se promover ampla discussão e encontrar um denominador de consenso para essas questões. As ações deverão contribuir para o aprimoramento das fichas de avaliação e, certamente, para a qualificação dos programas de pós-graduação.

METRICS DEVELOPMENT FOR PATENTS.

PubMed

Veiga, Daniela Francescato; Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2015-01-01

To develop a proposal for metrics for patents to be applied in assessing the postgraduate programs of Medicine III - Capes. From the reading and analysis of the 2013 area documents of all the 48 areas of Capes, a proposal for metrics for patents was developed to be applied in Medicine III programs. Except for the areas Biotechnology, Food Science, Biological Sciences III, Physical Education, Engineering I, III and IV and Interdisciplinary, most areas do not adopt a scoring system for patents. The proposal developed was based on the criteria of Biotechnology, with adaptations. In general, it will be valued, in ascending order, the deposit, the granting and licensing/production. It will also be assigned higher scores to patents registered abroad and whenever there is a participation of students. This proposal can be applied to the item Intellectual Production of the evaluation form, in subsection Technical Production/Patents. The percentage of 10% for academic programs and 40% for Masters Professionals should be maintained. The program will be scored as Very Good when it reaches 400 points or over; Good, between 200 and 399 points; Regular, between 71 and 199 points; Weak up to 70 points; Insufficient, no punctuation. Desenvolver uma proposta de métricas para patentes a serem aplicadas na avaliação dos Programas de Pós-Graduação da Área Medicina III - Capes. A partir da leitura e análise dos documentos de área de 2013 de todas as 48 Áreas da Capes, desenvolveu-se uma proposta de métricas para patentes, a ser aplicada na avaliação dos programas da área. Constatou-se que, com exceção das áreas Biotecnologia, Ciência de Alimentos, Ciências Biológicas III, Educação Física, Engenharias I, III e IV e Interdisciplinar, a maioria não adota sistema de pontuação para patentes. A proposta desenvolvida baseou-se nos critérios da Biotecnologia, com adaptações. De uma forma geral, foi valorizado, em ordem crescente, o depósito, a concessão e o licenciamento/produção. Também foi atribuída maior pontuação a patentes registradas no exterior e com participação de discentes. Esta proposta poderá ser aplicada ao item Produção Intelectual da ficha de avaliação, no subitem Produções Técnicas, patentes e outras produções consideradas relevantes. Deverá ser mantida, neste subitem, a porcentagem de 10% para os programas acadêmicos e 40% para os mestrados profissionais. Será considerado Muito Bom o programa que obtiver 400 pontos/triênio ou mais, Bom entre 200 e 399 pontos; Regular entre 71 e 199 pontos; Fraco até 70 pontos; e Deficiente sem pontuação.

Plan for a groundwater monitoring network in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Shiang-Kueen

In Taiwan, rapid economic growth, rising standards of living, and an altered societal structure have in recent years put severe demands on water supplies. Because of its stable quantity and quality, groundwater has long been a reliable source of water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial users, but the establishment of a management program that integrates groundwater and surface-water use has been hampered by the lack of groundwater data. In 1992, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) initiated a program entitled "Groundwater Monitoring Network Plan in Taiwan." Under this program, basic groundwater data, including water-level and water-quality data, are being collected, and a reliable database is being established for the purpose of managing total water resources. This paper introduces the goals, implementation stages, and scope of that plan. The plan calls for constructing 517 hydrogeologic survey stations and 990 groundwater monitoring wells within 17 years. Under this program, water-level fluctuations are continuously monitored, whereas water-quality samples are taken for analysis only at the initial drilling stage and, subsequently, at the time when a monitoring well is being serviced. In 1996, the DWR and the Water Resources Planning Commission were merged to form today's Water Resources Bureau. Résumé A Taïwan, l'expansion économique rapide, l'amélioration des conditions de vie et la transformation de la structure sociale ont provoqué, ces dernières années, une très forte demande en eau. Du fait de sa constance en qualité et en quantité, l'eau souterraine a longtemps été considérée comme une ressource en eau sûre pour les usages domestiques, agricoles et industriels. Mais la mise en place d'un programme de gestion intégrant les utilisations d'eaux souterraines et de surface a été gênée par l'absence de données sur les eaux souterraines. En 1992, le Département des Ressources en Eau a lancé le programme "Plan pour un réseau de suivi des eaux souterraines à Taïwan". D'après ce programme, les données de base concernant les eaux souterraines, comprenant les mesures de niveau et les données de qualité, ont été acquises ; une base de données sûre est en cours d'élaboration, dans le but de gérer l'ensemble des ressources en eau. Cet article présente les buts, les stades de développement et une vue d'ensemble de ce plan. Le plan impose la mise en place de 517 stations de mesures hydrogéologiques et de 990 piézomètres en 17 ans. Selon ce programme, les variations du niveau des nappes doivent être suivies en continu, tandis que des échantillons pour la qualité de l'eau seront prélevés pour analyses uniquement au cours de la phase de foration, puis au moment de la mise en service des piézomètres. En 1996, le Département des Ressources en Eau et la Commission de Planification des Ressources en Eau ont été réunis pour former l'actuel Bureau des Ressources en Eau. Resumen En Taiwan, el rápido crecimiento económico, el aumento en el nivel de vida y los cambios sociales en los últimos años han resultado en un aumento en la demanda de agua. Por su estabilidad en términos de cantidad y calidad, las aguas subterráneas han sido durante años la fuente de agua para usos domésticos, agrícolas e industriales. En los últimos años, sin embargo, el establecimiento de un programa de gestión conjunta de aguas superficiales y subterráneas se ha visto comprometido por la falta de datos correspondientes a estas últimas. En 1992, el Departamento de Recursos de Agua (DWR) inició un programa titulado "Plan de Red de Control de Aguas Subterráneas en Taiwan". Bajo este programa, se están recogiendo datos básicos, incluyendo niveles piezométricos y datos de calidad, y se está construyendo una base de datos con el propósito de gestionar los recursos de agua totales. Este artículo presenta el marco, los objetivos y el estado de implantación del plan, que pretende la construcción de 517 estaciones de medida hidrogeológicas y 990 pozos de observación durante un periodo de 17 años. Bajo este programa, los niveles de agua se miden continuamente, mientras que las muestras para análisis de calidad se toman sólo durante la perforación y cuando el pozo está en servicio. En 1996, el DWR y la Comisión de Planificación de los Recursos de Agua se unieron para formar la actual Oficina de Recursos de Agua.5

Indicators to assess the quality of programs to prevent occupational risk for tuberculosis: are they feasible?

PubMed

Santos, Talita Raquel Dos; Padoveze, Maria Clara; Nichiata, Lúcia Yasuko Izumi; Takahashi, Renata Ferreira; Ciosak, Suely Itsuko; Gryschek, Anna Luiza de Fátima Pinho Lins

2016-06-07

to analyze the feasibility of quality indicators for evaluation of hospital programs for preventing occupational tuberculosis. a descriptive cross-sectional study. We tested indicators for evaluating occupational tuberculosis prevention programs in six hospitals. The criterion to define feasibility was the time spent to calculate the indicators. time spent to evaluate the indicators ranged from 2h 52min to 15h11min 24sec. The indicator for structure evaluation required less time; the longest time was spent on process indicators, including the observation of healthcare workers' practices in relation to the use of N95 masks. There was an hindrance to test one of the indicators for tuberculosis outcomes in five situations, due to the lack of use of tuberculin skin test in these facilities. The time requires to calculate indicators in regarding to the outcomes for occupational tuberculosis largely depends upon the level of organizational administrative structure for gathering data. indicators to evaluate the structure for occupational tuberculosis prevention are highly feasible. Nevertheless, the feasibility of indicators for process and outcome is limited due to relevant variations in administrative issues at healthcare facilities. analisar a viabilidade de indicadores de qualidade para avaliação de programas hospitalares de prevenção de tuberculose ocupacional. estudo descritivo transversal. Testaram-se indicadores de avaliação de programas de prevenção de tuberculose ocupacional em seis hospitais. O critério para definir a viabilidade foi o tempo necessário para aplicar os indicadores. o tempo necessário para avaliar os indicadores variou de 02'52'' até 15h11'24''. O indicador para a avaliação da estrutura demandou menor tempo; o maior tempo foi utilizado com os indicadores de processo, incluindo a observação das práticas dos trabalhadores de saúde em relação ao uso de máscaras N95. Um dos indicadores de resultados de tuberculose deixou de ser testado em cinco situações devido à falta de uso do teste tuberculínico nessas instituições. O tempo necessário para aplicar indicadores em relação aos resultados de tuberculose ocupacional depende em grande parte do nível da organização da estrutura administrativa para a coleta de dados. os indicadores de avaliação da estrutura de prevenção de tuberculose ocupacional são altamente viáveis. No entanto, a viabilidade de aplicação dos indicadores de processo e de resultado é limitada devido a variações relevantes em questões administrativas nas instituições de saúde. analizar la viabilidad de los indicadores de calidad de la evaluación de los programas hospitalarios para la prevención de la tuberculosis en el trabajo. estudio descriptivo transversal. Se probaron los indicadores dirigidos a evaluar los programas para la prevención de la tuberculosis laboral en seis hospitales. El criterio para definir la viabilidad fue el tiempo para aplicar los indicadores. el tiempo empleado para la evaluación de los los indicadores varió desde 02'52 '' hasta 15h11'24 ''. El indicador para la evaluación de la estructura requiere menos tiempo; se invirtió más tiempo en los indicadores de proceso, lo que incluye la observación de las prácticas de los empleados del cuidado de salud en relación con el uso de máscaras N95. No se pudo probar uno de los indicadores de resultados de tuberculosis en cinco situaciones debido a la falta de uso de la prueba de la tuberculina en estas centros. El tiempo necesario para aplicar los indicadores en relación con los resultados por tuberculosis laboral depende en gran medida del nivel de organización de la estructura administrativa para la recopilación de datos. los indicadores para evaluar la estructura para la prevención de la tuberculosis laboral son altamente factibles. Sin embargo, la viabilidad de aplicación de los indicadores de proceso y el resultado es limitada debido a las variaciones relevantes en cuestiones administrativas en los centros sanitarios.

STRATEGIES IN SEARCHING HOMOGENEITY IN A FACULTY OF A POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM.

PubMed

Cecatti, José G; Fernandes, Karayna G; Souza, Renato T; Silveira, Carla; Surita, Fernanda G

2015-01-01

The professor plays a fundamental role in a graduate program, considering he/she is who plans and performs a great part of the tasks, and he/she is also responsible for spreading knowledge among students. The professor should use didactical resources for his/her continuous qualification, being responsible for situations favoring the development of students who should learn according to the best and easier way. The homogeneity in the postgraduate program consists of having subgroups of research corresponding to the Areas of Concentration, where each subgroup works with some distinct topics of research. It is desirable that the staff of postgraduate program has a significant and high quality scientific production, homogeneously distributed among them. The professors must systematically search for resources for research in agencies supporting research, not only for sponsoring the studies, but also for adding value to the researchers involved in the whole activities. The postgraduate programs need to support the professional qualification of their staff who should improve their knowledge on epidemiology for clinical studies, ethics in research and teaching skills. Two characteristics of the postgraduate system in Brazil are the nucleation and solidarity, based on the capacity and/or interest of those more structured programs to help those beginners, cooperating with their activities. The Capes (the national governmental agency responsible for coordinating and evaluating all postgraduate programs in Brazil) valorizes the social insertion in the context of postgraduate programs´ activities. It includes the recognition of activities with technological, cultural, educational and social impact as criteria for evaluation of the programs. Does exist an ideal model of postgraduate program? We think that there is no a mathematical formulae nor an ideal model for a postgraduate program. Each institution should make adaptations and search for improvements of their faculty and students´ teams. O docente tem importância fundamental no programa de pós-graduação, pois é quem planeja e executa grande parte das tarefas, sendo também o responsável por difundir conhecimentos aos alunos. O professor deve utilizar recursos didáticos que o qualifiquem continuamente, criando condições favoráveis para que o aluno se desenvolva e aprenda da melhor maneira e com mais facilidade. A homogeneidade no grupo de pós-graduação consiste da presença de subgrupos de pesquisa correspondentes às Áreas de Concentração, onde cada subgrupo trabalhe com algumas linhas de pesquisas diversificadas. É desejável que o corpo docente tenha significativa produção científica, de qualidade e distribuída homogeneamente entre os docentes. Estes devem sistematicamente buscar recursos em agências de fomento para pesquisa, tanto para o custeio dos estudos, quanto para a valorização dos pesquisadores envolvidos em todas as atividades. Os programas de pós-graduação precisam investir na formação de seus docentes, os quais devem aprimorar seus conhecimentos em epidemiologia de estudos clínicos, ética em pesquisa e em didática. Duas das características do sistema de pós-graduação no Brasil são a nucleação e a solidariedade, embasadas na capacidade e/ou interesse dos mais estruturados se solidarizarem com os programas iniciantes, cooperando com as suas atividades. A Capes valoriza a inserção social no contexto das atividades dos programas de pós-graduação, prevendo nos critérios de avaliação o reconhecimento de atividades com impacto tecnológico, cultural, educacional e social. Existe um modelo ideal de pós-graduação? Partimos do pressuposto de que não há uma fórmula matemática ou modelo ideal de pós-graduação e sim que cada instituição deve se adequar e buscar aperfeiçoar seu corpo docente e discente.

Regulation of OsSPL14 by OsmiR156 defines ideal plant architecture in rice.

PubMed

Jiao, Yongqing; Wang, Yonghong; Xue, Dawei; Wang, Jing; Yan, Meixian; Liu, Guifu; Dong, Guojun; Zeng, Dali; Lu, Zefu; Zhu, Xudong; Qian, Qian; Li, Jiayang

2010-06-01

Increasing crop yield is a major challenge for modern agriculture. The development of new plant types, which is known as ideal plant architecture (IPA), has been proposed as a means to enhance rice yield potential over that of existing high-yield varieties. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of a semidominant quantitative trait locus, IPA1 (Ideal Plant Architecture 1), which profoundly changes rice plant architecture and substantially enhances rice grain yield. The IPA1 quantitative trait locus encodes OsSPL14 (SOUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE 14) and is regulated by microRNA (miRNA) OsmiR156 in vivo. We demonstrate that a point mutation in OsSPL14 perturbs OsmiR156-directed regulation of OsSPL14, generating an 'ideal' rice plant with a reduced tiller number, increased lodging resistance and enhanced grain yield. Our study suggests that OsSPL14 may help improve rice grain yield by facilitating the breeding of new elite rice varieties.

Factors associated with the implementation of programs for drug abuse prevention in schools.

PubMed

Pereira, Ana Paula Dias; Paes, Ângela Tavares; Sanchez, Zila M

2016-08-04

To analyze if characteristics of managers, schools, and curriculum are associated with the implementation of programs for drug abuse prevention in elementary and high schools. Cross-sectional study, with random sample of 263 school managers. Data were collected between 2012 and 2013 by a program that sends forms via internet. A closed self-filling questionnaire was applied online. Statistical analysis included Chi-square tests and logistic regression models. The outcome variable was the presence of program for drug abuse prevention inserted in the daily life and educational program of the school. The explanatory variables were divided into: demographic data of the manager; characteristics of the school and of the curriculum; health education; and drug use in the school. We found that 42.5% (95%CI 36.1-49.1) of the evaluated schools had programs for drug abuse prevention. With the multiple logistic regression model, we observed that the more time the manager has worked with education, the chance of the school having a program increased at about 4.0%. Experimenting with innovative teaching techniques also increased at about six times the chance of the school developing a program for drug abuse prevention. The difficulties in the implementation of the programs were more present in state and municipal schools, when compared with private schools, due to, for instance: lack of teaching materials, lack of money, and competing demands for teaching other subjects. The implementation of programs for drug abuse prevention in the city of Sao Paulo is associated with the experience of the manager in education and with the teaching strategies of the school. Analisar se características dos dirigentes, das escolas e do currículo escolar estão associadas à implantação de programas de prevenção ao uso de drogas nas escolas do ciclo fundamental II e médio. Estudo transversal, com amostra aleatória sistemática de 263 dirigentes escolares. Os dados foram coletados nos anos de 2012 e 2013 por meio de um programa de envio de formulários pela internet. Aplicou-se questionário fechado, de autopreenchimento on-line. A análise estatística incluiu testes Qui-quadrado e modelos de regressão logística. A variável desfecho foi a presença de programa de prevenção ao uso de drogas inserido no cotidiano e no programa pedagógico da escola. As variáveis explicativas foram divididas em: dados demográficos do dirigente; características da escola e do currículo; educação em saúde; e consumo de drogas na escola. Constatou-se que 42,5% (IC95% 36,1-49,1) das escolas avaliadas possuíam programa de prevenção ao uso de drogas. Com o modelo de regressão logística múltipla, observou-se que, a cada ano de atuação do dirigente na educação, a chance de a escola ter um programa aumentava em aproximadamente 4,0%. O fato de experimentar técnicas de ensino inovadoras também aumentou em cerca de seis vezes a chance de a escola desenvolver um programa de prevenção ao uso de drogas. As dificuldades na implantação dos programas foram mais presentes nas redes estadual e municipal, quando comparadas à rede privada, destacando-se: a falta de material didático, a falta de dinheiro e as demandas concorrentes para ensino de outras disciplinas. A implantação de programas de prevenção ao uso de drogas no município de São Paulo está associada à experiência do dirigente escolar na educação e nas estratégias de ensino da escola.

The germin-like protein OsGLP2-1 enhances resistance to fungal blast and bacterial blight in rice.

PubMed

Liu, Qing; Yang, Jianyuan; Yan, Shijuan; Zhang, Shaohong; Zhao, Junliang; Wang, Wenjuan; Yang, Tifeng; Wang, Xiaofei; Mao, Xingxue; Dong, Jingfang; Zhu, Xiaoyuan; Liu, Bin

2016-11-01

This is the first report that GLP gene (OsGLP2-1) is involved in panicle blast and bacterial blight resistance in rice. In addition to its resistance to blast and bacterial blight, OsGLP2-1 has also been reported to co-localize with a QTLs for sheath blight resistance in rice. These suggest that the disease resistance provided by OsGLP2-1 is quantitative and broad spectrum. Its good resistance to these major diseases in rice makes it to be a promising target in rice breeding. Rice (Oryza sativa) blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae and bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae are the two most destructive rice diseases worldwide. Germin-like protein (GLP) gene family is one of the important defense gene families which have been reported to be involved in disease resistance in plants. Although GLP proteins have been demonstrated to positively regulate leaf blast resistance in rice, their involvement in resistance to panicle blast and bacterial blight, has not been reported. In this study, we reported that one of the rice GLP genes, OsGLP2-1, was significantly induced by blast fungus. Overexpression of OsGLP2-1 quantitatively enhanced resistance to leaf blast, panicle blast and bacterial blight. The temporal and spatial expression analysis revealed that OsGLP2-1is highly expressed in leaves and panicles and sub-localized in the cell wall. Compared with empty vector transformed (control) plants, the OsGLP2-1 overexpressing plants exhibited higher levels of H 2 O 2 both before and after pathogen inoculation. Moreover, OsGLP2-1 was significantly induced by jasmonic acid (JA). Overexpression of OsGLP2-1 induced three well-characterized defense-related genes which are associated in JA-dependent pathway after pathogen infection. Higher endogenous level of JA was also identified in OsGLP2-1 overexpressing plants than in control plants both before and after pathogen inoculation. Together, these results suggest that OsGLP2-1 functions as a positive regulator to modulate disease resistance. Its good quantitative resistance to the two major diseases in rice makes it to be a promising target in rice breeding.

HOW TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN NOTE 6: POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM IN TRANSLATIONAL SURGERY - UNIFESP.

PubMed

Sabino-Neto, Miguel; Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2015-01-01

To show the way to reach and stay in note 6 in the evaluation process of Medicine III of CAPES. Capes determinations were reviewed concerning this topic, grades 6 and 7, and also the difficulties and facilities of running a program that amounted to Note 6 after restructuring and being in compliance with regulations. The main points to achieve and maintain Note 6 were: 1) regular production of master's and doctoral theses with appropriate distribution among all teachers; 2) average time of appropriate titration, as well as strict selection of students who resets the withdrawals and cancellations; 3) production of scientific articles in high impact journals and with academic and student participation in most part; 4) progressive and substantial increase in fundraising and patent search; 5) progressive increase in international exchanges with joint production; 6) visibility through new bilingual website and updated weekly; 7) numerous solidarity activities in research, but also in health services for the population and even in basic education; 8) rigorous selection of students (through design analysis, curriculum and teacher training program); 9) maintenance of high levels teachers production; 10) preparing new teachers for guidance through participation as co-supervision and involvement in the program to fit the needs. The Postgraduate Program in Translational Surgery went through difficult times; was submitted to a series of measures, adjustments, cooperation and understanding of the teaching staff, that took the program from note 3 - and almost closing - to a level of excellence keeping note 6 for three consecutive three-year periods of evaluation. Mostrar o caminho para alcançar e se manter na nota 6 no processo de avaliação da Medicina III da Capes. Foram revisadas as determinações da Capes concernentes ao tema, conceitos 6 e 7, e também as dificuldades e facilidades próprias da execução de um programa que ascendeu à nota 6 após reestruturação e adequação às normas vigentes. Os pontos principais para alcançar e manter conceito 6 foram: : 1) produção regular de teses de mestrado e doutorado com distribuição adequada entre todos os orientadores; 2) tempo médio de titulação adequado, assim como rígida seleção do alunado que zera as desistências e cancelamentos; 3) produção de artigos científicos alta em revistas de impacto e com participação docente e discente na sua grande maioria; 4) aumento progressivo e substancial da captação de recursos e busca de patentes; 5) aumento progressivo dos intercâmbios internacionais com produção conjunta; 6) visibilidade através de novo site bilíngue e atualizado semanalmente; 7) inúmeras atividades de solidariedade em pesquisa, mas também em Serviços de Saúde para a população e mesmo no ensino básico; 8) rigorosa seleção dos alunos (através de análise de projeto, currículo e programa de estágio docente); 9) manutenção de índices elevados de produção dos docentes; 10) preparação de novos docentes para orientação através de participação como co-orientação e envolvimento no programa para se adequar às necessidades. O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Cirurgia Translacional passou por momentos difíceis e que através de uma série de medidas, ajustes e a colaboração e compreensão do seu corpo docente pode sair da nota 3 e quase fechamento, para um nível de excelência mantendo nota 6 em três triênios seguidos.

Selection and testing of reference genes for accurate RT-qPCR in rice seedlings under iron toxicity.

PubMed

Santos, Fabiane Igansi de Castro Dos; Marini, Naciele; Santos, Railson Schreinert Dos; Hoffman, Bianca Silva Fernandes; Alves-Ferreira, Marcio; de Oliveira, Antonio Costa

2018-01-01

Reverse Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is a technique for gene expression profiling with high sensibility and reproducibility. However, to obtain accurate results, it depends on data normalization by using endogenous reference genes whose expression is constitutive or invariable. Although the technique is widely used in plant stress analyzes, the stability of reference genes for iron toxicity in rice (Oryza sativa L.) has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we tested a set of candidate reference genes for use in rice under this stressful condition. The test was performed using four distinct methods: NormFinder, BestKeeper, geNorm and the comparative ΔCt. To achieve reproducible and reliable results, Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines were followed. Valid reference genes were found for shoot (P2, OsGAPDH and OsNABP), root (OsEF-1a, P8 and OsGAPDH) and root+shoot (OsNABP, OsGAPDH and P8) enabling us to perform further reliable studies for iron toxicity in both indica and japonica subspecies. The importance of the study of other than the traditional endogenous genes for use as normalizers is also shown here.

Selection and testing of reference genes for accurate RT-qPCR in rice seedlings under iron toxicity

PubMed Central

dos Santos, Fabiane Igansi de Castro; Marini, Naciele; dos Santos, Railson Schreinert; Hoffman, Bianca Silva Fernandes; Alves-Ferreira, Marcio

2018-01-01

Reverse Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is a technique for gene expression profiling with high sensibility and reproducibility. However, to obtain accurate results, it depends on data normalization by using endogenous reference genes whose expression is constitutive or invariable. Although the technique is widely used in plant stress analyzes, the stability of reference genes for iron toxicity in rice (Oryza sativa L.) has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we tested a set of candidate reference genes for use in rice under this stressful condition. The test was performed using four distinct methods: NormFinder, BestKeeper, geNorm and the comparative ΔCt. To achieve reproducible and reliable results, Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines were followed. Valid reference genes were found for shoot (P2, OsGAPDH and OsNABP), root (OsEF-1a, P8 and OsGAPDH) and root+shoot (OsNABP, OsGAPDH and P8) enabling us to perform further reliable studies for iron toxicity in both indica and japonica subspecies. The importance of the study of other than the traditional endogenous genes for use as normalizers is also shown here. PMID:29494624

Reappraising Accretion to Vesta and the Angrite Parent Body Through Mineral-Scale Platinum Group Element and Os-Isotope Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riches, A. J. V.; Burton, K. W.; Nowell, G. M.; Dale, C. W.; Ottley, C. J.

2016-08-01

New methods presented here enable quantitative determination of mineral-scale PGE-abundances and Os-isotope compositions in meteorite materials thereby providing valuable new insight into planetary evolution.

Programa Estrategico do desenvolvimento 1968-70: Area Estrategica IX. Infra-estructura Social. Educacao e Recursos Humanos, 1 e 2 (Strategic Development Program 1968-1970: Strategic Area IX. Education and Human Resources, Volumes 1 & 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brazil.

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a two volume work dealing with education and human resources as part of the Brazilian Government's Strategic Development Program 1968-70. It offers an integral view of education as an instrument of social transformation and an exposition of the quantitative and…

Slips, lapses and mistakes inthe use of equipment by nurses in an intensive care unit.

PubMed

Ribeiro, Gabriella da Silva Rangel; Silva, Rafael Celestino da; Ferreira, Márcia de Assunção; Silva, Grazielle Rezende da

2016-01-01

Toidentify the occurrence of errors in the use of equipment by nurses working in intensive careandanalyzing them in the framework of James Reason's theory of human error. Qualitative field study in the intensive care unit of a federal hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Observation and interviews were conductedwith eight nurses, from March to December 2014. Content analysis was used for the interviews, as well as the description of the scenes observed. Lapses of memory and attention were identified in the handling of infusion pumps, as well as planning failures during the programming of monitors. Errors cause adverse events that compromise patient safety. The authors propose creation of an instrument for daily checking of equipment, with checks throughout the work process in the programming of infusion pumps and monitors, in order to reduce failures and memory lapses. Identificar a ocorrência de erros na utilização de equipamentos por enfermeiros que atuam na terapia intensiva, analisando-os à luz da teoria do erro humano de James Reason. Pesquisa de campo, qualitativa, na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva de um hospital federal do Rio de Janeiro. Realizou-se observação e entrevista com oito enfermeiros, de março a dezembro de 2014. Aplicou-se análise de conteúdo nas entrevistas e descrição densa nas cenas observadas. Identificaram-se falhas de memória e de atenção no manuseio das bombas infusoras e falhas de planejamento durante a programação dos monitores. Os erros causam eventos adversos que comprometem a segurança do paciente. Propõe-se um instrumento de verificação diária dos equipamentos, com checagens ao longo do processo de trabalho da programação das bombas infusoras e monitores, no intuito de reduzir as falhas e esquecimentos.

JOURNAL ANALYSIS ON OPHTHALMOLOGY AND OTHERS.

PubMed

Freitas, Denise de

2015-01-01

To update knowledge and methods to access and view the journals included in Qualis of CAPES Medicine III, and how to measure the impact factor. Document review on the attempt to verify the way Qualis uses for ranking journals cited by the post-graduate programs of Medicine III in their evaluation periods, and the impact factors obtained by journals indexing base. The classification is annual and are ranking in strata ranging from A1, the highest, and A2; B1; B2; B3; B4; B5; C. The latter has zero evaluation weight. These strata take as reference the impact factor of the journals listed by the programs. The same journal can be classified into different Qualis in other areas, and this is no inconsistency, but expressed the assigned value, in each area, at that particular journal. The Impact Factor is measured using the Journal of Citation Report in Web of Knowledge website. Using the criteria established by WebQualis for stratification of journals there is a quality guidance of what is produced by the program and, based on it, can be made scientific comparison of program performance. Consulting the JCR is recommended because it defines exactly what is the journal's impact factor; Qualis stratifies numerical intervals and not individual journal specificity. Atualização do conhecimento dos meios e métodos de acessar e visualizar os periódicos do Qualis da Medicina III da CAPES e a mensuração do Fator de Impacto. Buscou-se verificar a forma utilizada pelo Qualis para classificar os periódicos referidos pelos programas de pós-graduação da Medicina III em seus períodos de avaliação e os fatores de impacto obtidos pelas revistas em base indexadora. A classificação é anual e são enquadrados em estratos que variam de A1, o mais elevado, a A2; B1; B2; B3; B4; B5; C. Este último tem peso zero. Esses estratos levam como referência o Fator de Impacto dos periódicos referidos pelos programas. Um mesmo periódico pode ter classificação em Qualis diferentes em outras áreas, e isto não constitui inconsistência, mas expressa o valor atribuído, em cada área, àquela determinada revista científica. O Fator de Impacto é mensurado navegando-se no site do Journal of Citation Report da Web of Knowledge. A utilização dos critérios estabelecidos pelo WebQualis para estratificação dos periódicos é norteadora da qualidade do que se produz nos programas e, com base nela, pode-se fazer comparações de desempenho científico. Já a consulta ao JCR é complementarmente adequada de ser feita porque define com exatidão qual é o fator de impacto da revista, em função de que o Qualis estratifica faixas numéricas e não especificidade individual do periódico.

PubMed

Ledesma Ríos, Natalia Inés; Sepúlveda Herrera, Diana María; Cárdenas Sánchez, Diana Liseth; Manjarrés Correa, Luz Mariela

2016-09-20

Introducción: a escala mundial y nacional se reporta una alta prevalencia de sobrepeso y obesidad en menores de 5 años. La etiología es multifactorial, pero factores ambientales como sedentarismo y el progresivo deterioro de la alimentación promueven el exceso de peso y conllevan a mayor riesgo de enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles en temprana edad.Objetivo: describir la ingesta de alimentos, energía y nutrientes en los niños de 2-4 años con obesidad y eutróficos del programa "Buen Comienzo".Método: estudio de corte con 111 niños con obesidad clasificada según IMC >3 DE, que fueron pareados por sexo, edad y tipo de atención con un niño clasificado con estado nutricional normal. Personal entrenado realizó la valoración antropométrica con equipos y métodos estandarizados y se evaluó la ingesta dietética a través de recordatorio de 24 horas. Se aplicó la prueba t-student y U de Mann Whitney en el análisis bivariado y para determinar el patrón de consumo de alimentos y se efectuó un análisis de clases latentes (ACL).Resultados: los niños tienen un consumo de energía superior a su requerimiento, pero existe diferencia significativa según el estado nutricional; el consumo en los niños obesos es de 1.632 kcal (IQR: 1.475-1.801 kcal) y eutróficos de 1.798 kcal (IQR 1.702-1.632 kcal) (p = 0,00). Los niños con peso adecuado tienen mayor ingesta de macronutrientes y micronutrientes (p < 0,05); hay una mayor ingesta de proteínas y micronutrientes durante la semana (p < 0,05); el 30% de los niños no consumió ninguna verdura y el 60% ninguna fruta el día anterior a la encuesta y tuvieron, además, un alto consumo de azúcares y dulces.Conclusiones: los niños están sometidos a una dieta obesogénica caracterizada por un bajo consumo de frutas y verduras y una alta ingesta de energía, grasas saturadas y carbohidratos concentrados, lo que promueve una ganancia de peso no deseado.

PAVENET OS: A Compact Hard Real-Time Operating System for Precise Sampling in Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saruwatari, Shunsuke; Suzuki, Makoto; Morikawa, Hiroyuki

The paper shows a compact hard real-time operating system for wireless sensor nodes called PAVENET OS. PAVENET OS provides hybrid multithreading: preemptive multithreading and cooperative multithreading. Both of the multithreading are optimized for two kinds of tasks on wireless sensor networks, and those are real-time tasks and best-effort ones. PAVENET OS can efficiently perform hard real-time tasks that cannot be performed by TinyOS. The paper demonstrates the hybrid multithreading realizes compactness and low overheads, which are comparable to those of TinyOS, through quantitative evaluation. The evaluation results show PAVENET OS performs 100 Hz sensor sampling with 0.01% jitter while performing wireless communication tasks, whereas optimized TinyOS has 0.62% jitter. In addition, PAVENET OS has a small footprint and low overheads (minimum RAM size: 29 bytes, minimum ROM size: 490 bytes, minimum task switch time: 23 cycles).

A Novel Gene, OZONE-RESPONSIVE APOPLASTIC PROTEIN1, Enhances Cell Death in Ozone Stress in Rice1

PubMed Central

Ueda, Yoshiaki; Siddique, Shahid; Frei, Michael

2015-01-01

A novel protein, OZONE-RESPONSIVE APOPLASTIC PROTEIN1 (OsORAP1), was characterized, which was previously suggested as a candidate gene underlying OzT9, a quantitative trait locus for ozone stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa). The sequence of OsORAP1 was similar to that of ASCORBATE OXIDASE (AO) proteins. It was localized in the apoplast, as shown by transient expression of an OsORAP1/green fluorescent protein fusion construct in Nicotiana benthamiana leaf epidermal and mesophyll cells, but did not possess AO activity, as shown by heterologous expression of OsORAP1 in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants with reduced background AO activity. A knockout rice line of OsORAP1 showed enhanced tolerance to ozone stress (120 nL L−1 average daytime concentration, 20 d), as demonstrated by less formation of leaf visible symptoms (i.e. cell death), less lipid peroxidation, and lower NADPH oxidase activity, indicating reduced active production of reactive oxygen species. In contrast, the effect of ozone on chlorophyll content was not significantly different among the lines. These observations suggested that OsORAP1 specifically induced cell death in ozone stress. Significantly enhanced expression of jasmonic acid-responsive genes in the knockout line implied the involvement of the jasmonic acid pathway in symptom mitigation. Sequence analysis revealed extensive polymorphisms in the promoter region of OsORAP1 between the ozone-susceptible cv Nipponbare and the ozone-tolerant cv Kasalath, the OzT9 donor variety, which could be responsible for the differential regulation of OsORAP1 reported earlier. These pieces of evidence suggested that OsORAP1 enhanced cell death in ozone stress, and its expression levels could explain the effect of a previously reported quantitative trait locus. PMID:26220952

OsRACK1 Is Involved in Abscisic Acid- and H2O2-Mediated Signaling to Regulate Seed Germination in Rice (Oryza sativa, L.)

PubMed Central

Zhang, Dongping; Chen, Li; Li, Dahong; Lv, Bing; Chen, Yun; Chen, Jingui; XuejiaoYan; Liang, Jiansheng

2014-01-01

The receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) is one member of the most important WD repeat–containing family of proteins found in all eukaryotes and is involved in multiple signaling pathways. However, compared with the progress in the area of mammalian RACK1, our understanding of the functions and molecular mechanisms of RACK1 in the regulation of plant growth and development is still in its infancy. In the present study, we investigated the roles of rice RACK1A gene (OsRACK1A) in controlling seed germination and its molecular mechanisms by generating a series of transgenic rice lines, of which OsRACK1A was either over-expressed or under-expressed. Our results showed that OsRACK1A positively regulated seed germination and negatively regulated the responses of seed germination to both exogenous ABA and H2O2. Inhibition of ABA biosynthesis had no enhancing effect on germination, whereas inhibition of ABA catabolism significantly suppressed germination. ABA inhibition on seed germination was almost fully recovered by exogenous H2O2 treatment. Quantitative analyses showed that endogenous ABA levels were significantly higher and H2O2 levels significantly lower in OsRACK1A-down regulated transgenic lines as compared with those in wildtype or OsRACK1A-up regulated lines. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses showed that the transcript levels of OsRbohs and amylase genes, RAmy1A and RAmy3D, were significantly lower in OsRACK1A-down regulated transgenic lines. It is concluded that OsRACK1A positively regulates seed germination by controlling endogenous levels of ABA and H2O2 and their interaction. PMID:24865690

Robotic pulmonary lobectomy for lung cancer treatment: program implementation and initial experience.

PubMed

Terra, Ricardo Mingarini; Araujo, Pedro Henrique Xavier Nabuco de; Lauricella, Leticia Leone; Campos, José Ribas Milanez de; Costa, Herbert Felix; Pego-Fernandes, Paulo Manuel

2016-01-01

To describe the implementation of a robotic thoracic surgery program at a public tertiary teaching hospital and to analyze its initial results. This was a planned interim analysis of a randomized clinical trial aimed at comparing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and robotic surgery in terms of the results obtained after pulmonary lobectomy. The robotic surgery program developed at the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, is a multidisciplinary initiative involving various surgical specialties, as well as anesthesiology, nursing, and clinical engineering teams. In this analysis, we evaluated the patients included in the robotic lobectomy arm of the trial during its first three months (from April to June of 2015). Ten patients were included in this analysis. There were eight women and two men. The mean age was 65.1 years. All of the patients presented with peripheral tumors. We performed right upper lobectomy in four patients, right lower lobectomy in four, and left upper lobectomy in two. Surgical time varied considerably (range, 135-435 min). Conversion to open surgery or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was not necessary in any of the cases. Intraoperative complications were not found. Only the first patient required postoperative transfer to the ICU. There were no deaths or readmissions within the first 30 days after discharge. The only postoperative complication was chest pain (grade 3), in two patients. Pathological examination revealed complete tumor resection in all cases. When there is integration and proper training of all of the teams involved, the implementation of a robotic thoracic surgery program is feasible and can reduce morbidity and mortality. Descrever a implantação de um programa de cirurgia torácica robótica em um hospital terciário público universitário e analisar seus resultados iniciais. Este estudo é uma análise interina planejada de um ensaio clínico aleatorizado cujo objetivo é comparar resultados da lobectomia pulmonar por videotoracoscopia com a robótica. O programa de cirurgia robótica do Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, localizado na cidade de São Paulo (SP), foi uma iniciativa multidisciplinar que envolveu diversas especialidades cirúrgicas e equipes de anestesia, enfermagem e engenharia clínica. Nesta análise, avaliamos os pacientes incluídos no braço lobectomia robótica durante os primeiros três meses do estudo (de abril a junho de 2015). Dez pacientes foram incluídos nesta análise. Eram oito mulheres e dois homens. A média de idade foi de 65,1 anos. Todos apresentavam tumores periféricos. Foram realizadas lobectomia superior direita, em quatro pacientes; lobectomia inferior direita, em quatro; e lobectomia superior esquerda, em dois. Os tempos cirúrgicos variaram bastante (variação, 135-435 min). Não foi necessária a conversão para técnica aberta ou videotoracoscópica em nenhum paciente. Não foram observadas complicações intraoperatórias. Apenas o primeiro paciente foi encaminhado à UTI no pós-operatório. Não houve mortalidade nem reinternações em 30 dias após a alta. A única complicação pós-operatória observada foi dor torácica (grau 3), em dois pacientes. O exame anatomopatológico revelou a ressecção completa do tumor em todos os casos. A implantação de um programa de cirurgia torácica robótica, quando há integração e treinamento adequado de todas as equipes envolvidas, é factível e pode reduzir a morbidade e a mortalidade.

BSSDATA - um programa otimizado para filtragem de dados em radioastronomia solar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinon, A. R. F.; Sawant, H. S.; Fernandes, F. C. R.; Stephany, S.; Preto, A. J.; Dobrowolski, K. M.

2003-08-01

A partir de 1998, entrou em operação regular no INPE, em São José dos Campos, o Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS). O BSS é dedicado às observações de explosões solares decimétricas com alta resolução temporal e espectral, com a principal finalidade de investigar fenômenos associados com a liberação de energia dos "flares" solares. Entre os anos de 1999 e 2002, foram catalogadas, aproximadamente 340 explosões solares classificadas em 8 tipos distintos, de acordo com suas características morfológicas. Na análise detalhada de cada tipo, ou grupo, de explosões solares deve-se considerar a variação do fluxo do sol calmo ("background"), em função da freqüência e a variação temporal, além da complexidade das explosões e estruturas finas registradas superpostas ao fundo variável. Com o intuito de realizar tal análise foi desenvolvido o programa BSSData. Este programa, desenvolvido em linguagem C++, é constituído de várias ferramentas que auxiliam no tratamento e análise dos dados registrados pelo BSS. Neste trabalho iremos abordar as ferramentas referentes à filtragem do ruído de fundo. As rotinas do BSSData para filtragem de ruído foram testadas nos diversos grupos de explosões solares ("dots", "fibra", "lace", "patch", "spikes", "tipo III" e "zebra") alcançando um bom resultado na diminuição do ruído de fundo e obtendo, em conseqüência, dados onde o sinal torna-se mais homogêneo ressaltando as áreas onde existem explosões solares e tornando mais precisas as determinações dos parâmetros observacionais de cada explosão. Estes resultados serão apresentados e discutidos.

Development and validation of an ICP-OES method for quantitation of elemental impurities in tablets according to coming US pharmacopeia chapters.

PubMed

Støving, Celina; Jensen, Henrik; Gammelgaard, Bente; Stürup, Stefan

2013-10-01

May 1, 2014 the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) will implement two new chapters stating limit concentrations of elemental impurities in pharmaceuticals applying inductively coupled plasma methods. In the present work an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) method for quantitation of As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Hg, Ir, Mn, Mo, Ni, Os, Pb, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, V and Zn in tablets according to the new USP chapters was developed. Sample preparation was performed by microwave-assisted acid digestion using a mixture of 65% HNO3 and 37% HCl (3:1, v/v). Limits of detection and quantitation were at least a factor of ten below the USP limit concentrations showing that the ICP-OES technique is well suited for quantitation of elemental impurities. Excluding Os, spike recoveries in the range of 85.3-103.8% were obtained with relative standard deviations (%RSD) ranging from 1.3 to 3.2%. Due to memory effects the spike recovery and %RSD of Os were 161.5% and 13.7%, respectively, thus the method will need further development with respect to elimination of the memory effect of Os. The method was proven to be specific but with potential spectral interference for Ir, Os, Pb, Pt and Rh necessitating visual examination of the spectra. Hg memory effect was handled by using lower spike levels combined with rinsing with 0.1M HCl. The tablets had a content of Fe and Pt of 182.8 ± 18.1 and 2.8 ± 0.2 μg/g, respectively and did therefore not exceed the limit concentration defined by USP. It is suggested that the developed method is applicable to pharmaceutical products with a composition and maximal amount of daily intake (g drug product/day) similar to the tablets used in this work. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Health Policy on the pages of Revista de Saúde Pública.

PubMed

Bousquat, Aylene; Tanaka, Oswaldo Yoshimi

2016-11-10

We carried out a narrative review of the scientific production in the area of Policy, Planning and Management in Revista de Saúde Pública (RSP), between 1967 and 2015. All the fascicles of RSP, in the period, were accessed via SciELO platform, which provides all articles online. We selected and classified the articles according to the main topics of scientific production in the area of Policy, Planning and Management. Revista de Saúde Pública has published 343 articles on this subject, with significant growth in the last two decades. The most discussed topics were Health Economics, Primary Health-care, Access and Use of Health Services, and Evaluation of Services and Programs. In the last decade, the topics of Policy and Access to Medicines and Public-Private Relationship, including judicialization, gained importance. The pages of RSP embraced the vast and diverse production of Policy, Planning and Management in its first 50 years, contributing to the consolidation of the area in Brazil. RESUMO Foi realizada revisão narrativa da produção científica do campo de Política, Planejamento e Gestão veiculada na Revista de Saúde Pública (RSP), entre 1967 e 2015. Todos os fascículos da RSP, no período, foram acessados via plataforma SciELO, que disponibiliza todos os artigos online. Foram selecionados e classificados os artigos segundo os principais temas da produção científica da área de Política, Planejamento e Gestão. Foram publicados 343 artigos, com crescimento expressivo nas últimas duas décadas. Economia da Saúde, Atenção Primária à Saúde, Acesso e Utilização de Serviços de Saúde e Avaliação de Serviços e Programas foram os temas mais abordados. Na última década, os temas Política e Acesso a Medicamentos e Relação Público-Privado, incluindo a judicialização, ganharam importância. As páginas da RSP abrigaram vasta e diversa produção de Política, Planejamento e Gestão nos seus primeiros 50 anos, contribuindo para consolidação da área no Brasil.

Initial FDG-PET/CT predicts survival in adults Ewing sarcoma family of tumors

PubMed Central

Jamet, Bastien; Carlier, Thomas; Campion, Loic; Bompas, Emmanuelle; Girault, Sylvie; Borrely, Fanny; Ferrer, Ludovic; Rousseau, Maxime; Venel, Yann; Kraeber-Bodéré, Françoise; Rousseau, Caroline

2017-01-01

Purpose The aim of this retrospective study was to determine, at baseline, the prognostic value of different FDG-PET/CT quantitative parameters in a homogenous Ewing Sarcoma Family of Tumors (ESFT) adult population, compared with clinically relevant prognostic factors. Methods Adult patients from 3 oncological centers, all with proved ESFT, were retrospectively included. Quantitative FDG-PET/CT parameters (SUV (maximum, peak and mean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of the primary lesion of each patient were recorded before treatment, as well as usual clinical prognostic factors (stage of disease, location, tumor size, gender and age). Then, their relation with progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated. Results 32 patients were included. Median age was 21 years (range, 15 to 61). Nineteen patients (59%) were initially metastatic. On multivariate analysis, high SUVmax remained independent predictor of worst OS (p=0.02) and PFS (p=0.019), metastatic disease of worst PFS (p=0.01) and high SUVpeak of worst OS (p=0.01). Optimal prognostic cut-off of SUVpeak was found at 12.5 in multivariate analyses for PFS and OS (p=0.0001). Conclusions FDG-PET/CT, recommended at ESFT diagnosis for initial staging, can be a useful tool for predicting long-term adult patients outcome through semi-quantitative parameters. PMID:29100369

Smoldering multiple myeloma requiring treatment: time for a new definition?

PubMed Central

Stewart, A. Keith; Chanan-Khan, Asher; Rajkumar, S. Vincent; Kyle, Robert A.; Fonseca, Rafael; Kapoor, Prashant; Bergsagel, P. Leif; McCurdy, Arleigh; Gertz, Morie A.; Lacy, Martha Q.; Lust, John A.; Russell, Stephen J.; Zeldenrust, Steven R.; Reeder, Craig; Roy, Vivek; Buadi, Francis; Dingli, David; Hayman, Suzanne R.; Leung, Nelson; Lin, Yi; Mikhael, Joseph; Kumar, Shaji K.

2013-01-01

Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) bridges the gap between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (a mostly premalignant disorder) and active multiple myeloma (MM). Until recently, no interventional study in patients with SMM showed improved overall survival (OS) with therapy as compared with observation. A report from the PETHEMA-GEM (Programa Español de Tratamientos en Hematologica) group described both fewer myeloma-related events and better OS among patients with high-risk SMM who were treated with lenalidomide and dexamethasone. This unique study prompted us to review current knowledge about SMM and address the following questions: (1) Are there patients currently defined as SMM who should be treated routinely? (2) Should the definitions of SMM and MM be reconsidered? (3) Has the time come when not treating is more dangerous than treating? (4) Could unintended medical harm result from overzealous intervention? Our conclusion is that those patients with the highest-risk SMM (extreme bone marrow plasmacytosis, extremely abnormal serum immunoglobulin free light chain ratio, and multiple bone lesions detected only by modern imaging) should be reclassified as active MM so that they can receive MM-appropriate therapy and the paradigm of careful observation for patients with SMM can be preserved. PMID:24144641

Diabetes Mellitus-Induced Long Noncoding RNA Dnm3os Regulates Macrophage Functions and Inflammation via Nuclear Mechanisms.

PubMed

Das, Sadhan; Reddy, Marpadga A; Senapati, Parijat; Stapleton, Kenneth; Lanting, Linda; Wang, Mei; Amaram, Vishnu; Ganguly, Rituparna; Zhang, Lingxiao; Devaraj, Sridevi; Schones, Dustin E; Natarajan, Rama

2018-06-21

Macrophages play key roles in inflammation and diabetic vascular complications. Emerging evidence implicates long noncoding RNAs in inflammation, but their role in macrophage dysfunction associated with inflammatory diabetic complications is unclear and was therefore investigated in this study. RNA-sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR demonstrated that a long noncoding RNA Dnm3os (dynamin 3 opposite strand) is upregulated in bone marrow-derived macrophages from type 2 diabetic db/db mice, diet-induced insulin-resistant mice, and diabetic ApoE -/ - mice, as well as in monocytes from type 2 diabetic patients relative to controls. Diabetic conditions (high glucose and palmitic acid) induced Dnm3os in mouse and human macrophages. Promoter reporter analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that diabetic conditions induce Dnm3os via NF-κB activation. RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization and real-time quantitative PCRs of subcellular fractions demonstrated nuclear localization and chromatin enrichment of Dnm3os in macrophages. Stable overexpression of Dnm3os in macrophages altered global histone modifications and upregulated inflammation and immune response genes and phagocytosis. Conversely, RNAi-mediated knockdown of Dnm3os attenuated these responses. RNA pull-down assays with macrophage nuclear lysates identified nucleolin and ILF-2 (interleukin enhancer-binding factor 2) as protein binding partners of Dnm3os , which was further confirmed by RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization immunofluorescence. Furthermore, nucleolin levels were decreased in diabetic conditions, and its knockdown enhanced Dnm3os -induced inflammatory gene expression and histone H3K9-acetylation at their promoters. These results demonstrate novel mechanisms involving upregulation of long noncoding RNA Dnm3os , disruption of its interaction with nucleolin, and epigenetic modifications at target genes that promote macrophage inflammatory phenotype in diabetes mellitus. The data could lead to long noncoding RNA-based therapies for inflammatory diabetes mellitus complications. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

Quantitative measurements of tumoral p95HER2 protein expression in metastatic breast cancer patients treated with trastuzumab: independent validation of the p95HER2 clinical cutoff.

PubMed

Duchnowska, Renata; Sperinde, Jeff; Chenna, Ahmed; Haddad, Mojgan; Paquet, Agnes; Lie, Yolanda; Weidler, Jodi M; Huang, Weidong; Winslow, John; Jankowski, Tomasz; Czartoryska-Arłukowicz, Bogumiła; Wysocki, Piotr J; Foszczyńska-Kłoda, Małgorzata; Radecka, Barbara; Litwiniuk, Maria M; Zok, Jolanta; Wiśniewski, Michał; Zuziak, Dorota; Biernat, Wojciech; Jassem, Jacek

2014-05-15

P95HER2 (p95) is a truncated form of the HER2, which lacks the trastuzumab-binding site and contains a hyperactive kinase domain. Previously, an optimal clinical cutoff of p95 expression for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was defined using a quantitative VeraTag assay (Monogram Biosciences) in a training set of trastuzumab-treated metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. In the current study, the predictive value of the p95 VeraTag assay cutoff established in the training set was retrospectively validated for PFS and OS in an independent series of 240 trastuzumab-treated MBC patients from multiple institutions. In the subset of 190 tumors assessed as HER2-total (H2T)-positive using the quantitative HERmark assay (Monogram Biosciences), p95 VeraTag values above the predefined cutoff correlated with shorter PFS (HR = 1.43; P = 0.039) and shorter OS (HR = 1.94; P = 0.0055) where both outcomes were stratified by hormone receptor status and tumor grade. High p95 expression correlated with shorter PFS (HR = 2.41; P = 0.0003) and OS (HR = 2.57; P = 0.0025) in the hormone receptor-positive subgroup of patients (N = 78), but not in the hormone receptor-negative group. In contrast with the quantitative p95 VeraTag measurements, p95 immunohistochemical expression using the same antibody was not significantly correlated with outcomes. The consistency in the p95 VeraTag cutoff across different cohorts of patients with MBC treated with trastuzumab justifies additional studies using blinded analyses in larger series of patients. ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.

Vitreoretinal Interface Characteristics in Eyes with Idiopathic Macular Holes: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis.

PubMed

Seyhan Karatepe, Arzu; Menteş, Jale; Erakgün, E Tansu; Afrashi, Filiz; Nalçacı, Serhad; Akkın, Cezmi; Ateş, Yeşim

2018-04-01

To determine the qualitative and quantitative vitreoretinal interface characteristics with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in eyes with macular hole (MH) and investigate their relation with best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and MH duration. Sixty-one eyes of 46 consecutive patients diagnosed with idiopathic MH were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 66.7±7.5 (51-79) years. Complete ophthalmologic examination and SD-OCT examination were performed in all eyes and MH stages were determined according to SD-OCT findings. Qualitative characteristics of the vitreoretinal interface were investigated, including vitreomacular traction, vitreopapillary traction, maculopapillary traction, vitreoschisis, intraretinal cyst, presence of epiretinal membrane, and the integrity of the photoreceptor inner segment-outer segment junction (IS/OS) and external limiting membrane (ELM). In addition, MH diameter, MH base diameter (MHBD), ELM defect diameter, IS/OS defect diameter, and MH height were quantitatively measured and the MH index was calculated. Out of 61 eyes, 9.8% were classified as stage 1a, 19.7% as stage 1b, 18% as stage 2, 23% as stage 3, and 29.5% as stage 4. Mean BCVA was 0.28±0.24 (1 mps-1.0) Snellen and MH duration was 10.08±18.6 (1-108) months. The most common interface characteristics associated with MH were determined as intraretinal cyst (91.8%), IS/OS defect (78.7%) and ELM defect (63.9%). Duration and stage of MH were inversely proportional to BCVA but directly proportional to the presence and diameter of IS/OS and ELM defects. BCVA was significantly lower in eyes with IS/OS and ELM defects (p<0.0001; p<0.0001 Mann-Whitney U test). We determined that the most important factors affecting BCVA in cases with idiopathic MH were MH stage, MH duration, MHBD, and the presence and diameter of IS/OS and ELM defects, which suggests that these parameters should be considered while making decisions about prognosis and treatment.

What influences a patient's decision to use custom-made orthopaedic shoes?

PubMed

van Netten, Jaap J; Dijkstra, Pieter U; Geertzen, Jan H B; Postema, Klaas

2012-06-08

Despite potential benefits, some patients decide not to use their custom-made orthopaedic shoes (OS). Factors are known in the domains 'usability', 'communication and service', and 'opinion of others' that influence a patient's decision to use OS. However, the interplay between these factors has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to explore the interplay between factors concerning OS, and the influences thereof on a patient's decision to use OS. A mixed-methods design was used, combining qualitative and quantitative data by means of sequential data analysis and triangulation. Priority was given to the qualitative part. Qualitative data was gathered with a semi-structured interview covering the three domains. Data was analysed using the framework approach. Quantitative data concerned the interplay between factors and determining a rank-order for the importance of factors of 'usability'. A patient's decision to use OS was influenced by various factors indicated as being important and by acceptance of their OS. Factors of 'usability' were more important than factors of 'communication'; the 'opinion of others' was of limited importance. An improvement of walking was indicated as the most important factor of 'usability'. The importance of other factors (cosmetic appearance and ease of use) was determined by reaching a compromise between these factors and an improvement of walking. A patient's decision to use OS is influenced by various factors indicated as being important and by acceptance of their OS. An improvement of walking is the most important factor of 'usability', the importance of other factors (cosmetic appearance and ease of use) is determined by reaching compromises between these factors and an improvement of walking. Communication is essential to gain insight in a patient's acceptance and in the compromises they are willing to reach. This makes communication the key for clinicians to influence a patient's decision to use OS.

Astrossismologia e o satélite COROT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, L. B. P.; Janot Pacheco, E.

2003-08-01

Este trabalho centra-se em atividades na fase de pré-lançamento do satélite COROT, da agência espacial francesa (CNES), a ser lançado em 2005. O satélite será dedicado à sismologia estelar e à procura de exoplanetas. Nosso programa de trabalho centra-se em dois pontos principais: (1) efetuar uma procura detalhada nos campos COROT de alvos astrofísicos de especial interesse; (2) participar das análises espectroscópicas prévias de alvos selecionados para determinação de parâmetros físicos das estrelas com a maior precisão possível. Na presente etapa, priorizou-se o primeiro ponto do projeto. Foi feito um levantamento geral dos objetos astrofísicos encontrados nos dois campos de observação, centrados em 06H50M e 18H50M, com raios de 10 minutos. Concluiu-se que as estrelas B-Be deverão ser observadas no campo sismológico, enquanto que as anãs brancas deverão sê-lo no campo exoplanetário. Objetos a serem observados foram escolhidos de forma a estarem próximos de alvos principais dos programas centrais do satélite. Paralelamente, estudos e pesquisas bibliográficas foram feitos para compreender os assuntos de interesse principal, ou seja, as pulsações não-radiais de estrelas Ob-Be

Democratic Security and Defense Policy: A Successful Counterinsurgency Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-08

Nueva Colombia, “ Programa Agrario de los Guerrilleros de las FARC,” Mbolivariano.blogspot.com, http://mbolivariano.blogspot. com/2007/12/ programa ...Conferencias de FARC.” Archivo Chile . http://www. Archivochile. Com/america_latina/doc_paises_al/co/farc/ al_farc0003. Pdf (accessed 24 September 2011... Programa Agrario de los Guerrilleros de las FARC.” Mbolivariano.blogspot.com, http://mbolivariano.blogspot. com/2007/12/ programa -agrario- de -los

Long Noncoding RNA PANDA Positively Regulates Proliferation of Osteosarcoma Cells.

PubMed

Kotake, Yojiro; Goto, Taiki; Naemura, Madoka; Inoue, Yasutoshi; Okamoto, Haruna; Tahara, Keiichiro

2017-01-01

A long noncoding RNA, p21-associated ncRNA DNA damage-activated (PANDA), associates with nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha (NF-YA) and inhibits its binding to promoters of apoptosis-related genes, thereby repressing apoptosis in normal human fibroblasts. Here, we show that PANDA is involved in regulating proliferation in the U2OS human osteosarcoma cell line. U2OS cells were transfected with siRNAs against PANDA 72 h later and they were subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative RT-PCR and cell-cycle analysis. PANDA was highly expressed in U2OS cells, and its expression was induced by DNA damage. Silencing PANDA caused arrest at the G 1 phase of the cell cycle, leading to inhibition of cell proliferation. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that silencing PANDA increased mRNA levels of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p18, which caused G 1 phase arrest. These results suggest that PANDA promotes G 1 -S transition by repressing p18 transcription, and thus promotes U2OS cell proliferation. Copyright© 2017 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

Quantitative Primary Tumor Indocyanine Green Measurements Predict Osteosarcoma Metastatic Lung Burden in a Mouse Model.

PubMed

Fourman, Mitchell S; Mahjoub, Adel; Mandell, Jon B; Yu, Shibing; Tebbets, Jessica C; Crasto, Jared A; Alexander, Peter E; Weiss, Kurt R

2018-03-01

Current preclinical osteosarcoma (OS) models largely focus on quantifying primary tumor burden. However, most fatalities from OS are caused by metastatic disease. The quantification of metastatic OS currently relies on CT, which is limited by motion artifact, requires intravenous contrast, and can be technically demanding in the preclinical setting. We describe the ability for indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence angiography to quantify primary and metastatic OS in a previously validated orthotopic, immunocompetent mouse model. (1) Can near-infrared ICG fluorescence be used to attach a comparable, quantitative value to the primary OS tumor in our experimental mouse model? (2) Will primary tumor fluorescence differ in mice that go on to develop metastatic lung disease? (3) Does primary tumor fluorescence correlate with tumor volume measured with CT? Six groups of 4- to 6-week-old immunocompetent Balb/c mice (n = 6 per group) received paraphyseal injections into their left hindlimb proximal tibia consisting of variable numbers of K7M2 mouse OS cells. A hindlimb transfemoral amputation was performed 4 weeks after injection with euthanasia and lung extraction performed 10 weeks after injection. Histologic examination of lung and primary tumor specimens confirmed ICG localization only within the tumor bed. Mice with visible or palpable tumor growth had greater hindlimb fluorescence (3.5 ± 2.3 arbitrary perfusion units [APU], defined as the fluorescence pixel return normalized by the detector) compared with those with a negative examination (0.71 ± 0.38 APU, -2.7 ± 0.5 mean difference, 95% confidence interval -3.7 to -1.8, p < 0.001). A strong linear trend (r = 0.81, p < 0.01) was observed between primary tumor and lung fluorescence, suggesting that quantitative ICG tumor fluorescence is directly related to eventual metastatic burden. We did not find a correlation (r = 0.04, p = 0.45) between normalized primary tumor fluorescence and CT volumetric measurements. We demonstrate a novel methodology for quantifying primary and metastatic OS in a previously validated, immunocompetent, orthotopic mouse model. Quantitative fluorescence of the primary tumor with ICG angiography is linearly related to metastatic burden, a relationship that does not exist with respect to clinical tumor size. This highlights the potential utility of ICG near-infrared fluorescence imaging as a valuable preclinical proof-of-concept modality. Future experimental work will use this model to evaluate the efficacy of novel OS small molecule inhibitors. Given the histologic localization of ICG to only the tumor bed, we envision the clinical use of ICG angiography as an intraoperative margin and tumor detector. Such a tool may be used as an alternative to intraoperative histology to confirm negative primary tumor margins or as a valuable tool for debulking surgeries in vulnerable anatomic locations. Because we have demonstrated the successful preservation of ICG in frozen tumor samples, future work will focus on blinded validation of this modality in observational human trials, comparing the ICG fluorescence of harvested tissue samples with fresh frozen pathology.

MiR-9 is overexpressed in spontaneous canine osteosarcoma and promotes a metastatic phenotype including invasion and migration in osteoblasts and osteosarcoma cell lines.

PubMed

Fenger, Joelle M; Roberts, Ryan D; Iwenofu, O Hans; Bear, Misty D; Zhang, Xiaoli; Couto, Jason I; Modiano, Jaime F; Kisseberth, William C; London, Cheryl A

2016-10-10

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the expression of networks of genes and their dysregulation is well documented in human malignancies; however, limited information exists regarding the impact of miRNAs on the development and progression of osteosarcoma (OS). Canine OS exhibits clinical and molecular features that closely resemble the corresponding human disease and it is considered a well-established spontaneous animal model to study OS biology. The purpose of this study was to investigate miRNA dysregulation in canine OS. We evaluated miRNA expression in primary canine OS tumors and normal canine osteoblast cells using the nanoString nCounter system. Quantitative PCR was used to validate the nanoString findings and to assess miR-9 expression in canine OS tumors, OS cell lines, and normal osteoblasts. Canine osteoblasts and OS cell lines were stably transduced with pre-miR-9 or anti-miR-9 lentiviral constructs to determine the consequences of miR-9 on cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration. Proteomic and gene expression profiling of normal canine osteoblasts with enforced miR-9 expression was performed using 2D-DIGE/tandem mass spectrometry and RNA sequencing and changes in protein and mRNA expression were validated with Western blotting and quantitative PCR. OS cell lines were transduced with gelsolin (GSN) shRNAs to investigate the impact of GSN knockdown on OS cell invasion. We identified a unique miRNA signature associated with primary canine OS and identified miR-9 as being significantly overexpressed in canine OS tumors and cell lines compared to normal osteoblasts. Additionally, high miR-9 expression was demonstrated in tumor-specific tissue obtained from primary OS tumors. In normal osteoblasts and OS cell lines transduced with miR-9 lentivirus, enhanced invasion and migration were observed, but miR-9 did not affect cell proliferation or apoptosis. Proteomic and transcriptional profiling of normal canine osteoblasts overexpressing miR-9 identified alterations in numerous genes, including upregulation of GSN, an actin filament-severing protein involved in cytoskeletal remodeling. Lastly, stable downregulation of miR-9 in OS cell lines reduced GSN expression with a concomitant decrease in cell invasion and migration; concordantly, cells transduced with GSN shRNA demonstrated decreased invasive properties. Our findings demonstrate that miR-9 promotes a metastatic phenotype in normal canine osteoblasts and malignant OS cell lines, and that this is mediated in part by enhanced GSN expression. As such, miR-9 represents a novel target for therapeutic intervention in OS.

Infórmese sobre el programa de WIFIA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

La Ley de finanzas e innovación de la infraestructura del agua de 2014 estableció el programa de WIFIA, un programa federal crediticio administrado por la EPA para proyectos elegibles de infraestructura de agua y aguas sanitarias.

OsNAC2 positively affects salt-induced cell death and binds to the OsAP37 and OsCOX11 promoters.

PubMed

Mao, Chanjuan; Ding, Jialin; Zhang, Bin; Xi, Dandan; Ming, Feng

2018-05-01

Plant development and adaptation to environmental stresses are intimately associated with programmed cell death (PCD). Although some of the mechanisms regulating PCD [e.g., accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)] are common among responses to different abiotic stresses, the pathways mediating salt-induced PCD remain largely uncharacterized. Here we report that overexpression of OsNAC2, which encodes a plant-specific transcription factor, promotes salt-induced cell death accompanied by the loss of plasma membrane integrity, nuclear DNA fragmentation, and changes to caspase-like activity. In OsNAC2-knockdown lines, cell death was markedly decreased in response to severe salt stress. Additionally, OsNAC2 expression was enhanced in rice seedlings exposed to a high NaCl concentration. Moreover, the results of quantitative real-time PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation, dual-luciferase, and yeast one-hybrid assays indicated that OsNAC2 targeted genes that encoded an ROS scavenger (OsCOX11) and a caspase-like protease (OsAP37). Furthermore, K + -efflux channels (OsGORK and OsSKOR) were clearly activated by OsNAC2. Overall, our results suggested that OsNAC2 accelerates NaCl-induced PCD and provide new insights into the mechanisms that affect ROS accumulation, plant caspase-like activity, and K + efflux. © 2018 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

MGMT promoter methylation determined by HRM in comparison to MSP and pyrosequencing for predicting high-grade glioma response.

PubMed

Switzeny, Olivier J; Christmann, Markus; Renovanz, Mirjam; Giese, Alf; Sommer, Clemens; Kaina, Bernd

2016-01-01

The DNA repair protein O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) causes resistance of cancer cells to alkylating agents and, therefore, is a well-established predictive marker for high-grade gliomas that are routinely treated with alkylating drugs. Since MGMT is highly epigenetically regulated, the MGMT promoter methylation status is taken as an indicator of MGMT silencing, predicting the outcome of glioma therapy. MGMT promoter methylation is usually determined by methylation specific PCR (MSP), which is a labor intensive and error-prone method often used semi-quantitatively. Searching for alternatives, we used closed-tube high resolution melt (HRM) analysis, which is a quantitative method, and compared it with MSP and pyrosequencing regarding its predictive value. We analyzed glioblastoma cell lines with known MGMT activity and formalin-fixed samples from IDH1 wild-type high-grade glioma patients (WHO grade III/IV) treated with radiation and temozolomide by HRM, MSP, and pyrosequencing. The data were compared as to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients exhibiting the methylated and unmethylated MGMT status. A promoter methylation cut-off level relevant for PFS and OS was determined. In a multivariate Cox regression model, methylation of MGMT promoter of high-grade gliomas analyzed by HRM, but not MSP, was found to be an independent predictive marker for OS. Univariate Kaplan-Meier analyses revealed for PFS and OS a significant and better discrimination between methylated and unmethylated tumors when quantitative HRM was used instead of MSP. Compared to MSP and pyrosequencing, the HRM method is simple, cost effective, highly accurate and fast. HRM is at least equivalent to pyrosequencing in quantifying the methylation level. It is superior in predicting PFS and OS of high-grade glioma patients compared to MSP and, therefore, can be recommended being used routinely for determination of the MGMT status of gliomas.

Social determinants of leprosy in a hyperendemic State in North Brazil.

PubMed

Monteiro, Lorena Dias; Mota, Rosa Maria Salani; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlândio; Alencar, Carlos Henrique; Heukelbach, Jorg

2017-07-20

To identify the socioeconomic, demographic, operational, and health service-related factors associated with the occurrence of leprosy in a hyperendemic State in North Brazil. This is an ecological study based on secondary data from the Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação in municipalities of the State of Tocantins from 2001 to 2012. Units of analysis were the 139 municipalities of the State. Negative binomial log linear regression models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios. In bivariate analysis, the incidence rate ratios were significantly higher for municipalities with higher income ratio of the poorest 20.0% (1.47; 95%CI 1.19-1.81) and better Municipal Human Development Index (1.53; 95%CI 1.14-2.06). In multivariate analysis, the incidence rate ratios were significantly higher in municipalities with higher proportion of immigrants (1.31; 95%CI 1.11-1.55) and higher proportion of households with waste collection (1.37; 95%CI 1.11-1.69). There was a significant reduction in the incidence rate ratio with increased coverage of the Bolsa Família Program (0.98; 95%CI 0.96-0.99). Control programs need to focus on activities in municipalities of greater social vulnerability with intersectoral investment for the improvement of the living conditions of the population. Identificar fatores socioeconômicos, demográficos, operacionais e de serviços de saúde associados à ocorrência da hanseníase em um estado hiperendêmico do norte do Brasil. Estudo ecológico com dados secundários do Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação em municípios do estado do Tocantins de 2001 a 2012. As unidades de análise foram os 139 municípios do estado. Modelos de regressão log linear binomial negativa foram utilizados para estimar as razões de taxas de incidência. Na análise bivariada, a razão de taxa de incidência foi significativamente maior para os municípios com maior razão de renda dos 20,0% mais pobres (1,47; IC95% 1,19-1,81) e melhor Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano Municipal (1,53; IC95% 1,14-2,06). Na múltipla, a razão de taxa de incidência foi significativamente superior em municípios com maior concentração de imigrantes (1,31; IC95% 1,11-1,55) e proporção de domicílios com coleta de lixo (1,37; IC95% 1,11-1,69). Houve redução significativa da razão de taxa de incidência com o aumento da cobertura do programa bolsa família (0,98; IC95% 0,96-0,99). Os programas de controle precisam focar as atividades em municípios de maior vulnerabilidade social com investimentos intersetoriais para a melhoria das condições de vida da população.

Obtenga más información sobre la etiqueta Safer Choice

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Entérese más acerca del programa EPA Diseño para el medio ambiente, incluyendo información sobre su historia, proyectos anteriores y otros programas de la EPA que están relacionados con este programa.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Pacheco-Herrera, Javier Darío; Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson; Correa-Bautista, Jorge Enrique

2016-06-30

Objetivo: el presente estudio tuvo por objetivos: a) determinar los valores de referencia de la condición muscular mediante el índice general de fuerza (IGF); y b) estudiar si el IGF está asociado con indicadores de adiposidad en niños y adolescentes escolares de Bogotá, Colombia.Métodos: del total de 7.268 niños y adolescentes (9-17,9 años) evaluados en el estudio FUPRECOL, 4.139 (57%) fueron mujeres. Se evaluó el IGF como marcador del desempeño muscular a partir de la tipificación de las pruebas de fuerza prensil (FP) y salto de longitud (SL). El IGF se recodificó en cuartiles (Q), siendo el Q4 la posición con mejor valor del IGF. El índice de masa corporal (IMC), la circunferencia de cintura (CC), el índice cintura/talla (ICT) y el porcentaje de grasa corporal (% GC) por bioimpedancia eléctrica se midieron como marcadores de adiposidad.Resultados: la edad media de los evaluados fue 12,8 ± 2,3 años. Se aprecia una tendencia hacia un incremento del nivel de condición física muscular en los varones conforme aumenta la edad, y hacia la estabilidad o un ligero aumento en el caso de las mujeres. El IGF se relacionóinversamente con el ICT y % GC en los varones (r = -0,280, r = -0,327, p < 0,01), respectivamente. Los escolares ubicados en el Q4 del IGF presentaron menores valores en marcadores de adiposidad IMC, CC, ICT y % GC, p < 0,01, que su contraparte del Q1.Conclusión: se presentan valores de referencia del IGF a partir de la estandarización de los resultados obtenidos en la FP y SL. La evaluación de la fuerza muscular en edades tempranas permitirá implementar programas de prevención de riesgo cardiovascular y metabólico futuro.

Sistema Planeta-Satélite. Simulación orbital y potenciales gravitatorios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, C.; Carrillo, M.

Se presenta un programa (desarrollado en Quick Basic 4.5) que simula, en tres dimensiones, el movimiento orbital de un satélite (o luna) alrededor de un planeta, al tiempo que calcula y grafica, en un plano, el potencial gravitatorio del sistema en función de la distancia al planeta. Para la simulación orbital, se emplea la matriz de transformación entre el sistema del planeta y el plano orbital. Para el cálculo y graficación del potencial se aplica un desarrollo en serie hasta el segundo orden, que da cuenta del efecto de achatamiento de los polos, en caso de que éste exista. Las longitudes de los ejes del planeta, la masa de éste y del satélite, sus tamaños aparentes, y los parámetros orbitales son introducidos por el usuario.

Long-Term Efficacy of Maintenance Therapy for Multiple Myeloma: A Quantitative Synthesis of 22 Randomized Controlled Trials.

PubMed

Li, Jie-Li; Fan, Guang-Yu; Liu, Yu-Jie; Zeng, Zi-Hang; Huang, Jing-Juan; Yang, Zong-Ming; Meng, Xiang-Yu

2018-01-01

We aimed to quantitatively synthesize data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concerning maintenance for multiple myeloma (MM). We searched electronic literature databases and conference proceedings to identify relevant RCTs. We selected eligible RCTs using predefined selection criteria. We conducted meta-analysis comparing maintenance containing new agents and conventional maintenance, and subgroup analysis by transplantation status and mainstay agent as well. We performed trial sequential analysis (TSA) to determine adequacy of sample size for overall and subgroup meta-analyses. We performed network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare and rank included regimens. A total of 22 RCTs involving 9,968 MM patients and 15 regimens were included, the overall quality of which was adequate. Significant heterogeneity was detected for progression-free survival (PFS) but not overall survival (OS). Meta-analyses showed that maintenance containing new agents significantly improved PFS but not OS [PFS: Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.59, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.54 to 0.64; OS: HR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.87 to 1.00], compared with controls. Subgroup analyses revealed lenalidomide (Len)-based therapies better than thalidomide-based ones (HR = 0.50 and 0.66, respectively; P = 0.001). NMA revealed that most of the maintenance regimens containing new agents were significantly better than simple observation in terms of PFS but not OS. Len single agent was the most effective, considering PFS and OS both. We concluded that conventional maintenance has very limited effect. Maintenance containing new agents is highly effective in improving PFS, but has very limited effect on OS. Maintenance with Len may have the largest survival benefits. Emerging strategies may further change the landscape of maintenance of MM.

Queda dos homicídios em São Paulo, Brasil: uma análise descritiva

PubMed Central

Peres, Maria Fernanda Tourinho; Vicentin, Diego; Nery, Marcelo Batista; de Lima, Renato Sérgio; de Souza, Edinilsa Ramos; Cerda, Magdalena; Cardia, Nancy; Adorno, e Sérgio

2012-01-01

Objetivo Descrever a evolução da mortalidade por homicídios no Município de São Paulo segundo tipo de arma, sexo, raça ou cor, idade e áreas de exclusão/inclusão social entre 1996 e 2008. Métodos Estudo ecológico de série temporal. Os dados sobre óbitos ocorridos no Município foram coletados da base de dados do Programa de Aprimoramento das Informações sobre Mortalidade, seguindo a Classificação Internacional de Doenças, Décima Revisão (CID-10). Foram calculadas as taxas de mortalidade por homicídio (TMH) para a população total, por sexo, raça ou cor, faixa etária, tipo de arma e área de exclusão/inclusão social. As TMH foram padronizadas por idade pelo método direto. Foram calculados os percentuais de variação no período estudado. Para as áreas de exclusão/inclusão social foram calculados os riscos relativos de morte por homicídio. Resultados As TMH apresentaram queda de 73,7% entre 2001 e 2008. Foi observada redução da TMH em todos os grupos analisados, mais pronunciada em homens (−74,5%), jovens de 15 a 24 anos (−78,0%) e moradores de áreas de exclusão social extrema (−79,3%). A redução ocorreu, sobretudo, nos homicídios cometidos com armas de fogo (−74,1%). O risco relativo de morte por homicídio nas áreas de exclusão extrema (tendo como referência áreas com algum grau de exclusão social) foi de 2,77 em 1996, 3,9 em 2001 e 2,13 em 2008. Nas áreas de alta exclusão social, o risco relativo foi de 2,07 em 1996 e 1,96 em 2008. Conclusões Para compreender a redução dos homicídios no Município, é importante considerar macrodeterminantes que atingem todo o Município e todos os subgrupos populacionais e microdeterminantes que atuam localmente, influenciando de forma diferenciada os homicídios com armas de fogo e os homicídios na população jovem, no sexo masculino e em residentes em áreas de alta exclusão social. PMID:21390415

Charactering the ZFAND3 gene mapped in the sex-determining locus in hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis spp.)

PubMed Central

Ma, Keyi; Liao, Minghui; Liu, Feng; Ye, Baoqing; Sun, Fei; Yue, Gen Hua

2016-01-01

Zinc finger AN1-type domain 3 (ZFAND3) is essential for spermatogenesis in mice. However, its function in teleosts remains unclear. In this study, we characterized the ZFAND3 gene (termed as OsZFAND3) in an important food fish, tilapia. The OsZFAND3 cDNA sequence is 1,050 bp in length, containing an ORF of 615 bp, which encodes a putative peptide of 204 amino acid residues. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that the OsZFAND3 transcripts were exclusively expressed in the testis and ovary. In situ hybridization showed that the high expression of OsZFAND3 transcripts was predominantly localized in the spermatocyte and spermatid. These results suggest that OsZFAND3 is involved in male germ cell maturation. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in the introns of OsZFAND3. The OsZFAND3 gene was mapped in the sex-determining locus on linkage group 1 (LG1). The three SNPs in the OsZFAND3 gene were strictly associated with sex phenotype, suggesting that the OsZFAND3 gene is tightly linked to the sex-determining locus. Our study provides new insights into the functions of the OsZFAND3 gene in tilapia and a foundation for further detailed analysis of the OsZFAND3 gene in sex determination and differentiation. PMID:27137111

Dialectics of a medical provision policy in priority areas in Brazil.

PubMed

Weber, César Augusto Trinta

2017-03-01

The people living in vulnerable areas that are difficult to access in Brazil represent a portion of the population that has proven very sensitive to lack of medical and health services. The government, seeking to solve the situation urgently, implemented the More Doctors Program [Programa Mais Médicos, in the Portuguese original] in 2013. To discuss the More Doctors Program, with the purpose of contributing to the debate on the provision of medical policies in Brazil. Study based on the review of official documents: Programa Mais Médicos - dois anos: mais saúde para os brasileiros, 2015 [More Doctors Program - two years: more health for Brazilians, 2015]; Operational Audit Report, TC Nº 005391/2014-8, the Court of Auditors of Brazil; and Medical Demography in Brazil 2015. The import of exchange physicians without diploma revalidation has cast a shadow on the technical quality of services offered to the population. In terms of infrastructure, the reduction of resources paralyzed works and made the care network maintenance projects impossible. The creation of new medical schools has created uncertainty about the possibility of quality education being offered, with minimum and sufficient structure including laboratories, clinics and teaching hospitals indispensable to medical training. The regional inequalities of concentration and dispersion of physicians, showed by studies on medical demography in Brazil, stem from several factors, including the lack of a career path and working conditions. There is no point in having physicians if they do not have safe and ethical conditions to establish the diagnosis and a treatment plan, as well as to monitor the rehabilitation of the patient.

INTERVENCIÓN EDUCATIVA EFECTIVA EN VIH PARA MUJERES

PubMed Central

Miner, Sarah; Poupin, Lauren; Bernales, Margarita; Ferrer, Lilian; Cianelli, Rosina

2016-01-01

RESUMEN En Chile se estima que aproximadamente 38 mil personas viven con el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana [VIH]. En el año 2001, 1.092 mujeres chilenas vivían con VIH, actualmente se cree que hay más de 7.600 mujeres con el virus. Frente a estas cifras surge la necesidad de crear estrategias de prevención dirigidas a mujeres chilenas. Objetivo analizar los estudios ya realizados en la prevención de VIH para determinar qué aspectos se deben incluir en programas exitosos de prevención de VIH en mujeres. Diseño y Método se realizó una revisión de la literatura utilizando la base de datos Proquest, CINAHL, Pubmed y Scielo. Los límites comprendieron: textos completos, de los últimos 10 años, de acceso gratuito y escrito en español o inglés. Se seleccionaron 15 artículos para la revisión. Resultados todos los artículos comprenden la evaluación del efecto de una intervención sobre conocimiento y conductas relacionadas con VIH/SIDA. Catorce muestran resultados significativos en cambios positivos de conducta o conocimientos relacionados con la prevención de VIH. Conclusiones los programas de prevención de VIH en mujeres pueden ser efectivos para lograr cambios de conducta y de conocimiento. Las intervenciones exitosas son aquellas basadas en teorías o modelos de prevención y en cambios de conductas, todas adaptadas a la cultura de la población estudiada. PMID:27667897

The OsmiR396c-OsGRF4-OsGIF1 regulatory module determines grain size and yield in rice.

PubMed

Li, Shuangcheng; Gao, Fengyan; Xie, Kailong; Zeng, Xiuhong; Cao, Ye; Zeng, Jing; He, Zhongshan; Ren, Yun; Li, Wenbo; Deng, Qiming; Wang, Shiquan; Zheng, Aiping; Zhu, Jun; Liu, Huainian; Wang, Lingxia; Li, Ping

2016-11-01

Grain weight is the most important component of rice yield and is mainly determined by grain size, which is generally controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Although numerous QTLs that regulate grain weight have been identified, the genetic network that controls grain size remains unclear. Herein, we report the cloning and functional analysis of a dominant QTL, grain length and width 2 (GLW2), which positively regulates grain weight by simultaneously increasing grain length and width. The GLW2 locus encodes OsGRF4 (growth-regulating factor 4) and is regulated by the microRNA miR396c in vivo. The mutation in OsGRF4 perturbs the OsmiR396 target regulation of OsGRF4, generating a larger grain size and enhanced grain yield. We also demonstrate that OsGIF1 (GRF-interacting factors 1) directly interacts with OsGRF4, and increasing its expression improves grain size. Our results suggest that the miR396c-OsGRF4-OsGIF1 regulatory module plays an important role in grain size determination and holds implications for rice yield improvement. © 2016 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Addition of BMP-2 or BMP-6 to dexamethasone, ascorbic acid, and β-glycerophosphate may not enhance osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament cells.

PubMed

Khanna-Jain, Rashi; Agata, Hideki; Vuorinen, Annukka; Sándor, George K B; Suuronen, Riitta; Miettinen, Susanna

2010-12-01

This study was designed to investigate the potential merits of the combined use of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 or BMP-6 and osteogenic supplements (OS) [dexamethasone, ascorbic acid (AA), and β-glycerophosphate] on osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs). Osteogenic differentiation was evaluated by quantitative alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay, alizarin red staining, quantitative calcium assay, and the qRT-PCR analysis for the expression of collagen type I, runt-related transcription factor-2, osteopontin (OPN), and osteocalcin in PDLCs. Culture with BMP-2 or BMP-6+AA increased ALP activity of PDLCs, suggesting their osteo-inductive effects. However, longer duration of culture showed neither of the BMPs induced in vitro mineralization. In contrast, OS were able to increase ALP activity and OPN expressions, and also induced in vitro mineralization. The mineralization ability was not enhanced by the addition of BMP-2 or BMP-6. These findings suggest that the addition of BMP-2 or BMP-6 to OS may not enhance an osteogenic differentiation of hPDLCs.

Interactions of OsMADS1 with Floral Homeotic Genes in Rice Flower Development.

PubMed

Hu, Yun; Liang, Wanqi; Yin, Changsong; Yang, Xuelian; Ping, Baozhe; Li, Anxue; Jia, Ru; Chen, Mingjiao; Luo, Zhijing; Cai, Qiang; Zhao, Xiangxiang; Zhang, Dabing; Yuan, Zheng

2015-09-01

During reproductive development, rice plants develop unique flower organs which determine the final grain yield. OsMADS1, one of SEPALLATA-like MADS-box genes, has been unraveled to play critical roles in rice floral organ identity specification and floral meristem determinacy. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying interactions of OsMADS1 with other floral homeotic genes in regulating flower development remains largely elusive. In this work, we studied the genetic interactions of OsMADS1 with B-, C-, and D-class genes along with physical interactions among their proteins. We show that the physical and genetic interactions between OsMADS1 and OsMADS3 are essential for floral meristem activity maintenance and organ identity specification; while OsMADS1 physically and genetically interacts with OsMADS58 in regulating floral meristem determinacy and suppressing spikelet meristem reversion. We provided important genetic evidence to support the neofunctionalization of two rice C-class genes (OsMADS3 and OsMADS58) during flower development. Gene expression profiling and quantitative RT-PCR analyses further revealed that OsMADS1 affects the expression of many genes involved in floral identity and hormone signaling, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-PCR assay further demonstrated that OsMADS17 is a direct target gene of OsMADS1. Taken together, these results reveal that OsMADS1 has diversified regulatory functions in specifying rice floral organ and meristem identity, probably through its genetic and physical interactions with different floral homeotic regulators. Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Capacitación-acción participativa: una experiencia de 24 años en las comunidades rurales de Oaxaca, México.

PubMed

Ysunza, Alberto M; Diez-Urdanivia, Silvia; Pérez-Gil, Sara E

2017-12-01

Resumen: En este artículo presentamos el proyecto de capacitación llevado a cabo en comunidades de la sierra y costa de Oaxaca, México, desde 1991, por el Centro de Capacitación Integral para Promotores Comunitarios (CECIPROC). La decisión de hacer este trabajo en Oaxaca responde a que ese estado ocupa uno de los primeros lugares de marginación y de desnutrición en menores de 5 años. El objetivo es describir un modelo de capacitación y compartir parte de las experiencias derivadas, tanto del modelo como del trabajo realizado en las distintas áreas (nutrición y alimentación, salud comunitaria, ecología y etnobotánica, y educación y organización), por promotores mujeres y hombres en sus comunidades. La experiencia obtenida en 24 años muestra la factibilidad técnica y social del proyecto en el ámbito de la salud, el reconocimiento social del proyecto del CECIPROC como un organismo civil que ha aportado alternativas como solución a la problemática de salud, el hacer suyo el proyecto por algunos promotores y los diferentes obstáculos a los que se ha enfrentado. Enfatizamos el hecho de que la situación socioeconómica y política prevaleciente en el estado de Oaxaca es una limitante para el buen desarrollo de los programas colectivos de salud, e insistimos en la necesidad de compartir nuestras experiencias para que puedan ser utilizadas en la planificación y ejecución de otros proyectos.

A prognostic model for survival after salvage treatment with FLAG-Ida +/- gemtuzumab-ozogamicine in adult patients with refractory/relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia.

PubMed

Bergua, Juan M; Montesinos, Pau; Martinez-Cuadrón, David; Fernández-Abellán, Pascual; Serrano, Josefina; Sayas, María J; Prieto-Fernandez, Julio; García, Raimundo; García-Huerta, Ana J; Barrios, Manuel; Benavente, Celina; Pérez-Encinas, Manuel; Simiele, Adriana; Rodríguez-Macias, Gabriela; Herrera-Puente, Pilar; Rodríguez-Veiga, Rebeca; Martínez-Sánchez, María P; Amador-Barciela, María L; Riaza-Grau, Rosalía; Sanz, Miguel A

2016-09-01

The combination of fludarabine, cytarabine, idarubicin, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (FLAG-Ida) is widely used in relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). We retrospectively analysed the results of 259 adult AML patients treated as first salvage with FLAG-Ida or FLAG-Ida plus Gentuzumab-Ozogamicin (FLAGO-Ida) of the Programa Español de Tratamientos en Hematología (PETHEMA) database, developing a prognostic score system of survival in this setting (SALFLAGE score). Overall, 221 patients received FLAG-Ida and 38 FLAGO-Ida; 92 were older than 60 years. The complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete blood count recovery (CRi) rate was 51%, with 9% of induction deaths. Three covariates were associated with lower CR/CRi: high-risk cytogenetics and t(8;21) at diagnosis, no previous allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) and relapse-free interval <1 year. Allo-SCT was performed in second CR in 60 patients (23%). The median overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was 0·7 years, with 22% OS at 5-years. Four independent variables were used to construct the score: cytogenetics, FLT3-internal tandem duplication, length of relapse-free interval and previous allo-SCT. Using this stratification system, three groups were defined: favourable (26% of patients), intermediate (29%) and poor-risk (45%), with an expected 5-year OS of 52%, 26% and 7%, respectively. The SALFLAGE score discriminated a subset of patients with an acceptable long-term outcome using FLAG-Ida/FLAGO-Ida regimen. The results of this retrospective analysis should be validated in independent external cohorts. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Questões mais freqüentes na área de astronomia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segundo, H. A. S.; Garcia, G. C.; Caretta, C. A.; Lima, F. P.

2003-08-01

É amplamente reconhecido que as pessoas em geral têm grande fascínio e interesse pela Astronomia. Por outro lado, o conteúdo dessa área incluído no ensino formal está longe de ser abrangente e suficiente para suprir a demanda. Esse interesse permite otimizar a divulgação e o ensino não formal de Astronomia aliando a adequação do conteúdo à expectativa das pessoas. Nesse intuito, nosso trabalho busca mapear que assuntos da Astronomia despertam mais a atenção e o interesse das pessoas e o quanto disso é estimulado pela mídia, que freqüentemente aproveita-se desse interesse de forma sensacionalista, trazendo contribuições positivas e negativas. Para esta avaliação, utilizamos as pesquisas específicas e de caracterização do público que freqüentou o MAst nos anos de 2001 a 2003, pesquisa das matérias de Astronomia veiculadas na mídia escrita da cidade do Rio de Janeiro no mesmo período, além da base de dados do programa Pergunte a um astrônomo, realizado no Observatório Nacional nos anos de 1997 a 1999. Para a análise dos dados, dividimos as perguntas em dez categorias, cada uma com suas subcategorias, tomando como referência as divisões, comissões e grupos de trabalho da IAU. Apresentamos neste trabalho os resultados dessa pesquisa, que incluem, entre outros, a predominância de questões nas categorias Observação do Céu e Sistemas Planetários enquanto nos jornais dominam as notícias de Sistemas Planetários e Espaço & Astronáutica. Outro resultado interessante indicou que as dúvidas de crianças do ensino fundamental se concentram em algumas categorias enquanto as questões de adultos são mais distribuídas por todas as categorias. Os resultados dessa pesquisa serão aplicados diretamente no aperfeiçoamento das atividades do Programa de Observação de Céu, bem como na elaboração de novos projetos e eventos realizados no MAst.

Tendências de teses e dissertações sobre ensino de astronomia no Brasil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bretones, P. S.; Megid Neto, J.

2003-08-01

Neste trabalho são apresentados os resultados de uma pesquisa do tipo estado da arte sobre teses e dissertações defendidas no Brasil e relativas ao ensino de Astronomia. Teve por objetivo identificar essa produção e conhecer as principais tendências da pesquisa nesse campo. O procedimento inicial consistiu de um levantamento bibliográfico junto ao Centro de Documentação em Ensino de Ciências (CEDOC) da Faculdade de Educação da UNICAMP e ao Banco de Teses da CAPES disponível na Internet. Foram localizadas 13 dissertações de mestrado e 3 teses de doutorado, as quais foram estudadas em função dos seguintes aspectos: instituição, ano de defesa, nível escolar abrangido no estudo, foco temático do estudo e gênero de trabalho acadêmico. Deste conjunto de pesquisas, 13 (81,3%) delas foram defendidas a partir da segunda metade dos anos 90, indicando uma preocupação mais recente com temas relativos ao ensino de Astronomia no conjunto da produção acadêmica em programas de pós-graduação no Brasil. Verificou-se que 43,7% dos trabalhos foram produzidas na USP e 18,8% na UNICAMP. Quanto ao nível escolar abrangido nos estudos, predominaram os estudos direcionados ao Ensino Fundamental de 5a a 8a séries (62,5%). No que diz respeito ao foco temático das pesquisas, as principais tendências voltaram-se: 56,3% para Conteúdo e Método; 43,8% para Concepções do Professor; 37,5% para Currículo e Programas; 37,5% para Recursos Didáticos. Quanto ao gênero de trabalho acadêmico, verificou-se que 43,8% são de Pesquisa Experimental e 31,3% de Pesquisa de Análise de Conteúdo. Estudos de revisão bibliográfica como este visam colaborar com a divulgação ampla da produção acadêmica em determinada área, traçando algumas de suas tendências. Ao mesmo tempo possibilita, a partir de investigações decorrentes, apontar as suas contribuições para o ensino e sinalizar com necessidades a serem supridas por futuras pesquisas.

Quantitative measurement of HER2 expression in breast cancers: comparison with 'real-world' routine HER2 testing in a multicenter Collaborative Biomarker Study and correlation with overall survival.

PubMed

Yardley, Denise A; Kaufman, Peter A; Huang, Weidong; Krekow, Lea; Savin, Michael; Lawler, William E; Zrada, Stephen; Starr, Alexander; Einhorn, Harvey; Schwartzberg, Lee S; Adams, John W; Lie, Yolanda; Paquet, Agnes C; Sperinde, Jeff; Haddad, Mojgan; Anderson, Steve; Brigino, Marlon; Pesano, Rick; Bates, Michael P; Weidler, Jodi; Bosserman, Linda

2015-03-18

Accurate assessment of HER2 status is critical in determining appropriate therapy for breast cancer patients but the best HER2 testing methodology has yet to be defined. In this study, we compared quantitative HER2 expression by the HERmark™ Breast Cancer Assay (HERmark) with routine HER2 testing by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and correlated HER2 results with overall survival (OS) of breast cancer patients in a multicenter Collaborative Biomarker Study (CBS). Two hundred and thirty-two formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissues and local laboratory HER2 testing results were provided by 11 CBS sites. HERmark assay and central laboratory HER2 IHC retesting were retrospectively performed in a blinded fashion. HER2 results by all testing methods were obtained in 192 cases. HERmark yielded a continuum of total HER2 expression (H2T) ranging from 0.3 to 403 RF/mm2 (approximately 3 logs). The distribution of H2T levels correlated significantly (P<0.0001) with all routine HER2 testing results. The concordance of positive and negative values (equivocal cases excluded) between HERmark and routine HER2 testing was 84% for local IHC, 96% for central IHC, 85% for local FISH, and 84% for local HER2 status. OS analysis revealed a significant correlation of shorter OS with HER2 positivity by local IHC (HR=2.6, P=0.016), central IHC (HR=3.2, P=0.015), and HERmark (HR=5.1, P<0.0001) in this cohort of patients most of whom received no HER2-targeted therapy. The OS curve of discordant low (HER2 positive but H2T low, 10% of all cases) was aligned with concordant negative (HER2 negative and H2T low, HR=1.9, P=0.444), but showed a significantly longer OS than concordant positive (HER2 positive and H2T high, HR=0.31, P=0.024). Conversely, the OS curve of discordant high (HER2 negative but H2T high, 9% of all cases) was aligned with concordant positive (HR=0.41, P=0.105), but showed a significantly shorter OS than concordant negative (HR=41, P<0.0001). Quantitative HER2 measurement by HERmark is highly sensitive, accurately quantifies HER2 protein expression and correlates well with routine HER2 testing. When HERmark and local HER2 results were discordant, HERmark more accurately predicted overall survival.

The ethylene response factor OsERF109 negatively affects ethylene biosynthesis and drought tolerance in rice.

PubMed

Yu, Yanwen; Yang, Dexin; Zhou, Shirong; Gu, Juntao; Wang, Fengru; Dong, Jingao; Huang, Rongfeng

2017-01-01

Drought is an important factor limiting plant development and crop production. Dissecting the factors involved in this process is the key for enhancement of plant tolerance to drought stress by genetic approach. Here, we evaluated the regulatory function of a novel rice ethylene response factor (ERF) OsERF109 in drought stress. Expression of OsERF109 was rapidly induced by stress and phytohormones. Subcellular localization and transactivation assay demonstrated that OsERF109 was localized in nucleus and possessed transactivation activity. Transgenic plants overexpressing (OE) and knockdown with RNA interfering (RI) OsERF109 exhibited significantly reduced and improved drought resistance, respectively, indicating that OsERF109 negatively regulates drought resistance in rice. Furthermore, measurement by gas chromatography showed that ethylene contents were less in OE while more in RI lines than these in wild types, supporting the data of drought tolerance and water loss in transgenic lines. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis also proved the regulation of OsERF109 in the expression of OSACS6, OSACO2, and OsERF3, which have been identified to play important roles in ethylene biosynthesis. Based on these results, our data evidence that OsERF109 regulates drought resistance by affecting the ethylene biosynthesis in rice. Overall, our study reveals the negative role of OsERF109 in ethylene biosynthesis and drought tolerance in rice.

Tumor aggressiveness and patient outcome in cancer of the pancreas assessed by dynamic 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PubMed

Epelbaum, Ron; Frenkel, Alex; Haddad, Riad; Sikorski, Natalia; Strauss, Ludwig G; Israel, Ora; Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss, Antonia

2013-01-01

This study aimed to assess the role of a quantitative dynamic PET model in pancreatic cancer as a potential index of tumor aggressiveness and predictor of survival. Seventy-one patients with (18)F-FDG-avid adenocarcinoma of the pancreas before treatment were recruited, including 27 with localized tumors (11 underwent pancreatectomy, and 16 had localized nonresectable tumors) and 44 with metastatic disease. Dynamic (18)F-FDG PET images were acquired over a 60-min period, followed by a whole-body PET/CT study. Quantitative data measurements were based on a 2-compartment model, and the following variables were calculated: VB (fractional blood volume in target area), K(1) and k(2) (kinetic membrane transport parameters), k(3) and k(4) (intracellular (18)F-FDG phosphorylation and dephosphorylation parameters, respectively), and (18)F-FDG INF (global (18)F-FDG influx). The single significant variable for overall survival (OS) in patients with localized disease was (18)F-FDG INF. Patients with a high (18)F-FDG INF (>0.033 min(-1)) had a median OS of 6 and 5 mo for nonresectable and resected tumors, respectively, versus 15 and 19 mo for a low (18)F-FDG INF in nonresectable and resected tumors, respectively (P < 0.04). In metastatic disease, multivariate analysis found VB, K(1), and k(3) to be significant variables for OS (P < 0.043, <0.031, and <0.009, respectively). Prognostic factors for OS in the entire group of patients that were significant at multivariate analysis were stage of disease, VB, K(1), and (18)F-FDG INF (P < 0.00035, <0.03, <0.024, and <0.008, respectively). Median OS for all patients with a high (18)F-FDG INF, low VB, and high K(1) was 3 mo, as opposed to 14 mo in patients with a low (18)F-FDG INF, high VB, and low K(1) (P < 0.021), irrespective of stage and resectability. Quantitative (18)F-FDG kinetic parameters measured by dynamic PET in newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer correlated with the aggressiveness of disease. The (18)F-FDG INF was the single most significant variable for OS in patients with localized disease, whether resectable or not.

Tuberculosis control program in the municipal context: performance evaluation.

PubMed

Arakawa, Tiemi; Magnabosco, Gabriela Tavares; Andrade, Rubia Laine de Paula; Brunello, Maria Eugenia Firmino; Monroe, Aline Aparecida; Ruffino-Netto, Antonio; Scatena, Lucia Marina; Villa, Tereza Cristina Scatena

2017-03-30

The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the Tuberculosis Control Program in municipalities of the State of São Paulo. This is a program evaluation research, with ecological design, which uses three non-hierarchical groups of the municipalities of the State of São Paulo according to their performance in relation to operational indicators. We have selected 195 municipalities with at least five new cases of tuberculosis notified in the Notification System of the State of São Paulo and with 20,000 inhabitants or more in 2010. The multiple correspondence analysis was used to identify the association between the groups of different performances, the epidemiological and demographic characteristics, and the characteristics of the health systems of the municipalities. The group with the worst performance showed the highest rates of abandonment (average [avg] = 10.4, standard deviation [sd] = 9.4) and the lowest rates of supervision of Directly Observed Treatment (avg = 6.1, sd = 12.9), and it was associated with low incidence of tuberculosis, high tuberculosis and HIV, small population, high coverage of the Family Health Strategy/Program of Community Health Agents, and being located on the countryside. The group with the best performance presented the highest cure rate (avg = 83.7, sd = 10.5) and the highest rate of cases in Directly Observed Treatment (avg = 83.0, sd = 12.7); the group of regular performance showed regular results for outcome (avg cure = 79.8, sd = 13.2; abandonment avg = 9.5, sd = 8.3) and supervision of the Directly Observed Treatment (avg = 42.8, sd = 18.8). Large population, low coverage of the Family Health Strategy/Program of Community Health Agents, high incidence of tuberculosis and AIDS, and being located on the coast and in metropolitan areas were associated with these groups. The findings highlight the importance of the Directly Observed Treatment in relation to the outcome for treatment and raise reflections on the structural and managerial capacity of municipalities in the implementation of the Tuberculosis Control Program. Avaliar o desempenho do Programa de Controle da Tuberculose em municípios paulistas. Pesquisa de avaliação de serviços, com delineamento ecológico, utilizando três agrupamentos não hierárquicos de municípios paulistas de acordo com seu desempenho em relação a indicadores operacionais. Foram selecionadas 195 cidades com no mínimo cinco casos novos de tuberculose notificados no Sistema de Notificação do Estado de São Paulo e 20.000 habitantes ou mais em 2010. A análise de correspondência múltipla foi utilizada para a identificação da associação entre os grupos de distintos desempenhos e as características epidemiológicas, demográficas e de sistemas de saúde dos municípios. O grupo de pior desempenho apresentou as taxas mais elevadas de abandono (média [md] = 10,4; desvio padrão [dp] = 9,4) e as menores proporções de efetivação de Tratamento Diretamente Observado (md = 6,1; dp = 12,9) e esteve associado à baixa incidência de tuberculose, alta confecção tuberculose e HIV, pequeno porte populacional, alta cobertura de Estratégia Saúde da Família/Programa de Agentes Comunitários em Saúde e localização no interior. O grupo de melhor desempenho apresentou a maior taxa de cura (md = 83,7; dp = 10,5) e a maior proporção de casos em Tratamento Diretamente Observado (md = 83,0; dp = 12,7); enquanto o grupo de desempenho regular mostrou resultados regulares de desfecho (cura: md = 79,8; dp = 13,2; abandono: md = 9,5; dp = 8,3) e de efetivação do Tratamento Diretamente Observado (md = 42,8; dp = 18,8). Grande porte populacional, baixa cobertura de Estratégia Saúde da Família/Programa de Agentes Comunitários em Saúde, alta incidência de tuberculose e aids, e localização no litoral e em áreas metropolitanas estiveram associados com esses grupos. Os achados destacam a importância do Tratamento Diretamente Observado em relação ao desfecho do tratamento e levantam reflexões sobre a capacidade estrutural e gerencial dos municípios na operacionalização do Programa de Controle da Tuberculose.

Analysis of gene-disruption mutants of a sucrose phosphate synthase gene in rice, OsSPS1, shows the importance of sucrose synthesis in pollen germination.

PubMed

Hirose, Tatsuro; Hashida, Yoichi; Aoki, Naohiro; Okamura, Masaki; Yonekura, Madoka; Ohto, Chikara; Terao, Tomio; Ohsugi, Ryu

2014-08-01

The molecular function of an isoform of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) in rice, OsSPS1, was investigated using gene-disruption mutant lines generated by retrotransposon insertion. The progeny of the heterozygote of disrupted OsSPS1 (SPS1(+/-)) segregated into SPS1(+/+), SPS1(+/-), and SPS1(-/-) at a ratio of 1:1:0. This distorted segregation ratio, together with the expression of OsSPS1 in the developing pollen revealed by quantitative RT-PCR analysis and promoter-beta-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion assay, suggested that the disruption of OsSPS1 results in sterile pollen. This hypothesis was reinforced by reciprocal crosses of SPS1(+/-) plants with wild-type plants in which the disrupted OsSPS1 was not paternally transmitted to the progeny. While the pollen grains of SPS(+/-) plants normally accumulated starch during their development, pollen germination on the artificial media was reduced to half of that observed in the wild-type control. Overall, our data suggests that sucrose synthesis via OsSPS1 is essential in pollen germination in rice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is quantitative oestrogen receptor expression useful in the evaluation of the clinical prognosis? Analysis of a homogeneous series of 797 patients with prospective determination of the ER status using simultaneous EIA and IHC.

PubMed

Mazouni, Chafika; Bonnier, Pascal; Goubar, Aïcha; Romain, Sylvie; Martin, Pierre-Marie

2010-10-01

Oestrogen receptor (ER) determination in breast cancer (BC) is a major yardstick for the prognosis and for response to hormonal therapy (HT). As several techniques have been proposed for ER quantification, the purpose of our study was to assess whether the qualitative or quantitative analysis of ER expression might influence the prognosis and response to treatment. We analysed overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in 797 primary BC cases with ER determination by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The clinical impact according to qualitative or quantitative analysis of ER expression was assessed. Response to HT was evaluated according to quantitative EIA-determined ER expression levels. According to the qualitative analysis of ER expression, patients with EIA-determined and IHC-determined ER-positive tumours had significantly longer OS and DFS (p<0.001). The analysis stratified on quartiles of ER levels showed significantly different outcomes according to EIA- and IHC-determined subgroups. In the group of patients who received adjuvant treatment, 5-year OS was significantly different between the groups, with a clear benefit for the highest EIA-determined ER quartiles (p<0.001). Comparatively, in terms of 5-year DFS, a clear separation was noted between groups for adjuvant treatment (p<0.001). The group with moderate ER+ values was clearly distinct from the ER-negative population. Quantitative ER expression helped to better distinguish the beneficial or detrimental effect of HT within quartiles of ER-expressing tumours. Based on the STEPP analysis which showed a trend towards an ER effect on DFS as a function of HT assignment, we confirm the benefit of HT in patients with a very high EIA-determined ER level and a detrimental impact on negative and weakly positive groups. Quantitative ER expression in BC helps to better discriminate heterogeneity in clinical outcome and response to HT. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energia Renovable para Centros de Salud Rurales (Renewable Energy for Rural Health Clinics) (in Spanish)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jimenez, T.; Olson, K.

Esta es la primera de una serie de guias de aplicaciones que el Programa de Energia de Villas de NREL esta comisionando para acoplar sistemas comerciales renovables con aplicaciones rurales, incluyendo agua, escuelas rurales y micro empresas. La guia esta complementada por las actividades de desarrollo del Programa de Energia de Villas de NREL, proyectos pilotos internacionales y programas de visitas profesionales.

Evidence-based measures to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections: a systematic review.

PubMed

Perin, Daniele Cristina; Erdmann, Alacoque Lorenzini; Higashi, Giovana Dorneles Callegaro; Sasso, Grace Teresinha Marcon Dal

2016-09-01

to identify evidence-based care to prevent CLABSI among adult patients hospitalized in ICUs. systematic review conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Cinahl, Web of Science, Lilacs, Bdenf and Cochrane Studies addressing care and maintenance of central venous catheters, published from January 2011 to July 2014 were searched. The 34 studies identified were organized in an instrument and assessed by using the classification provided by the Joanna Briggs Institute. the studies presented care bundles including elements such as hand hygiene and maximal barrier precautions; multidimensional programs and strategies such as impregnated catheters and bandages and the involvement of facilities in and commitment of staff to preventing infections. care bundles coupled with education and the commitment of both staff and institutions is a strategy that can contribute to decreased rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections among adult patients hospitalized in intensive care units. identificar evidências de cuidados para prevenção de infecção de corrente sanguínea relacionada a cateter venoso central em pacientes adultos em Unidades de Terapia Intensiva. revisão Sistemática realizada por meio de busca nas bases de dados Pubmed, Scopus, Cinahl, Web of Science, Lilacs, Bdenf e Cochrane. Foram buscadas pesquisas com cuidados com a cateterização e manutenção do cateter venoso central, publicados de janeiro de 2011 a julho de 2014. Os 34 estudos incluídos foram organizados em um instrumento e avaliados por meio da classificação do The Joanna Briggs Institute. os estudos apresentaram bundles de cuidados com elementos como a higiene das mãos e precauções máximas de barreira; programas multidimensionais e estratégias como cateteres e curativos impregnados e o envolvimento da instituição e engajamento da equipe nos esforços para prevenção de infecção. os cuidados no formato de bundles aliados com a educação e engajamento da equipe e da instituição são estratégias que poderão contribuir para a redução das taxas de infecção de corrente sanguínea relacionada a cateter venoso central em pacientes adultos em unidades de terapia intensiva. identificar evidencias de cuidados para prevención de infección de la corriente sanguínea relacionada al catéter venoso central, en pacientes adultos en Unidades de Terapia Intensiva. revisión sistemática realizada por medio de búsqueda en las bases de datos Pubmed, Scopus, Cinahl, Web of Science, Lilacs, Bdenf y Cochrane. Fueron buscadas investigaciones de cuidados con la cateterización y manutención del catéter venoso central, publicados de enero de 2011 a julio de 2014. Los 34 estudios incluidos fueron organizados en un instrumento y evaluados por medio de la clasificación del The Joanna Briggs Institute. los estudios presentaron bundles de cuidados con elementos como: higiene de las manos y precauciones máximas de barrera; programas multidimensionales y estrategias como catéteres y curativos impregnados y, participación de la institución y compromiso del equipo en los esfuerzos para prevención de la infección. los cuidados en el formato de bundles aliados con la educación y compromiso del equipo y de la institución, son estrategias que podrán contribuir para la reducción de las tasas de infección de la corriente sanguínea relacionadas al catéter venoso central, en pacientes adultos en unidades de terapia intensiva.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Díaz, Toni; Ficapal-Cusí, Pilar; Aguilar-Martínez, Alicia

2016-07-19

Introducción: a pesar de la relevancia nutricional del desayuno para el desarrollo y su asociación a un mejor aprendizaje y rendimiento escolar, numerosos estudios ponen en evidencia que en muchos casos se omite o se hace mal.Objetivo: determinar la calidad del desayuno de estudiantes de entre 10 y 16 años con intención de determinar en qué momento sería conveniente realizar programas educativos sobre la importancia de esta comida y cómo mejorar su calidad.Método: estudio observacional, descriptivo y transversal a partir de un cuestionario con preguntas cerradas acerca de los hábitos de alimentación en el desayuno en estudiantes de educación primaria y secundaria.Resultados y conclusión: solo el 18,5% de los estudiantes realiza un desayuno de buena calidad y su mala calidad va aumentando progresivamente con los cursos y se asocia al hecho de desayunar solo. En ambos niveles educativos los alimentos más consumidos en casa pertenecen al grupo de los lácteos y los cereales, mientras que en el centro escolar, el bocadillo resulta el desayuno más habitual; no obstante se observan diferencias entre primaria y secundaria en cuanto al consumo de fruta y bebidas azucaradas, entre otros.Conclusión: sería interesante valorar la instauración de programas de desayuno escolar incluyendo en ellos no solo a estudiantes de primaria, sino también, y especialmente, a adolescentes pues son estos quienes omiten esta comida en mayor proporción. Las intervenciones deberían orientarse a corregir las desviaciones más habituales observadas en cada uno de los niveles educativos.

Involvement of NADPH oxidase isoforms in the production of O2− manipulated by ABA in the senescing leaves of early-senescence-leaf (esl) mutant rice (Oryza sativa)

PubMed Central

Wang, Fubiao; Zhao, Qian; Liu, Jianchao; Cheng, Fangmin

2018-01-01

In this study, the differences in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in senescing leaves were investigated by early-senescence-leaf (esl) mutant and its wild type, to clarify the relationship among ABA levels, ROS generation, and NADPH oxidase (Nox) in senescing leaves of rice (Oryza sativa). The temporal expression levels of OsNox isoforms in senescing leaves and their expression patterns in response to ABA treatment were determined through quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Results showed that the flag leaf of the esl mutant generated more O2- concentrations and accumulated higher ABA levels than the wild-type cultivar did in the grain-filling stage. Exogenous ABA treatment induced O2- generation; however, it was depressed by diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI) pretreatment in the detached leaf segments. This finding suggested the involvement of NADPH oxidase in ABA-induced O2- generation. The esl mutant exhibited significantly higher expression of OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 in the initial of grain-filling stage, followed by sharply decrease. The transcriptional levels of OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 in the flag leaf of the esl mutant were significantly lower than those in the wild-type cultivar. The expression levels of OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 were significantly enhanced by exogenous ABA treatments. The enhanced expression levels of OsNox2 and OsNox6 were dependent on the duration of ABA treatment. The inducible expression levels of OsNox5 and OsNox7 were dependent on ABA concentrations. By contrast, exogenous ABA treatment severely repressed the transcripts of OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 in the detached leaf segments. Therefore, OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 were probably involved in the ABA-induced O2- generation in the initial stage of leaf senescence. Subsequently, other oxidases activated in deteriorating cells were associated with ROS generation and accumulation in the senescing leaves of the esl mutant. Conversely, OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 were not associated with ABA-induced O2- generation during leaf senescence. PMID:29309410

Involvement of NADPH oxidase isoforms in the production of O2- manipulated by ABA in the senescing leaves of early-senescence-leaf (esl) mutant rice (Oryza sativa).

PubMed

Li, Zhaowei; Wang, Fubiao; Zhao, Qian; Liu, Jianchao; Cheng, Fangmin

2018-01-01

In this study, the differences in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in senescing leaves were investigated by early-senescence-leaf (esl) mutant and its wild type, to clarify the relationship among ABA levels, ROS generation, and NADPH oxidase (Nox) in senescing leaves of rice (Oryza sativa). The temporal expression levels of OsNox isoforms in senescing leaves and their expression patterns in response to ABA treatment were determined through quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Results showed that the flag leaf of the esl mutant generated more O2- concentrations and accumulated higher ABA levels than the wild-type cultivar did in the grain-filling stage. Exogenous ABA treatment induced O2- generation; however, it was depressed by diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI) pretreatment in the detached leaf segments. This finding suggested the involvement of NADPH oxidase in ABA-induced O2- generation. The esl mutant exhibited significantly higher expression of OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 in the initial of grain-filling stage, followed by sharply decrease. The transcriptional levels of OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 in the flag leaf of the esl mutant were significantly lower than those in the wild-type cultivar. The expression levels of OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 were significantly enhanced by exogenous ABA treatments. The enhanced expression levels of OsNox2 and OsNox6 were dependent on the duration of ABA treatment. The inducible expression levels of OsNox5 and OsNox7 were dependent on ABA concentrations. By contrast, exogenous ABA treatment severely repressed the transcripts of OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 in the detached leaf segments. Therefore, OsNox2, OsNox5, OsNox6, and OsNox7 were probably involved in the ABA-induced O2- generation in the initial stage of leaf senescence. Subsequently, other oxidases activated in deteriorating cells were associated with ROS generation and accumulation in the senescing leaves of the esl mutant. Conversely, OsNox1, OsNox3, and OsFR07 were not associated with ABA-induced O2- generation during leaf senescence.

The Brazilian Aerospace Industry: A Cast Study of the Technological Impact of Offset Agreements in a Recipient Industry

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-01

Special Export Programs, Comissco de Beneficios Fiscais e Programas Especiais de Exportagdo - BEFIEX. This program allows the rebate of tariff and...development became a specific policy objective. The 1968-69 Development Plan, Programa Estrat6gico de Desenvolvimento (PED), defined an explicit...Comunicagdo de Programa de Aquisigdo - CPA) containing: object, quantity, delivery time, value, nature, and other basic elements of contracting. To comply

Potential Use of {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography–Based Quantitative Imaging Features for Guiding Dose Escalation in Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fried, David V., E-mail: dvfried@mdanderson.org; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; Mawlawi, Osama

2016-02-01

Purpose: To determine whether previously identified quantitative image features (QIFs) based on {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) (co-occurrence matrix energy and solidity) are able to isolate subgroups of patients who would receive a benefit or detriment from dose escalation in terms of overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS). Methods and Materials: Subgroups of a previously analyzed 225 patient cohort were generated with the use of 5-percentile increment cutoff values of disease solidity and primary tumor co-occurrence matrix energy. The subgroups were analyzed with a log-rank test to determine whether there was a difference in OS and PFS betweenmore » patients treated with 60 to 70 Gy and those receiving 74 Gy. Results: In the entire patient cohort, there was no statistical difference in terms of OS or PFS between patients receiving 74 Gy and those receiving 60 to 70 Gy. It was qualitatively observed that as disease solidity and primary co-occurrence matrix energy increased, patients receiving 74 Gy had an improved OS and PFS compared with those receiving 60 to 70 Gy. The opposite trend (detriment of receiving 74 Gy) was also observed regarding low values of disease solidity and primary co-occurrence matrix energy. Conclusions: FDG-PET–based QIFs were found to be capable of isolating subgroups of patients who received a benefit or detriment from dose escalation.« less

Genome-Wide Identification of the PHD-Finger Family Genes and Their Responses to Environmental Stresses in Oryza sativa L.

PubMed Central

Sun, Mingzhe; Yang, Junkai; Cui, Na; Zhu, Yanming

2017-01-01

The PHD-finger family has been demonstrated to be involved in regulating plant growth and development. However, little information is given for its role in environmental stress responses. Here, we identified a total of 59 PHD family genes in the rice genome. These OsPHDs genes were located on eleven chromosomes and synteny analysis only revealed nine duplicated pairs within the rice PHD family. Phylogenetic analysis of all OsPHDs and PHDs from other species revealed that they could be grouped into two major clusters. Furthermore, OsPHDs were clustered into eight groups and members from different groups displayed a great divergence in terms of gene structure, functional domains and conserved motifs. We also found that with the exception of OsPHD6, all OsPHDs were expressed in at least one of the ten tested tissues and OsPHDs from certain groups were expressed in specific tissues. Moreover, our results also uncovered differential responses of OsPHDs expression to environmental stresses, including ABA (abscisic acid), water deficit, cold and high Cd. By using quantitative real-time PCR, we further confirmed the differential expression of OsPHDs under these stresses. OsPHD1/7/8/13/33 were differentially expressed under water deficit and Cd stresses, while OsPHD5/17 showed altered expression under water deficit and cold stresses. Moreover, OsPHD3/44/28 displayed differential expression under ABA and Cd stresses. In conclusion, our results provide valuable information on the rice PHD family in plant responses to environmental stress, which will be helpful for further characterizing their biological roles in responding to environmental stresses.

OsDOG, a gibberellin-induced A20/AN1 zinc-finger protein, negatively regulates gibberellin-mediated cell elongation in rice.

PubMed

Liu, Yaju; Xu, Yunyuan; Xiao, Jun; Ma, Qibin; Li, Dan; Xue, Zhen; Chong, Kang

2011-07-01

The A20/AN1 zinc-finger proteins (ZFPs) play pivotal roles in animal immune responses and plant stress responses. From previous gibberellin (GA) microarray data and A20/AN1 ZFP family member association, we chose Oryza sativa dwarf rice with overexpression of gibberellin-induced gene (OsDOG) to examine its function in the GA pathway. OsDOG was induced by gibberellic acid (GA(3)) and repressed by the GA-synthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol. Different transgenic lines with constitutive expression of OsDOG showed dwarf phenotypes due to deficiency of cell elongation. Additional GA(1) and real-time PCR quantitative assay analyses confirmed that the decrease of GA(1) in the overexpression lines resulted from reduced expression of GA3ox2 and enhanced expression of GA2ox1 and GA2ox3. Adding exogenous GA rescued the constitutive expression phenotypes of the transgenic lines. OsDOG has a novel function in regulating GA homeostasis and in negative maintenance of plant cell elongation in rice. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Weathering resistance of thin plasma polymer films on pre-coated steel =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serra, Ricardo Gil Henriques

O trabalho apresentado teve origem no projecto de investigacao “Tailored Thin Plasma Polymers Films for Surface Engineering of Coil Coated Steel”, financiado pelo Programa Europeu ECSC Steel Research. Sistemas de aco galvanizado pre-pintado em banda a base de poliester e poliuretano foram submetidos a um processo de polimerizacao por plasma onde um filme fino foi depositado de modo a modificar as propriedades de superficie. Foram usados reactores de catodo oco, microondas e radio frequencia para a deposicao do polimero fino. Os sistemas preparados foram analisados de modo a verificar a influencia do processo de polimerizacao por plasma na alteracao das propriedades barreira dos sistemas pre-pintados em banda. Foi estudado o efeito dos diferentes passos do processo de polimerizacao por plasma, bem como o efeito de diferentes variaveis operatorias. A mistura precursora foi variada de modo a modificar as propriedades da superficie de modo a poder vir a obter maior hidrofobicidade, maior resistencia a marcas digitais, bem como maior facilidade de limpeza. Os testes foram conduzidos em solucao de NaCl 0,5 M. Para o trabalho foram usadas tecnicas de analise da morfologia da superficie como Microscopia de Forca Atomica e Microscopia Electronica de Varrimento. As propriedades electroquimicas dos sistemas foram estudadas por Espectroscopia de Impedancia Electroquimica. A estrutura dos filmes gerados no processo de polimerizacao por plasma foi caracterizada por Microscopia de Transmissao Electronica. A modificacao das propriedades opticas devido ao processo de polimerizacao por plasma foi tambem obtida.

Staff Movements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huber, M. C. E.

1986-09-01

Los astronomos de ESO dedican una considerable parte de su tiempo a la preparacion de solicitudes para tiempo de observacion en La Silla. Sin embargo, debido a la gran demanda par los telescopios, se debe hacer una seleccion, aveces drastica, de los programas de observacion presentados. EI Comite de Programas de Observacion (OPC) tiene como tarea evaluar el merito cientifico de las solicitudes presentadas. Basada en las recomendaciones dei OPC, ESO prepara una Lista de Tiempos de Observacion en la cual distribuye el tiempo disponible en los telescopios a los programas mejor evaluados.

SURGERY AND CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY JOURNALS ANALYSIS.

PubMed

Schanaider, Alberto

2015-01-01

To analyze critically the effectiveness and value of bibliometric indicators in journals of Surgery or Cardiovacular Surgery in the context of the postgraduate programs of CAPES Medicine III. A sampling with 16 academic programs and one professional master of Medicine III, encompassing the General and Digestive System Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery and Multidisciplinary courses with such contents, was evaluated. Thomson Reuters/ISI (JCR), Elsevier/Scopus (SJR), and also Scielo databases were used. Only in seven programs, the teachers had an average of Qualis A1 articles greater than the others strata. Eleven journals in the surgical area are in stratum A1 (5%) and it reaches 25% in Cardiovascular Surgery. Among the six journals with the largest number of publications Qualis A1 in area Medicine III, five are from non-specific areas. The Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira represented 58% of the publications in the stratum A2. There are some obstacles in the Qualis classification with little uniformity among the Medicine areas I, II and III. A permanent committee should be set to update the Qualis, composed by the three medical areas. It should be considered using other index databases and the unification of the Qualis criteria for journals in medicine. Rating criteria of multi and transdisciplinary journals need to be reviewed. It is essential an institutional financial support for national journals chosen by peers aiming to provide a full computerization process and a professional reviewer of the English language, in order to increase the impact factor. Analisar criticamente a eficácia e valor de indicadores bibliométricos dos periódicos da Cirurgia e Cirurgia Cardiovascular no contexto dos Programas de Pós-Graduação da área Medicina III da CAPES. Foi avaliada uma amostragem com 16 programas acadêmicos e um mestrado profissional da área de Medicina III, compreendendo a Cirurgia Geral e do Aparelho Digestivo, a Cirurgia Cardiovascular e Cursos Multidisciplinares com estes conteúdos. Utilizaram-se as bases de dados Thomson Reuters/ISI (JCR), Elsevier/Scopus (SJR), além do Scielo. Somente nos programas 7, os docentes têm média de artigos Qualis A1 maior ou igual que os demais estratos. Apenas 11 periódicos da área de Cirurgia estão no estrato A1 (5%) e na Cirurgia Cardiovascular são 25%. Dos seis periódicos com o maior número de publicações na área Medicina III, Qualis A1, cinco não são específicos da área. A Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira representou 58% das publicações no estrato A2. Há alguns óbices na classificação Qualis com pouca uniformidade entre as Medicinas I, II e III. Se impõe a criação de um comitê permanente para atualização do Qualis, composto pelas três áreas da Medicina. Deve-se ponderar a utilização de outras bases de indexação e a unificação dos critérios Qualis para as revistas das áreas de medicina. Critérios de classificação dos periódicos multi e transdisciplinares precisam ser revistos. É imprescindível suporte financeiro institucional aos periódicos nacionais escolhidos pelos pares visando informatização completa e prover revisão profissional da língua inglesa, tendo como meta a elevação do fator de impacto.

Osmium Stable Isotope Composition of Chondrites and Iron Meteorites: Implications for Planetary Core Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nanne, J. A. M.; Millet, M. A.; Burton, K. W.; Dale, C. W.; Nowell, G. M.; Williams, H. M.

2016-12-01

Mass-dependent Os stable isotope fractionation is expected to occur during metal-silicate segregation as well as during crystallization of metal alloys due to the different bonding environment between silicate and metals. As such, Os stable isotopes have the potential to resolve questions pertaining to planetary accretion and differentiation. Here, we present stable Os isotope data for a set of chondrites and iron meteorites to examine the processes associated with core solidification. Carbonaceous, ordinary, and enstatite chondrites show no detectable stable isotope variation with a δ190Os weighted average of +0.12±0.04 (n=37). The uniform composition observed for chondrites implies Os stable isotope homogeneity of the bulk solar nebula. Contrary to chondrites, iron meteorites display a large range in Os stable isotope compositions from δ190Os of +0.05 up to +0.49‰. Variation is only observed in the IIAB and IIIAB irons. Type IVB irons display values similar to chondrites (+0.107±0.047 [n=3]) and IVA compositions are slightly different +0.187±0.004 (n=2). The type IIAB and IIIAB groups show values both within the chondritic range and up to heavier values extending up to +0.49‰. Since core formation in small planetary bodies is expected to quantitatively sequester Os in metal phases, bulk planetary cores are expected to display chondritic δ190Os values. Conversely, samples of the IIAB and IIIAB group display significant variation, possibly indicating that stable isotope fractionation occurred during solidification of the parent-body core. However, no covariation is observed between δ190Os and either Os abundance or radiogenic Os isotope ratios. Instead, liquid immiscibility during core crystallization, where the liquid metal splits into separate S- and P-rich liquids, may be a source of Os stable isotope fractionation.

The OsMYB30 Transcription Factor Suppresses Cold Tolerance by Interacting with a JAZ Protein and Suppressing β-Amylase Expression.

PubMed

Lv, Yan; Yang, Mei; Hu, Dan; Yang, Zeyu; Ma, Siqi; Li, Xianghua; Xiong, Lizhong

2017-02-01

Cold stress is one of the major limiting factors for rice (Oryza sativa) productivity. Several MYB transcriptional factors have been reported as important regulators in the cold stress response, but the molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we characterized a cold-responsive R2R3-type MYB gene, OsMYB30, for its regulatory function in cold tolerance in rice. Functional analysis revealed that overexpression of OsMYB30 in rice resulted in increased cold sensitivity, while the osmyb30 knockout mutant showed increased cold tolerance. Microarray and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed that a few β-amylase (BMY) genes were down-regulated by OsMYB30. The BMY activity and maltose content, which were decreased and increased in the OsMYB30 overexpression and osmyb30 knockout mutant, respectively, were correlated with the expression patterns of the BMY genes. OsMYB30 was shown to bind to the promoters of the BMY genes. These results suggested that OsMYB30 exhibited a regulatory effect on the breakdown of starch through the regulation of the BMY genes. In addition, application of maltose had a protective effect for cell membranes under cold stress conditions. Furthermore, we identified an OsMYB30-interacting protein, OsJAZ9, that had a significant effect in suppressing the transcriptional activation of OsMYB30 and in the repression of BMY genes mediated by OsMYB30. These results together suggested that OsMYB30 might be a novel regulator of cold tolerance through the negative regulation of the BMY genes by interacting with OsJAZ9 to fine-tune the starch breakdown and the content of maltose, which might contribute to the cold tolerance as a compatible solute. © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Identification and characterization of OsEBS, a gene involved in enhanced plant biomass and spikelet number in rice.

PubMed

Dong, Xianxin; Wang, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Liangsheng; Yang, Zhengting; Xin, Xiaoyun; Wu, Shuang; Sun, Chuanqing; Liu, Jianxiang; Yang, Jinshui; Luo, Xiaojin

2013-12-01

Common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) is an important genetic reservoir for rice improvement. We investigated a quantitative trait locus (QTL), qGP5-1, which is related to plant height, leaf size and panicle architecture, using a set of introgression lines of O. rufipogon in the background of the Indica cultivar Guichao2 (Oryza sativa L.). We cloned and characterized qGP5-1 and confirmed that the newly identified gene OsEBS (enhancing biomass and spikelet number) increased plant height, leaf size and spikelet number per panicle, leading to an increase in total grain yield per plant. Our results showed that the increased size of vegetative organs in OsEBS-expressed plants was enormously caused by increasing cell number. Sequence alignment showed that OsEBS protein contains a region with high similarity to the N-terminal conserved ATPase domain of Hsp70, but it lacks the C-terminal regions of the peptide-binding domain and the C-terminal lid. More results indicated that OsEBS gene did not have typical characteristics of Hsp70 in this study. Furthermore, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) transformed with OsEBS showed a similar phenotype to OsEBS-transgenic rice, indicating a conserved function of OsEBS among plant species. Together, we report the cloning and characterization of OsEBS, a new QTL that controls rice biomass and spikelet number, through map-based cloning, and it may have utility in improving grain yield in rice. © 2013 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of reduced graphene oxide-Os nanoparticle hybrid films obtained at a liquid/liquid interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bramhaiah, K.; Pandey, Indu; Singh, Vidya N.; Kavitha, C.; John, Neena S.

2018-03-01

Hybrid films of reduced graphene oxide-osmium nanoparticles (rGO-Os NPs) synthesized at a liquid/liquid interface are explored for their electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of rhodamine B (RhB), a popular colourant found in textile industry effluents and a non-permitted food colour. The free-standing nature of the films enables them to be lifted directly on to electrodes without the aid of any binders. The films consist of aggregates of ultra-small Os NPs interspersed with rGO layers. The hybrid film exhibits enhanced RhB oxidation when compared to its constituents arising from the synergic effect between rGO and Os NPs, Os contributing to electrocatalysis and rGO contributing to high surface area and conductance as well as stabilization of Os nanoparticles. The electrochemical sensor based on rGO-Os NP hybrid film on pencil graphite electrode shows a remarkable performance for the quantitative detection of RhB with a linear variation in a wide range of concentrations, 4-1300 ppb (8.3 nM-2.71 μM). The modified electrode presents good stability over more than 6 months, reproducibility and anti-interference capability. The use of developed sensor for adequate detection of RhB in real samples such as food samples and pen markers is also demonstrated.

Suppression of OsMADS7 in rice endosperm stabilizes amylose content under high temperature stress.

PubMed

Zhang, Hua; Xu, Heng; Feng, Mengjie; Zhu, Ying

2018-01-01

High temperature significantly alters the amylose content of rice, resulting in mature grains with poor eating quality. However, only few genes and/or quantitative trait loci involved in this process have been isolated and the molecular mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. Here, we describe a floral organ identity gene, OsMADS7, involved in stabilizing rice amylose content at high temperature. OsMADS7 is greatly induced by high temperature at the early filling stage. Constitutive suppression of OsMADS7 stabilizes amylose content under high temperature stress but results in low spikelet fertility. However, rice plants with both stable amylose content at high temperature and normal spikelet fertility can be obtained by specifically suppressing OsMADS7 in endosperm. GBSSI is the major enzyme responsible for amylose biosynthesis. A low filling rate and high expression of GBSSI were detected in OsMADS7 RNAi plants at high temperature, which may be correlated with stabilized amylose content in these transgenic seeds under high temperature. Thus, specific suppression of OsMADS7 in endosperm could improve the stability of rice amylose content at high temperature, and such transgenic materials may be a valuable genetic resource for breeding rice with elite thermal resilience. © 2017 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

NORD's Patient Assistance Programs

MedlinePlus

... 486-8462 *learn more about this program* *aprender más sobre este programa* Chronic Non-Infectious Uveitis | Closed ... 486-8033 *learn more about this program* *aprender más sobre este programa* Cystinuria | Temporarily at Capacity Co- ...

Como os Alunos do Ensino Médio da Rede Estadual de São Paulo obtém Conhecimentos Astronômicos?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

da Cunha, W. S.; Voelzke, M. R.; Amaral, L. H.

2005-08-01

Atualmente vivencia-se um mundo globalizado onde os computadores e a internet permitiram um acesso rápido e seguro a todo tipo de informação e conhecimento. O presente trabalho visa analisar a maneira pela qual alunos de segundo grau da rede estadual da cidade de São Paulo obtiveram, caso tenham, conhecimentos básicos de astronomia quanto aos fenômenos celestes que os rodeiam, tais como a sucessão dos dias e das estações do ano, além de questioná~los sobre fatos genéricos tais como: o que vem a ser o Sol, o Big Bang, o que ocasionou a extinção dos dinossauros. Para tanto foi elaborado um formulário constando de questões de múltipla escolha, o qual foi aplicado no primeiro colegial diurno da Escola Estadual Guilherme de Almeida. Num espaço amostral de 44 alunos constatou-se que 41% dos alunos adquiriram seus conhecimentos astronômicos na escola e 59% através da mídia em geral. Neste mesmo espaço amostral apenas 11% dos alunos usaram computadores na escola, 41% na residência, 5% no trabalho e 43% não utilizaram. O presente estudo revelou também que para 50% dos alunos o professor jamais utilizou um programa de computador a respeito de astronomia ou fez alguma apresentação sobre o tema. Embora em sua fase inicial este estudo revela claramente que a maioria dos alunos não obtém na escola seus conhecimentos astronômicos, estes provém de fontes não especificamente didático-pedagógicas tais como filmes e revistas populares que não raramente geram conhecimentos incompletos e em muitos casos inclusive falhos.

Determinação da massa de júpiter a partir das órbitas de seus satélites: um experimento didático

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlickmann, M. S.; Saito, R. K.; Becker, D. A.; Rezende, M. F., Jr.; Cid Fernandes, R.

2003-08-01

Este trabalho apresenta o roteiro piloto de uma prática observacional em astronomia, junto com os primeiros resultados obtidos nesta fase de implementacão. O projeto, que será executado em duas etapas, visa introduzir noções de Astronomia a alunos do Ensino Médio e iniciantes nos cursos de Física. O experimento consiste em medir as órbitas dos satélites Galileanos e, a partir da análise dos dados coletados, verificar a validade da Lei das órbitas de Kepler, determinando a massa do planeta Júpiter. Em uma primeira etapa, as observações serão feitas utilizando um telescópio Meade LX200 10" e câmera CCD para obter uma seqüência de imagens do planeta, que possibilitará medir o movimento de seus satélites. A segunda etapa terá início a partir do funcionamento do telescópio em modo robótico, com a possibilidade de observações via internet por instituições de ensino. Para o desenvolvimento deste experimento foram inicialmente coletadas várias imagens de Júpiter obtidas com os instrumentos citados acima. Estas imagens serviram como base para confecção dos roteiros para a experiência no nível médio e superior. Os roteiros serão inicialmente apresentados em uma home-page. Nela também se buscará uma contextualização histórica da experiência bem como o estabelecimento de relações com professores e alunos, propostas metodológicas e a disponibilização dos programas computacionais necessários para a utilização "on-line" pelos usuários. O projeto conta com apoio da Fundação VITAE.

SCF-Xα-SW electron densities with the overlapping sphere approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMaster, Blair N.; Smith, Vedene H., Jr.; Salahub, Dennis R.

Self consistent field-Xα-scattered wave (SCF-Xα-SW) calculations have been performed for a series of eight first and second row homonuclear diatomic molecules using both the touching (TS) and 25 per cent overlapping sphere (OS) versions. The OS deformation density maps exhibit much better quantitative agreement with those from other Xα methods, which do not employ the spherical muffin-tin (MT) potential approximation, than do the TS maps. The OS version thus compensates very effectively for the errors involved in the MT approximation in computing electron densities. A detailed comparison between the TS- and OS-Xα-SW orbitals reveals that the reasons for this improvement are surprisingly specific. The dominant effect of the OS approximation is to increase substantially the electron density near the midpoint of bonding σ orbitals, with a consequent reduction of the density behind the atoms. A similar effect occurs for the bonding π orbitals but is less pronounced. These effects are due to a change in hybridization of the orbitals, with the OS approximation increasing the proportion of the subdominant partial waves and hence changing the shapes of the orbitals. It is this increased orbital polarization which so effectively compensates for the lack of (non-spherically symmetric) polarization components in the MT potential, when overlapping spheres are used.

Image-derived and arterial blood sampled input functions for quantitative PET imaging of the angiotensin II subtype 1 receptor in the kidney

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feng, Tao; Tsui, Benjamin M. W.; Li, Xin

Purpose: The radioligand {sup 11}C-KR31173 has been introduced for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the angiotensin II subtype 1 receptor in the kidney in vivo. To study the biokinetics of {sup 11}C-KR31173 with a compartmental model, the input function is needed. Collection and analysis of arterial blood samples are the established approach to obtain the input function but they are not feasible in patients with renal diseases. The goal of this study was to develop a quantitative technique that can provide an accurate image-derived input function (ID-IF) to replace the conventional invasive arterial sampling and test the method inmore » pigs with the goal of translation into human studies. Methods: The experimental animals were injected with [{sup 11}C]KR31173 and scanned up to 90 min with dynamic PET. Arterial blood samples were collected for the artery derived input function (AD-IF) and used as a gold standard for ID-IF. Before PET, magnetic resonance angiography of the kidneys was obtained to provide the anatomical information required for derivation of the recovery coefficients in the abdominal aorta, a requirement for partial volume correction of the ID-IF. Different image reconstruction methods, filtered back projection (FBP) and ordered subset expectation maximization (OS-EM), were investigated for the best trade-off between bias and variance of the ID-IF. The effects of kidney uptakes on the quantitative accuracy of ID-IF were also studied. Biological variables such as red blood cell binding and radioligand metabolism were also taken into consideration. A single blood sample was used for calibration in the later phase of the input function. Results: In the first 2 min after injection, the OS-EM based ID-IF was found to be biased, and the bias was found to be induced by the kidney uptake. No such bias was found with the FBP based image reconstruction method. However, the OS-EM based image reconstruction was found to reduce variance in the subsequent phase of the ID-IF. The combined use of FBP and OS-EM resulted in reduced bias and noise. After performing all the necessary corrections, the areas under the curves (AUCs) of the AD-IF were close to that of the AD-IF (average AUC ratio =1 ± 0.08) during the early phase. When applied in a two-tissue-compartmental kinetic model, the average difference between the estimated model parameters from ID-IF and AD-IF was 10% which was within the error of the estimation method. Conclusions: The bias of radioligand concentration in the aorta from the OS-EM image reconstruction is significantly affected by radioligand uptake in the adjacent kidney and cannot be neglected for quantitative evaluation. With careful calibrations and corrections, the ID-IF derived from quantitative dynamic PET images can be used as the input function of the compartmental model to quantify the renal kinetics of {sup 11}C-KR31173 in experimental animals and the authors intend to evaluate this method in future human studies.« less

Applying quantitative adiposity feature analysis models to predict benefit of bevacizumab-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yunzhi; Qiu, Yuchen; Thai, Theresa; More, Kathleen; Ding, Kai; Liu, Hong; Zheng, Bin

2016-03-01

How to rationally identify epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients who will benefit from bevacizumab or other antiangiogenic therapies is a critical issue in EOC treatments. The motivation of this study is to quantitatively measure adiposity features from CT images and investigate the feasibility of predicting potential benefit of EOC patients with or without receiving bevacizumab-based chemotherapy treatment using multivariate statistical models built based on quantitative adiposity image features. A dataset involving CT images from 59 advanced EOC patients were included. Among them, 32 patients received maintenance bevacizumab after primary chemotherapy and the remaining 27 patients did not. We developed a computer-aided detection (CAD) scheme to automatically segment subcutaneous fat areas (VFA) and visceral fat areas (SFA) and then extracted 7 adiposity-related quantitative features. Three multivariate data analysis models (linear regression, logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression) were performed respectively to investigate the potential association between the model-generated prediction results and the patients' progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The results show that using all 3 statistical models, a statistically significant association was detected between the model-generated results and both of the two clinical outcomes in the group of patients receiving maintenance bevacizumab (p<0.01), while there were no significant association for both PFS and OS in the group of patients without receiving maintenance bevacizumab. Therefore, this study demonstrated the feasibility of using quantitative adiposity-related CT image features based statistical prediction models to generate a new clinical marker and predict the clinical outcome of EOC patients receiving maintenance bevacizumab-based chemotherapy.

Evaluation of prognostic and predictive value of microtubule associated protein tau in two independent cohorts.

PubMed

Baquero, Maria T; Lostritto, Karen; Gustavson, Mark D; Bassi, Kimberly A; Appia, Franck; Camp, Robert L; Molinaro, Annette M; Harris, Lyndsay N; Rimm, David L

2011-11-02

Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) endogenously regulate microtubule stabilization and have been reported as prognostic and predictive markers for taxane response. The microtubule stabilizer, MAP-tau, has shown conflicting results. We quantitatively assessed MAP-tau expression in two independent breast cancer cohorts to determine prognostic and predictive value of this biomarker. MAP-tau expression was evaluated in the retrospective Yale University breast cancer cohort (n = 651) using tissue microarrays and also in the TAX 307 cohort, a clinical trial randomized for TAC versus FAC chemotherapy (n = 140), using conventional whole tissue sections. Expression was measured using the AQUA method for quantitative immunofluorescence. Scores were correlated with clinicopathologic variables, survival, and response to therapy. Assessment of the Yale cohort using Cox univariate analysis indicated an improved overall survival (OS) in tumors with a positive correlation between high MAP-tau expression and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.691, 95% CI = 0.489-0.974; P = 0.004). Kaplan Meier analysis showed 10-year survival for 65% of patients with high MAP-tau expression compared to 52% with low expression (P = .006). In TAX 307, high expression was associated with significantly longer median time to tumor progression (TTP) regardless of treatment arm (33.0 versus 23.4 months, P = 0.010) with mean TTP of 31.2 months. Response rates did not differ by MAP-tau expression (P = 0.518) or by treatment arm (P = 0.584). Quantitative measurement of MAP-tau expression has prognostic value in both cohorts, with high expression associated with longer TTP and OS. Differences by treatment arm or response rate in low versus high MAP-tau groups were not observed, indicating that MAP-tau is not associated with response to taxanes and is not a useful predictive marker for taxane-based chemotherapy.

[Quantitative determination of 7-phenoxyacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid].

PubMed

Dzegilenko, N B; Riabova, N M; Zinchenko, E Ia; Korchagin, V B

1976-11-01

7-Phenoxyacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid, an intermediate product in synthesis of cephalexin, was prepared by oxydation of phenoxymethylpenicillin into the respective sulphoxide and transformation of the latter. The UV-spectra of the reaction products were studied. A quantitative method is proposed for determination of 7-phenoxyacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid in the finished products based on estimation os the coefficient of specific extinction of the ethanol solutions at a wave length of 268 um in the UV-spectrum region in combination with semiquantitative estimation of the admixtures with the method of thin-layer chromatography.

Predictive value of quantitative HER2, HER3 and p95HER2 levels in HER2-positive advanced breast cancer patients treated with lapatinib following progression on trastuzumab.

PubMed

Duchnowska, Renata; Sperinde, Jeff; Czartoryska-Arłukowicz, Bogumiła; Myśliwiec, Paulina; Winslow, John; Radecka, Barbara; Petropoulos, Christos; Demlova, Regina; Orlikowska, Marlena; Kowalczyk, Anna; Lang, Istvan; Ziółkowska, Barbara; Dębska-Szmich, Sylwia; Merdalska, Monika; Grela-Wojewoda, Aleksandra; Żawrocki, Anton; Biernat, Wojciech; Huang, Weidong; Jassem, Jacek

2017-11-28

Lapatinib is a HER1 and HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) approved in second line treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer following progression on trastuzumab-containing therapy. Biomarkers for activity of lapatinib and other TKIs are lacking. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary tumor samples were obtained from 189 HER2-positive patients treated with lapatinib plus capecitabine following progression on trastuzumab. The HERmark ® Breast Cancer Assay was used to quantify HER2 protein expression. HER3 and p95HER2 protein expression was quantified using the VeraTag ® technology. Overall survival (OS) was inversely correlated with HER2 (HR = 1.9/log; P = 0.009) for patients with tumors above the cut-off positivity level by the HERmark assay. OS was significantly shorter for those with above median HER2 levels (HR = 1.7; P = 0.015) and trended shorter for those below the cut-off level of positivity by the HERmark assay (HR = 1.7; P = 0.057) compared to cases with moderate HER2 overexpression. The relationship between HER2 protein expression and OS was best captured with a U-shaped parabolic function (P = 0.004), with the best prognosis at moderate levels of HER2 protein overexpression. In a multivariate model including HER2, increasing p95HER2 expression was associated with longer OS (HR = 0.35/log; P = 0.027). Continuous HER3 did not significantly correlate with OS. Patients with moderately overexpressed HER2 levels and high p95HER2 expression may have best outcomes while receiving lapatinib following progression on trastuzumab. Further study is warranted to explore the predictive utility of quantitative HER2 and p95HER2 in guiding HER2-directed therapies.

Overexpression of a glyoxalase gene, OsGly I, improves abiotic stress tolerance and grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

PubMed

Zeng, Zhengming; Xiong, Fangjie; Yu, Xiaohong; Gong, Xiaoping; Luo, Juntao; Jiang, Yudong; Kuang, Haochi; Gao, Bijun; Niu, Xiangli; Liu, Yongsheng

2016-12-01

Glyoxalase I (Gly I) is a component of the glyoxalase system which is involved in the detoxification of methylglyoxal, a byproduct of glycolysis. In the present study, a gene of rice (Oryza sativa L., cv. Nipponbare) encoding Gly I was cloned and characterized. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated that rice Gly I (OsGly I) was ubiquitously expressed in root, stem, leaf, leaf sheath and spikelet with varying abundance. OsGly I was markedly upregulated in response to NaCl, ZnCl 2 and mannitol in rice seedlings. For further functional investigation, OsGly I was overexpressed in rice using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic rice lines exhibited increased glyoxalase enzyme activity, decreased methylglyoxal level and improved tolerance to NaCl, ZnCl 2 and mannitol compared to wild-type plants. Enhancement of stress tolerance in transgenic lines was associated with reduction of malondialdehyde content which was derived from cellular lipid peroxidation. In addition, the OsGly I-overexpression transgenic plants performed higher seed setting rate and yield. Collectively, these results indicate the potential of bioengineering the Gly I gene in crops. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Identificação de variáveis cataclísmicas eruptivas na direção do bojo galáctico e Nuvens de Magalhães usando dados do OGLE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cieslinski, D.; Diaz, M. P.; Mennickent, R.; Pietrzyski, G.

2003-08-01

Na década de 90 iniciaram-se vários programas para a pesquisa de matéria escura na Galáxia usando o efeito de microlentes gravitacionais. Entre os projetos mais bem conhecidos podemos mencionar o OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) e o MACHO (MAssive Compact Halo Objects). A estratégia usada por eles consiste em fazer fotometria de banda larga (normalmente B, R e I) de um grande número de estrelas (dezenas de milhões) tão freqüentemente quanto possí vel e por longos perí odos de tempo (anos). Uma tal sistemática de observação, além de descobrir inúmeras lentes gravitacionais, é também muito apropriada para a descoberta de estrelas variáveis. De fato, inúmeras novas variáveis de vários tipos foram descobertas como subproduto. Exemplos podem ser encontrados nos endereços http://bulge.princeton.edu/~ogle/ e http://wwwmacho.mcmaster.ca/. As variáveis cataclí smicas eruptivas (novas clássicas, novas recorrentes e novas anãs) são objetos que apresentam variabilidade de grande amplitude com escalas de tempo de dias a centenas de dias e, por esta razão, devem ter sido detectadas em grande número nestes "surveys". Para testar esta possibilidade nós procuramos nos dados do OGLE por tais sistemas e o presente trabalho mostra os resultados desta pesquisa. Os objetos foram selecionados entre as variáveis detectadas usando a amplitude de variação de brilho como critério principal. Este critério forneceu 13756 objetos, sendo 2169 na direção da Grande Nuvem de Magalhães, 1162 na direção da Pequena Nuvem de Magalhães e o restante na direção do Bojo Galáctico. A análise foi feita inspecionando-se visualmente cada curva de luz por erupções com as características acima mencionadas. Os resultados obtidos podem ser sumarizados como: descoberta de duas novas clássicas e 33 novas anãs. Além disso, pode-se mencionar a identificação de candidatas a outros tipos de variáveis como: estrelas simbióticas, RV Tauri, R Coronae Borealis, Miras, etc.

Catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins with reusable OsO(4)(2-) on ion-exchangers: the scope and reactivity using various cooxidants.

PubMed

Choudary, Boyapati M; Chowdari, Naidu S; Jyothi, Karangula; Kantam, Mannepalli L

2002-05-15

Exchanger-OsO(4) catalysts are prepared by an ion-exchange technique using layered double hydroxides and quaternary ammonium salts covalently bound to resin and silica as ion-exchangers. The ion-exchangers with different characteristics and opposite ion selectivities are specially chosen to produce the best heterogeneous catalyst that can operate using the various cooxidants in the asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction. LDH-OsO(4) catalysts composed of different compositions are evaluated for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of trans-stilbene. Resin-OsO(4) and SiO(2)-OsO(4) designed to overcome the problems associated with LDH-OsO(4) indeed show consistent activity and enantioselectivity in asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins using K(3)Fe(CN)(6) and molecular oxygen as cooxidants. Compared to the Kobayashi heterogeneous systems, resin-OsO(4) is a very efficient catalyst for the dihydroxylation of a wide variety of aromatic, aliphatic, acyclic, cyclic, mono-, di-, and trisubstituted olefins to afford chiral vicinal diols with high yields and enantioselectivities irrespective of the cooxidant used. Resin-OsO(4) is recovered quantitatively by a simple filtration and reused for a number of cycles with consistent activity. The high binding ability of the heterogeneous osmium catalyst enables the use of an equimolar ratio of ligand to osmium to give excellent enantioselectives in asymmetric dihydroxylation in contrast to the homogeneous osmium system in which excess molar quantities of the expensive chiral ligand to osmium are invariably used. The complexation of the chiral ligand (DHQD)(2)PHAL, having very large dimension, a prerequisite to obtain higher ee, is possible only with the OsO(4)(2-) located on the surface of the supports.

Resumen del programa de WIFIA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Hojas informativas sobre el programa de WIFIA que acelera la inversión en la infraestructura de agua de nuestro país proporcionando préstamos a largo plazo y de bajo costo para proyectos considerables a nivel tanto regional como nacional.

Educación sobre sexualidad y prevención del VIH: un diagnóstico para América Latina y el Caribe

PubMed Central

DeMaria, Lisa M.; Galárraga, Omar; Campero, Lourdes; Walker, Dilys M.

2016-01-01

RESUMEN Objetivo Mostrar, a través de un diagnóstico en América Latina y el Caribe, el panorama legislativo y curricular sobre sexualidad y prevención contra el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) en el ámbito escolar, contrastándolo con los comportamientos sexuales reportados en encuestas demográficas y de salud. Métodos En mayo de 2008 se realizó, con el apoyo del Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas (UNFPA), una encuesta a informantes clave en 34 países de la Región. El cuestionario autoaplicado solicitó información sustantiva de agentes de las diferentes partes interesadas, como ministerios de educación y de salud, sobre los programas de prevención contra el VIH/Sida que se están aplicando en las escuelas. Resultados Respondieron a la encuesta 27 países que representan 95,5% de la población objetivo (6 a 18 años de edad). La mayoría de los países informó tener al menos un libro de texto o un capítulo específico para enseñar los temas de educación sobre sexualidad y prevención del VIH. En la escuela secundaria se cubren la mayor parte de los temas pertinentes relevantes para la educación sobre sexualidad, pero no todos. Por ejemplo, el problema de la discriminación por orientación o preferencia sexual no se incluye en los programas escolares. Conclusiones El material educativo sobre sexualidad debe ser revisado y actualizado periódicamente de modo que refleje los avances en los temas y en la forma de tratar los contenidos. En cada país el currículo debe abordar el tema del respeto a la diversidad sobre orientación, preferencia e identidad sexuales, y en particular el manejo apropiado de la educación para prevenir infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) en hombres que tienen sexo con hombres. Los esfuerzos de evaluación de la efectividad de los programas deben contemplar desenlaces tales como marcadores biológicos (incidencia y prevalencia de ITS y embarazo) y no únicamente indicadores de conocimiento y comportamiento sexual auto-reportado. PMID:20107702

Molecular dissection of the response of the rice Systemic Acquired Resistance Deficient 1 (SARD1) gene to different types of ionizing radiation.

PubMed

Jung, In Jung; Hwang, Jung Eun; Han, Sung Min; Kim, Dong Sub; Ahn, Joon-Woo; Choi, Hong-Il; Kwon, Soon-Jae; Kang, Si-Yong; Kim, Jin-Baek

2017-07-01

Exposure to ionizing radiation induces plant defenses by regulating the expression of response genes. The systemic acquired resistance deficient 1 (SARD1) is a key gene in plant defense response. In this study, the function of Oryza sativa SARD1 (OsSARD1) was investigated after exposure of seeds/plants to ionizing radiation, jasmonic acid (JA) or salicylic acid (SA). Rice seeds exposed to two types of ionizing radiations (gamma ray [GR] and ion beam [IB]) were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) to identify the genes that are altered in response to ionizing radiation. Then, OsSARD1-overexpressing homozygous Arabidopsis plants were generated to assess the effects of OsSARD1 in the response to irradiation. The phenotypes of these transgenic plants, as well as control plants, were monitored after GR irradiation at doses of 200 and 300 Gray (Gy). The OsSARD1 transcript was strongly downregulated after exposure to GR and IB irradiation. Previous phylogenetic analysis showed that the Arabidopsis SARD1 (AtSARD1) protein is closely related to Arabidopsis calmodulin-binding protein 60g (AtCBP60g), which is known to be required for activation of SA biosynthesis. In this study, phylogenetic analysis showed that OsSARD1 was grouped with AtSARD1. The OsSARD1 gene was induced after exposure to SA and JA. The biological phenotype of OsSARD1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants was examined. OsSARD1-overexpressing plants displayed resistance to GR; in comparison with wild-type plants, the height and weight of OsSARD1-overexpressing plants were significantly greater after GR irradiation. In addition, OsSARD1 protein was abundantly accumulated in the nucleus. The results indicate that OsSARD1 plays an important role in the regulation of the defense responses to GR and IB irradiation and exhibits phytohormone induced expression.

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 suppresses tumor growth and metastasis of human osteosarcoma.

PubMed

Su, Y; Wagner, E R; Luo, Q; Huang, J; Chen, L; He, B-C; Zuo, G-W; Shi, Q; Zhang, B-Q; Zhu, G; Bi, Y; Luo, J; Luo, X; Kim, S H; Shen, J; Rastegar, F; Huang, E; Gao, Y; Gao, J-L; Yang, K; Wietholt, C; Li, M; Qin, J; Haydon, R C; He, T-C; Luu, H H

2011-09-15

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignancy of bone. There is a critical need to identify the events that lead to the poorly understood mechanism of OS development and metastasis. The goal of this investigation is to identify and characterize a novel marker of OS progression. We have established and characterized a highly metastatic OS subline that is derived from the less metastatic human MG63 line through serial passages in nude mice via intratibial injections. Microarray analysis of the parental MG63, the highly metastatic MG63.2 subline, as well as the corresponding primary tumors and pulmonary metastases revealed insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) to be one of the significantly downregulated genes in the metastatic subline. Confirmatory quantitative RT-PCR on 20 genes of interest demonstrated IGFBP5 to be the most differentially expressed and was therefore chosen to be one of the genes for further investigation. Adenoviral mediated overexpression and knockdown of IGFBP5 in the MG63 and MG63.2 cell lines, as well as other OS lines (143B and MNNG/HOS) that are independent of our MG63 lines, were employed to examine the role of IGFBP5. We found that overexpression of IGFBP5 inhibited in vitro cell proliferation, migration and invasion of OS cells. Additionally, IGFBP5 overexpression promoted apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. In an orthotopic xenograft animal model, overexpression of IGFBP5 inhibited OS tumor growth and pulmonary metastases. Conversely, siRNA-mediated knockdown of IGFBP5 promoted OS tumor growth and pulmonary metastases in vivo. Immunohistochemical staining of patient-matched primary and metastatic OS samples demonstrated decreased IGFBP5 expression in the metastases. These results suggest 1) a role for IGFBP5 as a novel marker that has an important role in the pathogenesis of OS, and 2) that the loss of IGFBP5 function may contribute to more metastatic phenotypes in OS.

OsWOX3A is involved in negative feedback regulation of the gibberellic acid biosynthetic pathway in rice (Oryza sativa).

PubMed

Cho, Sung-Hwan; Kang, Kiyoon; Lee, Sang-Hwa; Lee, In-Jung; Paek, Nam-Chon

2016-03-01

The plant-specific WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) nuclear proteins have important roles in the transcriptional regulation of many developmental processes. Among the rice (Oryza sativa) WOX proteins, a loss of OsWOX3A function in narrow leaf2 (nal2) nal3 double mutants (termed nal2/3) causes pleiotropic effects, such as narrow and curly leaves, opened spikelets, narrow grains, more tillers, and fewer lateral roots, but almost normal plant height. To examine OsWOX3A function in more detail, transgenic rice overexpressing OsWOX3A (OsWOX3A-OX) were generated; unexpectedly, all of them consistently exhibited severe dwarfism with very short and wide leaves, a phenotype that resembles that of gibberellic acid (GA)-deficient or GA-insensitive mutants. Exogenous GA3 treatment fully rescued the developmental defects of OsWOX3A-OX plants, suggesting that constitutive overexpression of OsWOX3A downregulates GA biosynthesis. Quantitative analysis of GA intermediates revealed significantly reduced levels of GA20 and bioactive GA1 in OsWOX3A-OX, possibly due to downregulation of the expression of KAO, which encodes ent-kaurenoic acid oxidase, a GA biosynthetic enzyme. Yeast one-hybrid and electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that OsWOX3A directly interacts with the KAO promoter. OsWOX3A expression is drastically and temporarily upregulated by GA3 and downregulated by paclobutrazol, a blocker of GA biosynthesis. These data indicate that OsWOX3A is a GA-responsive gene and functions in the negative feedback regulation of the GA biosynthetic pathway for GA homeostasis to maintain the threshold levels of endogenous GA intermediates throughout development. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

El Programa Nacional de Estuarios (NEP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Información general sobre el Programa Nacional de Estuarios (PNE, por sus siglas en inglés) establecido en el 1987 para restaurar y proteger los estuarios significativos para Estados Unidos, y sus territorios. La Agencia de Protección Ambiental de EE.UU.

Optical imaging of mitochondrial redox state in rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maleki, Sepideh; Gopalakrishnan, Sandeep; Ghanian, Zahra; Sepehr, Reyhaneh; Schmitt, Heather; Eells, Janis; Ranji, Mahsa

2013-01-01

Oxidative stress (OS) and mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to photoreceptor cell loss in retinal degenerative disorders. The metabolic state of the retina in a rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) was investigated using a cryo-fluorescence imaging technique. The mitochondrial metabolic coenzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are autofluorescent and can be monitored without exogenous labels using optical techniques. The cryo-fluorescence redox imaging technique provides a quantitative assessment of the metabolism. More specifically, the ratio of the fluorescence intensity of these fluorophores (NADH/FAD), the NADH redox ratio (RR), is a marker of the metabolic state of the tissue. The NADH RR and retinal function were examined in an established rodent model of RP, the P23H rat compared to that of nondystrophic Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The NADH RR mean values were 1.11±0.03 in the SD normal and 0.841±0.01 in the P23H retina, indicating increased OS in the P23H retina. Electroretinographic data revealed a significant reduction in photoreceptor function in P23H animals compared to SD nozrmal rats. Thus, cryo-fluorescence redox imaging was used as a quantitative marker of OS in eyes from transgenic rats and demonstrated that alterations in the oxidative state of eyes occur during the early stages of RP.

Natural variation reveals that OsSAP16 controls low-temperature germination in rice.

PubMed

Wang, Xiang; Zou, Baohong; Shao, Qiaolin; Cui, Yongmei; Lu, Shan; Zhang, Yan; Huang, Quansheng; Huang, Ji; Hua, Jian

2018-01-23

Low temperature affects seed germination in plants, and low-temperature germination (LTG) is an important agronomic trait. Natural variation of LTG has been reported in rice, but the molecular basis for this variation is largely unknown. Here we report the phenotypic analysis of LTG in 187 rice natural accessions and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of LTG in this collection. A total of 53 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were found to be associated with LTG, of which 20 were located in previously reported QTLs. We further identified Stress-Associated Protein 16 (OsSAP16), coding for a zinc-finger domain protein, as a causal gene for one of the major LTG QTLs. Loss of OsSAP16 function reduces germination while greater expression of OsSAP16 enhances germination at low temperature. In addition, accessions with extremely high and low LTG values have correspondingly high and low OsSAP16 expression at low temperatures, suggesting that variation in expression of the OsSAP16 gene contributes to LTG variation. As the first case of identification of an LTG gene through GWAS, this study indicates that GWAS of natural accessions is an effective strategy in genetically dissecting LTG processes and gaining molecular understanding of low-temperature response and germination. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Perfil farmacoterapêutico de pacientes obesos no pós-operatório de cirurgia bariátrica

PubMed Central

Kovaleski, Elenara Simoni; Schroeder, Helena; Krause, Mauricio; Dani, Caroline; Bock, Patrícia Martins

2016-01-01

Resumo Contexto A obesidade pode estar relacionada a doenças como diabetes, hipertensão arterial e dislipidemia. A cirurgia bariátrica é um dos tratamentos mais eficazes, levando à diminuição de peso e comorbidades. Objetivo Avaliar o perfil metabólico e farmacoterapêutico de pacientes obesos após cirurgia bariátrica. Métodos Trata-se de um estudo observacional transversal retrospectivo, realizado em um hospital localizado na cidade de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Foram avaliados 70 prontuários de pacientes que realizaram cirurgia bariátrica, nos períodos de antes de 2 meses e mais de 6 meses após a cirurgia bariátrica. A análise estatística foi realizada no programa SPSS 17.0®. Resultados A pressão arterial inicial foi de 130/85 mmHg, passando para 120/80 mmHg (p < 0,01). Com relação ao perfil metabólico antes de dois meses, o HDL foi de 34 mg/dL, o colesterol total foi de 195,07 ± 40,17 mg/dL, o LDL foi de 118,22 ± 41,28 mg/dL, os triglicerídeos foram de 141,09 ± 43,39 mg/dL, e a glicemia de jejum foi de 90 mg/dL. Após 6 meses de cirurgia, os valores passaram para 43 mg/dL, 133,67 ± 28,14 mg/dL, 65,53 ± 24,3 mg/dL, 104,41 ± 29,6 mg/dL, e 77 mg/dL, respectivamente (p < 0,01). Com relação ao uso de medicamentos, 41% utilizaram anti-hipertensivos, 39% utilizaram hipolipemiantes, 10% utilizaram hipoglicemiantes orais e 97% utilizaram suplementos antes dos 2 meses de cirurgia. Após os 6 meses, os percentuais foram alterados para 21%, 19%, 9% e 99%, respectivamente. Conclusões O estudo mostra o sucesso da cirurgia bariátrica em pacientes obesos com comorbidades, revelando melhora no perfil metabólico e redução na utilização de medicamentos para tratamento de comorbidades. PMID:29930588

PubMed

Silva, Cristiane Gonçalves da; Santos, Alessandro Oliveira; Licciardi, Daniele Carli; Paiva, Vera; Parker, Richard

2008-01-01

Esse artigo descreve como jovens religiosos e autoridades religiosas de sua comunidade compreendem a sexualidade, considerando suas experiências pessoais e como membros de comunidades religiosas. A análise pretende contribuir para que políticas públicas dedicadas à promoção da saúde sexual da juventude considerem a religiosidade, no contexto de um estado laico e da promoção do direito à prevenção. Foram realizadas 26 entrevistas abertas e semidirigidas em diferentes comunidades da região metropolitana da cidade de São Paulo (comunidades católicas, da umbanda, do candomblé e de diferentes denominações evangélicas) sobre iniciação sexual, casamento, gravidez, contracepção e prevenção das DST/Aids, homossexualidade, aborto e direitos humanos. Observou-se como jovens e autoridades religiosas convivem com a tensão entre tradição e modernidade e os distintos discursos sobre a sexualidade. Como sujeitos religiosos (do discurso religioso) e sujeitos sexuais (de discursos sobre sexualidade), devem ser incorporados pelos programas como sujeitos de direito nos termos de sua religiosidade.

Impacto del Seguro Popular en el gasto catastrófico y de bolsillo en el México rural y urbano, 2005–2008

PubMed Central

Sosa-Rubí, Sandra G; Salinas-Rodríguez, Aarón; Galárraga, Omar

2016-01-01

Objetivo Estimar el efecto del Seguro Popular (SP) sobre la incidencia del gasto catastrófico en salud (GCS) y sobre el gasto de bolsillo en salud (GBS) en el mediano plazo. Material y métodos Con base en la Encuesta de Evaluación del Seguro Popular (2005–2008), se analizaron los resultados del efecto del SP en la cohorte rural para dos años de seguimiento (2006 y 2008) y en la cohorte urbana para un año (2008). Resultados A nivel conglomerado no se detectaron efectos del SP. A nivel hogar se encontró que el SP tiene un efecto protector en el GCS y en el GBS en consulta externa y hospitalización en zonas rurales; y efectos significativos en la reducción de GBS en consulta externa en zonas urbanas. Conclusiones El SP se muestra como un programa efectivo para proteger a los hogares contra gastos de bolsillo por motivos de salud en el mediano plazo. PMID:22282205

Quantitative study on the chemical solution deposition of zinc oxysulfide

DOE PAGES

Reinisch, Michael; Perkins, Craig L.; Steirer, K. Xerxes

2015-11-21

Zinc Oxysulfide (ZnOS) has demonstrated potential in the last decade to replace CdS as a buffer layer material since it is a wide-band-gap semiconductor with performance advantages over CdS (E g = 2.4 eV) in the near UV-range for solar energy conversion. However, questions remain on the growth mechanisms of chemical bath deposited ZnOS. In this study, a detailed model is employed to calculate solubility diagrams that describe simple conditions for complex speciation control using only ammonium hydroxide without additional base. For these conditions, ZnOS is deposited via aqueous solution deposition on a quartz crystal microbalance in a continuous flowmore » cell. Data is used to analyze the growth rate dependence on temperature and also to elucidate the effects of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) when used as a co-solvent. Activation energies (EA) of ZnOS are calculated for different flow rates and solution compositions. As a result, the measured EA relationships are affected by changes in the primary growth mechanism when DMSO is included.« less

Promoting Translational Research Among Movement Science, Occupational Science, and Occupational Therapy.

PubMed

Sainburg, Robert L; Liew, Sook-Lei; Frey, Scott H; Clark, Florence

2017-01-01

Integration of research in the fields of neural control of movement and biomechanics (collectively referred to as movement science) with the field of human occupation directly benefits both areas of study. Specifically, incorporating many of the quantitative scientific methods and analyses employed in movement science can help accelerate the development of rehabilitation-relevant research in occupational therapy (OT) and occupational science (OS). Reciprocally, OT and OS, which focus on the performance of everyday activities (occupations) to promote health and well-being, provide theoretical frameworks to guide research on the performance of actions in the context of social, psychological, and environmental factors. Given both fields' mutual interest in the study of movement as it relates to health and disease, the authors posit that combining OS and OT theories and principles with the theories and methods in movement science may lead to new, impactful, and clinically relevant knowledge. The first step is to ensure that individuals with OS or OT backgrounds are academically prepared to pursue advanced study in movement science. In this article, the authors propose 2 strategies to address this need.

A mitochondrial-focused genetic interaction map reveals a scaffold-like complex required for inner membrane organization in mitochondria

PubMed Central

Hoppins, Suzanne; Collins, Sean R.; Cassidy-Stone, Ann; Hummel, Eric; DeVay, Rachel M.; Lackner, Laura L.; Westermann, Benedikt; Schuldiner, Maya

2011-01-01

To broadly explore mitochondrial structure and function as well as the communication of mitochondria with other cellular pathways, we constructed a quantitative, high-density genetic interaction map (the MITO-MAP) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The MITO-MAP provides a comprehensive view of mitochondrial function including insights into the activity of uncharacterized mitochondrial proteins and the functional connection between mitochondria and the ER. The MITO-MAP also reveals a large inner membrane–associated complex, which we term MitOS for mitochondrial organizing structure, comprised of Fcj1/Mitofilin, a conserved inner membrane protein, and five additional components. MitOS physically and functionally interacts with both outer and inner membrane components and localizes to extended structures that wrap around the inner membrane. We show that MitOS acts in concert with ATP synthase dimers to organize the inner membrane and promote normal mitochondrial morphology. We propose that MitOS acts as a conserved mitochondrial skeletal structure that differentiates regions of the inner membrane to establish the normal internal architecture of mitochondria. PMID:21987634

Efectos combinados de la ampliación de la atención primaria de salud y de las transferencias condicionadas de dinero en efectivo sobre la mortalidad infantil en Brasil, 1998–2010*

PubMed Central

Guanais, Frederico C.

2015-01-01

Objetivos. Examiné los efectos combinados del acceso a la atención primaria mediante el Programa de Salud Familiar (PSF) y las transferencias condicionadas de dinero en efectivo del Programa Bolsa Familia (PBF) sobre la mortalidad infantil posneonatal (MIPN) en Brasil. Métodos. Empleé un análisis ecológico longitudinal usando datos en panel de 4 583 municipios brasileños de 1998 al 2010, con 54 253 observaciones en total. Estimé modelos de regresión de efectos fijos por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios, con la tasa de MIPN como la variable dependiente y el PSF, el PBF y sus interacciones como las principales variables independientes de interés. Resultados. La asociación de una mayor cobertura del PSF con una menor tasa de MIPN se volvió más fuerte conforme aumentaba la cobertura del PBF. En los promedios de todas las demás variables, cuando la cobertura de PBF era 25%, la MIPN predicha fue 5,24 (intervalo de confianza [IC] de 95% = 4,95, 5,53) para una cobertura del PSF de 0%, y de 3,54 (IC de 95% = 2,77, 4,31) para una cobertura del PSF de 100%. Cuando la cobertura del PBF era de 60%, la MIPN predicha fue 4,65 (IC de 95% = 4,36, 4,94) para una cobertura del PSF de 0%, y de 1,38 (IC de 95% = 0,88, 1,89) para una cobertura del PSF de 100%. Conclusiones. El efecto del PSF depende de la ampliación del PBF. Para las poblaciones empobrecidas y subatendidas, la combinación de intervenciones tanto del lado de la oferta como del lado de la demanda podría ser necesaria para mejorar los resultados en salud.

Culture-bound syndromes in migratory contexts: the case of Bolivian immigrants.

PubMed

Roldán-Chicano, María Teresa; Fernández-Rufete, José; Hueso-Montoro, César; García-López, María Del Mar; Rodríguez-Tello, Javier; Flores-Bienert, María Dolores

2017-07-10

to describe the culture-bound syndromes maintained by Bolivian immigrants in the new migratory context and analyze the care processes of these health problems. qualitative research with an ethnographic methodological approach. Sample: 27 Bolivian immigrants. In-depth interviews and participatory observation were the strategies used for data collection. Data were classified and categorized into logical schemes manually and using the ATLAS-ti program v.5. susto, "wayras", amartelo, pasmo de sol, pasmo de luna and pasmo de sereno are some of the folk illnesses that affect the Bolivian immigrants and that they have to treat in the new migratory context. in the new environment, the group under study preserves culture-bound syndromes that are common in their country of origin. The care strategies used for these health problems are adapted to the resources of the new context and based on interactions with the domestic environment, biomedicine and traditional medicine. It was observed the need for the health professionals to realize that the efficacy of certain therapies occurs within the scope of cultural beliefs and not in that of the scientific evidence. descrever as síndromes vinculadas à cultura mantidas pelos imigrantes bolivianos no novo contexto migratório e analisar os processos de cuidado para esses problemas de saúde. projeto de pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e com abordagem metodológica etnográfica. Amostra: 27 imigrantes bolivianos. As estratégias para a coleta de dados foram as entrevistas em profundidade e a observação participativa. Os dados foram classificados e categorizados em esquemas lógicos manualmente e por meio do programa ATLAS-ti v.5. o susto, os "wayras", o amartelo (tristeza), o pasmo de sol, o pasmo de lua e o pasmo de sereno são algumas das síndromes de caráter popular que acometem os imigrantes bolivianos, e que eles tratam no novo contexto migratório. no novo ambiente, as síndromes vinculadas à cultura, comuns em seu país de origem, são mantidas pelo grupo estudado. As formas de cuidado para esses problemas de saúde são adaptadas aos recursos do novo contexto e baseadas em interações com o ambiente doméstico, a biomedicina e a medicina tradicional. Foi constatada a necessidade de que os profissionais de saúde reconheçam que a eficácia de determinadas terapias se dá no âmbito das crenças culturais e não no âmbito da comprovação científica. describir los síndromes de filiación cultural que mantienen los inmigrantes bolivianos en el nuevo contexto migratorio y analizar los procesos de atención de estos padecimientos. diseño de investigación de carácter cualitativo con enfoque metodológico etnográfico. Muestra: 27 inmigrantes bolivianos. Las estrategias para recoger datos fueron las entrevistas en profundidad y la observación participante. Los datos se categorizaron y ordenaron en esquemas lógicos manualmente y a través del programa ATLAS-ti v.5. el susto, los "wayras", el amartelo, el pasmo de sol, el pasmo de luna y el pasmo de sereno son algunos de los síndromes de carácter folk que los inmigrantes bolivianos padecen y tratan en el nuevo contexto migratorio. en el nuevo entorno, el colectivo estudiado mantiene síndromes de filiación cultural comunes en su país de origen. Las formas de atención de éstos padecimientos se adaptan a los recursos del nuevo contexto y se basan en transacciones con el ámbito doméstico, la biomedicina y la medicina tradicional. Se constata la necesidad de que el profesional sanitario reconozca que la efectividad percibida de ciertas terapias opera dentro del ámbito de las creencias culturales y no en el de la evidencia científica.

The Science Teachers and Their way of Thinking about Astronomy. (Spanish Title: Los Profesores de Ciencias y Sus Formas de Pensar la Astronomía.) Os Professores de Ciências e Suas Formas de Pensar a Astronomia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leite, Cristina; Hosoume, Yassuko

2007-12-01

The research presented in this article is about the way science teachers from Elementary School think about astronomical elements. Its methodology is based on semi-structured interviews, which were video recorded. The research is centered in a three-dimensional perspective of astronomical Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the stars, and also the conceptions about sky and Universe. The esults indicate a Universe that contains: Sun, stars, planets and Moon; where the Solar System is a little part of the whole. Sometimes they think that the Solar System is the Universe. The objects are in the sky or in the Universe, which, for many of them, is only the space above the Earth. The flat shape of astronomical objects and the spatial structure of the Universe are striking features. Many of them think that Sun and stars are different: the Sun is a hot object and the stars are cold ones. These results worry us and they certainly indicate how urgent it is to plan Professional Development in Astronomy for teachers, after all the PCN's emphasize that this subject is important to be taught. El objeto de investigación de este artículo es la manera de pensar sobre los elementos de la Astronomía de los profesores de Ciencias en la enseñanza fundamental. La metodología consiste en entrevistas semi-estructuradas, filmadas en video y centradas en la tridimensionalidad de los elementos astronómicos, para posibilitar un mapeamiento de las concepciones sobre las formas y dimensiones de la Tierra, del Sol, de la Luna, de los planetas y de las estrellas, como también de la concepción de cielo y de Universo en su totalidad. Los resultados indican un Universo conteniendo: Sol, estrellas, planetas y Luna, donde el Sistema Solar se ubica como parte. Algunas veces, el Universo es concebido como el propio Sistema Solar. Los objetos están en el cielo o en el Universo, que, para muchos, se restringe al espacio que está arriba de la Tierra. La forma plana de los objetos astronómicos y la estructura espacial del montaje del Universo son características fundamentales. Muchos indican Sol y estrellas como cosas distintas: el Sol es un objeto caliente y las estrellas son frías. Esos resultados nos preocupan y ciertamente señalan una urgencia de programas de formación continuada para profesores en el contenido de astronomía, pues los PCN's (Parámetros Curriculares Nacionales) recomiendan con énfasis la enseñanza de este contenido. O modo de pensar dos professores de Ciências do ensino fundamental sobre os elementos da Astronomia é o objeto de pesquisa presente neste artigo, cuja metodologia consiste em entrevistas semiestruturadas, filmadas em vídeo e centradas numa perspectiva tridimensional dos elementos astronômicos, possibilitando um mapeamento das concepções das formas e das dimensões da Terra, do Sol, da Lua, dos planetas e das estrelas, bem como da concepção de céu e de Universo como um todo. Os resultados indicam um Universo contendo: Sol, estrelas, planetas e Lua, onde o Sistema Solar é parte do todo. Algumas vezes o Universo é concebido como o próprio Sistema Solar. Os objetos estão no céu ou no Universo o qual, para muitos, se restringe ao espaço que está acima da Terra. A forma plana dos objetos astronômicos e a estrutura espacial da montagem do Universo são características marcantes. Muitos indicam Sol e estrelas como coisas diferentes: Sol é um objeto quente e as estrelas são frias. Esses resultados nos preocupam e certamente sinalizam uma urgência de programas de formação continuada para professores no conteúdo de astronomia, uma vez que os PCN's indicam fortemente o ensino desse conteúdo.

Quantitative Analysis of {sup 18}F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Identifies Novel Prognostic Imaging Biomarkers in Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Patients Treated With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cui, Yi; Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education, Hokkaido University, Sapporo; Song, Jie

Purpose: To identify prognostic biomarkers in pancreatic cancer using high-throughput quantitative image analysis. Methods and Materials: In this institutional review board–approved study, we retrospectively analyzed images and outcomes for 139 locally advanced pancreatic cancer patients treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). The overall population was split into a training cohort (n=90) and a validation cohort (n=49) according to the time of treatment. We extracted quantitative imaging characteristics from pre-SBRT {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, including statistical, morphologic, and texture features. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was built to predict overall survival (OS) in the training cohort using 162more » robust image features. To avoid over-fitting, we applied the elastic net to obtain a sparse set of image features, whose linear combination constitutes a prognostic imaging signature. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the association with OS, and concordance index (CI) was used to evaluate the survival prediction accuracy. Results: The prognostic imaging signature included 7 features characterizing different tumor phenotypes, including shape, intensity, and texture. On the validation cohort, univariate analysis showed that this prognostic signature was significantly associated with OS (P=.002, hazard ratio 2.74), which improved upon conventional imaging predictors including tumor volume, maximum standardized uptake value, and total legion glycolysis (P=.018-.028, hazard ratio 1.51-1.57). On multivariate analysis, the proposed signature was the only significant prognostic index (P=.037, hazard ratio 3.72) when adjusted for conventional imaging and clinical factors (P=.123-.870, hazard ratio 0.53-1.30). In terms of CI, the proposed signature scored 0.66 and was significantly better than competing prognostic indices (CI 0.48-0.64, Wilcoxon rank sum test P<1e-6). Conclusion: Quantitative analysis identified novel {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography image features that showed improved prognostic value over conventional imaging metrics. If validated in large, prospective cohorts, the new prognostic signature might be used to identify patients for individualized risk-adaptive therapy.« less

Nitrogen fertilizer application affects lodging resistance by altering secondary cell wall synthesis in japonica rice (Oryza sativa).

PubMed

Zhang, Wujun; Wu, Longmei; Ding, Yanfeng; Yao, Xiong; Wu, Xiaoran; Weng, Fei; Li, Ganghua; Liu, Zhenghui; Tang, She; Ding, Chengqiang; Wang, Shaohua

2017-09-01

Stem mechanical strength is an important agricultural quantitative trait that is closely related to lodging resistance in rice, which is known to be reduced by fertilizer with higher levels of nitrogen. To understand the mechanism that regulates stem mechanical strength in response to nitrogen, we analysed stem morphology, anatomy, mechanical properties, cell wall components, and expression of cell wall-related genes, in two varieties of japonica rice, namely, Wuyunjing23 (lodging-resistant variety) and W3668 (lodging-susceptible variety). The results showed that higher nitrogen fertilizer increased the lodging index in both varieties due to a reduction in breaking strength and bending stress, and these changes were larger in W3668. Cellulose content decreased slightly under higher nitrogen fertilizer, whereas lignin content reduced remarkably. Histochemical staining revealed that high nitrogen application decreased lignin deposition in the secondary cell wall of the sclerenchyma cells and vascular bundle cells compared with the low nitrogen treatments, while it did not alter the pattern of cellulose deposition in these cells in both Wuyunjing23 and W3668. In addition, the expression of the genes involved in lignin biosynthesis, OsPAL, OsCoMT, Os4CL3, OsCCR, OsCAD2, OsCAD7, OsCesA4, and OsCesA7, were also down-regulated under higher nitrogen conditions at the early stage of culm growth. These results suggest that the genes involved in lignin biosynthesis are down-regulated by higher nitrogen fertilizer, which causes lignin deficiency in the secondary cell walls and the weakening of mechanical tissue structure. Subsequently, this results in these internodes with reduced mechanical strength and poor lodging resistance.

Sistemas de transporte inteligentes en cruces fronterizos internacionales : un estudio abarcador : facilitando el comercio y mejorando la seguridad en el transporte

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-04-01

El Programa de Permisosen Fronteras Internacionales (IBC por sus siglas en ingls) fue iniciado bajo la previsin del Acta de Eficiencia de Transporte Terrestre Intermodal (ISTEA por sus siglas en ingls) en 1991. El programa fue concebido origina...

Programa De Educacion Interamericana.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas A and M Univ., College Station.

PROGRAMA DE EDUCACION INTERAMERICANA is a project of Texas A&M University in liaison with the Bryan Independent School District. The objectives of the program are to improve the knowledge and understanding of Texas teachers and students about other American cultures. Study teams of educators research and, in midsummer, travel to selected…

Difficulties of First Years Elementary School Teachers with the Teaching of Astronomy. (Breton Title: Dificuldades de Professores dos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental em Relação ao Ensino da Astronomia. ) Dificultades de LOS Profesores de los Primeros Años de la Escuela Primaria en Relación a la Enseñanza de la Astronomía

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langhi, Rodolfo; Nardi, Roberto

2005-12-01

This paper reports Primary School teachers' discourses analysis about their difficulties related to the teaching of Astronomy. It reports partial data of a master's level research carried out in the last two years, named "An exploratory study for inserting Astronomy in primary school teachers' education" (LANGHI, 2004). The study took into consideration students' and teachers' common sense conceptions about astronomical phenomena, conceptual mistakes in textbooks, and Astronomy's suggestions given by the PCN (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais - The Brazilian National Curriculum Standards). The paper aims to characterize teachers' difficulties, in order to provide subsides to the implementation of an initial or continuing education program. This study is justified by the fact that courses plans like these only will be adapted to the teacher's (and students') reality, if there is a primary investigation about what the teachers really need to know about Astronomy. This fact was possible here by the enunciations interpretation of a teachers' sample using semi-structured interviews, according to discourse analysis procedures. The research outcomes show difficulties related to factors like: those of personal order, methodological, on teacher's formation, educational infrastructure and other related to information sources for educators. Este artigo, que relata as dificuldades de professores em relação ao ensino da Astronomia, faz parte de um estudo exploratório para a inserção da Astronomia na formação de professores dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Esse estudo leva em consideração as concepções alternativas de alunos e professores sobre fenômenos astronômicos, os erros conceituais em livros didáticos e as sugestões de conteúdos de Astronomia constantes nos PCN (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais). Caracterizar as dificuldades dos professores é a questão central deste texto, apontando para o objetivo de contribuir com subsídios para um futuro programa de formação continuada neste tema. O estudo se justifica mediante o fato de que planejamentos de cursos como estes só se adequarão à realidade do professor (e do aluno) se houver uma investigação antecipada sobre o que os docentes precisam saber e saber fazer a respeito da Astronomia, o que se concretizou em nosso caso pela interpretação dos discursos de uma amostra de professores coletados através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, utilizando para interpretação os princípios e métodos da análise do discurso em sua linha francesa. Os resultados da pesquisa indicaram dificuldades de ordem pessoal, metodológica, de formação, de infra-estrutura e outras relacionadas às fontes de informações para docentes. Este artículo que relata las dificultades de los profesores en relación a la enseñanza da laAstronomía es parte de un estudio preliminar para la implantación dela Astrnomía enla formación de profesores de ls primeros años del ciclo primario.El estudio considera las concepciones alternativas de alumnos y profesores respecto a los fenómenos astronómicos, los errores conceptuales en los libros didácticos y las sugerencias de contenidos de Astronomía que constan en los Parámetros Curriculares Nacionales del Brasil. Caracterizar las dificultades de los profesores constituye la cuestión central de este texto, apuntando para el objetivo de contribuir para un futuro programa de educación contínua en este tema. El estudio se justifica mediante el hecho que la planificación de cursos de este tipo solo se adecuarán a la realidade del profesor (y del alumno) si existe una investigación anterior a respecto de lo que los docentes precisan saber y saber realizar en Astronomía, lo cual se concretó en nuestro caso por medio de la interpretación de los discursos de una muestra de profesores obtenidos através de entrevistas semiestructuradas, utilizand para esta interpretación los principios y métodos de análisis del discurso en su línea francesa. Los resultados mostraron dificultades de orden personal, metodológica, formativa, de infraestructura y otras relacionadas a las fuentes de información para los docentes.

The role of the mussel Mytilus spp. in the transmission of ostreid herpesvirus-1 microVar.

PubMed

O' Reilly, A J; Laide, C; Maloy, A; Hutton, S; Bookelaar, B; O' Sullivan, K; Lynch, S A; Culloty, S C

2017-12-21

The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas contributes significantly to global aquaculture; however, C. gigas culture has been affected by ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) and variants. The dynamics of how the virus maintains itself at culture sites is unclear and the role of carriers, reservoirs or hosts is unknown. Both wild and cultured mussels Mytilus spp. (Mytilus edulis, Mytilus galloprovincialis and hybrids) are commonly found at C. gigas culture sites. The objective of this study was to investigate if Mytilus spp. can harbour the virus and if viral transmission can occur between mussels and oysters. Mytilus spp. living at oyster trestles, 400-500 m higher up the shore from the trestles and up to 26 km at non-culture sites were screened for OsHV-1 and variants by all the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recommended diagnostic methods including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), histology, in situ hybridization and confirmation using direct sequencing. The particular primers that target OsHV-1 and variants, including OsHV-1 microVar (μVar), were used in the PCR and qPCR. OsHV-1 μVar was detected in wild Mytilus spp. at C. gigas culture sites and more significantly the virus was detected in mussels at non-culture sites. Cohabitation of exposed wild mussels and naïve C. gigas resulted in viral transmission after 14 days, under an elevated temperature regime. These results indicate that mussels can harbour OsHV-1 μVar; however, the impact of OsHV-1 μVar on Mytilus spp. requires further investigation.

Astronomy in Science Textbooks: An Analysis of Pnld 2008. (Spanish Title: Astronomía en los Libros de Ciencia: un Análisis del Pnld 2008.) Astronomia Nos Livros Didáticos de Ciências: Uma Análise do Pnld 2008

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amaral, Patrícia; Quintanilha Vaz de Oliveira, Carlos Eduardo

2011-12-01

The importance of the textbooks in classrooms is revealed when studies are pointing that these pedagogical sources are, most of the times, the only source used by the elementary school teachers when preparing their Science lessons. When we analyzed the Astronomy contents in the textbooks approved by the Brazilian Textbook Program 2008 and which, in theory, are the best available in the Brazilian editorial market, we examined some categories in the 2008 Textbook Guide. This research characterizes the frequency of Astronomical contents appearing in the texts, in the pictures, and in the hands-on activities. Additionally, it describes some misconceptions and presents additional information on the collections. La importancia de los libros de texto en las aulas se pone de manifiesto cuando los estudios indican que este recurso educativo es a menudo la única fuente de consulta utilizada por el profesor de ciencias de la escuela primaria para preparar sus lecciones. Cuando analizamos el contenido presente en los libros de texto de astronomía aprobados por el Programa Nacional de Libros de Texto de 2008 y que, en teoría, son los mejores libros disponibles en el mercado editorial brasileño, buscamos examinar algunas categorías que figuran en los libros de texto de la Guía de Libros Didácticos de 2008. El estudio caracteriza la frecuencia del contenido de Astronomía en el texto, en las figuras, y en las actividades de experimentación. También describe algunos errores conceptuales y presenta un conjunto de información adicional sobre las colecciones. A importância dos livros didáticos nas salas de aula revela-se quando estudos apontam que este recurso pedagógico é, muitas vezes, a única fonte de consulta utilizada pelo professor de Ciências do ensino fundamental para a preparação de suas aulas. Quando analisamos os conteúdos de Astronomia presentes nos livros didáticos aprovados no Programa Nacional do Livro Didático de 2008 e que, teoricamente, são os melhores livros disponíveis no mercado editorial brasileiro, buscamos esquadrinhar algumas categorias constantes no Guia de Livros Didáticos de 2008. A pesquisa caracteriza a freqüência do conteúdo de Astronomia no texto, nas figuras e nas atividades de experimentação. Além disso, descreve alguns erros conceituais e apresenta um conjunto de informações adicionais sobre as coleções.

Expression of salt-induced 2-Cys peroxiredoxin from Oryza sativa increases stress tolerance and fermentation capacity in genetically engineered yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed

Kim, Il-Sup; Kim, Young-Saeng; Yoon, Ho-Sung

2013-04-01

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs), also termed thioredoxin peroxidases (TPXs), are a family of thiol-specific antioxidant enzymes that are critically involved in cell defense and protect cells from oxidative damage. In this study, a putative chloroplastic 2-Cys thioredoxin peroxidase (OsTPX) was identified by proteome analysis from leaf tissue samples of rice (Oryza sativa) seedlings exposed to 0.1 M NaCl for 3 days. To investigate the relationship between the OsTPX gene and the stress response, OsTPX was cloned into the yeast expression vector p426GPD under the control of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD1) promoter, and the construct was transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. OsTPX expression was confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. OsTPX contained two highly conserved cysteine residues (Cys114 and Cys236) and an active site region (FTFVCPT), and it is structurally very similar to human 2-Cys Prx. Heterologous OsTPX expression increased the ability of the transgenic yeast cells to adapt and recover from reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced oxidative stresses, such as a reduction of cellular hydroperoxide levels in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and menadione, by improving redox homeostasis. OsTPX expression also conferred enhanced tolerance to tert-butylhydroperoxide, heat shock, and high ethanol concentrations. Furthermore, high OsTPX expression improved the fermentation capacity of the yeast during glucose-based batch fermentation at a high temperature (40 °C) and at the general cultivation temperature (30 °C). The alcohol yield in OsTPX-expressing transgenic yeast increased by approximately 29 % (0.14 g g(-1)) and 21 % (0.12 g g(-1)) during fermentation at 40 and 30 °C, respectively, compared to the wild-type yeast. Accordingly, OsTPX-expressing transgenic yeast showed prolonged cell survival during the environmental stresses produced during fermentation. These results suggest that heterologous OsTPX expression increases acquired tolerance to ROS-induced oxidative stress by improving cellular redox homeostasis and improves fermentation capacity due to improved cell survival during fermentation, especially at a high temperature.

A Rice CPYC-Type Glutaredoxin OsGRX20 in Protection against Bacterial Blight, Methyl Viologen and Salt Stresses.

PubMed

Ning, Xi; Sun, Yao; Wang, Changchun; Zhang, Weilin; Sun, Meihao; Hu, Haitao; Liu, Jianzhong; Yang, Ling

2018-01-01

Glutaredoxins (GRXs) belong to the antioxidants involved in the cellular stress responses. In spite of the identification 48 GRX genes in rice genomes, the biological functions of most of them remain unknown. Especially, the biological roles of members of GRX family in disease resistance are still lacking. Our proteomic analysis found that OsGRX20 increased by 2.7-fold after infection by bacterial blight. In this study, we isolated and characterized the full-length nucleotide sequences of the rice OsGRX20 gene, which encodes a GRX family protein with CPFC active site of CPYC-type class. OsGRX20 protein was localized in nucleus and cytosol, and its transcripts were expressed predominantly in leaves. Several stress- and hormone-related motifs putatively acting as regulatory elements were found in the OsGRX20 promoter. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis indicated that OsGRX20 was expressed at a significantly higher level in leaves of a resistant or tolerant rice genotype, Yongjing 50A, than in a sensitive genotype, Xiushui 11, exposed to bacterial blight, methyl viologen, heat, and cold. Its expression could be induced by salt, PEG-6000, 2,4-D, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and abscisic acid treatments in Yongjing 50A. Overexpression of OsGRX20 in rice Xiushui 11 significantly enhanced its resistance to bacterial blight attack, and tolerance to methyl viologen and salt stresses. In contrast, interference of OsGRX20 in Yongjing 50A led to increased susceptibility to bacterial blight, methyl viologen and salt stresses. OsGRX20 restrained accumulation of superoxide radicals in aerial tissue during methyl viologen treatment. Consistently, alterations in OsGRX20 expression affect the ascorbate/dehydroascorbate ratio and the abundance of transcripts encoding four reactive oxygen species scavenging enzymes after methyl viologen-induced stress. Our results demonstrate that OsGRX20 functioned as a positive regulator in rice tolerance to multiple stresses, which may be of significant use in the genetic improvement of rice resistance.

miR-130b targets NKD2 and regulates the Wnt signaling to promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Zhi; Li, Youjun, E-mail: liyoujunn@126.com; Wang, Nan

miR-130b was significantly up-regulated in osteosarcoma (OS) cells. Naked cuticle homolog 2 (NKD2) inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in OS by suppressing Wnt signaling. We used three miRNA target analysis tools to identify potential targets of miR-130b, and found that NKD2 is a potential target of miR-130b. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that miR-130b might target NKD2 and regulate the Wnt signaling to promote OS growth. We detected the expression of miR-130b and NKD2 mRNA and protein by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot assays, respectively, and found up-regulation of miR-130b and down-regulation of NKD2 mRNA and proteinmore » exist in OS cell lines. MTT and flow cytometry assays showed that miR-130b inhibitors inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis in OS cells. Furthermore, we showed that NKD2 is a direct target of miR-130b, and miR-130b regulated proliferation and apoptosis of OS cells by targeting NKD2. We further investigated whether miR-130b and NKD2 regulate OS cell proliferation and apoptosis by inhibiting Wnt signaling, and the results confirmed our speculation that miR-130b targets NKD2 and regulates the Wnt signaling to promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of OS cells. These findings will offer new clues for OS development and progression, and novel potential therapeutic targets for OS. - Highlights: • miR-130b is up-regulated and NKD2 is down-regulated in osteosarcoma cell lines. • Down-regulation of miR-130b inhibits proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. • Down-regulation of miR-130b promotes apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells. • miR-130b directly targets NKD2. • NKD2 regulates OS cell proliferation and apoptosis by inhibiting the Wnt signaling.« less

Germin-like protein 2 gene promoter from rice is responsive to fungal pathogens in transgenic potato plants.

PubMed

Munir, Faiza; Hayashi, Satomi; Batley, Jacqueline; Naqvi, Syed Muhammad Saqlan; Mahmood, Tariq

2016-01-01

Controlled transgene expression via a promoter is particularly triggered in response to pathogen infiltration. This is significant for eliciting disease-resistant features in crops through genetic engineering. The germins and germin-like proteins (GLPs) are known to be associated with plant and developmental stages. The 1107-bp Oryza sativa root GLP2 (OsRGLP2) gene promoter fused to a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene was transformed into potato plants through an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The OsRGLP2 promoter was activated in response to Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. and Alternaria solani Sorauer. Quantitative real-time PCR results revealed 4-5-fold increase in promoter activity every 24 h following infection. There was a 15-fold increase in OsRGLP2 promoter activity after 72 h of F. solani (Mart.) Sacc. treatment and a 12-fold increase observed with A. solani Sorauer. Our results confirmed that the OsRGLP2 promoter activity was enhanced under fungal stress. Furthermore, a hyperaccumulation of H2O2 in transgenic plants is a clear signal for the involvement of OsRGLP2 promoter region in the activation of specific genes in the potato genome involved in H2O2-mediated defense response. The OsRGLP2 promoter evidently harbors copies of GT-I and Dof transcription factors (AAAG) that act in response to elicitors generated in the wake of pathogen infection.

Electronic structure description of the cis-MoOS unit in models for molybdenum hydroxylases.

PubMed

Doonan, Christian J; Rubie, Nick D; Peariso, Katrina; Harris, Hugh H; Knottenbelt, Sushilla Z; George, Graham N; Young, Charles G; Kirk, Martin L

2008-01-09

The molybdenum hydroxylases catalyze the oxidation of numerous aromatic heterocycles and simple organics and, unlike other hydroxylases, utilize water as the source of oxygen incorporated into the product. The electronic structures of the cis-MoOS units in CoCp2[TpiPrMoVOS(OPh)] and TpiPrMoVIOS(OPh) (TpiPr = hydrotris(3-isopropylpyrazol-1-yl)borate), new models for molybdenum hydroxylases, have been studied in detail using S K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, and detailed bonding calculations. The results show a highly delocalized Mo=S pi* LUMO redox orbital that is formally Mo(dxy) with approximately 35% sulfido ligand character. Vibrational spectroscopy has been used to quantitate Mo-Ssulfido bond order changes in the cis-MoOS units as a function of redox state. Results support a redox active molecular orbital that has a profound influence on MoOS bonding through changes to the relative electro/nucleophilicity of the terminal sulfido ligand accompanying oxidation state changes. The bonding description for these model cis-MoOS systems supports enzyme mechanisms that are under orbital control and dominantly influenced by the unique electronic structure of the cis-MoOS site. The electronic structure of the oxidized enzyme site is postulated to play a role in polarizing a substrate carbon center for nucleophilic attack by metal activated water and acting as an electron sink in the two-electron oxidation of substrates.

The Effects of English Language Proficiency and Curricular Pathways: Latina/os' Mathematics Achievement in Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosqueda, Eduardo; Maldonado, Saul I.

2013-01-01

This study analyzes nationally-representative quantitative data from the first (2002) and second (2004) waves of the Educational Longitudinal Study to examine the relationship between Latina/o secondary school students' degree of English-language proficiency (ELP), mathematics course-taking measures, and 12th grade mathematics achievement.…

Evolution of the Chordate Regeneration Blastema: Differential Gene Expression and Conserved Role of Notch Signaling During Siphon Regeneration in the Ascidian Ciona

PubMed Central

Hamada, Mayuko; Goricki, Spela; Byerly, Mardi S.; Satoh, Noriyuki; Jeffery, William R.

2015-01-01

The regeneration of the oral siphon (OS) and other distal structures in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis occurs by epimorphosis involving the formation of a blastema of proliferating cells. Despite the longstanding use of Ciona as a model in molecular developmental biology, regeneration in this system has not been previously explored by molecular analysis. Here we have employed microarray analysis and quantitative real time RT-PCR to identify genes with differential expression profiles during OS regeneration. The majority of differentially expressed genes were downregulated during OS regeneration, suggesting roles in normal growth and homeostasis. However, a subset of differentially expressed genes was upregulated in the regenerating OS, suggesting functional roles during regeneration. Among the upregulated genes were key members of the Notch signaling pathway, including those encoding the delta and jagged ligands, two fringe modulators, and to a lesser extent the notch receptor. In situ hybridization showed a complementary pattern of delta1 and notch gene expression in the blastema of the regenerating OS. Chemical inhibition of the Notch signaling pathway reduced the levels of cell proliferation in the branchial sac, a stem cell niche that contributes progenitor cells to the regenerating OS, and in the OS regeneration blastema, where siphon muscle fibers eventually re-differentiate. Chemical inhibition also prevented the replacement of oral siphon pigment organs, sensory receptors rimming the entrance of the OS, and siphon muscle fibers, but had no effects on the formation of the wound epidermis. Since Notch signaling is involved in the maintenance of proliferative activity in both the Ciona and vertebrate regeneration blastema, the results suggest a conserved evolutionary role of this signaling pathway in chordate regeneration. The genes identified in this investigation provide the foundation for future molecular analysis of OS regeneration. PMID:26206613

Job satisfaction in an oncology nursing team.

PubMed

Silva, Vagnára Ribeiro da; Velasque, Luciane de Souza; Tonini, Teresa

2017-01-01

to identify the level of attributed, perceived and real job satisfaction of oncology nursing professionals and analyze the relationships between the levels of satisfaction among these workers. a descriptive, quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted using the Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) to evaluate the nursing team, nurses and technicians/auxiliaries. A total of 348 workers answered the questionnaire, of which 216 were fully completed and considered for the IWS calculation. Autonomy was considered the most important item in attributed satisfaction for the nursing team and nurses. Salary was valorized most by the technicians/auxiliaries. For perceived satisfaction, Professional Status was the most important for all workers. Regarding real satisfaction, Interaction was the most important for the nursing team and technicians/auxiliaries; while the nurses valorized Autonomy. The nurses presented the greatest job satisfaction. a discrepancy was observed in job satisfaction among the oncology nurses, indicating the importance of further quantitative research. identificar o nível de satisfação profissional atribuído, percebido e o real no trabalho de profissionais de enfermagem oncológica e analisar as relações entre os níveis de satisfação desses trabalhadores. estudo quantitativo, descritivo, transversal que utilizou o Índice de Satisfação Profissional (ISP) para avaliar a equipe de enfermagem, enfermeiros e técnicos/auxiliares. Dentre os profissionais, 348 destes responderam o questionário, dos quais 216 foram totalmente preenchidos e considerados para o cálculo do ISP. Autonomia foi mais importante na satisfação atribuída para a equipe de enfermagem e enfermeiros, Remuneração foi mais valorizada pelos técnicos/auxiliares. Para a satisfação percebida, Status profissional foi mais importante para todos os profissionais. Sobre a real satisfação, Interação foi o mais importante para a equipe de enfermagem e técnicos/auxiliares; os enfermeiros valorizaram Autonomia. Os enfermeiros obtiveram maior satisfação profissional. Observou-se discrepância quanto à satisfação profissional dos trabalhadores de enfermagem oncológica, sendo importante maior aprofundamento qualitativo.

Evaluation of prognostic and predictive value of microtubule associated protein tau in two independent cohorts

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Introduction Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) endogenously regulate microtubule stabilization and have been reported as prognostic and predictive markers for taxane response. The microtubule stabilizer, MAP-tau, has shown conflicting results. We quantitatively assessed MAP-tau expression in two independent breast cancer cohorts to determine prognostic and predictive value of this biomarker. Methods MAP-tau expression was evaluated in the retrospective Yale University breast cancer cohort (n = 651) using tissue microarrays and also in the TAX 307 cohort, a clinical trial randomized for TAC versus FAC chemotherapy (n = 140), using conventional whole tissue sections. Expression was measured using the AQUA method for quantitative immunofluorescence. Scores were correlated with clinicopathologic variables, survival, and response to therapy. Results Assessment of the Yale cohort using Cox univariate analysis indicated an improved overall survival (OS) in tumors with a positive correlation between high MAP-tau expression and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.691, 95% CI = 0.489-0.974; P = 0.004). Kaplan Meier analysis showed 10-year survival for 65% of patients with high MAP-tau expression compared to 52% with low expression (P = .006). In TAX 307, high expression was associated with significantly longer median time to tumor progression (TTP) regardless of treatment arm (33.0 versus 23.4 months, P = 0.010) with mean TTP of 31.2 months. Response rates did not differ by MAP-tau expression (P = 0.518) or by treatment arm (P = 0.584). Conclusions Quantitative measurement of MAP-tau expression has prognostic value in both cohorts, with high expression associated with longer TTP and OS. Differences by treatment arm or response rate in low versus high MAP-tau groups were not observed, indicating that MAP-tau is not associated with response to taxanes and is not a useful predictive marker for taxane-based chemotherapy. PMID:21888627

Mapping the Rural Adolescent Girls' Participation in Residential Non-Formal Education Program--A Study in Lunkaransar Block, Rajasthan, India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Shilpa

2002-01-01

The present study, "Mapping Rural Adolescent Girl's Participation in Residential Non- Formal Education Program--A Study in Lunkaransar Block, Rajasthan", was an attempt to understand the dimensions of rural adolescent girls' participation in the "Balika Shivir" Program. It is a six month residential non-formal education program…

Estimativa de imagens solares soho através de redes neurais artificiais

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, M. C.; Fernandes, F. C. R.; Cecatto, J. R.; Rios Neto, A.; Rosa, R. R.; Sawant, H. S.

2003-08-01

A Rede Neural Artificial (RNA), no âmbito da teoria computacional, constitui uma teoria emergente que, por possuir habilidade em aprender a partir de dados de entrada, encontra diferentes aplicações em diferentes áreas. Um exemplo é a utilização de RNA na caracterização de padrões associados à dinâmica de processos espaço-temporais relacionados a fenômenos físicos não-lineares. Para obter informações sobre o comportamento destes fenômenos físicos utiliza-se, em diversos casos, seqüências de imagens digitalizadas, onde a caracterização de alguns fenômenos espaço-temporais é o procedimento mais viável para descrever a dinâmica das regiões ativas do Sol. Com base em imagens observadas por telescópios a bordo de satélites, estudos de previsão de eventos solares podem ser programados, permitindo prever possíveis efeitos posteriores nas regiões mais próximas da Terra (tempestades geomagnéticas e irregularidades ionosféricas). Neste trabalho avaliamos o desempenho da RNA para estimar padrões espaço-temporais, ou seja, imagens solares em ultravioleta, obtidas através do telescópio a bordo do satélite SOHO. Os resultados mostraram que as RNA conseguem generalizar os padrões de maneira satisfatória sem perder de forma significativa os principais aspectos da configuração global da atmosfera solar, comprovando a eficácia da RNA como ferramenta para esse tipo de aplicação. Portanto, este trabalho comprova a viabilidade de uso desta ferramenta em projetos voltados ao estudo do comportamento solar, em trabalhos do grupo de Física do Meio Interplanetário (FMI) na DAS e em programas desenvolvidos pelo Núcleo de Simulação e Análise de Sistemas Complexos (NUSASC) do Laboratório Associado de Computação e Matemática Aplicada (LAC) do INPE.

Weaving the West Psychosocial Care Network of the municipality of São Paulo.

PubMed

Nóbrega, Maria do Perpétuo Socorro de Sousa; Domingos, Alessandra Matheus; Silveira, Ana Stella de Azevedo; Santos, Jussara Carvalho Dos

2017-01-01

to understand how health service professionals involved in the care of users in psychic distress perceive the organization of the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS - Rede de Atenção Psicossocial) in the western region of the city of São Paulo. qualitative approach study conducted with 123 professionals with higher education who work in the care points of the network. A semi-structured interview was performed and data were submitted to the Alceste program for lexical analysis. the network is in process of alignment with the mental health policy and the psychosocial rehabilitation strategy. However, the weaknesses in the work process of teams are related to deficits in human resources, structure, and communication, and to the limited appropriation of their guidelines. there are intense efforts of workers to weave the network, and barriers need to be overcome to support successful actions in mental health care in the territory. compreender como profissionais de serviços de saúde envolvidos no cuidado dos usuários em sofrimento psíquico percebem a organização da Rede de Atenção Psicossocial (RAPS) da região Oeste do Município de São Paulo. abordagem qualitativa realizada com 123 profissionais de nível superior que atuam nos pontos de atenção da rede. Realizou-se entrevista semiestruturada e os dados foram submetidos ao programa Alceste com aplicação de análise lexical. A rede está em processo de alinhamento com a política de saúde mental e estratégia de reabilitação psicossocial. No entanto, há fragilidades no processo de trabalho das equipes relacionadas ao déficit de recursos humanos, estruturais, de comunicação, e à apropriação limitada sobre suas diretrizes. Compreendeu-se que há intensidade de esforços dos trabalhadores para tecer a rede e que é necessário superar barreiras para fomentar ações exitosas no cuidado em saúde mental no território.

Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells under Stress Increase Osteosarcoma Migration and Apoptosis Resistance via Extracellular Vesicle Mediated Communication.

PubMed

Vallabhaneni, Krishna C; Hassler, Meeves-Yoni; Abraham, Anu; Whitt, Jason; Mo, Yin-Yuan; Atfi, Azeddine; Pochampally, Radhika

2016-01-01

Studies have shown that mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) from bone marrow are involved in the growth and metastasis of solid tumors but the mechanism remains unclear in osteosarcoma (OS). Previous studies have raised the possibility that OS cells may receive support from associated MSCs in the nutrient deprived core of the tumors through the release of supportive macromolecules and growth factors either in vesicular or non-vesicular forms. In the present study, we used stressed mesenchymal stem cells (SD-MSCs), control MSCs and OS cells to examine the hypothesis that tumor-associated MSCs in nutrient deprived core provide pro-proliferative, anti-apoptotic, and metastatic support to nearby tumor cells. Assays to study of the effects of SD-MSC conditioned media revealed that OS cells maintained proliferation when compared to OS cells grown under serum-starved conditions alone. Furthermore, OS cells in MSCs and SD-MSC conditioned media were significantly resistant to apoptosis and an increased wound healing rate was observed in cells exposed to either conditioned media or EVs from MSCs and SD-MSCs. RT-PCR assays of OS cells incubated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) from SD-MSCs revealed microRNAs that could potentially target metabolism and metastasis associated genes as predicted by in silico algorithms, including monocarboxylate transporters, bone morphogenic receptor type 2, fibroblast growth factor 7, matrix metalloproteinase-1, and focal adhesion kinase-1. Changes in the expression levels of focal adhesion kinase, STK11 were confirmed by quantitative PCR assays. Together, these data indicate a tumor supportive role of MSCs in osteosarcoma growth that is strongly associated with the miRNA content of the EVs released from MSCs under conditions that mimic the nutrient deprived core of solid tumors.

Osteosarcoma subtypes: Magnetic resonance and quantitative diffusion weighted imaging criteria.

PubMed

Zeitoun, Rania; Shokry, Ahmed M; Ahmed Khaleel, Sahar; Mogahed, Shaimaa M

2018-03-01

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone malignancy, characterized by spindle cells producing osteoid. The objective of this study is to describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of different OS subtypes, record their attenuation diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and to point to the relation of their pathologic base and their corresponding ADC value. We performed a retrospective observational lesion-based analysis for 31 pathologically proven osteosarcoma subtypes: osteoblastic (n = 9), fibroblastic (n = 8), chondroblastic (n = 6), para-osteal (n = 3), periosteal (n = 1), telangiectatic (n = 2), small cell (n = 1) and extra-skeletal (n = 1). On conventional images we recorded: bone of origin, epicenter, intra-articular extension, and invasion of articulating bones, skip lesions, distant metastases, pathological fractures, ossified matrix, hemorrhage and necrosis. We measured the mean ADC value for each lesion. Among the included OS lesions, 51.6% originated at the femur, 29% showed intra-articular extension, 16% invaded neighboring bone, 9% were associated with pathological fracture and 25.8% were associated with distant metastases. On MRI, all lesions showed ossified matrix, 35.5% showed hemorrhage and 58% showed necrosis. The mean ADC values for OS lesions ranged from 0.74 × 10 -3  mm 2 /s (recorded for conventional osteoblastic OS) to 1.50 × 10 -3  mm 2 /s (recorded for telangiectatic OS) with an average value of 1.16 ± 0.18 × 10 -3  mm 2 /s. Conventional chondroblastic OS recorded higher values compared to the other two conventional subtypes. Osteosarcoma has different pathologic subtypes which correspondingly vary in their imaging criteria and their ADC values. Copyright © 2018. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Supra-optimal expression of the cold-regulated OsMyb4 transcription factor in transgenic rice changes the complexity of transcriptional network with major effects on stress tolerance and panicle development.

PubMed

Park, Myoung-Ryoul; Yun, Kil-Young; Mohanty, Bijayalaxmi; Herath, Venura; Xu, Fuyu; Wijaya, Edward; Bajic, Vladimir B; Yun, Song-Joong; De Los Reyes, Benildo G

2010-12-01

The R2R3-type OsMyb4 transcription factor of rice has been shown to play a role in the regulation of osmotic adjustment in heterologous overexpression studies. However, the exact composition and organization of its underlying transcriptional network has not been established to be a robust tool for stress tolerance enhancement by regulon engineering. OsMyb4 network was dissected based on commonalities between the global chilling stress transcriptome and the transcriptome configured by OsMyb4 overexpression. OsMyb4 controls a hierarchical network comprised of several regulatory sub-clusters associated with cellular defense and rescue, metabolism and development. It regulates target genes either directly or indirectly through intermediary MYB, ERF, bZIP, NAC, ARF and CCAAT-HAP transcription factors. Regulatory sub-clusters have different combinations of MYB-like, GCC-box-like, ERD1-box-like, ABRE-like, G-box-like, as1/ocs/TGA-like, AuxRE-like, gibberellic acid response element (GARE)-like and JAre-like cis-elements. Cold-dependent network activity enhanced cellular antioxidant capacity through radical scavenging mechanisms and increased activities of phenylpropanoid and isoprenoid metabolic processes involving various abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), ethylene and reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsive genes. OsMyb4 network is independent of drought response element binding protein/C-repeat binding factor (DREB/CBF) and its sub-regulons operate with possible co-regulators including nuclear factor-Y. Because of its upstream position in the network hierarchy, OsMyb4 functions quantitatively and pleiotrophically. Supra-optimal expression causes misexpression of alternative targets with costly trade-offs to panicle development. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Identificación de Intervenciones para el Desarrollo Positivo de la Juventud

PubMed Central

Sardiñas, Lili M.; Padilla, Viviana; Aponte, Mari; Boscio, Ana Morales; Pedrogo, Coralee Pérez; Santiago, Betzaida; Morales, Ángela Pérez; Dávila, Paloma Torres; Cesáreo, Marizaida Sánchez

2017-01-01

Resumen En el mundo hay más personas en la etapa de la juventud que en cualquier otra etapa del desarrollo. La juventud en Puerto Rico enfrenta muchas situaciones que inciden en su desarrollo y preparación para la adultez. Por lo tanto, es imperante identificar intervenciones para el desarrollo positivo de la juventud que han demostrado ser basadas en la evidencia. Además, a partir de dicha identificación, desarrollar prácticas que ayuden a los jóvenes a desarrollarse para prevenir situaciones adversas, promover experiencias positivas y propiciar que los niños y jóvenes estén involucrados y comprometidos. Se identificaron 147 intervenciones a través de una revisión tradicional de la literatura científica estadounidense. Los resultados reflejan que las intervenciones atienden la reducción de factores de riesgo y el incremento de factores de protección. Sin embargo, ninguna intervención propicia que los niños y jóvenes estén involucrados y comprometidos con su desarrollo óptimo y con sus comunidades. No obstante, todas brindan herramientas que podrían ser de utilidad para fomentar dichas prácticas en el contexto de Puerto Rico. De las 147 intervenciones identificadas seis están diseñadas para la población puertorriqueña residente en la Isla. Con el propósito de hacer la información accesible a los profesionales y la comunidad se expandió la colección del Archivo de Programas y Prácticas Basadas en Evidencia para la Prevención. PMID:28919943

ACTITUDES HACIA LA COMUNICACIÓN SEXUAL ENTRE PADRES/MADRES Y ADOLESCENTES EN PUERTO RICO*

PubMed Central

Fernández, Ana Michelle; McFarlane, Melvin Negrón; González, Ricardo; Díaz, Leslie; Betancourt-Díaz, Elba; Cintrón-Bou, Francheska; Varas-Díaz, Nelson; Villarruel, Antonia

2017-01-01

RESUMEN La comunicación sobre sexualidad entre padres/madres y adolescentes enfrenta dificultades particulares producto de factores socioculturales. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo documentar las actitudes de padres/madres y adolescentes hacia la comunicación sobre temas de sexualidad. Los resultados emanan de la medición inicial del Proyecto Cuídalos. Los datos de este estudio forman parte de un estudio amplio que evaluó un módulo interactivo basado en la web para mejorar comunicación sobre temas de salud entre padres/madres y adolescentes entre 13–17 años. En este artículo, reportamos datos basales que contestaron los/as participantes sobre comodidad al hablar sobre temas de salud sexual. La muestra, de los datos aquí expuestos, estuvo compuesta por 458 diadas de madres/padres y sus hijos/as adolescentes (n=916). Se realizó análisis de frecuencias y medidas de tendencia central con los datos obtenidos inicialmente. La edad promedio de los adolescentes fue de 15 años, de los que un 15% se encontraban activos sexualmente. Los/as adolescentes tienen mejor disposición que los/as padres/madres para hablar sobre sexualidad. Sin embargo, los/as padres/madres entienden que comparten suficiente información sobre temas relacionados a la sexualidad. Los/as padres/madres y adolescentes reportaron algún grado de dificultad e incomodidad al hablar sobre métodos específicos de prevención. Los resultados destacan la necesidad de incorporar a los/as padres/madres en intervenciones con adolescentes sobre temas de salud sexual. En Puerto Rico es necesario desarrollar programas dirigidos a minimizar las conductas sexuales de alto riesgo en jóvenes. PMID:28736599

PubMed

López, Ana Cristina; Cecchetto, Eugenio; Aguirre, Ana Noemí; Ontiveros, Marina Celeste; Roitter, Claudia Valentina; Garcia, Adelaida Judith; Bernet, Jorgelina; Aguirre, Jorge Alberto

2018-03-23

El objetivo del estudio fue describir características clínicas, sociodemográficas y hábitos en adultos con diabetes mellitus y estudiar su asociación con la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud. Se seleccionó una muestra de 311 pacientes del Programa de Diabetes de una obra social universitaria, de la provincia de Córdoba. Se analizaron los datos a como proporciones y los componentes físico y mental del cuestionario SF-36® . El 57,4% alcanzó un nivel de instrucción terciario o universitario. La hipertensión arterial fue el factor de riesgo cardiovascular más prevalente (86,8%), seguida por dislipemia (50,6%) y obesidad (46,5%). El 24,8% tenía complicación macrovascular y el 29% microvascular. En el componente físico (CF) de calidad de vida las mujeres tuvieron una chance 4,2 veces mayor de reportar un valor inferior en relación a los varones. Entre los 50 y los 70 años se triplicó y los mayores de  70 años tuvieron 4 veces peor una puntuación en el CF respecto a los más jóvenes. Las complicaciones macro y microvasculares y los que reportaron menos de 2 hábitos de vida saludables tuvieron el doble de chances de puntuar por debajo del promedio general en el CF. La asociación entre complicaciones y peor calidad de vida es un motivo más para alcanzar un buen control metabólico, optimizar el manejo de factores de riesgo, evitando o retrasando la aparición de complicaciones.

Organizational cultural survey of the Los Alamos Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

An Organizational Survey (OS) was administered at the Los Alamos Site that queried employees on the subjects of organizational culture, various aspects of communications, employee commitment, work group cohesion, coordination of work, environmental, safety, and health concerns, hazardous nature of work, safety and overall job satisfaction. The purpose of the OS is to measure in a quantitative and objective way the notion of ``culture;`` that is, the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the individuals working within the organization. In addition, through the OS, a broad sample of individuals can be reached that would probably not be interviewed or observed duringmore » the course of a typical assessment. The OS also provides a descriptive profile of the organization at one point in time that can then be compared to a profile taken at a different point in time to assess changes in the culture of the organization. While comparisons among groups are made, it is not the purpose of this report to make evaluative statements of which profile may be positive or negative. However, using the data presented in this report in conjunction with other evaluative activities, may provide useful insight into the organization.« less

Organizational cultural survey of the Los Alamos Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

An Organizational Survey (OS) was administered at the Los Alamos Site that queried employees on the subjects of organizational culture, various aspects of communications, employee commitment, work group cohesion, coordination of work, environmental, safety, and health concerns, hazardous nature of work, safety and overall job satisfaction. The purpose of the OS is to measure in a quantitative and objective way the notion of culture;'' that is, the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the individuals working within the organization. In addition, through the OS, a broad sample of individuals can be reached that would probably not be interviewed or observed duringmore » the course of a typical assessment. The OS also provides a descriptive profile of the organization at one point in time that can then be compared to a profile taken at a different point in time to assess changes in the culture of the organization. While comparisons among groups are made, it is not the purpose of this report to make evaluative statements of which profile may be positive or negative. However, using the data presented in this report in conjunction with other evaluative activities, may provide useful insight into the organization.« less

The reconstruction algorithm used for [68Ga]PSMA-HBED-CC PET/CT reconstruction significantly influences the number of detected lymph node metastases and coeliac ganglia.

PubMed

Krohn, Thomas; Birmes, Anita; Winz, Oliver H; Drude, Natascha I; Mottaghy, Felix M; Behrendt, Florian F; Verburg, Frederik A

2017-04-01

To investigate whether the numbers of lymph node metastases and coeliac ganglia delineated on [ 68 Ga]PSMA-HBED-CC PET/CT scans differ among datasets generated using different reconstruction algorithms. Data were constructed using the BLOB-OS-TF, BLOB-OS and 3D-RAMLA algorithms. All reconstructions were assessed by two nuclear medicine physicians for the number of pelvic/paraaortal lymph node metastases as well the number of coeliac ganglia. Standardized uptake values (SUV) were also calculated in different regions. At least one [ 68 Ga]PSMA-HBED-CC PET/CT-positive pelvic or paraaortal lymph node metastasis was found in 49 and 35 patients using the BLOB-OS-TF algorithm, in 42 and 33 patients using the BLOB-OS algorithm, and in 41 and 31 patients using the 3D-RAMLA algorithm, respectively, and a positive ganglion was found in 92, 59 and 24 of 100 patients using the three algorithms, respectively. Quantitatively, the SUVmean and SUVmax were significantly higher with the BLOB-OS algorithm than with either the BLOB-OS-TF or the 3D-RAMLA algorithm in all measured regions (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The differences between the SUVs with the BLOB-OS-TF- and 3D-RAMLA algorithms were not significant in the aorta (SUVmean, p = 0.93; SUVmax, p = 0.97) but were significant in all other regions (p < 0.001 in all cases). The SUVmean ganglion/gluteus ratio was significantly higher with the BLOB-OS-TF algorithm than with either the BLOB-OS or the 3D-RAMLA algorithm and was significantly higher with the BLOB-OS than with the 3D-RAMLA algorithm (p < 0.001 in all cases). The results of [ 68 Ga]PSMA-HBED-CC PET/CT are affected by the reconstruction algorithm used. The highest number of lesions and physiological structures will be visualized using a modern algorithm employing time-of-flight information.

Development of an in situ hybridization assay for the detection of ostreid herpesvirus type 1 mRNAs in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas.

PubMed

Corbeil, Serge; Faury, Nicole; Segarra, Amélie; Renault, Tristan

2015-01-01

An in situ hybridization protocol for detecting mRNAs of ostreid herpesvirus type 1 (OsHV-1) which infects Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, was developed. Three RNA probes were synthesized by cloning three partial OsHV-1 genes into plasmids using three specific primer pairs, and performing a transcription in the presence of digoxigenin dUTP. The RNA probes were able to detect the virus mRNAs in paraffin sections of experimentally infected oysters 26 h post-injection. The in situ hybridization showed that the OsHV-1 mRNAs were mainly present in connective tissues in gills, mantle, adductor muscle, digestive gland and gonads. DNA detection by in situ hybridization using a DNA probe and viral DNA quantitation by real-time PCR were also performed and results were compared with those obtained using RNA probes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highly Sideophile Element Abundance Constraints on the Nature of the Late Accretionary Histories of Earth, Moon and Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, R. J.; Puchtel, I. S.; Brandon, A. D.; Horan, M. F.; James, O. B.

2007-01-01

The highly siderophile elements (HSE) include Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt and Pd. These elements are initially nearly-quantitatively stripped from planetary silicate mantles during core segregation. They then may be re-enriched in mantles via continued accretion sans continued core segregation. This suite of elements and its included long-lived radiogenic isotopes systems (Re-187 (right arrow) Os-187; Pt-190 (right arrow) Os-186) can potentially be used to fingerprint the characteristics of late accreted materials. The fingerprints may ultimately be useful to constrain the prior nebular history of the dominant late accreted materials, and to compare the proportion and genesis of late accretionary materials added to the inner planets. The past ten years have seen considerable accumulation of isotopic and compositional data for HSE present in the Earth's mantle, lunar mantle and impact melt breccias, and Martian meteorites. Here we review some of these data and consider the broader implications of the compiled data.

Home Delivery Medicament Program: access, inactivity and cardiovascular risk.

PubMed

Araújo, Roque da Silva; Arcuri, Edna Apparecida Moura; Lopes, Victor Cauê

2016-10-10

to verify causes of inactivity in the Home Delivery Medicament Program, as referred by users from a Primary Health Care Service in São Paulo, comparing them to the causes registered in the program and analyzing them in the theoretical model Concept of Access to Health. cross-sectional study, interviewing 111 inactive users; and documentary study in the program records. half of the users did not know the condition of inactivity. Discrepancies were found between the user's and the program's information, observing different levels of agreement: Absence of physician and administrative staff member 0%; Transfer to other service 25%; Death 50%; Option to quit 50%; Address change 57% and Change in therapeutic schedule 80%. The users' feeling of accepting the program was observed. In the health access concept, inactivity can be explained in the information dimension, in the degree of asymmetry between the patient's and the health professional's knowledge, identified through the indicators: education, knowledge and information sources. due to the low education level, the user does not assimilate the information on the steps of the program flowchart, does not return for the assessment that guarantees its continuity. Consequently, (s)he stops receiving the medication and spends a long time without treatment, increasing the cardiovascular risk of hypertensive (92% of the sample), diabetic (44%) and dyslipidemic patients (31%). verificar causas de inatividade no Programa Remédio em Casa, referidas por usuários de Unidade Básica de Saúde de São Paulo, comparando-as às registradas pelo programa e analisando-as no modelo teórico Conceito de Acesso à Saúde. estudo transversal entrevistando 111 usuários inativos; e documental, nos registros do programa. metade dos usuários desconhecia a condição de inatividade. Constatadas discrepâncias nas informações usuário versus programa, observando-se diferentes níveis de concordância: Falta de médico e funcionário administrativo 0%; Transferência para outra unidade 25%; Óbito 50%; Opção desistir 50%; Mudança de endereço 57% e Mudança de esquema terapêutico 80%. Observados sentimentos de aceitação do programa pelos usuários. No conceito de acesso à saúde, a inatividade pode ser explicada na dimensão Informação, no grau de assimetria entre o conhecimento do paciente e do profissional de saúde, identificada pelos indicadores: escolaridade, conhecimento e fontes de informação. devido ao baixo nível de escolaridade, o usuário não assimila as informações sobre as etapas do fluxograma do programa, não retorna para a avaliação que garante sua continuidade. Consequentemente, para de receber medicamentos e permanece longo tempo sem tratamento, o que aumenta o risco cardiovascular dos hipertensos (92% da amostra), diabéticos (44%) e dislipidêmicos (31%). verificar causas de inactividad en el Programa Medicamento en Casa, referidas por usuarios de Unidad Básica de Salud de São Paulo, comparándolas a las registradas por el programa y analizándolas en el modelo teórico Concepto de Acceso a la Salud. estudio trasversal entrevistando 111 usuarios inactivos; y documental, en los registros del programa. la mitad de los usuario desconocía la condición de inactividad. Constatadas discrepancias en las informaciones usuario versus programa, observándose diferentes niveles de concordancia: Falta de médico y funcionario administrativo 0%; Trasferencia para otra unidad 25%; Óbito 50%; Opción desistir 50%; Cambio de dirección 57% y Cambio de esquema terapéutico 80%. Observados sentimientos de aceptación del programa por los usuarios. En el concepto de acceso a la salud, la inactividad puede ser explicada en la dimensión Información, en el grado de asimetría entre el conocimiento del paciente y del profesional de salud, identificada por los indicadores: escolaridad, conocimiento y fuentes de información. debido al bajo nivel de escolaridad, el usuario no asimila las informaciones sobre las etapas del diagrama de flujo del programa, no regresa para la evaluación que garantiza su continuidad. Consecuentemente, deja de recibir medicamentos y sigue largo tiempo sin tratamiento, lo que aumenta el riesgo cardiovascular de los hipertensivos (92% de la muestra), diabéticos (44%) y dislipidémicos (31%).

Innovation in nursing health care practice: expansion of access in primary health care.

PubMed

Lowen, Ingrid Margareth Voth; Peres, Aida Maris; Ros, Carla da; Poli, Paulo; Faoro, Nilza Teresinha

2017-01-01

analyze the reorganization of the health care practice of nurses as an innovative strategy for expansion of access in primary care. qualitative and quantitative study, which interviewed 32 management and care nurses and collected documentary data from public reports of production of nursing consultations from 2010 to 2014, in a municipality in southern Brazil. Data processing for textual analysis was performed by IRAMUTEQ software; for simple descriptive statistical analysis, the program Excel 2013 was used. in the innovative care practice  class, associated with awareness of change, related to implementation of the FHS, its challenges and advantages, the following subclasses were identified: reorganization of schedules, nursing consultation, physical restructuring of BHUs, and shared consultation. the need to expand access to and valorization of care practice encourages the development of innovative strategies. The protagonism of care needs to be discussed in the various spaces so that each professional carry out the respective role with competence and efficacy. analisar a reorganização da prática assistencial do enfermeiro como estratégia inovadora para ampliação do acesso na atenção primária. estudo qualiquantitativo, tendo sido entrevistados 32 enfermeiros gerenciais e assistenciais e coletados dados documentais de relatórios públicos de produção de consultas dos enfermeiros de 2010 a 2014, num município sul-brasileiro. O processamento dos dados para análise textual foi realizado pelo software IRAMUTEQ; para análise estatística descritiva simples, o programa Excel 2013. na classe prática assistencial inovadora, associada à sensibilização para a mudança, relacionada à implantação da ESF, seus desafios e fortalezas, foram identificadas as subclasses: reorganização das agendas, consulta do enfermeiro, reestruturação física das UBS e consulta compartilhada. a necessidade de ampliar o acesso e valorização da prática assistencial incentiva o desenvolvimento de estratégias inovadoras. O protagonismo do cuidado precisa ser discutido nos diversos espaços a fim de que cada profissional desempenhe seu papel com competência e resolutividade.

An organizational survey of the Los Alamos Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shurberg, D.A.; Haber, S.B.

An Organizational Survey (OS) was administered at the Los Alamos Site that queried employees on the subjects of organizational culture, various aspects of communications, employee commitment, work group cohesion, coordination of work, environmental, safety, and health concern, hazardous nature of work, safety and overall job satisfaction. The purpose of the OS is to measure in a quantitative and objective way the notion of culture;'' that is, the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the individuals working within the organization. In addition, through the OS, a broad sample of individuals can be reached that would probably not be interviewed or observed duringmore » the course of a typical assessment. The OS also provides a descriptive profile of the organization at one point in time that can then be compared to a profile taken at a different point in time to assess changes in the culture of the organization. While comparisons among groups are made, it is not the purpose of this report to make evaluative statements of which profile may be positive or negative. However, using the data presented in this report in conjunction with other evaluative activities, may provide useful insight into the organization. The OS administration at the Los Alamos Site was the ninth to occur at a Department of Energy (DOE) facility. All data from the OS is presented in group summaries, by organization, department or directorate within organization, supervisory level both overall and within organization, and staff classification within organization. Statistically significant differences between groups are identified and discussed. 9 refs., 94 figs., 11 tabs.« less

An organizational survey of the Los Alamos Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shurberg, D.A.; Haber, S.B.

An Organizational Survey (OS) was administered at the Los Alamos Site that queried employees on the subjects of organizational culture, various aspects of communications, employee commitment, work group cohesion, coordination of work, environmental, safety, and health concern, hazardous nature of work, safety and overall job satisfaction. The purpose of the OS is to measure in a quantitative and objective way the notion of ``culture;`` that is, the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the individuals working within the organization. In addition, through the OS, a broad sample of individuals can be reached that would probably not be interviewed or observed duringmore » the course of a typical assessment. The OS also provides a descriptive profile of the organization at one point in time that can then be compared to a profile taken at a different point in time to assess changes in the culture of the organization. While comparisons among groups are made, it is not the purpose of this report to make evaluative statements of which profile may be positive or negative. However, using the data presented in this report in conjunction with other evaluative activities, may provide useful insight into the organization. The OS administration at the Los Alamos Site was the ninth to occur at a Department of Energy (DOE) facility. All data from the OS is presented in group summaries, by organization, department or directorate within organization, supervisory level both overall and within organization, and staff classification within organization. Statistically significant differences between groups are identified and discussed. 9 refs., 94 figs., 11 tabs.« less

Needs of family caregivers in home care for older adults.

PubMed

Bierhals, Carla Cristiane Becker Kottwitz; Santos, Naiana Oliveira Dos; Fengler, Fernanda Laís; Raubustt, Kamila Dellamora; Forbes, Dorothy Anne; Paskulin, Lisiane Manganelli Girardi

2017-04-06

to reveal the felt and normative needs of primary family caregivers when providing instrumental support to older adults enrolled in a Home Care Program in a Primary Health Service in the South of Brazil. using Bradshaw's taxonomy of needs to explore the caregiver's felt needs (stated needs) and normative needs (defined by professionals), a mixed exploratory study was conducted in three steps: Descriptive quantitative phase with 39 older adults and their caregiver, using a data sheet based on patient records; Qualitative exploratory phase that included 21 caregiver interviews, analyzed by content analysis; Systematic observation, using an observation guide with 16 caregivers, analyzed by descriptive statistics. the felt needs were related to information about instrumental support activities and subjective aspects of care. Caregivers presented more normative needs related to medications care. understanding caregivers' needs allows nurses to plan interventions based on their particularities. identificar as necessidades sentidas e normativas dos cuidadores familiares principais no apoio instrumental a idosos registrados em um Programa de Atenção Domiciliar em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde no Sul do Brasil. usando a Taxonomia de Necessidades de Bradshaw para explorar as necessidades sentidas (necessidades declaradas) e normativas (definidas por profissionais), desenvolveu-se um estudo exploratório misto em três etapas: Etapa descritiva quantitativa, envolvendo 39 idosos e seus cuidadores, com a ajuda de um folha de dados baseada no prontuário do paciente; Etapa exploratória qualitativa, baseada em entrevistas com 21 cuidadores, analisadas mediante a análise de conteúdo; Observação sistemática, aplicando um roteiro de observação a 16 cuidadores, com análise estatística descritiva. as necessidades sentidas estavam relacionadas a informações sobre atividades de apoio instrumental e aspectos subjetivos do cuidado. Os cuidadores apresentaram maior número de necessidades normativas associadas ao cuidado com as medicações. compreender as necessidades dos cuidadores permite aos enfermeiros planejar intervenções baseadas em suas particularidades. descubrir las necesidades sentidas y normativas de los cuidadores primarios familiares en la prestación de apoyo instrumental a ancianos registrados en un Programa de Atención Domiciliaria en una Unidad Básica de Salud en el sur de Brasil. usando la Taxonomía de Necesidades de Bradshaw para explorar las necesidades sentidas (necesidades declaradas) y normativas (definidas por profesionales), fue desarrollado un estudio exploratorio mixto en tres etapas: Etapa descriptiva cuantitativa, involucrando 39 ancianos y sus cuidadores, mediante una hoja de datos basada en el archivo del paciente; Etapa exploratoria cualitativa, basada en entrevistas con 21 cuidadores, analizadas mediante el análisis de contenido; Observación sistemática, aplicando un manual de observación a 16 cuidadores, con análisis estadístico descriptivo. las necesidades sentidas estaban relacionadas a informaciones sobre actividades de apoyo instrumental y aspectos subjetivos de la atención. Los cuidadores presentaron mayor número de necesidades normativas asociadas al cuidado con medicaciones. comprender las necesidades de los cuidadores permite a los enfermeros planificar intervenciones basadas en sus particularidades.

Tuberculosis as a marker of inequities in the context of socio-spatial transformation.

PubMed

Pedro, Alexandre San; Gibson, Gerusa; Santos, Jefferson Pereira Caldas Dos; Toledo, Luciano Medeiros de; Sabroza, Paulo Chagastelles; Oliveira, Rosely Magalhães de

2017-02-16

This study aims to analyze the association between the incidence of tuberculosis and different socioeconomic indicators in a territory of intense transformation of the urban space. This is an ecological study, whose analysis units were the neighborhoods of the city of Itaboraí, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The data have been analyzed by generalized linear models. The response variable was incidence of tuberculosis from 2006 to 2011. The independent variables were the socio-demographic indicators. The spatial distribution of tuberculosis was analyzed with the elaboration of thematic maps. The results have shown a significant association between the incidence of tuberculosis and variables that reflect different dimensions of living conditions, such as consumer goods, housing conditions and its surroundings, agglomeration of population, and income distribution. The disproportionate incidence of tuberculosis in populations with worse living conditions highlights the persistence of socioeconomic determinants in the reproduction of the disease. Different municipal public sectors need to better articulate with local tuberculosis control programs to reduce the social burden of the disease. Analisar a associação entre incidência de tuberculose e diferentes indicadores socioeconômicos em território em intensa transformação do espaço urbano. Estudo ecológico, cujas unidades de análise foram os bairros do município de Itaboraí, RJ. Os dados foram analisados por modelos lineares generalizados. A variável resposta foi incidência de tuberculose de 2006 a 2011. As variáveis independentes foram os indicadores sociodemográficos. A distribuição espacial da tuberculose foi analisada por meio da elaboração de mapas temáticos. Os resultados apontaram associação significativa entre a incidência de tuberculose e variáveis que refletem diferentes dimensões de condições de vida, como bens de consumo, condições de moradia e seu entorno, aglomeração populacional e distribuição de renda. O acometimento desproporcional da tuberculose em grupos populacionais com piores condições de vida ressalta a persistência dos determinantes socioeconômicos na reprodução da doença. Faz-se necessária a melhor articulação de diferentes setores públicos municipais com o programa local de controle da tuberculose visando à redução da carga social da doença.

Educational topics for school from the perspective of professionals in the Mobile Emergency Service.

PubMed

Mota, Larissa Larie; Andrade, Selma Regina de

2016-06-01

To systematize, with professionals from the Mobile Emergency Care Service of Santa Catarina municipality, the main issues for the development of an educational tool of attention to the emergency room, dedicated to the school-age population. Qualitative study, conducted through meetings in the focus group format, with 19 professionals who develop their activities in the city Emergency Mobile Emergency Service. Data were categorized and analyzed using thematic analysis technique. The contents discussed at the meetings were grouped into four thematic categories: The Mobile Emergency Service and the school: education and health promotion for children; As the Mobile Emergency Care Service works: What is important to know ?; Something's wrong, what now? and; We are nearly finished, give your opinion. The specific issues arising from the meetings contributed to the production of an educational tool on the activities of the Mobile Emergency Service, which may be used by the School Health Program to promote health education in the care area to the emergency room with the population schoolchildren. Sistematizar, junto aos profissionais do Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência de um município catarinense, os principais temas para a elaboração de um instrumento educativo sobre atenção às urgências, dedicado à população em idade escolar. Estudo qualitativo, realizado por meio de encontros no formato de grupo focal, com 19 profissionais que desenvolvem suas atividades no Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência municipal. Os dados foram categorizados e analisados com a técnica de análise temática. Os conteúdos debatidos nos encontros foram agrupados em quatro categorias temáticas: O Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência e a escola: educação e promoção da saúde para as crianças; Como o Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência funciona: o que é importante saber?; Tem algo errado, e agora? e; Estamos quase concluindo, dê sua opinião. Os temas específicos resultantes dos encontros contribuíram para a produção de um instrumento educacional sobre as atividades do Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência, que poderá ser utilizado pelo Programa Saúde na Escola para promover educação em saúde na área de atenção às urgências junto à população em idade escolar.

Healthy Start Programa Madrina: A Promotora Home Visiting Outreach and Education Program to Improve Perinatal Health among Latina Pregnant Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bill, Debra E.; Hock-Long, Linda; Mesure, Maryann; Bryer, Pamela; Zambrano, Neydary

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of Healthy Start Programa Madrina (HSPM), a home visiting promotora outreach and education program for Latina pregnant women and to present the 10-year findings of the program (1996-2005). Perinatal health disparities continue to persist among low-income…

What Have We Learned from the War on Drugs? An Assessment of Mexico’s Counternarcotics Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

Policía Judicial Federal (Mexico) [Mexican Judicial Federal Police] PNCD Programa Nacional para el Control de Drogas (Mexico) [National Drug...Institucional (Mexico) [Institutional Revolutionary Party] PRONASOL Programa Nacional de Solidaridad (Mexico) [National Solidarity Program] SCJN...Mexicano de Derecho Comparado no.127 (2010), 349-351. Translated by Google. 272 Guillermo Zepeda Lecuona, ―La reforma constitucional en materia

A Counter Insurgency Study: An Analysis of Local Defenses

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

Derrota de Sendero Luminoso; Programa Institucional de Investigación y Proyeccion en el Area de Gobernabilidad y Politica Publica, IEP ediciones...Corporation, Santa Monica CA. Kruijt, D. (1996), Sociedad de Terror: Guerrillas y Contrainsurgencia en Guatemala y El Peru; Cuadcien, Programa ... en El Salvador (1981 – 1992); Centro de Paz, El Latinoamericano; Retrieved on 7/16/2004 from http://www.stormpages.com/marting/laguerrasalvador.htm

Religiosidade, juventude e sexualidade: entre a autonomia e a rigidez1

PubMed Central

Silva, Cristiane Gonçalves da; Santos, Alessandro Oliveira; Licciardi, Daniele Carli; Paiva, Vera; Parker, Richard

2009-01-01

Esse artigo descreve como jovens religiosos e autoridades religiosas de sua comunidade compreendem a sexualidade, considerando suas experiências pessoais e como membros de comunidades religiosas. A análise pretende contribuir para que políticas públicas dedicadas à promoção da saúde sexual da juventude considerem a religiosidade, no contexto de um estado laico e da promoção do direito à prevenção. Foram realizadas 26 entrevistas abertas e semidirigidas em diferentes comunidades da região metropolitana da cidade de São Paulo (comunidades católicas, da umbanda, do candomblé e de diferentes denominações evangélicas) sobre iniciação sexual, casamento, gravidez, contracepção e prevenção das DST/Aids, homossexualidade, aborto e direitos humanos. Observou-se como jovens e autoridades religiosas convivem com a tensão entre tradição e modernidade e os distintos discursos sobre a sexualidade. Como sujeitos religiosos (do discurso religioso) e sujeitos sexuais (de discursos sobre sexualidade), devem ser incorporados pelos programas como sujeitos de direito nos termos de sua religiosidade. PMID:21886456

[Standardization of the terminology of the academic medical centers and biomedical research centers, in the English language, for journal article sending].

PubMed

Hochman, Bernardo; Locali, Rafael Fagionato; Oliveira Filho, Renato Santos de; Oliveira, Ricardo Leão de; Goldenberg, Saul; Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2006-01-01

To suggest a standardization, in the English language, the formatting of the citation of the research centers. From three more recent publications of the first 20 journals available in Brazilian Portal of Scientific Information - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), with bigger factor of impact during the year of 2004, according of information in ISI Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports database in biennium 2004-2005, had extracted the formats of citations of the research centers. An analogy to the institutional hierarchie step of the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) was carried out, and the formats most frequent, in the English language, had been adopted as standard to be suggested to cite the research centers for sending articles. In relation to the citation "Departamento", was standardized "Department of ..." (being "..." the name in English of the Department), to the citation "Programa de Pós-Graduação" "... Program", "Disciplina" "Division of ...", "Orgãos, Grupos e Associações" "... Group ", "Setor" "Section of...", "Centro" "Center for ...", "Unidade" "... Unit ", "Instituto" "Institute of ...", "Laboratório" "Laboratory of ..." and "Grupo" "Group of ...".

CRITERIA FOR CONSULTANT AND ADVISOR IN THE BRAZILIAN POSTGRADUATE SYSTEM.

PubMed

Petroianu, Andy

2015-01-01

To review the rules, resolutions and existing documents relating to consultant and advisor to better target the actions of those who exercise these roles. The following documents were consulted: Statute of CAPES, through Decree No. 7692 of March 2, 2012; Ordinance No. 47 of 17/10/1995; Opinion 977 1965 Newton Sucupira; Area Document of Medicine III; Interministerial Ordinance 251 of 2012, based on Decree No. 7642 of 2011 of the Ministry of Science and Technology; CAPES Regiment. The Brazilian Postgraduate system is divided in two different fields, according to its aspects: the "lato sensu" postgraduate, defined as all professional studies performed after the high school graduation; and the "stricto sensu" postgraduate that includes the master degree and the doctorate, both of them different from what is known as MSc or MS and PhD. The Brazilian doctorate is recognized as academic because its purposes include to improve the scientific and the teaching levels of university docents. The master degree has two different objectives one is to be academic and similar to the doctorate; the other is to upgrade professionals to a higher level than specialist or MBA and is denominated professional master degree. The master degrees and the doctorate are designated as courses and may be put together in a structure known as stricto sensu postgraduate program. The complexity of these courses and programs in all the areas of the superior human knowledge requires a large number of professional directly involved with this system and other professionals that attend them, called consultants and advisors. The consultants are counselors, and the advisors are assistants, both of them legally established with the incumbency to aid the postgraduate staff in all their duties. Nothing prevents a person from being a consultant on the situation and advisor on another, even in the same institution. Have knowledge about what being a consultant and advisor is required to exercise the function within the limits and dimension that the wingspan of the professional allows. Revisar as normas, resoluções e documentos vigentes relativos ao tema consultoria e assessoria para melhor orientar as atuações de quem exerce esses papéis. Foram consultados os seguintes documentos: Estatuto da CAPES, por meio do Decreto Nº 7.692, de 02 de março de 2012; Portaria nº 47 de 17/10/1995; Parecer 977 de 1965 de Newton Sucupira; Documento de Área da Medicina III; Portaria Interministerial 251 de 2012, com base no Decreto nº 7642 de 2011 do Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia; e Regimento da CAPES. O gerenciamento dos programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu requer estrutura multiprofissional diversificada em todos os seus níveis, constituída por corpo próprio da instituição e por componentes agregados, incluindo os consultores e assessores. O consultor é pessoa independente, sem vínculo com quem o convida e, nesse sentido, espera-se dele isenção na execução das tarefas solicitadas, nas quais se pressupõe domínio cultural, científico e humanístico. No Documento de Área da Medicina III, a consultoria é valorizada como atributo importante do Corpo Docente e está mencionada na Proposta dos Programas de Pós-graduação em seu item 2.1. Por outro lado, o assessor está vinculado ao solicitante em relação de dependência funcional. Dentro de sua área do conhecimento, o assessor é considerado adjunto do solicitante e pode substituí-lo ou representá-lo. No Documento de Área da Medicina III, o desempenho de assessoria pelo Corpo Docente está mencionado na Proposta dos Programas de Pós-graduação em seu item 5.2. Ter conhecimento sobre o que significa ser consultor e assessor é necessário para exercer a função dentro dos limites que lhe compete e na dimensão que a envergadura do profissional permite. Nada impede que uma pessoa seja consultora em situação e assessora em outra, até na mesma instituição. Ter conhecimento sobre o que significa ser consultor e assessor é necessário para poder exercer a função dentro dos limites que lhe compete e na dimensão que a envergadura do profissional permite.

Visualization and quantitative analysis of extrachromosomal telomere-repeat DNA in individual human cells by Halo-FISH

PubMed Central

Komosa, Martin; Root, Heather; Meyn, M. Stephen

2015-01-01

Current methods for characterizing extrachromosomal nuclear DNA in mammalian cells do not permit single-cell analysis, are often semi-quantitative and frequently biased toward the detection of circular species. To overcome these limitations, we developed Halo-FISH to visualize and quantitatively analyze extrachromosomal DNA in single cells. We demonstrate Halo-FISH by using it to analyze extrachromosomal telomere-repeat (ECTR) in human cells that use the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) pathway(s) to maintain telomere lengths. We find that GM847 and VA13 ALT cells average ∼80 detectable G/C-strand ECTR DNA molecules/nucleus, while U2OS ALT cells average ∼18 molecules/nucleus. In comparison, human primary and telomerase-positive cells contain <5 ECTR DNA molecules/nucleus. ECTR DNA in ALT cells exhibit striking cell-to-cell variations in number (<20 to >300), range widely in length (<1 to >200 kb) and are composed of primarily G- or C-strand telomere-repeat DNA. Halo-FISH enables, for the first time, the simultaneous analysis of ECTR DNA and chromosomal telomeres in a single cell. We find that ECTR DNA comprises ∼15% of telomere-repeat DNA in GM847 and VA13 cells, but <4% in U2OS cells. In addition to its use in ALT cell analysis, Halo-FISH can facilitate the study of a wide variety of extrachromosomal DNA in mammalian cells. PMID:25662602

Interaction with Institutional Agents in Community College, Predictors of Latino Males' Commitment to Educational Goals: A Quantitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perezchica, Inez G.

2017-01-01

Only 9% of U.S Latino males have bachelor's degrees. Community colleges are the preferred choice for Latinas/os entering the higher education pipeline. Almost half of first-year community college students leave college without achieving their educational goals. Racial inequalities in education are a symptom of lingering institutional racism. In…

Social representations of the health care of the Mbyá-Guarani indigenous population by health workers.

PubMed

Falkenberg, Mirian Benites; Shimizu, Helena Eri; Bermudez, Ximena Pamela Díaz

2017-02-06

to analyze the social representations of health care of the Mbyá-Guarani ethnic group by multidisciplinary teams from the Special Indigenous Health District in the south coast of Rio Grande do Sul state (Distrito Sanitário Especial Indígena Litoral Sul do Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil. a qualitative method based on the theory of social representations was used. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 20 health workers and by participant observation. The interviews were analyzed with ALCESTE software, which conducts a lexical content analysis using quantitative techniques for the treatment of textual data. there were disagreements in the health care concepts and practices between traditional medicine and biomedicine; however, some progress has been achieved in the area of intermedicality. The ethnic boundaries established between health workers and indigenous peoples based on their representations of culture and family, together with the lack of infrastructure and organization of health actions, are perceived as factors that hinder health care in an intercultural context. a new basis for the process of indigenous health care needs to be established by understanding the needs identified and by agreement among individuals, groups, and health professionals via intercultural exchange. analisar as representações sociais do cuidado em saúde entre trabalhadores que atuam em equipes multidisciplinares no Distrito Sanitário Especial Indígena Litoral Sul do Rio Grande do Sul, junto à etnia Mbyá-Guarani. utilizou-se método qualitativo, fundamentado na teoria das Representações Sociais. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com 20 trabalhadores e da observação participante. As entrevistas analisadas com o software ALCESTE, o qual realiza a análise lexical de conteúdo por meio de técnicas quantitativas de tratamento de dados textuais. verificou-se que existe tensão entre as concepções e práticas de cuidado da medicina tradicional e da biomedicina, mas observam-se alguns avanços na perspectiva da intermedicalidade. Fronteiras étnicas estabelecidas entre os trabalhadores e os indígenas, baseadas em suas representações de cultura e família, da mesma maneira que a falta de infraestrutura e os modos de organização do trabalho em saúde são percebidos como fatores que dificultam o cuidado em contextos de interculturalidade. é preciso estabelecer novas bases para o processo de cuidar em saúde indígena, a partir da compreensão das necessidades representadas, negociadas entre sujeitos individuais e coletivos e os profissionais nas instituições de saúde em um diálogo intercultural de múltiplas vozes. analizar las representaciones sociales de la atención de la salud del grupo étnico Mbyá-Guaraní por equipos multidisciplinarios del Distrito Sanitario Especial Indígena en la costa sur del estado de Rio Grande do Sul (Distrito Sanitário Especial Indígena Litoral Sul do Rio Grande do Sul), Brasil. se utilizó un método cualitativo basado en la teoría de las representaciones sociales. Los datos fueron recogidos a través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas con 20 trabajadores de la salud y por observación de los participantes. Las entrevistas fueron analizadas con el programa ALCESTE, que realiza un análisis de contenido léxico utilizando técnicas cuantitativas para el tratamiento de datos textuales. hubo desacuerdos en los conceptos y prácticas de atención médica entre medicina tradicional y biomedicina; sin embargo, se han logrado algunos avances en el área de la intermedicina. Las barreras étnicas establecidas entre los trabajadores de la salud y los pueblos indígenas basados en sus representaciones de la cultura y la familia, junto con la falta de infraestructura y organización de las acciones de salud, son percibidas como factores que obstaculizan la atención sanitaria en un contexto intercultural. es necesario establecer una nueva base para el proceso de atención de salud indígena mediante la comprensión de las necesidades identificadas y por acuerdo entre individuos, grupos y profesionales de la salud a través del intercambio intercultural.

Downregulation of miR-99a/let-7c/miR-125b miRNA cluster predicts clinical outcome in patients with unresected malignant pleural mesothelioma

PubMed Central

Genova, Carlo; Mora, Marco; Dal Bello, Maria Giovanna; Vanni, Irene; Alama, Angela; Rijavec, Erika; Biello, Federica; Barletta, Giulia; Merlo, Domenico Franco; Valentino, Alessandro; Ferro, Paola; Ravetti, Gian Luigi; Stigliani, Sara; Vigani, Antonella; Fedeli, Franco; Beer, David G.; Roncella, Silvio; Grossi, Francesco

2017-01-01

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor with a dismal overall survival (OS) and to date no molecular markers are available to guide patient management. This study aimed to identify a prognostic miRNA signature in MPM patients who did not undergo tumor resection. Whole miRNA profiling using a microarray platform was performed using biopsies on 27 unresected MPM patients with distinct clinical outcome: 15 patients had short survival (OS<12 months) and 12 patients had long survival (OS>36 months). Three prognostic miRNAs (mir-99a, let-7c, and miR-125b) encoded at the same cluster (21q21) were selected for further validation and tested on publicly available miRNA sequencing data from 72 MPM patients with survival data. A risk model was built based on these 3 miRNAs that was validated by quantitative PCR in an independent set of 30 MPM patients. High-risk patients had shorter median OS (7.6 months) as compared with low-risk patients (median not reached). In the multivariate Cox model, a high-risk score was independently associated with shorter OS (HR=3.14; 95% CI, 1.18–8.34; P=0.022). Our study identified that the downregulation of the miR-99a/let-7/miR-125b miRNA cluster predicts poor outcome in unresected MPM. PMID:28978143

Validation of housekeeping genes as internal controls for studying gene expression during Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) development by quantitative real-time PCR.

PubMed

Du, Yishuai; Zhang, Linlin; Xu, Fei; Huang, Baoyu; Zhang, Guofan; Li, Li

2013-03-01

Hatchery-reared larvae of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) often suffer from massive mortality induced by Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) infection, indicating the importance of better understanding of oyster immune defense systems. The accuracy of measurements of gene expression levels based on quantitative real-time PCR assays relies on the use of housekeeping genes as internal controls; however, few studies have focused on the selection of such internal controls. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of internal control genes during oyster development in virus-infected and uninfected samples. Transcriptome data for 38 developmental stages were downloaded and the gene expression patterns were classified into 30 clusters. A total of 317 orthologs of classical housekeeping genes in the oyster genome were annotated. After combining the expression profiles and oyster housekeeping gene dataset, 14 candidate internal controls were selected for further investigation: Elongation factor-1α (EF-1α), 18S rRNA (18S), 28S rRNA (28S), Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β-actin (ACT), Ribosomal protein L7 (RL7), Ribosomal protein L27 (RL27), Ribosomal protein L36 (RL36), Ribosomal protein S18 (RS18), Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (RO21), Eukaryotic translation elongation factor 2 (EF2), Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2D2 (UBCD1), S-phase kinase-associated protein 1 (SKP1) and Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein Q (HNRPQ). RNA was extracted from oyster larvae infected with OsHV-1 (group A; GA), and OsHV-1 free larvae (group B; GB). The expression levels of the 14 candidate internal controls were studied in GA and GB larvae by real-time PCR. Their expression stabilities were further analyzed using the GeNorm program. RL7 and RS18 were the most stable genes in both OsHV-1 infected (GA) and uninfected (GB) larvae. These results suggest that RL7 and RS18 could be used as internal controls for studying gene expression in normal growing oyster larvae and in OsHV-1 infected larvae. These high quality internal controls will be a valuable resource in future studies of oyster larval mortality. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Present and Future of the United States-Bolivia Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-11

Programa de Gobierno-MAS-IPSP,” Archivo Chile , http://www.archivochile.com/Portada/bol_elecciones05/bolelecciones0009.pdf (accessed May 2, 2009...accessed November 9, 2009). Movimiento al Socialismo. “ Programa de Gobierno-MAS-IPSP.” Archivo Chile . http://www.archivochile.com/Portada/bol_elecciones05...partidos en Bolivia,” Futuros Revista Trimestral Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Desarrollo Sustentable, http://www.revistafuturos.info/ futuros_9

Manual de control de calidad del Inventario Forestal Nacional (IFN) [Quality control manual of the National Forest Inventory (NFI)

Treesearch

P. Barbosa; F. Herrera; S. Goeking; V. Nieto; M. Pena; S. Ortiz

2014-01-01

El Inventario Forestal Nacional de Colombia (IFN) incluye un programa de Aseguramiento de Calidad (AC) para garantizar la confiabilidad de todos los datos recogidos y generados en la etapa de muestreo. El objetivo de este programa; es proporcionar un marco que asegure que la información compilada acerca de los bosques es completa, exacta, imparcial y de calidad...

Identification of Roles for Peptide: N-Glycanase and Endo-β-N-Acetylglucosaminidase (Engase1p) during Protein N-Glycosylation in Human HepG2 Cells

PubMed Central

Chantret, Isabelle; Fasseu, Magali; Zaoui, Karim; Le Bizec, Christiane; Sadou Yayé, Hassane; Dupré, Thierry; Moore, Stuart E. H.

2010-01-01

Background During mammalian protein N-glycosylation, 20% of all dolichol-linked oligosaccharides (LLO) appear as free oligosaccharides (fOS) bearing the di-N-acetylchitobiose (fOSGN2), or a single N-acetylglucosamine (fOSGN), moiety at their reducing termini. After sequential trimming by cytosolic endo β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (ENGase) and Man2c1 mannosidase, cytosolic fOS are transported into lysosomes. Why mammalian cells generate such large quantities of fOS remains unexplored, but fOSGN2 could be liberated from LLO by oligosaccharyltransferase, or from glycoproteins by NGLY1-encoded Peptide-N-Glycanase (PNGase). Also, in addition to converting fOSGN2 to fOSGN, the ENGASE-encoded cytosolic ENGase of poorly defined function could potentially deglycosylate glycoproteins. Here, the roles of Ngly1p and Engase1p during fOS metabolism were investigated in HepG2 cells. Methods/Principal Findings During metabolic radiolabeling and chase incubations, RNAi-mediated Engase1p down regulation delays fOSGN2-to-fOSGN conversion, and it is shown that Engase1p and Man2c1p are necessary for efficient clearance of cytosolic fOS into lysosomes. Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not possess ENGase activity and expression of human Engase1p in the png1Δ deletion mutant, in which fOS are reduced by over 98%, partially restored fOS generation. In metabolically radiolabeled HepG2 cells evidence was obtained for a small but significant Engase1p-mediated generation of fOS in 1 h chase but not 30 min pulse incubations. Ngly1p down regulation revealed an Ngly1p-independent fOSGN2 pool comprising mainly Man8GlcNAc2, corresponding to ∼70% of total fOS, and an Ngly1p-dependent fOSGN2 pool enriched in Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 and Man9GlcNAc2 that corresponds to ∼30% of total fOS. Conclusions/Significance As the generation of the bulk of fOS is unaffected by co-down regulation of Ngly1p and Engase1p, alternative quantitatively important mechanisms must underlie the liberation of these fOS from either LLO or glycoproteins during protein N-glycosylation. The fully mannosylated structures that occur in the Ngly1p-dependent fOSGN2 pool indicate an ERAD process that does not require N-glycan trimming. PMID:20668520

Homologous expression of cytosolic dehydroascorbate reductase increases grain yield and biomass under paddy field conditions in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L. japonica).

PubMed

Kim, Young-Saeng; Kim, Il-Sup; Bae, Mi-Jung; Choe, Yong-Hoe; Kim, Yul-Ho; Park, Hyang-Mi; Kang, Hong-Gyu; Yoon, Ho-Sung

2013-06-01

Dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR, EC 1.8.5.1) maintains redox pools of ascorbate (AsA) by recycling oxidized AsA to reduced AsA. To investigate whether DHAR affects rice yield under normal environmental conditions, cDNA-encoding DHAR (OsDHAR1) was isolated from rice and used to develop OsDHAR1-overexpressing transgenic rice plants, under the regulation of a maize ubiquitin promoter. Incorporation and expression of the transgene in transgenic rice plants was confirmed by genomic polymerase chain reaction (PCR), semi-quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), western blot, and enzyme activity. The expression levels were at least twofold higher in transgenic (TG) rice plants than in control wild-type (WT) rice plants. In addition, OsDHAR1-overexpression in seven-independent homologous transgenic plants, as compared to WT plants, increased photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant enzyme activities under paddy field conditions, which led to an improved AsA pool and redox homeostasis. Furthermore, OsDHAR1 overexpression significantly improved grain yield and biomass due to the increase of culm and root weights and to enhance panicle and spikelet numbers in the same seven independent TG rice plants during the farming season (2010 and 2011) in South Korea. The OsDHAR protein contained the redox-active site (Cys20), as well as the conserved GSH-binding region, GSH-binding motif, glutathione-S-transferase (GST) N-terminal domain, C-terminal domain interface, and GST C-terminal domain. Therefore, our results indicate that OsDHAR1 overexpression, capable of functioning in AsA recycling, and protein folding increases environmental adaptation to paddy field conditions by the improving AsA pool and redox homeostasis, which enhances rice grain yield and biomass.

Comparison of milk oligosaccharides between goats with and without the genetic ability to synthesize αs1-casein

PubMed Central

Meyrand, M.; Dallas, D.C.; Caillat, H.; Bouvier, F.; Martin, P.; Barile, D.

2014-01-01

Milk oligosaccharides (OS)—free complex carbohydrates—confer unique health benefits to the nursing neonate. Though human digestive enzymes cannot degrade these sugars, they provide nourishment to specific commensal microbes and act as decoys to prevent the adhesion of pathogenic micro-organisms to gastrointestinal cells. At present, the limited quantities of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) impede research on these molecules and their potential applications in functional food formulations. Considerable progress has been made in the study of OS structures; however, the synthetic pathways leading to their synthesis in the mammary gland are poorly understood. Recent studies show that complex OS with fucose and N-acetyl neuraminic acid (key structural elements of HMO bioactivity) exist in goat milk. Polymorphisms in the CSN1S1 locus, which is responsible for synthesis of αs1-casein, affect lipid and casein micelle structure in goat milk. The present study sought to determine whether CSN1S1 polymorphisms also influence goat milk oligosaccharide (GMO) production and secretion. The GMO compositions of thirty-two goat milk samples, half of which were from genotype A/A (αs1-casein producers) and half from genotype O/O (αs1-casein non-producers), were determined with nanoflow liquid chromatography high-accuracy mass spectrometry. This study represents the most exhaustive characterization of GMO to date. A systematic and comprehensive GMO library was created, consolidating information available in the literature with the new findings. Nearly 30 GMO, 11 of which were novel, were confirmed via tandem mass spectrometric analyses. Six fucosylated OS were identified; 4 of these matched HMO compositions and three were identified for the first time in goat milk. Importantly, multivariate statistical analysis demonstrated that the OS profiles of the A/A and O/O genotype milks could be discriminated by the fucosylated OS. Quantitative analysis revealed that the goat milk samples contained 1.17 g/L of OS; however, their concentration in milks from A/A and O/O genotypes was not different. This study provides evidence of a genetic influence on specific OS biosynthesis but not total OS production. The presence of fucosylated GMO suggests that goat milk represents a potential source of bioactive milk OS suitable as a functional food ingredient. PMID:24587592

The role of physical exercise in obstructive sleep apnea.

PubMed

Andrade, Flávio Maciel Dias de; Pedrosa, Rodrigo Pinto

2016-01-01

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common clinical condition, with a variable and underestimated prevalence. OSA is the main condition associated with secondary systemic arterial hypertension, as well as with atrial fibrillation, stroke, and coronary artery disease, greatly increasing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Treatment with continuous positive airway pressure is not tolerated by all OSA patients and is often not suitable in cases of mild OSA. Hence, alternative methods to treat OSA and its cardiovascular consequences are needed. In OSA patients, regular physical exercise has beneficial effects other than weight loss, although the mechanisms of those effects remain unclear. In this population, physiological adaptations due to physical exercise include increases in upper airway dilator muscle tone and in slow-wave sleep time; and decreases in fluid accumulation in the neck, systemic inflammatory response, and body weight. The major benefits of exercise programs for OSA patients include reducing the severity of the condition and daytime sleepiness, as well as increasing sleep efficiency and maximum oxygen consumption. There are few studies that evaluated the role of physical exercise alone for OSA treatment, and their protocols are quite diverse. However, aerobic exercise, alone or combined with resistance training, is a common point among the studies. In this review, the major studies and mechanisms involved in OSA treatment by means of physical exercise are presented. In addition to systemic clinical benefits provided by physical exercise, OSA patients involved in a regular, predominantly aerobic, exercise program have shown a reduction in disease severity and in daytime sleepiness, as well as an increase in sleep efficiency and in peak oxygen consumption, regardless of weight loss. RESUMO A apneia obstrutiva do sono (AOS) é uma condição clínica comum, possuindo prevalência variável e subestimada. Principal condição associada à hipertensão arterial sistêmica secundária, associa-se ainda à fibrilação atrial, acidente vascular encefálico e doença arterial coronariana, aumentando a morbidade e mortalidade cardiovascular. O tratamento da AOS com pressão positiva contínua em vias aéreas não é tolerado por todos os pacientes e, muitas vezes, não é indicado para formas leves. Daí, métodos alternativos de tratamento da AOS e de suas consequências cardiovasculares são necessários. A prática usual de exercícios físicos promove benefícios adicionais à redução do peso em pacientes com AOS; contudo, os mecanismos ainda são incertos. Entre as adaptações fisiológicas proporcionadas pelo exercício físico nessa população destacam-se o aumento do tônus da musculatura dilatadora das vias aéreas superiores e do tempo do estágio do sono de ondas lentas e a redução do acúmulo cervical de líquido, da resposta inflamatória sistêmica e do peso corpóreo. Os principais benefícios de programas de exercício físico para essa população incluem a redução da gravidade da AOS e da sonolência diurna e o aumento da eficiência do sono e consumo máximo de oxigênio. Poucos estudos avaliaram o papel do exercício físico realizado de forma isolada no tratamento da AOS, além de existirem muitas diferenças relacionadas aos protocolos de exercício utilizados. Entretanto, o emprego de exercícios aeróbios isolados ou combinados aos exercícios resistidos é um ponto comum entre os estudos. Nessa revisão, os principais estudos e mecanismos envolvidos no tratamento da AOS por meio da realização de exercícios físicos são apresentados. Além dos benefícios clínicos sistêmicos proporcionados pelo exercício físico, pacientes com AOS submetidos a um programa regular de exercícios predominantemente aeróbicos, apresentam redução da gravidade da doença e da sonolência diurna, aumento da eficiência do sono e do pico de consumo de oxigênio, independentemente da perda de peso.

Assessment and management of pain in newborns hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Sposito, Natália Pinheiro Braga; Rossato, Lisabelle Mariano; Bueno, Mariana; Kimura, Amélia Fumiko; Costa, Taine; Guedes, Danila Maria Batista

2017-09-12

to determine the frequency of pain, to verify the measures adopted for pain relief during the first seven days of hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and to identify the type and frequency of invasive procedures to which newborns are submitted. cross-sectional retrospective study. Out of the 188 hospitalizations occurred during the 12-month period, 171 were included in the study. The data were collected from the charts and the presence of pain was analyzed based on the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and on nursing notes suggestions of pain. For statistical analysis, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used, and the significance level was set at 5%. there was at least one record of pain in 50.3% of the hospitalizations, according to the pain scale adopted or nursing note. The newborns underwent a mean of 6.6 invasive procedures per day. Only 32.5% of the pain records resulted in the adoption of pharmacological or non-pharmacological intervention for pain relief. newborns are frequently exposed to pain and the low frequency of pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions reinforces the undertreatment of this condition. determinar a frequência de dor e verificar as medidas realizadas para seu alívio durante os sete primeiros dias de internação na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Neonatal, bem como identificar o tipo e frequência de procedimentos invasivos aos quais os recém-nascidos foram submetidos. estudo retrospectivo transversal. Das 188 internações ocorridas no período estipulado de 12 meses, 171 foram incluídas na pesquisa. Os dados foram coletados a partir dos prontuários e a presença de dor foi analisada tanto com base na escala de dor Neonatal Infant Pain Scale quanto mediante anotação de enfermagem sugestiva de dor. Para análise estatística, utilizou-se o programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, adotando-se nível de significância de 5%. em 50,3% das internações houve ao menos um registro de dor, conforme escala de dor adotada ou anotação de enfermagem. Os recém-nascidos foram submetidos à média de 6,6 procedimentos invasivos por dia. Apenas 32,5% dos registros de dor resultaram na adoção de condutas farmacológicas ou não farmacológicas para seu alívio. observa-se que os recém-nascidos são frequentemente expostos à dor e a baixa frequência de intervenções farmacológicas ou não farmacológicas reforça o subtratamento dessa condição. determinar la frecuencia del dolor, comprobar las medidas tomadas para su alivio durante los siete primeros días de internación en una Unidad de Terapia Intensiva Neonatal e identificar el tipo de procedimientos invasivos y la frecuencia a que se sometieron los recién nacidos. estudio retrospectivo transversal. De las 188 internaciones realizadas en el período estipulado de 12 meses, se incluyeron 171 en la investigación. Los datos se recolectaron a partir de los prontuarios; la presencia de dolor se analizó según la Escala de Valorización del Dolor en el Neonato (Neonatal Infant Pain Scale) y las notas de enfermería sobre el dolor. Para el análisis estadístico, se utilizó el programa 'Paquete estadístico para las ciencias sociales' (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), adoptándose el nivel de significación del 5%. en el 50,3% de las internaciones hubo al menos un registro de dolor, según la escala de dolor adoptada o las notas de la enfermería. Se sometió a los recién nacidos a un promedio de 6,6 procedimientos invasivos por día. Sólo el 32,5% de los registros de dolor resultaron en la adopción de conductas farmacológicas o no farmacológicas para su alivio. se observa que los recién nacidos a menudo están expuestos al dolor, y la frecuencia baja de intervenciones farmacológicas o de las no farmacológicas refuerza el subtratamiento de dicha condición.

Characterization of porcine milk oligosaccharides during early lactation and their relation to the fecal microbiome

PubMed Central

Salcedo, J.; Frese, S. A.; Mills, D. A.; Barile, D.

2017-01-01

The composition of porcine milk oligosaccharides (PMO) was analyzed during early lactation and their relation to piglet gut microbiome was investigated. Pigs are considered ideal intestinal models to simulate humans because of the striking similarity in intestinal physiopathology to humans. The evolution of PMO was investigated in the milk from 3 healthy sows at prefarrowing, farrowing, and d 7 and 14 postpartum by Nano-LC Chip Quadrupole-Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA). Previously sequenced metagenome libraries were reanalyzed to examine changes with specific gut bacterial populations. Over 30 oligosaccharides (OS) were identified in the milk, with 3′-sialyllactose, lacto-N-tetraose, α1–3,β1–4-d-galactotriose, 2′-fucosyllactose, and 6′-sialyllactose being the most abundant species (accounting for ~70% of the total OS). Porcine milk had lower OS diversity (number of unique structures) than human milk, and appeared closer to bovine and caprine milk. In agreement with previous studies, only 3 fucosylated OS were identified. Surprisingly, their contribution to total OS abundance was greater than in bovine milk (9 vs. 1%). Indeed, fucosylated PMO increased during lactation, mirroring a similar trend observed for neutral and type I OS content during early lactation. Taken together, these results suggest that, in terms of abundance, PMO are closer to human milk than other domestic species, such as bovine and caprine milks. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that fucose-consuming bacterial taxa in the gut microbiota of piglets were qualitatively but not quantitatively different between nursing and weaning stages, suggesting that both the composition and structure of dietary glycans may play a critical role in shaping the distal gut microbiome. The similarity of both intestinal physiopathology and milk OS composition in human and porcine species suggests similar effects on gastrointestinal development of early nutrition, reinforcing the use of the pig intestinal model to simulate human intestinal models in the clinical setting. PMID:27522435

Viviendo Con Incendios: Una guia para los duenos de casas en Nuevo Mexico [Living with Fire: A Guide for the Homeowner-New Mexico

Treesearch

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management

2008-01-01

La posibilidad de perdidas humanas y de propiedad en Nuevo Mexico debido a un incendio forestal ha ido incrementando. Para responder a este peligro, entidades locales, estatales, federales, particulares y sin fines de lucro se han unido para crear Como Reducir la Amenaza de Incendios Forestales, un programa dirigido a los propietarios de casas. Este no es un programa...

Study of the Generation of Intense Pulsed Electron Beams Using Glow Discharges

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-02-01

de Investigaciones Opticas, Rep. Argentina. (2) On leave from PROFET (UNCPBA) Programa de Fisica Experimental Tandil, Rep. Argentina. (3) Edwards... de Investigaciones Opticas, (CIC-BA) Rep. Argentina. Section III-D. Measurements of the plasma density andB. T. Szapiro is on leave from Programa de ...discussed. The radial profiles Szapiro was supported by a fellowship from the Universidad Nacional de show the presence of a high-current-density

Phase diagram of Ba 2 NaOsO 6, a Mott insulator with strong spin orbit interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, W.; Cong, R.; Garcia, E.; Reyes, A. P.; Lee, H. O.; Fisher, I. R.; Mitrović, V. F.

2018-05-01

We report 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of the Mott insulator with strong spin-orbit interaction Ba2NaOsO6 as a function of temperature in different magnetic fields ranging from 7 T to 29 T. The measurements, intended to concurrently probe spin and orbital/lattice degrees of freedom, are an extension of our work at lower fields reported in Lu et al. (2017) [1]. We have identified clear quantitative NMR signatures that display the appearance of a canted ferromagnetic phase, which is preceded by local point symmetry breaking. We have compiled the field temperature phase diagram extending up to 29 T. We find that the broken local point symmetry phase extends over a wider temperature range as magnetic field increases.

The OsSPL16-GW7 regulatory module determines grain shape and simultaneously improves rice yield and grain quality.

PubMed

Wang, Shaokui; Li, Shan; Liu, Qian; Wu, Kun; Zhang, Jianqing; Wang, Shuansuo; Wang, Yi; Chen, Xiangbin; Zhang, Yi; Gao, Caixia; Wang, Feng; Huang, Haixiang; Fu, Xiangdong

2015-08-01

The deployment of heterosis in the form of hybrid rice varieties has boosted grain yield, but grain quality improvement still remains a challenge. Here we show that a quantitative trait locus for rice grain quality, qGW7, reflects allelic variation of GW7, a gene encoding a TONNEAU1-recruiting motif protein with similarity to C-terminal motifs of the human centrosomal protein CAP350. Upregulation of GW7 expression was correlated with the production of more slender grains, as a result of increased cell division in the longitudinal direction and decreased cell division in the transverse direction. OsSPL16 (GW8), an SBP-domain transcription factor that regulates grain width, bound directly to the GW7 promoter and repressed its expression. The presence of a semidominant GW7(TFA) allele from tropical japonica rice was associated with higher grain quality without the yield penalty imposed by the Basmati gw8 allele. Manipulation of the OsSPL16-GW7 module thus represents a new strategy to simultaneously improve rice yield and grain quality.

A Rare Allele of GS2 Enhances Grain Size and Grain Yield in Rice.

PubMed

Hu, Jiang; Wang, Yuexing; Fang, Yunxia; Zeng, Longjun; Xu, Jie; Yu, Haiping; Shi, Zhenyuan; Pan, Jiangjie; Zhang, Dong; Kang, Shujing; Zhu, Li; Dong, Guojun; Guo, Longbiao; Zeng, Dali; Zhang, Guangheng; Xie, Lihong; Xiong, Guosheng; Li, Jiayang; Qian, Qian

2015-10-05

Grain size determines grain weight and affects grain quality. Several major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) regulating grain size have been cloned; however, our understanding of the underlying mechanism that regulates the size of rice grains remains fragmentary. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of a dominant QTL, grain size on chromosome 2 (GS2), which encodes Growth-Regulating Factor 4 (OsGRF4), a transcriptional regulator. GS2 localizes to the nucleus and may act as a transcription activator. A rare mutation of GS2 affecting the binding site of a microRNA, OsmiR396c, causes elevated expression of GS2/OsGRF4. The increase in GS2 expression leads to larger cells and increased numbers of cells, which thus enhances grain weight and yield. The introduction of this rare allele of GS2/OsGRF4 into rice cultivars could significantly enhance grain weight and increase grain yield, with possible applications in breeding high-yield rice varieties. Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic imaging response following radiation therapy predicts long-term outcomes for diffuse low-grade gliomas.

PubMed

Pallud, Johan; Llitjos, Jean-François; Dhermain, Frédéric; Varlet, Pascale; Dezamis, Edouard; Devaux, Bertrand; Souillard-Scémama, Raphaëlle; Sanai, Nader; Koziak, Maria; Page, Philippe; Schlienger, Michel; Daumas-Duport, Catherine; Meder, Jean-François; Oppenheim, Catherine; Roux, François-Xavier

2012-04-01

Quantitative imaging assessment of radiation therapy (RT) for diffuse low-grade gliomas (DLGG) by measuring the velocity of diametric expansion (VDE) over time has never been studied. We assessed the VDE changes following RT and determined whether this parameter can serve as a prognostic factor. We reviewed a consecutive series of 33 adults with supratentorial DLGG treated with first-line RT with available imaging follow-up (median follow-up, 103 months). Before RT, all patients presented with a spontaneous tumor volume increase (positive VDE, mean 5.9 mm/year). After RT, all patients demonstrated a tumor volume decrease (negative VDE, mean, -16.7 mm/year) during a mean 49-month duration. In univariate analysis, initial tumor volume (>100 cm(3)), lack of IDH1 expression, p53 expression, high proliferation index, and fast post-RT tumor volume decrease (VDE at -10 mm/year or faster, fast responders) were associated with a significantly shorter overall survival (OS). The median OS was significantly longer (120.8 months) for slow responders (post-RT VDE slower than -10.0 mm/year) than for fast responders (47.9 months). In multivariate analysis, fast responders, larger initial tumor volume, lack of IDH1 expression, and p53 expression were independent poor prognostic factors for OS. A high proliferation index was significantly more frequent in the fast responder subgroup than in the slow responder subgroup. We conclude that the pattern of post-RT VDE changes is an independent prognostic factor for DLGG and offers a quantitative parameter to predict long-term outcomes. We propose to monitor individually the post-RT VDE changes using MRI follow-up, with particular attention to fast responders.

Dynamic imaging response following radiation therapy predicts long-term outcomes for diffuse low-grade gliomas

PubMed Central

Pallud, Johan; Llitjos, Jean-François; Dhermain, Frédéric; Varlet, Pascale; Dezamis, Edouard; Devaux, Bertrand; Souillard-Scémama, Raphaëlle; Sanai, Nader; Koziak, Maria; Page, Philippe; Schlienger, Michel; Daumas-Duport, Catherine; Meder, Jean-François; Oppenheim, Catherine; Roux, François-Xavier

2012-01-01

Quantitative imaging assessment of radiation therapy (RT) for diffuse low-grade gliomas (DLGG) by measuring the velocity of diametric expansion (VDE) over time has never been studied. We assessed the VDE changes following RT and determined whether this parameter can serve as a prognostic factor. We reviewed a consecutive series of 33 adults with supratentorial DLGG treated with first-line RT with available imaging follow-up (median follow-up, 103 months). Before RT, all patients presented with a spontaneous tumor volume increase (positive VDE, mean 5.9 mm/year). After RT, all patients demonstrated a tumor volume decrease (negative VDE, mean, −16.7 mm/year) during a mean 49-month duration. In univariate analysis, initial tumor volume (>100 cm3), lack of IDH1 expression, p53 expression, high proliferation index, and fast post-RT tumor volume decrease (VDE at −10 mm/year or faster, fast responders) were associated with a significantly shorter overall survival (OS). The median OS was significantly longer (120.8 months) for slow responders (post-RT VDE slower than −10.0 mm/year) than for fast responders (47.9 months). In multivariate analysis, fast responders, larger initial tumor volume, lack of IDH1 expression, and p53 expression were independent poor prognostic factors for OS. A high proliferation index was significantly more frequent in the fast responder subgroup than in the slow responder subgroup. We conclude that the pattern of post-RT VDE changes is an independent prognostic factor for DLGG and offers a quantitative parameter to predict long-term outcomes. We propose to monitor individually the post-RT VDE changes using MRI follow-up, with particular attention to fast responders. PMID:22416109

Experiencias sobre el impacto del Programa de Formación en Ética de la Investigación Biomédica y Psicosocial en el ámbito de la salud mental y la investigación conductual.

PubMed

Barrios, Liliana Mondragón

2012-01-01

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar el impacto y la integración que los conocimientos adquiridos en el Programa Internacional de Formación en Ética de la Investigación Biomédica y Psicosocial de la Universidad de Chile han tenido en mi experiencia profesional, en el ámbito de la investigación psicosocial en un Instituto de Salud de México. Para este objetivo, expondré tres áreas en las cuales se ha podido evidenciar tal impacto: trabajo en los comités de ética, desarrollo de programas de académicos en bioética e investigación y publicación sobre ética y bioética. El motivo que me llevó a incursionar en el Programa fue que su enseñanza vincula la investigación psicosocial con la ética y la bioética, lo cual me permitió dirigir este tipo de reflexión hacia problemas como violencia, suicidio, adicciones, depresión y salud mental, y a nuevos campos como los estudios comunitarios, con poblaciones en riesgo o vulnerables, en los cuales las diversas implicaciones son difíciles de indagar.

Experiencias sobre el impacto del Programa de Formación en Ética de la Investigación Biomédica y Psicosocial en el ámbito de la salud mental y la investigación conductual

PubMed Central

Barrios, Liliana Mondragón

2012-01-01

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar el impacto y la integración que los conocimientos adquiridos en el Programa Internacional de Formación en Ética de la Investigación Biomédica y Psicosocial de la Universidad de Chile han tenido en mi experiencia profesional, en el ámbito de la investigación psicosocial en un Instituto de Salud de México. Para este objetivo, expondré tres áreas en las cuales se ha podido evidenciar tal impacto: trabajo en los comités de ética, desarrollo de programas de académicos en bioética e investigación y publicación sobre ética y bioética. El motivo que me llevó a incursionar en el Programa fue que su enseñanza vincula la investigación psicosocial con la ética y la bioética, lo cual me permitió dirigir este tipo de reflexión hacia problemas como violencia, suicidio, adicciones, depresión y salud mental, y a nuevos campos como los estudios comunitarios, con poblaciones en riesgo o vulnerables, en los cuales las diversas implicaciones son difíciles de indagar. PMID:22754085

Characterization of photoreceptor degeneration in the rhodopsin P23H transgenic rat line 2 using optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Monai, Natsuki; Yamauchi, Kodai; Tanabu, Reiko; Gonome, Takayuki; Ishiguro, Sei-Ichi; Nakazawa, Mitsuru

2018-01-01

To characterize the optical coherence tomography (OCT) appearances of photoreceptor degeneration in the rhodopsin P23H transgenic rat (line 2) in relation to the histological, ultrastructural, and electroretinography (ERG) findings. Homozygous rhodopsin P23H transgenic albino rats (line 2, very-slow degeneration model) were employed. Using OCT (Micron IV®; Phoenix Research Labs, Pleasanton, CA, USA), the natural course of photoreceptor degeneration was recorded from postnatal day (P) 15 to P 287. The OCT images were qualitatively observed by comparing them to histological and ultrastructural findings at P 62 and P 169. In addition, each retinal layer was quantitatively analyzed longitudinally during degeneration, compared it to that observed in wild type Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The relationships between the ERG (full-field combined rod-cone response, 3.0 cds/m2 stimulation) findings and OCT images were also analyzed. In the qualitative study, the two layers presumably corresponding to the photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoid zone (EZ) and interdigitation zone (IZ) were identified in the P23H rat until PN day 32. However, the photoreceptor inner and outer segment (IS/OS) layer became diffusely hyperreflective on OCT after P 46, and the EZ and IZ zones could no longer be identified on OCT. In contrast, in the SD rats, the EZ and IZ were clearly distinguished until at least P 247. The ultrastructural study showed partial disarrangements of the photoreceptor outer segment discs in the P23H rats at P 62, although a light-microscopic histological study detected almost no abnormality in the outer segment. In the quantitative study, the outer retinal layer including the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and the outer nuclear layer (ONL) became significantly thinner in the P23H rats than in the SD rats after P 71. The thickness of the IS/OS layer was maintained in the P23H rats until P 130, and it became statistically thinner than in the SD rats at P 237. The longitudinal attenuation in the amplitude of the a- and b-waves of ERG was significantly correlated with the thickness of the combined OPL and ONL but not with that of the IS/OS layer. OCT showed the degenerated photoreceptor IS/OS layer in rhodopsin P23H transgenic rats (line 2) as a diffuse hyperreflective zone, even in the early stage, with the partially disarranged and destabilized OS discs recognizable by ultrastructural assessment but not by a histological study. The amplitude of the a- and b-waves mainly depends on the thickness of the OPL and ONL layer rather than the thickness of the photoreceptor IS/OS layer in P23H rats.

Evaluation of Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals implementation.

PubMed

Nóbrega, Laura Andrade Lagôa; Novaes, Hillegonda Maria Dutilh; Sartori, Ana Marli Christovam

2016-09-01

To describe the Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals and evaluate their implementation considering formal regulations. We conducted a program evaluation, of evaluative research type. From August 2011 to January 2012, a questionnaire was applied to the 42 Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals existing in the Country, approaching the structure, human resources, and developed activities dimensions. We conducted a descriptive analysis of data and used a clustering for binary data with the squared Euclidean distance, by the farthest neighbor method, to aggregate services with similar features. We observed great diversity among the services in the three dimensions. The clustering resulted in five service profiles, named according to their characteristics. 1) Best structure: 12 Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals with the highest proportion of services with the minimum of rooms recommended, purpose-built vaccine refrigerators, preventive maintenance of the cold chain, and oxygen source. 2) Immunobiologicals distributor: six Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals that distributed more than applied immunogens; no doctor present for more than half of the working hours and no purpose-built vaccine refrigerators . 3) Incipient implementation: five Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals with inadequate structure, such as absence of purpose-built vaccine refrigerators, preventive maintenance of the cold chain and oxygen source; none had computer. 4) Vaccination rooms: 13 Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals, everyone did routine immunization, most participated in vaccination campaigns. 5) Teaching and research: six services, all inserted into teaching hospitals, developed researches and received trainees; most had doctors in more than half of the working hours. The evaluation of the Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals implementation was based on the profiles found and considered the official regulations: services categorized as "better structure" and "teaching and research" were considered implemented; "immunobiologicals distributor" and "vaccination room" services, partially implemented, and the ones with the "incipient implementation" profile, not implemented. The results of this evaluation can contribute to the reformulation of the services, considering the current context. Descrever os Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais e avaliar sua implantação considerando as regulamentações formais. Foi realizada uma avaliação de programa, tipo pesquisa avaliativa. De agosto de 2011 a janeiro de 2012, foi aplicado questionário aos responsáveis pelos 42 Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais existentes no País, abordando as dimensões estrutura, recursos humanos e atividades desenvolvidas. Foi feita análise descritiva dos dados e utilizado agrupamento para dados binários com uso da distância euclidiana quadrática, pelo método do vizinho mais distante, para agregar serviços com características semelhantes. Observou-se grande diversidade entre os serviços nas três dimensões. O agrupamento resultou em cinco perfis de serviços, denominados de acordo com suas características. 1) Melhor estrutura: 12 Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais com a maior proporção de serviços com o mínimo de salas preconizado, câmaras de vacinas, manutenção preventiva da rede de frio e fonte de oxigênio. 2) Dispensador de imunobiológicos: seis Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais que mais dispensavam do que aplicavam imunógenos; sem médico presente por mais da metade do expediente do serviço e sem câmara de vacinas. 3) Implantação incipiente: cinco Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais com estrutura inadequada, como ausência de câmaras de vacinas, de manutenção preventiva da rede de frio e de fonte de oxigênio; nenhum possuía computador. 4) Sala de vacinas: 13 Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais, todos faziam imunização de rotina, a maioria participava de campanhas de vacinação. 5) Ensino e pesquisa: seis serviços, todos inseridos em hospitais de ensino, desenvolviam pesquisas e recebiam estagiários; a maioria possuía médicos em mais da metade do expediente. A avaliação de implantação dos Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais baseou-se nos perfis encontrados e considerou as regulamentações oficiais: os serviços categorizados como "melhor estrutura" e "ensino e pesquisa" foram considerados implantados; os serviços "dispensador de imunobiológicos" e "sala de vacinas", parcialmente implantados e os do perfil "implantação incipiente", não implantados. Os resultados dessa avaliação podem contribuir para a reformulação dos serviços, considerando o contexto atual.

Simulação de ejeções de massa coronal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corsini, M. A.; Silva, A. V. R.

2003-08-01

Ejeções de massa coronal (EMC) são bolhas gigantes de gás permeadas por campos magnéticos que são ejetadas do Sol durante um período de várias horas. Caso estas ejeções atinjam a Terra, geralmente, causam uma série de distúrbios às comunicações de longa distância e navegação, além de danos a satélites e transformadores. Portanto, é desejável que sejamos capazes de prever quando estas ejeções atingirão a Terra. Para tanto, é necessário um bom entendimento dos mecanismos causadores das ejeções e, principalmente, de como se dá a propagação das EMC e sua interação com o vento solar que permeia o meio interplanetário. Nesse sentido foi desenvolvido um programa computacional para resolver as equações MHD (Magneto-Hidro-Dinâmica) que regem a evolução das EMC. Primeiramente foram estabelecidas as condições necessárias para descrever o vento solar, no estado estacionário, que permeia todo o meio interplanetário. Num primeiro momento, resolveu-se o sistema de equações para o caso do vento isotérmico, conhecida como a solução de Parker, a fim de testarmos o modelo. Então, foi considerado o caso do vento solar com temperatura variável no meio interplanetário. Este resultado foi utilizado como a base de nosso sistema em seu instante inicial. Posteriormente foram feitas as considerações necessárias para descrever a propagação da Ejeção de Massa Coronal. As EMC foram simuladas como um aumento de densidade e temperatura local na coroa solar. A órbita e a posição da Terra foram incluídas no sistema. Os dados gerados possibilitaram uma análise da evolução da EMC pelo meio interplanetário até encontrar-se com a Terra. Os perfis de densidade e temperatura a 1 Unidade Astronômica são comparados com os dados de satélites reportados na literatura.

Comparative survey of PAHs incidence in Portuguese traditional meat and blood sausages.

PubMed

Roseiro, L C; Gomes, A; Patarata, L; Santos, C

2012-06-01

Sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in representative traditional sausages produced in "Trás-os-Montes" and "Alentejo", were determined. Light PAHs represented similar overall contents in both regions and showed close decreasing order patterns (ACY, PHE, FLR and NAP), irrespective of the product type considered. Amongst the carcinogenic/mutagenic PAHs analyzed (PAH8), both regions also had greater contents associated to BaA and CHR, with slightly higher values for the former compound in "Alentejo" and, oppositely, for the later in "Trás-os-Montes". However, their quantitative comparison showed that the general mean total PAH content found in "Trás-os-Montes" was almost 3-fold higher than in similar products from "Alentejo" and this factor was about 8-fold superior when the PAH8 and PAH4 indicators were compared, expressing benzo[a]pyrene toxic equivalencies (BaPE), 15 times (total mean toxicity), 34 times (PAH8) and 9 times (PAH4) higher. In general terms, the mean BaP content of all analyzed samples from "Alentejo" was 0.41 μg kg(-1). Differently that value in "Trás-os-Montes" reached 3.57 μg kg(-1), expressing concerning average contents of 5.35, 5.87 and 4.51 μg kg(-1) in Chouriço de Carne, Moura and Salpicão sausages, respectively. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building Trust and Capacity: Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration to Transition Pro-Government Non-State Armed Groups

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-11

de Pau. “Cambodia.” Escola de Cultura de Pau, http://www.escolapau.org/img/ programas /desarme/mapa/camboyai.pdf (accessed March 20, 2009). 69...Escola de Cultura de Pau. “Eritrea.” Escola de Cultura de Pau, http://www.escolapau.org/img/ programas /desarme/mapa/eritreai.pdf (accessed March 20...government authorized the formation and support of “rondas” or Comites de auto defensa (Committees of Self Defense) as the government fought the

Relative Militarization and Its Impact on Public Policy Budgetary Shifts in Argentina, 1963-1982

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-07-01

and Z.T. de Quinteros (1981), "El programa de es- tabilizaci6n economica y las politicas de salud y bienestar social 1976- 1980." Cuadernos Medico...Canitrot, A. (1980), "La disciplina como objetivo de la politica ec6nomica. Un ensayo sobre el programa econ6mico del gobierno Argentino desde 1976...Politicas Estatales en America Latina: Hacia una estrategia de investigaci6n." Buenos Aires: Documento CEDES/G. E. CLACSO/N .4. ’ Oszlak, 0. (1977

The International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy (10th) Held in Antalya, Turkey on May 17-23, 2000

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-10-23

Paulo - FAPESP, and the Programa de Nicleos de Excelencia - PRONEX. Nu- merical values for the model tides were taken from the GSWM homepage at http...FAPESP, and the Programa de Nilcleos de Excel~ncia-PRONEX. References Batista, P. P., B. R. Clemesha, I. S. Batista and D. M. Simonich, Characteristics...based on M. J. Taylor, H. Takahashi, D. Gobbi, and A. Chemical and Dynamical Processes, Tarun Kumar F. de Medeiros. Pant and R. SRIDHARAN. 13. 17:30-17

[Quantitative analysis of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images during chemoradiation therapy for cancer of the cervix uteri: Prognostic role of pretreatment diffusion coefficient values].

PubMed

Kharuzhyk, S A

2015-01-01

to carry out a quantitative analysis of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images (DWI) in cancer of the cervix uteri (CCU) and to estimate the possibility of using pretreatment measured diffusion coefficient (MDC) to predict chemoradiation therapy (CRT). The investigation prospectively enrolled 46 women with morphologically verified Stages IB-IVB CCU. All the women underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of pelvic organs before and after treatment. A semiautomatic method was used to determine tumor signal intensity (SI) on DWI at b 1000 s/mm2 (SI b1000) and tumor MDC. The reproducibility of MDC measurements was assessed in 16 randomly selected women. The investigators compared the pretreatment quantitative DWI measures in complete and incomplete regression (CR and IR) groups and the presence and absence of tumor progression during a follow-up. An association of MDC with progression-free and overall survivals (PFS and OS) was determined in the patients. A semiautomatic tumor segmentation framework could determine the pretreatment quantitative DMI measures with minimal time spent and high reproducibility. The mean tumor MDC was 0.82 +/- 0.14 x 10(-3) mm2/s. CR and IR were established in 28 and 18 women, respectively. The MDC < or = 0.83 x 10(-3) mm2/s predicted CR with a sensitivity of 64.3% and a specificity of 77.8% (p=0.007). The median follow-up was 47 months (range, 3-82 months). With the MDC < or = 0.86 x 10(-3) mm2/s, 5-year PFS was 74.1% versus 42.1% with a higher MDC (p=0.023) and 5-year OS was 70.4 and 40.6%, respectively (p=0.021). The survival difference was insignificant in relation to the degree of tumor regression. The pretreatment IS at b1000 was of no prognostic value. The pretreatment tumor MDC may serve as a biomarker for predicting the efficiency of CRT for CCU.

Death decoy receptor overexpression and increased malignancy risk in colorectal cancer.

PubMed

Zong, Liang; Chen, Ping; Wang, Da-Xin

2014-04-21

To evaluate human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and death decoy receptor (DcR3) as colorectal cancer prognostic indicators. Colorectal carcinoma specimens from 300 patients were analyzed by immunohistochemistry to detect the staining patterns of HER2 and DcR3. Classification of HER2 staining was carried out using the United States Food and Drug Administration semi-quantitative scoring system, with scores of 0 or 1+ indicating a tumor-negative (normal expression) status and scores of 2+ and 3+ indicating a tumor-positive (overexpression) status. Classification of DcR3 was carried out by quantitating the percentage of positive cells within the stained section, with < 10% indicating a tumor-negative status and ≥ 10% indicating a tumor-positive status. Correlation of the HER2 and DcR3 staining status with clinicopathological parameters [age, sex, tumor size, differentiation, and the tumor, node, metastasis (pTNM) classification] and survival was statistically assessed. Tumor-positive status for HER2 and DcR3 was found in 18.33% and 58.33% of the 300 colorectal carcinoma specimens, respectively. HER2 tumor-positive status showed a significant correlation with tumor size (P = 0.003) but not with other clinicopathological parameters. DcR3 tumor-positive status showed a significant correlation with tumor differentiation (P < 0.001), pTNM stage (P < 0.001), and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001). However, correlation coefficient analysis did not indicate that a statistically significant correlation exists between tumor-positive status for the HER2 and DcR3 overexpression (P = 0.236). Patients with specimens classified as DcR3-overexpressing had a significantly worse overall survival (OS) rate than those without DcR3 overexpression (median OS: 42.11 vs 61.21 mo; HR = 50.27, 95%CI: 44.90-55.64, P < 0.001). HER2 overexpression had no significant impact on median OS (35.10 mo vs 45.25 mo; HR = 44.40, 95%CI: 39.32-49.48, P = 0.344). However, patients with specimens classified as both HER2- and DcR3-overexpressing had a significantly poorer median OS than those with only HER2 overexpression (31.80 mo vs 52.20 mo; HR = 35.10, 95%CI: 22.04-48.16, P = 0.006). HER2 overexpression is not an independent prognostic marker of colorectal cancer, but DcR3 overexpression is highly correlated with lymph node metastasis and poor OS.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Vergara, Diego; Ríos-Reina, Rocío; Úbeda, Cristina; Escudero-Gilete, M Luisa; Callejón, Raquel M

2016-06-30

Introducción: en la actualidad existe un déficit en la evaluación de comedores dirigidos a niños menores de 3 años, a pesar de que se han realizado numerosas intervenciones en los comedores escolares con el fin de conseguir una alimentación segura y adecuada.Objetivo: realizar una evaluación nutricional de los menús ofertados en los centros de educación infantil de Sevilla.Material y métodos: se evaluó la frecuencia, variedad, rotación de alimentos, métodos culinarios e información de los menús de seis centros infantiles de Sevilla. Se valoró el aporte energético y nutricional mediante el programa Dietowin® y el método de pesada.Resultados: las frutas y verduras fueron deficitarias en la mayoría de los menús, y excesivas la carne, patatas, pasta y arroz. Se observó una escasa variedad de recetas por grupo de alimentos y no se daba una información completa del menú. Sin embargo, la variedad de procesos culinarios y la rotación de alimentos fueron adecuadas. Aunque la energía y el aporte de carbohidratos (~55%) se ajustaban a las necesidades, se observó un aporte excesivo de proteínas (~19%) y deficiente de lípidos (< 30%), sobre todo de grasas insaturadas. Respecto a los micronutrientes,solo vitamina C, E y calcio estaban por debajo de lo recomendado.Conclusiones: los centros de educación infantil están haciendo un gran esfuerzo por cumplir las recomendaciones nutricionales, pero todavía deben disminuir el aporte proteico y aumentar las grasas insaturadas de la dieta. Además, deben fomentar la oferta de frutas y verduras, ampliar la variedad de recetas, dar mayor información y disminuir el aporte de alimentos cárnicos.

Association between seed dormancy and pericarp color is controlled by a pleiotropic gene that regulates ABA and flavonoid synthesis in weedy red rice

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Seed dormancy has been associated with red grain color in cereal crops. The association was linked to the cluster of quantitative trait loci qSD7-1/qPC7 in weedy red rice. This research delimited the cluster to Os07g11020 or Rc encoding a predicted bHLH family transcription factor by intragenic reco...

Phase-sensitive imaging of the outer retina using optical coherence tomography and adaptive optics

PubMed Central

Jonnal, Ravi S.; Kocaoglu, Omer P.; Wang, Qiang; Lee, Sangyeol; Miller, Donald T.

2011-01-01

The cone photoreceptor’s outer segment (OS) experiences changes in optical path length, both in response to visible stimuli and as a matter of its daily course of renewal and shedding. These changes are of interest, to quantify function in healthy cells and assess dysfunction in diseased ones. While optical coherence tomography (OCT), combined with adaptive optics (AO), has permitted unprecedented three-dimensional resolution in the living retina, it has not generally been able to measure these OS dynamics, whose scale is smaller than OCT’s axial resolution of a few microns. A possible solution is to take advantage of the phase information encoded in the OCT signal. Phase-sensitive implementations of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) have been demonstrated, capable of resolving sample axial displacements much smaller than the imaging wavelength, but these have been limited to ex vivo samples. In this paper we present a novel technique for retrieving phase information from OCT volumes of the outer retina. The key component of our technique is quantification of phase differences within the retina. We provide a quantitative analysis of such phase information and show that–when combined with appropriate methods for filtering and unwrapping–it can improve the sensitivity to OS length change by more than an order of magnitude, down to 45 nm, slightly thicker than a single OS disc. We further show that phase sensitivity drops off with retinal eccentricity, and that the best location for phase imaging is close to the fovea. We apply the technique to the measurement of sub-resolution changes in the OS over matters of hours. Using custom software for registration and tracking, these microscopic changes are monitored in hundreds of cones over time. In two subjects, the OS was found to have average elongation rates of 150 nm/hr, values which agree with our previous findings. PMID:22254172

Emerging Importance of Helicases in Plant Stress Tolerance: Characterization of Oryza sativa Repair Helicase XPB2 Promoter and Its Functional Validation in Tobacco under Multiple Stresses

PubMed Central

Raikwar, Shailendra; Srivastava, Vineet K.; Gill, Sarvajeet S.; Tuteja, Renu; Tuteja, Narendra

2015-01-01

Genetic material always remains at the risk of spontaneous or induced damage which challenges the normal functioning of DNA molecule, thus, DNA repair is vital to protect the organisms against genetic damage. Helicases, the unique molecular motors, are emerged as prospective molecules to engineer stress tolerance in plants and are involved in nucleic acid metabolism including DNA repair. The repair helicase, XPB is an evolutionary conserved protein present in different organisms, including plants. Availability of few efficient promoters for gene expression in plants provoked us to study the promoter of XPB for better understanding of gene regulation under stress conditions. Here, we report the in silico analysis of novel stress inducible promoter of Oryza sativa XPB2 (OsXPB2). The in vivo validation of functionality/activity of OsXPB2 promoter under abiotic and hormonal stress conditions was performed by Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay in tobacco leaves using OsXPB2::GUS chimeric construct. The present research revealed that OsXPB2 promoter contains cis-elements accounting for various abiotic stresses (salt, dehydration, or cold) and hormone (Auxin, ABA, or MeJA) induced GUS expression/activity in the promoter-reporter assay. The promoter region of OsXPB2 contains CACG, GTAACG, CACGTG, CGTCA CCGCCGCGCT cis acting-elements which are reported to be salt, dehydration, cold, MeJA, or ABA responsive, respectively. Functional analysis was done by Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay using agroinfiltration in tobacco leaves, followed by GUS staining and fluorescence quantitative analyses. The results revealed high induction of GUS activity under multiple abiotic stresses as compared to mock treated control. The present findings suggest that OsXPB2 promoter is a multi-stress inducible promoter and has potential applications in sustainable crop production under abiotic stresses by regulating desirable pattern of gene expression. PMID:26734018

The effect of anti-angiogenic agents on overall survival in metastatic oesophago-gastric cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Sjoquist, Katrin M.; Goldstein, David; Price, Timothy J.; Martin, Andrew J.; Bang, Yung-Jue; Kang, Yoon-Koo; Pavlakis, Nick

2017-01-01

Background Studies of anti-angiogenic agents (AAs), combined with chemotherapy (chemo) or as monotherapy in metastatic oesophago-gastric cancer (mOGC), have reported mixed outcomes. We undertook systematic review and meta-analysis to determine their overall benefits and harms. Methods Randomized controlled trials in mOGC were sought investigating the addition of AAs to standard therapy (best supportive care or chemo). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) with secondary endpoints progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR) and toxicity. Estimates of treatment effect from individual trials were combined using standard techniques. Subgroup analyses were performed by line of therapy, region, age, performance status, histological type, number of metastatic sites, primary site, mechanism of action and HER2 status. Results Fifteen trials evaluating 3502 patients were included in quantitative analysis. The addition of AAs was associated with improved OS: HR 0·81 (95% CI 0·75–0·88, p<0·00001) and improved PFS: HR 0·68 (95% CI 0·63–0·74, p<0·00001). Subgroup analyses favoured greater benefit for OS in 2nd/3rd line settings (HR 0·74) compared to 1st-line settings (HR 0·91) (X2 = 6·00, p = 0·01). OS benefit was seen across all regions—Asia (HR 0·83) and rest of world (HR 0·75)—without significant subgroup interaction. Results from 8 trials evaluating 2602 patients were pooled for toxicity > = Grade 3: with OR 1·39 (95% CI 1·17–1·65). Conclusions The addition of AAs to standard therapy in mOGC improves OS. Improved efficacy was only observed in 2nd- or 3rd-line setting and not in 1st-line setting. Consistent OS benefit was present across all geographical regions. This benefit is at the expense of increased overall toxicity. PMID:28222158

Emerging Importance of Helicases in Plant Stress Tolerance: Characterization of Oryza sativa Repair Helicase XPB2 Promoter and Its Functional Validation in Tobacco under Multiple Stresses.

PubMed

Raikwar, Shailendra; Srivastava, Vineet K; Gill, Sarvajeet S; Tuteja, Renu; Tuteja, Narendra

2015-01-01

Genetic material always remains at the risk of spontaneous or induced damage which challenges the normal functioning of DNA molecule, thus, DNA repair is vital to protect the organisms against genetic damage. Helicases, the unique molecular motors, are emerged as prospective molecules to engineer stress tolerance in plants and are involved in nucleic acid metabolism including DNA repair. The repair helicase, XPB is an evolutionary conserved protein present in different organisms, including plants. Availability of few efficient promoters for gene expression in plants provoked us to study the promoter of XPB for better understanding of gene regulation under stress conditions. Here, we report the in silico analysis of novel stress inducible promoter of Oryza sativa XPB2 (OsXPB2). The in vivo validation of functionality/activity of OsXPB2 promoter under abiotic and hormonal stress conditions was performed by Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay in tobacco leaves using OsXPB2::GUS chimeric construct. The present research revealed that OsXPB2 promoter contains cis-elements accounting for various abiotic stresses (salt, dehydration, or cold) and hormone (Auxin, ABA, or MeJA) induced GUS expression/activity in the promoter-reporter assay. The promoter region of OsXPB2 contains CACG, GTAACG, CACGTG, CGTCA CCGCCGCGCT cis acting-elements which are reported to be salt, dehydration, cold, MeJA, or ABA responsive, respectively. Functional analysis was done by Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay using agroinfiltration in tobacco leaves, followed by GUS staining and fluorescence quantitative analyses. The results revealed high induction of GUS activity under multiple abiotic stresses as compared to mock treated control. The present findings suggest that OsXPB2 promoter is a multi-stress inducible promoter and has potential applications in sustainable crop production under abiotic stresses by regulating desirable pattern of gene expression.

Shock wave-induced ATP release from osteosarcoma U2OS cells promotes cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of methotrexate.

PubMed

Qi, Baochang; Yu, Tiecheng; Wang, Chengxue; Wang, Tiejun; Yao, Jihang; Zhang, Xiaomeng; Deng, Pengfei; Xia, Yongning; Junger, Wolfgang G; Sun, Dahui

2016-10-03

Osteosarcoma is the most prevalent primary malignant bone tumor, but treatment is difficult and prognosis remains poor. Recently, large-dose chemotherapy has been shown to improve outcome but this approach can cause many side effects. Minimizing the dose of chemotherapeutic drugs and optimizing their curative effects is a current goal in the management of osteosarcoma patients. In our study, trypan blue dye exclusion assay was performed to investigate the optimal conditions for the sensitization of osteosarcoma U2OS cells. Cellular uptake of the fluorophores Lucifer Yellow CH dilithium salt and Calcein was measured by qualitative and quantitative methods. Human MTX ELISA Kit and MTT assay were used to assess the outcome for osteosarcoma U2OS cells in the present of shock wave and methotrexate. To explore the mechanism, P2X7 receptor in U2OS cells was detected by immunofluorescence and the extracellular ATP levels was detected by ATP assay kit. All data were analyzed using SPSS17.0 statistical software. Comparisons were made with t test between two groups. Treatment of human osteosarcoma U2OS cells with up to 450 shock wave pulses at 7 kV or up to 200 shock wave pulses at 14 kV had little effect on cell viability. However, this shock wave treatment significantly promoted the uptake of Calcein and Lucifer Yellow CH by osteosarcoma U2OS cells. Importantly, shock wave treatment also significantly enhanced the uptake of the chemotherapy drug methotrexate and increased the rate of methotrexate-induced apoptosis. We found that shock wave treatment increased the extracellular concentration of ATP and that KN62, an inhibitor of P2X7 receptor reduced the capacity methotrexate-induced apoptosis. Our results suggest that shock wave treatment promotes methotrexate-induced apoptosis by altering cell membrane permeability in a P2X7 receptor-dependent manner. Shock wave treatment may thus represent a possible adjuvant therapy for osteosarcoma.

Evaluation of bone marrow aspirates in patients with acute myeloid leukemia at day 14 of induction therapy.

PubMed

Souto Filho, João Tadeu D; Loureiro, Monique M; Pulcheri, Wolmar; Morais, José Carlos; Nucci, Marcio; Portugal, Rodrigo D

2015-07-25

Early assessment of response to chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia may be performed by examining bone marrow aspirate (BMA) or biopsy (BMB); a hypocellular bone marrow sample indicates adequate anti-leukemic activity. We sought to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative assessment of BMA performed on day 14 (D14) of chemotherapy, to verify the inter-observer agreement, to compare the results of BMA and BMB, and to evaluate the impact of D14 blast clearance on the overall survival (OS). A total of 107 patients who received standard induction chemotherapy and had bone marrow samples were included. BMA evaluation was performed by two observers using two methods: quantitative assessment and a qualitative (Likert) scale. ROC curves were obtained correlating the BMA quantification of blasts and the qualitative scale, by both observers, with BMB result as gold-standard. There was a significant agreement between the two observers in both the qualitative and quantitative assessments (Kw = 0.737, p < 0.001, and rs = 0.798, p < 0.001; ICC = 0.836, p < 0.001, respectively). The areas under the curve (AUC) were 0.924 and 0.946 for observer 1 and 0.867 and 0.870 for observer 2 for assessments of the percentage of blasts and qualitative scale, respectively. The best cutoff for blast percentage in BMA was 6% and 7% for observers 1 and 2, respectively. A similar analysis for the qualitative scale showed the best cutoff as "probably infiltrated". Patients who attained higher grades of cytoreduction on D14 had better OS. Evaluation of D14 BMA using both methods had a significant agreement with BMB and between observers, identifying a population of patients with poor outcome.

The Impact of Peritumoral Retraction Clefting & Intratumoral Eosinophils on Overall Survival in Oral Squamous Carcinoma Patients.

PubMed

Jain, Dhruv; Tikku, Gargi; Bhadana, Pallavi; Dravid, Chandrashekhar; Grover, Rajesh Kumar

2017-10-18

This retrospective study aimed to investigate the impact of peritumoral retraction clefts (RC) and tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) as predictors of overall survival (OS) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients. Their relationships with tumor-factors were also examined. Eighty-seven OSCC cases (pTNM: I + II/III + IV; 32/55), post-curative surgery, comprised the study cohort. Three observers independently estimated the percent RC semi-quantitatively in the selected tumor sections. Additionally, stromal eosinophils were counted in ten consecutive high-power fields of intratumoral and peritumoral regions to evaluate the corresponding TATE. The percent RC ranged between 0% -90% (Mean ± SD: 16 ± 24%; Median: 5%). The stromal eosinophils were greater in peritumoral as compared to intratumoral region. The events of death and tumor recurrence were reached in 16 (18.4%) and 36 (41%) cases respectively. The 3-years OS was 69% [Median OS: 1880 days; Mean follow up: 471(Range; 36-1880) days]. Increased percent RC exhibited relationship with pathologic stage (pTNM III&IV), primary tumor (pT III&IV), tumor depth > 4 mm and categorical tumor recurrence. Additionally, peritumoral eosinophilic infiltrates increased with increasing tumor depths and muscle invasion. Kaplan-Meier curves revealed significantly reduced OS in OSCC cases exhibiting: increased percent RC (>2.5%), mild -moderate/absent intratumoral TATE (versus intense TATE) or categorical tumor recurrence. In subsequent multivariate tests, all the three variables retained significance. Additionally, intraclass correlation coefficient demonstrated acceptable internal consistency for the observers who estimated percent RC. In conclusion, RC and intratumoral TATE proved to be independent predictors of OS in our OSCC cohort. Additionally, increased percent RC pointed towards aggressive tumor behaviour.

MGMT inactivation and clinical response in newly diagnosed GBM patients treated with Gliadel.

PubMed

Grossman, Rachel; Burger, Peter; Soudry, Ethan; Tyler, Betty; Chaichana, Kaisorn L; Weingart, Jon; Olivi, Alessandro; Gallia, Gary L; Sidransky, David; Quiñones-Hinojosa, Alfredo; Ye, Xiaobu; Brem, Henry

2015-12-01

We examined the relationship between the O(6)-methylguanine-methyltransferase (MGMT) methylation status and clinical outcomes in newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients who were treated with Gliadel wafers (Eisai, Tokyo, Japan). MGMT promoter methylation has been associated with increased survival among patients with GBM who are treated with various alkylating agents. MGMT promoter methylation, in DNA from 122 of 160 newly diagnosed GBM patients treated with Gliadel, was determined by a quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, and was correlated with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). The MGMT promoter was methylated in 40 (32.7%) of 122 patients. The median OS was 13.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.0-14.5) and RFS was 9.4 months (95% CI 7.8-10.2). After adjusting for age, Karnofsky performance score, extent of resection, temozolomide (TMZ) and radiation therapy (RT), the newly diagnosed GBM patients with MGMT methylation had a 15% reduced mortality risk, compared to patients with unmethylated MGMT (hazard ratio 0.85; 95% CI 0.56-1.31; p=0.46). The patients aged over 70 years with MGMT methylation had a significantly longer median OS of 13.5 months, compared to 7.6 months in patients with unmethylated MGMT (p=0.027). A significant difference was also found in older patients, with a median RFS of 13.1 versus 7.6 months for methylated and unmethylated MGMT groups, respectively (p=0.01). Methylation of the MGMT promoter in newly diagnosed GBM patients treated with Gliadel, RT and TMZ, was associated with significantly improved OS compared to the unmethylated population. In elderly patients, methylation of the MGMT promoter was associated with significantly better OS and RFS. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring Positive Cooperativity Using the Direct ESI-MS Assay. Cholera Toxin B Subunit Homopentamer Binding to GM1 Pentasaccharide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Hong; Kitova, Elena N.; Klassen, John S.

2014-01-01

Direct electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) assay was used to investigate the stepwise binding of the GM1 pentasaccharide β- D-Gal p-(1→3)-β-D-Gal pNAc-(1→4)[α-D-Neu5Ac-(2→3)]-β- D-Gal p-(1→4)-β-D-Glc p (GM1os) to the cholera toxin B subunit homopentamer (CTB5) and to establish conclusively whether GM1os binding is cooperative. Apparent association constants were measured for the stepwise addition of one to five GM1os to CTB5 at pH 6.9 and 22 °C. The intrinsic association constant, which was established from the apparent association constant for the addition of a single GM1os to CTB5, was found to be (3.2 ± 0.2) × 106 M-1. This is in reasonable agreement with the reported value of (6.4 ± 0.3) × 106 M-1, which was measured at pH 7.4 and 25 °C using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Analysis of the apparent association constants provides direct and unambiguous evidence that GM1os binding exhibits small positive cooperativity. Binding was found to be sensitive to the number of ligand-bound nearest neighbor subunits, with the affinities enhanced by a factor of 1.7 and 2.9 when binding occurs next to one or two ligand-bound subunits, respectively. These findings, which provide quantitative support for the binding model proposed by Homans and coworkers [14], highlight the unique strengths of the direct ESI-MS assay for measuring cooperative ligand binding.

Post-treatment plasma EBV-DNA positivity predicts early relapse and poor prognosis for patients with extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma in the era of asparaginase.

PubMed

Wang, Liang; Wang, Hua; Wang, Jing-hua; Xia, Zhong-jun; Lu, Yue; Huang, Hui-qiang; Jiang, Wen-qi; Zhang, Yu-jing

2015-10-06

Circulating Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA is a biomarker of EBV-associated malignancies. Its prognostic value in early stage NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) in the era of asparaginase was investigated. 68 patients were treated with a median of 4 cycles of asparaginase-based chemotherapy followed by a median of 54.6 Gy (range 50-60 Gy) radiation. The amount of EBV-DNA was prospectively measured in both pretreatment and post-treatment plasma samples by real-time quantitative PCR. At the end of treatment, complete response (CR) rate was 79.4%, and overall response rate (ORR) was 88.2%. Patients with negative pretreatment EBV-DNA had a higher CR rate (96.0% vs. 69.8%, p = 0.023). The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate was 71% and 83%, respectively. In multivariate survival analysis, post-treatment EBV-DNA positivity and treatment response (non-CR) were prognostic factors for both worse PFS and OS (p < 0.05). Local tumor invasion was also a prognostic factor for worse OS (p = 0.010). In patients with CR, post-treatment EBV-DNA positivity correlated with inferior PFS and OS (both p < 0.0001). In patients with positive pretreatment EBV-DNA, negative post-treatment EBV-DNA correlated with better PFS and OS (both p < 0.0001). These findings indicate that post-treatment EBV-DNA positivity can predict early relapse and poor prognosis for patients with early stage NKTCL in the era of asparaginase, and may be used as an indicator of minimal residual disease.

Genome-Wide Identification of the Alba Gene Family in Plants and Stress-Responsive Expression of the Rice Alba Genes.

PubMed

Verma, Jitendra Kumar; Wardhan, Vijay; Singh, Deepali; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan

2018-03-28

Architectural proteins play key roles in genome construction and regulate the expression of many genes, albeit the modulation of genome plasticity by these proteins is largely unknown. A critical screening of the architectural proteins in five crop species, viz., Oryza sativa , Zea mays , Sorghum bicolor , Cicer arietinum , and Vitis vinifera , and in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana along with evolutionary relevant species such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , Physcomitrella patens , and Amborella trichopoda , revealed 9, 20, 10, 7, 7, 6, 1, 4, and 4 Alba (acetylation lowers binding affinity) genes, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis of the genes and of their counterparts in other plant species indicated evolutionary conservation and diversification. In each group, the structural components of the genes and motifs showed significant conservation. The chromosomal location of the Alba genes of rice ( OsAlba ), showed an unequal distribution on 8 of its 12 chromosomes. The expression profiles of the OsAlba genes indicated a distinct tissue-specific expression in the seedling, vegetative, and reproductive stages. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of the OsAlba genes confirmed their stress-inducible expression under multivariate environmental conditions and phytohormone treatments. The evaluation of the regulatory elements in 68 Alba genes from the 9 species studied led to the identification of conserved motifs and overlapping microRNA (miRNA) target sites, suggesting the conservation of their function in related proteins and a divergence in their biological roles across species. The 3D structure and the prediction of putative ligands and their binding sites for OsAlba proteins offered a key insight into the structure-function relationship. These results provide a comprehensive overview of the subtle genetic diversification of the OsAlba genes, which will help in elucidating their functional role in plants.

The effect of classical swine fever virus NS5A and NS5A mutants on oxidative stress and inflammatory response in swine testicular cells.

PubMed

Dong, Wang; Lv, Huifang; Wang, Yifan; Li, Xiaomeng; Li, Cheng; Wang, Lu; Wang, Chengbao; Guo, Kangkang; Zhang, Yanming

2017-06-01

Infection with classical swine fever virus (CSFV) results in highly significant economic losses; this infection is characterized by being highly contagious and accompanied by hyperthermia and systemic bleeding. Oxidative stress (OS) plays a critical role in the pathological process of viral infection. The function of the nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) in the pathogenesis of CSFV has not been completely understood. Here, OS and the inflammatory response were studied with NS5A and substitution mutants in swine testicular (ST) cells. ST cell lines stably expressing CSFV NS5A or substitution mutants were established. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, antioxidant protein expression and inflammatory response were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), ELISA and flow cytometry analysis. The results showed that CSFV NS5A did not increase ROS production or the antioxidant protein (Trx, HO-1 and PRDX-6) expression in ST cells. However, NS5A inhibited cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression, a pro-inflammatory protein related to OS. Further studies have shown that NS5A mutants S15A and S92A increased ROS production and inhibited antioxidant protein expression. S15A, S81A and T274A affected the inflammatory response. This study suggested that CSFV NS5A did not induce OS, and amino acids Ser15 and Ser92 of CSFV NS5A were essential for inhibiting OS. Additionally, Ser15, Ser81 and Thr274 played important roles in the inflammatory response in ST cells. These observations provided insight into the function of CSFV NS5A and the mechanism of CSFV persistent infection in ST cells. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiogenomics of hepatocellular carcinoma: multiregion analysis-based identification of prognostic imaging biomarkers by integrating gene data—a preliminary study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, Wei; Chen, Ying; Zhang, Rui; Yan, Zhuangzhi; Zhou, Xiaobo; Zhang, Bo; Gao, Xin

2018-02-01

Our objective was to identify prognostic imaging biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma in contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) with biological interpretations by associating imaging features and gene modules. We retrospectively analyzed 371 patients who had gene expression profiles. For the 38 patients with CECT imaging data, automatic intra-tumor partitioning was performed, resulting in three spatially distinct subregions. We extracted a total of 37 quantitative imaging features describing intensity, geometry, and texture from each subregion. Imaging features were selected after robustness and redundancy analysis. Gene modules acquired from clustering were chosen for their prognostic significance. By constructing an association map between imaging features and gene modules with Spearman rank correlations, the imaging features that significantly correlated with gene modules were obtained. These features were evaluated with Cox’s proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier estimates to determine their prognostic capabilities for overall survival (OS). Eight imaging features were significantly correlated with prognostic gene modules, and two of them were associated with OS. Among these, the geometry feature volume fraction of the subregion, which was significantly correlated with all prognostic gene modules representing cancer-related interpretation, was predictive of OS (Cox p  =  0.022, hazard ratio  =  0.24). The texture feature cluster prominence in the subregion, which was correlated with the prognostic gene module representing lipid metabolism and complement activation, also had the ability to predict OS (Cox p  =  0.021, hazard ratio  =  0.17). Imaging features depicting the volume fraction and textural heterogeneity in subregions have the potential to be predictors of OS with interpretable biological meaning.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic indicator in head and neck cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Tham, Tristan; Bardash, Yonatan; Herman, Saori Wendy; Costantino, Peter David

2018-05-14

The purposes of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to investigate the relationship between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognosis in head and neck cancer. A systematic review and meta-analysis were done to investigate the role of NLR in overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival (PFS). For qualitative analysis, 33 cohorts with over 10 072 patients were included. For quantitative analysis, 15 studies were included with 5562 patients. The pooled data demonstrated that an elevated NLR significantly predicted poorer OS and DSS. An elevated pretreatment NLR is a prognostic marker for head and neck cancer. It represents a simple and easily obtained marker that could be used to stratify groups of high-risk patients who might benefit from adjuvant therapy. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A sensitive synthetic reporter for visualizing cytokinin signaling output in rice.

PubMed

Tao, Jinyuan; Sun, Huwei; Gu, Pengyuan; Liang, Zhihao; Chen, Xinni; Lou, Jiajing; Xu, Guohua; Zhang, Yali

2017-01-01

Cytokinins play many essential roles in plant growth and development, mainly through signal transduction pathways. Although the cytokinin signaling pathway in rice has been clarified, no synthetic reporter for cytokinin signaling output has been reported for rice. The sensitive synthetic reporter two-component signaling sensor ( TCSn ) is used in the model plant Arabidopsis; however, whether the reporter reflects the cytokinin signaling output pattern in rice remains unclear. Early-cytokinin-responsive type-A OsRR-binding element (A/G)GAT(C/T) was more clustered in the 15 type-A OsRRs than in the 13 control genes. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the relative expression of seven type-A OsRRs in roots and shoots was significantly induced by exogenous cytokinin application, and that of seven OsRRs , mainly in roots, was inhibited by exogenous auxin application. We constructed a transgenic rice plant harboring a beta-glucuronidase (GUS) driven by the synthetic promoter TCSn . TCSn::GUS was expressed in the meristem of germinated rice seed and rice seedlings. Furthermore, TCSn::GUS expression in rice seedlings was induced specifically by exogenous cytokinin application and decreased by exogenous auxin application. Moreover, no obvious reduction in GUS levels was observed after three generations of selfing of transgenic plants, indicating that TCSn::GUS is not subject to transgene silencing. We report here a robust and sensitive synthetic sensor for monitoring the transcriptional output of the cytokinin signaling network in rice.

Antiapoptotic and Antioxidant Properties of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth (Cat's Whiskers): Intervention in the Bcl-2-Mediated Apoptotic Pathway

PubMed Central

Abdelwahab, Siddig Ibrahim; Mohan, Syam; Mohamed Elhassan, Manal; Al-Mekhlafi, Nabil; Mariod, Abdelbasit Adam; Abdul, Ahmad Bustamam; Abdulla, Mahmood Ameen; Alkharfy, Khalid M.

2011-01-01

Antiapoptotic and antioxidant activities of aqueous-methanolic extract (CAME) of Orthosiphonstamineus Benth(OS), and its hexane (HF), chloroform (CF), n-butanol (NBF), ethyl acetate (EAF) and water (WF) fractions were investigated. Antioxidant properties were evaluated using the assays of Folin-Ciocalteu, aluminiumtrichloride, β-carotene bleaching and DPPH. The role of OS against hydrogen peroxide induced apoptosis on MDA-M231 epithelial cells was examined using MTT assay, phase contrast microscope, colorimetric assay of caspase-3, western blot and quantitative real-time PCR. Results showed that EAF showed the highest total phenolic content followed by CAME, NBF, WF, CF and HF, respectively. Flavonoid content was in the order of the CF > EAF > HF > CAME > NBF > WF. The IC50 values on DPPH assay for different extract/fractions were 126.2 ± 23, 31.25 ± 1.2, 15.25 ± 2.3, 13.56 ± 1.9, 23.0 ± 3.2, and 16.66 ± 1.5 μg/ml for HF, CF, EAF, NBF, WF and CAME, respectively. OSreduced the oxidation of β-carotene by hydroperoxides. Cell death was dose-dependently inhibited by pretreatment with OS. Caspase-3 and distinct morphological features suggest the anti-apoptotic activities of OS. This plant not only increased the expression of Bcl-2, but also decreased Bax expression, and ultimately reduced H2O2-induced apoptosis. The current results showed that phenolics may provide health and nutritional benefits. PMID:21234328

Natural variations in OsγTMT contribute to diversity of the α-tocopherol content in rice.

PubMed

Wang, Xiao-Qiang; Yoon, Min-Young; He, Qiang; Kim, Tae-Sung; Tong, Wei; Choi, Bu-Woong; Lee, Young-Sang; Park, Yong-Jin

2015-12-01

Tocopherols and tocotrienols, collectively known as tocochromanols, are lipid-soluble molecules that belong to the group of vitamin E compounds. Among them, α-tocopherol (αΤ) is one of the antioxidants with diverse functions and benefits for humans and animals. Thus, understanding the genetic basis of these traits would be valuable to improve nutritional quality by breeding in rice. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has emerged as a powerful strategy for identifying genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying complex traits in plants. To discover the genes or QTLs underlying the naturally occurring variations of αΤ content in rice, we performed GWAS using 1.44 million high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms acquired from re-sequencing of 137 accessions from a diverse rice core collection. Thirteen candidate genes were found across 2-year phenotypic data, among which gamma-tocopherol methyltransferase (OsγTMT) was identified as the major factor responsible for the αΤ content among rice accessions. Nucleotide variations in the coding region of OsγTMT were significantly associated with the αΤ content variations, while nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of OsγTMT also could partly demonstrate the correlation with αΤ content variations, according to our RNA expression analyses. This study provides useful information for genetic factors underlying αΤ content variations in rice, which will significantly contribute the research on αΤ biosynthesis mechanisms and αΤ improvement of rice.

Curcumin may serve an anticancer role in human osteosarcoma cell line U-2 OS by targeting ITPR1.

PubMed

Luo, Zhanpeng; Li, Dawei; Luo, Xiaobo; Li, Litao; Gu, Suxi; Yu, Long; Ma, Yuanzheng

2018-04-01

The present study aimed to determine the mechanisms of action of curcumin in osteosarcoma. Human osteosarcoma U-2 OS cells was purchased from the Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. RNA sequencing analysis was performed for 2 curcumin-treated samples and 2 control samples using Illumina deep sequencing technology. The differentially expressed genes were identified using Cufflink software. Enrichment and protein-protein interaction network analyses were performed separately using cluster Profiler package and Cytoscape software to identify key genes. Then, the mRNA levels of key genes were detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in U-2 OS cells. Finally, cell apoptosis, proliferation, migration and invasion arrays were performed. In total, 201 DEGs were identified in the curcumin-treated group. EEF1A1 (degree=88), ATF7IP, HIF1A, SMAD7, CLTC, MCM10, ITPR1, ADAM15, WWP2 and ATP5C1, which were enriched in 'biological process', exhibited higher degrees than other genes in the PPI network. RT-qPCR demonstrated that treatment with curcumin was able to significantly increase the levels of CLTC and ITPR1 mRNA in curcumin-treated cells compared with control. In addition, targeting ITPR1 with curcumin significantly promoted apoptosis and suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion. Targeting ITPR1 via curcumin may serve an anticancer role by mediating apoptosis, proliferation, migration and invasion in U-2 OS cells.

Assessment of reference gene stability in Rice stripe virus and Rice black streaked dwarf virus infection rice by quantitative Real-time PCR.

PubMed

Fang, Peng; Lu, Rongfei; Sun, Feng; Lan, Ying; Shen, Wenbiao; Du, Linlin; Zhou, Yijun; Zhou, Tong

2015-10-24

Stably expressed reference gene(s) normalization is important for the understanding of gene expression patterns by quantitative Real-time PCR (RT-qPCR), particularly for Rice stripe virus (RSV) and Rice black streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) that caused seriously damage on rice plants in China and Southeast Asia. The expression of fourteen common used reference genes of Oryza sativa L. were evaluated by RT-qPCR in RSV and RBSDV infected rice plants. Suitable normalization reference gene(s) were identified by geNorm and NormFinder algorithms. UBQ 10 + GAPDH and UBC + Actin1 were identified as suitable reference genes for RT-qPCR normalization under RSV and RBSDV infection, respectively. When using multiple reference genes, the expression patterns of OsPRIb and OsWRKY, two virus resistance genes, were approximately similar with that reported previously. Comparatively, by using single reference gene (TIP41-Like), a weaker inducible response was observed. We proposed that the combination of two reference genes could obtain more accurate and reliable normalization of RT-qPCR results in RSV- and RBSDV-infected plants. This work therefore sheds light on establishing a standardized RT-qPCR procedure in RSV- and RBSDV-infected rice plants, and might serve as an important point for discovering complex regulatory networks and identifying genes relevant to biological processes or implicated in virus.

Reduction of foveal bulges and other anatomical changes in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole without vitreomacular pathologic changes.

PubMed

Delas, Barbara; Julio, Gemma; Fernández-Vega, Álvaro; Casaroli-Marano, Ricardo P; Nadal, Jeroni

2017-11-01

To compare the foveal characteristics in fellow eyes (FE) of patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole without vitreomacular pathologic changes with eyes of healthy controls. Forty-seven FE and 52 eyes of 52 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were studied. Quantitative assessment of the dome-shaped appearance of the hyperreflective lines that represent external limiting membrane (ELM_bulge) and inner outer segment junctions (IS/OS_bulge) were made by optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Inner retinal complex thickness (IRCT) was quantitatively assessed at 1000 and 2000 μm of the foveal center in nasal and temporal quadrants. Presence of alterations in the inner retinal outer layers and central foveal thickness (CFT) were also analyzed. Significantly lower ELM_bulge (p < 0.0001; Mann-Whitney test) and IS/OS_bulge (p < 0.001; student t test) and higher cases with COST alterations, expressed as a diffuse line (p < 0.006; Chi 2 test) were found in FE than control eyes. IRCT were significantly reduced in FE at all the studied locations when comparing to control eyes (p < 0.05; student t test), maintaining anatomical proportionality among locations. FE without pathologic vitreomacular interactions seems to present some central cone alterations that may be related to other causes than vitreomacular traction.

Integrative genomic analysis identifies ancestry-related expression quantitative trait loci on DNA polymerase β and supports the association of genetic ancestry with survival disparities in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

Ramakodi, Meganathan P; Devarajan, Karthik; Blackman, Elizabeth; Gibbs, Denise; Luce, Danièle; Deloumeaux, Jacqueline; Duflo, Suzy; Liu, Jeffrey C; Mehra, Ranee; Kulathinal, Rob J; Ragin, Camille C

2017-03-01

African Americans with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have a lower survival rate than whites. This study investigated the functional importance of ancestry-informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HNSCC and also examined the effect of functionally important genetic elements on racial disparities in HNSCC survival. Ancestry-informative SNPs, RNA sequencing, methylation, and copy number variation data for 316 oral cavity and laryngeal cancer patients were analyzed across 178 DNA repair genes. The results of expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analyses were also replicated with a Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data set. The effects of eQTLs on overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated. Five ancestry-related SNPs were identified as cis-eQTLs in the DNA polymerase β (POLB) gene (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.01). The homozygous/heterozygous genotypes containing the African allele showed higher POLB expression than the homozygous white allele genotype (P < .001). A replication study using a GEO data set validated all 5 eQTLs and also showed a statistically significant difference in POLB expression based on genetic ancestry (P = .002). An association was observed between these eQTLs and OS (P < .037; FDR < 0.0363) as well as DFS (P = .018 to .0629; FDR < 0.079) for oral cavity and laryngeal cancer patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Genotypes containing the African allele were associated with poor OS/DFS in comparison with homozygous genotypes harboring the white allele. Analyses show that ancestry-related alleles could act as eQTLs in HNSCC and support the association of ancestry-related genetic factors with survival disparities in patients diagnosed with oral cavity and laryngeal cancer. Cancer 2017;123:849-60. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Eight years of bioethics

PubMed Central

Moreno-Exebio, Luis

2012-01-01

Este trabajo presenta la experiencia que significó el paso por el Programa Internacional de Formación en Ética de la investigación biomédica y psicosocial del Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios en Bioética de la Universidad de Chile (2003–2004) y algunas reflexiones respecto de la integración de lo aprendido en mi posterior labor en comités de ética y programas académicos de ética de investigación. Asimismo, en la elaboración de regulaciones que permitan una mejor evaluación ética y científica. PMID:23172984

Electrical and Structural Properties Study of Layered Dielectric and Magnetic Composites and Blends Structures for RF and Microwave Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-12

Graduação em Engenharia de Teleinformática (2012) 3- STUDY of THERMAL STABILITY of microwave Resonant frequency of (τf) of DIELETRICS and...SYNTHESIS of CERAMIC MATERIALS with NEAR-ZERO τf Marcelo Antonio Santos da Silva, Programa de Pós Graduação em Quimica (2012) 4- STUDY OF DIELECTRIC...PROPERTIES OF CERAMIC MATRIX SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN) FOR USE IN RF AND MICROWAVE DEVICES, EMMANUELLE DE OLIVEIRA SANCHO PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ENGENHARIA

TS and ERCC-1 mRNA expressions and clinical outcome in patients with metastatic colon cancer in CONFIRM-1 and -2 clinical trials.

PubMed

Grimminger, P P; Shi, M; Barrett, C; Lebwohl, D; Danenberg, K D; Brabender, J; Vigen, C L P; Danenberg, P V; Winder, T; Lenz, H-J

2012-10-01

To validate established cutoff levels of thymidylate synthase (TS) and excision repair cross-complementing (ERCC-1) intratumoral mRNA expressions in tumor samples from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with PTK787/ZK222584 (PTK/ZK). From 122 samples of patients with mCRC enrolled in CONFIRM-1 (Colorectal Oral Novel Therapy for the Inhibition of Angiogenesis and Retarding of Metastases) or CONFIRM-2, mRNA was isolated of microdissected formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples and quantitated using TaqMan-based technology. Existing TS and ERCC-1 cutoff levels were tested for their prognostic value in first-line and second-line therapy. TS expression was associated with overall survival (OS) in first-line, but not second-line therapy. ERCC-1 was associated with OS in patients treated with first-line and second-line FOLFOX4. In first-line FOLFOX4, combination of high TS and/or high ERCC-1 was associated with shorter OS. A correlation was observed between ERCC-1 expression and benefit from PTK/ZK+FOLFOX4 treatment. TS and ERCC-1 expression is associated with clinical outcome in mCRC. Baseline TS and ERCC-1 levels may allow the selection of patients who benefit from FOLFOX4 chemotherapy.

The development of an annotated library of neutral human milk oligosaccharides

PubMed Central

Wu, Shuai; Tao, Nannan; German, J. Bruce; Grimm, Rudolf; Lebrilla, Carlito B.

2010-01-01

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)a perform a number of functions including serving as prebiotics to stimulate the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria, as receptor analogs to inhibit binding of pathogens, and as substances that promote postnatal brain development. There is further evidence that HMOs participate in modulating the human immune system. Because the absorption, catabolism and biological function of oligosaccharides (OS) have strong correlations with their structures, structure elucidation is key to advancing this research. Oligosaccharides are produced by competing enzymes that provide the large structural diversity and heterogeneity that characterizes this class of compounds. Unlike the proteome, there is no template for oligosaccharides making it difficult to rapidly identify oligosaccharide structures. In this research, the annotation of the neutral free oligosaccharides in milk is performed to develop a database for the rapid identification of oligosaccharide structures. Our strategy incorporates high performance nanoflow liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry for characterizing HMO structures. HPLC-Chip/TOF MS provides a sensitive and quantitative method for sample profiling. The reproducible retention time and accurate mass can be used to rapidly identify the OS structures in HMO samples. A library with 45 neutral OS structures has been constructed. The structures include information regarding the epitopes such as Lewis type as well as information regarding the secretor status. PMID:20578730

Decomposition of Ag-based soldering alloys used in space maintainers after intra-oral exposure. A retrieval analysis study.

PubMed

Soteriou, Despo; Ntasi, Argyro; Papagiannoulis, Lisa; Eliades, Theodore; Zinelis, Spiros

2014-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the elemental alterations of Ag soldering alloys used in space maintainers after intra-oral exposure. Twenty devices were fabricated by using two different soldering alloys; US (Dentaurum Universal Silver Solder, n = 10) and OS (Leone Orthodontic Solder, n = 10). All devices were manufactured by the same technician. Surface morphology and elemental quantitative analysis of the soldering alloys before and after intra-oral placement in patients was determined by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDX). Statistical analysis was performed by t-test, Mann Whitney tests and Pearson's correlation. For all tests a 95% confidence level was used (α = 0.05). Both soldering alloys demonstrated substantially increase in surface roughness after intra-oral aging. Statistical analysis illustrated a significant decrease in the Cu and Zn content after treatment. OS demonstrated higher Cu release than US (p < 0.05). The remaining relative concentrations of Cu and Zn after the treatment did not show any correlation (p > 0.05) with intra-oral exposure time, apart from Zn in OS (r = 0.840, p = 0.04). Both soldering alloys demonstrated a significant Cu and Zn reduction after intra-oral exposure that may raise biocompatibility concerns.

Role of hydroperoxide lyase in white-backed planthopper (Sogatella furcifera Horváth)-induced resistance to bacterial blight in rice, Oryza sativa L.

PubMed

Gomi, Kenji; Satoh, Masaru; Ozawa, Rika; Shinonaga, Yumi; Sanada, Sachiyo; Sasaki, Katsutomo; Matsumura, Masaya; Ohashi, Yuko; Kanno, Hiroo; Akimitsu, Kazuya; Takabayashi, Junji

2010-01-01

A pre-infestation of the white-backed planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera Horváth, conferred resistance to bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) under both laboratory and field conditions. The infestation of another planthopper species, the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens Stål, did not significantly reduce the incidence of bacterial blight symptoms. A large-scale screening using a rice DNA microarray and quantitative RT-PCR revealed that WBPH infestation caused the upregulation of more defence-related genes than did BPH infestation. Hydroperoxide lyase 2 (OsHPL2), an enzyme for producing C(6) volatiles, was upregulated by WBPH infestation, but not by BPH infestation. One C(6) volatile, (E)-2-hexenal, accumulated in rice after WBPH infestation, but not after BPH infestation. A direct application of (E)-2-hexenal to a liquid culture of Xoo inhibited the growth of the bacterium. Furthermore, a vapour treatment of rice plants with (E)-2-hexenal induced resistance to bacterial blight. OsHPL2-overexpressing transgenic rice plants exhibited increased resistance to bacterial blight. Based on these data, we conclude that OsHPL2 and its derived (E)-2-hexenal play some role in WBPH-induced resistance in rice.

A Gene Expression Signature Associated with Overall Survival in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Suggests a New Treatment Strategy.

PubMed

Gillet, Jean-Pierre; Andersen, Jesper B; Madigan, James P; Varma, Sudhir; Bagni, Rachel K; Powell, Katie; Burgan, William E; Wu, Chung-Pu; Calcagno, Anna Maria; Ambudkar, Suresh V; Thorgeirsson, Snorri S; Gottesman, Michael M

2016-02-01

Despite improvements in the management of liver cancer, the survival rate for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains dismal. The survival benefit of systemic chemotherapy for the treatment of liver cancer is only marginal. Although the reasons for treatment failure are multifactorial, intrinsic resistance to chemotherapy plays a primary role. Here, we analyzed the expression of 377 multidrug resistance (MDR)-associated genes in two independent cohorts of patients with advanced HCC, with the aim of finding ways to improve survival in this poor-prognosis cancer. Taqman-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed a 45-gene signature that predicts overall survival (OS) in patients with HCC. Using the Connectivity Map Tool, we were able to identify drugs that converted the gene expression profiles of HCC cell lines from ones matching patients with poor OS to profiles associated with good OS. We found three compounds that convert the gene expression profiles of three HCC cell lines to gene expression profiles associated with good OS. These compounds increase histone acetylation, which correlates with the synergistic sensitization of those MDR tumor cells to conventional chemotherapeutic agents, including cisplatin, sorafenib, and 5-fluorouracil. Our results indicate that it is possible to modulate gene expression profiles in HCC cell lines to those associated with better outcome. This approach also increases sensitization of HCC cells toward conventional chemotherapeutic agents. This work suggests new treatment strategies for a disease for which few therapeutic options exist. U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright.

Epstein-Barr virus DNA load in chronic lymphocytic leukemia is an independent predictor of clinical course and survival

PubMed Central

Visco, Carlo; Falisi, Erika; Young, Ken H.; Pascarella, Michela; Perbellini, Omar; Carli, Giuseppe; Novella, Elisabetta; Rossi, Davide; Giaretta, Ilaria; Cavallini, Chiara; Scupoli, Maria Teresa; De Rossi, Anita; D'Amore, Emanuele Stefano Giovanni; Rassu, Mario; Gaidano, Gianluca; Pizzolo, Giovanni; Ambrosetti, Achille; Rodeghiero, Francesco

2015-01-01

The relation between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load and clinical course of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is unknown. We assessed EBV DNA load by quantitative PCR at CLL presentation in mononuclear cells (MNC) of 220 prospective patients that were enrolled and followed-up in two major Institutions. In 20 patients EBV DNA load was also assessed on plasma samples. Forty-one age-matched healthy subjects were tested for EBV DNA load on MNC. Findings were validated in an independent retrospective cohort of 112 patients with CLL. EBV DNA load was detectable in 59%, and high (≥2000 copies/µg DNA) in 19% of patients, but it was negative in plasma samples. EBV DNA load was significantly higher in CLL patients than in healthy subjects (P < .0001). No relation was found between high EBV load and clinical stage or biological variables, except for 11q deletion (P = .004), CD38 expression (P = .003), and NOTCH1 mutations (P = .05). High EBV load led to a 3.14-fold increase in the hazard ratio of death and to a shorter overall survival (OS; P = .001). Poor OS was attributable, at least in part, to shorter time-to-first-treatment (P = .0008), with no higher risk of Richter's transformation or second cancer. Multivariate analysis selected high levels of EBV load as independent predictor of OS after controlling for confounding clinical and biological variables. EBV DNA load at presentation is an independent predictor of OS in patients with CLL. PMID:26087198

Microglia in mouse retina contralateral to experimental glaucoma exhibit multiple signs of activation in all retinal layers

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Glaucomatous optic neuropathy, a leading cause of blindness, can progress despite control of intraocular pressure - currently the main risk factor and target for treatment. Glaucoma progression shares mechanisms with neurodegenerative disease, including microglia activation. In the present model of ocular hypertension (OHT), we have recently described morphological signs of retinal microglia activation and MHC-II upregulation in both the untreated contralateral eyes and OHT eyes. By using immunostaining, we sought to analyze and quantify additional signs of microglia activation and differences depending on the retinal layer. Methods Two groups of adult Swiss mice were used: age-matched control (naïve, n = 12), and lasered (n = 12). In the lasered animals, both OHT eyes and contralateral eyes were analyzed. Retinal whole-mounts were immunostained with antibodies against Iba-1, MHC-II, CD68, CD86, and Ym1. The Iba-1+ cell number in the plexiform layers (PL) and the photoreceptor outer segment (OS), Iba-1+ arbor area in the PL, and area of the retina occupied by Iba-1+ cells in the nerve fiber layer-ganglion cell layer (NFL-GCL) were quantified. Results The main findings in contralateral eyes and OHT eyes were: i) ameboid microglia in the NFL-GCL and OS; ii) the retraction of processes in all retinal layers; iii) a higher level of branching in PL and in the OS; iv) soma displacement to the nearest cell layers in the PL and OS; v) the reorientation of processes in the OS; vi) MHC-II upregulation in all retinal layers; vii) increased CD68 immunostaining; and viii) CD86 immunolabeling in ameboid cells. In comparison with the control group, a significant increase in the microglial number in the PL, OS, and in the area occupied by Iba-1+ cells in the NFL-GCL, and significant reduction of the arbor area in the PL. In addition, rounded Iba-1+ CD86+ cells in the NFL-GCL, OS and Ym1+ cells, and rod-like microglia in the NFL-GCL were restricted to OHT eyes. Conclusions Several quantitative and qualitative signs of microglia activation are detected both in the contralateral and OHT eyes. Such activation extended beyond the GCL, involving all retinal layers. Differences between the two eyes could help to elucidate glaucoma pathophysiology. PMID:25064005

Sistemas Correctores de Campo Para EL Telescopio Ritchey-Chretien UNAM212

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobos, F. J.; Galan, M. J.

1987-05-01

El telescopio UNAM2l2 fue inaugurado hace siete años y concebido para trabajar en las razones focales: f/7.5, F/13.5, F/27 y F/98. El diseño Ritchey-Chretién corresponde a la razón focal F/7.5 y el foco primario (F/2.286) no se consideró como utilizable para fotografía directa. En el Instituto de Astronomía de la UNAM, se diseñó y construyó un sistema corrector de campo para la razón focal F/7.5, que actualmente está en funcionamiento. Dentro de un programa de colaboración en diseflo y evaluación de sistemas ópticos, entre el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias y el Instituto de Astronomía de la UNAM, decidimos intentar el diseño de una correctora de campo para el foco primario del tȩlescopio UNAM212 bajo la consideración de que no son insalvables los problemas que implicaría su instalación y de que es muy posible que, en un futuro relativamente cercano, podamom tener un detector bidimenmional tipo Mepsicrón cuya área sensible haga tentadora la idea de construir la cámara directa para foco primario

Evaluation de la qualite osseuse par les ondes guidees ultrasonores =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abid, Alexandre

La caracterisation des proprietes mecaniques de l'os cortical est un domaine d'interet pour la recherche orthopedique. En effet, cette caracterisation peut apporter des informations primordiales pour determiner le risque de fracture, la presence de microfractures ou encore depister l'osteoporose. Les deux principales techniques actuelles de caracterisation de ces proprietes sont le Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) et le Quantitative Computed Tomogaphy (QCT). Ces techniques ne sont pas optimales et presentent certaines limites, ainsi l'efficacite du DXA est questionnee dans le milieu orthopedique tandis que le QCT necessite des niveaux de radiations problematiques pour en faire un outil de depistage. Les ondes guidees ultrasonores sont utilisees depuis de nombreuses annees pour detecter les fissures, la geometrie et les proprietes mecaniques de cylindres, tuyaux et autres structures dans des milieux industriels. De plus, leur utilisation est plus abordable que celle du DXA et n'engendrent pas de radiation ce qui les rendent prometteuses pour detecter les proprietes mecaniques des os. Depuis moins de dix ans, de nombreux laboratoires de recherche tentent de transposer ces techniques au monde medical, en propageant les ondes guidees ultrasonores dans les os. Le travail presente ici a pour but de demontrer le potentiel des ondes guidees ultrasonores pour determiner l'evolution des proprietes mecaniques de l'os cortical. Il commence par une introduction generale sur les ondes guidees ultrasonores et une revue de la litterature des differentes techniques relatives a l'utilisation des ondes guidees ultrasonores sur les os. L'article redige lors de ma maitrise est ensuite presente. L'objectif de cet article est d'exciter et de detecter certains modes des ondes guides presentant une sensibilite a la deterioration des proprietes mecaniques de l'os cortical. Ce travail est realise en modelisant par elements finis la propagation de ces ondes dans deux modeles osseux cylindriques. Ces deux modeles sont composes d'une couche peripherique d'os cortical et remplis soit d'os trabeculaire soit de moelle osseuse. Ces deux modeles permettent d'obtenir deux geometries, chacune propice a la propagation circonferentielle ou longitudinale des ondes guidees. Les resultats, ou trois differents modes ont pu etre identifies, sont compares avec des donnees experimentales obtenues avec des fantomes osseux et theoriques. La sensibilite de chaque mode pour les differents parametres des proprietes mecaniques est alors etudiee ce qui permet de conclure sur le potentiel de chaque mode quant a la prediction de risque de fracture ou de presence de microfractures.

Perspectivas para mejorar la salud sexual de las minorías sexuales y de identidad de género en Guatemala

PubMed Central

Alonzo, Jorge; Mann, Lilli; Simán, Florence; Sun, Christina J.; Andrade, Mario; Villatoro, Guillermo; Rhodes, Scott D.

2016-01-01

Resumen Las minorías sexuales y de identidad de género en Guatemala son afectadas de manera desproporcionada por el VIH y otras infecciones transmitidas sexualmente (ITS). Sin embargo, poco se sabe de los factores que contribuyen al riesgo de infección en estas minorías. Investigadores de Estados Unidos y Guatemala quisimos informarnos sobre las necesidades de salud sexual e identificar características de programas de prevención de VIH/ITS para estas minorías. Llevamos a cabo 8 grupos focales con hombres gay, bisexuales y personas transgénero y entrevistas en profundidad con líderes comunitarios. Utilizamos el Método Comparativo Constante para analizar las transcripciones. Identificamos 24 factores que influyen en la salud sexual y 16 características de programas para reducir el riesgo de VIH/ITS en estas poblaciones. La identificación de factores de conductas sexuales de riesgo y de características de programas potencialmente efectivos ofrece gran potencial para desarrollar intervenciones que contribuyan a reducir el riesgo de infección por VIH/ITS en estas minorías en Guatemala. PMID:27494000

Microarray-assisted fine-mapping of quantitative trait loci for cold tolerance in rice.

PubMed

Liu, Fengxia; Xu, Wenying; Song, Qian; Tan, Lubin; Liu, Jiayong; Zhu, Zuofeng; Fu, Yongcai; Su, Zhen; Sun, Chuanqing

2013-05-01

Many important agronomic traits, including cold stress resistance, are complex and controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Isolation of these QTLs will greatly benefit the agricultural industry but it is a challenging task. This study explored an integrated strategy by combining microarray with QTL-mapping in order to identify cold-tolerant QTLs from a cold-tolerant variety IL112 at early-seedling stage. All the early seedlings of IL112 survived normally for 9 d at 4-5°C, while Guichao2 (GC2), an indica cultivar, died after 4 d under the same conditions. Using the F2:3 population derived from the progeny of GC2 and IL112, we identified seven QTLs for cold tolerance. Furthermore, we performed Affymetrix rice whole-genome array hybridization and obtained the expression profiles of IL112 and GC2 under both low-temperature and normal conditions. Four genes were selected as cold QTL-related candidates, based on microarray data mining and QTL-mapping. One candidate gene, LOC_Os07g22494, was shown to be highly associated with cold tolerance in a number of rice varieties and in the F2:3 population, and its overexpression transgenic rice plants displayed strong tolerance to low temperature at early-seedling stage. The results indicated that overexpression of this gene (LOC_Os07g22494) could increase cold tolerance in rice seedlings. Therefore, this study provides a promising strategy for identifying candidate genes in defined QTL regions.

Nursing Activities Score and Acute Kidney Injury.

PubMed

Coelho, Filipe Utuari de Andrade; Watanabe, Mirian; Fonseca, Cassiane Dezoti da; Padilha, Katia Grillo; Vattimo, Maria de Fátima Fernandes

2017-01-01

to evaluate the nursing workload in intensive care patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). A quantitative study, conducted in an intensive care unit, from April to August of 2015. The Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) were used to measure nursing workload and to classify the stage of AKI, respectively. A total of 190 patients were included. Patients who developed AKI (44.2%) had higher NAS when compared to those without AKI (43.7% vs 40.7%), p <0.001. Patients with stage 1, 2 and 3 AKI showed higher NAS than those without AKI. A relationship was identified between stage 2 and 3 with those without AKI (p = 0.002 and p <0.001). The NAS was associated with the presence of AKI, the score increased with the progression of the stages, and it was associated with AKI, stage 2 and 3. avaliar a carga de trabalho de enfermagem em pacientes de terapia intensiva com lesão renal aguda (LRA). estudo quantitativo, em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva, no período de abril a agosto de 2015. O Nursing Activities Score (NAS) e o Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) foram utilizados para medir a carga de trabalho de enfermagem e classificar o estágio da LRA, respectivamente. foram incluídos 190 pacientes. Os pacientes que desenvolveram LRA (44,2%) possuíam NAS superiores quando comparados aos sem LRA (43,7% vs 40,7%), p<0,001. Os pacientes com LRA nos estágios 1, 2 e 3 de LRA demonstraram NAS superiores aos sem LRA, houve relação entre os estágios 2 e 3 com os sem LRA, p=0,002 e p<0,001. o NAS apresentou associação com a existência de LRA, visto que seu valor aumenta com a progressão dos estágios, tendo associação com os estágios 2 e 3 de LRA.

Essential Oils Modulate Gene Expression and Ochratoxin A Production in Aspergillus carbonarius.

PubMed

El Khoury, Rachelle; Atoui, Ali; Verheecke, Carol; Maroun, Richard; El Khoury, Andre; Mathieu, Florence

2016-08-19

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin, mainly produced on grapes by Aspergillus carbonarius, that causes massive health problems for humans. This study aims to reduce the occurrence of OTA by using the ten following essential oils (E.Os): fennel, cardamom, anise, chamomile, celery, cinnamon, thyme, taramira, oregano and rosemary at 1 µL/mL and 5 µL/mL for each E.O.As a matter of fact, their effects on the OTA production and the growth of A. carbonarius S402 cultures were evaluated, after four days at 28 °C on a Synthetic Grape Medium (SGM). Results showed that A. carbonarius growth was reduced up to 100%, when cultured with the E.Os of cinnamon, taramira, and oregano at both concentrations and the thyme at 5 µL/mL. As for the other six E.Os, their effect on A. carbonarius growth was insignificant, but highly important on the OTA production. Interestingly, the fennel E.O at 5 µL/mL reduced the OTA production up to 88.9% compared to the control, with only 13.8% of fungal growth reduction. We further investigated the effect of these E.Os on the expression levels of the genes responsible for the OTA biosynthesis (acOTApks and acOTAnrps along with the acpks gene) as well as the two regulatory genes laeA and vea, using the quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) method. The results revealed that these six E.Os reduced the expression of the five studied genes, where the ackps was downregulated by 99.2% (the highest downregulation in this study) with 5 µL/mL of fennel E.O.As for the acOTApks, acOTAnrps, veA and laeA, their reduction levels ranged between 10% and 96% depending on the nature of the E.O and its concentration in the medium.

Genome-Wide Identification of the Alba Gene Family in Plants and Stress-Responsive Expression of the Rice Alba Genes

PubMed Central

Verma, Jitendra Kumar; Wardhan, Vijay; Singh, Deepali; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan

2018-01-01

Architectural proteins play key roles in genome construction and regulate the expression of many genes, albeit the modulation of genome plasticity by these proteins is largely unknown. A critical screening of the architectural proteins in five crop species, viz., Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor, Cicer arietinum, and Vitis vinifera, and in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana along with evolutionary relevant species such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Physcomitrella patens, and Amborella trichopoda, revealed 9, 20, 10, 7, 7, 6, 1, 4, and 4 Alba (acetylation lowers binding affinity) genes, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis of the genes and of their counterparts in other plant species indicated evolutionary conservation and diversification. In each group, the structural components of the genes and motifs showed significant conservation. The chromosomal location of the Alba genes of rice (OsAlba), showed an unequal distribution on 8 of its 12 chromosomes. The expression profiles of the OsAlba genes indicated a distinct tissue-specific expression in the seedling, vegetative, and reproductive stages. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of the OsAlba genes confirmed their stress-inducible expression under multivariate environmental conditions and phytohormone treatments. The evaluation of the regulatory elements in 68 Alba genes from the 9 species studied led to the identification of conserved motifs and overlapping microRNA (miRNA) target sites, suggesting the conservation of their function in related proteins and a divergence in their biological roles across species. The 3D structure and the prediction of putative ligands and their binding sites for OsAlba proteins offered a key insight into the structure–function relationship. These results provide a comprehensive overview of the subtle genetic diversification of the OsAlba genes, which will help in elucidating their functional role in plants. PMID:29597290

Reduced serum non-enzymatic antioxidant defense and increased lipid peroxidation in schizophrenic patients on a hypocaloric diet.

PubMed

Zortea, Karine; Fernandes, Brisa Simões; Guimarães, Lísia Rejane; Francesconi, Lenise Petter; Lersch, Camila; Gama, Clarissa Severino; Schroeder, Rafael; Zanotto-Filho, Alfeu; Moreira, José Claudio; Lobato, Maria Inês Rodrigues; Belmonte-de-Abreu, Paulo Silva

2012-03-14

Growing evidence suggests that oxidative stress (OS) may be associated with the pathophysiology underlying schizophrenia (SZ). Some studies indicate that nutritional supplements offer protection from OS, but there is no data about the effect of a hypocaloric diet on OS in this population. Therefore, we aimed to study the effect of a hypocaloric dietary intervention on OS in subjects with SZ. A cross-sectional study of 96 participants in outpatient treatment for SZ comprised patients separated into two groups: one group of subjects followed a hypocaloric diet (HD) program (n=42), while the other group followed a regular diet (RD) with no nutritional restrictions (n=54). The serum total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), total antioxidant reactivity (TAR) and thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) levels were assessed. TRAP levels were lower and TBARS levels were higher in the HD group than in the RD group (p=0.022 and p=0.023, respectively). There were no differences in TAR levels between the groups. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between TRAP and TBARS levels after adjusting for BMI and clozapine dose (partial correlation=0.42, p<0.001). There were no correlations among the length of illness or diet and the levels of TRAP, TBARS, and TAR. Subjects with SZ on a hypocaloric diet displayed different OS parameters than those not following a HD. Serum TRAP levels were lower and TBARS levels were higher among SZ subjects with HD compared to SZ subjects without HD. Lower TRAP levels may reflect decreased oxidative stress, whereas higher TBARS levels most likely reflect a biochemical reaction to the decreased TRAP levels. Additionally, TAR levels were similar between groups, suggesting a similar quality of antioxidant defenses, despite quantitative differences between the two dietary protocols in SZ patients under outpatient care. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring of Serum DNA Methylation as an Early Independent Marker of Response and Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer: TBCRC 005 Prospective Biomarker Study

PubMed Central

Fackler, MaryJo S.; Zhang, Zhe; Lopez-Bujanda, Zoila A.; Jeter, Stacie C.; Sokoll, Lori J.; Garrett-Mayer, Elizabeth; Cope, Leslie M.; Umbricht, Christopher B.; Euhus, David M.; Forero, Andres; Storniolo, Anna M.; Nanda, Rita; Lin, Nancy U.; Carey, Lisa A.; Ingle, James N.; Sukumar, Saraswati; Wolff, Antonio C.

2017-01-01

Purpose Epigenetic alterations measured in blood may help guide breast cancer treatment. The multisite prospective study TBCRC 005 was conducted to examine the ability of a novel panel of cell-free DNA methylation markers to predict survival outcomes in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) using a new quantitative multiplex assay (cMethDNA). Patients and Methods Ten genes were tested in duplicate serum samples from 141 women at baseline, at week 4, and at first restaging. A cumulative methylation index (CMI) was generated on the basis of six of the 10 genes tested. Methylation cut points were selected to maximize the log-rank statistic, and cross-validation was used to obtain unbiased point estimates. Logistic regression or Cox proportional hazard models were used to test associations between the CMI and progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and disease status at first restaging. The added value of the CMI in predicting survival outcomes was evaluated and compared with circulating tumor cells (CellSearch). Results Median PFS and OS were significantly shorter in women with a high CMI (PFS, 2.1 months; OS, 12.3 months) versus a low CMI (PFS, 5.8 months; OS, 21.7 months). In multivariable models, among women with MBC, a high versus low CMI at week 4 was independently associated with worse PFS (hazard ratio, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.60; P = .002) and OS (hazard ratio, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.21 to 2.54; P = .003). An increase in the CMI from baseline to week 4 was associated with worse PFS (P < .001) and progressive disease at first restaging (P < .001). Week 4 CMI was a strong predictor of PFS, even in the presence of circulating tumor cells (P = .004). Conclusion Methylation of this gene panel is a strong predictor of survival outcomes in MBC and may have clinical usefulness in risk stratification and disease monitoring. PMID:27870562

HeatmapGenerator: high performance RNAseq and microarray visualization software suite to examine differential gene expression levels using an R and C++ hybrid computational pipeline.

PubMed

Khomtchouk, Bohdan B; Van Booven, Derek J; Wahlestedt, Claes

2014-01-01

The graphical visualization of gene expression data using heatmaps has become an integral component of modern-day medical research. Heatmaps are used extensively to plot quantitative differences in gene expression levels, such as those measured with RNAseq and microarray experiments, to provide qualitative large-scale views of the transcriptonomic landscape. Creating high-quality heatmaps is a computationally intensive task, often requiring considerable programming experience, particularly for customizing features to a specific dataset at hand. Software to create publication-quality heatmaps is developed with the R programming language, C++ programming language, and OpenGL application programming interface (API) to create industry-grade high performance graphics. We create a graphical user interface (GUI) software package called HeatmapGenerator for Windows OS and Mac OS X as an intuitive, user-friendly alternative to researchers with minimal prior coding experience to allow them to create publication-quality heatmaps using R graphics without sacrificing their desired level of customization. The simplicity of HeatmapGenerator is that it only requires the user to upload a preformatted input file and download the publicly available R software language, among a few other operating system-specific requirements. Advanced features such as color, text labels, scaling, legend construction, and even database storage can be easily customized with no prior programming knowledge. We provide an intuitive and user-friendly software package, HeatmapGenerator, to create high-quality, customizable heatmaps generated using the high-resolution color graphics capabilities of R. The software is available for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. HeatmapGenerator is released under the GNU General Public License and publicly available at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/heatmapgenerator/. The Mac OS X direct download is available at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/heatmapgenerator/files/HeatmapGenerator_MAC_OSX.tar.gz/download. The Windows OS direct download is available at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/heatmapgenerator/files/HeatmapGenerator_WINDOWS.zip/download.

METRICS DEVELOPMENT FOR THE QUALIS OF SOFTWARE TECHNICAL PRODUCTION.

PubMed

Scarpi, Marinho Jorge

2015-01-01

To recommend metrics to qualify software production and to propose guidelines for the CAPES quadrennial evaluation of the Post-Graduation Programs of Medicine III about this issue. Identification of the development process quality features, of the product attributes and of the software use, determined by Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT), International Organization Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical (IEC), important in the perspective of the CAPES Medicine III Area correlate users, basing the creation proposal of metrics aiming to be used on four-year evaluation of Medicine III. The in use software quality perception by the user results from the provided effectiveness, productivity, security and satisfaction that originate from its characteristics of functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability and portability (in use metrics quality). This perception depends on the specific use scenario. The software metrics should be included in the intellectual production of the program, considering the system behavior measurements results obtained by users' performance evaluation through out the favorable responses punctuation sum for the six in use metrics quality (27 sub-items, 0 to 2 points each) and for quality perception proof (four items, 0 to 10 points each). It will be considered as very good (VG) 85 to 94 points; good (G) 75 to 84 points; regular (R) 65 to 74 points; weak (W) 55 to 64 points; poor (P) <55 points. Recomendar métrica para qualificar a produção de software propondo diretrizes para a avaliação dos Programas de Pós-Graduação da Medicina III. Identificação das características de qualidade para o processo de desenvolvimento, para os atributos do produto e para o uso de software, determinadas pela Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), International Organization Standardization (ISO) e International Electrotechnical (IEC), importantes na perspectiva dos usuários correlatos da Área Medicina III da CAPES, embasando a criação de proposta para métrica do tema, com vistas à avaliação quadrienal dos cursos de pós-graduação. A percepção de qualidade em uso do software pelo usuário resulta da efetividade, produtividade, segurança e satisfação proporcionada, que têm origem nas suas características de funcionalidade, confiabilidade, usabilidade, eficiência, manutenibilidade e portabilidade (métricas de qualidade em uso). Tal percepção depende do cenário de uso específico. A métrica de software deve ser incluída na produção intelectual do Documento de Área do programa, ponderando os resultados nas medidas de comportamento do sistema em avaliação de desempenho por usuários, considerando a somatória da pontuação favorável para as seis métricas de qualidade em uso (27 sub-itens, de 0 a 2 pontos cada) e a comprovação da percepção de qualidade (quatro itens, de 0 a 10 pontos cada). Será considerado muito bom (MB) de 85 a 94 pontos; bom (B) de 75 a 84 pontos; Regular (R) de 65 a 74 pontos; fraco (F) de 55 a 64 pontos; deficiente (D) < 55.

[Injecting without getting infected: injectors' strategies to prevent HIV and HCV.

PubMed

Mateu-Gelabert, P; Friedman, S; Sandoval, M

2007-10-01

OBJETIVO: Desde principios de los noventa, en la ciudad de Nueva York se han implementado con éxito programas para reducir la incidencia del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) y, en menor medida, del virus de la hepatitis C (VHC). A pesar de ello, aproximadamente el 70% de los usuario de drogas inyectables (UDI) están infectados por el VHC. Queremos investigar cómo el 30% restante se las ha arreglado para no infectarse. El Staying safe (nombre original del estudio) explora los comportamientos y mecanismos que ayudan a evitar la infección por el VHC y el VIH a largo plazo. MATERIAL Y M#ENTITYSTARTX000E9;TODOS: Hemos utilizado el concepto de «desviación positiva» aplicado en otros campos de salud pública. Estudiamos las estrategias, prácticas y tácticas de prevención de aquellos UDI que, viviendo en contextos de alta prevalencia, se mantienen sin infectar por VIH y el VHC, a pesar de haberse inyectado heroína durante años. Los resultados preliminares presentados en este artículo incluyen el análisis de las entrevistas realizadas a 25 UDI (17 doble negativos, 3 doble positivos y 5 con infección por el VHC y sin infección por el VIH). Se usaron entrevistas semiestructuradas que exploraban con detalle la historia de vida de los sujetos, incluyendo su consumo de drogas, redes sociales, contacto con instituciones, relaciones sexuales y estrategias de protección y vigilancia. RESULTADOS: La intencionalidad es importante para no infectarse, especialmente durante períodos de involución (períodos donde hay un deterioro económico y/o social que llevan al que se inyecta a situaciones de mayor riesgo). Presentamos tres dimensiones independientes de intencionalidad que conllevan comportamientos que pueden ayudar a prevenir la infección: a) evitar «el mono» (síntomas de abstención) asegurando el acceso a la droga; b) «llevarlo bien» para no convertirse en un junkie y así evitar la «muerte social» y la falta de acceso a los recursos, y c) seguir sin infectarse por el VIH (sólo un doble negativo tuvo un amplio conocimiento sobre la hepatitis C). Estas intencionalidades no son mutuamente excluyentes. La presencia de varias refuerza la puesta en práctica a diario de comportamientos que pueden ayudar al que se inyecta a mantenerse libre de infecciones durante años. Algunas prácticas que hemos identificado se implementan en grupo y se comunican de UDI a UDI, de esta manera se extienden entre algunas redes sociales de UDI. CONCLUSIONES: Los UDI que permanecen sin infectarse planean e implementan estrategias de prevención en circunstancias donde otros UDI aplican prácticas de riesgo. El mantenimiento de la no infección no es, por lo tanto, un resultado del azar, sino más bien el resultado del esfuerzo (agencia) de los UDI. Investigar y extender estas estrategias y tácticas a través de programas de prevención podría contribuir a la prevención del VIH y el VHC.

Pincharse sin infectarse: estrategias para prevenir la infección por el VIH y el VHC entre usuarios de drogas inyectables

PubMed Central

MATEU-GELABERT, P.; FRIEDMAN, S.; SANDOVAL, M.

2011-01-01

Resumen Objetivo Desde principios de los noventa, en la ciudad de Nueva York se han implementado con éxito programas para reducir la incidencia del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) y, en menor medida, del virus de la hepatitis C (VHC). A pesar de ello, aproximadamente el 70% de los usuario de drogas inyectables (UDI) están infectados por el VHC. Queremos investigar cómo el 30% restante se las ha arreglado para no infectarse. El Staying safe (nombre original del estudio) explora los comportamientos y mecanismos que ayudan a evitar la infección por el VHC y el VIH a largo plazo. Material y métodos Hemos utilizado el concepto de «desviación positiva» aplicado en otros campos de salud pública. Estudiamos las estrategias, prácticas y tácticas de prevención de aquellos UDI que, viviendo en contextos de alta prevalencia, se mantienen sin infectar por VIH y el VHC, a pesar de haberse inyectado heroína durante años. Los resultados preliminares presentados en este artículo incluyen el análisis de las entrevistas realizadas a 25 UDI (17 doble negativos, 3 doble positivos y 5 con infección por el VHC y sin infección por el VIH). Se usaron entrevistas semiestructuradas que exploraban con detalle la historia de vida de los sujetos, incluyendo su consumo de drogas, redes sociales, contacto con instituciones, relaciones sexuales y estrategias de protección y vigilancia. Resultados La intencionalidad es importante para no infectarse, especialmente durante períodos de involución (períodos donde hay un deterioro económico y/o social que llevan al que se inyecta a situaciones de mayor riesgo). Presentamos tres dimensiones independientes de intencionalidad que conllevan comportamientos que pueden ayudar a prevenir la infección: a) evitar «el mono» (síntomas de abstención) asegurando el acceso a la droga; b) «llevarlo bien» para no convertirse en un junkie y así evitar la «muerte social» y la falta de acceso a los recursos, y c) seguir sin infectarse por el VIH (sólo un doble negativo tuvo un amplio conocimiento sobre la hepatitis C). Estas intencionalidades no son mutuamente excluyentes. La presencia de varias refuerza la puesta en práctica a diario de comportamientos que pueden ayudar al que se inyecta a mantenerse libre de infecciones durante años. Algunas prácticas que hemos identificado se implementan en grupo y se comunican de UDI a UDI, de esta manera se extienden entre algunas redes sociales de UDI. Conclusiones Los UDI que permanecen sin infectarse planean e implementan estrategias de prevención en circunstancias donde otros UDI aplican prácticas de riesgo. El mantenimiento de la no infección no es, por lo tanto, un resultado del azar, sino más bien el resultado del esfuerzo (agencia) de los UDI. Investigar y extender estas estrategias y tácticas a través de programas de prevención podría contribuir a la prevención del VIH y el VHC. PMID:21915175

A Benefit-Risk Analysis Approach to Capture Regulatory Decision-Making: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Raju, G K; Gurumurthi, K; Domike, R; Kazandjian, D; Blumenthal, G; Pazdur, R; Woodcock, J

2016-12-01

Drug regulators around the world make decisions about drug approvability based on qualitative benefit-risk analyses. There is much interest in quantifying regulatory approaches to benefit and risk. In this work the use of a quantitative benefit-risk analysis was applied to regulatory decision-making about new drugs to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Benefits and risks associated with 20 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decisions associated with a set of candidate treatments submitted between 2003 and 2015 were analyzed. For benefit analysis, the median overall survival (OS) was used where available. When not available, OS was estimated based on overall response rate (ORR) or progression-free survival (PFS). Risks were analyzed based on magnitude (or severity) of harm and likelihood of occurrence. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was explored to demonstrate analysis of systematic uncertainty. FDA approval decision outcomes considered were found to be consistent with the benefit-risk logic. © 2016 American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Preparación de los adultos mayores en los Estados Unidos para hacer frente a los desastres naturales: encuesta a escala nacional*

PubMed Central

Al-rousan, Tala M.; Rubenstein, Linda M.; Wallace, Robert B.

2015-01-01

Objetivos. Nos propusimos determinar el grado de preparación frente a los desastres naturales de los adultos mayores en los Estados Unidos y evaluar los factores que pueden afectar negativamente la salud y la seguridad durante este tipo de incidentes. Métodos. Obtuvimos una muestra de adultos de 50 años en adelante (n = 1 304) de la encuesta del 2010 del Estudio de la Salud y la Jubilación (HRS por su sigla en inglés). La encuesta recogió datos sobre las características demográficas generales, el estado de discapacidad o las limitaciones funcionales, y también sobre factores y comportamientos relacionados con la preparación frente a los desastres. Calculamos una puntuación global de preparación mediante indicadores individuales a fin de evaluar el grado de preparación general. Resultados. La media de la edad de los participantes (n = 1 304) fue de 70 años (desviación estándar [DE] = 9,3). Solo 34,3% informaron que habían participado en un programa formativo o que habían leído materiales sobre la preparación para los desastres. Casi 15% indicaron que usaban dispositivos médicos eléctricos que podían correr riesgo de no funcionar si se interrumpiera el suministro eléctrico. La puntuación de preparación indicó que la edad más avanzada, la discapacidad física y el menor nivel de escolaridad y de ingresos se asociaban independiente y significativamente a un grado de preparación general inferior. Conclusiones. A pesar de la mayor vulnerabilidad ante los desastres y del número cada vez mayor de adultos mayores en los Estados Unidos, muchos de los problemas sustanciales que encontramos son remediables y requieren atención en los sectores de la sociedad dedicados a la atención clínica, a la salud pública y al manejo de situaciones de emergencia.

DUCHAS VAGINALES Y OTROS RIESGOS DE VAGINOSIS BACTERIANA

PubMed Central

Chávez, Natividad; Molina, Helfer; Sánchez, Jorge; Gelaye, Bizu; Sánchez, Sixto E.

2010-01-01

Vaginosis bacteriana (VB) es una infección caracterizada por el cambio en la microflora de la vagina, asociándose a resultados adversos del embarazo y a la adquisición de infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), incluyendo el VIH. En este estudio se buscó la asociación entre el uso de duchas vaginales y otros factores de riesgos con VB. Se usó un diseño observacional descriptivo transversal prospectivo, en 1,252 mujeres que asistieron al servicio de planificación familiar de tres hospitales nacionales (Dos de Mayo, Arzobispo Loayza, San Bartolomé) y el Instituto Materno Perinatal, durante el año 1997. Se utilizó un cuestionario estructurado donde se registraron variables socio demográficas y características del estilo de vida de las participantes. VB fue diagnosticada mediante el puntaje de Nugent. Se empleó análisis de regresión logística para calcular odds ratio (OR) e intervalos de confianza al 95%. La edad promedio de las participantes fue 25.1 ± 4,7 años, el 23.4% tenían más de 11 años de educación. La prevalencía de VB fue 20,1%. Las mujeres que practicaban duchas vaginales tuvieron 2.28 veces (OR = 2.28, IC 95% [1.0–5.0]) mayor probabilidad de tener VB comparado con aquellas que no lo practicaban. Tener dos o más parejas sexuales estuvo asociado con 2.0 veces (OR =2.0, IC 95% [1.2–3.5]) mayor probabilidad de adquirir VB comparado con aquellas que habían tenido solo una pareja sexual. Las participantes que iniciaron una relación sexual a una edad temprana tuvieron 1.4 veces (OR=1.4, IC 95% [1.0 –1.9]) mayor probabilidad de adquirir VB. El uso de duchas vaginales es un factor de riesgo de VB. Los programas destinados a la salud de la mujer deben abordar las repercusiones perjudiciales para la salud asociados con las duchas vaginales. PMID:21132048

Prevalence and factors associated with minor psychiatric disorders in hospital housekeeping workers.

PubMed

Marconato, Cintia da Silva; Magnago, Ana Carolina de Souza; Magnago, Tânia Solange Bosi de Souza; Dalmolin, Graziele de Lima; Andolhe, Rafaela; Tavares, Juliana Petri

2017-06-12

Investigating the prevalence and factors associated with minor psychiatric disorders (MPDs) in Hospital housekeeping workers. A cross-sectional study carried out in 2013 with workers from the cleaning service of a public university hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected through a form containing sociodemographic, occupational, habits and health variables. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 was used in order to evaluate MPDs. The study population consisted of 161 workers. The overall prevalence of suspected MPD was 29.3%. The chances of suspected MPDs were higher in workers with Effort-Reward Imbalance, those who did not have time or who occasionally had time for leisure activities, and those taking medications. The prevalence of MPDs was similar to that found in the literature for health workers. Therefore, we consider it important to include these workers in institutional programs for continuing health education. Investigar a prevalência e os fatores associados aos Distúrbios Psíquicos Menores (DPMs) em trabalhadores do Serviço Hospitalar de Limpeza. Estudo transversal, realizado em 2013, com trabalhadores do serviço de limpeza de um hospital universitário público do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um formulário contendo variáveis sociodemográficas, laborais, hábitos e saúde. Para avaliação dos DPMs utilizou-se do Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20. A população do estudo foi composta pelos 161 trabalhadores. A prevalência global para suspeição de DPM foi de 29,3%. As chances de suspeição de DPMs foram maiores nos trabalhadores em Desequilíbrio Esforço-Recompensa, nos que não tinham ou às vezes tinham tempo para o lazer e naqueles que faziam uso de medicação. A prevalência de DPMs assemelhou-se à encontrada na literatura em trabalhadores da área saúde. Portanto, considera-se importante a inclusão desses trabalhadores em programas institucionais de educação permanente em saúde.

Defining Success in Open Science

PubMed Central

Ali-Khan, Sarah E.; Jean, Antoine; MacDonald, Emily; Gold, E. Richard

2018-01-01

Mounting evidence indicates that worldwide, innovation systems are increasing unsustainable. Equally, concerns about inequities in the science and innovation process, and in access to its benefits, continue. Against a backdrop of growing health, economic and scientific challenges global stakeholders are urgently seeking to spur innovation and maximize the just distribution of benefits for all. Open Science collaboration (OS) – comprising a variety of approaches to increase open, public, and rapid mobilization of scientific knowledge – is seen to be one of the most promising ways forward. Yet, many decision-makers hesitate to construct policy to support the adoption and implementation of OS without access to substantive, clear and reliable evidence. In October 2017, international thought-leaders gathered at an Open Science Leadership Forum in the Washington DC offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to share their views on what successful Open Science looks like. Delegates from developed and developing nations, national governments, science agencies and funding bodies, philanthropy, researchers, patient organizations and the biotechnology, pharma and artificial intelligence (AI) industries discussed the outcomes that would rally them to invest in OS, as well as wider issues of policy and implementation. This first of two reports, summarizes delegates' views on what they believe OS will deliver in terms of research, innovation and social impact in the life sciences. Through open and collaborative process over the next months, we will translate these success outcomes into a toolkit of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess when, where and how open science collaborations best advance research, innovation and social benefit. Ultimately, this work aims to develop and openly share tools to allow stakeholders to evaluate and re-invent their innovation ecosystems, to maximize value for the global public and patients, and address long-standing questions about the mechanics of innovation. PMID:29553146

MicroRNA-182 downregulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, inhibits proliferation, and promotes apoptosis in human osteosarcoma cells by targeting HOXA9

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zi-Feng; Wang, Yong-Jian; Fan, Shao-Hua; Du, Shi-Xin; Li, Xue-Dong; Wu, Dong-Mei; Lu, Jun; Zheng, Yuan-Lin

2017-01-01

We investigated the mechanisms by which microRNA (miR)-182 promotes apoptosis and inhibits proliferation in human osteosarcoma (OS) cells. Levels of miR-182 and Homeobox A9 (HOXA9) expression were compared between human OS and normal cells. Subjects were divided into OS and normal groups. We analyzed the target relationship of miR-182 and Homeobox A9 (HOXA9). Cells were then assigned into blank, negative control, miR-182 mimics, miR-182 inhibitors, siRNA-HOXA9, or and miR-182 inhibitors + siRNA-HOXA9 groups. Cell function was assayed by CCK-8, flow cytometry and wound healing assay. Additionally, we analyzed OS tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model. Dual-luciferase reporter assays indicated miR-182 directly targets HOXA9. Reverse transcription quantitative PCR and western blotting revealed elevated expression of miR-182, WIF-1, BIM, and Bax, and reduced expression of HOXA9, Wnt, β-catenin, Survivin, Cyclin D1, c-Myc, Mcl-1, Bcl-xL, and Snail in osteosarcoma cells treated with miR-182 mimic or siRNA-HOXA9 as compared to controls. Osteosarcoma cells also exhibited decreased cell proliferation, migration, and tumor growth, and increased apoptosis when treated with miR-182 mimic or siRNA-HOXA9. Correspondingly, in a xenograft mouse model, osteosarcoma tumor volume and growth were increased when cells were treated with miR-182 inhibitor and decreased by miR-182 mimic or siRNA-HOXA9. These results indicate that miR-182 downregulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, inhibits cell proliferation, and promotes apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells by suppressing HOXA9 expression. PMID:29254169

Validation of the CPS+EG and Neo-Bioscore staging systems after preoperative systemic therapy for breast cancer in a single center in China.

PubMed

Xu, Ling; Duan, Xuening; Zhou, Bin; Liu, Yinhua; Ye, Jingming; Liu, Zhaorui; Ma, Chao; Zhang, Hong; Zhang, Shuang; Zhang, Lanbo; Zhao, Jianxin; Cheng, Yuanjia

2018-04-17

Prognostic assessment after preoperative systemic therapy (PST) plays a vital role in determining treatment in breast cancer patients. Many researchers have sought to develop a system to quantitate residual tumor and its correlation with prognosis after PST. This retrospective study validated the CPS + EG staging system and Neo-Bioscore in a single center in China. Data from patients with non-metastatic primary breast cancer who were treated with PST and surgery from Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2014 at the Breast Disease Center of Peking University First Hospital, China, were reviewed. DFS, DSS and OS were calculated using the K-M curve and AUC. Multivariate analysis was used for a Cox proportional hazards model. All calculations were performed with SAS 9.4. A total of 403 patients were enrolled in this study. The median follow-up period was 45 (range 11-107) months. The five-year DFS, DSS and OS rates were 86.4%, 91.2% and 90.5%, respectively. The CS, PS, CPS + EG staging system and Neo-Bioscore stratified patients according to DFS, DSS, and OS after PST, with all P values < 0.0001. The CPS + EG staging system and Neo-Bioscore stratified prognosis after PST better than CS. HER2-positive patients without trastuzumab treatment had obviously worse DFS and OS than other subgroups with different HER2 statuses that scored a 3 in the Neo-Bioscore system. The CPS + EG staging system and Neo-Bioscore can improve prognostic prediction in non-pCR breast cancer patients after PST and, provided unfavorable prognostic factors such as insufficient treatment are incorporated, will have broader clinical applicability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Defining Success in Open Science.

PubMed

Ali-Khan, Sarah E; Jean, Antoine; MacDonald, Emily; Gold, E Richard

2018-01-01

Mounting evidence indicates that worldwide, innovation systems are increasing unsustainable. Equally, concerns about inequities in the science and innovation process, and in access to its benefits, continue. Against a backdrop of growing health, economic and scientific challenges global stakeholders are urgently seeking to spur innovation and maximize the just distribution of benefits for all. Open Science collaboration (OS) - comprising a variety of approaches to increase open, public, and rapid mobilization of scientific knowledge - is seen to be one of the most promising ways forward. Yet, many decision-makers hesitate to construct policy to support the adoption and implementation of OS without access to substantive, clear and reliable evidence. In October 2017, international thought-leaders gathered at an Open Science Leadership Forum in the Washington DC offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to share their views on what successful Open Science looks like. Delegates from developed and developing nations, national governments, science agencies and funding bodies, philanthropy, researchers, patient organizations and the biotechnology, pharma and artificial intelligence (AI) industries discussed the outcomes that would rally them to invest in OS, as well as wider issues of policy and implementation. This first of two reports, summarizes delegates' views on what they believe OS will deliver in terms of research, innovation and social impact in the life sciences. Through open and collaborative process over the next months, we will translate these success outcomes into a toolkit of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess when, where and how open science collaborations best advance research, innovation and social benefit. Ultimately, this work aims to develop and openly share tools to allow stakeholders to evaluate and re-invent their innovation ecosystems, to maximize value for the global public and patients, and address long-standing questions about the mechanics of innovation.

Non-linear osmosis

PubMed Central

Diamond, Jared M.

1966-01-01

1. The relation between osmotic gradient and rate of osmotic water flow has been measured in rabbit gall-bladder by a gravimetric procedure and by a rapid method based on streaming potentials. Streaming potentials were directly proportional to gravimetrically measured water fluxes. 2. As in many other tissues, water flow was found to vary with gradient in a markedly non-linear fashion. There was no consistent relation between the water permeability and either the direction or the rate of water flow. 3. Water flow in response to a given gradient decreased at higher osmolarities. The resistance to water flow increased linearly with osmolarity over the range 186-825 m-osM. 4. The resistance to water flow was the same when the gall-bladder separated any two bathing solutions with the same average osmolarity, regardless of the magnitude of the gradient. In other words, the rate of water flow is given by the expression (Om — Os)/[Ro′ + ½k′ (Om + Os)], where Ro′ and k′ are constants and Om and Os are the bathing solution osmolarities. 5. Of the theories advanced to explain non-linear osmosis in other tissues, flow-induced membrane deformations, unstirred layers, asymmetrical series-membrane effects, and non-osmotic effects of solutes could not explain the results. However, experimental measurements of water permeability as a function of osmolarity permitted quantitative reconstruction of the observed water flow—osmotic gradient curves. Hence non-linear osmosis in rabbit gall-bladder is due to a decrease in water permeability with increasing osmolarity. 6. The results suggest that aqueous channels in the cell membrane behave as osmometers, shrinking in concentrated solutions of impermeant molecules and thereby increasing membrane resistance to water flow. A mathematical formulation of such a membrane structure is offered. PMID:5945254

δ-Doping of oxygen vacancies dictated by thermodynamics in epitaxial SrTiO 3 films

DOE PAGES

Li, Fengmiao; Yang, Fang; Liang, Yan; ...

2017-06-01

Homoepitaxial SrTiO 3(110) film is grown by molecular beam epitaxy in ultra-high vacuum with oxygen diffusing from substrate as the only oxidant. The resulted oxygen vacancies (V Os) are found to be spatially confined within few subsurface layers only, forming a quasi-two-dimensional doped region with a tunable high concentration. Such a δ-function distribution of V Os is essentially determined by the thermodynamics associated with the surface reconstruction, and facilitated by the relatively high growth temperature. Here, our results demonstrate that it is feasible to tune V Os distribution at the atomic scale by controlling the lattice structure of oxide surfaces.more » Transition metal oxide interfaces have exhibited a variety of novel phenomena, including the high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas, superconductivity and unusual magnetism. While these phenomena are inherently related to the artificially designed architecture, oxygen vacancies (V Os) are recognized to be particularly important in determining the exotic behaviors of the oxides systems. As electron donors in oxides, V Os were observed to be one of the major factors for the high carrier density at the LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3 interface. V Os induce ferromagnetism in the epitaxial LaCoO 3 films via the ordering of excess electrons in Co 3d orbit. It was also suggested that the existence of V Os plays an important role in the formation of undesirable insulating phase in ultrathin films of many metallic oxide materials, referred to as the “dead layer” behavior. How V Os are involved in such complex phenomena is still unclear. One essential issue toward the design of emergent properties of oxide films is how to characterize and control V Os at the atomic scale. Recently, quantitative measurements of V O concentration have been realized with high spatial resolution benefited by the development of the state-of-the-art aberration-corrected scanning transmission microscope (STEM) and related spectroscopy techniques. However, tuning the V O density precisely by growth control is still extremely challenging. Different oxidants, i.e., molecular O 2, O 3 and atomic O, have been used with different feeding pressure during the growth. This approach is limited by thermodynamics of the material since the pressure of oxidant has to coordinate with temperature and other parameters in order to ensure the formation of the desired phase. In many cases the optimal condition for oxygen stoichiometry cannot be reached, and residual V Os are inevitably formed. It has been reported that V Os even form inhomogeneous clusters in SrTiO 3 (STO) films. Post annealing is another thermodynamic approach and seems to be effective to reduce the V O density. However, it does not allow the precise control of V Os distribution at the atomic scale either. In the current work, to study the control of V Os at the atomic scale, we grow SrTiO 3 homoepitaxial films along the polar [110] direction. Atomically well-defined (4 × 1) reconstruction is maintained on the surface all through the growth [see Fig. 1 (a) and (b)], which compensates the polarity. More importantly, the energy configuration associated with the surface reconstruction results in the spatial confinement of V Os within only few subsurface layers of the film, while their concentration remains extremely low on the topmost surface and in the bulk of STO substrate. In conclusion, we show that such a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) V O-doped layer, mimicking the δ-doping case in conventional semiconductors, can be precisely controlled.« less

δ-Doping of oxygen vacancies dictated by thermodynamics in epitaxial SrTiO 3 films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Fengmiao; Yang, Fang; Liang, Yan

Homoepitaxial SrTiO 3(110) film is grown by molecular beam epitaxy in ultra-high vacuum with oxygen diffusing from substrate as the only oxidant. The resulted oxygen vacancies (V Os) are found to be spatially confined within few subsurface layers only, forming a quasi-two-dimensional doped region with a tunable high concentration. Such a δ-function distribution of V Os is essentially determined by the thermodynamics associated with the surface reconstruction, and facilitated by the relatively high growth temperature. Here, our results demonstrate that it is feasible to tune V Os distribution at the atomic scale by controlling the lattice structure of oxide surfaces.more » Transition metal oxide interfaces have exhibited a variety of novel phenomena, including the high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas, superconductivity and unusual magnetism. While these phenomena are inherently related to the artificially designed architecture, oxygen vacancies (V Os) are recognized to be particularly important in determining the exotic behaviors of the oxides systems. As electron donors in oxides, V Os were observed to be one of the major factors for the high carrier density at the LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3 interface. V Os induce ferromagnetism in the epitaxial LaCoO 3 films via the ordering of excess electrons in Co 3d orbit. It was also suggested that the existence of V Os plays an important role in the formation of undesirable insulating phase in ultrathin films of many metallic oxide materials, referred to as the “dead layer” behavior. How V Os are involved in such complex phenomena is still unclear. One essential issue toward the design of emergent properties of oxide films is how to characterize and control V Os at the atomic scale. Recently, quantitative measurements of V O concentration have been realized with high spatial resolution benefited by the development of the state-of-the-art aberration-corrected scanning transmission microscope (STEM) and related spectroscopy techniques. However, tuning the V O density precisely by growth control is still extremely challenging. Different oxidants, i.e., molecular O 2, O 3 and atomic O, have been used with different feeding pressure during the growth. This approach is limited by thermodynamics of the material since the pressure of oxidant has to coordinate with temperature and other parameters in order to ensure the formation of the desired phase. In many cases the optimal condition for oxygen stoichiometry cannot be reached, and residual V Os are inevitably formed. It has been reported that V Os even form inhomogeneous clusters in SrTiO 3 (STO) films. Post annealing is another thermodynamic approach and seems to be effective to reduce the V O density. However, it does not allow the precise control of V Os distribution at the atomic scale either. In the current work, to study the control of V Os at the atomic scale, we grow SrTiO 3 homoepitaxial films along the polar [110] direction. Atomically well-defined (4 × 1) reconstruction is maintained on the surface all through the growth [see Fig. 1 (a) and (b)], which compensates the polarity. More importantly, the energy configuration associated with the surface reconstruction results in the spatial confinement of V Os within only few subsurface layers of the film, while their concentration remains extremely low on the topmost surface and in the bulk of STO substrate. In conclusion, we show that such a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) V O-doped layer, mimicking the δ-doping case in conventional semiconductors, can be precisely controlled.« less

Health Care in Brazil: Implications for Public Health and Epidemiology.

PubMed

Younger, David S

2016-11-01

A network of family-based community-oriented primary health programs, or Programa Agentes Communita˙rios de Saúde, and family health programs, or Programa Saúde da Família, introduced almost 2 decades ago were the Brazilian government's health care models to restructure primary care under the Unified Health System, or Sistema Único de Saúde. The latter offers comprehensive coverage to all, although it is used by those of lower income, and despite achievement in the last quarter century, access to health services and gradients of health status continue to persist along income, educational background, racial, and religious lines. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DEVELOPMENT OF METRICS FOR PROTOCOLS AND OTHER TECHNICAL PRODUCTS.

PubMed

Veiga, Daniela Francescato; Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2015-01-01

To develop a proposal for metrics for protocols and other technical products to be applied in assessing the Postgraduate Programs of Medicine III - Capes. The 2013 area documents of all the 48 Capes areas were read. From the analysis of the criteria used by the areas at the 2013's Triennal Assessment, a proposal for metrics for protocols and other technical products was developed to be applied in assessing the Postgraduate Programs of Medicine III. This proposal was based on the criteria of Biological Sciences I and Interdisciplinary areas. Only seven areas have described a scoring system for technical products. The products considered and the scoring varied widely. Due to the wide range of different technical products which could be considered relevant, and that would not be punctuated if they were not previously specified, it was developed, for the Medicine III, a proposal for metrics in which five specific criteria to be analyzed: Demand, Relevance/Impact, Scope, Complexity and Adherence to the Program. Based on these criteria, each product can receive 10 to 100 points. This proposal can be applied to the item Intellectual Production of the evaluation form, in subsection "Technical production, patents and other relevant production". The program will be scored as Very Good when it reaches mean ≥150 points/permanent professor/quadrennium; Good, mean between 100 and 149 points; Regular, mean between 60 and 99 points; Weak mean between 30 and 59 points; Insufficient, up to 29 points/permanent professor/quadrennium. Desenvolver proposta de métricas para protocolos e outras produções técnicas a serem aplicadas na avaliação dos Programas de Pós-Graduação da Área Medicina III da Capes. Foram lidos os documentos de área de 2013 de todas as 48 Áreas da Capes. A partir da análise dos critérios utilizados por elas na avaliação trienal 2013, foi desenvolvida uma proposta de métricas para protocolos e outras produções técnicas. Esta proposta foi baseada nos critérios adotados pelas Áreas Ciências Biológicas I e Interdisciplinar. Apenas sete áreas descreveram sistema de pontuação para produtos técnicos, e as produções consideradas e a pontuação variaram amplamente. Dada à imensa gama de produções técnicas diferentes que podem ser consideradas relevantes, e que não seriam contempladas em sistema de pontuação caso fossem especificadas, foi desenvolvida para a Medicina III uma proposta de métricas em que são analisados cinco critérios específicos para cada produção: Demanda, Relevância/Impacto, Abrangência, Complexidade e Aderência ao Programa. Com base nestes critérios, cada produção pode receber de 10 a 100 pontos. Esta proposta poderá ser aplicada ao item Produção Intelectual da Ficha de Avaliação, subitem "Produção técnica, patentes e outras produções consideradas relevantes". Será considerado Muito Bom o Programa que obtiver média ≥150 pontos/docente permanente/quadriênio; Bom, média entre 100 e 149 pontos; Regular, média entre 60 e 99 pontos; Fraco, média entre 30 e 59 pontos; e Deficiente média ≤29 pontos/docente permanente/quadriênio.

PPP1R12A Copy Number Is Associated with Clinical Outcomes of Stage III CRC Receiving Oxaliplatin-Based Chemotherapy

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chenbo; Li, Ajian; Li, Huaguang; Peng, Kangsheng; Wei, Qing; Lin, Moubin; Liu, Zhanju; Yin, Lu; Li, Jianwen

2015-01-01

Aim. To investigate the correlation between PPP1R12A gene copy number and clinical outcomes of oxaliplatin-based regimen in stage III colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods. A total of 139 paraffin-embedded tissue samples of stage III CRC patients who received oxaliplatin-based treatment after radical surgery were recruited. Genomic DNA was extracted and purified from paraffin-embedded sections. Quantitative PCR methods were used to detect the relative copy number (RCN) of PPP1R12A. Results. Statistical analysis demonstrated that low PPP1R12A RCN was associated with poor RFS (HR = 2.186, 95% CI: 1.293–3.696; P = 0.003) and OS (HR = 2.782, 95% CI: 1.531–5.052; P < 0.001). Additionally, when patients were stratified according to subgroups of stage III and tumor location, poor RFS and OS were also observed in the low PPP1R12A RCN group with significance (RFS: IIIB HR = 2.870, P < 0.001; colon HR = 1.910, P = 0.037; OS: IIIB HR = 3.527, P < 0.001; IIIC HR = 2.662, P = 0.049; rectum HR = 4.229, P = 0.002). Conclusion. Our findings suggest the copy number of PPP1R12A can independently predict recurrence and overall survival of stage III colorectal cancer patients receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. PMID:26113782

The prognostic value of circulating tumor cells in patients with melanoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Mocellin, Simone; Hoon, Dave; Ambrosi, Alessandro; Nitti, Donato; Rossi, Carlo Riccardo

2006-08-01

The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in patients with melanoma represents an appealing prognostic tool, but no consensus exists on this topic. We aimed to comprehensively and quantitatively summarize the evidence for the use of CTC to predict patients' clinical outcome. Fifty-three studies enrolling 5,433 patients were reviewed. Correlation of CTC status with tumor-node-metastasis disease stage and patients' overall (OS) and progression-free (PFS) survival was assessed by means of association statistics and meta-analysis, respectively. CTC status correlated with both tumor-node-metastasis stage (stage I, 32%; stage II, 41.7%; stage III, 41.1%; stage IV, 47.4%; P(trend) < 0.0001) and survival (OS: hazard ratio, 2.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-3.45, P < 0.0001; PFS: hazard ratio, 2.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.78-3.38; P < 0.0001). However, statistical heterogeneity was significant for both OS and PFS, likely underscoring the wide variability in study design. Furthermore, CTC positivity rates in early stages were higher and in the metastatic setting were lower than expected, which indicates an unsatisfactory accuracy of currently available CTC detection assays. Our findings suggest that CTC might have a clinically valuable prognostic power in patients with melanoma. However, the heterogeneity of the studies thus far published warrants caution not to overestimate the favorable results of pooled data.

Expression of miR-146a-5p in patients with intracranial aneurysms and its association with prognosis.

PubMed

Zhang, H-L; Li, L; Cheng, C-J; Sun, X-C

2018-02-01

The study aims to detect the association of miR-146a-5p with intracranial aneurysms (IAs). The expression of miR-146a-5p was compared from plasma samples between 72 patients with intracranial aneurysms (IAs) and 40 healthy volunteers by quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Statistical analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between miR-146a-5p expression and clinical data and overall survival (OS) time of IAs patients. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards have also been performed. Notably, higher miR-146a-5p expression was found in plasma samples from 72 patients with intracranial aneurysms (IAs) compared with 40 healthy controls. Higher miR-146a-5p expression was significantly associated with rupture and Hunt-Hess level in IAs patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis verified that higher miR-146a-5p expression predicted a shorter overall survival (OS) compared with lower miR-146a-5p expression in IAs patients. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards demonstrated that higher miR-146a-5p expression, rupture, and Hunt-Hess were independent risk factors of OS in patients with intracranial aneurysms (IAs). MiR-146a-5p expression may serve as a biomarker for predicting prognosis in patients with IAs.

SplicePlot: a utility for visualizing splicing quantitative trait loci.

PubMed

Wu, Eric; Nance, Tracy; Montgomery, Stephen B

2014-04-01

RNA sequencing has provided unprecedented resolution of alternative splicing and splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTL). However, there are few tools available for visualizing the genotype-dependent effects of splicing at a population level. SplicePlot is a simple command line utility that produces intuitive visualization of sQTLs and their effects. SplicePlot takes mapped RNA sequencing reads in BAM format and genotype data in VCF format as input and outputs publication-quality Sashimi plots, hive plots and structure plots, enabling better investigation and understanding of the role of genetics on alternative splicing and transcript structure. Source code and detailed documentation are available at http://montgomerylab.stanford.edu/spliceplot/index.html under Resources and at Github. SplicePlot is implemented in Python and is supported on Linux and Mac OS. A VirtualBox virtual machine running Ubuntu with SplicePlot already installed is also available.

Association of High-resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (HR-pQCT) bone microarchitectural parameters with previous clinical fracture in older men: The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study.

PubMed

Fink, Howard A; Langsetmo, Lisa; Vo, Tien N; Orwoll, Eric S; Schousboe, John T; Ensrud, Kristine E

2018-05-08

High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) assesses both volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and trabecular and cortical microarchitecture. However, studies of the association of HR-pQCT parameters with fracture history have been small, predominantly limited to postmenopausal women, often performed limited adjustment for potential confounders including for BMD, and infrequently assessed strength or failure measures. We used data from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study, a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling men aged ≥65 years, to evaluate the association of distal radius, proximal (diaphyseal) tibia and distal tibia HR-pQCT parameters measured at the Year 14 (Y14) study visit with prior clinical fracture. The primary HR-pQCT exposure variables were finite element analysis estimated failure loads (EFL) for each skeletal site; secondary exposure variables were total vBMD, total bone area, trabecular vBMD, trabecular bone area, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, cortical vBMD, cortical bone area, cortical thickness, and cortical porosity. Clinical fractures were ascertained from questionnaires administered every 4 months between MrOS study baseline and the Y14 visit and centrally adjudicated by masked review of radiographic reports. We used multivariate-adjusted logistic regression to estimate the odds of prior clinical fracture per 1 SD decrement for each Y14 HR-pQCT parameter. Three hundred forty-four (19.2%) of the 1794 men with available HR-pQCT measures had a confirmed clinical fracture between baseline and Y14. After multivariable adjustment, including for total hip areal BMD, decreased HR-pQCT finite element analysis EFL for each site was associated with significantly greater odds of prior confirmed clinical fracture and major osteoporotic fracture. Among other HR-pQCT parameters, decreased cortical area appeared to have the strongest independent association with prior clinical fracture. Future studies should explore associations of HR-pQCT parameters with specific fracture types and risk of incident fractures and the impact of age and sex on these relationships. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Manual del McVCO 1999

USGS Publications Warehouse

McChesney, P.J.

1999-01-01

El McVCO es un generador de frecuencias basado en un microcontrolador que reemplaza al oscilador controlado por voltaje (VCO) utilizado en telemetría analógica de datos sísmicas. Acepta señales de baja potencia desde un sismómetro y produce una señal subportadora modulada en frecuencia adecuada para enlaces telefónicos o vía radio a un lugar remoto de recolección de datos. La frecuencia de la subportadora y la ganancia pueden ser seleccionadas mediante un interruptor. Tiene la opción de poder operar con dos canales para la observación con ganancia alta y baja. El McVCO fue diseñado con el propósito de mejorar la telemetría analógica de las señales dentro de la Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN) (Red Sismográfica del Noroeste del Pacífico). Su desarrollo recibió el respaldo del Programa de Geofísica de la Universidad de Washington y del "Volcano Hazards and Earthquake Hazards programs of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) (Programa de Investigaciones de Riesgos Volcánicos y Programa de Investigaciones de Riesgos Sísmicos de los EEUU). Cientos de instrumentos se han construido e instalado. Además de utilizarlo el PNSN, el McVCO es usado por el Observatorio Vulcanológico de Alaska para monitorear los volcanes aleutianos y por el USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (Programa de Ayuda en las Catástrofes Volcánicas del USGS) para responder a crisis volcánicas en otros países. Este manual cubre el funcionamiento del McVCO, es una referencia técnica para aquellos que necesitan saber con más detalle cómo funciona el McVCO, y cubre una serie de temas que requieren un trato explícito o que derivan del despliegue del instrumento.

Generalized PSF modeling for optimized quantitation in PET imaging.

PubMed

Ashrafinia, Saeed; Mohy-Ud-Din, Hassan; Karakatsanis, Nicolas A; Jha, Abhinav K; Casey, Michael E; Kadrmas, Dan J; Rahmim, Arman

2017-06-21

Point-spread function (PSF) modeling offers the ability to account for resolution degrading phenomena within the PET image generation framework. PSF modeling improves resolution and enhances contrast, but at the same time significantly alters image noise properties and induces edge overshoot effect. Thus, studying the effect of PSF modeling on quantitation task performance can be very important. Frameworks explored in the past involved a dichotomy of PSF versus no-PSF modeling. By contrast, the present work focuses on quantitative performance evaluation of standard uptake value (SUV) PET images, while incorporating a wide spectrum of PSF models, including those that under- and over-estimate the true PSF, for the potential of enhanced quantitation of SUVs. The developed framework first analytically models the true PSF, considering a range of resolution degradation phenomena (including photon non-collinearity, inter-crystal penetration and scattering) as present in data acquisitions with modern commercial PET systems. In the context of oncologic liver FDG PET imaging, we generated 200 noisy datasets per image-set (with clinically realistic noise levels) using an XCAT anthropomorphic phantom with liver tumours of varying sizes. These were subsequently reconstructed using the OS-EM algorithm with varying PSF modelled kernels. We focused on quantitation of both SUV mean and SUV max , including assessment of contrast recovery coefficients, as well as noise-bias characteristics (including both image roughness and coefficient of-variability), for different tumours/iterations/PSF kernels. It was observed that overestimated PSF yielded more accurate contrast recovery for a range of tumours, and typically improved quantitative performance. For a clinically reasonable number of iterations, edge enhancement due to PSF modeling (especially due to over-estimated PSF) was in fact seen to lower SUV mean bias in small tumours. Overall, the results indicate that exactly matched PSF modeling does not offer optimized PET quantitation, and that PSF overestimation may provide enhanced SUV quantitation. Furthermore, generalized PSF modeling may provide a valuable approach for quantitative tasks such as treatment-response assessment and prognostication.

Improving image segmentation performance and quantitative analysis via a computer-aided grading methodology for optical coherence tomography retinal image analysis.

PubMed

Debuc, Delia Cabrera; Salinas, Harry M; Ranganathan, Sudarshan; Tátrai, Erika; Gao, Wei; Shen, Meixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Somfai, Gábor M; Puliafito, Carmen A

2010-01-01

We demonstrate quantitative analysis and error correction of optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal images by using a custom-built, computer-aided grading methodology. A total of 60 Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California) B-scans collected from ten normal healthy eyes are analyzed by two independent graders. The average retinal thickness per macular region is compared with the automated Stratus OCT results. Intergrader and intragrader reproducibility is calculated by Bland-Altman plots of the mean difference between both gradings and by Pearson correlation coefficients. In addition, the correlation between Stratus OCT and our methodology-derived thickness is also presented. The mean thickness difference between Stratus OCT and our methodology is 6.53 microm and 26.71 microm when using the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junction and outer segment/retinal pigment epithelium (OS/RPE) junction as the outer retinal border, respectively. Overall, the median of the thickness differences as a percentage of the mean thickness is less than 1% and 2% for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility test, respectively. The measurement accuracy range of the OCT retinal image analysis (OCTRIMA) algorithm is between 0.27 and 1.47 microm and 0.6 and 1.76 microm for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility tests, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrate R(2)>0.98 for all Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) regions. Our methodology facilitates a more robust and localized quantification of the retinal structure in normal healthy controls and patients with clinically significant intraretinal features.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation provides durable disease control in poor-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia: long-term clinical and MRD results of the German CLL Study Group CLL3X trial.

PubMed

Dreger, Peter; Döhner, Hartmut; Ritgen, Matthias; Böttcher, Sebastian; Busch, Raymonde; Dietrich, Sascha; Bunjes, Donald; Cohen, Sandra; Schubert, Jörg; Hegenbart, Ute; Beelen, Dietrich; Zeis, Matthias; Stadler, Michael; Hasenkamp, Justin; Uharek, Lutz; Scheid, Christof; Humpe, Andreas; Zenz, Thorsten; Winkler, Dirk; Hallek, Michael; Kneba, Michael; Schmitz, Norbert; Stilgenbauer, Stephan

2010-10-07

The purpose of this prospective multicenter phase 2 trial was to investigate the long-term outcome of reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) in patients with poor-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Conditioning was fludarabine/ cyclophosphamide-based. Longitudinal quantitative monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) was performed centrally by MRD-flow or real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. One hundred eligible patients were enrolled, and 90 patients proceeded to alloSCT. With a median follow-up of 46 months (7-102 months), 4-year nonrelapse mortality, event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 23%, 42%, and 65%, respectively. Of 52 patients with MRD monitoring available, 27 (52%) were alive and MRD negative at 12 months after transplant. Four-year EFS of this subset was 89% with all event-free patients except for 2 being MRD negative at the most recent assessment. EFS was similar for all genetic subsets, including 17p deletion (17p-). In multivariate analyses, uncontrolled disease at alloSCT and in vivo T-cell depletion with alemtuzumab, but not 17p-, previous purine analogue refractoriness, or donor source (human leukocyte antigen-identical siblings or unrelated donors) had an adverse impact on EFS and OS. In conclusion, alloSCT for poor-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia can result in long-term MRD-negative survival in up to one-half of the patients independent of the underlying genomic risk profile. This trial is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00281983.

Improving image segmentation performance and quantitative analysis via a computer-aided grading methodology for optical coherence tomography retinal image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cabrera Debuc, Delia; Salinas, Harry M.; Ranganathan, Sudarshan; Tátrai, Erika; Gao, Wei; Shen, Meixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Somfai, Gábor M.; Puliafito, Carmen A.

2010-07-01

We demonstrate quantitative analysis and error correction of optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal images by using a custom-built, computer-aided grading methodology. A total of 60 Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California) B-scans collected from ten normal healthy eyes are analyzed by two independent graders. The average retinal thickness per macular region is compared with the automated Stratus OCT results. Intergrader and intragrader reproducibility is calculated by Bland-Altman plots of the mean difference between both gradings and by Pearson correlation coefficients. In addition, the correlation between Stratus OCT and our methodology-derived thickness is also presented. The mean thickness difference between Stratus OCT and our methodology is 6.53 μm and 26.71 μm when using the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junction and outer segment/retinal pigment epithelium (OS/RPE) junction as the outer retinal border, respectively. Overall, the median of the thickness differences as a percentage of the mean thickness is less than 1% and 2% for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility test, respectively. The measurement accuracy range of the OCT retinal image analysis (OCTRIMA) algorithm is between 0.27 and 1.47 μm and 0.6 and 1.76 μm for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility tests, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrate R2>0.98 for all Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) regions. Our methodology facilitates a more robust and localized quantification of the retinal structure in normal healthy controls and patients with clinically significant intraretinal features.

Fine Mapping of Carbon Assimilation Rate 8, a Quantitative Trait Locus for Flag Leaf Nitrogen Content, Stomatal Conductance and Photosynthesis in Rice

PubMed Central

Adachi, Shunsuke; Yoshikawa, Kazuaki; Yamanouchi, Utako; Tanabata, Takanari; Sun, Jian; Ookawa, Taiichiro; Yamamoto, Toshio; Sage, Rowan F.; Hirasawa, Tadashi; Yonemaru, Junichi

2017-01-01

Increasing the rate of leaf photosynthesis is one important approach for increasing grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa). Exploiting the natural variation in CO2 assimilation rate (A) between rice cultivars using quantitative genetics is one promising means to identify genes contributing to higher photosynthesis. In this study, we determined precise location of Carbon Assimilation Rate 8 (CAR8) by crossing a high-yielding indica cultivar with a Japanese commercial cultivar. Fine mapping suggested that CAR8 encodes a putative Heme Activator Protein 3 (OsHAP3) subunit of a CCAAT-box-binding transcription factor called OsHAP3H. Sequencing analysis revealed that the indica allele of CAR8 has a 1-bp deletion at 322 bp from the start codon, resulting in a truncated protein of 125 amino acids. In addition, CAR8 is identical to DTH8/Ghd8/LHD1, which was reported to control rice flowering date. The increase of A is largely due to an increase of RuBP regeneration rate via increased leaf nitrogen content, and partially explained by reduced stomatal limitation via increased stomatal conductance relative to A. This allele also increases hydraulic conductivity, which would promote higher stomatal conductance. This indicates that CAR8 affects multiple physiological aspects relating to photosynthesis. The detailed analysis of molecular functions of CAR8 would help to understand the association between photosynthesis and flowering and demonstrate specific genetic mechanisms that can be exploited to improve photosynthesis in rice and potentially other crops. PMID:28197156

Glycolytic activity in breast cancer using 18F-FDG PET/CT as prognostic predictor: A molecular phenotype approach.

PubMed

Garcia Vicente, A M; Soriano Castrejón, A; Amo-Salas, M; Lopez Fidalgo, J F; Muñoz Sanchez, M M; Alvarez Cabellos, R; Espinosa Aunion, R; Muñoz Madero, V

2016-01-01

To explore the relationship between basal (18)F-FDG uptake in breast tumors and survival in patients with breast cancer (BC) using a molecular phenotype approach. This prospective and multicentre study included 193 women diagnosed with BC. All patients underwent an (18)F-FDG PET/CT prior to treatment. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in tumor (T), lymph nodes (N), and the N/T index was obtained in all the cases. Metabolic stage was established. As regards biological prognostic parameters, tumors were classified into molecular sub-types and risk categories. Overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were obtained. An analysis was performed on the relationship between semi-quantitative metabolic parameters with molecular phenotypes and risk categories. The effect of molecular sub-type and risk categories in prognosis was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and univariate and multivariate tests. Statistical differences were found in both SUVT and SUVN, according to the molecular sub-types and risk classifications, with higher semi-quantitative values in more biologically aggressive tumors. No statistical differences were observed with respect to the N/T index. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that risk categories were significantly related to DFS and OS. In the multivariate analysis, metabolic stage and risk phenotype showed a significant association with DFS. High-risk phenotype category showed a worst prognosis with respect to the other categories with higher SUVmax in primary tumor and lymph nodes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

Telescópio de pequeno porte como suporte ao ensino em cidades com intensa poluição luminosa II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, P. C. R.; Santos-Júnior, J. M.; Cruz, W. S.

2003-08-01

Para a maioria dos estudantes, sua passagem pelo ensino formal fundamental envolve a transmissão de fatos que devem ser guardados para um exame, a habilidade para lembrar fórmulas e, eventualmente, a repetição de experimentos que devem produzir resultados exigidos pelo professor. O resultado deste modelo de ensino, ao longo dos anos, é conhecido por todos: desconhecimento e descontentamento, por parte dos estudantes, de temas relativos ao papel e aos processos da ciência. Acreditamos que a Astronomia, pelo seu caráter observacional, é uma das áreas do conhecimento que pode contribuir neste cenário. A Fundação Planetário da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro possui um telescópio Meade LX-200 (25cm) que, juntamente com as câmeras CCD ST-7E e ST8E, tem sido utilizado em projetos voltados aos estudantes do ensino médio desde o ano 2000. Tais projetos envolvem a condução de um projeto de pesquisa observacional num nível apropriado, e possibilitam o contato com técnicas e novas tecnologias: computador, software para manipulação de dados e gráficos, programas de tratamento e redução de dados, uso de equipamentos óptico-eletrônicos (telescópio e CCD), bem como o processo de aquisição de conhecimento. Dentro da proposta dos anos anteriores, priorizamos projetos de uma noite, ou seja, procuramos trabalhar com fenômenos que apresentem variabilidade com intervalo de recorrência relativamente curto. Em todos os casos, optamos pela fotometria diferencial, que tem se mostrado bastante eficiente para o céu luminoso como o da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Neste painel, apresentamos alguns dos projetos desenvolvidos no último ano, com 25 estudantes. Apresentamos os resultados da observação da variável pulsante AI Vel (V = 6,6) e da variável cataclísmica FO Aqr (V = 13,5), e do monitoramento do trânsito da lua de Júpiter, Europa, ocorrido em 30 de abril de 2003. As curvas de luz produzidas para as primeiras estão concordantes com as da literatura, assim como os respectivos períodos encontrados (1h20min e 4h48min). No caso do FO Aqr, ficou evidente, também, a modulação decorrente da rotação da anã branca receptora (21min). O erro estimado é de 0,01 magnitude. Propomos uma maior utilização de telescópios de pequeno porte, como suporte ao ensino (médio e superior) em cidades com poluição luminosa. Escolas e Planetários seriam ambientes propícios para a localização do telescópio. Os critérios adotados na escolha dos objetos e o método observacional empregado são também apresentados.

Multifunctionality and diversity of GDSL esterase/lipase gene family in rice (Oryza sativa L. japonica) genome: new insights from bioinformatics analysis

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background GDSL esterases/lipases are a newly discovered subclass of lipolytic enzymes that are very important and attractive research subjects because of their multifunctional properties, such as broad substrate specificity and regiospecificity. Compared with the current knowledge regarding these enzymes in bacteria, our understanding of the plant GDSL enzymes is very limited, although the GDSL gene family in plant species include numerous members in many fully sequenced plant genomes. Only two genes from a large rice GDSL esterase/lipase gene family were previously characterised, and the majority of the members remain unknown. In the present study, we describe the rice OsGELP (Oryza sativa GDSL esterase/lipase protein) gene family at the genomic and proteomic levels, and use this knowledge to provide insights into the multifunctionality of the rice OsGELP enzymes. Results In this study, an extensive bioinformatics analysis identified 114 genes in the rice OsGELP gene family. A complete overview of this family in rice is presented, including the chromosome locations, gene structures, phylogeny, and protein motifs. Among the OsGELPs and the plant GDSL esterase/lipase proteins of known functions, 41 motifs were found that represent the core secondary structure elements or appear specifically in different phylogenetic subclades. The specification and distribution of identified putative conserved clade-common and -specific peptide motifs, and their location on the predicted protein three dimensional structure may possibly signify their functional roles. Potentially important regions for substrate specificity are highlighted, in accordance with protein three-dimensional model and location of the phylogenetic specific conserved motifs. The differential expression of some representative genes were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. The phylogenetic analysis, together with protein motif architectures, and the expression profiling were analysed to predict the possible biological functions of the rice OsGELP genes. Conclusions Our current genomic analysis, for the first time, presents fundamental information on the organization of the rice OsGELP gene family. With combination of the genomic, phylogenetic, microarray expression, protein motif distribution, and protein structure analyses, we were able to create supported basis for the functional prediction of many members in the rice GDSL esterase/lipase family. The present study provides a platform for the selection of candidate genes for further detailed functional study. PMID:22793791

Modulatory Effect of Aerobic Physical Activity on Synaptic Ultrastructure in the Old Mouse Hippocampus.

PubMed

Fattoretti, Patrizia; Malatesta, Manuela; Cisterna, Barbara; Milanese, Chiara; Zancanaro, Carlo

2018-01-01

Aerobic physical exercise (APE) leads to improved brain functions. To better understand the beneficial effect of APE on the aging brain, a morphometric study was carried out of changes in hippocampal synapses of old (>27 months) Balb/c mice undergoing treadmill training (OTT) for 4 weeks in comparison with old sedentary (OS), middle-aged sedentary (MAS) and middle-aged treadmill training (MATT) mice. The inner molecular layer of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (IMLDG) and the molecular stratum of Ammon's horn1 neurons (SMCA1) were investigated. The number of synapses per cubic micron of tissue (numeric density, Nv), overall synaptic area per cubic micron of tissue (surface density, Sv), average area of synaptic contact zones (S), and frequency (%) of perforated synapses (PS) were measured in electron micrographs of ethanol-phosphotungstic acid (E-PTA) stained tissue. Data were analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). In IMLDG, an effect of age was found for Nv and Sv, but not S and %PS. Similar results were found for exercise and the interaction of age and exercise. In post hoc analysis Nv was higher (60.6% to 75.1%; p < 0.001) in MATT vs. MAS, OS and OTT. Sv was higher (32.3% to 54.6%; p < 0.001) in MATT vs. MAS, OS and OTT. In SMCA1, age affected Nv, Sv and %PS, but not S. The effect of exercise was significant for Sv only. The interaction of age and exercise was significant for Nv, Sv and %PS. In post hoc analysis Nv was lower in OS vs. MAS, MATT and OTT (-26.1% to -32.1%; p < 0.038). MAS and OTT were similar. Sv was lower in OS vs. MAS, MATT and OTT (-23.4 to -30.3%, p < 0.004). MAS and OTT were similar. PS frequency was higher in OS vs. MAS, MATT and OTT (48.3% to +96.6%, p < 0.023). APE positively modulated synaptic structural dynamics in the aging hippocampus, possibly in a region-specific way. The APE-associated reduction in PS frequency in SMCA1 of old mice suggests that an increasing complement of PS is a compensatory phenomenon to maintain synaptic efficacy. In conclusion, the modulation of synaptic plasticity by APE gives quantitative support to the concept that APE protects from neurodegeneration and improves learning and memory in aging.

Household food insecurity in black-slaves descendant communities in Brazil: has the legacy of slavery truly ended?

PubMed

Gubert, Muriel B; Segall-Corrêa, Anna Maria; Spaniol, Ana Maria; Pedroso, Jessica; Coelho, Stefanie Eugênia Dos Anjos Campos; Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael

2017-06-01

To identify the factors associated with food insecurity among Quilombolas communities in Brazil. An analysis of secondary data assessed in the 2011 Quilombolas Census was performed. The Brazilian Food Insecurity Measurement Scale (Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar, EBIA) was used to assess household food security status. Sociodemographic conditions and access to social programmes and benefits were also evaluated. National survey census from recognized Quilombolas Brazilian territories. Quilombolas households (n 8846). About half (47·8 %) of the Quilombolas lived in severely food-insecure households, with the North and Northeast regions facing the most critical situation. Households located in North Brazil, whose head of the family had less than 4 years of education, with a monthly per capita income below $US 44, without adequate sanitation and without adequate water supply had the greatest chance of experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity. Households that had access to a water supply programme for dry regions (Programa Cisternas) and an agricultural harvest subsidy programme (Programa Garantia Safra) had less chance of experiencing moderate and severe food insecurity. Households that did not have access to health care (Programa Saúde da Família) had greater chance of suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity. Interventions are urgently needed to strengthen and promote public policies aimed to improve living conditions and food security in Quilombolas communities.

Capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry for the evaluation of substance P enzymatic degradation by SaOS-2 human osteosarcoma.

PubMed

Cavazza, Antonella; Corradini, Claudio; Marini, Mario; Roda, Luigi Giorgio; Valenti, Angela

2011-09-01

A new analytical method for the detection and the quantitative evaluation of the undecapeptide substance P by capillary electrophoresis coupled with ion trap mass spectrometry (CE-MS) by a co-axial sheath liquid interface has been developed. Conditions of analysis employed an acidic buffer and a 60 cm fused silica capillary installed by overcoming the UV window position, thus allowing to perform the analysis in a brief time. The method has been applied to the evaluation of substance P enzymatic hydrolysis during incubation with the human osteosarcoma SaOS-2 cell line. The analysis of amino acids derived from the cleavage of substance P has been also carried out simultaneously under the same electrophoretic conditions allowing the description of a kinetic of amino acid formation, parallel with substance P disappearance. The amounts of intact substance P and of free amino acids were monitored along 600 s of incubation time. A steady decrease of substance P as function of reaction time was observed. Peptide's half-life was found to be about 4.3s, indicating an extremely fast hydrolysis in the presence of the SaOS-2 cells. Proline, phenilalanine and methionine were the predominant free amino acids recorded. Obtained results lead to hypothesize the occurrence of endopeptidases activity, followed by aminopeptidases responsible for the release of free amino acids originated after primary bond cleavage. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genetic Analysis of Seed-Soluble Oligosaccharides in Relation to Seed Storability of Arabidopsis1

PubMed Central

Bentsink, Leónie; Alonso-Blanco, Carlos; Vreugdenhil, Dick; Tesnier, Karine; Groot, Steven P.C.; Koornneef, Maarten

2000-01-01

Seed oligosaccharides (OSs) and especially raffinose series OSs (RSOs) are hypothesized to play an important role in the acquisition of desiccation tolerance and consequently in seed storability. In the present work we analyzed the seed-soluble OS (sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose) content of several Arabidopsis accessions and thus identified the genotype Cape Verde Islands having a very low RSO content. By performing quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in a recombinant inbred line population, we found one major QTL responsible for the practically monogenic segregation of seed stachyose content. This locus also affected the content of the two other OSs, sucrose, and raffinose. Two candidate genes encoding respectively for galactinol synthase and raffinose synthase were located within the genomic region around this major QTL. In addition, three smaller-effect QTL were identified, each one specifically affecting the content of an individual OS. Seed storability was analyzed in the same recombinant inbred line population by measuring viability (germination) under two different seed aging assays: after natural aging during 4 years of dry storage at room temperature and after artificial aging induced by a controlled deterioration test. Thus, four QTL responsible for the variation of this trait were mapped. Comparison of the QTL genetic positions showed that the genomic region containing the major OS locus did not significantly affect the seed storability. We concluded that in the studied material neither RSOs nor sucrose content had a specific effect on seed storability. PMID:11115877

Impact of Universal Health Coverage on Child Growth and Nutrition in Argentina.

PubMed

Nuñez, Pablo A; Fernández-Slezak, Diego; Farall, Andrés; Szretter, María Eugenia; Salomón, Oscar Daniel; Valeggia, Claudia R

2016-04-01

To estimate trends of undernutrition (stunting and underweight) among children younger than 5 years covered by the universal health coverage programs Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar. From 2005 to 2013, Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar collected high-quality information on birth and visit dates, age (in days), gender, weight (in kg), and height (in cm) for 1.4 million children in 6386 health centers (13 million records) with broad coverage of vulnerable populations in Argentina. The prevalence of stunting and underweight decreased 45.0% (from 20.6% to 11.3%) and 38.0% (from 4.0% to 2.5%), respectively, with differences between rural versus urban areas, gender, regions, age, and seasons. Undernutrition prevalence substantially decreased in 2 programs in Argentina as a result of universal health coverage.

Accuracy of a pediatric early warning score in the recognition of clinical deterioration.

PubMed

Miranda, Juliana de Oliveira Freitas; Camargo, Climene Laura de; Nascimento, Carlito Lopes; Portela, Daniel Sales; Monaghan, Alan

2017-07-10

to evaluate the accuracy of the version of the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score translated and adapted for the Brazilian context, in the recognition of clinical deterioration. a diagnostic test study to measure the accuracy of the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score for the Brazilian context, in relation to a reference standard. The sample consisted of 271 children, aged 0 to 10 years, blindly evaluated by a nurse and a physician, specialists in pediatrics, with interval of 5 to 10 minutes between the evaluations, for the application of the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score for the Brazilian context and of the reference standard. The data were processed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and VassarStats.net programs. The performance of the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score for the Brazilian context was evaluated through the indicators of sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, area under the ROC curve, likelihood ratios and post-test probability. the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score for the Brazilian context showed sensitivity of 73.9%, specificity of 95.5%, positive predictive value of 73.3%, negative predictive value of 94.7%, area under Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve of 91.9% and the positive post-test probability was 80%. the Brighton Pediatric Early Warning Score for the Brazilian context, presented good performance, considered valid for the recognition of clinical deterioration warning signs of the children studied. avaliar a acurácia da versão traduzida e adaptada do Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para o contexto brasileiro, no reconhecimento da deterioração clínica. estudo de teste diagnóstico para medir a acurácia do Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score, para o contexto brasileiro, em relação a um padrão de referência. A amostra foi composta por 271 crianças de 0 a 10 anos, avaliadas de forma cega por uma enfermeira e um médico, especialistas em pediatria, com intervalo de 5 a 10 minutos entre as avaliações, para aplicação do Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score, para o contexto brasileiro e do padrão de referência. Os dados foram processados e analisados nos programas Statistical Package for the Social Sciences e VassarStats.net. O desempenho do Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para o contexto brasileiro foi avaliado por meio dos indicadores de sensibilidade, especificidade, valores preditivos, área sob a curva ROC, razões de probabilidades e probabilidade pós-teste. o Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para o contexto brasileiro apresentou sensibilidade de 73,9%, especificidade de 95,5%, valor preditivo positivo de 73,3%, valor preditivo negativo de 94,7%, área sob a Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve de 91,9% e a probabilidade pós-teste positivo foi de 80%. o Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score, para o contexto brasileiro, apresentou bom desempenho, considerado válido para o reconhecimento de sinais de alerta de deterioração clínica das crianças estudadas. evaluar la precisión de la versión traducida y adaptada del Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño, en el reconocimiento de la deterioración clínica. estudio de test diagnóstico para medir la precisión del Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño, en relación a un estándar de referencia. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 271 niños de 0 a 10 años, evaluadas de forma ciega por especialistas en pediatría, una enfermera y un médico, con intervalo de 5 a 10 minutos entre las evaluaciones, para aplicación del Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño. Los datos fueron procesados y analizados en los programas Statistical Package for the Social Sciences y VassarStats.net. El desempeño del Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño fue evaluado por medio de los indicadores de sensibilidad, especificidad, valores predictivos, área debajo de la curva ROC, razones de probabilidades y probabilidad postest. el Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño presentó sensibilidad de 73,9%, especificidad de 95,5%, valor predictivo positivo de 73,3%, valor predictivo negativo de 94,7%, área bajo la Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve de 91,9% y la probabilidad postest positivo fue de 80%. el Brighton Paediatric Early Warning Score para el contexto brasileño, presentó buen desempeño, considerado válido para el reconocimiento de señales de alerta de deterioración clínica de los niños estudiados.

Bone strength measured by peripheral quantitative computed tomography and the risk of nonvertebral fractures: the osteoporotic fractures in men (MrOS) study.

PubMed

Sheu, Yahtyng; Zmuda, Joseph M; Boudreau, Robert M; Petit, Moira A; Ensrud, Kristine E; Bauer, Douglas C; Gordon, Christopher L; Orwoll, Eric S; Cauley, Jane A

2011-01-01

Many fractures occur in individuals without osteoporosis defined by areal bone mineral density (aBMD). Inclusion of other aspects of skeletal strength may be useful in identifying at-risk subjects. We used surrogate measures of bone strength at the radius and tibia measured by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) to evaluate their relationships with nonvertebral fracture risk. Femoral neck (FN) aBMD, measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), also was included. The study population consisted of 1143 white men aged 69+ years with pQCT measures at the radius and tibia from the Minneapolis and Pittsburgh centers of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study. Principal-components analysis and Cox proportional-hazards modeling were used to identify 21 of 58 pQCT variables with a major contribution to nonvertebral incident fractures. After a mean 2.9 years of follow-up, 39 fractures occurred. Men without incident fractures had significantly greater bone mineral content, cross-sectional area, and indices of bone strength than those with fractures by pQCT. Every SD decrease in the 18 of 21 pQCT parameters was significantly associated with increased fracture risk (hazard ration ranged from 1.4 to 2.2) independent of age, study site, body mass index (BMI), and FN aBMD. Using area under the receiver operation characteristics curve (AUC), the combination of FN aBMD and three radius strength parameters individually increased fracture prediction over FN aBMD alone (AUC increased from 0.73 to 0.80). Peripheral bone strength measures are associated with fracture risk and may improve our ability to identify older men at high risk of fracture. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Evaluation of prognostic models developed using standardised image features from different PET automated segmentation methods.

PubMed

Parkinson, Craig; Foley, Kieran; Whybra, Philip; Hills, Robert; Roberts, Ashley; Marshall, Chris; Staffurth, John; Spezi, Emiliano

2018-04-11

Prognosis in oesophageal cancer (OC) is poor. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate is approximately 15%. Personalised medicine is hoped to increase the 5- and 10-year OS rates. Quantitative analysis of PET is gaining substantial interest in prognostic research but requires the accurate definition of the metabolic tumour volume. This study compares prognostic models developed in the same patient cohort using individual PET segmentation algorithms and assesses the impact on patient risk stratification. Consecutive patients (n = 427) with biopsy-proven OC were included in final analysis. All patients were staged with PET/CT between September 2010 and July 2016. Nine automatic PET segmentation methods were studied. All tumour contours were subjectively analysed for accuracy, and segmentation methods with < 90% accuracy were excluded. Standardised image features were calculated, and a series of prognostic models were developed using identical clinical data. The proportion of patients changing risk classification group were calculated. Out of nine PET segmentation methods studied, clustering means (KM2), general clustering means (GCM3), adaptive thresholding (AT) and watershed thresholding (WT) methods were included for analysis. Known clinical prognostic factors (age, treatment and staging) were significant in all of the developed prognostic models. AT and KM2 segmentation methods developed identical prognostic models. Patient risk stratification was dependent on the segmentation method used to develop the prognostic model with up to 73 patients (17.1%) changing risk stratification group. Prognostic models incorporating quantitative image features are dependent on the method used to delineate the primary tumour. This has a subsequent effect on risk stratification, with patients changing groups depending on the image segmentation method used.

Indoor airPLUS constructores profesionales

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

El Programa Interior de airPLUS es una asociación entre EPA, los constructores, raters, las utilidades, y organizaciones sanitarias e interiores ambientales de mejorar aire interior en nuevas casas casas verdes.

Social Representations of Gynecologic Cancer Screening Assessment a Qualitative research on Ecuadorian women.

PubMed

Godoy, Yolanda; Godoy, Clara; Reyes, Juan

2016-06-01

The purpose of this work was to explore: knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding gynecologic cancer screening on Ecuadorian women users of primary care facilities, to identify the social representations that users of health services make about these programs and their influence on the decision to undergo a screening. An exploratory and qualitative research design was held using focus groups and in-depth interviews for data collection. A narrative content analysis of the results was conducted. Women's knowledge on gynecological cancer screening was confusing. Most frequent misconceptions related to the pap smear were: the belief that it could be useful for detecting pregnancy, ovarian cysts or infections. Most of the participants stated that the pap smear procedure is a traumatic and painful experience. Regarding to mammography women said it was used for sick woman and this procedure by itself may cause cancer. El propósito de esta investigación fue explorar los conocimientos, actitudes y creencias respecto a los programas de detección del cáncer ginecológico entre usuarias de centros de atención primaria de salud para identificar las representaciones sociales que las usuarias de los servicios de salud elaboran acerca de estos programas y de los diferentes procedimientos que comprenden. El diseño de la investigación fue exploratorio y cualitativo, mediante grupos focales y entrevistas a profundidad, con el respectivo análisis narrativo e interpretativo del contenido. Se encontró conocimiento confuso acerca de los programas de tamizaje de cáncer ginecológico y dificultades asociadas a la realización de los procedimientos. Los significados más frecuentes acerca de los programas fueron: el uso de la citología cérvico-vaginal para detectar embarazo, quistes ováricos o infecciones. La mayoría de los participantes asociaba este procedimiento con una experiencia dolorosa y traumática. Respecto al autoexamen de mamas, lo calificaron como un masaje preventivo-terapéutico y a la mamografía como peligrosa porque podría desarrollar cáncer.

[In Process Citation].

PubMed

Alarcón Hormazábal, Manuel; Delgado Floody, Pedro; Castillo Mariqueo, Lidia; Thuiller Lepelegy, Nicole; Bórquez Becerra, Pablo; Sepúlveda Mancilla, Carlos; Rebolledo Quezada, Sara

2016-03-25

Introducción: existe una alta prevalencia de sedentarismo, sobrepeso y obesidad en jóvenes universitarios. Objetivo: el propósito del estudio fue determinar los efectos de un programa de entrenamiento intervalado de alta intensidad (HIIT) sobre el perfil antropométrico, glicemia basal y VO 2 máx (consumo máximo de oxígeno) de jóvenes sedentarios con malnutrición por exceso. Material y métodos: 6 mujeres y 2 hombres (2 obesos y 6 con sobrepeso) se sometieron a un programa de entrenamiento de alta intensidad de 8 semanas de duración (3 sesiones/semana). Se evaluó en ayuno y posterior a 72 horas de la última intervención; peso, índice de masa corporal (IMC), contorno de cintura (CC), perímetro de cadera y glicemia de basal. El VO 2 máx fue evaluado en condiciones normales previo a la primera sesión. Resultados: las variables de estudio no presentaron cambios significativos (p > 0,05), pero reportaron disminuciones porcentuales. El peso disminuyó un 0,18%, el IMC un 0,27%, el CC 2,67%, el perímetro de cadera un 1,15%, y el VO 2 máx un 0,48%. La glicemia basal presentó la mayor disminución, pasó de 95,13 ± 23,91 a 89,88 ± 12,45 mg/dl (5,52%), estabilizando y mejorando sus niveles en cada uno de los participantes. Conclusiones: el programa de entrenamiento intervalado de alta intensidad fue factible de realizar sin resultados adversos para la salud de los participantes, la glicemia basal mostró la mayor variación, estabilizando sus valores en los participantes, lo que es un indicador positivo dentro del programa. Es necesario seguir investigando sobre esta metodología HIIT y aumentar los tiempos de estudio para ver los cambios que se pueden producir en distintos parámetros metabólicos, antropométricos y físicos en población con malnutrición por exceso.

Neuroblastoma mRNAs predict outcome in children with stage 4 neuroblastoma: a European HR-NBL1/SIOPEN study.

PubMed

Viprey, Virginie F; Gregory, Walter M; Corrias, Maria V; Tchirkov, Andrei; Swerts, Katrien; Vicha, Ales; Dallorso, Sandro; Brock, Penelope; Luksch, Roberto; Valteau-Couanet, Dominique; Papadakis, Vassilios; Laureys, Genevieve; Pearson, Andrew D; Ladenstein, Ruth; Burchill, Susan A

2014-04-01

To evaluate the hypothesis that detection of neuroblastoma mRNAs by reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTqPCR) in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow aspirates (BM) from children with stage 4 neuroblastoma are clinically useful biomarkers of risk. RTqPCR for paired-like homeobox 2b (PHOX2B), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and doublecortin (DCX) mRNA in PB and BM of children enrolled onto the High-Risk Neuroblastoma Trial-1 of the European Society of Pediatric Oncology Neuroblastoma Group (HR-NBL1/SIOPEN) was performed at diagnosis and after induction therapy. High levels of TH, PHOX2B, or DCX mRNA in PB or BM at diagnosis strongly predicted for worse event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) in a cohort of 290 children. After induction therapy, high levels of these mRNAs predicted worse EFS and OS in BM but not in PB. Combinations of mRNAs in BM did not add to the predictive power of any single mRNA. However, in the original (n = 182) and validation (n = 137) PB cohorts, high TH (log10TH > 0.8) or high PHOX2B (log10PHOX2B > 0.28) identify 19% of children as ultrahigh risk, with 5-year EFS and OS rates of 0%; OS rate was 25% (95% CI, 16% to 36%) and EFS rate was 38% (95% CI, 28% to 49%) in the remaining children. The magnitude of reduction in mRNA level between diagnosis and postinduction therapy in BM or PB was not of additional predictive value. High levels of TH and PHOX2B mRNA in PB at diagnosis objectively identify children with ultrahigh-risk disease who may benefit from novel treatment approaches. The level of TH, PHOX2B, and DCX mRNA in BM and/or PB at diagnosis might contribute to an algorithm to improve stratification of children for treatment.

SU-F-R-04: Radiomics for Survival Prediction in Glioblastoma (GBM)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, H; Molitoris, J; Bhooshan, N

Purpose: To develop a quantitative radiomics approach for survival prediction of glioblastoma (GBM) patients treated with chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Methods: 28 GBM patients who received CRT at our institution were retrospectively studied. 255 radiomic features were extracted from 3 gadolinium-enhanced T1 weighted MRIs for 2 regions of interest (ROIs) (the surgical cavity and its surrounding enhancement rim). The 3 MRIs were at pre-treatment, 1-month and 3-month post-CRT. The imaging features comprehensively quantified the intensity, spatial variation (texture), geometric property and their spatial-temporal changes for the 2 ROIs. 3 demographics features (age, race, gender) and 12 clinical parameters (KPS, extent of resection,more » whether concurrent temozolomide was adjusted/stopped and radiotherapy related information) were also included. 4 Machine learning models (logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), neural network (NN)) were applied to predict overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The number of cases and percentage of cases predicted correctly were collected and AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve) were determined after leave-one-out cross-validation. Results: From univariate analysis, 27 features (1 demographic, 1 clinical and 25 imaging) were statistically significant (p<0.05) for both OS and PFS. Two sets of features (each contained 24 features) were algorithmically selected from all features to predict OS and PFS. High prediction accuracy of OS was achieved by using NN (96%, 27 of 28 cases were correctly predicted, AUC = 0.99), LR (93%, 26 of 28 cases were correctly predicted, AUC = 0.95) and SVM (93%, 26 of 28 cases were correctly predicted, AUC = 0.90). When predicting PFS, NN obtained the highest prediction accuracy (89%, 25 of 28 cases were correctly predicted, AUC = 0.92). Conclusion: Radiomics approach combined with patients’ demographics and clinical parameters can accurately predict survival in GBM patients treated with CRT.« less

Reactive Oxygen Species Generated by NADPH Oxidases Promote Radicle Protrusion and Root Elongation during Rice Seed Germination

PubMed Central

Li, Wen-Yan; Chen, Bing-Xian; Chen, Zhong-Jian; Gao, Yin-Tao; Chen, Zhuang; Liu, Jun

2017-01-01

Seed germination is a complicated biological process that requires regulation through various enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms. Although it has been recognized that reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate radicle emergence and root elongation in a non-enzymatic manner during dicot seed germination, the role of ROS in monocot seed germination remains unknown. NADPH oxidases (NOXs) are the major ROS producers in plants; however, whether and how NOXs regulate rice seed germination through ROS generation remains unclear. Here, we report that diphenyleneiodinium (DPI), a specific NOX inhibitor, potently inhibited embryo and seedling growth—especially that of the radicle and of root elongation—in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, the DPI-mediated inhibition of radicle and root growth could be eliminated by transferring seedlings from DPI to water. Furthermore, ROS production/accumulation during rice seed germination was quantified via histochemistry. Superoxide radicals (O2−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydroxyl radicals (•OH) accumulated steadily in the coleorhiza, radicle and seedling root of germinating rice seeds. Expression profiles of the nine typical NOX genes were also investigated. According to quantitative PCR, OsNOX5, 7 and 9 were expressed relatively higher. When seeds were incubated in water, OsNOX5 expression progressively increased in the embryo from 12 to 48 h, whereas OsNOX7 and 9 expressions increased from 12 to 24 h and decreased thereafter. As expected, DPI inhibits the expression at predetermined time points for each of these genes. Taken together, these results suggest that ROS produced by NOXs are involved in radicle and root elongation during rice seed germination, and OsNOX5, 7 and 9 could play crucial roles in rice seed germination. These findings will facilitate further studies of the roles of ROS generated by NOXs during seed germination and seedling establishment and also provide valuable information for the regulation of NOX family gene expression in germinating seeds of monocot cereals. PMID:28098759

Identification of novel molecular markers for prognosis estimation of acute myeloid leukemia: over-expression of PDCD7, FIS1 and Ang2 may indicate poor prognosis in pretreatment patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

PubMed

Tian, Yiming; Huang, Zoufang; Wang, Zhixiang; Yin, Changxin; Zhou, Lanlan; Zhang, Lingxiu; Huang, Kaikai; Zhou, Hongsheng; Jiang, Xuejie; Li, Jinming; Liao, Libin; Yang, Mo; Meng, Fanyi

2014-01-01

Numerous factors impact on the prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), among which molecular genetic abnormalities are developed increasingly, however, accurate prediction for newly diagnosed AML patients remains unsatisfied. For further improving the prognosis evaluation system, we investigated the transcripts levels of PDCD7, FIS1, FAM3A, CA6, APP, KLRF1, ATCAY, GGT5 and Ang2 in 97 AML patients and 30 non-malignant controls, and validated using the published microarray data from 225 cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML) patients treated according to the German AMLCG-1999 protocol. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot were carried out, and clinical data were collected and analyzed. High Ang2 and FIS1 expression discriminated the CR rate of AML patients (62.5% versus 82.9% for Ang2, P = 0.011; 61.4% versus 82.2% for FIS1, P = 0.029). In CN-AML, patients with high FIS1 expression were more likely to be resistant to two courses of induction (P = 0.035). Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) were shorter in CN-AML patients with high PDCD7 expression (P<0.001; P = 0.006), and PDCD7 was revealed to be an independent risk factor for OS in CN-AML (P = 0.004). In the analysis of published data from 225 CN-AML patients, PDCD7 remained independently predicting OS in CN-AML (P = 0.039). As a conclusion, Ang2 and FIS1 seem related to decreased CR rate of AML patients, and PDCD7 is associated with shorter OS and RFS in CN-AML. Hence, PDCD7, Ang2 and FIS1 may indicate a more aggressive form and poor prognosis of AML.

Identification of Novel Molecular Markers for Prognosis Estimation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Over-Expression of PDCD7, FIS1 and Ang2 May Indicate Poor Prognosis in Pretreatment Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

PubMed Central

Tian, Yiming; Huang, Zoufang; Wang, Zhixiang; Yin, Changxin; Zhou, Lanlan; Zhang, Lingxiu; Huang, Kaikai; Zhou, Hongsheng; Jiang, Xuejie; Li, Jinming; Liao, Libin; Yang, Mo; Meng, Fanyi

2014-01-01

Numerous factors impact on the prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), among which molecular genetic abnormalities are developed increasingly, however, accurate prediction for newly diagnosed AML patients remains unsatisfied. For further improving the prognosis evaluation system, we investigated the transcripts levels of PDCD7, FIS1, FAM3A, CA6, APP, KLRF1, ATCAY, GGT5 and Ang2 in 97 AML patients and 30 non-malignant controls, and validated using the published microarray data from 225 cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML) patients treated according to the German AMLCG-1999 protocol. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot were carried out, and clinical data were collected and analyzed. High Ang2 and FIS1 expression discriminated the CR rate of AML patients (62.5% versus 82.9% for Ang2, P = 0.011; 61.4% versus 82.2% for FIS1, P = 0.029). In CN-AML, patients with high FIS1 expression were more likely to be resistant to two courses of induction (P = 0.035). Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) were shorter in CN-AML patients with high PDCD7 expression (P<0.001; P = 0.006), and PDCD7 was revealed to be an independent risk factor for OS in CN-AML (P = 0.004). In the analysis of published data from 225 CN-AML patients, PDCD7 remained independently predicting OS in CN-AML (P = 0.039). As a conclusion, Ang2 and FIS1 seem related to decreased CR rate of AML patients, and PDCD7 is associated with shorter OS and RFS in CN-AML. Hence, PDCD7, Ang2 and FIS1 may indicate a more aggressive form and poor prognosis of AML. PMID:24416201

Clinical characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with normal serum alpha-fetoprotein level: A study of 112 consecutive cases.

PubMed

Li, Li; Chen, Jinglong; Xu, Weiran; Ding, Xiaosheng; Wang, Xiangyi; Liang, Jun

2017-10-26

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level is normal in 30-40% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and knowledge on its characteristics and clinical outcome is limited. The purpose of this observational study was to determine the clinical presentation, biological behavior and outcome of HCC patients with normal AFP level. Data of 112 consecutive HCC patients with normal AFP level were analyzed retrospectively. Statistical analysis including survival and factors associated with serum AFP level were performed by Kaplan-Meier method and t-test, respectively. Hepatitis B virus infection exited in 83.0% of all 112 HCC patients with normal AFP level. During a mean 52 ± 20 months (range 5-85 months) follow-up, the 1-, 2-, 3-year overall survival (OS) rate was 97.2%, 85.3% and 81.7%, respectively. The OS rates at 3 years stratified by stages at diagnosis were 100%, 96.2%, 85.7%, 11.1% and 0%, respectively for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage 0-D diseases. Significant difference in OS was observed among patients with BCLC stage 0-D diseases, P < 0.05. Using 8.78 ng/mL as the cut off value, serum AFP level elevated beyond normal figure during follow-up (AFP conversion) in 16 patients, which related with deterioration of liver function, quantitative changes of T helper cell subsets, rapid tumor progression and shorter survival. Patients with sustained normal AFP level had better survival than patients with AFP conversion, P < 0.05. There was significant difference between the time of diagnosis with HCC to serum AFP level elevation and the time of AFP elevation to death, P < 0.05. Prognosis of HCC patients with normal AFP level was relatively optimal. Serum AFP level elevation during follow-up was significantly associated with clinical outcome in terms of OS. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

ERCC1 and ERCC2 as predictive biomarkers to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients from Egypt.

PubMed

Kassem, Amira B; Salem, Salem Eid; Abdelrahim, Mohamed E; Said, Amira S A; Salahuddin, Ahmad; Hussein, Marwa Mahmoud; Bahnassy, Abeer A

2017-02-01

The impact of Excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) and group 2 (ERCC2) expression levels on the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is still controversial. The present study was conducted to determine the predictive value of these molecular biomarkers in stage III and IV colorectal cancer (CRC) patients receiving oxaliplatin (OX)-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment. The study included 80 CRC patients who received first line oxaliplatin based chemotherapy The expression levels of ERCC1 and ERCC2-mRNA and proteins were determined in the primary tumors by quantitative real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC); respectively. The results of mRNA expression were correlated with patients' characteristics, response to treatment, overall- and event free survival (OS & EFS). Sixty four out of the 80 patients were legible for assessment of ERCC1 and ERCC2 expression. The cut-off levels of ERCC1and ERCC2-RNA were 3.8×10 -3 & 4.6×10 -3 ; respectively. Reduced ERCC1 and ERCC2 RNA expressions were detected in 50 (78.1%) and 48 (75%) cases, respectively whereas reduced proteins were detected in 48 cases (75%) for ERCC1 and ERCC2. After The median follow up period was 30.5months (range: 7-104months), Patients with low mRNAERCC1levels showed significantly longer OS (p=0.011) and EFS (p˂0.001). However, no significant relation was found between ERCC2 levels and OS or EFS. In multivariate analysis performance status (PS), stage of the disease and ERCC1-mRNA expression were independent prognostic factors for EFS whereas tumor histology and stage of the disease were independent factors for OS. ERCC1 expression levels may help in selecting patients who benefit from oxaliplatin chemotherapy in stage III & IV CRC. Further large trials are needed to validate these data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adjuvant interferon-α for the treatment of high-risk melanoma: An individual patient data meta-analysis.

PubMed

Ives, Natalie J; Suciu, Stefan; Eggermont, Alexander M M; Kirkwood, John; Lorigan, Paul; Markovic, Svetomir N; Garbe, Claus; Wheatley, Keith

2017-09-01

Many randomised trials assessing interferon-α (IFN-α) as adjuvant therapy for high-risk malignant melanoma have been undertaken. To better assess the role of IFN-α, an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis of these trials was undertaken. IPD was sought from all randomised trials of adjuvant IFN-α versus no IFN-α for high-risk melanoma. Primary outcomes were event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). Standard methods for quantitative IPD meta-analysis were used. Subgroup analyses by dose, duration of treatment and various patient and disease-specific parameters were performed. Fifteen trials were included in the analysis (eleven with IPD). EFS was significantly improved with IFN-α (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.86, CI 0.81-0.91; P < 0.00001), as was OS (HR = 0.90, CI 0.85-0.97; P = 0.003). The absolute differences in EFS at 5 and 10 years were 3.5% and 2.7%, and for OS were 3.0% and 2.8% respectively in favour of IFN-α. There was no evidence that the benefit of IFN-α differed depending on dose or duration of treatment, or by age, gender, site of primary tumour, disease stage, Breslow thickness, or presence of clinical nodes. Only for ulceration was there evidence of an interaction (test for heterogeneity: P = 0.04 for EFS; P = 0.002 for OS); only patients with ulcerated tumours appeared to obtain benefit from IFN-α. This meta-analysis provides clear evidence that adjuvant IFN-α significantly reduces the risk of relapse and improves survival and shows no benefit for higher doses compared to lower doses. The increased benefit in patients with ulcerated tumours, and lack of benefit in patients without ulceration, needs further investigation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization of RAS/BRAF Mutational Analysis Confirms Improvement in Patient Selection for Clinical Benefit to Anti-EGFR Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

PubMed

Santos, Cristina; Azuara, Daniel; Garcia-Carbonero, Rocio; Alfonso, Pilar Garcia; Carrato, Alfredo; Elez, Mª Elena; Gomez, Auxiliadora; Losa, Ferran; Montagut, Clara; Massuti, Bartomeu; Navarro, Valenti; Varela, Mar; Lopez-Doriga, Adriana; Moreno, Victor; Valladares, Manuel; Manzano, Jose Luis; Vieitez, Jose Maria; Aranda, Enrique; Sanjuan, Xavier; Tabernero, Josep; Capella, Gabriel; Salazar, Ramon

2017-09-01

In metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), recent studies have shown the importance to accurately quantify low-abundance mutations of the RAS pathway because anti-EGFR therapy may depend on certain mutation thresholds. We aimed to evaluate the added predictive value of an extended RAS panel testing using two commercial assays and a highly sensitive and quantitative digital PCR (dPCR). Tumor samples from 583 mCRC patients treated with anti-EGFR- ( n = 255) or bevacizumab- ( n = 328) based therapies from several clinical trials and retrospective series from the TTD/RTICC Spanish network were analyzed by cobas, therascreen , and dPCR. We evaluated concordance between techniques using the Cohen kappa index. Response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were correlated to the mutational status and the mutant allele fraction (MAF). Concordance between techniques was high when analyzing RAS and BRAF (Cohen kappa index around 0.75). We observed an inverse correlation between MAF and response in the anti-EGFR cohort ( P < 0.001). Likelihood ratio analysis showed that a fraction of 1% or higher of any mutated alleles offered the best predictive value. PFS and OS were significantly longer in RAS / BRAF wild-type patients, independently of the technique. However, the predictability of both PFS and OS were higher when we considered a threshold of 1% in the RAS scenario (HR = 1.53; CI 95%, 1.12-2.09 for PFS, and HR = 1.9; CI 95%, 1.33-2.72 for OS). Although the rate of mutations observed among techniques is different, RAS and BRAF mutational analysis improved prediction of response to anti-EGFR therapy. Additionally, dPCR with a threshold of 1% outperformed the other platforms. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(9); 1999-2007. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Neurologic outcomes of toxic oil syndrome patients 18 years after the epidemic.

PubMed Central

de la Paz, Manuel Posada; Philen, Rossanne M; Gerr, Fredric; Letz, Richard; Ferrari Arroyo, Maria José; Vela, Lydia; Izquierdo, Maravillas; Arribas, Concepción Martín; Borda, Ignacio Abaitua; Ramos, Alejandro; Mora, Cristina; Matesanz, Gloria; Roldán, Maria Teresa; Pareja, Juan

2003-01-01

Toxic oil syndrome (TOS) resulted from consumption of rapeseed oil denatured with 2% aniline and affected more than 20,000 persons. Eighteen years after the epidemic, many patients continue to report neurologic symptoms that are difficult to evaluate using conventional techniques. We conducted an epidemiologic study to determine whether an exposure to toxic oil 18 years ago was associated with current adverse neurobehavioral effects. We studied a case group of 80 adults exposed to toxic oil 18 years ago and a referent group of 79 adult age- and sex-frequency-matched unexposed subjects. We interviewed subjects for demographics, health status, exposures to neurotoxicants, and responses to the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), Programa Integrado de Exploracion Neuropsicologica (PIEN), and Goldberg depression questionnaires and administered quantitative neurobehavioral and neurophysiologic tests by computer or trained nurses. The groups did not differ with respect to educational background or other critical variables. We examined associations between case and referent groups and the neurobehavioral and neurophysiologic outcomes of interest. Decreased distal strength of the dominant and nondominant hands and increased vibrotactile thresholds of the fingers and toes were significantly associated with exposure to toxic oil. Finger tapping, simple reaction time latency, sequence B latency, symbol digit latency, and auditory digit span were also significantly associated with exposure. Case subjects also had statistically significantly more neuropsychologic symptoms compared with referents. Using quantitative neurologic tests, we found significant adverse central and peripheral neurologic effects in a group of TOS patients 18 years after exposure to toxic oil when compared with a nonexposed referent group. These effects were not documented by standard clinical examination and were found more frequently in women. PMID:12896854

Neurologic outcomes of toxic oil syndrome patients 18 years after the epidemic.

PubMed

de la Paz, Manuel Posada; Philen, Rossanne M; Gerr, Fredric; Letz, Richard; Ferrari Arroyo, Maria José; Vela, Lydia; Izquierdo, Maravillas; Arribas, Concepción Martín; Borda, Ignacio Abaitua; Ramos, Alejandro; Mora, Cristina; Matesanz, Gloria; Roldán, Maria Teresa; Pareja, Juan

2003-08-01

Toxic oil syndrome (TOS) resulted from consumption of rapeseed oil denatured with 2% aniline and affected more than 20,000 persons. Eighteen years after the epidemic, many patients continue to report neurologic symptoms that are difficult to evaluate using conventional techniques. We conducted an epidemiologic study to determine whether an exposure to toxic oil 18 years ago was associated with current adverse neurobehavioral effects. We studied a case group of 80 adults exposed to toxic oil 18 years ago and a referent group of 79 adult age- and sex-frequency-matched unexposed subjects. We interviewed subjects for demographics, health status, exposures to neurotoxicants, and responses to the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), Programa Integrado de Exploracion Neuropsicologica (PIEN), and Goldberg depression questionnaires and administered quantitative neurobehavioral and neurophysiologic tests by computer or trained nurses. The groups did not differ with respect to educational background or other critical variables. We examined associations between case and referent groups and the neurobehavioral and neurophysiologic outcomes of interest. Decreased distal strength of the dominant and nondominant hands and increased vibrotactile thresholds of the fingers and toes were significantly associated with exposure to toxic oil. Finger tapping, simple reaction time latency, sequence B latency, symbol digit latency, and auditory digit span were also significantly associated with exposure. Case subjects also had statistically significantly more neuropsychologic symptoms compared with referents. Using quantitative neurologic tests, we found significant adverse central and peripheral neurologic effects in a group of TOS patients 18 years after exposure to toxic oil when compared with a nonexposed referent group. These effects were not documented by standard clinical examination and were found more frequently in women.

Cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel gene family in rice, identification, characterization and experimental analysis of expression response to plant hormones, biotic and abiotic stresses.

PubMed

Nawaz, Zarqa; Kakar, Kaleem Ullah; Saand, Mumtaz A; Shu, Qing-Yao

2014-10-04

Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGCs) are Ca2+-permeable cation transport channels, which are present in both animal and plant systems. They have been implicated in the uptake of both essential and toxic cations, Ca2+ signaling, pathogen defense, and thermotolerance in plants. To date there has not been a genome-wide overview of the CNGC gene family in any economically important crop, including rice (Oryza sativa L.). There is an urgent need for a thorough genome-wide analysis and experimental verification of this gene family in rice. In this study, a total of 16 full length rice CNGC genes distributed on chromosomes 1-6, 9 and 12, were identified by employing comprehensive bioinformatics analyses. Based on phylogeny, the family of OsCNGCs was classified into four major groups (I-IV) and two sub-groups (IV-A and IV- B). Likewise, the CNGCs from all plant lineages clustered into four groups (I-IV), where group II was conserved in all land plants. Gene duplication analysis revealed that both chromosomal segmentation (OsCNGC1 and 2, 10 and 11, 15 and 16) and tandem duplications (OsCNGC1 and 2) significantly contributed to the expansion of this gene family. Motif composition and protein sequence analysis revealed that the CNGC specific domain "cyclic nucleotide-binding domain (CNBD)" comprises a "phosphate binding cassette" (PBC) and a "hinge" region that is highly conserved among the OsCNGCs. In addition, OsCNGC proteins also contain various other functional motifs and post-translational modification sites. We successively built a stringent motif: (LI-X(2)-[GS]-X-[FV]-X-G-[1]-ELL-X-W-X(12,22)-SA-X(2)-T-X(7)-[EQ]-AF-X-L) that recognizes the rice CNGCs specifically. Prediction of cis-acting regulatory elements in 5' upstream sequences and expression analyses through quantitative qPCR demonstrated that OsCNGC genes were highly responsive to multiple stimuli including hormonal (abscisic acid, indoleacetic acid, kinetin and ethylene), biotic (Pseudomonas fuscovaginae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) and abiotic (cold) stress. There are 16 CNGC genes in rice, which were probably expanded through chromosomal segmentation and tandem duplications and comprise a PBC and a "hinge" region in the CNBD domain, featured by a stringent motif. The various cis-acting regulatory elements in the upstream sequences may be responsible for responding to multiple stimuli, including hormonal, biotic and abiotic stresses.

Homogenisation of sulphide inclusions within diamonds: A new approach to diamond inclusion geochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDonald, Iain; Hughes, Hannah S. R.; Butler, Ian B.; Harris, Jeffrey W.; Muir, Duncan

2017-11-01

Base metal sulphide (BMS) inclusions in diamonds provide a unique insight into the chalcophile and highly siderophile element composition of the mantle. Entombed within their diamond hosts, these provide a more robust (closed system) sample, from which to determine the trace element, Re-Os and S-isotopic compositions of the mantle than mantle xenoliths or orogenic peridotites, as they are shielded from alteration during ascent to the Earth's crust and subsequent surface weathering. However, at temperatures below 1100 °C some BMS inclusions undergo subsolidus re-equilibration from an original monosulphide solid solution (Mss) and this causes fractionation of the major and trace elements within the inclusions. Thus to study the subjects noted above, current techniques require the entire BMS inclusion to be extracted for analyses. Unfortunately, 'flaking' of inclusions during break-out is a frequent occurrence and hence the risk of accidentally under-sampling a portion of the BMS inclusion is inherent in current practices. This loss may have significant implications for Re-Os isotope analyses where incomplete sampling of a Re-rich phase, such as chalcopyrite that typically occurs at the outer margins of BMS inclusions, may induce significant bias in the Re-Os and 187Os/188Os measurements and resulting model and isochron ages. We have developed a method for the homogenisation of BMS inclusions in diamond prior to their break-out from the host stone. Diamonds are heated to 1100 °C and then quenched to chemically homogenise any sulphide inclusions for both major and trace elements. Using X-ray Computed Microtomography (μCT) we determine the shape and spatial setting of multiple inclusions within a host stone and crucially show that the volume of a BMS inclusion is the same both before and after homogenisation. We show that the homogenisation process significantly reduces the inherent variability of in situ analysis when compared with unhomogenised BMS, thereby widening the scope for multiple methods for quantitative analysis, even on 'flakes' of single BMS inclusions. Finally we show that the trace elements present in peridotite (P-type) and eclogitic (E-type) BMS are distinct, with P-type diamonds having systematically higher total platinum-group element (particularly Os, Ir, Ru) and Te and As concentrations. These distinctions suggest that the PGE and semi-metal budgets of mantle-derived partial melts will be significantly dependent upon the type(s) and proportions of sulphides present in the mantle source.

Características de Indoor airPLUS

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

El Programa Interior de airPLUS es una asociación entre EPA, los constructores, raters, las utilidades, y organizaciones sanitarias e interiores ambientales de mejorar aire interior en nuevas casas casas verdes.

Lista de socios de Indoor airPLUS

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

El Programa Interior de airPLUS es una asociación entre EPA, los constructores, raters, las utilidades, y organizaciones sanitarias e interiores ambientales de mejorar aire interior en nuevas casas casas verdes.

¿Qué es Indoor airPLUS?

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

El Programa Interior de airPLUS es una asociación entre EPA, los constructores, raters, las utilidades, y organizaciones sanitarias e interiores ambientales de mejorar aire interior en nuevas casas casas verdes.

Impact of Universal Health Coverage on Child Growth and Nutrition in Argentina

PubMed Central

Fernández-Slezak, Diego; Farall, Andrés; Szretter, María Eugenia; Salomón, Oscar Daniel; Valeggia, Claudia R.

2016-01-01

Objectives. To estimate trends of undernutrition (stunting and underweight) among children younger than 5 years covered by the universal health coverage programs Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar. Methods. From 2005 to 2013, Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar collected high-quality information on birth and visit dates, age (in days), gender, weight (in kg), and height (in cm) for 1.4 million children in 6386 health centers (13 million records) with broad coverage of vulnerable populations in Argentina. Results. The prevalence of stunting and underweight decreased 45.0% (from 20.6% to 11.3%) and 38.0% (from 4.0% to 2.5%), respectively, with differences between rural versus urban areas, gender, regions, age, and seasons. Conclusions. Undernutrition prevalence substantially decreased in 2 programs in Argentina as a result of universal health coverage. PMID:26890172

Tuberculosis recurrence in a priority city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.

PubMed

Vieira, Amadeu Antonio; Leite, Danila Torres; Adreoni, Solange

2017-01-01

To describe cases of tuberculosis recurrence (TBR), stratified by temporal classification (early or late TBR), and to identify possible predictors of such recurrence. This was an analytical retrospective observational epidemiological study involving a cohort of 963 new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, reported and treated via the Tuberculosis Control Program in the city of Carapicuíba, Brazil. The study period was from 2000 to 2010. All of the pulmonary tuberculosis patients who successfully completed the treatment (with or without confirmation of cure) were selected and followed until December 31, 2012. Of the 963 cases, TBR occurred in 47 (4.88%). The mean time between the first and second tuberculosis episodes was 36.12 months. Of the 47 TBR cases, 16 (34.04%) occurred within the first 18 months after the completion of the initial treatment (early TBR) and 31 (65.96%) occurred thereafter (late TBR). There were statistically significant differences between the early and late TBR groups only regarding level of education (≤ 3 vs. > 3 years of schooling; p < 0.004) and weight gain at completion of the initial treatment (1.78 kg vs. 5.31 kg; p < 0.045)-not regarding any of the other variables studied. A low level of education might translate to poor treatment adherence, which impedes the killing of bacilli and facilitates their survival in a latent state, making it appear as if the treatment was effective. Minimal or no weight gain at completion of the initial treatment might be a reliable biomarker to be used by health care facilities that provide tuberculosis treatment. Descrever os casos de recorrência de tuberculose (RTB) e identificar possíveis preditores segundo a classificação RTB recente ou tardia. Estudo epidemiológico observacional analítico retrospectivo a partir de uma coorte de 963 casos novos de tuberculose pulmonar notificados e tratados no Programa de Controle de Tuberculose de Carapicuíba (SP). O período de estudo foi de 2000 a 2010. Todos os casos novos de tuberculose pulmonar que completaram com sucesso o tratamento (com ou sem cura confirmada) foram selecionados e seguidos até 31 de dezembro de 2012. Dos 963 casos, RTB ocorreu em 47 (4,88%). O tempo médio transcorrido até o segundo episódio foi de 36,12 meses. Dos 47 casos de RTB, 16 (34,04%) ocorreram em até 18 meses da alta do primeiro tratamento (RTB recente), e 31 (65,96%) ocorreram após 18 meses (RTB tardia). Entre as variáveis investigadas, somente houve diferenças significativas entre os grupos RTB recente e tardia em relação ao ganho de peso na alta do primeiro tratamento (1,78 kg vs. 5,31 kg; p < 0,045) e nível de escolaridade (≤ 3 vs. > 3 anos de estudo; p < 0,004). A baixa escolaridade pode indicar uma menor adesão ao tratamento, dificultando a esterilização dos bacilos e facilitando sua sobrevivência em forma dormente, o que mascara a efetividade do tratamento. A ausência ou um reduzido aumento de peso na alta do tratamento poderá servir como um marcador biológico que pode ser utilizado pelos serviços de saúde que realizam o tratamento de tuberculose.

Characterizing Orthostatic Tremor Using a Smartphone Application.

PubMed

Balachandar, Arjun; Fasano, Alfonso

2017-01-01

Orthostatic tremor is one of the few tremor conditions requiring an electromyogram for definitive diagnosis since leg tremor might not be visible to the naked eye. An iOS application (iSeismometer, ObjectGraph LLC, New York) using an Apple iPhone 5 (Cupertino, CA, USA) inserted into the patient's sock detected a tremor with a frequency of 16.4 Hz on both legs. The rapid and straightforward accelerometer-based recordings accomplished in this patient demonstrate the ease with which quantitative analysis of orthostatic tremor can be conducted and, importantly, demonstrates the potential application of this approach in the assessment of any lower limb tremor.

Detection of oxidative stress biomarker-induced assembly of gold nanoparticles in retinal pigment epithelial cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasmin, Z.; Lee, Y.; Maswadi, S.; Glickman, R.; Nash, K. L.

2013-02-01

Oxidative stress (OS) is increasingly implicated as an underlying pathogenic mechanism in a wide range of diseases, resulting from an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the system's ability to detoxify the reactive intermediates or repair the resulting damage. ROS can be difficult to detect directly; however, they can be detected indirectly from the effects on oxidative stress biomarkers (OSB), such as glutathione (GSH), 3-nitrotyrosine, homocysteine, and cysteine. Moreover the reaction of transition metals with thiol-containing amino acids (for example GSH) oxidized by ROS can yield reactive products that accumulate with time and contribute to aging and diseases. The study of the interaction between OSB using functionalized nanoparticles (fNPs) has attracted interest because of potential applications in bio-sensors and biomedical diagnostics. A goal of the present work is to use fNPs to detect and ultimately quantitate OS in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells subjected to external stressors, e.g. nonionizing (light) and ionizing (gamma) radiation. Specifically, we are investigating the assembly of gold fNPs mediated by the oxidation of GSH in irradiated RPE cells. The dynamic interparticle interactions had been characterized in previously reported work by monitoring the evolution of the surface plasmon resonance band using spectroscopic analysis (UV-VIS absorption). Here we are comparing the dynamic evolution of fNP assembly using photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS). We expect that PAS will provide a more sensitive measure allowing these fNP sensors to measure OS in cell-based models without the artifacts limiting the use of current methods, such as fluorescent indicators.

Laron syndrome abnormalities: spinal stenosis, os odontoideum, degenerative changes of the atlanto-odontoid joint, and small oropharynx.

PubMed

Kornreich, Liora; Horev, Gadi; Schwarz, Michael; Karmazyn, Boaz; Laron, Zvi

2002-04-01

Patients with Laron syndrome have an inborn growth hormone resistance. We investigated abnormalities in the upper airways and cervical spine in patients with Laron syndrome. We prospectively examined 11 patients (one child aged 9 years and 10 adults aged 36-68 years), 10 of whom underwent MR imaging of the spine or head; nine, radiography of the cervical spine; and four, CT of C1-C2. The width of the spinal canal was evaluated visually and quantitatively and compared with reference values. The smallest diameter of the oropharynx and the thickness of the palate were measured and compared with reference values. Nine age-matched female patients referred for MR imaging for unrelated reasons served as control subjects. Cervical spinal stenosis was present in seven of the adult patients, within a confidence interval of 95%. Anomaly of the dens compatible with os odontoideum was present in three patients, causing focal myelomalacia in two. The atlanto-odontoid joint showed osteoarthritic changes in six of the adult patients. The mediolateral diameter of the oropharynx was significantly smaller in the patients with Laron syndrome than in the control subjects (P <.005). There was no difference in the thickness of the soft palate. Patients with Laron syndrome develop significant narrowing of the cervical spinal canal and early degenerative changes of the atlanto-odontoid joint. Laron syndrome is associated with os odontoideum causing myelomalacia. The dimensions of the oropharynx are small. Patients may be prone to neurologic morbidity and sleep disturbances. Routine MR imaging of the cervical spine is recommended in these patients.

Apparent diffusion coefficient histogram metrics correlate with survival in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: a report from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium

PubMed Central

Poussaint, Tina Young; Vajapeyam, Sridhar; Ricci, Kelsey I.; Panigrahy, Ashok; Kocak, Mehmet; Kun, Larry E.; Boyett, James M.; Pollack, Ian F.; Fouladi, Maryam

2016-01-01

Background Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is associated with poor survival regardless of therapy. We used volumetric apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram metrics to determine associations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) at baseline and after radiation therapy (RT). Methods Baseline and post-RT quantitative ADC histograms were generated from fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images and enhancement regions of interest. Metrics assessed included number of peaks (ie, unimodal or bimodal), mean and median ADC, standard deviation, mode, skewness, and kurtosis. Results Based on FLAIR images, the majority of tumors had unimodal peaks with significantly shorter average survival. Pre-RT FLAIR mean, mode, and median values were significantly associated with decreased risk of progression; higher pre-RT ADC values had longer PFS on average. Pre-RT FLAIR skewness and standard deviation were significantly associated with increased risk of progression; higher pre-RT FLAIR skewness and standard deviation had shorter PFS. Nonenhancing tumors at baseline showed higher ADC FLAIR mean values, lower kurtosis, and higher PFS. For enhancing tumors at baseline, bimodal enhancement histograms had much worse PFS and OS than unimodal cases and significantly lower mean peak values. Enhancement in tumors only after RT led to significantly shorter PFS and OS than in patients with baseline or no baseline enhancement. Conclusions ADC histogram metrics in DIPG demonstrate significant correlations between diffusion metrics and survival, with lower diffusion values (increased cellularity), increased skewness, and enhancement associated with shorter survival, requiring future investigations in large DIPG clinical trials. PMID:26487690

The double-stranded break-forming activity of plant SPO11s and a novel rice SPO11 revealed by a Drosophila bioassay

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background SPO11 is a key protein for promoting meiotic recombination, by generating chromatin locus- and timing-specific DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). The DSB activity of SPO11 was shown by genetic analyses, but whether SPO11 exerts DSB-forming activity by itself is still an unanswered question. DSB formation by SPO11 has not been detected by biochemical means, probably because of a lack of proper protein-folding, posttranslational modifications, and/or specific SPO11-interacting proteins required for this activity. In addition, plants have multiple SPO11-homologues. Results To determine whether SPO11 can cleave DNA by itself, and to identify which plant SPO11 homologue cleaves DNA, we developed a Drosophila bioassay system that detects the DSB signals generated by a plant SPO11 homologue expressed ectopically. We cytologically and genetically demonstrated the DSB activities of Arabidopsis AtSPO11-1 and AtSPO11-2, which are required for meiosis, in the absence of other plant proteins. Using this bioassay, we further found that a novel SPO11-homologue, OsSPO11D, which has no counterpart in Arabidopsis, displays prominent DSB-forming activity. Quantitative analyses of the rice SPO11 transcripts revealed the specific increase in OsSPO11D mRNA in the anthers containing meiotic pollen mother cells. Conclusions The Drosophila bioassay system successfully demonstrated that some plant SPO11 orthologues have intrinsic DSB activities. Furthermore, we identified a novel SPO11 homologue, OsSPO11D, with robust DSB activity and a possible meiotic function. PMID:22248237

Hydrolysis of substance P in the presence of the osteosarcoma cell line SaOS-2: release of free amino acids.

PubMed

Cavazza, Antonella; Marini, Mario; Roda, L Giorgio; Tarantino, Umberto; Valenti, Angela

2011-12-01

The possible hydrolysis of substance P (Arg-Pro-Lys-Pro-Gln-Gln-Phe-Phe-Gly-Leu-Met) in presence of the osteoblastic cell line SaOS-2 was measured by capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass detection. The results obtained indicate that a very rapid disappearance of the intact undecapeptide was associated to a slower appearance of seven of its eight component amino acids. These results can be interpreted as indicating that an extremely fast hydrolysis of substance P by endopeptidases, which released peptidic by-products, was followed by a noticeably slower secondary degradation which released free amino acids. In decreasing quantitative importance, these phenomena appear to originate by the hydrolysis of the Pro(4)-Gln(5) bond, followed by C-terminal sequential degradation of the Arg(1)-Pro(4) tetrapeptide; by the hydrolysis of or Phe(7)-Phe(8) bond (or, possibly, of Gln(6)-Phe(7)) leading to release of free Phe and Gln; by hydrolysis of the Gly(9)-Leu(10) bond with subsequent release of Met and Leu. Results obtained appear to be compatible with the expression by SaOS-2 cells of enzymes already known to catalyze substance P hydrolysis, together with an apparent low efficiency of aminopeptidases. Because of the activity of C-terminal fragments on NK1 receptors, the delay between primary hydrolysis of substance P and secondary hydrolysis of its peptidic fragments indicated by the data shown implies a possible persistence of substance P physiological effects even after degradation of the intact peptide.

First-Principles Studies of Structure-Property Relationships: Enabling Design of Functional Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Qunfei

First-principles calculations based on quantum mechanics have been proved to be powerful for accurately regenerating experimental results, uncovering underlying myths of experimental phenomena, and accelerating the design of innovative materials. This work has been motivated by the demand to design next-generation thermionic emitting cathodes and techniques to allow for synthesis of photo-responsive polymers on complex surfaces with controlled thickness and patterns. For Os-coated tungsten thermionic dispenser cathodes, we used first-principles methods to explore the bulk and surface properties of W-Os alloys in order to explain the previously observed experimental phenomena that thermionic emission varies significantly with W-Os alloy composition. Meanwhile, we have developed a new quantum mechanical approach to quantitatively predict the thermionic emission current density from materials perspective without any semi-empirical approximations or complicated analytical models, which leads to better understanding of thermionic emission mechanism. The methods from this work could be used to accelerate the design of next-generation thermionic cathodes. For photoresponsive materials, we designed a novel type of azobenzene-containing monomer for light-mediated ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) toward the fabrication of patterned, photo-responsive polymers by controlling ring strain energy (RSE) of the monomer that drives ROMP. This allows for unprecedented remote, noninvasive, instantaneous spatial and temporal control of photo-responsive polymer deposition on complex surfaces.This work on the above two different materials systems showed the power of quantum mechanical calculations on predicting, understanding and discovering the structures and properties of both known and unknown materials in a fast, efficient and reliable way.

Detección automática de NEOs en imágenes CCD utilizando la transformada de Hough

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruétalo, M.; Tancredi, G.

El interés y la dedicación por los objetos que se acercan a la órbita de la Tierra (NEOs) ha aumentado considerablemente en los últimos años, tanto que se han iniciado varias campañas de búsqueda sistemática para aumentar la población identificada de éstos. El uso de placas fotográficas e identificación visual está siendo sustituído, progresivamente, por el uso de cámaras CCD y paquetes de detección automática de los objetos en las imágenes digitales. Una parte muy importante para la implementación exitosa de un programa automatizado de detección de este tipo es el desarrollo de algoritmos capaces de identificar objetos de baja relación señal-ruido y con requerimientos computacionales no elevados. En el presente trabajo proponemos la utilización de la transformada de Hough (utilizada en algunas áreas de visión artificial) para detectar automáticamente trazas, aproximadamente rectilíneas y de baja relación señal-ruido, en imágenes CCD. Desarrollamos una primera implementación de un algoritmo basado en ésta y lo probamos con una serie de imágenes reales conteniendo trazas con picos de señales de entre ~1 σ y ~3 σ por encima del nivel del ruido de fondo. El algoritmo detecta, sin inconvenientes, la mayoría de los casos y en tiempos razonablemente adecuados.

Lisbon Emoji and Emoticon Database (LEED): Norms for emoji and emoticons in seven evaluative dimensions.

PubMed

Rodrigues, David; Prada, Marília; Gaspar, Rui; Garrido, Margarida V; Lopes, Diniz

2018-02-01

The use of emoticons and emoji is increasingly popular across a variety of new platforms of online communication. They have also become popular as stimulus materials in scientific research. However, the assumption that emoji/emoticon users' interpretations always correspond to the developers'/researchers' intended meanings might be misleading. This article presents subjective norms of emoji and emoticons provided by everyday users. The Lisbon Emoji and Emoticon Database (LEED) comprises 238 stimuli: 85 emoticons and 153 emoji (collected from iOS, Android, Facebook, and Emojipedia). The sample included 505 Portuguese participants recruited online. Each participant evaluated a random subset of 20 stimuli for seven dimensions: aesthetic appeal, familiarity, visual complexity, concreteness, valence, arousal, and meaningfulness. Participants were additionally asked to attribute a meaning to each stimulus. The norms obtained include quantitative descriptive results (means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals) and a meaning analysis for each stimulus. We also examined the correlations between the dimensions and tested for differences between emoticons and emoji, as well as between the two major operating systems-Android and iOS. The LEED constitutes a readily available normative database (available at www.osf.io/nua4x ) with potential applications to different research domains.

Quantitative measurements of intercellular adhesion between a macrophage and cancer cells using a cup-attached AFM chip.

PubMed

Kim, Hyonchol; Yamagishi, Ayana; Imaizumi, Miku; Onomura, Yui; Nagasaki, Akira; Miyagi, Yohei; Okada, Tomoko; Nakamura, Chikashi

2017-07-01

Intercellular adhesion between a macrophage and cancer cells was quantitatively measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Cup-shaped metal hemispheres were fabricated using polystyrene particles as a template, and a cup was attached to the apex of the AFM cantilever. The cup-attached AFM chip (cup-chip) approached a murine macrophage cell (J774.2), the cell was captured on the inner concave of the cup, and picked up by withdrawing the cup-chip from the substrate. The cell-attached chip was advanced towards a murine breast cancer cell (FP10SC2), and intercellular adhesion between the two cells was quantitatively measured. To compare cell adhesion strength, the work required to separate two adhered cells (separation work) was used as a parameter. Separation work was almost 2-fold larger between a J774.2 cell and FP10SC2 cell than between J774.2 cell and three additional different cancer cells (4T1E, MAT-LyLu, and U-2OS), two FP10SC2 cells, or two J774.2 cells. FP10SC2 was established from 4T1E as a highly metastatic cell line, indicates separation work increased as the malignancy of cancer cells became higher. One possible explanation of the strong adhesion of macrophages to cancer cells observed in this study is that the measurement condition mimicked the microenvironment of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in vivo, and J774.2 cells strongly expressed CD204, which is a marker of TAMs. The results of the present study, which were obtained by measuring cell adhesion strength quantitatively, indicate that the fabricated cup-chip is a useful tool for measuring intercellular adhesion easily and quantitatively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computerized nursing process in the Intensive Care Unit: ergonomics and usability.

PubMed

Almeida, Sônia Regina Wagner de; Sasso, Grace Teresinha Marcon Dal; Barra, Daniela Couto Carvalho

2016-01-01

Analyzing the ergonomics and usability criteria of the Computerized Nursing Process based on the International Classification for Nursing Practice in the Intensive Care Unit according to International Organization for Standardization(ISO). A quantitative, quasi-experimental, before-and-after study with a sample of 16 participants performed in an Intensive Care Unit. Data collection was performed through the application of five simulated clinical cases and an evaluation instrument. Data analysis was performed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The organization, content and technical criteria were considered "excellent", and the interface criteria were considered "very good", obtaining means of 4.54, 4.60, 4.64 and 4.39, respectively. The analyzed standards obtained means above 4.0, being considered "very good" by the participants. The Computerized Nursing Processmet ergonomic and usability standards according to the standards set by ISO. This technology supports nurses' clinical decision-making by providing complete and up-to-date content for Nursing practice in the Intensive Care Unit. Analisar os critérios de ergonomia e usabilidade do Processo de Enfermagem Informatizado a partir da Classificação Internacional para as Práticas de Enfermagem, em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva, de acordo com os padrões da InternationalOrganization for Standardization (ISO). Pesquisa quantitativa, quase-experimental do tipo antes e depois, com uma amostra de 16 participantes, realizada em uma Unidade de Terapia Intensiva. Coleta de dados realizada por meio da aplicação de cinco casos clínicos simulados e instrumento de avaliação. A análise dos dados foi realizada pela estatística descritiva e inferencial. Os critérios organização, conteúdo e técnico foram considerados "excelentes", e o critério interface "muito bom", obtendo médias 4,54, 4,60, 4,64 e 4,39, respectivamente. Os padrões analisados obtiveram médias acima de 4,0, sendo considerados "muito bons" pelos participantes. O Processo de Enfermagem Informatizado possui padrões ergonômicos e de usabilidade de acordo com os padrões estabelecidos pela ISO. Esta tecnologia apoia a decisão clínica do enfermeiro fornecendo conteúdo completo e atualizado para a prática de Enfermagem em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva.

Trastornos mentales y consumo de drogas en la población víctima del conflicto armado en tres ciudades de Colombia.

PubMed

Castaño, Guillermo; Sierra, Gloria; Sánchez, Daniela; Torres, Yolanda; Salas, Carolina; Buitrago, Carolina

2018-05-01

Introducción. La violencia en sus diferentes modalidades incrementa el riesgo de trastornos mentales y de consumo de drogas.Objetivos. Estimar la prevalencia de los trastornos mentales, del uso y abuso de drogas, así como los factores asociados en víctimas de desplazamiento forzado en tres ciudades colombianas.Materiales y métodos. Se hizo un estudio de prevalencia en una muestra de 1.026 personas entre los 13 y los 65 años de edad, a quienes se entrevistó utilizando el instrumento Composite International Diagnostic Interview y el Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, así como un cuestionario sobre el consumo de drogas modificado a partir de la encuesta del Sistema Interamericano de Datos Uniformes sobre Drogas de la Comisión Interamericana para el Control del Abuso de Drogas de la Organización de Estados Americanos, y otro sobre aspectos relacionados con el desplazamiento forzado. El análisis se hizo mediante el programa estadístico SPSS™, versión 21.Resultados. La prevalencia de vida de los trastornos mentales fue la siguiente: fobia específica, 17,7 %; depresión mayor, 16,4 %; estrés postraumático, 9,9 %; trastorno oposicionista desafiante, 8,9 %; ansiedad por separación, 7,2 %; trastornos de conducta, 5,8 %, y déficit de atención, 5,6 %. La prevalencia de vida del consumo de alcohol fue de 68,7 %; de tabaco, 31,3 %, de marihuana, 11,2 %, de cocaína, 3,5 %, de basuco, 2,0 %, de inhalables, 2,3 %, y de medicamentos ansiolíticos sin receta, 2,5 %, en tanto que 0,7 % de los entrevistados se había inyectado drogas. El presentar cualquiera de los trastornos mentales se asoció con el sexo femenino (odds ratio, OR=1,61; IC95% 1,21-2,14), así como el haber sido sometido a más de un desplazamiento forzado (OR=1,47; IC95 1,05-2,05). El consumo de cualquiera de las drogas se asoció con ser hombre (OR=5,38; IC95% 2,35-12,34).Conclusiones. La alta prevalencia de trastornos mentales y de consumo de drogas en la población estudiada, comparada con la población general, constituye un problema de salud pública que justifica el diseño de planes y la implementación de programas orientados a la recuperación de su bienestar y salud mental.

[Programa de saúde: a case of book censorship during the Brazilian military dictatorship].

PubMed

Reimão, Sandra

2013-11-30

Some documents produced by the government during the Brazilian military dictatorship have been made available for reference, including censors' reports on television and radio programs, plays, films, songs, advertisements and printed matter. Of the 500 or so reports on books, there is one that vetoes Programa de saúde: projetos e temas de higiene e saúde, an educational work that proposed actions to help students understand their sanitary conditions and acquire knowledge about health and health-promoting habits in this area. The argument for vetoing it was that the information could fall into the hands of poorly trained teachers, who could distort its content, causing serious damage to Brazilian youth. In this report we see evidence of the obscurantist, elitist posture adopted by the Department of Censorship of Public Entertainment, which aimed to restrict the circulation of information and curb debate.

CURRENT SITUATION OF MEDICINE III AND CHALLENGES.

PubMed

Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2015-01-01

Describe the current situation of the area Medicine III of CAPES and detect challenges for the next four years of evaluation. The area's documents and reports of meetings were read from 2004 to 2013 Medicine III Capes as well as reports and evaluation form of each Postgraduate Program (PPG) of the area and the sub-page of the area from the Capes website. The data relating to the evaluation process, the assessment form and faculty, student and scientific production data of all of Post-Graduate Programs of Medicine III were computed and analyzed. From these data were detected the challenges of the area for the next four years (2013-2016). Among the 3,806 PPG, Medicine III had 41 PPG during last triennial evaluation and progressed from 18% to 43% of PPG very good or more concept (triennium 2001-2003 and 2010-2012). Most PPG were located in the South-East region (32), three in the South and two in the North-East. There was no PPG in North or Central-West regions. In 2013 and 2014 there were four approved Professional Master Degree Programs and one Master (M) and Doctorate (PhD). The average of permanent professors was 558 teachers with about three students/professor. The number of PhD graduates has increased as well as the reason PhD/MD. The proportion of in high impact periodicals (A1, A2, B1 and B2) jumped from 30% to 50% demonstrating positive community response to the policy area. The challenges identified were: decrease regional asymmetry, increase the number of masters and doctors of excellence, reassessment of Brazilian journals, stimulate and set internationalization indicators, including post-doctors and definition of its indicators, the PPG nucleation analysis, PPG 3x3, include primary and secondary education, professional master and indicators of technological scientific production and solidarity. Medicine III has been scientifically consolidated and their scientific researchers demonstrated maturity reaching a high level and matched to areas of greatest tradition and history. For the maintenance and advancement of the area some challenges and goals were established to be developed in the period from 2013 to 2016. Descrever a situação atual da área Medicina III da Capes e detectar os desafios para o próximo quadriênio de avaliação. Os documentos e relatórios de reuniões de área a partir de 2004 até 2013 da Medicina III da Capes foram lidos assim como os relatórios e as fichas de avaliação de cada Programa de Pós Graduação (PPG) da área e a subpágina da área no site da Capes. Os dados referentes ao Processo de Avaliação, à Ficha de Avaliação e aos dados do Corpo Docente, Discente e Produção científica de todos os PPG da Medicina III foram computados e analisados. A partir desses dados foram detectados os desafios da área para o próximo quadriênio (2013-2016). Dentre os 3.806 PPG, a Medicina III apresentava 41 PPG durante última avaliação trienal e evoluiu de 18% para 43% de PPG > conceito muito bom (Triênios 2001-2003 e 2010-2012). A maioria dos PPG se localizavam na Região Sudeste (32), três no Sul e dois no Nordeste. Não havia nenhum PPG no Norte ou Centro-Oeste. Em 2013 e 2014 foram aprovadas quatro mestrados profissionais e um mestrado e doutorado acadêmico. A média de docente permanente no triênio foi de 558 docentes com cerca de três alunos titulados/docente. O número de doutores titulados tem aumentado assim como a razão Doutorado/Mestrado. A proporção de publicações em periódicos de maior impacto (A1, A2, B1 e B2) saltou de 30% para 50% demonstrando resposta positiva da comunidade à política da área. Os desafios detectados foram: diminuir assimetria regional, elevar o número de mestres e doutores de excelência, reavaliação das revistas nacionais, estimular e definir indicadores de internacionalização, inclusão de pós-doutores e definição de seus indicadores, análise da nucleação do PPG, PPG 3x3, inclusão ensino médio e fundamental, mestrado profissional e indicadores da produção científico-tecnológica e solidariedade. A Medicina III tem se consolidado cientificamente e seus pesquisadores demonstraram maturidade científica chegando a um patamar elevado e igualado às áreas de maior tradição e história. Para a manutenção e avanço da área alguns desafios e metas foram traçadas para serem desenvolvidas no quadriênio 2013-2016.

Vigilando la Calidad del Agua de los Grandes Rios de la Nacion: El Programa NASQAN del Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lurry, Dee L.; Reutter, David C.; Wells, Frank C.; Rivera, M.C.; Munoz, A.

1998-01-01

La Oficina del Estudio Geologico de los Estados Unidos (U.S. Geological Survey, 0 USGS) ha monitoreado la calidad del agua de la cuenca del Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte) desde 1995 como parte de la rediseiiada Red Nacional para Contabilizar la Calidad del Agua de los Rios (National Stream Quality Accounting Network, o NASOAN) (Hooper and others, 1997). EI programa NASOAN fue diseiiado para caracterizar las concentraciones y el transporte de sedimento y constituyentes quimicos seleccionados, encontrados en los grandes rios de los Estados Unidos - incluyendo el Misisipi, el Colorado y el Columbia, ademas del Rio Grande. En estas cuatro cuencas, el USGS opera actualmente (1998) una red de 40 puntos de muestreo pertenecientes a NASOAN, con un enfasis en cuantificar el flujo en masa (la cantidad de material que pasa por la estacion, expresado en toneladas por dial para cada constituyente. Aplicacando un enfoque consistente, basado en la cuantificacion de flujos en la cuenca del Rio Grande, el programa NASOAN esta generando la informacion necesaria para identificar fuentes regionales de diversos contaminantes, incluyendo sustancias qui micas agricolas y trazas elementos en la cuenca. EI efecto de las grandes reservas en el Rio Grande se puede observar segun los flujos de constituyentes discurren a 10 largo del rio. EI analisis de los flujos de constituyentes a escala de la cuenca proveera los medios para evaluar la influencia de la actividad humana sobre las condiciones de calidad del agua del Rio Grande.

Toward a Better Implementation of the Audio-Lingual Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valdman, Albert

1970-01-01

Revised version of a paper presented at the Fifth Symposium of the PILEI, Programa Interamericano de Linguistica y Ensenanza de Idiomas (Inter-American Program on Linguistics and Foreign Language Instruction), Sao Paolo, Brazil, January 11, 1969. (DS)

Assessment in the primary care of the State of São Paulo, Brazil: incipient actions in sexual and reproductive health.

PubMed

Nasser, Mariana Arantes; Nemes, Maria Ines Battistella; Andrade, Marta Campagnoni; Prado, Rogério Ruscitto do; Castanheira, Elen Rose Lodeiro

2017-08-17

The objective of this study is to assess performance in sexual and reproductive health of primary health care services of the Brazilian Unified Health System, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. An evaluative framework was built for sexual and reproductive health with the categorization of 99 indicators in three domains: sexual and reproductive health promotion (25), sexually transmitted infections/AIDS prevention and care (43), and reproductive health care (31). This framework was applied to assess the services responses to the questionnaire of Quality Evaluation of Primary Health Care in the Municipalities of São Paulo State (QualiAB), in 2010. Percentages were calculated for positive responses to indicators and performance in the sexual and reproductive health dimension, according to domains, and their contribution to the overall score in sexual and reproductive health (Friedman), relative participation (Dunn), and correlation (Spearman) was verified. Overall, 2,735 services participated in the study. They were located in 586 municipalities (distributed throughout the 17 regional health departments of São Paulo), of which 70.6% had fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. The overall average performance of these services for sexual and reproductive health is 56.8%. The actions are characterized by: prenatal with adequate beginning and exams, better organization for immediate rather than for late postnatal care, and selective reproductive planning for some contraceptives; prevention based on specific protection, limitations in the prevention of congenital syphilis, in the treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and in the screening of cervical and breast cancer; specific educational activities, with a restricted vulnerability approach, focus on sexuality over reproduction. The domain of reproductive health has greater participation in the overall score, followed by prevention/care and promotion. The three domains are correlated; the domain of prevention/care has the highest correlation with the other ones. The implementation of sexual and reproductive health in primary health care in the services studied is incipient. The revision of the purpose of the work, the dissemination of technologies, and the investing in permanent education are needed. The evaluative framework built can be used by the sexual and reproductive health program services and management in primary health care, thereby contributing to their actions. Avaliar o desempenho em saúde sexual e reprodutiva de serviços de atenção primária à saúde do Sistema Único de Saúde, no estado de São Paulo. Construiu-se quadro avaliativo para a saúde sexual e reprodutiva com a categorização de 99 indicadores em três domínios: promoção à saúde sexual e reprodutiva (25), prevenção e assistência às doenças sexualmente transmissíveis/aids (43), e atenção à saúde reprodutiva (31). Esse quadro foi aplicado para avaliar as respostas dos serviços ao questionário Avaliação da Qualidade da Atenção Básica em Municípios de São Paulo (QualiAB), em 2010. Calcularam-se as porcentagens de respostas positivas aos indicadores e o desempenho na dimensão saúde sexual e reprodutiva, segundo os domínios; e verificou-se sua contribuição para o escore geral em saúde sexual e reprodutiva (Friedman), participação relativa (Dunn) e correlação (Spearman). Participaram 2.735 serviços, localizados em 586 municípios (distribuídos nos 17 departamentos regionais de saúde paulistas), dos quais 70,6% municípios com menos de 100.000 habitantes. A média geral do desempenho desses serviços para saúde sexual e reprodutiva é 56,8%. As ações são caracterizadas por: pré-natal com início e exames adequados, melhor organização para puerpério imediato do que tardio, e planejamento reprodutivo seletivo para alguns contraceptivos; prevenção baseada em proteção específica, limites na prevenção da sífilis congênita, no tratamento de doenças sexualmente transmissíveis, no rastreamento do câncer cervical e mamário; atividades educativas pontuais, com restrita abordagem das vulnerabilidades, predomínio do enfoque da sexualidade centrado na reprodução. O domínio saúde reprodutiva tem maior participação no escore geral, seguido de prevenção/assistência e promoção. Os três domínios estão correlacionados; o domínio prevenção/assistência apresenta as maiores correlações com os demais. A implementação da saúde sexual e reprodutiva na atenção primária à saúde nos serviços estudados é incipiente. É necessário rever finalidades do trabalho, disseminar tecnologias e investir em educação permanente. O quadro avaliativo construído pode ser utilizado pelos serviços e pela gestão do programa de saúde sexual e reprodutiva na atenção primária à saúde e contribuir para suas ações.

A risk hedging strategy under the nonparallel-shift yield curve

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Pu; He, Xubiao

2005-08-01

Under the assumption of the movement of rigid, a nonparallel-shift model in the term structure of interest rates is developed by introducing Fisher & Weil duration which is a well-known concept in the area of interest risk management. This paper has studied the hedge and replication for portfolio immunization to minimize the risk exposure. Throughout the experiment of numerical simulation, the risk exposures of the portfolio under the different risk hedging strategies are quantitatively evaluated by the method of value at risk (VaR) order statistics (OS) estimation. The results show that the risk hedging strategy proposed in this paper is very effective for the interest risk management of the default-free bond.

Sources of osmium to the modern oceans: New evidence from the 190Pt-186Os system

USGS Publications Warehouse

McDaniel, D.K.; Walker, R.J.; Hemming, S.R.; Horan, M.F.; Becker, H.; Grauch, R.I.

2004-01-01

High precision Os isotope analysis of young marine manganese nodules indicate that whereas the composition of modern seawater is radiogenic with respect to 187Os/188Os, it has 186Os/188Os that is within uncertainty of the chondritic value. Marine Mn nodule compositions thus indicate that the average continental source of Os to modern seawater had long-term high Re/Os compared to Pt/Os. Analyses of loess and freshwater Mn nodules support existing evidence that average upper continental crust (UCC) has resolvably suprachondritic 186Os/188Os, as well as radiogenic 187Os/188Os. Modeling the composition of seawater as a two-component mixture of oceanic/cosmic Os with chondritic Os compositions and continentally-derived Os demonstrates that, insofar as estimates for the composition of average UCC are accurate, congruently weathered average UCC cannot be the sole continental source of Os to seawater. Our analysis of four Cambrian black shales confirm that organic-rich sediments can have 187Os/188Os ratios that are much higher than average UCC, but 186Os/188Os compositions that are generally between those of chondrites and average-UCC. Preferential weathering of black shales can result in dissolved Os discharged to the ocean basins that has a much lower 186Os/188Os than does average upper crust. Modeling the available data demonstrates that augmentation of estimated average UCC compositions with less than 0.1% additional black shale and 1.4% additional ultramafic rock can produce a continental end-member Os isotopic composition that satisfies the requirements imposed by the marine Mn nodule data. The interplay of these two sources provides a mechanism by which the 187Os/188Os of seawater can change as sources and weathering conditions change, yet seawater 186Os/188Os varies only minimally. ?? 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

187Os-186Os and He Isotope Systematics of Iceland Picrites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandon, A. D.; Brandon, A. D.; Graham, D.; Gautason, B.

2001-12-01

Iceland is one of the longest-lived modern plumes, and seismic imaging supports a model where the roots of this plume are at the base of the lower mantle. Hence, Os isotopic data for lavas from this plume are ideal for further testing the role of core-mantle chemical exchange at the site of plume generation in the lower mantle, and for addressing the origin of Os-He isotopic variation in plumes. Recent work has shown that lavas from some plume systems (Hawaii, Noril'sk-Siberia, Gorgona) show coupled enrichments in 186Os/188Os and 187Os/188Os, not observed in upper mantle materials including abyssal peridotites. Picrites from Hawaii display a positive correlation between 186Os/188Os and He isotopes (R/Ra), where range in 186Os/188Os of 0.119834+/-28 to 0.1198475+/-29 and corresponding R/Ra from +7 to +25. These systematics are consistent with a lower mantle source for the radiogenic 186Os signal in the Hawaiian plume. The coupled Os enrichments in these plumes has been attributed to core-mantle chemical exchange, consistent with generation of the Hawaiian plume at the base of the lower mantle in D". Other potentially viable models await additional scrutiny. New He isotope and high precision 186Os/188Os and 187Os/188Os measurements for Iceland picrites show unique systematics compared to Hawaii. These picrites have 187Os/188Os ranging from 0.1297 to 0.1381 and R/Ra of +9 to +18, with generally higher R/Ra correlating with higher 187Os/188Os. Unlike the Hawaiian picrites from Hualalai and Loihi, which have coupled enrichments in 186Os/188Os and 187Os/188Os, the Iceland picrites show no enrichment 186Os/188Os - 0.1198363+/-28 (2s, n=14). Such Os-He isotopic variations require one end-member source that has high R/Ra, coupled with a long term elevated Re/Os and Pt/Os similar to that of the upper mantle. These systematics are inconsistent with either known upper mantle materials or those purported for ancient recycled slabs and may be a previously unidentified component in the lower mantle.

High-precision measurement of (186)Os/(188)Os and (187)Os/(188)Os: isobaric oxide corrections with in-run measured oxygen isotope ratios.

PubMed

Chu, Zhu-Yin; Li, Chao-Feng; Chen, Zhi; Xu, Jun-Jie; Di, Yan-Kun; Guo, Jing-Hui

2015-09-01

We present a novel method for high precision measurement of (186)Os/(188)Os and (187)Os/(188)Os ratios, applying isobaric oxide interference correction based on in-run measurements of oxygen isotopic ratios. For this purpose, we set up a static data collection routine to measure the main Os(16)O3(-) ion beams with Faraday cups connected to conventional 10(11) amplifiers, and (192)Os(16)O2(17)O(-) and (192)Os(16)O2(18)O(-) ion beams with Faraday cups connected to 10(12) amplifiers. Because of the limited number of Faraday cups, we did not measure (184)Os(16)O3(-) and (189)Os(16)O3(-) simultaneously in-run, but the analytical setup had no significant influence on final (186)Os/(188)Os and (187)Os/(188)Os data. By analyzing UMd, DROsS, an in-house Os solution standard, and several rock reference materials, including WPR-1, WMS-1a, and Gpt-5, the in-run measured oxygen isotopic ratios were proven to present accurate Os isotopic data. However, (186)Os/(188)Os and (187)Os/(188)Os data obtained with in-run O isotopic compositions for the solution standards and rock reference materials show minimal improvement in internal and external precision, compared to the conventional oxygen correction method. We concluded that, the small variations of oxygen isotopes during OsO3(-) analytical sessions are probably not the main source of error for high precision Os isotopic analysis. Nevertheless, use of run-specific O isotopic compositions is still a better choice for Os isotopic data reduction and eliminates the requirement of extra measurements of the oxygen isotopic ratios.

Smartphone-based low light detection for bioluminescence application.

PubMed

Kim, Huisung; Jung, Youngkee; Doh, Iyll-Joon; Lozano-Mahecha, Roxana Andrea; Applegate, Bruce; Bae, Euiwon

2017-01-09

We report a smartphone-based device and associated imaging-processing algorithm to maximize the sensitivity of standard smartphone cameras, that can detect the presence of single-digit pW of radiant flux intensity. The proposed hardware and software, called bioluminescent-based analyte quantitation by smartphone (BAQS), provides an opportunity for onsite analysis and quantitation of luminescent signals from biological and non-biological sensing elements which emit photons in response to an analyte. A simple cradle that houses the smartphone, sample tube, and collection lens supports the measuring platform, while noise reduction by ensemble averaging simultaneously lowers the background and enhances the signal from emitted photons. Five different types of smartphones, both Android and iOS devices, were tested, and the top two candidates were used to evaluate luminescence from the bioluminescent reporter Pseudomonas fluorescens M3A. The best results were achieved by OnePlus One (android), which was able to detect luminescence from ~10 6  CFU/mL of the bio-reporter, which corresponds to ~10 7 photons/s with 180 seconds of integration time.

Smartphone-based low light detection for bioluminescence application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Huisung; Jung, Youngkee; Doh, Iyll-Joon; Lozano-Mahecha, Roxana Andrea; Applegate, Bruce; Bae, Euiwon

2017-01-01

We report a smartphone-based device and associated imaging-processing algorithm to maximize the sensitivity of standard smartphone cameras, that can detect the presence of single-digit pW of radiant flux intensity. The proposed hardware and software, called bioluminescent-based analyte quantitation by smartphone (BAQS), provides an opportunity for onsite analysis and quantitation of luminescent signals from biological and non-biological sensing elements which emit photons in response to an analyte. A simple cradle that houses the smartphone, sample tube, and collection lens supports the measuring platform, while noise reduction by ensemble averaging simultaneously lowers the background and enhances the signal from emitted photons. Five different types of smartphones, both Android and iOS devices, were tested, and the top two candidates were used to evaluate luminescence from the bioluminescent reporter Pseudomonas fluorescens M3A. The best results were achieved by OnePlus One (android), which was able to detect luminescence from ~106 CFU/mL of the bio-reporter, which corresponds to ~107 photons/s with 180 seconds of integration time.

Smartphone-based low light detection for bioluminescence application

PubMed Central

Kim, Huisung; Jung, Youngkee; Doh, Iyll-Joon; Lozano-Mahecha, Roxana Andrea; Applegate, Bruce; Bae, Euiwon

2017-01-01

We report a smartphone-based device and associated imaging-processing algorithm to maximize the sensitivity of standard smartphone cameras, that can detect the presence of single-digit pW of radiant flux intensity. The proposed hardware and software, called bioluminescent-based analyte quantitation by smartphone (BAQS), provides an opportunity for onsite analysis and quantitation of luminescent signals from biological and non-biological sensing elements which emit photons in response to an analyte. A simple cradle that houses the smartphone, sample tube, and collection lens supports the measuring platform, while noise reduction by ensemble averaging simultaneously lowers the background and enhances the signal from emitted photons. Five different types of smartphones, both Android and iOS devices, were tested, and the top two candidates were used to evaluate luminescence from the bioluminescent reporter Pseudomonas fluorescens M3A. The best results were achieved by OnePlus One (android), which was able to detect luminescence from ~106 CFU/mL of the bio-reporter, which corresponds to ~107 photons/s with 180 seconds of integration time. PMID:28067287

186Os- 187Os systematics of Gorgona Island komatiites: implications for early growth of the inner core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandon, Alan D.; Walker, Richard J.; Puchtel, Igor S.; Becker, Harry; Humayun, Munir; Revillon, Sidonie

2003-02-01

The presence of coupled enrichments in 186Os/ 188Os and 187Os/ 188Os in some mantle-derived materials reflects long-term elevation of Pt/Os and Re/Os relative to the primitive upper mantle. New Os data for the 89 Ma Gorgona Island, Colombia komatiites indicate that these lavas are also variably enriched in 186Os and 187Os, with 186Os/ 188Os ranging between 0.1198397±22 and 0.1198470±38, and with γOs correspondingly ranging from +0.15 to +4.4. These data define a linear trend that converges with the previously reported linear trend generated from data for modern Hawaiian picritic lavas and a sample from the ca. 251 Ma Siberian plume, to a common component with a 186Os/ 188Os of approximately 0.119870 and γOs of +17.5. The convergence of these data to this Os isotopic composition may imply a single ubiquitous source in the Earth's interior that mixes with a variety of different mantle compositions distinguished by variations in γOs. The 187Os- and 186Os-enriched component may have been generated via early crystallization of the solid inner core and consequent increases in Pt/Os and Re/Os in the liquid outer core, with time leading to suprachondritic 186Os/ 188Os and γOs in the outer core. The presence of Os from the outer core in certain portions of the mantle would require a mechanism that could transfer Os from the outer core to the lower mantle, and thence to the surface. If this is the process that generated the isotopic enrichments in the mantle sources of these plume-derived systems, then the current understanding of solid metal-liquid metal partitioning of Pt, Re and Os requires that crystallization of the inner core began prior to 3.5 Ga. Thus, the Os isotopic data reported here provide a new source of data to better constrain the timing of inner core formation, complementing magnetic field paleo-intensity measurements as data sources that constrain models based on secular cooling of the Earth.

Bcl-2-like Protein 11 (BIM) Expression Is Associated with Favorable Prognosis for Patients with Cervical Cancer.

PubMed

Kim, Bo Wook; Cho, Hanbyoul; Ylaya, Kris; Kitano, Haruhisa; Chung, Joon-Yong; Hewitt, Stephen M; Kim, Jae-Hoon

2017-09-01

Bcl-2-like protein 11 (BIM) is a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 protein family. BIM elicits cell death by binding to pro-survival Bcl-2 proteins. Even though the association of BIM expression with cell death has been investigated, its clinical survival significance in cervical cancer has not. In the current study, the prognostic significance of BIM in cervical cancer was investigated. The study included normal cervical tissues (n=254), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) tissues (n=275), and invasive cervical cancer (n=164). In order to identify BIM expression, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed, and IHC scoring by quantitative digital image analysis was determined. Then, the association of BIM with prognostic factors was investigated. BIM expression was higher in cervical cancer than normal cervical tissues (p<0.001). Well and moderate differentiation indicated higher BIM expression than did poor differentiation (p=0.001). Also, BIM expression was high in radiation-sensitive cervical cancer relative to radiation-resistant cancer (p=0.049). High BIM expression showed better 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates (p=0.049 and π=0.030, respectively) than did low expression. In a multivariate analysis, BIM was shown to be an independent risk factor for DFS and OS in cervical cancer, with hazard ratios of 0.22 (p=0.006) and 0.46 (p=0.046), respectively. BIM is associated with favorable prognostic markers for prediction of DFS and OS in cervical cancer. High BIM expression is a potential prognostic marker as well as a chemotherapeutic target for cervical cancer. Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Prognostic value of FDG-PET indices for the assessment of histological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and outcome in pediatric patients with Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma

PubMed Central

Bailly, Clement; Leforestier, Rodolphe; Campion, Loic; Thebaud, Estelle; Moreau, Anne; Kraeber-Bodere, Francoise

2017-01-01

Purpose The objective of this retrospective work was to evaluate the prognostic value on histological response and survival of quantitative indices derived from FDG-PET performed before and after chemotherapy (CHT), in a homogeneous pediatric Ewing sarcoma (EWS) and Osteosarcoma (OST) population. Methods Thirty-one patients with EWS and 31 with OST were included. All patients were treated with neoadjuvant CHT, and underwent surgery for local control. All patients had FDG-PET at diagnosis and after CHT, prior to surgery. Several parameters were evaluated: SUVmax, SUVpeak, SUVmean, metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis, 7 textural features and 3 shape features (SF). The segmentation was performed using an adaptive approach. Results were compared to histopathological regression of the resected tumor and to clinical follow-up for survival evaluation. Results For EWS, univariate analysis did not highlight any prognostic value on histological response, or survival regardless of all the considered metrics. For OST, only one of the SF, namely elongation, was significantly associated with PFS and OS on both univariate and multivariate analysis (PFS: p = 0.019, HR = 5.583; OS: p = 0.0062, HR = 7.113). Conclusion Only elongation determined on initial FDG-PET has a potential interest as a prognostic factor of PFS and OS in pediatric OST patients. Unlike recent studies of the literature realized in adult population, all the metrics reveal limited additional prognostic value in pediatric EWS patients. This seems to reinforce the question of whether children experience different subtypes of the same pathologies than older patients, with different outcomes. PMID:28841702

The relevance of mineralization lag time in the evaluation of histologic changes in renal osteodystrophy.

PubMed

Libbey, N P; Chazan, J A; London, M R; Pono, L; Abuelo, J G

1993-04-01

We examined bone biopsies from 47 patients on chronic hemodialysis, and analyzed the histomorphometric and biochemical findings and histologic quantitation of bone aluminium, looking primarily at mineralization lag time (Mlt) to evaluate its usefulness in categorization of renal osteodystrophy (ROD). The patients were categorized as having either relatively normal Mlt (< 35 days, n = 21 patients), moderately prolonged Mlt (35-100 days, n = 13 patients) or markedly prolonged Mlt (> 100 days, n = 13 patients). The group with relatively normal Mlt showed significantly higher C-terminal parathyroid hormone (PTHc) levels (26,141 +/- 19,270 vs 7,226 +/- 6,073 and 4,434 +/- 4,000 pg/ml) than the moderately or markedly prolonged Mlt groups (p < .01) and was associated with histologic characteristics of osteitis fibrosa or mild hyperparathyroidism (BFR/BS range 0.146-0.947 mcm3/mcm2/d). The group with markedly prolonged Mlt included one patient with classic and 11 with adynamic osteomalacia (BFR/BS range 0.009-0.099) and had greater bone aluminum (Al.S/OS 35.3 +/- 26.7% vs 7.2 +/- 9.0%) than the normal Mlt group (p < .01). The group with moderately prolonged Mlt included two patients with aplastic bone disease (Mlt 80.0 and 84.6 days, and Al.S/OS 100.0 and 72.3%) and 11 patients with features of hyperparathyroidism and osteomalacia (BFR/BS range 0.068-0.243) with variable but generally intermediate bone aluminum deposition (Al.S/OS 22.5 +/- 19.9%). Like BFR/BS and other dynamic parameters Mlt correlates with morphologic types of ROD which primarily reflect bone turnover, but it may also suggest varying degrees of mineralization impairment in a spectrum ranging from high to low turnover types of ROD. Its usefulness in this respect should not be overlooked.

Meta-analysis of hepatic arterial infusion for unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer: the end of an era?

PubMed

Mocellin, Simone; Pilati, Pierluigi; Lise, Mario; Nitti, Donato

2007-12-10

The treatment of unresectable liver-confined metastatic disease from colorectal cancer (CRC) is a challenging issue. Although locoregional treatments such as hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) claim the advantage of delivering higher doses of anticancer agents directly into the affected organ, the benefit in terms of overall survival (OS) is unclear. We quantitatively summarized the results of randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing HAI with systemic chemotherapy (SCT). To date, 10 RCTs have been published, for a total of 1,277 patients enrolled. For tumor response rates, relative risks (RR) and their 95% CIs were obtained from raw data; for OS, hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% CIs were extrapolated from the Kaplan-Meier survival curves. HAI regimens were based on floxuridine (FUDR) in nine of 10 RCTs, whereas in one RCT, fluorouracil (FU) + leucovorin was used. SCT consisted of FUDR, FU, FU + leucovorin, or a miscellany of FU and best supportive care in three, one, four, and two studies, respectively. Pooling the data, tumor response rate was 42.9% and 18.4% for HAI and SCT, respectively (RR = 2.26; 95% CI, 1.80 to 2.84; P < .0001). Mean weighted median OS times were 15.9 and 12.4 months for HAI and SCT, respectively; the meta-risk of death was not statistically different between the two study groups (HR = 0.90; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.07; P = .24). Currently available evidence does not support the clinical or investigational use of fluoropyrimidine-based HAI alone for the treatment of patients with unresectable CRC liver metastases, at least as a first-line therapy.

Tumor Metabolism and Blood Flow Changes by Positron Emission Tomography: Relation to Survival in Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Dunnwald, Lisa K.; Gralow, Julie R.; Ellis, Georgiana K.; Livingston, Robert B.; Linden, Hannah M.; Specht, Jennifer M.; Doot, Robert K.; Lawton, Thomas J.; Barlow, William E.; Kurland, Brenda F.; Schubert, Erin K.; Mankoff, David A.

2008-01-01

Purpose Patients with locally advanced breast carcinoma (LABC) receive preoperative chemotherapy to provide early systemic treatment and assess in vivo tumor response. Serial positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to predict pathologic response in this setting. We evaluated serial quantitative PET tumor blood flow (BF) and metabolism as in vivo measurements to predict patient outcome. Patients and Methods Fifty-three women with primary LABC underwent dynamic [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and [15O]water PET scans before and at midpoint of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The FDG metabolic rate (MRFDG) and transport (FDG K1) parameters were calculated; BF was estimated from the [15O]water study. Associations between BF, MRFDG, FDG K1, and standardized uptake value and disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results Patients with persistent or elevated BF and FDG K1 from baseline to midtherapy had higher recurrence and mortality risks than patients with reductions. In multivariable analyses, BF and FDG K1 changes remained independent prognosticators of DFS and OS. For example, in the association between BF and mortality, a patient with a 5% increase in tumor BF had a 67% higher mortality risk compared with a patient with a 5% decrease in tumor BF (hazard ratio = 1.67; 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.24; P < .001). Conclusion LABC patients with limited or no decline in BF and FDG K1 experienced higher recurrence and mortality risks that were greater than the effects of clinical tumor characteristics. Tumor perfusion changes over the course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy measured directly by [15O]water or indirectly by dynamic FDG predict DFS and OS. PMID:18626006

Identifying sensitive windows for prenatal particulate air pollution exposure and mitochondrial DNA content in cord blood.

PubMed

Rosa, Maria José; Just, Allan C; Guerra, Marco Sánchez; Kloog, Itai; Hsu, Hsiao-Hsien Leon; Brennan, Kasey J; García, Adriana Mercado; Coull, Brent; Wright, Rosalind J; Téllez Rojo, Martha María; Baccarelli, Andrea A; Wright, Robert O

2017-01-01

Changes in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can serve as a marker of cumulative oxidative stress (OS) due to the mitochondria's unique genome and relative lack of repair systems. In utero particulate matter ≤2.5μm (PM 2.5 ) exposure can enhance oxidative stress. Our objective was to identify sensitive windows to predict mtDNA damage experienced in the prenatal period due to PM 2.5 exposure using mtDNA content measured in cord blood. Women affiliated with the Mexican social security system were recruited during pregnancy in the Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors (PROGRESS) study. Mothers with cord blood collected at delivery and complete covariate data were included (n=456). Mothers' prenatal daily exposure to PM 2.5 was estimated using a satellite-based spatio-temporally resolved prediction model and place of residence during pregnancy. DNA was extracted from umbilical cord leukocytes. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to determine mtDNA content. A distributive lag regression model (DLM) incorporating weekly averages of daily PM 2.5 predictions was constructed to plot the association between exposure and OS over the length of pregnancy. In models that included child's sex, mother's age at delivery, prenatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure, birth year, maternal education, and assay batch, we found significant associations between higher PM 2.5 exposure during late pregnancy (35-40weeks) and lower mtDNA content in cord blood. Increased PM 2.5 during a specific prenatal window in the third trimester was associated with decreased mtDNA content suggesting heightened sensitivity to PM-induced OS during this life stage. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical Coherence Tomography of Retinal Degeneration in Royal College of Surgeons Rats and Its Correlation with Morphology and Electroretinography

PubMed Central

Yamauchi, Kodai; Mounai, Natsuki; Tanabu, Reiko; Nakazawa, Mitsuru

2016-01-01

Purpose To evaluate the correlation between optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the histological, ultrastructural and electroretinography (ERG) findings of retinal degeneration in Royal College of Surgeons (RCS-/-) rats. Materials and Methods Using OCT, we qualitatively and quantitatively observed the continual retinal degeneration in RCS-/- rats, from postnatal (PN) day 17 until PN day 111. These findings were compared with the corresponding histological, electron microscopic, and ERG findings. We also compared them to OCT findings in wild type RCS+/+ rats, which were used as controls. Results After PN day 17, the hyperreflective band at the apical side of the photoreceptor layer became blurred. The inner segment (IS) ellipsoid zone then became obscured, and the photoreceptor IS and outer segment (OS) layers became diffusely hyperreflective after PN day 21. These changes correlated with histological and electron microscopic findings showing extracellular lamellar material that accumulated in the photoreceptor OS layer. After PN day 26, the outer nuclear layer became significantly thinner (P < 0.01) and hyperreflective compared with that in the controls; conversely, the photoreceptor IS and OS layers, as well as the inner retinal layers, became significantly thicker (P < 0.001 and P = 0.05, respectively). The apical hyperreflective band, as well as the IS ellipsoid zone, gradually disappeared between PN day 20 and PN day 30; concurrently, the ERG a- and b-wave amplitudes deteriorated. In contrast, the thicknesses of the combined retinal pigment epithelium and choroid did not differ significantly between RCS-/- and RCS+/+ rats. Conclusion Our results suggest that OCT demonstrates histologically validated photoreceptor degeneration in RCS rats, and that OCT findings partly correlate with ERG findings. We propose that OCT is a less invasive and useful method for evaluating photoreceptor degeneration in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa. PMID:27644042

Estimation of continental Os/Os values by using Os/Os and Nd/Nd ratios in marine manganese nodules.

PubMed

Turekian, K K; Luck, J M

1984-12-01

The relationship between (187)Os/(186)Os and (143)Nd/(144)Nd in different manganese nodule fields is used to determine the (187)Os/(186)Os ratio of the continental terrains bounding the major ocean basins. The Atlantic Ocean drainages yield (187)Os/(186)Os of about 11; the Pacific Ocean, between 25 and 36; and the western Indian Ocean, 20. By assuming a two-component continental crust composed of "ultramafic rocks" (high Os concentration, low (187)Os/(186)Os) and "granite" with only radiogenic (187)Os produced in accessory Re-bearing molybdenite, the ultramafic contribution to weathering is about 0.2%. Some or most of this may come from the alteration of oceanic ultramafics.

OsNF-YC2 and OsNF-YC4 proteins inhibit flowering under long-day conditions in rice.

PubMed

Kim, Soon-Kap; Park, Hyo-Young; Jang, Yun Hee; Lee, Keh Chien; Chung, Young Soo; Lee, Jeong Hwan; Kim, Jeong-Kook

2016-03-01

OsNF-YC2 and OsNF-YC4 proteins regulate the photoperiodic flowering response through the modulation of three flowering-time genes ( Ehd1, Hd3a , and RFT1 ) in rice. Plant NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) transcription factors control numerous developmental processes by forming heterotrimeric complexes, but little is known about their roles in flowering in rice. In this study, it is shown that some subunits of OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC interact with each other, and among them, OsNF-YC2 and OsNF-YC4 proteins regulate the photoperiodic flowering response of rice. Protein interaction studies showed that the physical interactions occurred between the three OsNF-YC proteins (OsNF-YC2, OsNF-YC4 and OsNF-YC6) and three OsNF-YB proteins (OsNF-YB8, OsNF-YB10 and OsNF-YB11). Repression and overexpression of the OsNF-YC2 and OsNF-YC4 genes revealed that they act as inhibitors of flowering only under long-day (LD) conditions. Overexpression of OsNF-YC6, however, promoted flowering only under LD conditions, suggesting it could function as a flowering promoter. These phenotypes correlated with the changes in the expression of three rice flowering-time genes [Early heading date 1 (Ehd1), Heading date 3a (Hd3a) and RICE FLOWERING LOCUS T1 (RFT1)]. The diurnal and tissue-specific expression patterns of the subsets of OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC genes were similar to those of CCT domain encoding genes such as OsCO3, Heading date 1 (Hd1) and Ghd7. We propose that OsNF-YC2 and OsNF-YC4 proteins regulate the photoperiodic flowering response by interacting directly with OsNF-YB8, OsNF-YB10 or OsNF-YB11 proteins in rice.

Pacific 187Os/188Os isotope chemistry and U-Pb geochronology: Synchroneity of global Os isotope change across OAE 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du Vivier, A. D. C.; Selby, D.; Condon, D. J.; Takashima, R.; Nishi, H.

2015-10-01

Studies of OAE 2 sections beyond the Atlantic Ocean, Western Interior Seaway (WIS) and European pelagic shelf are limited. Here, we present initial osmium isotope stratigraphy (187Os/188Os-Osi) from two proto-Pacific sites that span the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary interval (CTBI): the Yezo Group (YG) section, Hokkaido, Japan, and the Great Valley Sequence (GVS), California, USA; to evaluate the 187Os/188Os seawater chemistry of the proto-Pacific. Additionally we combine new 206Pb/238U zircon CA-ID-TIMS geochronology from five volcanic tuff horizons of the Yezo Group section to test and facilitate inter-basinal integration with the WIS using radio-isotopically constrained age-depth models for both sections, and quantitatively constrain the absolute timing and duration of events across the CTBI. The YG shows an almost identical Osi profile to that of the WIS, and very similar to that of other sites of the proto-Atlantic and European pelagic oceans (Turgeon and Creaser, 2008; Du Vivier et al., 2014). The characteristics of the Osi profile are radiogenic and heterogeneous (∼0.55-0.85) prior to the OAE 2, and synchronous with the inferred OAE 2 onset the Osi abruptly become unradiogenic and remain relatively homogeneous (∼0.20-0.30) before showing a gradual return to more radiogenic Osi (∼ 0.70) throughout the middle to late OAE 2. A206Pb/238U zircon age of an interbedded tuff (HK017) in the adjacent horizon to the first unradiogenic Osi value constrains the age of the Osi inflection at 94.44 ± 0.14 Ma. This age, including uncertainty, agrees with the interpolated age of the same point in the Osi profile (94.28 ± 0.25 Ma) in the only other dated OAE 2 section, the WIS; indicating a coeval shift in seawater chemistry associated with volcanism at the OAE 2 onset at the levels of temporal resolution (ca. 0.1 Myr). Further, prior to the onset of OAE 2 an enhanced radiogenic inflection in the Osi profile of the YG is correlative, within uncertainty, with a similar trend in the WIS based on the U-Pb age-depth model. The interpolated ages, 94.78 ± 0.12 Ma and 94.66 ± 0.25 Ma for this Osi inflection in the YG and WIS, respectively, indicate that palaeocirculation was sufficient to simultaneously influence transbasinal seawater chemistry. In contrast, the pre-OAE 2 Osi profile for the GVS is disparate to that of the YG and those of the proto-Atlantic and European pelagic shelf locations. We interpret the pre OAE 2 heterogeneous Osi values (0.30-0.95) to record a palaeobasin that was regionally influenced interchangeably by both unradiogenic (hydrothermal flux) and radiogenic (continental flux) Os. We conclude that the Osi profiles from the proto-Pacific sections record both trends that are consistent globally (OAE 2 onset, syn and post OAE 2), but also show regional differences (pre OAE 2) between OAE 2 sections worldwide. As such the Osi profiles coupled with U-Pb geochronology facilitate the correlation of OAE 2 stratigraphy, and demonstrate both regional and global ocean dynamics.

The effects of work on the health of nurses who work in clinical surgery departments at university hospitals.

PubMed

Silva, Rosângela Marion da; Zeitoune, Regina Célia Gollner; Beck, Carmem Lúcia Colomé; Martino, Milva Maria Figueiredo de; Prestes, Francine Cassol

2016-08-08

to analyze the effects of work on the health of nurses who work in clinical surgery departments at university hospitals in relation to physical, social and psychological suffering and pain. a quantitative transversal study was carried out between 2012 and 2013 in four institutions in a state located in the south of Brazil. We studied 65 nurses who responded to questions on their habits. We also obtained sociodemographical information on them as well as conducting an evaluation on work relational damage using an evaluation scale. Associations were checked through the use of the Chi-Sqaure and Fisher's exact test. Correlations were checked using the Spearmann test. we found that physical ailments persisted and that there were connections between social and psychological pain/suffering and variable physical activities as well as connections with accidents in the work place and the option to work shifts. We noted correlations between social and psychological pain/suffering. nurses had their health compromised due to their work in clinical surgery departments. analisar os efeitos do trabalho na saúde de enfermeiros que atuam em clínicas cirúrgicas de hospitais universitários, relacionando-os aos danos físicos, sociais e psicológicos. estudo quantitativo, transversal, realizado entre 2012 e 2013 em quatro instituições de um Estado da região sul do Brasil. A amostra foi composta por 65 enfermeiros que responderam questões sobre os hábitos de vida e dados sociodemográficos e a Escala de Avaliação de Danos Relacionados ao Trabalho. Associações foram verificadas pelo teste Qui-Quadrado e Exato de Fisher e as correlações pelo teste de Spearmann. prevaleceu o adoecimento físico, encontrando associação entre os fatores Danos Sociais e Psicológicos e as variáveis prática de atividade física, acidente de trabalho e opção pelo turno de trabalho. Evidenciou-se correlação entre Danos Sociais e Psicológicos. o trabalho realizado por enfermeiros que atuam em clínica cirúrgica nas instituições hospitalares pesquisadas produz efeitos danosos à saúde. analizar los efectos del trabajo en la salud de enfermeros que actúan en clínicas quirúrgicas de hospitales universitarios, relacionándolos a daños físicos, sociales y psicológicos. estudio cuantitativo, transversal, realizado entre 2012 y 2013, en cuatro instituciones de un estado de la región sur de Brasil. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 65 enfermeros que respondieron preguntas sobre los hábitos de vida y datos sociodemográficos; se uso la Escala de Evaluación de Daños Relacionados al Trabajo. Las asociaciones fueron verificadas con el test Chi-Cuadrado y Exacto de Fisher y las correlaciones con el test de Spearmann. prevaleció la enfermedad física, encontrando asociación entre los factores Daños Sociales y Psicológicos y las variables: práctica de actividades físicas, accidente de trabajo y opción por el turno de trabajo. Se evidenció correlación entre Daños Sociales y Psicológicos. el trabajo realizado por enfermeros, que actúan en clínica quirúrgica en las instituciones hospitalarias investigadas, produce efectos que perjudican a la salud.

Estimation of continental 187Os/186Os values by using 187Os/186Os and 143Nd/144Nd ratios in marine manganese nodules

PubMed Central

Turekian, Karl K.; Luck, Jean-Marc

1984-01-01

The relationship between 187Os/186Os and 143Nd/144Nd in different manganese nodule fields is used to determine the 187Os/186Os ratio of the continental terrains bounding the major ocean basins. The Atlantic Ocean drainages yield 187Os/186Os of about 11; the Pacific Ocean, between 25 and 36; and the western Indian Ocean, 20. By assuming a two-component continental crust composed of “ultramafic rocks” (high Os concentration, low 187Os/186Os) and “granite” with only radiogenic 187Os produced in accessory Re-bearing molybdenite, the ultramafic contribution to weathering is about 0.2%. Some or most of this may come from the alteration of oceanic ultramafics. PMID:16578780

Temporal record of osmium concentrations and 187Os/188Os in organic-rich mudrocks: Implications for the osmium geochemical cycle and the use of osmium as a paleoceanographic tracer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xinze; Kendall, Brian; Stein, Holly J.; Hannah, Judith L.

2017-11-01

We present a compilation of 192Os concentrations (representing non-radiogenic Os) and initial 187Os/188Os isotope ratios from organic-rich mudrocks (ORM) to explore the evolution of the Os geochemical cycle during the past three billion years. The initial 187Os/188Os isotope ratio of a Re-Os isochron regression for ORM constrains the local paleo-seawater 187Os/188Os, which is governed by the relative magnitudes of radiogenic Os (old continental crust) and unradiogenic Os (mantle, extraterrestrial, and juvenile/mafic/ultramafic crust) fluxes to seawater. A first-order increase in seawater 187Os/188Os ratios occurs from the Archean to the Phanerozoic, and may reflect a combination of increasing atmosphere-ocean oxygenation and weathering of progressively more radiogenic continental crust due to in-growth of 187Os from radioactive decay of 187Re. Superimposed on this long-term trend are shorter-term fluctuations in seawater 187Os/188Os ratios as a result of climate change, emplacement of large igneous provinces, bolide impacts, tectonic events, changes in seafloor spreading rates, and lithological changes in crustal terranes proximal to sites of ORM deposition. Ediacaran-Phanerozoic ORM have mildly higher 192Os concentrations overall compared with pre-Ediacaran Proterozoic ORM based on the mean and 95% confidence interval of 10,000 median values derived using a bootstrap analysis for each time bin (insufficient Archean data exist for robust statistical comparisons). However, there are two groups with anomalously high 192Os concentrations that are distinguished by their initial 187Os/188Os isotope ratios. Ediacaran-Cambrian ORM from South China have radiogenic initial 187Os/188Os, suggesting their high 192Os concentrations reflect proximal Os-rich crustal source(s), ultraslow sedimentation rates, and/or other unusual depositional conditions. In contrast, the unradiogenic initial 187Os/188Os and high 192Os concentrations of some Mesozoic ORM can be tied to emplacement of large igneous provinces. Excluding these two anomalous groups and repeating the bootstrap analysis, we find that, overall, the 192Os concentrations for the Ediacaran-Phanerozoic and pre-Ediacaran Proterozoic time bins are not significantly different. An improved understanding of Os geochemical behavior in modern environments is required before our compilation can be fully used to constrain the temporal evolution of the seawater Os reservoir.

Occupational Burnout Syndrome in the nursing context: an integrative literature review.

PubMed

Medeiros-Costa, Mateus Estevam; Maciel, Regina Heloísa; Rêgo, Denise Pereira do; Lima, Lucimar Lucas de; Silva, Maria Eliziane Pinto da; Freitas, Julyana Gomes

2017-07-20

To characterize the scientific production on Burnout Syndrome in the Nursingcontext, systematizing the location where the studies were carried out, the related constructs, the employed methods and their main results. An integrative review of the literature with a bibliometric approach of articles published in Portuguese, Spanish and English between 2005 and 2016. 106 articles wereincluded. Mostinvolvedprevalence, and were descriptive, quantitative studies performed in hospitals.The Southeastern and Southern regions of Brazil had the largest number of publications, and stress was the construct most related to burnout.Most of the studies used the Maslach Burnout Inventory to investigate the presence of the syndrome. New case-control and cohort studies should be carried out.Qualitative-exploratory studies are necessary to better understand Burnout Syndrome among nursing professionals usingfocus groups or interviews, as well as comparative causal studies, with the purpose of exploring the syndrome'smanifestations. Caracterizar a produção científica sobre a Síndrome do Esgotamento Profissionalno contexto da enfermagem, sistematizando os locais onde as pesquisas foram realizadas, os construtos relacionados, os métodos empregados e seus principais resultados. Revisão integrativa da literatura, com abordagem bibliométrica, em artigos na língua portuguesa, espanhola e inglesa publicados entre 2005 e 2016. Foram selecionados 106 artigos.A maioria estudos de prevalência, descritivos, quantitativos e realizados em hospitais. Nas regiões Sudeste e Sul do Brasil encontram-se o maior número de publicações, sendo o estresse o construto mais relacionado com o esgotamento profissional. A maior parte dos estudos utilizou o Maslach Burnout Inventory como meio de averiguação da presença da síndrome. Novos estudos de caso controle e coorte devem ser realizados. Pesquisas de cunho qualitativo-exploratório são necessárias para poder compreender melhor a Síndrome do Esgotamento Profissionalentre os profissionais de enfermagem com grupos focais ou entrevistas, como também pesquisas causais comparativas, com o intuito de explorar as manifestações da síndrome.

Cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis screening strategies for hip fracture prevention in older Chinese people: a decision tree modeling study in the Mr. OS and Ms. OS cohort in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Su, Y; Lai, F T T; Yip, B H K; Leung, J C S; Kwok, T C Y

2018-05-17

Despite the high costs of hip fracture, many governments provide limited support for osteoporosis screening. We demonstrated that osteoporosis screening by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with or without pre-screening by Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) or calcaneal ultrasound are more cost-effective than no screening in Chinese people aged 65 or over in Hong Kong. To examine the cost-effective potential osteoporosis screening strategies for hip fracture prevention in Hong Kong. Decision tree models were constructed to evaluate the cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) of the different osteoporosis screening strategies followed by subsequent 5-year treatment with alendronate compared to no screening (but treat if a hip fracture occurs). The multiple osteoporosis screening strategies were composed of alternative tests and initiation age groups were evaluated with a 10-year horizon, and treatment were assigned if central dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) T-score (at either the hip or spine) is - 2.5 or less. Strategies included DXA for all people and pre-screening with the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) at specific thresholds or by calcaneal quantitative ultrasonography (QUS) before taking DXA examination. All the model inputs were based on the Mr. OS and Ms. OS Hong Kong cohort; data are obtained from the Social Welfare Department or the published literature. All of the screening strategies, including the universal screening with DXA and the pre-screening with FRAX or QUS before DXA, were consistently more cost-effective than no screening for people aged 65 years old or over. One-way sensitivity analysis with a more optimistic assumption on treatment adherence or inclusion of other major osteoporotic fractures did not change the results materially. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed a dominant role of pre-screening with FRAX followed by subsequent osteoporosis drug treatment in people aged 70 years old or over in Hong Kong. Osteoporosis screening strategies based on DXA with or without pre-screening are more cost-effective compared to no screening for Chinese people aged 65 or over in Hong Kong.

An expanded portfolio of survival metrics for assessing anticancer agents.

PubMed

Karweit, Jennifer; Kotapati, Srividya; Wagner, Samuel; Shaw, James W; Wolfe, Steffan W; Abernethy, Amy P

2017-01-01

With the introduction of more effective anticancer agents that prolong survival, there is a need for new methods to define the clinical value of treatments. The objective of this preliminary qualitative and quantitative analysis was to assess the utility of an expanded portfolio of survival metrics to differentiate the value of anticancer agents. A literature review was conducted of phase 3 trial data, reported in regulatory submissions within the last 10 years of agents for 6 metastatic cancers (breast cancer, colorectal cancer [CRC], melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer [NSCLC], prostate cancer [PC], and renal cell cancer [RCC]). A new, simplified cost-value analysis tool was applied using survival outcomes and total drug costs. Metrics included median overall survival (OS), mean OS, 1-year survival rate, and number needed to treat (NNT) to avoid 1 death at 1 year. Survival results were compiled and compared both within and across trials by tumor type. Total drug costs were calculated by multiplying each agent's cost per month (from October/November 2013, based on the database Price Rx/Medi-Span) by duration of therapy. Relative clinical value for each agent was not consistent across survival outcomes. In 3 tumor types, both the highest improvement in median OS and the highest improvement in mean OS occurred with the same anticancer agent (ipilimumab with melanoma, pemetrexed with NSCLC, and sunitinib with RCC); the highest improvement in the 1-year survival rate and the lowest NNT occurred together with the same anticancer agent in 5 tumor types (bevacizumab with CRC, ipilimumab with melanoma, erlotinib with NSCLC, abiraterone with PC, and temsirolimus with RCC). In the cost-value analysis, agents were inconsistent and achieved a high relative value with some survival outcomes, but not others. This analysis suggests that any 1 metric may not completely characterize the expected survival benefit of all patients. The cost-value analysis tool may be applied to trial data and may be useful in helping to make treatment decisions, regardless of the agent's effectiveness. A combined metric will be needed, as well as further research that includes more mature data, other tumor types, and emerging treatments.

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) kinetic as a prognostic factor in metastatic prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy: systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Afriansyah, Andika; Hamid, Agus Rizal Ardy Hariandy; Mochtar, Chaidir Arif; Umbas, Rainy

2018-01-01

Aim: Metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) has a poor outcome with median survival of two to five years. The use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a gold standard in management of this stage.  Aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic value of PSA kinetics of patient treated with hormonal therapy related to survival from several published studies Method: Systematic review and meta-analysis was performed using literature searching in the electronic databases of MEDLINE, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library. Inclusion criteria were mPCa receiving ADT, a study analyzing Progression Free Survival (PFS), Overall Survival (OS), or Cancer Specific Survival (CSS) and prognostic factor of survival related to PSA kinetics (initial PSA, PSA nadir, and time to achieve nadir (TTN)). The exclusion criteria were metastatic castration resistant of prostate cancer (mCRPC) and non-metastatic disease. Generic inverse variance method was used to combine hazard ratio (HR) within the studies. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.2 and a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: We found 873 citations throughout database searching with 17 studies were consistent with inclusion criteria. However, just 10 studies were analyzed in the quantitative analysis. Most of the studies had a good methodological quality based on Ottawa Scale. No significant association between initial PSA and PFS. In addition, there was no association between initial PSA and CSS/ OS. We found association of reduced PFS (HR 2.22; 95% CI 1.82 to 2.70) and OS/ CSS (HR 3.31; 95% CI 2.01-5.43) of patient with high PSA nadir. Shorter TTN was correlated with poor result of survival either PFS (HR 2.41; 95% CI 1.19 - 4.86) or CSS/ OS (HR 1.80; 95%CI  1.42 - 2.30) Conclusion: Initial PSA before starting ADT do not associated with survival in mPCa.  There is association of PSA nadir and TTN with survival.

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) kinetic as a prognostic factor in metastatic prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy: systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Afriansyah, Andika; Hamid, Agus Rizal Ardy Hariandy; Mochtar, Chaidir Arif; Umbas, Rainy

2018-01-01

Aim: Metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) has a poor outcome with median survival of two to five years. The use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a gold standard in management of this stage.  Aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic value of PSA kinetics of patient treated with hormonal therapy related to survival from several published studies Method: Systematic review and meta-analysis was performed using literature searching in the electronic databases of MEDLINE, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library. Inclusion criteria were mPCa receiving ADT, a study analyzing Progression Free Survival (PFS), Overall Survival (OS), or Cancer Specific Survival (CSS) and prognostic factor of survival related to PSA kinetics (initial PSA, PSA nadir, and time to achieve nadir (TTN)). The exclusion criteria were metastatic castration resistant of prostate cancer (mCRPC) and non-metastatic disease. Generic inverse variance method was used to combine hazard ratio (HR) within the studies. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.2 and a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: We found 873 citations throughout database searching with 17 studies were consistent with inclusion criteria. However, just 10 studies were analyzed in the quantitative analysis. Most of the studies had a good methodological quality based on Ottawa Scale. No significant association between initial PSA and PFS. In addition, there was no association between initial PSA and CSS/ OS. We found association of reduced PFS (HR 2.22; 95% CI 1.82 to 2.70) and OS/ CSS (HR 3.31; 95% CI 2.01-5.43) of patient with high PSA nadir. Shorter TTN was correlated with poor result of survival either PFS (HR 2.41; 95% CI 1.19 – 4.86) or CSS/ OS (HR 1.80; 95%CI  1.42 – 2.30) Conclusion: Initial PSA before starting ADT do not associated with survival in mPCa.  There is association of PSA nadir and TTN with survival PMID:29904592

Osmium uptake, distribution, and 187Os/188Os and 187Re/188Os compositions in Phaeophyceae macroalgae, Fucus vesiculosus: Implications for determining the 187Os/188Os composition of seawater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Racionero-Gómez, B.; Sproson, A. D.; Selby, D.; Gannoun, A.; Gröcke, D. R.; Greenwell, H. C.; Burton, K. W.

2017-02-01

The osmium isotopic composition (187Os/188Os) of seawater reflects the balance of input from mantle-, continental- and anthropogenic-derived sources. This study utilizes the Phaeophyceae, Fucus vesiculosus, to analyse its Os abundance and uptake, as well as to assess if macroalgae records the Os isotope composition of the seawater in which it lives. The data demonstrates that Os is not located in one specific biological structure within macroalgae, but is found throughout the organism. Osmium uptake was measured by culturing F. vesiculosus non-fertile tips with different concentrations of Os with a known 187Os/188Os composition (∼0.16), which is significantly different from the background isotopic composition of local seawater (∼0.94). The Os abundance of cultured non-fertile tips show a positive correlation to the concentration of the Os doped seawater. Moreover, the 187Os/188Os composition of the seaweed equalled that of the culture medium, strongly confirming the possible use of macroalgae as a biological proxy for the Os isotopic composition of the seawater.

MSW Time to Tumor Model and Supporting Documentation

EPA Science Inventory

The multistage Weibull (MSW) time-to-tumor model and related documentation were developed principally (but not exclusively) for conducting time-to-tumor analyses to support risk assessments under the IRIS program. These programs and related docum...

Conservation of Chitin-Induced MAPK Signaling Pathways in Rice and Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Yamada, Kenta; Yamaguchi, Koji; Yoshimura, Satomi; Terauchi, Akira; Kawasaki, Tsutomu

2017-06-01

Perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) including chitin by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) rapidly induces activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades. However, how PRRs transmit immune signals to the MAPK cascade is largely unknown. Recently, Arabidopsis receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase PBL27 has been reported to activate MAPKs through phosphorylation of AtMAPKKK5 in the chitin signaling pathway. In this study, we found that OsRLCK185, a rice ortholog of PBL27, regulates chitin-induced MAPK activation in a similar fashion to PBL27 in rice. Upon chitin perception, OsRLCK185 is phosphorylated by OsCERK1, a component of the chitin receptor complex. OsRLCK185 interacted with OsMAPKKK11 and OsMAPKKK18, rice orthologs of AtMAPKKK5, in yeast two-hybrid assays. Silencing of both OsMAPKKK11 and OsMAPKKK18 significantly reduced chitin-induced activation of OsMPK3 and OsMPK6. Expression levels of OsMAPKKK18 were much higher than that of OsMAPKKK11 in rice cells, which was consistent with the fact that the Osmapkkk11 single mutation did not affect MAPK activation. This result suggested that OsMAPKKK18 plays a more important role than OsMAPKKK11 in the chitin-induced activation of OsMPK3 and OsMPK6. The bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) experiment indicated that OsRLCK185 interacted with OsMAPKKK18 at the plasma membrane in planta. In vitro phosphorylation experiments showed that OsRLCK185 directly phosphorylates OsMAPKKK18. Furthermore, OsMAPKKK18 interacted with the MAPKK OsMKK4, the upstream component of OsMPK3/6. These results suggested that OsRLCK185 connects the chitin receptor to the MAPK cascade consisting of OsMAPKKK18-OsMKK4-OsMPK3/6. Our data revealed that chitin-induced MAPK activation in rice and Arabidopsis is regulated by common homologous elements. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Introduccion a la hidraulica de aguas subterraneas : un texto programado para auto-ensenanza

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bennett, Gordon D.

1987-01-01

Este ' texto programado esta diseflado para ayudarle a comprender la teoria de la hidniulica de aguas subterraneas por medio de la auto-enseflanza. La instrucci6n programada es un enfoque a una materia, un metodo de aprender;que no elimina el esfuerzo mental del proceso de aprendizaje. Algunas secciones de este programa necesitan solamente ser leidas; otras tendrian que ser elaboradas con lapiz y papel. Algunas preguntas pueden ser contestadas directamente; otras requieren calculos. A medida que se avanza en el texto, tendra que consultar frecuentemente textos o referencias sobre matematicas, mecanica de fluidos e hidrologia. En cada una de las ocho partes del texto, inicie el programa de instrucci6n leyendo la Secci6n 1. Elija una respuesta a la pregunta al final de la secci6n y dirijase a la nueva secci6n indicada al lado de la respuesta escogida. Si su respuesta fue correcta, pase a la secci6n que contiene materia nueva y otra pregunta, y proceda tal como en la Secci6n 1. Si su respuesta no fue correcta, dirijase a la secci6n que contiene explicaciones adicionales sobre el tema anterior y que le indica volver a la pregunta inicial e intentar de nuevo. En este caso, valdra Ia pena repasar el material de la secci6n anterior. Continue de esta man era en el programa hasta que llegue a Ia secci6n que indica el final de la parte. Observe que aunque las secciones estan en orden numerico en cada una de las ocho partes, por lo general, usted no procedeni en secuencia numerica (Secci6n 1 ala Secci6n 2, etc.) de principia a fin.

Repercussions of violence on the mental health of workers of the Family Health Program.

PubMed

Lancman, Selma; Ghirardi, Maria Isabel Garcez; Castro, Eliane Dias de; Tuacek, Tatiana Amodeo

2009-08-01

To describe forms of external and indirect violence that affect the mental health of workers of the Programa Saúde da Família (Family Health Program), as well as the strategies developed by these workers to enable their work and to be psychologically protected. Qualitative study on the Programa Saúde da Família work process, performed in the cities of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto and Embu (Southeastern Brazil) in 2005. Theoretical approach of psychodynamics of work, which proposes the formation of reflection groups with workers, was employed. Subjective aspects of work, situations of psychological suffering and strategies used by workers to deal with suffering and continue to work were sought to be identified. The Program's work organization exposed workers to the following: situations of violence, invisible at times; feeling of impotence in the face of precarious situations; lack of acknowledgement of efforts made; lack of borders between professional and personal aspects; intense experiences of social and domestic violence; fear of risk of exposure; feeling of moral and physical integrity being threatened; and fear of reprisal. Situations of psychological suffering resulting from violence in the workplace were observed. These became more intense in the Programa Saúde da Família due to regular contact with situations of violence that cause fear and a feeling of vulnerability. Psychological repercussions caused by violence in the workplace, not always expressed in the form of psychological disorders, were observed in situations of intense suffering. Workers develop strategies to minimize suffering, protect themselves psychologically and continue to work; and seek to create solidarity and protection networks with the population, aiming to reduce vulnerability. With the experience gained, they learn to detect high-risk situations, avoiding those they believe to be threatening.

Determination of (187)Os in molybdenite by ICP-MS with neutron-induced (186)Os and (188)Os spikes.

PubMed

Qu, W; Du, A; Zhao, D

2001-10-31

The article describes a method for the determination of (187)Os in molybdenite by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ID-ICP-MS) with neutron-induced (186)Os and (188)Os spike. The spike used in the present work was prepared in line with the principle by which artificial nuclides are produced in a nuclear reaction. The concentration and isotopic composition of osmium in the prepared spike were evaluated accurately with the isotope dilution method, using negative thermal ion mass spectrometry (N-TIMS). The advantage of this method is that using (186)Os and (188)Os double spikes can effectively compensate for the mass discrimination effects of ICP-MS. Thus, the common correction practice for mass bias in the isotope dilution method with a single spike is unnecessary. In addition, the method enables one to reduce the determined error arising from instrumental instability. The precision for the (187)Os/((186)Os+(188)Os) ratio was approximately 2% (2sigma, RSD), but in the case of (187)Os/(186)Os, (187)Os/(188)Os and (186)Os/(188)Os, precision ranged from 2.0 to 8% (2sigma, RSD). The results for (187)Os concentration in a molybdenite sample determined with this method showed good agreement with reference values.

Determination of osmium concentrations and (187)Os/(188)Os of crude oils and source rocks by coupling high-pressure, high-temperature digestion with sparging OsO(4) into a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.

PubMed

Sen, Indra S; Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard

2014-03-18

The (187)Os/(188)Os ratio that is based on the β(-)-decay of (187)Re to (187)Os (t1/2 = 41.6 billion years) is widely used to investigate petroleum system processes. Despite its broad applicability to studies of hydrocarbon deposits worldwide, a suitable matrix-matched reference material for Os analysis does not exist. In this study, a method that enables Os isotope measurement of crude oil with in-line Os separation and purification from the sample matrix is proposed. The method to analyze Os concentration and (187)Os/(187)Os involves sample digestion under high pressure and high temperature using a high pressure asher (HPA-S, Anton Paar), sparging of volatile osmium tetroxide from the sample solution, and measurements using multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS). This methods significantly reduced the total procedural time compared to conventional Carius tube digestion followed by Os separation and purification using solvent extraction, microdistillation and N-TIMS analysis. The method yields Os concentration (28 ± 4 pg g(-1)) and (187)Os/(188)Os (1.62 ± 0.15) of commercially available crude oil reference material NIST 8505 (1 S.D., n = 6). The reference material NIST 8505 is homogeneous with respect to Os concentration at a test portion size of 0.2 g. Therefore, (187)Os/(188)Os composition and Os concentration of NIST 8505 can serve as a matrix-matched reference material for Os analysis. Data quality was assessed by repeated measurements of the USGS shale reference material SCo-1 (sample matrix similar to petroleum source rock) and the widely used Liquid Os Standard solution (LOsSt). The within-laboratory reproducibility of (187)Os/(188)Os for a 5 pg of LOsSt solution, analyzed with this method over a period of 12 months was ∼1.4% (1 S.D., n = 26), respectively.

Evaluation of the implementation of the directly observed treatment strategy for tuberculosis in a large city.

PubMed

Lavôr, Débora Cristina Brasil da Silva; Pinheiro, Jair Dos Santos; Gonçalves, Maria Jacirema Ferreira

2016-04-01

To assess the degree of implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course - DOTS for tuberculosis (TB) in a large city. Assessment of the implementation of the logic model, whose new cases of infectious pulmonary TB were recruited from specialized clinics and followed-up in basic health units. The judgment matrix covering the five components of the DOTS strategy were used. The result of the logic model indicates DOTS was partially implemented. In external, organizational and implementation contexts, the DOTS strategy was partially implemented; and, the effectiveness was not implemented. The partial implementation of the DOTS strategy in the city of Manaus did not reflect in TB control compliance, leading to low effectiveness of the program. Avaliar o grau de implantação da estratégia de tratamento diretamente observado (Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course - DOTS) para tuberculose (TB) em um município de grande porte. Avaliação de implantação por meio de modelo lógico, cujos casos novos de TB pulmonar bacilífera foram recrutados em ambulatórios especializados e acompanhados nas unidades básicas de saúde. Utilizou-se matriz de julgamento que abrange os cinco componentes da estratégia DOTS. O resultado do modelo lógico indica DOTS implantada parcialmente. Nos contextos externo, organizacional e de implantação, a estratégia DOTS está implantada parcialmente; e, na efetividade não está implantada. A implantação parcial da estratégia DOTS, na cidade de Manaus, reflete na não conformidade do controle da TB, levando à baixa efetividade do programa.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Villa-González, Emilio; Rodríguez-López, Carlos; Barranco-Ruiz, Yaira; Cabezas-Arévalo, Luis Fabián; Chillón, Palma

2016-06-30

Objetivo: analizar la concordancia de dos métodos de medición (Google MapsTM vs. Sistema de Información Geográfica) para la determinación de la distancia desde el domicilio familiar hasta el colegio.Métodos: un total de 542 escolares de entre 8-11 años de edad (media = 9,36 ± 0,6) del sur de España participaron en el estudio, facilitando la dirección de su domicilio familiar. La distancia desde el domicilio familiar al colegio se calculó mediante la utilización de dos programas diferentes:Google MapsTM y Sistema de Información Geográfica (GIS) en ruta y en línea recta. La asociación entre ambos métodos fue analizada utilizando la correlación de Spearman y el grado de acuerdo a través del coeficiente de correlación intraclase (ICC), así como el método Bland Altman.Resultados: la correlación entre ambos métodos de medición propuestos fue muy significativa (r = 0,966, p < 0,001; r = 0,984, p < 0,001; y r = 0,954, p < 0,001, respectivamente), y la concordancia fue excelente (ICC = 0,96, p < 0,001; ICC = 0,92, p < 0,001; ICC = 0,97, p < 0,001).Conclusiones: los métodos de medición estudiados podrían ser utilizados en función de las necesidades de la investigación, al presentar ambos una alta concordancia. Sin embargo, se recomienda la utilización del Sistema de Información Geográfica en ruta si se cuenta con medios yfinanciación, por tratarse de un método constatado en fiabilidad y validez.

Incorporando a variabilidade no processo de identificação do modelo de máximo global no Grade of Membership (GoM): considerações metodológicas

PubMed Central

Guedes, Gilvan Ramalho; Siviero, Pamila Cristina Lima; Caetano, André Junqueira; Machado, Carla Jorge; Brondízio, Eduardo

2012-01-01

A disponibilidade de bases de dados cada vez mais complexas e multidimensionais é um dos principais motivadores para o aumento do número de estudos que utilizam análises multivariadas baseadas em lógica de conjuntos nebulosos. Apesar da disseminação do método Grade of Membership nos trabalhos empíricos brasileiros da área de ciências sociais e saúde, questões relativas à identificabilidade e estabilidade dos parâmetros finais estimados pelo programa GoM 3.4 não foram suficientemente aprofundadas. Dada a relevância de se obterem parâmetros únicos e estáveis, Guedes et al. (2010) propuseram um procedimento empírico para localizar um modelo de máximo global (MG) com parâmetros estáveis. Entretanto, seu localizador de MG não incorpora qualquer medida de variabilidade. Neste artigo, tal limitação é contornada por meio da utilização de uma estatística de ponderação – Máximo Global Ponderado (MGP) – semelhante ao coeficiente de variação. Esse indicador busca não penalizar de forma desproporcional situações nas quais os desvios médios, apesar de diferentes de zero, são muito pequenos. Apresentam-se evidências de que o localizador MGP reduz a distância do modelo identificado à real estrutura latente dos dados em análise, quando comparados ao modelo identificado pelo localizador não ponderado, MG. PMID:23293402

On Ensino de Astronomia: Desafios para Implantação

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faria, R. Z.; Voelzke, M. R.

2008-09-01

Em 2002 o ensino de Astronomia foi proposto como um dos temas estruturadores pelos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais e sugerido como facilitador para que o aluno compreendesse a Física como construção humana e parte do seu mundo vivencial, mas raramente seus conceitos foram ensinados. A presente pesquisa discute dois aspectos relacionados à abordagem de Astronomia. O primeiro aspecto é se ela está sendo abordada pelos professores do Ensino Médio e o segundo, aborda a maneira como ela está sendo ensinada. Optou-se pela aplicação de um questionário a partir do 2° semestre de 2006 e durante o ano de 2007 com professores que ministram a disciplina de Física, os quais trabalham em escolas estaduais em Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires e Mauá no estado São Paulo. Dos 66,2% dos professores que responderam ao questionário nos municípios de Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires e Mauá, 57,4% não aplicaram nenhum tópico de astronomia, 70,2% não utilizaram laboratório, 89,4% não utilizaram qualquer tipo de programa computacional, 83,0% nunca fizeram visitas com alunos a museus e planetários e 38,3% não indicaram qualquer tipo de livro ou revista referente à astronomia aos seus alunos. Mesmo considerando a Astronomia um conteúdo potencialmente significativo, esta não fez parte dos planejamentos escolares. Portanto são necessárias propostas que visem estratégias para a educação continuada dos professores como, por exemplo, cursos específicos sobre o ensino em Astronomia.

Optical system for the Protein Crystallisation Diagnostics Facility (PCDF) on board the ISS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joannes, Luc; Dupont, Olivier; Dewandel, Jean-Luc; Ligot, Renaud; Algrain, Hervé

2004-06-01

The Protein Crystallisation Diagnostic Facility (PCDF) is a multi-user facility to study the protein crystallisation under the conditions of micro-gravity onboard the International Space Station (ISS) Columbus facility. Large size protein crystals will growth under reduced gravity in thermally controlled reactors. A combination of diagnostic tools like video system, microscope, interferometer, and light scattering device shall help to understand the growth phenomena. Common methods of protein crystallisation shall be performed in PCDF: Dialysis where the protein solution and the salt solution are separated by a semi-permeable membrane. Extended Length Dialysis Batch where the saturation to get crystals is achieved by changing the concentration of the protein in the sample liquid. The overall ESA project is leaded by EADS Space Transportation, Friedrichshafen, Germany. Lambda-X is responsible for the Optical System (OS), with Verhaert Design and Development as sub-contractor for the mechanical design. The OS includes different compact parts: Original illumination systems based on LEDs of difference colours; Quantitative Mach-Zehnder interferometers to measure the concentration distribution around crystals; Imaging assemblies to visualize the protein volume with different field of views. The paper concentrates on the description of each part, and in particular on the imaging assembly which allow switching from one field of view to another by passive elements only.

Structural data collection with mobile devices: Accuracy, redundancy, and best practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allmendinger, Richard W.; Siron, Christopher R.; Scott, Chelsea P.

2017-09-01

Smart phones are equipped with numerous sensors that enable orientation data collection for structural geology at a rate up to an order of magnitude faster than traditional analog compasses. The rapidity of measurement enables field structural geologists, for the first time, to enjoy the benefits of data redundancy and quantitative uncertainty estimates. Recent work, however, has called into question the reliability of sensors on Android devices. We present here our experience with programming a new smart phone app from scratch, and using it and commercial apps on iOS devices along with analog compasses in a series of controlled tests and typical field use cases. Additionally, we document the relationships between iPhone measurements and visible structures in satellite, drawing on a database of 3700 iPhone measurements of coseismic surface cracks we made in northern Chile following the Mw8.1 Pisagua earthquake in 2014. By comparing phone-collected attitudes to orientations determined independently of the magnetic field, we avoid having to assume that the analog compass, which is subject to its own uncertainties, is the canonical instrument. Our results suggest that iOS devices are suitable for all but the most demanding applications as long as particular care is taken with respect to metal and electronic objects that could affect the magnetic field.

Enhanced sensitivity for Os isotope ratios by magnetic sector ICP-MS with a capacitive decoupling Pt guard electrode.

PubMed

Townsend, A T

2000-08-01

A magnetic sector ICP-MS with enhanced sensitivity was used to measure Os isotope ratios in solutions of low Os concentration (approximately 1 ng g(-1) or less). Ratios with 192Os as the basis were determined, while the geologically useful 187Os/188Os ratio was also measured. Sample introduction was via the traditional nebuliser-spray chamber method. A capacitive decoupling Pt shield torch was developed "in-house" and was found to increase Os signals by approximately 5 x under "moderate" plasma conditions (1050 W) over that found during normal operation (1250 W). Sensitivity using the guard electrode for 192Os was approximately 250-350,000 counts s(-1) per ng g(-1) Os. For a I ng g(-1) Os solution with no guard electrode, precisions of the order of 0.2-0.3% (189Os/192Os and 190Os/192Os) to approximately 1% or greater (186Os/192Os, 187Os/192Os and 187Os/188Os) were found (values as 1 sigma for n = 10). With the guard electrode in use, ratio precisions were found to improve to 0.2 to 0.8%. The total amount of Os used in the acquisition of this data was approximately 2.5 ng per measurement per replicate. At the higher concentration of 10 ng g(-1), precisions of the order of 0.15-0.3% were measured (for all ratios), irrespective of whether the shield torch was used. Ratio accuracy was confirmed by comparison with independently obtained NTIMS data. For both Os concentrations considered, the improvement in precision offered by the guard electrode (if any) was small in comparison to calculated theoretical values based on Poisson counting statistics, suggesting noise contributions from other sources (such as the sample introduction system, plasma flicker etc). At lower Os concentrations (to 100 pg g(-1)) no appreciable loss of ratio accuracy was observed, although as expected based on counting statistics, poorer precisions of the order of 0.45-3% (1 sigma, n = 5) were noted. Re was found to have a detrimental effect on the precision of Os ratios involving 187Os, indicating that separation of Re and Os samples is a necessary pre-requisite for highly accurate and precise Os isotope ratio measurements.

pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 expression enhances nitrogen uptake efficiency and grain yield in transgenic rice plants.

PubMed

Chen, Jingguang; Fan, Xiaoru; Qian, Kaiyun; Zhang, Yong; Song, Miaoquan; Liu, Yu; Xu, Guohua; Fan, Xiaorong

2017-10-01

The nitrate (NO3-) transporter has been selected as an important gene maker in the process of environmental adoption in rice cultivars. In this work, we transferred another native OsNAR2.1 promoter with driving OsNAR2.1 gene into rice plants. The transgenic lines with exogenous pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 constructs showed enhanced OsNAR2.1 expression level, compared with wild type (WT), and 15 N influx in roots increased 21%-32% in response to 0.2 mm and 2.5 mm 15NO3- and 1.25 mm 15 NH 4 15 NO 3 . Under these three N conditions, the biomass of the pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 transgenic lines increased 143%, 129% and 51%, and total N content increased 161%, 242% and 69%, respectively, compared to WT. Furthermore in field experiments we found the grain yield, agricultural nitrogen use efficiency (ANUE), and dry matter transfer of pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 plants increased by about 21%, 22% and 21%, compared to WT. We also compared the phenotypes of pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 and pOsNAR2.1:OsNRT2.1 transgenic lines in the field, found that postanthesis N uptake differed significantly between them, and in comparison with the WT. Postanthesis N uptake (PANU) increased approximately 39% and 85%, in the pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 and pOsNAR2.1:OsNRT2.1 transgenic lines, respectively, possibly because OsNRT2.1 expression was less in the pOsNAR2.1:OsNAR2.1 lines than in the pOsNAR2.1:OsNRT2.1 lines during the late growth stage. These results show that rice NO 3 - uptake, yield and NUE were improved by increased OsNAR2.1 expression via its native promoter. © 2017 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

El enfoque de sistemas en programas de seguridad cuarentenaria

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In a globalized world, the application of phytosanitary measures for quarantine by the producing countries is becoming more important as it facilitates access to key export markets for fruits and vegetables. Some of the problems currently encountered with quarantine treatments include, among others...

Analisis del contenido curricular de los Documentos Normativos del Programa de Ciencias en el area de biologia para la escuela superior del sistema de educacion publica de Puerto Rico: 1993-2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davila Montanez, Melissa

Esta investigacion de naturaleza cualitativa se ocupo de realizar un analisis de contenido documental de los Documentos Normativos del Programa de Ciencias en el area de biologia de la escuela superior del sistema de educacion publica de Puerto Rico del periodo 1993-2012. Los documentos analizados fueron: Guia Curricular, 1995; Marco Curricular, 2003; Estandares de Excelencia, 1996, 2000 y Estandares de Contenido y Expectativas de Grado, 2007. Se indago si hubo cambios en significados en los Componentes Estructurales: Naturaleza de la ciencia, Paradigmas para la ensenanza de la ciencia, Funcion del curriculo formal, Mision de la ensenanza de la ciencia; Contenidos, destrezas y competencias, Estrategias de ensenanza y Evaluacion/Assessment del aprendizaje. El analisis sugiere que no hubo cambios sustanciales en los significados de los Componentes Estructurales. Los documentos estudiados muestran mayormente caracteristicas similares, aunque los documentos mas recientes eran mas descriptivos, explicativos y especificos.

A recruiting protein of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase controls metabolic flux toward chlorophyll biosynthesis in rice.

PubMed

Zhou, Fei; Wang, Cheng-Yuan; Gutensohn, Michael; Jiang, Ling; Zhang, Peng; Zhang, Dabing; Dudareva, Natalia; Lu, Shan

2017-06-27

In plants, geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) is produced by plastidic GGPP synthase (GGPPS) and serves as a precursor for vital metabolic branches, including chlorophyll, carotenoid, and gibberellin biosynthesis. However, molecular mechanisms regulating GGPP allocation among these biosynthetic pathways localized in the same subcellular compartment are largely unknown. We found that rice contains only one functionally active GGPPS, OsGGPPS1, in chloroplasts. A functionally active homodimeric enzyme composed of two OsGGPPS1 subunits is located in the stroma. In thylakoid membranes, however, the GGPPS activity resides in a heterodimeric enzyme composed of one OsGGPPS1 subunit and GGPPS recruiting protein (OsGRP). OsGRP is structurally most similar to members of the geranyl diphosphate synthase small subunit type II subfamily. In contrast to members of this subfamily, OsGRP enhances OsGGPPS1 catalytic efficiency and specificity of GGPP production on interaction with OsGGPPS1. Structural biology and protein interaction analyses demonstrate that affinity between OsGRP and OsGGPPS1 is stronger than between two OsGGPPS1 molecules in homodimers. OsGRP determines OsGGPPS1 suborganellar localization and directs it to a large protein complex in thylakoid membranes, consisting of geranylgeranyl reductase (OsGGR), light-harvesting-like protein 3 (OsLIL3), protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (OsPORB), and chlorophyll synthase (OsCHLG). Taken together, genetic and biochemical analyses suggest OsGRP functions in recruiting OsGGPPS1 from the stroma toward thylakoid membranes, thus providing a mechanism to control GGPP flux toward chlorophyll biosynthesis.

Marine hydrogeology: recent accomplishments and future opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, A. T.

2005-03-01

Marine hydrogeology is a broad-ranging scientific discipline involving the exploration of fluid-rock interactions below the seafloor. Studies have been conducted at seafloor spreading centers, mid-plate locations, and in plate- and continental-margin environments. Although many seafloor locations are remote, there are aspects of marine systems that make them uniquely suited for hydrologic analysis. Newly developed tools and techniques, and the establishment of several multidisciplinary programs for oceanographic exploration, have helped to push marine hydrogeology forward over the last several decades. Most marine hydrogeologic work has focused on measurement or estimation of hydrogeologic properties within the shallow subsurface, but additional work has emphasized measurements of local and global fluxes, fluid source and sink terms, and quantitative links between hydrogeologic, chemical, tectonic, biological, and geophysical processes. In addition to summarizing selected results from a small number of case studies, this paper includes a description of several new experiments and programs that will provide outstanding opportunities to address fundamental hydrogeologic questions within the seafloor during the next 20-30 years. L'hydrogéologie marine est une large discipline scientifique impliquant l' exploration des interactions entre les fluides et les roches sous les fonds marins. Des études ont été menées dans les différents environnements sous-marins (zone abyssale, plaque océanique, marges continentales). Bien que de nombreux fonds marins soient connus, il existe des aspects des systèmes marins qui les rendent inadaptés à l'analyse hydrologique. De nouveaux outils et techniques, et la mise en oeuvre de nombreux programmes multidisciplinaires d'exploration océanographique, ont aidé à pousser en avant l'hydrogéologie marine ces dix dernières années. La plus part des études hydrogéologiques se sont concentrées jusqu'à présent sur la mesure ou l'estimation des propriétés à la sub-surface des fonds marins, et des travaux complémentaires ont mis en valeur les mesures de flux, local ou global, de termes « sources » et « pertes », et des liens quantitatifs entre l'hydrogéologie, la chimie, la tectonique, la biologie, et les processus géophysiques. Cet article vise à résumer des résultats sélectionnés parmi un petit nombre d'études, et à décrire plusieurs nouvelles expériences et programmes, qui sont autant d'opportunités pour répondre aux questions fondamentales relatives aux fonds marins, posées ces dernières 20-30 années. La hidrogeología marina es una disciplina científica de amplios alcances que involucra la exploración de interacciones fluido-roca por debajo del fondo del mar. Se han llevado a cabo estudios en centros de expansión del fondo del mar, lugares en medio de una placa, y en ambientes de placa y margen continental. Aunque muchos sitios en el fondo del mar son remotos, existen aspectos de estos sistemas marinos que los hacen particularmente adaptables para análisis hidrológico. Nuevas técnicas y herramientas desarrolladas, y el establecimiento de varios programas multidisciplinarios para exploración oceanográfica, han ayudado a impulsar la hidrogeología marina hacia delante durante las ultimas décadas. La mayor parte del trabajo hidrogeológico marino se ha enfocado en la medición o estimación de propiedades hidrogeológicas dentro del subsuelo superficial, pero trabajo adicionalha enfatizado mediciones de flujos globales y locales, términos de fuente y sumidero de fluidos, y vínculos cuantitativos entre procesos hidrogeológicos, químicos, tectónicos, biológicos y geofísicos. Además de resumir resultados seleccionados de un número pequeño de estudios de caso, este artículo incluye una descripción de varios programas y experimentos nuevos que aportarán oportunidades excepcionales para dirigir preguntas hidrogeológicas fundamentales dentro del fondo oceánico durante los siguientes 20-30 años.

The Late Eocene 187Os / 188Os excursion: Chemostratigraphy, cosmic dust flux and the Early Oligocene glaciation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalai, Tarun K.; Ravizza, Gregory E.; Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B.

2006-01-01

High resolution records (ca. 100 kyr) of Os isotope composition ( 187Os / 188Os) in bulk sediments from two tropical Pacific sites (ODP Sites 1218 and 1219) capture the complete Late Eocene 187Os / 188Os excursion and confirm that the Late Eocene 187Os / 188Os minimum, earlier reported by Ravizza and Peucker-Ehrenbrink [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 210 (2003) 151-165], is a global feature. Using the astronomically tuned age models available for these sites, it is suggested that the Late Eocene 187Os / 188Os minimum can be placed at 34.5 ± 0.1 Ma in the marine records. In addition, two other distinct features of the 187Os / 188Os excursion that are correlatable among sections are proposed as chemostratigraphic markers which can serve as age control points with a precision of ca. ± 0.1 Myr. We propose a speculative hypothesis that higher cosmic dust flux in the Late Eocene may have contributed to global cooling and Early Oligocene glaciation (Oi-1) by supplying bio-essential trace elements to the oceans and thereby resulting in higher ocean productivity, enhanced burial of organic carbon and draw down of atmospheric CO 2. To determine if the hypothesis that enhanced cosmic dust flux in the Late Eocene was a cause for the 187Os / 188Os excursion can be tested by using the paired bulk sediment and leachate Os isotope composition; 187Os / 188Os were also measured in sediment leachates. Results of analyses of leachates are inconsistent between the south Atlantic and the Pacific sites, and therefore do not yield a robust test of this hypothesis. Comparison of 187Os / 188Os records with high resolution benthic foraminiferal δ18O records across the Eocene-Oligocene transition suggests that 187Os flux to the oceans decreased during cooling and ice growth leading to the Oi-1 glaciation, whereas subsequent decay of ice-sheets and deglacial weathering drove seawater 187Os / 188Os to higher values. Although the precise timing and magnitude of these changes in weathering fluxes and their effects on the marine 187Os / 188Os records are obscured by recovery from the Late Eocene 187Os / 188Os excursion, evidence of the global influence of glaciation on supply of Os to the ocean is robust as it has now been documented in both Pacific and Atlantic records.

The behavior of natural and anthropogenic osmium in Long Island Sound, an urban estuary in the eastern U.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Gwyneth; Marcantonio, Franco; Turekian, Karl K.

1997-04-01

The Os concentration and 187Os/ 186Os distributions in surface sediments of Long Island Sound (eastern U.S.) provide a way of determining the sources and estuarine transport of Os. The contribution of anthropogenic Os from sewer outfalls from the New York City region supplies a tracer with a characteristic 187Os/ 186Os of about 1. The Os concentration of the bulk surface sediment increases steeply moving toward New York City in the westernmost Sound and generally follows the concentration of organic carbon. The 187Os/ 186Os ratio of bulk surface sediment increases from west to east in the westernmost part of the Sound and is effectively constant in the central Sound. We interpret these results as indicating that the surface bulk sediments of the Sound contain a low 187Os/ 186Os component, perhaps as a reduced coating associated with organic remains from sewer outfalls. The acid hydrogen peroxide leach fraction has an average 187Os/ 186Os of 9.5 in the central Sound, significantly higher than both the bulk sediment value and the probable sea water value of about 8. The leach fraction in the westernmost part of the traverse is less radiogenic than the central Sound and follows the Os wsotope trend of the bulk sediment. Liquid effluent from a New York City sewer outfall contains 30 pg l -1 of dissolved Os with a 187Os/ 186Os of about 2.5, consistent with its being an end-member of the west-east sediment pattern recorded in the leach fractions of the westernmost cores. The leachable Os from the central Sound predominantly reflects Os in ferromanganese oxyhydroxide coatings from continentally derived sediments with 187Os/ 186Os ratios more radiogenic than seawater. The distribution patterns of anthropogenic and natural Os, with their characteristic isotopic signatures in the Sound, and the insights gained from the behavior of other particle-reactive species, indicates that very little Os in solution may pass through the estuarine gauntlet.

MiR529a modulates panicle architecture through regulating SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING-LIKE genes in rice (Oryza sativa).

PubMed

Yue, Erkui; Li, Chao; Li, Yu; Liu, Zhen; Xu, Jian-Hong

2017-07-01

MiR529a affects rice panicle architecture by targeting OsSPL2,OsSPL14 and OsSPL17 genes that could regulate their downstream panicle related genes. The panicle architecture determines the grain yield and quality of rice, which could be regulated by many transcriptional factors. The SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING-LIKE (SPL) transcription factors are involved in the regulation of panicle development, which are targeted by miR156 and miR529. The expression profile demonstrated that miR529a is preferentially expressed in the early panicle of rice and it might regulate panicle development in rice. However, the regulation mechanism of miR529-SPL is still not clear. In this study, we predicted five miR529a putative target genes, OsSPL2, OsSPL14, OsSPL16, OsSPL17 and OsSPL18, while only the expression of OsSPL2, OsSPL14, and OsSPL17 was regulated by miR529a in the rice panicle. Overexpression of miR529a dramatically affected panicle architecture, which was regulated by OsSPL2, OsSPL14, and OsSPL17. Furthermore, the 117, 35, and 25 pathway genes associated with OsSPL2, OsSPL14 and OsSPL17, respectively, were predicted, and they shared 20 putative pathway genes. Our results revealed that miR529a could play a vital role in the regulation of panicle architecture through regulating OsSPL2, OsSPL14, OsSPL17 and the complex networks formed by their pathway and downstream genes. These findings will provide new genetic resources for reshaping ideal plant architecture and breeding high yield rice varieties.

Analysis of Free Amino Acids in Different Extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus Leaves by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Combined with Solid-Phase Extraction.

PubMed

Shafaei, Armaghan; Halim, Nor Hidayah Ab; Zakaria, Norhidayah; Ismail, Zhari

2017-10-01

Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) Benth is a medicinal plant and native in Southeast Asia. Previous studies have shown that OS leaves possess antioxidant, cytotoxic, diuretic, antihypertensive, and uricosuric effects. These beneficial effects have been attributed to the presence of primary and secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, amino acids, and flavonoids. To develop and validate an high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method combined with solid-phase extraction that involves precolumn derivatization with O -phthaladehyde for simultaneous analysis of free amino acids in OS leaves extracts. OS leaves were extracted with water (OS-W), ethanol (OS-E), methanol (OS-M), 50% ethanol (OS-EW), and 50% methanol (OS-MW). The extracts were treated by C18 cartridge before derivatization, resulting in great improvement of separation by Zorbox Eclipse XDB-C 18 column. The HPLC-DAD method was successfully developed and validated for analyzing the contents of free amino acids in OS extracts. The results showed that l-aspartic acid with 0.93 ± 0.01 nmol/mg was the major free amino acid in OS-W extract. However, in OS-E, OS-M, OS-EW, and OS-MW, l-glutamic acid with 3.53 ± 0.16, 2.17 ± 0.10, 4.01 ± 0.12, and 2.49 ± 0.12 nmol/mg, respectively, was the major free amino acid. Subsequently, l-serine, which was detected in OS-W, OS-E, and OS-M, was the minor free amino acid with 0.33 ± 0.02, 0.12 ± 0.01, and 0.06 ± 0.01 nmol/mg, respectively. However, l-threonine with 0.26 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.08 nmol/mL in OS-EW and OS-MW, respectively, had the lowest concentration compared with other amino acid components. All validation parameters of the developed method indicate that the method is reliable and efficient to simultaneously determine the free amino acids content for routine analysis of OS extracts. The HPLC-DAD method combined with solid phase extraction was successfully developed and validated for simultaneous determination and quantification of 17 free amino acids in Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) Benth extractsOS extracts were found to be rich in free amino acid contentL-aspartic acid was the major free amino acid in OS water extract while, in OS ethanol, methanol, 50% ethanol and 50% methanol extracts, L-glutamic acid was the major free amino acidL-serine was the minor free amino acid in OS water, ethanol and methanol extracts while, in OS 50% ethanol and 50% methanol extracts, L-threonine had the lowest concentration compared to other amino acid components. Abbreviations used: HPLC-DAD: High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection, OS: Orthosiphon stamineus , OS-W: Orthosiphon stamineus water extract, OS-E: Orthosiphon stamineus ethanol extract, OS-M: Orthosiphon stamineus methanol extract, OS-EW: Orthosiphon stamineus 50% ethanol extract, OS-MW: Orthosiphon stamineus 50% methanol extract, OPA: O-phthaladehyde , SPE: Solid Phase Extraction, UV: Ultraviolet, LOD: Limit of Detection, LOQ: Limit of Quantification, RSD: Relative Standard Deviation.

Os isotope systematics in ocean island basalts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisberg, Laurie; Zindler, Alan; Marcantonio, Franco; White, William; Wyman, Derek; Weaver, Barry

1993-12-01

New Re-Os isotopic results for Os-poor basalts from St. Helena, the Comores, Samoa, Pitcairn and Kerguelen dramatically expand the known range of initial Os-186/Os-187 ratios in Ocean Island Basalts (OIBs) to values as high as 1.7. In contrast to the Os isotopic uniformity of Os-rich basalts from the HIMU islands of Tubuai and Mangaia found by Hauri and Hart, our values for St. Helena span most of the known range of Os isotopic variability in oceanic basalts (initial O-187/Os-186 ranges from 1.2 to 1.7). Generation of such radiogenic Os in the mantle requires melting of source materials that contain large proportions of recycled oceanic crust. The very low Os concentrations of most of the basalts analyzed here, however, leave them susceptible to modification via interaction with materials containing radiogenic Os in the near-surface environment. Thus the high Os-186/Os-187 ratios may result from assimilation of radiogenic Os-rich marine sediments, such as Mn oxides, within the volcanic piles traversed by these magmas en route to the surface. Furthermore, the Os isotopic signatures of Os-rich, olivine-laden OIBs may reflect the accumulation of lithospheric olivine, rather than simply their mantle source characteristics. The extent to which these processes alter the view of the mantle obtained via study of Re-Os systematics in oceanic basalts is uncertain. These effects must be quantified before Re-Os systematics in OIBs can be used with confidence to investigate the nature of mantle heterogeneity and its causes.

The Os-AKT1 Channel Is Critical for K+ Uptake in Rice Roots and Is Modulated by the Rice CBL1-CIPK23 Complex[W][OPEN

PubMed Central

Li, Juan; Long, Yu; Qi, Guo-Ning; Li, Juan; Xu, Zi-Jian; Wu, Wei-Hua; Wang, Yi

2014-01-01

Potassium (K+) is one of the essential nutrient elements for plant growth and development. Plants absorb K+ ions from the environment via root cell K+ channels and/or transporters. In this study, the Shaker K+ channel Os-AKT1 was characterized for its function in K+ uptake in rice (Oryza sativa) roots, and its regulation by Os-CBL1 (Calcineurin B-Like protein1) and Os-CIPK23 (CBL-Interacting Protein Kinase23) was investigated. As an inward K+ channel, Os-AKT1 could carry out K+ uptake and rescue the low-K+-sensitive phenotype of Arabidopsis thaliana akt1 mutant plants. Rice Os-akt1 mutant plants showed decreased K+ uptake and displayed an obvious low-K+-sensitive phenotype. Disruption of Os-AKT1 significantly reduced the K+ content, which resulted in inhibition of plant growth and development. Similar to the AKT1 regulation in Arabidopsis, Os-CBL1 and Os-CIPK23 were identified as the upstream regulators of Os-AKT1 in rice. The Os-CBL1-Os-CIPK23 complex could enhance Os-AKT1-mediated K+ uptake. A phenotype test confirmed that Os-CIPK23 RNAi lines exhibited similar K+-deficient symptoms as the Os-akt1 mutant under low K+ conditions. These findings demonstrate that Os-AKT1-mediated K+ uptake in rice roots is modulated by the Os-CBL1-Os-CIPK23 complex. PMID:25096783

Rhenium-osmium systematics of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites

USGS Publications Warehouse

Becker, H.; Morgan, J.W.; Walker, R.J.; MacPherson, G.J.; Grossman, J.N.

2001-01-01

The Re-Os isotopic systematics of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) in chondrites were investigated in order to shed light on the behavior of the Re-Os system in bulk chondrites, and to constrain the timing of chemical fractionation in primitive chondrites. CAIs with relatively unfractionated rare earth element (REE) patterns (groups I, III, V, VI) define a narrow range of 187Re/188Os (0.3764-0.4443) and 187Os/188Os (0.12599-0.12717), and high but variable Re and Os abundances (3209-41,820 ppb Os). In contrast, CAIs that show depletions in highly refractory elements and strongly fractionated REE patterns (group II) also show a much larger range in 187Re/188Os (0.409-0.535) and 187Os/188Os (0.12695-0.13770), and greater than an order of magnitude lower Re and Os abundances than other groups (e.g., 75.7-680.2 ppb Os). Sixteen bulk CAIs and CAI splits plot within analytical uncertainty of a 4558 Ga reference isochron, as is expected for materials of this antiquity. Eight samples, however, plot off the isochron. Several possible reasons for these deviations are discussed. Data for multiple splits of one CAI indicate that the nonisochronous behavior for at least this CAI is the result of Re-Os reequilibration at approximately 1.6 Ga. Thus, the most likely explanation for the deviations of most of the nonisochronous CAIs is late-stage open-system behavior of Re and Os in the asteroidal environment. The 187Os/188Os-Os systematics of CAIs are consistent with previous models that indicate group II CAIs are mixtures of components that lost the bulk of their highly refractory elements in a previous condensation event and a minor second component that provided refractory elements at chondritic relative proportions. The high Re/Os of group II CAIs relative to other CAIs and chondrite bulk rocks may have been caused by variable mobilization of Re and Os during medium- to low-temperature parent body alteration ??4.5 Ga ago. This model is favored over nebular models, which pose several difficulties. The narrow range of 187Os/188Os in group I, III, V, and VI bulk CAIs, and the agreement with 187Os/188Os of whole rock carbonaceous chondrites suggest that on a bulk inclusion scale, secondary alteration only modestly fractionated Re/Os in these CAIs. The average of 187Os/188Os for group I, III, V, and VI CAIs is indistinguishable from average CI chondrites, indicating a modern solar system value for 187Os/188Os of 0.12650, corresponding to a 187Re/188Os of 0.3964. Copyright ?? 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Unsymmetric (μ-oxido)/(μ-pyrazolato) and Symmetric (μ-pyrazolato)2 Bridged Diosmium Frameworks: Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties.

PubMed

Das, Ankita; Ghosh, Prabir; Priego, José Luis; Jiménez-Aparicio, Reyes; Lahiri, Goutam Kumar

2016-09-06

The present article deals with the structurally characterized unsymmetric oxido/pyrazolato-bridged [(bpy)2Os(III)(μ-oxido)(μ-pz)Os(III)(bpy)2](ClO4)3 ([1](ClO4)3) and symmetric dipyrazolato-bridged [(bpy)2Os(II)(μ-pz)2Os(II)(bpy)2](ClO4)2 ([2](ClO4)2) (pz = pyrazolato, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) complexes with the Os···Os separations of 3.484 and 4.172 Å, respectively. The anti-ferromagnetically coupled Os(III) centers [E(S = 1)-E(BS(1,1) S = 0) = 322.504 cm(-1)] in 1(3+) and diamagnetic (S = 0) 2(2+) exhibit well-resolved (1)H NMR resonances. [1](ClO4)3 shows temperature- and magnetic field-dependent paramagnetism at low magnetic field and diamagnetism at high magnetic field. 1(3+) and 2(2+) display successive metal-based oxidation processes involving the intermediate mixed-valent states and isovalent congeners: Os(IV)Os(IV) (1(5+))→Os(III)Os(IV) (1(4+))⇌Os(III)Os(III) (1(3+))⇌Os(III)Os(II) (1(2+)) and Os(III)Os(III) (2(4+))→Os(II)Os(III) (2(3+))⇌Os(II)Os(II) (2(2+)) as well as bpy-centered reductions. The effect of π donor O(2-) and σ/π-donating pz(-) in 1(3+) and 2(2+), respectively, leads to varying oxidation state of the metal ions in the isolated complexes: Os(III)Os(III) versus Os(II)Os(II). UV-visible-near-IR-electron paramagnetic resonance spectro-electrochemistry and density functional theory (DFT)/time-dependent DFT calculations collectively reveal overlapping of the metal- and ligand (pz, O, bpy)-based frontier orbitals in the delocalized mixed-valent states in 1(4+) and 1(2+) with comproportionation constant (Kc) value > 1 × 10(14) as well as in isovalent 1(3+), resulting in mixed metal/ligand to metal/ligand near-IR transitions in all the three states. The mixed-valent Os(II)Os(III) state in 2(3+) exhibits high Kc value of 1 × 10(22) corresponding to a strong electrochemical coupling situation. However, closeness of the bandwidth (Δν1/2, 4861 cm(-1)) of broad and weak intervalence charge transfer transition of 2(3+) at 1360 nm (ε/M(-1) cm(-1): 490) with the calculated Δν1/2 of 4121 cm(-1) based on the Hush formula as well as spin-density distributions of Os1: 0.811/0.799, Os2: 0.045/0042, and pz: 0.162/0.173 in meso and rac diastereomeric forms, respectively, attribute its localized class II state.

[Histometric study of 55 cases of carcinoma in situ and microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix. Histogenetic deductions].

PubMed

Brémond, A; Dargent, D; Lesbros, F

1976-01-01

The authors present the results of a quantitative study of carcinoma-in-situ and occult invasive cancers of the cervix. 40 separate carcinomata in-situ were measured and the limits of their topography precisely defined with reference to the external os on the one hand and the "last gland" on the other. It is known that this gland is situated at the site of the original junction between the cylindrical and pavement epithelia. It confirms that carcinoma-in-situ always (with few exceptions) develops upwards from the area of the original junction between the cylindrical and pavement epithelia, and its topography is higher than that of dysplasia especially when the two types of lesion are associated.

Five novel transcription factors as potential regulators of OsNHX1 gene expression in a salt tolerant rice genotype.

PubMed

Almeida, Diego M; Gregorio, Glenn B; Oliveira, M Margarida; Saibo, Nelson J M

2017-01-01

This manuscript reports the identification and characterization of five transcription factors binding to the promoter of OsNHX1 in a salt stress tolerant rice genotype (Hasawi). Although NHX1 encoding genes are known to be highly regulated at the transcription level by different abiotic stresses, namely salt and drought stress, until now only one transcription factor (TF) binding to its promoter has been reported. In order to unveil the TFs regulating NHX1 gene expression, which is known to be highly induced under salt stress, we have used a Y1H system to screen a salt induced rice cDNA expression library from Hasawi. This approach allowed us to identify five TFs belonging to three distinct TF families: one TCP (OsPCF2), one CPP (OsCPP5) and three NIN-like (OsNIN-like2, OsNIN-like3 and OsNIN-like4) binding to the OsNHX1 gene promoter. We have also shown that these TFs act either as transcriptional activators (OsPCF2, OsNIN-like4) or repressors (OsCPP5, OsNIN-like2) and their encoding genes are differentially regulated by salt and PEG-induced drought stress in two rice genotypes, Nipponbare (salt-sensitive) and Hasawi (salt-tolerant). The transactivation activity of OsNIN-like3 was not possible to determine. Increased soil salinity has a direct impact on the reduction of plant growth and crop yield and it is therefore fundamental to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying gene expression regulation under adverse environmental conditions. OsNHX1 is the most abundant K + -Na + /H + antiporter localized in the tonoplast and its gene expression is induced by salt, drought and ABA. To investigate how OsNHX1 is transcriptionally regulated in response to salt stress in a salt-tolerant rice genotype (Hasawi), a salt-stress-induced cDNA expression library was constructed and subsequently screened using the yeast one-hybrid system and the OsNHX1 promoter as bait. Five transcription factors (TFs) belonging to three distinct TF families: one TCP (OsPCF2), one CPP (OsCPP5) and three NIN-like (OsNIN-like2, OsNIN-like3 and OsNIN-like4) were identified as binding to OsNHX1 promoter. Transactivation activity assays performed in Arabidopsis and rice protoplasts showed that OsPCF2 and OsNIN-like4 are activators of the OsNHX1 gene expression, while OsCPP5 and OsNIN-like2 act as repressors. The transactivation activity of OsNIN-like3 needs to be further investigated. Gene expression studies showed that OsNHX1 transcript level is highly induced by salt and PEG-induced drought stress in both shoots and roots in both Nipponbare and Hasawi rice genotypes. Nevertheless, OsNHX1 seems to play a particular role in shoots in response to drought. Most of the TFs binding to OsNHX1 promoter showed a modest transcriptional regulation under stress conditions, however, in response to most of the conditions studied, the OsPCF2 was induced earlier than OsNHX1, indicating that OsPCF2 may activate OsNHX1 gene expression. In addition, although the OsNHX1 response to salt and PEG-induced drought stress in either shoots or roots was quite similar in both rice genotypes, the expression of OsPCF2 in roots under salt stress and the OsNIN-like4 in roots subjected to PEG was mainly up-regulated in Hasawi, indicating that these TFs may be associated with the salt and drought stress tolerance observed for this genotype.

Two highly similar DEAD box proteins, OsRH2 and OsRH34, homologous to eukaryotic initiation factor 4AIII, play roles of the exon junction complex in regulating growth and development in rice.

PubMed

Huang, Chun-Kai; Sie, Yi-Syuan; Chen, Yu-Fu; Huang, Tian-Sheng; Lu, Chung-An

2016-04-12

The exon junction complex (EJC), which contains four core components, eukaryotic initiation factor 4AIII (eIF4AIII), MAGO/NASHI (MAGO), Y14/Tsunagi/RNA-binding protein 8A, and Barentsz/Metastatic lymph node 51, is formed in both nucleus and cytoplasm, and plays important roles in gene expression. Genes encoding core EJC components have been found in plants, including rice. Currently, the functional characterizations of MAGO and Y14 homologs have been demonstrated in rice. However, it is still unknown whether eIF4AIII is essential for the functional EJC in rice. This study investigated two DEAD box RNA helicases, OsRH2 and OsRH34, which are homologous to eIF4AIII, in rice. Amino acid sequence analysis indicated that OsRH2 and OsRH34 had 99 % identity and 100 % similarity, and their gene expression patterns were similar in various rice tissues, but the level of OsRH2 mRNA was about 58-fold higher than that of OsRH34 mRNA in seedlings. From bimolecular fluorescence complementation results, OsRH2 and OsRH34 interacted physically with OsMAGO1 and OsY14b, respectively, which indicated that both of OsRH2 and OsRH34 were core components of the EJC in rice. To study the biological roles of OsRH2 and OsRH34 in rice, transgenic rice plants were generated by RNA interference. The phenotypes of three independent OsRH2 and OsRH34 double-knockdown transgenic lines included dwarfism, a short internode distance, reproductive delay, defective embryonic development, and a low seed setting rate. These phenotypes resembled those of mutants with gibberellin-related developmental defects. In addition, the OsRH2 and OsRH34 double-knockdown transgenic lines exhibited the accumulation of unspliced rice UNDEVELOPED TAPETUM 1 mRNA. Rice contains two eIF4AIII paralogous genes, OsRH2 and OsRH34. The abundance of OsRH2 mRNA was about 58-fold higher than that of OsRH34 mRNA in seedlings, suggesting that the OsRH2 is major eIF4AIII in rice. Both OsRH2 and OsRH34 are core components of the EJC, and participate in regulating of plant height, pollen, and seed development in rice.

Phosphate transporters OsPHT1;9 and OsPHT1;10 are involved in phosphate uptake in rice

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We characterized the function of two rice phosphate (Pi) transporters: OsPHT1;9 (OsPT9) and OsPHT1;10 (OsPT10). OsPT9 and OsPT10 were expressed in the root epidermis, root hairs, and lateral roots, with the expression being specifically induced by Pi-starvation. In leaves, the expression of the two ...

Characterization and methanol electrooxidation studies of Pt(111)/Os surfaces prepared by spontaneous deposition.

PubMed

Johnston, Christina M; Strbac, Svetlana; Lewera, Adam; Sibert, Eric; Wieckowski, Andrzej

2006-09-12

Catalytic activity of the Pt(111)/Os surface toward methanol electrooxidation was optimized by exploring a wide range of Os coverage. Various methods of surface analyses were used, including electroanalytical, STM, and XPS methods. The Pt(111) surface was decorated with nanosized Os islands by spontaneous deposition, and the Os coverage was controlled by changing the exposure time to the Os-containing electrolyte. The structure of Os deposits on Pt(111) was characterized and quantified by in situ STM and stripping voltammetry. We found that the optimal Os surface coverage of Pt(111) for methanol electrooxidation was 0.7 +/- 0.1 ML, close to 1.0 +/- 0.1 Os packing density. Apparently, the high osmium coverage Pt(111)/Os surface provides more of the necessary oxygen-containing species (e.g., Os-OH) for effective methanol electrooxidation than the Pt(111)/Os surfaces with lower Os coverage (vs e.g., Ru-OH). Supporting evidence for this conjecture comes from the CO electrooxidation data, which show that the onset potential for CO stripping is lowered from 0.53 to 0.45 V when the Os coverage is increased from 0.2 to 0.7 ML. However, the activity of Pt(111)/Os for methanol electrooxidation decreases when the Os coverage is higher than 0.7 +/- 0.1 ML, indicating that Pt sites uncovered by Os are necessary for sustaining significant methanol oxidation rates. Furthermore, osmium is inactive for methanol electrooxidation when the platinum substrate is absent: Os deposits on Au(111), a bulk Os ingot, and thick films of electrodeposited Os on Pt(111), all compare poorly to Pt(111)/Os. We conclude that a bifunctional mechanism applies to the methanol electrooxidation similarly to Pt(111)/Ru, although with fewer available Pt sites. Finally, the potential window for methanol electrooxidation on Pt(111)/Os was observed to shift positively versus Pt(111)/Ru. Because of the difference in the Os and Ru oxophilicity under electrochemical conditions, the Os deposit provides fewer oxygen-containing species, at least below 0.5 V vs RHE. Both higher coverage of Os than Ru and the higher potentials are required to provide a sufficient number of active oxygen-containing species for the effective removal of the site-blocking CO from the catalyst surface when the methanol electrooxidation process occurs.

Building Migratory Bridges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Michael; Doss, Laurie K.

2007-01-01

The Building Migratory Bridges (BOMB) program--a collaboration between the Marvel wood School and Audubon Sharon in Connecticut and Conservation Research Education Action (CR EA), a U.S. not-for-profit in Panama--uses nontropical migratory bird research in the United States and Panama to demonstrate how negative environmental impacts in one…

¿Qué está haciendo la EPA para proteger a los arrecifes de coral?

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

La EPA protege a los arrecifes de coral mediante la implementación de programas de la Ley de Agua Limpia que protegen la calidad del agua en cuencas y zonas costeras de las áreas con arrecifes de coral.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Deploying Alternative Fuel Vehicles and

Science.gov Websites

Infrastructure in Chicago, Illinois, Through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program and Infrastructure in Chicago, Illinois, Through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Vehicles and Infrastructure in Chicago, Illinois, Through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality

Tracing Anthropogenic Osmium around Japan using the Osmium Isotopic Composition of Macroalgae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sproson, A. D.; Selby, D. S.; Suzuki, K.

2016-12-01

The present-day open ocean seawater 187Os/188Os value of 1.06 is seen to reflect the balance between unradiogenic mantle derived osmium (Os) and radiogenic continental Os. However, Os released by anthropogenic activities has been detected in coastal sediments, lakes, estuaries, rain and snow from sources such as sewage sludge, catalytic convertors, smelting, fossil fuel burning and use as a staining reagent, thereby impacting the global Os budget. Despite over two decades of research, contemporary Os inputs into the ocean are believed to be underestimated by a factor of 3, leading to discrepancies in oceanic Os residence times estimated from mass balance calculations. This, in part, is due to the problems associated with directly measuring ultra-low concentrations of Os in seawater. Recently, it has been proposed that the 187Os/188Os of macroalgae (seaweed) reflects that of the seawater in which it lives. This suggests macroalgae can act as a proxy for the Os isotopic composition of seawater. We present Os isotope data for macroalgae collected from Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay, the Noto Peninsula, Izu Peninsula and Hokkaido. Macroalgae close to the major cities of Tokyo and Osaka exhibit unradiogenic 187Os/188Os values as low as 0.45, in agreement with published sediment data. As you move away from central Tokyo and Osaka, 187Os/188Os values become more radiogenic, reaching values as high as 0.95 due to the entrainment of more radiogenic seawater. Macroalgae from the less urbanised Noto and Izu Peninsulas show a radiogenic 187Os/188Os range of 0.70-0.91, close to global river estimates suggesting little contamination from anthropogenic processes. Deep-water species off the coast of Hokkaido exhibit 187Os/188Os values in agreement with published Pacific Ocean seawater data. We propose macroalgae is recording the influence of anthropogenic processes - in particular sewage sludge production and catalytic convertor exhaust - on the Os budget of Japanese waters. Therefore, macroalgae could become a useful pollution indicator and powerful tracer of continental Os inputs to the ocean.

Reversible interconversion between a nitrido complex of Os(VI) and an ammino complex of osmium(II)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pipes, D.W.; Bakir, M.; Vitols, S.E.

1990-07-04

The reaction between (N(n-Bu){sub 4})(Os(N)(X){sub 4}) (X = Cl, Br) and 2,2{prime}:6{prime},2{double prime}-terpyridine (tpy) in acetone under reflux gave the salts (Os(N)(typ)(X){sub 2})X. The X-ray crystal structure of (Os(N)(tpy)(Cl){sub 2})Cl showed that the chloride ligands occupy mutually trans axial positions relative to the nitrido ligand. Reduction potentials were measured or estimated at pH = 3 for the intermediate Os(VI/V), Os(V/IV), Os(IV/III), and Os(III/II) couples. From those measurements, it was shown that the Os(V) intermediate, (Os{sup V}(N)(tpy)(Cl){sub 2}), is both a powerful oxidant and a strong reductant, highly unstable with respect to disproportionation into Os(VI) and Os(IV).

Osmium isotopes demonstrate distal transport of contaminated sediments in Chesapeake Bay

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helz, G.R.; Adelson, J.M.; Miller, C.V.; Cornwell, J.C.; Hill, J.M.; Horan, M.; Walker, R.J.

2000-01-01

Because the isotopic composition of anthropogenic Os is normally distinctive in comparison to continental crust and is precisely measurable, this platinum-group element is attractive as a tracer of transport pathways for contaminated sediments in estuaries. Evidence herein and elsewhere suggest that biomedical research institutions are the chief source of anthropogenic Os. In the Chesapeake Bay region, uncontaminated sediments bear a crustal 187Os/188Os signature of 0.73 ?? 0.10. Slightly higher 187Os/188Os ratios occur in Re-rich Coastal Plain deposits due to post- Miocene 187Re decay. The upper Susquehanna Basin yields sediments also with higher 187Os/188Os. Beginning in the late 1970s, this signal was overprinted by a low 187Os/188Os (anthropogenic) source in the lower Susquehanna Basin. In the vicinity of Baltimore, which is a major center of heavy industry as well as biomedical research, anthropogenic Os has been found only in sediments impacted by the principal wastewater treatment plant. Surprisingly, a mid-Bay site distant from anthropogenic sources contains the strongest anthropogenic Os signal in the data set, having received anthropogenic Os sporadically since the mid-20th Century. Transport of particles to this site overrode the northward flowing bottom currents. Finding anthropogenic Os at this site cautions that other particle-borne substances, including hazardous ones, could be dispersed broadly in this estuary.Because the isotopic composition of anthropogenic Os is normally distinctive in comparison to continental crust and is precisely measurable, this platinum-group element is attractive as a tracer of transport pathways for contaminated sediments in estuaries. Evidence herein and elsewhere suggest that biomedical research institutions are the chief source of anthropogenic Os. In the Chesapeake Bay region, uncontaminated sediments bear a crustal 187Os/188Os signature of 0.73 ?? 0.10. Slightly higher 187Os/188Os ratios occur in Re-rich Coastal Plain deposits due to post-Miocene 187Re decay. The upper Susquehanna Basin yields sediments also with higher 187Os/188Os. Beginning in the late 1970s, this signal was overprinted by a low 187Os/188Os (anthropogenic) source in the lower Susquehanna Basin. In the vicinity of Baltimore, which is a major center of heavy industry as well as biomedical research, anthropogenic Os has been found only in sediments impacted by the principal wastewater treatment plant. Surprisingly, a mid-Bay site distant from anthropogenic sources contains the strongest anthropogenic Os signal in the data set, having received anthropogenic Os sporadically since the mid-20th Century. Transport of particles to this site overrode the northward flowing bottom currents. Finding anthropogenic Os at this site cautions that other particle-borne substances, including hazardous ones, could be dispersed broadly in this estuary.

RNA-based determination of ESR1 and HER2 expression and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

PubMed

Denkert, C; Loibl, S; Kronenwett, R; Budczies, J; von Törne, C; Nekljudova, V; Darb-Esfahani, S; Solbach, C; Sinn, B V; Petry, C; Müller, B M; Hilfrich, J; Altmann, G; Staebler, A; Roth, C; Ataseven, B; Kirchner, T; Dietel, M; Untch, M; von Minckwitz, G

2013-03-01

Hormone and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors are the most important breast cancer biomarkers, and additional objective and quantitative test methods such as messenger RNA (mRNA)-based quantitative analysis are urgently needed. In this study, we investigated the clinical validity of RT-PCR-based evaluation of estrogen receptor (ESR1) and HER2 mRNA expression. A total of 1050 core biopsies from two retrospective (GeparTrio, GeparQuattro) and one prospective (PREDICT) neoadjuvant studies were evaluated by quantitative RT-PCR for ESR1 and HER2. ESR1 mRNA was significantly predictive for reduced response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in univariate and multivariate analysis in all three cohorts. The complete pathologically documented response (pathological complete response, pCR) rate for ESR1+/HER2- tumors was 7.3%, 8.0% and 8.6%; for ESR1-/HER2- tumors it was 34.4%, 33.7% and 37.3% in GeparTrio, GeparQuattro and PREDICT, respectively (P < 0.001 in each cohort). In the Kaplan-Meier analysis in GeparTrio patients with ESR1+/HER2- tumors had the best prognosis, compared with ESR1-/HER2- and ESR1-/HER2+ tumors [disease-free survival (DFS): P < 0.0005, overall survival (OS): P < 0.0005]. Our results suggest that mRNA levels of ESR1 and HER2 predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and are significantly associated with long-term outcome. As an additional option to standard immunohistochemistry and gene-array-based analysis, quantitative RT-PCR analysis might be useful for determination of the receptor status in breast cancer.

Demonstration of monolignol β-glucosidase activity of rice Os4BGlu14, Os4BGlu16 and Os4BGlu18 in Arabidopsis thaliana bglu45 mutant.

PubMed

Baiya, Supaporn; Mahong, Bancha; Lee, Sang-Kyu; Jeon, Jong-Seong; Ketudat Cairns, James R

2018-06-01

The glycoside hydrolase family 1 members Os4BGlu14, Os4BGlu16, and Os4BGlu18 were proposed to be rice monolignol β-glucosidases. In vitro studies demonstrated that the Os4BGlu16 and Os4BGlu18 hydrolyze the monolignol glucosides coniferin and syringin with high efficiency compared to other substrates. The replacement of the conserved catalytic acid/base glutamate residue by a nonionizable glutamine residue in Os4BGlu14 suggested that it may be inactive as a β-glucosidase. Here, we investigated the activities of Os4BGlu14, Os4BGlu16, and Os4BGlu18 in planta by recombinant expression of their genes in the Arabidopsis bglu45-2 (monolignol β-glucosidase) mutant and analysis of monolignol glucosides by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MSMS). The bglu45-2 line exhibits elevated monolignol glucoside levels, but lower amounts of coniferin, syringin, and p-coumaryl alcohol glucoside were seen in Arabidopsis bglu45-2 rescued lines complemented by the Os4BGlu14, Os4BGlu16, and Os4BGlu18 genes. These data suggest that the bglu45-2 mutant has a broader effect on monolignols than previously reported and that the Os4BGlu14, Os4BGlu16 and Os4BGlu18 proteins act as monolignol β-glucosidases to complement the defect. An OsBGlu16-GFP fusion protein localized to the cell wall. This apoplastic localization and the effect of these enzymes on monolignol glucoside levels suggest monolignol glucosides from the vacuole may meet the monolignol β-glucosidases, despite their different localization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The De-Etiolated 1 Homolog of Arabidopsis Modulates the ABA Signaling Pathway and ABA Biosynthesis in Rice

PubMed Central

Zang, Guangchao; Zou, Hanyan; Zhang, Yuchan; Xiang, Zheng; Huang, Junli; Luo, Li; Wang, Chunping; Lei, Kairong; Li, Xianyong; Song, Deming; Din, Ahmad Ud; Wang, Guixue

2016-01-01

DEETIOLATED1 (DET1) plays a critical role in developmental and environmental responses in many plants. To date, the functions of OsDET1 in rice (Oryza sativa) have been largely unknown. OsDET1 is an ortholog of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) DET1. Here, we found that OsDET1 is essential for maintaining normal rice development. The repression of OsDET1 had detrimental effects on plant development, and leaded to contradictory phenotypes related to abscisic acid (ABA) in OsDET1 interference (RNAi) plants. We found that OsDET1 is involved in modulating ABA signaling in rice. OsDET1 RNAi plants exhibited an ABA hypersensitivity phenotype. Using yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, we determined that OsDET1 interacts physically with DAMAGED-SPECIFIC DNA-BINDING PROTEIN1 (OsDDB1) and CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC10 (COP10); DET1- and DDB1-ASSOCIATED1 binds to the ABA receptors OsPYL5 and OsDDB1. We found that the degradation of OsPYL5 was delayed in OsDET1 RNAi plants. These findings suggest that OsDET1 deficiency disturbs the COP10-DET1-DDB1 complex, which is responsible for ABA receptor (OsPYL) degradation, eventually leading to ABA sensitivity in rice. Additionally, OsDET1 also modulated ABA biosynthesis, as ABA biosynthesis was inhibited in OsDET1 RNAi plants and promoted in OsDET1-overexpressing transgenic plants. In conclusion, our data suggest that OsDET1 plays an important role in maintaining normal development in rice and mediates the cross talk between ABA biosynthesis and ABA signaling pathways in rice. PMID:27208292

Analysis of Free Amino Acids in Different Extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus Leaves by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Combined with Solid-Phase Extraction

PubMed Central

Shafaei, Armaghan; Halim, Nor Hidayah Ab; Zakaria, Norhidayah; Ismail, Zhari

2017-01-01

Background: Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) Benth is a medicinal plant and native in Southeast Asia. Previous studies have shown that OS leaves possess antioxidant, cytotoxic, diuretic, antihypertensive, and uricosuric effects. These beneficial effects have been attributed to the presence of primary and secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, amino acids, and flavonoids. Objective: To develop and validate an high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method combined with solid-phase extraction that involves precolumn derivatization with O-phthaladehyde for simultaneous analysis of free amino acids in OS leaves extracts. Materials and Methods: OS leaves were extracted with water (OS-W), ethanol (OS-E), methanol (OS-M), 50% ethanol (OS-EW), and 50% methanol (OS-MW). The extracts were treated by C18 cartridge before derivatization, resulting in great improvement of separation by Zorbox Eclipse XDB-C18 column. Results: The HPLC–DAD method was successfully developed and validated for analyzing the contents of free amino acids in OS extracts. The results showed that l-aspartic acid with 0.93 ± 0.01 nmol/mg was the major free amino acid in OS-W extract. However, in OS-E, OS-M, OS-EW, and OS-MW, l-glutamic acid with 3.53 ± 0.16, 2.17 ± 0.10, 4.01 ± 0.12, and 2.49 ± 0.12 nmol/mg, respectively, was the major free amino acid. Subsequently, l-serine, which was detected in OS-W, OS-E, and OS-M, was the minor free amino acid with 0.33 ± 0.02, 0.12 ± 0.01, and 0.06 ± 0.01 nmol/mg, respectively. However, l-threonine with 0.26 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.08 nmol/mL in OS-EW and OS-MW, respectively, had the lowest concentration compared with other amino acid components. Conclusion: All validation parameters of the developed method indicate that the method is reliable and efficient to simultaneously determine the free amino acids content for routine analysis of OS extracts. SUMMARY The HPLC-DAD method combined with solid phase extraction was successfully developed and validated for simultaneous determination and quantification of 17 free amino acids in Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) Benth extractsOS extracts were found to be rich in free amino acid contentL-aspartic acid was the major free amino acid in OS water extract while, in OS ethanol, methanol, 50% ethanol and 50% methanol extracts, L-glutamic acid was the major free amino acidL-serine was the minor free amino acid in OS water, ethanol and methanol extracts while, in OS 50% ethanol and 50% methanol extracts, L-threonine had the lowest concentration compared to other amino acid components. Abbreviations used: HPLC-DAD: High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection, OS: Orthosiphon stamineus, OS-W: Orthosiphon stamineus water extract, OS-E: Orthosiphon stamineus ethanol extract, OS-M: Orthosiphon stamineus methanol extract, OS-EW: Orthosiphon stamineus 50% ethanol extract, OS-MW: Orthosiphon stamineus 50% methanol extract, OPA: O-phthaladehyde, SPE: Solid Phase Extraction, UV: Ultraviolet, LOD: Limit of Detection, LOQ: Limit of Quantification, RSD: Relative Standard Deviation. PMID:29142388

The influence of melt flux and crustal processing on Re-Os isotope systematics of ocean island basalts: Constraints from Galápagos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, S. A.; Dale, C. W.; Geist, D. J.; Day, J. A.; Brügmann, G.; Harpp, K. S.

2016-09-01

New rhenium-osmium data for high-MgO (>9 wt.%) basalts from the Galápagos Archipelago reveal a large variation in 187Os/188Os (0.1304 to 0.173), comparable with the range shown by primitive global ocean island basalts (OIBs). Basalts with the least radiogenic 187Os/188Os occur closest to the Galápagos plume stem: those in western Galápagos have low 187Os/188Os, moderate 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, 206Pb/204Pb and high 3He/4He whereas basalts in the south also have low 187Os/188Os but more radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, 206Pb/204Pb and 3He/4He. Our new Os isotope data are consistent with the previously established spatial zonation of the common global isotopic mantle reservoir ;C; and ancient recycled oceanic crust in the mantle plume beneath western and southern parts of Galápagos, respectively. Galápagos basalts with the most radiogenic 187Os/188Os (up to 0.1875) typically have moderate MgO (7-9 wt.%) and low Os (<50 pg g-1) but have contrastingly unenriched Sr, Nd and Pb isotope signatures. We interpret this decoupling of chalcophile and lithophile isotopic systems as due to assimilation of young Pacific lower crust during crystal fractionation. Mixing models show the assimilated crust must have higher contents of Re and Os, and more radiogenic 187Os/188Os (0.32), than previously proposed for oceanic gabbros. We suggest the inferred, exceptionally-high radiogenic 187Os of the Pacific crust may be localised and due to sulfides precipitated from hydrothermal systems established at the Galápagos Spreading Centre. High 187Os/188Os Galápagos basalts are found where plume material is being dispersed laterally away from the plume stem to the adjacent spreading centre (i.e. in central and NE parts of the archipelago). The extent to which crustal processing influences 187Os/188Os appears to be primarily controlled by melt flux: as distance from the stem of the Galápagos plume increases, the melt flux decreases and crustal assimilation becomes proportionally greater, accounting for co-variations in Os and 187Os/188Os. The Os concentration threshold below which the 187Os/188Os of Galápagos basalts are contaminated (100 pg g-1) is higher than the canonical value (<50 pg g-1) assumed for many other global OIBs (e.g. for Iceland, Grande Comore and Hawaii). This most likely reflects the low overall melt flux to the crust from the Galápagos plume, which has only a moderate excess temperature and buoyancy flux. Our findings have implications for the interpretation of 187Os/188Os ratios in other ocean island settings, especially those where large variations in 187Os/188Os have been linked to heterogeneity in mantle lithology or sulfide populations: the effect of crustal contamination on 187Os/188Os may be greater than previously recognised, particularly for basalts associated with weak, low melt flux mantle plumes, such as Tristan, Bouvet, Crozet and St Helena.

Detecção inesperada de efeitos de lentes fracas em grupos de galáxias pouco luminosos em raios-X

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrasco, R.; Mendes de Oliveira, C.; Sodré, L., Jr.; Lima Neto, G. B.; Cypriano, E. S.; Lengruber, L. L.; Cuevas, H.; Ramirez, A.

2003-08-01

Obtivemos, como parte do programa de verificação científica do GMOS Sul, imagens profundas de três grupos de galáxias: G97 e G102 (z~0,4) e G124 (z = 0,17). Esses alvos foram selecionados a partir do catálogo de fontes extensas de Vikhlinin (1998), por terem luminosidades em raios X menores que 3´1043 ergs s-1, valor cerca de uma ou duas ordens de grandeza inferior ao de aglomerados de galáxias. O objetivo primário dessas observações é o estudo da evolução de galáxias em grupos. Grupos são ambientes menos densos que aglomerados, contêm a grande maioria das galáxias do Universo mas que, até o momento, foram estudados detalhadamente apenas no Universo local (z~0). Com esses dados efetuamos uma análise estatística da distorção na forma das galáxias de fundo (lentes gravitacionais fracas) como forma de inferir o conteúdo e a distribuição de massa nesses grupos apesar de que, em princípio, esse efeito não deveria ser detectado uma vez que os critérios de seleção adotados previlegiam sistemas de baixa massa. De fato, para G124 obtivemos apenas um limite superior para sua massa que é compatível com sua luminosidade em raios X. De modo contrário e surpreendente, os objetos G102 e G097, aparentam ter massas que resultariam em dispersões de velocidade maiores que 1000 km s-1, muito maiores do que se espera para grupos de galáxias. Com efeito, para G097 obtivemos, a partir de dados do satélite XMM, uma estimativa para a temperatura do gás intragrupo de kT = 2,6 keV, que é tipica de sistemas com dispersões de velocidade de ~ 600 km s-1, bem característica de grupos. Essas contradições aparentes entre lentes fracas e raios X podem ser explicadas de dois modos: i) a massa obtida por lentes estaria sobreestimada devido à superposição de estruturas massivas ao longo da linha de visada ou ii) a temperatura do gás do meio intra-grupo reflete o potencial gravitacional de estruturas menores que estariam se fundindo para formar uma estrutura maior.

OsSERK1 regulates rice development but not immunity to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae or Magnaporthe oryzae.

PubMed

Zuo, Shimin; Zhou, Xiaogang; Chen, Mawsheng; Zhang, Shilu; Schwessinger, Benjamin; Ruan, Deling; Yuan, Can; Wang, Jing; Chen, Xuewei; Ronald, Pamela C

2014-12-01

Somatic embryogenesis receptor kinase (SERK) proteins play pivotal roles in regulation of plant development and immunity. The rice genome contains two SERK genes, OsSerk1 and OsSerk2. We previously demonstrated that OsSerk2 is required for rice Xa21-mediated resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and for normal development. Here we report the molecular characterization of OsSerk1. Overexpression of OsSerk1 results in a semi-dwarf phenotype whereas silencing of OsSerk1 results in a reduced angle of the lamina joint. OsSerk1 is not required for rice resistance to Xoo or Magnaporthe oryzae. Overexpression of OsSerk1 in OsSerk2-silenced lines complements phenotypes associated with brassinosteroid (BR) signaling defects, but not the disease resistance phenotype mediated by Xa21. In yeast, OsSERK1 interacts with itself forming homodimers, and also interacts with the kinase domains of OsSERK2 and BRI1, respectively. OsSERK1 is a functional protein kinase capable of auto-phosphorylation in vitro. We conclude that, whereas OsSERK2 regulates both rice development and immunity, OsSERK1 functions in rice development but not immunity to Xoo and M. oryzae. © 2014 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Access to and use of high blood pressure medications in Brazil.

PubMed

Mengue, Sotero Serrate; Bertoldi, Andréa Dâmaso; Ramos, Luiz Roberto; Farias, Mareni Rocha; Oliveira, Maria Auxiliadora; Tavares, Noemia Urruth Leão; Arrais, Paulo Sergio Dourado; Luiza, Vera Lucia; Pizzol, Tatiane da Silva Dal

2016-12-01

To analyze the access to and use of medicines for high blood pressure among the Brazilian population according to social and demographic conditions. Analysis of data from Pesquisa Nacional Sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos (PNAUM - National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines), a nationwide cross-sectional, population-based study, with probability sampling, carried out between September 2013 and February 2014 in urban households in the five Brazilian regions. The study evaluated the access and use of medicines to treat people with high blood pressure. The independent variables were gender, age, socioeconomic status and Brazilian region. The study also described the most commonly used drugs and the percentage of people treated with one, two, three or more drugs. Point estimations and confidence intervals were calculated considering the sample weights and sample complex plan. Prevalence of high blood pressure was 23.7% (95%CI 22.8-24.6). Regarding people with this condition, 93.8% (95%CI 92.8-94.8) had indication for drug therapy and, of those, 94.6% (95%CI 93.5-95.5) were using the medication at the time of interview. Full access to medicines was 97.9% (95%CI 97.3-98.4); partial access, 1.9% (95%CI 1.4-2.4); and no access, 0.2% (95%CI 0.1-0.4). The medication used to treat high blood pressure, 56.0% (95%CI 52.6-59.2) were obtained from SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System), 16.0% (95%CI 14.3-17.9) from Popular Pharmacy Program, 25.7% (95%CI 23.4-28.2) were paid for by the patients themselves and 2.3% (95%CI 1.8-2.9) were obtained from other locations. The five most commonly used drugs were, in descending order, hydrochlorothiazide, losartan, captopril, enalapril and atenolol. Of the total number of patients on treatment, 36.1% (95%CI 34.1-37.1) were using two medicines and 13.5% (95%CI 12.3-14.9) used three or more. Access to medicines for the treatment of high blood pressure may be considered high and many of them are available free of charge. The most commonly used drugs are among those recommended as first-line treatment for high blood pressure control. The percentage of people using more than one drug seems to follow the behavior observed in other countries. Analisar o acesso e a utilização de medicamentos para a hipertensão na população brasileira segundo condições sociais e demográficas. Análise dos dados da Pesquisa Nacional Sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos, estudo nacional de delineamento transversal de base populacional, com amostra probabilística, realizado entre setembro de 2013 e fevereiro de 2014 em domicílios urbanos nas cinco regiões do Brasil. Avaliou-se o uso e acesso aos medicamentos para os cuidados com pessoas que apresentam hipertensão arterial. As variáveis independentes utilizadas foram sexo, idade, nível socioeconômico e região do País. Também foram descritos os fármacos mais utilizados e a proporção de pessoas tratadas com um, dois, três ou mais fármacos. As estimativas de ponto e os intervalos de confiança foram calculados considerando os pesos amostrais e o plano complexo da amostra. A prevalência de hipertensão arterial foi de 23,7% (IC95% 22,8-24,6). Das pessoas com a condição, 93,8% (IC95% 92,8-94,8) tinham indicação de tratamento com medicamentos e, destes, 94,6% (IC95% 93,5-95,5) estavam usando os medicamentos no momento da entrevista. O acesso total aos medicamentos foi de 97,9% (IC95% 97,3-98,4); o acesso parcial, de 1,9% (IC95% 1,4-2,4); e o acesso nulo, de 0,2% (IC95% 0,1-0,4). Dos medicamentos utilizados para tratar a hipertensão, 56,0% (IC95% 52,6-59,2) foram obtidos no SUS, 16,0% (IC95% 14,3-17,9), no Programa Farmácia Popular, 25,7% (IC95% 23,4-28,2) pago do próprio bolso e 2,3% (IC95% 1,8-2,9) em outros locais. Os cinco fármacos mais utilizados foram, em ordem descrente, hidroclorotiazida, losartana, captopril, enalapril e atenolol. Do total de tratados, 36,1% (IC95% 34,1-37,1) estavam usando dois fármacos e 13,5% (IC95% 12,3-14,9) utilizavam três ou mais fármacos. : O acesso aos medicamentos para tratamento da hipertensão pode ser considerado elevado e grande parte desses medicamentos é obtida gratuitamente. Os fármacos mais utilizados estão entre os preconizados como de primeira linha para o controle de hipertensão arterial. A proporção de pessoas utilizando mais de um fármaco parece seguir o comportamento observado em outros países.

Two rice plasma membrane intrinsic proteins, OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, are involved in transport and providing tolerance to boron toxicity.

PubMed

Kumar, Kundan; Mosa, Kareem A; Chhikara, Sudesh; Musante, Craig; White, Jason C; Dhankher, Om Parkash

2014-01-01

Boron (B) toxicity is responsible for low cereal crop production in a number of regions worldwide. In this report, we characterized two rice genes, OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, for their involvement in B permeability and tolerance. Transcript analysis demonstrated that the expression of OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 were downregulated in shoots and strongly upregulated in rice roots by high B treatment. Expression of both OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 in yeast HD9 strain lacking Fps1, ACR3, and Ycf1 resulted in an increased B sensitivity. Furthermore, yeast HD9 strain expressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 accumulated significantly higher B as compared to empty vector control, which suggests their involvement in B transport. Overexpression of OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 in Arabidopsis imparted higher tolerance under B toxicity. Arabidopsis lines overexpressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 showed significantly higher biomass production and greater root length, however there was no difference in B accumulation in long term uptake assay. Short-term uptake assay using tracer B (¹⁰B) in shoots and roots demonstrated increased ¹⁰B accumulation in Arabidopsis lines expressing OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7, compare to wild type control plants. Efflux assay of B in the roots showed that ¹⁰B was effluxed from the Arabidopsis transgenic plants overexpressing OsPIP2;4 or OsPIP2;7 during the initial 1-h of assay. These data indicate that OsPIP2;4 and OsPIP2;7 are involved in mediating B transport in rice and provide tolerance via efflux of excess B from roots and shoot tissues. These genes will be highly useful in developing B tolerant crops for enhanced yield in the areas affected by high B toxicity.

Synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4) and the Raman spectra of (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity), (OsO(3)F(2))(2), and (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4).

PubMed

Hughes, Michael J; Mercier, Hélène P A; Schrobilgen, Gary J

2009-05-18

The adduct, (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4), was synthesized by dissolution of the infinite chain polymer, (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity), in XeOF(4) solvent at room temperature followed by removal of excess XeOF(4) under dynamic vacuum at 0 degrees C. Continued pumping at 0 degrees C resulted in removal of associated XeOF(4), yielding (OsO(3)F(2))(2), a new low-temperature phase of OsO(3)F(2). Upon standing at 25 degrees C for 1(1)/(2) h, (OsO(3)F(2))(2) underwent a phase transition to the known monoclinic phase, (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity). The title compounds, (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity), (OsO(3)F(2))(2), and (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4) have been characterized by low-temperature (-150 degrees C) Raman spectroscopy. Crystallization of (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4) from XeOF(4) solution at 0 degrees C yielded crystals suitable for X-ray structure determination. The structural unit contains the (OsO(3)F(2))(2) dimer in which the OsO(3)F(3) units are joined by two Os---F---Os bridges having fluorine bridge atoms that are equidistant from the osmium centers (2.117(5) and 2.107(4) A). The dimer coordinates to two XeOF(4) molecules through Os-F...Xe bridges in which the Xe...F distances (2.757(5) A) are significantly less than the sum of the Xe and F van der Waals radii (3.63 A). The (OsO(3)F(2))(2) dimer has C(i) symmetry in which each pseudo-octahedral OsO(3)F(3) unit has a facial arrangement of oxygen ligands with XeOF(4) molecules that are only slightly distorted from their gas-phase C(4v) symmetry. Quantum-chemical calculations using SVWN and B3LYP methods were employed to calculate the gas-phase geometries, natural bond orbital analyses, and vibrational frequencies of (OsO(3)F(2))(2), (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4), XeOF(4), OsO(2)F(4), and (mu-FOsO(3)F(2))(2)OsO(3)F(-) to aid in the assignment of the experimental vibrational frequencies of (OsO(3)F(2))(2), (OsO(3)F(2))(2)2XeOF(4), and (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity). The vibrational modes of the low-temperature polymeric phase, (OsO(3)F(2))(infinity), have been assigned by comparison with the calculated frequencies of (mu-FOsO(3)F(2))(2)OsO(3)F(-), providing more complete and reliable assignments than were previously available.

GDSL lipases modulate immunity through lipid homeostasis in rice

PubMed Central

Lam, Sin Man; Tong, Xiaohong; Liu, Jiyun; Wang, Xin; Shui, Guanghou

2017-01-01

Lipids and lipid metabolites play important roles in plant-microbe interactions. Despite the extensive studies of lipases in lipid homeostasis and seed oil biosynthesis, the involvement of lipases in plant immunity remains largely unknown. In particular, GDSL esterases/lipases, characterized by the conserved GDSL motif, are a subfamily of lipolytic enzymes with broad substrate specificity. Here, we functionally identified two GDSL lipases, OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2, in rice immune responses. Expression of OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 was suppressed by pathogen infection and salicylic acid (SA) treatment. OsGLIP1 was mainly expressed in leaf and leaf sheath, while OsGLIP2 showed high expression in elongating internodes. Biochemical assay demonstrated that OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 are functional lipases that could hydrolyze lipid substrates. Simultaneous down-regulation of OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 increased plant resistance to both bacterial and fungal pathogens, whereas disease resistance in OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 overexpression plants was significantly compromised, suggesting that both genes act as negative regulators of disease resistance. OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 proteins mainly localize to lipid droplets and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. The proper cellular localization of OsGLIP proteins is indispensable for their functions in immunity. Comprehensive lipid profiling analysis indicated that the alteration of OsGLIP gene expression was associated with substantial changes of the levels of lipid species including monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG). We show that MGDG and DGDG feeding could attenuate disease resistance. Taken together, our study indicates that OsGLIP1 and OsGLIP2 negatively regulate rice defense by modulating lipid metabolism, thus providing new insights into the function of lipids in plant immunity. PMID:29131851

Two solanesyl diphosphate synthases with different subcellular localizations and their respective physiological roles in Oryza sativa

PubMed Central

Ohara, Kazuaki; Sasaki, Kanako; Yazaki, Kazufumi

2010-01-01

Long chain prenyl diphosphates are crucial biosynthetic precursors of ubiquinone (UQ) in many organisms, ranging from bacteria to humans, as well as precursors of plastoquinone in photosynthetic organisms. The cloning and characterization of two solanesyl diphosphate synthase genes, OsSPS1 and OsSPS2, in Oryza sativa is reported here. OsSPS1 was highly expressed in root tissue whereas OsSPS2 was found to be high in both leaves and roots. Enzymatic characterization using recombinant proteins showed that both OsSPS1 and OsSPS2 could produce solanesyl diphosphates as their final product, while OsSPS1 showed stronger activity than OsSPS2. However, an important biological difference was observed between the two genes: OsSPS1 complemented the yeast coq1 disruptant, which does not form UQ, whereas OsSPS2 only very weakly complemented the growth defect of the coq1 mutant. HPLC analyses showed that both OsSPS1 and OsSPS2 yeast transformants produced UQ9 instead of UQ6, which is the native yeast UQ. According to the complementation study, the UQ9 levels in OsSPS2 transformants were much lower than that of OsSPS1. Green fluorescent protein fusion analyses showed that OsSPS1 localized to mitochondria, while OsSPS2 localized to plastids. This suggests that OsSPS1 is involved in the supply of solanesyl diphosphate for ubiquinone-9 biosynthesis in mitochondria, whereas OsSPS2 is involved in providing solanesyl diphosphate for plastoquinone-9 formation. These findings indicate that O. sativa has a different mechanism for the supply of isoprenoid precursors in UQ biosynthesis from Arabidopsis thaliana, in which SPS1 provides a prenyl moiety for UQ9 at the endoplasmic reticulum. PMID:20421194

Two solanesyl diphosphate synthases with different subcellular localizations and their respective physiological roles in Oryza sativa.

PubMed

Ohara, Kazuaki; Sasaki, Kanako; Yazaki, Kazufumi

2010-06-01

Long chain prenyl diphosphates are crucial biosynthetic precursors of ubiquinone (UQ) in many organisms, ranging from bacteria to humans, as well as precursors of plastoquinone in photosynthetic organisms. The cloning and characterization of two solanesyl diphosphate synthase genes, OsSPS1 and OsSPS2, in Oryza sativa is reported here. OsSPS1 was highly expressed in root tissue whereas OsSPS2 was found to be high in both leaves and roots. Enzymatic characterization using recombinant proteins showed that both OsSPS1 and OsSPS2 could produce solanesyl diphosphates as their final product, while OsSPS1 showed stronger activity than OsSPS2. However, an important biological difference was observed between the two genes: OsSPS1 complemented the yeast coq1 disruptant, which does not form UQ, whereas OsSPS2 only very weakly complemented the growth defect of the coq1 mutant. HPLC analyses showed that both OsSPS1 and OsSPS2 yeast transformants produced UQ9 instead of UQ6, which is the native yeast UQ. According to the complementation study, the UQ9 levels in OsSPS2 transformants were much lower than that of OsSPS1. Green fluorescent protein fusion analyses showed that OsSPS1 localized to mitochondria, while OsSPS2 localized to plastids. This suggests that OsSPS1 is involved in the supply of solanesyl diphosphate for ubiquinone-9 biosynthesis in mitochondria, whereas OsSPS2 is involved in providing solanesyl diphosphate for plastoquinone-9 formation. These findings indicate that O. sativa has a different mechanism for the supply of isoprenoid precursors in UQ biosynthesis from Arabidopsis thaliana, in which SPS1 provides a prenyl moiety for UQ9 at the endoplasmic reticulum.

Himalayan uplift and osmium isotopes in oceans and rivers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharma, M.; Wasserburg, G.J.; Hofmann, A.W.

1999-12-01

Previous studies have shown that {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os in seawater has become increasingly radiogenic over the last 409 Ma in a manner analogous to strontium. This rapid rise in the marine {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os over the last 17 Ma has been attributed to an increase in the bulk silicate weathering rates resulting from the rise of the Himalayas and/or selective weathering and erosion of highly radiogenic organic rich ancient sediments. The key test of this hypothesis is the {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os and the total osmium concentration of the Himalayan rivers. The authors report the concentration and isotopic composition of osmiummore » in the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Indus rivers. The {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os of the Ganges close to its source (at Kaudiyal) is 2.65 and [Os] = 45 fM/kg. A second sample of the lower reaches of the Ganges at Patna gives {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os = 1.59 and [Os] = 171 fM/kg. The {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati is 1.07 and [Os] = 52 fM/kg. A sample of the Indus (Besham) has a {sup 187}Os/{sup 188}Os of 1.2 and [Os] = 59 fM/kg. The authors infer that the Himalayas do not provide either a high flow of osmium of a highly radiogenic osmium component to the oceans. The overall trend for osmium and strontium could be explained by a regularly increasing input of global continental weathering sources but the Himalayas themselves appear not to be the dominant source.« less

OsPEX11, a Peroxisomal Biogenesis Factor 11, Contributes to Salt Stress Tolerance in Oryza sativa.

PubMed

Cui, Peng; Liu, Hongbo; Islam, Faisal; Li, Lan; Farooq, Muhammad A; Ruan, Songlin; Zhou, Weijun

2016-01-01

Peroxisomes are single membrane-bound organelles, whose basic enzymatic constituents are catalase and H 2 O 2 -producing flavin oxidases. Previous reports showed that peroxisome is involved in numerous processes including primary and secondary metabolism, plant development and abiotic stress responses. However, knowledge on the function of different peroxisome genes from rice and its regulatory roles in salt and other abiotic stresses is limited. Here, a novel prey protein, OsPEX11 (Os03g0302000), was screened and identified by yeast two-hybrid and GST pull-down assays. Phenotypic analysis of OsPEX11 overexpression seedlings demonstrated that they had better tolerance to salt stress than wild type (WT) and OsPEX11-RNAi seedlings. Compared with WT and OsPEX11-RNAi seedlings, overexpression of OsPEX11 had lower level of lipid peroxidation, Na + /K + ratio, higher activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, and CAT) and proline accumulation. Furthermore, qPCR data suggested that OsPEX11 acted as a positive regulator of salt tolerance by reinforcing the expression of several well-known rice transporters ( OsHKT2;1, OsHKT1;5, OsLti6a, OsLti6b, OsSOS1, OsNHX1 , and OsAKT1 ) involved in Na + /K + homeostasis in transgenic plants under salinity. Ultrastructural observations of OsPEX11-RNAi seedlings showed that they were less sensitive to salt stress than WT and overexpression lines. These results provide experimental evidence that OsPEX11 is an important gene implicated in Na + and K + regulation, and plays a critical role in salt stress tolerance by modulating the expression of cation transporters and antioxidant defense. Thus, OsPEX11 could be considered in transgenic breeding for improvement of salt stress tolerance in rice crop.

Functional characterization of two flap endonuclease-1 homologues in rice.

PubMed

Kimura, Seisuke; Furukawa, Tomoyuki; Kasai, Nobuyuki; Mori, Yoko; Kitamoto, Hiroko K; Sugawara, Fumio; Hashimoto, Junji; Sakaguchi, Kengo

2003-09-18

Flap endonuclease-1 (FEN-1) is an important enzyme involved in DNA replication and repair. Previously, we isolated and characterized a complementary DNA (cDNA) from rice (Oryza sativa) encoding a protein which shows homology with the eukaryotic flap endonuclease-1 (FEN-1). In this report, we found that rice (O. sativa L. cv. Nipponbare) possessed two FEN-1 homologues designated as OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b. The OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b genes were mapped to chromosome 5 and 3, respectively. Both genes contained 17 exons and 16 introns. Alignment of OsFEN-1a protein with OsFEN-1b protein showed a high degree of sequence similarity, particularly around the N and I domains. Northern hybridization and in situ hybridization analysis demonstrated preferential expression of OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b in proliferating tissues such as the shoot apical meristem or young leaves. The levels of OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b expression were significantly reduced when cell proliferation was temporarily halted by the removal of sucrose from the growth medium. When the growth-halted cells began to regrow following the addition of sucrose to the medium, both OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b were again expressed at high level. These results suggested that OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b are required for cell proliferation. Functional complementation assay suggested that OsFEN-1a cDNA had the ability to complement Saccharomyces cerevisiae rad27 null mutant. On the other hand, OsFEN-1b cDNA could not complement the rad27 mutant. The roles of OsFEN-1a and OsFEN-1b in plant DNA replication and repair are discussed.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Deploying Alternative Fuel Vehicles in

Science.gov Websites

Rochester, New York, Through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program in Rochester, New York, Through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program to someone by E -mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: Deploying Alternative Fuel Vehicles in Rochester, New York

Learning as a Dissonant Act

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutnowski, Martin

2005-01-01

In this article, the author recounts his experience teaching MU-241, Music Harmony and Counterpoint, which is a capstone course for the music electronics program--a two-year associate of arts and sciences degree--at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York. The class, a difficult one, combines harmony, counterpoint, and piano,…

Watershed Stewardship Education Program--A Multidisciplinary Extension Education Program for Oregon's Watershed Councils.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Flaxen D. L.; Godwin, Derek; Cloughesy, Mike; Nierenberg, Tara

2003-01-01

The Watershed Stewardship Education Program (WSEP) is a multidisciplinary Oregon Extension designed to help watershed councils, landowners, and others work effectively together on water management. Components include practical, easy-to-use educational materials, training in effective collaboration, a Master Watershed Stewards program, and advanced…

Managing Your Reading Program--A Total System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hales, Carma M.; Jones, Maurine E.

This guide provides specific information on designing and implementing a reading program. The guide is divided into the following six parts: (1) "Planning for Instruction," including sections on setting ideal goals, establishing a "reality base," and organizing a work flow; (2) "Content Organization," including sections on the structure of…

Internalizing the Crisis of Cotton: Organizing Small Farmers in Eastern Paraguay.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bray, David; Borda, Dionisio

1988-01-01

Describes history, organizational problems and activities of Paraguay's Asociacion de Agricultores de Alto Parana (ASAGRAPA) and Programa de Ayuda Cristiana (PAC), farmer organizations. Details how cotton production losses forced farmers to invent new, varied markets, turning subsistence crops (peanuts, corn, and rice) into cash crops, while…

78 FR 60822 - Notice of Funding Availability for the Biorefinery Assistance Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-02

... Notice announces approximately $76 million in carry over budget authority that will support a program...(a). B. Statutory Authority. This Program is authorized under 7 U.S.C. 8103. Regulations are... provides approximately $76 million in available budget authority that will support a program level of...

Programa Actual 1991 (Current Programme 1991).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Hague (Netherlands).

This annual report for the Bernard van Leer Foundation describes the foundation's activities during 1990. The foundation seeks to promote the development of human resources in communities with social, economic, and cultural problems, focusing its efforts on the needs of young children. The first part of the publication contains a general…

Comprehensive Child Development Program--A National Family Support Demonstration. Interim Report to Congress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (DHHS), Washington, DC. Head Start Bureau.

The Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), enacted by Congress in 1988, provides intensive, comprehensive, integrated, and continuous support to preschool children from low-income families to enhance their intellectual, social, and physical development. It also provides needed services to parents and household family members to enhance…

Chemotherapeutic Studies on Schistosomiasis and Clinical, Epidemiological and Immunological Studies on Malaria in Amazonas, Brazil, along the Ituxi River.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-09-01

enfermedades infecciosas en zonas colindantes con la Carretera Transamazonica en Brasil. II. Epidemiologia de las infecciones por arbovirus. Bol. Of...F.P. 1981. Programa multidisciplinario de vigilancia de las enfermedades , infecciosas en zonas colindantes con la Carretera Transamazonica en Brasil

Calidad del aire interior en las escuelas

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA ha desarrollado el Programa de Herramientas de Calidad del Aire Interior para las Escuelas para reducir la exposición a los contaminantes ambientales en las mismas a través de la adopción voluntaria de las prácticas para manejar la calidad del aire int

Who Benefits from School-Based Management in Mexico?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reimers, Fernando; Cardenas, Sergio

2007-01-01

In this article the authors examine evidence pertaining to the implementation of a national programme of school-based decentralization, the Quality Schools Programme ("Programa de Escuelas de Calidad"). The main argument of this article is that high levels of inequality in the institutional capacity of different schools and in the…

The Spanish external quality assessment scheme for lead in blood.

PubMed

Marcuello, D

1996-01-01

In 1985 the Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo (INSHT) established the "Programa Interlaboratorios de Control de Calidad de Plomo en Sangre (PICC-PbS)". The operation of this scheme is explained, criteria for evaluation of laboratory performance are defined and some results obtained are reviewed.

How Patronage Politics Undermines Parental Participation and Accountability: Community-Managed Schools in Honduras and Guatemala

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altschuler, Daniel

2013-01-01

This article shows how patronage politics affects a popular international education model: community-managed schools (CMS). Focusing on Honduras's CMS initiative, PROHECO (Programa Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria), I demonstrate how patronage can undermine CMS accountability. Whereas supporters argue that CMS increases accountability, partisan…

Functional conservation of rice OsNF-YB/YC and Arabidopsis AtNF-YB/YC proteins in the regulation of flowering time.

PubMed

Hwang, Yoon-Hyung; Kim, Soon-Kap; Lee, Keh Chien; Chung, Young Soo; Lee, Jeong Hwan; Kim, Jeong-Kook

2016-04-01

Rice Os NF - YB and Os NF - YC complement the late flowering phenotype of Arabidopsis nf - yb double and nf - yc triple mutants, respectively. In addition, OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC interact with AtNF-YC and AtNF-YB, respectively. Plant NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) transcription factors play important roles in plant development and abiotic stress. In Arabidopsis thaliana, two NF-YB (AtNF-YB2 and AtNF-YB3) and five NF-YC (AtNF-YC1, AtNF-YC2, AtNF-YC3, AtNF-YC4, and AtNF-YC9) genes regulate photoperiodic flowering by interacting with other AtNF-Y subunit proteins. Three rice NF-YB (OsNF-YB8, OsNF-YB10, and OsNF-YB11) and five rice OsNF-YC (OsNF-YC1, OsNF-YC2, OsNF-YC4, OsNF-YC6, and OsNF-YC7) genes are clustered with two AtNF-YB and five AtNF-YC genes, respectively. To investigate the functional conservation of these NF-YB and NF-YC genes in rice and Arabidopsis, we analyzed the flowering phenotypes of transgenic plants overexpressing the respective OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC genes in Arabidopsis mutants. Overexpression of OsNF-YB8/10/11 and OsNF-YC2 complemented the late flowering phenotype of Arabidopsis nf-yb2 nf-yb3 and nf-yc3 nf-yc4 nf-yc9 mutants, respectively. The rescued phenotype of 35S::OsNF-YC2 nf-yc3 nf-yc4 nf-yc9 plants was attributed to the upregulation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1). In vitro and in planta protein-protein analyses revealed that OsNF-YB8/10/11 and OsNF-YC1/2/4/6/7 interact with AtNF-YC3/4/9 and AtNF-YB2/3, respectively. Our data indicate that some OsNF-YB and OsNF-YC genes are functional equivalents of AtNF-YB2/3 and AtNF-YC3/4/9 genes, respectively, and suggest functional conservation of Arabidopsis and rice NF-Y genes in the control of flowering time.

Delusional Jealousy (Othello Syndrome) in 67 Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

PubMed Central

Kataoka, Hiroshi; Sugie, Kazuma

2018-01-01

Othello syndrome (OS) is a type of paranoid delusional jealousy, characterized by the false absolute certainty of the infidelity of a partner. Because OS has infrequently occurred in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), the characteristics of OS in PD remain unclear. We reviewed the clinical characteristics of this syndrome in PD. We reviewed 67 patients who had PD with OS. OS was more common in men (45 patients) than in women (22 patients), and it frequently occurred in middle-aged patients. Until the onset of OS, the duration of PD (range, 2–19.8 years) and the duration of treatment with PD medications (range, 2 months to 18.5 years) varied. At the onset of OS, cognition was preserved in most patients. 42 of 47 patients had other psychiatric disorders in addition to OS, and 5 patients had isolated OS. Persecutory or other paranoid delusions developed in 34 patients with OS. OS was associated with PD medication in 25 of 26 patients, especially in patients, used the dopamine agonists. The dose of the PD medication associated with OS was decreased or these drugs were withdrawn to facilitate the treatment of OS. In most patients, OS disappeared or the severity of OS was reduced. OS is infrequent in patients with PD, but is likely to be easily detected because OS is commonly accompanied by persistent paranoid and sexual delusions. When clinicians encounter such patients, the withdrawal or reduction of dopamine agonists should be attempted, and if necessary, additional treatment with clozapine is recommended. PMID:29563893

Oryza sativa BRASSINOSTEROID UPREGULATED1 LIKE1 Induces the Expression of a Gene Encoding a Small Leucine-Rich-Repeat Protein to Positively Regulate Lamina Inclination and Grain Size in Rice

PubMed Central

Jang, Seonghoe; Li, Hsing-Yi

2017-01-01

Oryza sativa BRASSINOSTEROID UPREGULATED1 LIKE1 (OsBUL1) positively affects lamina inclination and grain size. OsBUL1 knock-out (osbul1) plants as well as transgenic rice with reduced level of OsBUL1 expression produce erect leaves and small grains. Here, we identified a putative downstream gene of OsBUL1, OsBUL1 DOWNSTREAM GENE1 (OsBDG1) encoding a small protein with short leucine-rich-repeats by cDNA microarray analyses in the lamina joint and panicles of wild-type and osbul1 plants. Transgenic rice plants with increased OsBDG1 expression exhibit increased leaf angle and grain size, which is similar to an OsBDG1 activation tagging line whereas double stranded RNA interference (dsRNAi) lines for OsBDG1 knock-down generate erect leaves with smaller grains. Moreover, transgenic rice expressing OsBDG1 under the control of OsBUL1 promoter also shows enlarged leaf bending and grain size phenotypes. Two genes, OsAP2 (OsAPETALA2) and OsWRKY24 were identified as being upregulated transcriptional activators in the lamina joint of pOsBUL1:OsBDG1 plants and induced expression of the two genes driven by OsBUL1 promoter caused increased lamina inclination and grain size in rice. Thus, our work demonstrates that a series of genes showing expression cascades are involved in the promotion of cell elongation in lamina joints and functionally cause increased lamina inclination. PMID:28769958

Salicylic acid antagonizes abscisic acid inhibition of shoot growth and cell cycle progression in rice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meguro, Ayano; Sato, Yutaka

2014-04-01

We analysed effects of abscisic acid (ABA, a negative regulatory hormone), alone and in combination with positive or neutral hormones, including salicylic acid (SA), on rice growth and expression of cell cycle-related genes. ABA significantly inhibited shoot growth and induced expression of OsKRP4, OsKRP5, and OsKRP6. A yeast two-hybrid assay showed that OsKRP4, OsKRP5, and OsKRP6 interacted with OsCDKA;1 and/or OsCDKA;2. When SA was simultaneously supplied with ABA, the antagonistic effect of SA completely blocked ABA inhibition. SA also blocked ABA inhibition of DNA replication and thymidine incorporation in the shoot apical meristem. These results suggest that ABA arrests cell cycle progression by inducing expression of OsKRP4, OsKRP5, and OsKRP6, which inhibit the G1/S transition, and that SA antagonizes ABA by blocking expression of OsKRP genes.

Survey of rice proteins interacting with OsFCA and OsFY proteins which are homologous to the Arabidopsis flowering time proteins, FCA and FY.

PubMed

Jang, Yun Hee; Park, Hyo-Young; Kim, Soon-Kap; Lee, Jeong Hwan; Suh, Mi Chung; Chung, Young Soo; Paek, Kyung-Hee; Kim, Jeong-Kook

2009-08-01

The FCA protein is involved in controlling flowering time and plays more general roles in RNA-mediated chromatin silencing in Arabidopsis. It contains two RNA-binding domains and a WW domain. The FCA protein interacts with FY, a polyadenylation factor, via its WW domain. We previously characterized a rice gene, OsFCA, which was homologous to FCA. Here, we found that the OsFCA protein could interact through its WW domain with the following proteins: OsFY, a protein containing a CID domain present in RNA-processing factors such as Pcf11 and Nrd1; a protein similar to splicing factor SF1; a protein similar to FUSE splicing factor; and OsMADS8. The FY protein is associated with the 3' end processing machinery in Arabidopsis. Thus, we examined interactions between OsFY and the rice homologs (OsCstF-50, -64 and -77) of the AtCstF-50, -64 and -77 proteins. We found that OsFY could bind OsCstF50, whereas the OsCstF77 protein could bridge the interaction between OsCstF50 and OsCstF64. Taken together, our data suggest that OsFCA could interact with several proteins other than OsFY through its WW domain and may play several roles in rice.

Structure and work process in primary care and hospitalizations for sensitive conditions.

PubMed

Araujo, Waleska Regina Machado; Queiroz, Rejane Christine de Sousa; Rocha, Thiago Augusto Hernandes; Silva, Núbia Cristina da; Thumé, Elaine; Tomasi, Elaine; Facchini, Luiz Augusto; Thomaz, Erika Barbara Abreu Fonseca

2017-08-17

The objective of this study is to investigate whether the characteristics of the structure of primary health units and the work process of primary care teams are associated with the number of hospitalizations for primary care sensitive conditions. In this ecological study, we have analyzed data of Brazilian municipalities related to sociodemographic characteristics, coverage of care programs, structure of primary health units, and work process of primary care teams. We have obtained the data from the first cycle of the Brazilian Program for Improving Access and Quality of the Primary Care, of the Department of Information Technology of the Brazilian Unified Health System, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and the United Nations Development Programme. The associations have been estimated using negative binomial regression coefficients (β) and respective 95% confidence intervals, with a hierarchical approach in three levels (alpha = 5%). In the adjusted analysis for the outcome in 2013, in the distal level, the coverage of the Bolsa Família Program (β = -0.001) and private insurance (β = -0.01) had a negative association, and the human development index (β = 1.13), the proportion of older adults (β = 0.05) and children under the age of five (β = 0.05), and the coverage of the Community Health Agent Strategy (β = 0.002) showed positive association with hospitalizations for primary care sensitive conditions. In the intermediate level, minimum hours (β = -0.14) and availability of vaccines (β = -0.16) showed a negative association, and availability of medications showed a positive association (β = 0.16). In the proximal level, only the variable of matrix support (β = 0.10) showed a positive association. The variables in the adjusted analysis of the number of hospitalizations for primary care sensitive conditions in 2014 presented the same association as in 2013. The characteristics of the structure of primary health units and the work process of the primary care teams impact the number of hospitalizations for primary care sensitive conditions in Brazilian municipalities. Investigar se características da estrutura das unidades básicas de saúde e do processo de trabalho das equipes de atenção básica estão associadas ao número de internações por condições sensíveis à atenção primária. Neste estudo ecológico, foram analisados dados de municípios brasileiros relativos a características sociodemográficas, de cobertura de programas assistenciais, de estrutura das unidades básicas de saúde e processo de trabalho das equipes de atenção básica. Os dados foram obtidos do primeiro ciclo do Programa de Melhoria do Acesso e Qualidade da Atenção Básica, do Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde, do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística e do Programa das Nações Unidas. Estimaram-se as associações por meio de coeficientes de regressão binomial negativa (β) e respectivos intervalos de confiança a 95%, com abordagem hierarquizada em três blocos (alpha = 5%). Na análise ajustada, para o desfecho em 2013, no bloco distal, a cobertura do Programa Bolsa Família (β = -0,001) e de plano privado (β = -0,01) apresentaram associação negativa; e o índice de desenvolvimento humano (β = 1,13), a proporção de pessoa idosa (β = 0,05) e de menor de cinco anos (β = 0,05) e a cobertura da Estratégia de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (β = 0,002) mostraram associação positiva com internações por condições sensíveis à atenção primária. No bloco intermediário, apresentaram associação negativa o horário mínimo (β = -0,14) e a disponibilidade de vacina (β = -0,16); e associação positiva, a disponibilidade de medicamentos (β = 0,16). No bloco proximal, apenas a variável apoio matricial (β = 0,10) mostrou associação positiva. Na análise ajustada do número de internações por condições sensíveis à atenção primária em 2014, as variáveis apresentaram o mesmo sentido de associação de 2013. Características da estrutura das unidades básicas de saúde e do processo de trabalho das equipes de atenção básica impactam no número de internações por condições sensíveis à atenção primária nos municípios brasileiros.

Ba3CuOs2O9 and Ba3ZnOs2O9, a comparative study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Hai L.; Jansen, Martin

2018-02-01

Polycrystalline samples of Ba3CuOs2O9 and Ba3ZnOs2O9 were synthesized by solid-state reactions. Ba3CuOs2O9 crystallizes in Cmcm, while Ba3ZnOs2O9 adopts the hexagonal space group P63/mmc. Both the crystal structures consist of face-sharing Os-centered octahedra forming dimer-like Os2O9 units, which are interconnected by corner-sharing CuO6, or ZnO6 octahedra, respectively. In Ba3CuOs2O9, the CuO6 octahedra show a characteristic Jahn-Teller distortion. Both, Ba3CuOs2O9 and Ba3ZnOs2O9, are electrically insulating. Magnetic and specific heat measurements confirm that Ba3CuOs2O9 is antiferromagnetically ordered below 47 K. Analysis of the magnetic data indicated that its magnetic properties are dominated by Cu2+ ions. The magnetic susceptibility of Ba3ZnOs2O9 is weakly temperature-dependent with a broad maximum ≈ 280 K, indicating the presence of strong exchange interactions within the Os2O9 dimer. The residual magnetic susceptibility at low temperatures also suggests the presence of appreciable exchange coupling between the dimers.

Osmium mass balance in peridotite and the effects of mantle-derived sulphides on basalt petrogenesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, J.; Dale, C. W.; Gannoun, A.; Burton, K. W.

2011-10-01

Analyses of enriched mantle (EM)-basalts, using lithophile element-based isotope systems, have long provided evidence for discrete mantle reservoirs with variable composition. Upon partial melting, the mantle reservoir imparts its isotopic fingerprint upon the partial melt produced. However, it has increasingly been recognised that it may not be simple to delimit these previously well-defined mantle reservoirs; the "mantle zoo" may contain more reservoirs than previously envisaged. Here we demonstrate that a simple model with varying contributions from two populations of compositionally distinct mantle sulphides can readily account for the observed heterogeneities in Os isotope systematics of such basalts without additional mantle reservoirs. Osmium elemental and isotopic analyses of individual sulphide grains separated from spinel lherzolites from Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico, USA demonstrate that two discrete populations of mantle sulphide exist in terms of both Re-Os systematics and textural relationship with co-existing silicates. One population, with a rounded morphology, is preserved in silicate grains and typically possesses high [Os] and low [Re] with unradiogenic, typically sub-chondritic 187Os/ 188Os attributable to long term isolation in a low-Re environment. By contrast, irregular-shaped sulphides, preserved along silicate grain boundaries, possess low [Os], higher [Re] and a wider range of, but generally supra-chondritic 187Os/ 188Os ([Os] typically ⩽ 1-2 ppm, 187Os/ 188Os ⩽ 0.3729; this study). This population is thought to represent metasomatic sulphide. Uncontaminated silicate phases contain negligible Os (<100 ppt) therefore the Os elemental and isotope composition of basalts is dominated by volumetrically insignificant sulphide ([Os] ⩽ 37 ppm; this study). During the early stages of partial melting, supra-chondritic interstitial sulphides are mobilised and incorporated into the melt, adding their radiogenic 187Os/ 188Os signature. Only when sulphides armoured within silicates are exposed to the melt through continued partial melting will enclosed sulphides add their high [Os] and unradiogenic 187Os/ 188Os to the aggregate melt. Platinum-group element data for whole rocks are also consistent with this scenario. The sequence of (i) addition of all of the metasomatic sulphide, followed by (ii) the incorporation of small amounts of armoured sulphide can thus account for the range of both [Os] and 187Os/ 188Os of EM-basalts worldwide without the need for contributions from additional silicate mantle reservoirs.

Operability score: an innovative tool for quantitative assessment of operability in comparative studies on surgical anatomy.

PubMed

Gagliardi, Filippo; Boari, Nicola; Roberti, Fabio; Caputy, Anthony J; Mortini, Pietro

2014-09-01

Comparative anatomical studies have proved to be invaluable in the evaluation of advantages and drawbacks of single approaches to access established target areas. Approach-related exposed areas do not necessarily represent useful areas when performing surgical manoeuvres. Accordingly the concept of "operability" has recently been introduced as a qualitative assessment of the ability to execute surgical manoeuvres. The authors propose an innovative model for the quantitative assessment of the operability, defined as "operability score" (OS), which can be effectively and easily applied to comparative studies on surgical anatomy. A microanatomical study was conducted on six cadaveric heads. Morphometric measurements were collected and operability scores in selected target points of the surgical field were calculated. As illustrative example, the operability score was applied to the extradural subtemporal transzygomatic approach (ESTZ). The operability score is effective in grading system of surgical operability, and instruments manipulation capability. It is a useful tool to evaluate, in a single approach, areas that can be exposed, and to quantify how those areas are suitable for surgical manoeuvres. Copyright © 2014 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effective Universal Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 in Chile.

PubMed

Guerrero-Núñez, Sara; Valenzuela-Suazo, Sandra; Cid-Henríquez, Patricia

2017-04-06

determine the prevalence of Effective Universal Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 in Chile and its relation with the variables: Health Care Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2; Average of diabetics with metabolic control in 2011-2013; Mortality Rate for Diabetes Mellitus; and Percentage of nurses participating in the Cardiovascular Health Program. cross-sectional descriptive study with ecological components that uses documentary sources of the Ministry of Health. It was established that there is correlation between the Universal Effective Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 and the independent variables; it was applied the Pearson Coefficient, being significant at the 0.05 level. in Chile Universal Health Care Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (HbA1c<7% estimated population) is less than 20%; this is related with Mortality Rate for Diabetes Mellitus and Percentage of nurses participating in the Cardiovascular Health Program, being significant at the 0.01 level. effective prevalence of Universal Health Coverage of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is low, even though some regions stand out in this research and in the metabolic control of patients who participate in health control program; its relation with percentage of nurses participating in the Cardiovascular Health Program represents a challenge and an opportunity for the health system. determinar a prevalência de Cobertura Universal Efetiva da Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 em Chile e sua relação com as variáveis; Cobertura da Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2, Média de diabéticos com controle metabólico em 2011-2013, Taxa de Mortalidade por Diabetes Mellitus e Percentagem de participação de enfermeiras no Programa de Saúde Cardiovascular. estudo descritivo transversal com componentes ecológicos, utilizando fontes documentais do Ministério da Saúde. Foi estabelecida correlação entre Cobertura Universal Efetiva da Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 e as variáveis independentes, aplicando o Coeficiente de Pearson, sendo significante ao 0,05. no Chile a Cobertura Universal Efetiva da Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 (HbA1c<7% em população estimada) é menor que 20%. Esta se relaciona com uma Taxa de Mortalidade por Diabetes Mellitus e Percentagem de participação de enfermeiras no Programa de Saúde Cardiovascular, que ademais é significativa ao 0,01. a prevalência de Cobertura Universal Efetiva da Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 é baixa, mesmo quando algumas regiões se destacam nas pesquisas e no controle metabólico de pacientes assistentes ao controle. Sua relação com a Percentagem de participação de enfermeiras no Programa de Saúde Cardiovascular se constitui em um desafio e oportunidade em saúde. determinar la prevalencia de la Cobertura Universal Efectiva de la diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en Chile y su relación con las variables: Cobertura de Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2, Promedio de diabéticos con control metabólico en 2011-2013, Tasa de Mortalidad por Diabetes Mellitus y Porcentaje de participación de enfermeros en el Programa de Salud Cardiovascular. estudio descriptivo transversal con componentes ecológicos, utilizando fuentes documentales del Ministerio de Salud. Se estableció que existe correlación entre la Cobertura Universal Efectiva de la Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 y las variables independientes, aplicando el Coeficiente de Pearson, siendo significativa al nivel 0,05. en Chile la Cobertura Universal Efectiva de Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 (HbA1c<7% en población estimada) es menor que 20%; esta se relaciona con la Tasa de Mortalidad por Diabetes Mellitus y con el Porcentaje de participación de enfermeras en el Programa de Salud Cardiovascular, que es significativa al nivel 0,01. la prevalencia de Cobertura Universal Efectiva de la Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 es baja; sin embargo algunas regiones se destacan en la cobertura y en el control metabólico de pacientes que participan del control de salud. La relación de la cobertura con el porcentaje de participación de enfermeras en el Programa de Salud Cardiovascular es un desafío y una oportunidad en salud.

Fluoride ion donor properties of cis-OsO(2)F(4): synthesis, raman spectroscopic study, and X-ray crystal structure of [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)].

PubMed

Hughes, Michael J; Mercier, Hélène P A; Schrobilgen, Gary J

2010-01-04

The salt, [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)], has been synthesized by dissolution of cis-OsO(2)F(4) in liquid SbF(5), followed by removal of excess SbF(5) at 0 degrees C to yield orange, crystalline [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)]. The X-ray crystal structure (-173 degrees C) consists of an OsO(2)F(3)(+) cation fluorine bridged to an Sb(2)F(11)(-) anion. The light atoms of OsO(2)F(3)(+) and the bridging fluorine atom form a distorted octahedron around osmium in which the osmium atom is displaced from its center toward an oxygen atom and away from the trans-fluorine bridge atom. As in other transition metal dioxofluorides, the oxygen ligands are cis to one another and the fluorine bridge atom is trans to an oxygen ligand and cis to the remaining oxygen ligand. The Raman spectrum (-150 degrees C) of solid [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)] was assigned on the basis of the ion pair observed in the low-temperature crystal structure. Under dynamic vacuum, [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)] loses SbF(5), yielding the known [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][Sb(2)F(11)] salt with no evidence for [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)] formation. Attempts to synthesize [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)] by the reaction of [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)] with an equimolar amount of cis-OsO(2)F(4) or by a 1:1 stoichiometric reaction of cis-OsO(2)F(4) with SbF(5) in anhydrous HF yielded only [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][Sb(2)F(11)]. Quantum-chemical calculations at the SVWN and B3LYP levels of theory and natural bond orbital analyses were used to calculate the gas-phase geometries, vibrational frequencies, natural population analysis charges, bond orders, and valencies of OsO(2)F(3)(+), [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)], [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)], and Sb(2)F(11)(-). The relative thermochemical stabilities of [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)], [OsO(2)F(3)][Sb(2)F(11)], [OsO(2)F(3)][AsF(6)], [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][SbF(6)], [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][Sb(2)F(11)], and [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][AsF(6)] were assessed using the appropriate Born-Haber cycles to account for the preference for [mu-F(OsO(2)F(3))(2)][Sb(2)F(11)] formation over [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)] formation and for the inability to synthesize [OsO(2)F(3)][SbF(6)].

Towards understanding the mechanism of rhenium and osmium precipitation in tungsten and its implication for tungsten-based alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yu-Hao; Zhou, Hong-Bo; Deng, Huiqiu; Lu, Gang; Lu, Guang-Hong

2018-07-01

Using a first-principles method in combination with thermodynamic models, we investigate the interaction between rhenium/osmium (Re/Os) and defects to explore the mechanism of radiation-induced Re/Os precipitation in tungsten (W). We demonstrate that radiation-induced defects play a key role in the solute precipitation in W, especially for self-interstitial atoms (SIAs). The presence of SIAs can significantly reduce the total nucleation free energy change of Re/Os, and thus facilitate the nucleation of Re/Os in W. Further, SIA is shown to be easily trapped by Re/Os once overcoming a low energy barrier, forming a W-Re/Os mixed dumbbell. Such W-Re/Os dumbbell forms a high stable Re/Os-Re/Os dumbbell structure with the substitutional Re/Os atoms, which can serve as a trapping centre for subsequent interstitial-Re/Os, leading to the growth of Re/Os-rich clusters. Consequently, an interstitial-mediated migration and aggregation mechanism for Re/Os precipitation in W has been proposed. Our results reveale that the alloying elements-defects interaction has significantly effect on their behaviors under irradiation, which should be considered in the design of W-based alloys for future fusion devices.

Rhenium-osmium isotope systematics of ordinary chondrites and iron meteorites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, R. J.; Morgan, J. W.; Horan, M. F.; Grossman, J. N.

1993-01-01

Using negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry, Re and Os abundances were determined by isotope dilution and Os-187/Os-186 measured in 11 ordinary chondrites, and also in 1 IIB and 3 IIIB irons. In addition, Os-186/Os-188 and Os-189/Os-188 ratios were precisely determined for 3 unspiked ordinary chondrites as a means of constraining the intensity of any neutron irradiation these meteorites may have experienced.

Bond deformation paths and electronic instabilities of ultraincompressible transition metal diborides: Case study of OsB2 and IrB2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, R. F.; Legut, D.; Wen, X. D.; Veprek, S.; Rajan, K.; Lookman, T.; Mao, H. K.; Zhao, Y. S.

2014-09-01

The energetically most stable orthorhombic structure of OsB2 and IrB2 is dynamically stable for OsB2 but unstable for IrB2. Both diborides have substantially lower shear strength in their easy slip systems than their metal counterparts. This is attributed to an easy sliding facilitated by out-of-plane weakening of metallic Os-Os bonds in OsB2 and by an in-plane bond splitting instability in IrB2. A much higher shear resistance of Os-B and B-B bonds than Os-Os ones is found, suggesting that the strengthened Os-B and B-B bonds are responsible for hardness enhancement in OsB2. In contrast, an in-plane electronic instability in IrB2 limits its strength. The electronic structure of deformed diborides suggests that the electronic instabilities of 5d orbitals are their origin of different bond deformation paths. Neither IrB2 nor OsB2 can be intrinsically superhard.

New osmium isotope evidence for intracrustal recycling of crustal domains with discrete ages

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hart, G.L.; Johnson, C.M.; Hildreth, W.; Shirey, S.B.

2003-01-01

New 187Os/188Os ratios of Quaternary Mount Adams volcanic rocks from the Cascade arc in southern Washington vary by >300% (187Os/188Os = 0.165-0.564) and fall into high (>0.319) and low (0.166 to 0.281) groups of 187Os/188Os ratios that are substantially more radiogenic than mantle values. These Os isotope compositions and groupings are interpreted to reflect recycling of discrete intracrustal domains with high 187Os/188Os ratios but differing ages, thus recording the process of crustal hybridization and homogenization. Os isotope compositions provide new constraints on amounts of intracrustal recycling in young subduction-zone environments that reflect the magmatic history of the arc. Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb isotope variations in this young, mafic are complex are too small to allow such constraints.

Bufalin Inhibits the Differentiation and Proliferation of Cancer Stem Cells Derived from Primary Osteosarcoma Cells through Mir-148a.

PubMed

Chang, Yuewen; Zhao, Yongfang; Gu, Wei; Cao, Yuelong; Wang, Shuqiang; Pang, Jian; Shi, Yinyu

2015-01-01

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in children and young adults. Chemoresistance is the most important cause of treatment failure in OS, largely resulting from presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, CSCs isolated from cancer cell lines do not necessarily represent those from primary human tumors due to accumulation of genetic aberrations that increase with passage number. Therefore, studies on CSCs from primary OS may be more important for understanding the mechanisms driving the chemoresistance of CSCs in OS. We established a primary culture of OS cells, known as C1OS, from freshly resected tumor tissue. We further isolated CSCs from C1OS cells (C1OS-CSCs). We analyzed the effects of bufalin, a traditional Chinese medicine, on the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. We also analyzed the microRNA (miR) targets of bufalin on the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. Moreover, we examined these findings in the OS specimen. Bufalin inhibited the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. Moreover, we found that miR-148a appeared to be a target of bufalin, and miR-148a further regulated DNMT1 and p27 to control the stemness of OS cells. This mechanism was further confirmed in OS specimen. Our data suggest that bufalin may be a promising treatment for OS, and its function may be conducted through regulation of miR-148a. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

OsHAC1;1 and OsHAC1;2 Function as Arsenate Reductases and Regulate Arsenic Accumulation1

PubMed Central

Wang, Tao; Tang, Zhong; Wu, Zhongchang; Salt, David E.; Chao, Dai-Yin

2016-01-01

Rice is a major dietary source of the toxic metalloid arsenic (As). Reducing its accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa) grain is of critical importance to food safety. Rice roots take up arsenate and arsenite depending on the prevailing soil conditions. The first step of arsenate detoxification is its reduction to arsenite, but the enzyme(s) catalyzing this reaction in rice remains unknown. Here, we identify OsHAC1;1 and OsHAC1;2 as arsenate reductases in rice. OsHAC1;1 and OsHAC1;2 are able to complement an Escherichia coli mutant lacking the endogenous arsenate reductase and to reduce arsenate to arsenite. OsHAC1:1 and OsHAC1;2 are predominantly expressed in roots, with OsHAC1;1 being abundant in the epidermis, root hairs, and pericycle cells while OsHAC1;2 is abundant in the epidermis, outer layers of cortex, and endodermis cells. Expression of the two genes was induced by arsenate exposure. Knocking out OsHAC1;1 or OsHAC1;2 decreased the reduction of arsenate to arsenite in roots, reducing arsenite efflux to the external medium. Loss of arsenite efflux was also associated with increased As accumulation in shoots. Greater effects were observed in a double mutant of the two genes. In contrast, overexpression of either OsHAC1;1 or OsHAC1;2 increased arsenite efflux, reduced As accumulation, and enhanced arsenate tolerance. When grown under aerobic soil conditions, overexpression of either OsHAC1;1 or OsHAC1;2 also decreased As accumulation in rice grain, whereas grain As increased in the knockout mutants. We conclude that OsHAC1;1 and OsHAC1;2 are arsenate reductases that play an important role in restricting As accumulation in rice shoots and grain. PMID:27702843

Rice phytochrome-interacting factor protein OsPIF14 represses OsDREB1B gene expression through an extended N-box and interacts preferentially with the active form of phytochrome B

DOE PAGES

Cordeiro, André M.; Figueiredo, Duarte D.; Tepperman, James; ...

2015-12-28

DREB1/CBF genes, known as major regulators of plant stress responses, are rapidly and transiently induced by low temperatures. Using a yeast one-hybrid screening, we identified a putative Phytochrome-Interacting bHLH Factor (OsPIF14), as binding to the OsDREB1B promoter. bHLH proteins are able to bind to hexameric E-box (CANNTG) or N-box (CACG(A/C)G) motifs, depending on transcriptional activity. We have shown that OsPIF14 binds to the OsDREB1B promoter through two N-boxes and that the flanking regions of the hexameric core are essential for protein–DNA interaction and stability. We also showed that OsPIF14 down-regulates OsDREB1B gene expression in rice protoplasts, corroborating the OsPIF14 repressormore » activity observed in the transactivation assays using Arabidopsis protoplasts. Additionally, we showed that OsPIF14 is indeed a phytochrome interacting factor, which preferentially binds to the active form (Pfr) of rice phytochrome B. This raises the possibility that OsPIF14 activity might be modulated by light. However, we did not observe any regulation of the OsDREB1B gene expression by light under control conditions. Moreover, OsPIF14 gene expression was shown to be modulated by different treatments, such as drought, salt, cold and ABA. Interestingly, OsPIF14 showed also a specific cold-induced alternative splicing. Our results suggest the possibility that OsPIF14 is involved in cross-talk between light and stress signaling through interaction with the OsDREB1B promoter. Finally, although in the absence of stress, OsDREB1B gene expression was not regulated by light, given previous reports, it remains possible that OsPIF14 has a role in light modulation of stress responses.« less

Rice phytochrome-interacting factor protein OsPIF14 represses OsDREB1B gene expression through an extended N-box and interacts preferentially with the active form of Phytochrome B

PubMed Central

Cordeiro, André M.; Figueiredo, Duarte D.; Tepperman, James; Borba, Ana Rita; Lourenço, Tiago; Abreu, Isabel A.; Ouwerkerk, Pieter B.F.; Quail, Peter H.; Oliveira, M. Margarida; Saibo, Nelson J. M.

2016-01-01

DREB1/CBF genes, known as major regulators of plant stress responses, are rapidly and transiently induced by low temperatures. Using a Yeast one Hybrid screening, we identified a putative Phytochrome-Interacting bHLH Factor (OsPIF14), as binding to the OsDREB1B promoter. bHLH proteins are able to bind to hexameric E-box (CANNTG) or N-box (CACG(A/C)G) motifs, depending on transcriptional activity. We have shown that OsPIF14 binds to the OsDREB1B promoter through two N-boxes and that the flanking regions of the hexameric core are essential for protein-DNA interaction and stability. We also showed that OsPIF14 down-regulates OsDREB1B gene expression in rice protoplasts, corroborating the OsPIF14 repressor activity observed in the transactivation assays using Arabidopsis protoplasts. In addition, we showed that OsPIF14 is indeed a Phytochrome Interacting Factor, which preferentially binds to the active form (Pfr) of rice phytochrome B. This raises the possibility that OsPIF14 activity might be modulated by light. However, we did not observe any regulation of the OsDREB1B gene expression by light under control conditions. Moreover, OsPIF14 gene expression was shown to be modulated by different treatments, such as drought, salt, cold and ABA. Interestingly, OsPIF14 showed also a specific cold-induced alternative splicing. All together, these results suggest the possibility that OsPIF14 is involved in cross-talk between light and stress signaling through interaction with the OsDREB1B promoter. Although in the absence of stress, OsDREB1B gene expression was not regulated by light, given previous reports, it remains possible that OsPIF14 has a role in light modulation of stress responses. PMID:26732823

Estimated rates of recurrence, cure, and treatment abandonment in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis treated with a -four-drug fixed-dose combination regimen at a tertiary health care facility in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PubMed

Silva, Vangie Dias da; Mello, Fernanda Carvalho de Queiroz; Figueiredo, Sonia Catarina de Abreu

2017-01-01

To estimate the rates of recurrence, cure, and treatment abandonment in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis treated with a four-drug fixed-dose combination (FDC) regimen, as well as to evaluate possible associated factors. This was a retrospective observational study involving 208 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis enrolled in the Hospital Tuberculosis Control Program at the Institute for Thoracic Diseases, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Between January of 2007 and October of 2010, the patients were treated with the rifampin-isoniazid-pyrazinamide (RHZ) regimen, whereas, between November of 2010 and June of 2013, the patients were treated with the rifampin-isoniazid-pyrazinamide-ethambutol FDC (RHZE/FDC) regimen. Data regarding tuberculosis recurrence and mortality in the patients studied were retrieved from the Brazilian Case Registry Database and the Brazilian Mortality Database, respectively. The follow-up period comprised two years after treatment completion. The rates of cure, treatment abandonment, and death were 90.4%, 4.8%, and 4.8%, respectively. There were 7 cases of recurrence during the follow-up period. No significant differences in the recurrence rate were found between the RHZ and RHZE/FDC regimen groups (p = 0.13). We identified no factors associated with the occurrence of recurrence; nor were there any statistically significant differences between the treatment groups regarding adverse effects or rates of cure, treatment abandonment, or death. The adoption of the RHZE/FDC regimen produced no statistically significant differences in the rates of recurrence, cure, or treatment abandonment; nor did it have any effect on the occurrence of adverse effects, in comparison with the use of the RHZ regimen. Estimar as taxas de recidiva, cura e abandono de tratamento em pacientes com tuberculose pulmonar tratados com o esquema de dose fixa combinada (DFC) de quatro drogas e avaliar possíveis fatores associados. Estudo observacional retrospectivo com 208 pacientes com diagnóstico confirmado de tuberculose pulmonar registrados no Programa de Controle da Tuberculose Hospitalar do Instituto de Doenças do Tórax, localizado na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Os pacientes tratados entre janeiro de 2007 e outubro de 2010 receberam o esquema rifampicina-isoniazida-pirazinamida (RHZ), e aqueles tratados entre novembro de 2010 e junho de 2013 receberam o esquema rifampicina-isoniazida-pirazinamida-etambutol em DFC (RHZE/DFC). Os dados dos pacientes sobre recidiva e óbito foram obtidos no Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação e no Sistema de Informação de Mortalidade, respectivamente. O período de acompanhamento foi de dois anos após o encerramento do tratamento. As taxas de cura, abandono e óbito foram de 90,4%, 4,8% e 4,8%, respectivamente. Houve 7 casos de recidivas durante o período de acompanhamento. Não houve diferenças significativas na taxa de recidiva entre os grupos de tratamento RHZ e RHZE/DFC (p = 0,13). Não foram identificados fatores associados com a ocorrência de recidiva, nem houve diferenças estatisticamente significativas na ocorrência dos efeitos adversos ou nas taxas de cura, abandono e óbito entre os grupos de tratamento. A adoção do esquema de tratamento RHZE/DFC não produziu diferenças estatisticamente significativas nas taxas de recidiva, cura e abandono nem na ocorrência de efeitos adversos em comparação com o esquema RHZ.

Search for Extraterrestrial Osmium at the Allerod - Younger Dryas Boundary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beets, C.; Sharma, M.; Kasse, K.; Bohncke, S.

2008-12-01

Ir and Os are excellent markers of extraterrestrial impact events, due to their high abundance in ET objects (Alvarez et al., 1980 Science; Turekian, 1982 Geol. Bull. Am. Spec. Pap.). Os has the advantage over Ir, in that the 187Os/188Os ratio also greatly differs between meteorites and upper continental crust (UCC). The combination of [Os] and 187Os/188Os analyses would be superior in detecting any ET contribution. Firestone et al (2007 PNAS) attributed a widespread 12.9 ka Ir containing black carbon layer to a potential extraterrestrial impact at the Allerød-Younger Dryas (A-YD) boundary. In order to test this inference, we measured [Os] and 187Os/188Os on a radiocarbon dated A-YD record (13.210 to 12.788 cal years BP) from the Netherlands. This location is close to Lommel, a Belgian site studied by Firestone et al.(2007). The organic-rich sequence was sampled continuously over a 12 cm interval at 2 cm resolution (~70 years). About 10 g samples were freeze-dried, ground and homogenized in a zirconia ball-mill. The samples mixed with 190Os tracer solutions were dissolved in carius tubes and Os extracted in liquid bromine. Os was further purified using micro-distillation. Os isotopes were measured using N-TIMS on Dartmouth Triton. The procedural blank was 7 fg/g Os with an isotopic composition of 0.41±0.01 The Allerød samples have an order of magnitude higher abundance than UCC (200 vs. 30 pg/g), but similar 187Os/188Os ratios, >1.1. The sample at the base of the YD (12.893±75 cal years BP) contains a similar amount of Os, but has a distinctly lower isotopic signature, 0.53±0.002. The high [Os] in the A-YD section possibly reflects enrichment by preferential partitioning into organic matter. The Os isotope composition of 0.53, sandwiched between values >1.1, implies contribution of a significant amount of non-radiogenic Os. Since the pollen spectra show no reworking, the non-radiogenic Os could only have been delivered as a discrete pulse at 12.893 cal yr BP. The observation of the non-radiogenic Os isotope composition would therefore be consistent with a meteorite impact. However, it is intriguing to note there was a small volcanic eruption of Laacher See tephra (LST) at this time (surface immediately below LST = 12.979±147 cal years BP, Bittmann, 2007 Veget Hist Archeobot) approximately 150 km away. The timing of this eruption has been traditionally placed in upper Allerød, about 200 years before the onset of YD. More work is needed to resolve the issue of ET Os at the YD boundary.

Osmium isotope evidence for a large Late Triassic impact event

PubMed Central

Sato, Honami; Onoue, Tetsuji; Nozaki, Tatsuo; Suzuki, Katsuhiko

2013-01-01

Anomalously high platinum group element concentrations have previously been reported for Upper Triassic deep-sea sediments, which are interpreted to be derived from an extraterrestrial impact event. Here we report the osmium (Os) isotope fingerprint of an extraterrestrial impact from Upper Triassic chert successions in Japan. Os isotope data exhibit a marked negative excursion from an initial Os isotope ratio (187Os/188Osi) of ∼0.477 to unradiogenic values of ∼0.126 in a platinum group element-enriched claystone layer, indicating the input of meteorite-derived Os into the sediments. The timing of the Os isotope excursion coincides with both elevated Os concentrations and low Re/Os ratios. The magnitude of this negative Os isotope excursion is comparable to those found at Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary sites. These geochemical lines of evidence demonstrate that a large impactor (3.3–7.8 km in diameter) produced a global decrease in seawater 187Os/188Os ratios in the Late Triassic. PMID:24036603

Re–Os geochronology of the lacustrine Green River Formation: Insights into direct depositional dating of lacustrine successions, Re–Os systematics and paleocontinental weathering

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cumming, Vivien M.; Selby, David; Lillis, Paul G.

2012-01-01

Lacustrine sedimentary successions provide exceptionally high-resolution records of continental geological processes, responding to tectonic, climatic and magmatic influences. These successions are therefore essential for correlating geological and climatic phenomena across continents and furthermore the globe. Producing accurate geochronological frameworks within lacustrine strata is challenging because the stratigraphy is often bereft of biostratigraphy and directly dateable tuff horizons. The rhenium–osmium (Re–Os) geochronometer is a well-established tool for determining precise and accurate depositional ages of marine organic-rich rocks. Lake systems with stratified water columns are predisposed to the preservation of organic-rich rocks and thus should permit direct Re–Os geochronology of lacustrine strata. We present Re–Os systematics from one of the world's best documented lacustrine systems, the Eocene Green River Formation, providing accurate Re–Os depositional dates that are supported by Ar–Ar and U–Pb ages of intercalated tuff horizons. Precision of the Green River Formation Re–Os dates is controlled by the variation in initial 187Os/188Os and the range of 187Re/188Os ratios, as also documented in marine systems. Controls on uptake and fractionation of Re and Os are considered to relate mainly to depositional setting and the type of organic matter deposited, with the need to further understand the chelating precursors of Re and Os in organic matter highlighted. In addition to geochronology, the Re–Os data records the 187Os/188Os composition of lake water (1.41–1.54) at the time of deposition, giving an insight into continental runoff derived from weathering of the geological hinterland of the Green River Formation. Such insights enable us to evaluate fluctuations in continental climatic, tectonic and magmatic processes and provide the ability for chemostratigraphic correlation combined with direct depositional dates. Furthermore, initial 187Os/188Os values can be used as a diagnostic tool to distinguish between lacustrine and marine depositional settings when compared to known oceanic 187Os/188Os values.

Re-Os isotopic systematics of primitive lavas from the Lassen region of the Cascade arc, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Borg, L.E.; Brandon, A.D.; Clynne, M.A.; Walker, R.J.

2000-01-01

Rhenium-osmium isotopic systematics of primitive calc-alkaline lavas from the Lassen region appear to be controlled by mantle wedge processes. Lavas with a large proportion of slab component have relatively low Re and Os abundances, and have radiogenic Os and mid ocean ridge basalt-like Sr and Pb isotopic compositions. Lavas with a small proportion of slab component have higher Re and Os elemental abundances and display mantle-like Os, Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic compositions. Assimilation with fractional crystallization can only generate the Re-Os systematics of the Lassen lavas from a common parent if the distribution coefficient for Re in sulfide is ~40-1100 times higher than most published estimates and if most incompatible element abundances decrease during differentiation. High Re/Os ratios in mid ocean ridge basalts makes subducted oceanic crust a potential source of radiogenic Os in volcanic arcs. The slab beneath the southernmost Cascades is estimated to have 187Os/188Os ratios as high as 1.4. Mixing between a slab component and mantle wedge peridotite can generate the Os isotopic systematics of the Lassen lavas provided the slab component has a Sr/Os ratio of ~7.5X105 and Os abundances that are 100-600 times higher than mid ocean ridge basalts. For this model to be correct, Os must be readily mobilized and concentrated in the slab component, perhaps as a result of high water and HCl fugacities in this subduction environment. Another possible mechanism to account for the correlation between the magnitude of the subduction geochemical signature and Os isotopic composition involves increasing the stability of an Os-bearing phase in mantle wedge peridotites as a result of fluxing with the slab component. Melting of such a source could yield low Os magmas that are more susceptible to crustal contamination, and hence have more radiogenic Os isotopic compositions, than magmas derived from sources with a smaller contribution from the slab. Thus, the addition of the slab component to the mantle wedge appears to result in either the direct or indirect addition of radiogenic Os to arc magmas. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cordeiro, André M.; Figueiredo, Duarte D.; Tepperman, James

DREB1/CBF genes, known as major regulators of plant stress responses, are rapidly and transiently induced by low temperatures. Using a yeast one-hybrid screening, we identified a putative Phytochrome-Interacting bHLH Factor (OsPIF14), as binding to the OsDREB1B promoter. bHLH proteins are able to bind to hexameric E-box (CANNTG) or N-box (CACG(A/C)G) motifs, depending on transcriptional activity. We have shown that OsPIF14 binds to the OsDREB1B promoter through two N-boxes and that the flanking regions of the hexameric core are essential for protein–DNA interaction and stability. We also showed that OsPIF14 down-regulates OsDREB1B gene expression in rice protoplasts, corroborating the OsPIF14 repressormore » activity observed in the transactivation assays using Arabidopsis protoplasts. Additionally, we showed that OsPIF14 is indeed a phytochrome interacting factor, which preferentially binds to the active form (Pfr) of rice phytochrome B. This raises the possibility that OsPIF14 activity might be modulated by light. However, we did not observe any regulation of the OsDREB1B gene expression by light under control conditions. Moreover, OsPIF14 gene expression was shown to be modulated by different treatments, such as drought, salt, cold and ABA. Interestingly, OsPIF14 showed also a specific cold-induced alternative splicing. Our results suggest the possibility that OsPIF14 is involved in cross-talk between light and stress signaling through interaction with the OsDREB1B promoter. Finally, although in the absence of stress, OsDREB1B gene expression was not regulated by light, given previous reports, it remains possible that OsPIF14 has a role in light modulation of stress responses.« less

Rice cyclophilin OsCYP18-2 is translocated to the nucleus by an interaction with SKIP and enhances drought tolerance in rice and Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Lee, Sang Sook; Park, Hyun Ji; Yoon, Dae Hwa; Kim, Beom-Gi; Ahn, Jun Cheul; Luan, Sheng; Cho, Hye Sun

2015-10-01

Cyclophilin 18-2 (CYP18-2) genes, homologues of human peptidyl-prolyl isomerase-like 1 (PPiL1), are conserved across multicellular organisms and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Although PPiL1 is known to interact with ski-interacting protein (SKIP), a transcriptional co-regulator and spliceosomal component, there have been no functional analyses of PPiL1 homologues in plants. Rice cyclophilin 18-2 (OsCYP18-2) bound directly to amino acids 56-95 of OsSKIP and its binding was independent of cyclosporin A, a cyclophilin-binding drug. Moreover, OsCYP18-2 exhibited PPIase activity regardless of its interaction with OsSKIP. Therefore, the binding site for OsCYP18-2's interaction with SKIP was distinct from the PPIase active site. OsCYP18-2's interaction with SKIP full-length protein enabled OsCYP18-2's translocation from the cytoplasm into the nucleus and AtSKIP interacted in planta with both AtCYP18-2 and OsCYP18-2. Drought and salt stress induced similar expression of OsCYP18-2 and OsSKIP. Overexpression of OsCYP18-2 in transgenic rice and Arabidopsis thaliana plants enhanced drought tolerance and altered expression and pre-mRNA splicing patterns of stress-related genes in Arabidopsis under drought conditions. Furthermore, OsCYP18-2 caused transcriptional activation with/without OsSKIP in the GAL4 system of yeast; thus the OsSKIP-OsCYP18-2 interaction has an important role in the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of stress-related genes and increases tolerance to drought stress. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Changes in gene expression and catalase activity in Oryza sativa L. under abiotic stress.

PubMed

Vighi, I L; Benitez, L C; do Amaral, M N; Auler, P A; Moraes, G P; Rodrigues, G S; da Maia, L C; Pinto, L S; Braga, E J B

2016-11-03

Different rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes were subjected to high salinity and low temperature (150 mM NaCl and 13°C, respectively) for 0, 6, 24, 48, or 72 h. We evaluated the simultaneous expression of the genes OsCATA, OsCATB, and OsCATC, correlated gene expression with enzyme activity, and verified the regulation of these genes through identification of cis-elements in the promoter region. The hydrogen peroxide content increased in a tolerant genotype and decreased in a sensitive genotype under both stress conditions. Lipid peroxidation increased in the tolerant genotype when exposed to cold, and in the sensitive genotype when exposed to high salinity. Catalase activity significantly increased in both genotypes when subjected to 13°C. In the tolerant genotype, OsCATA and OsCATB were the most responsive to high salinity and cold, while in the sensitive genotype, OsCATA and OsCATC responded positively to saline stress, as did OsCATA and OsCATB to low temperature. Cis-element analysis identified different regulatory sequences in the catalase promoter region of each genotype. The sensitive genotype maintained a better balance between hydrogen oxyacid levels, catalase activity, and lipid peroxidation under low temperature than the resistant genotype. OsCATA and OsCATB were the most responsive in the salt-tolerant genotype to cold, OsCATA and OsCATC were the most responsive to saline stress, and OsCATA and OsCATB were the most responsive to chilling stress in the sensitive genotype. There were positive correlations between catalase activity and OsCATB expression in the tolerant genotype under saline stress and in the sensitive genotype under cold stress.

Phosphate starvation induced OsPHR4 mediates Pi-signaling and homeostasis in rice.

PubMed

Ruan, Wenyuan; Guo, Meina; Wu, Ping; Yi, Keke

2017-02-01

OsPHR4 mediates the regulation of Pi-starvation signaling and Pi-homeostasis in a PHR1-subfamily dependent manner in rice. Phosphate (Pi) starvation response is a sophisticated process for plant in the natural environment. In this process, PHOSPHATE STARVATION RESPONSE 1 (PHR1) subfamily genes play a central role in regulating Pi-starvation signaling and Pi-homeostasis. Besides the three PHR1 orthologs in Oryza sativa L. (Os) [(Os) PHR1, (Os) PHR2, and (Os) PHR3], which were reported to regulated Pi-starvation signaling and Pi-homeostasis redundantly, a close related PHR1 ortholog [designated as (Os) PHR4] is presented in rice genome with unknown function. In this study, we found that OsPHR4 is a Pi-starvation induced gene and mainly expresses in vascular tissues through all growth and development periods. The expression of OsPHR4 is positively regulated by OsPHR1, OsPHR2 and OsPHR3. The nuclear located OsPHR4 can respectively interact with other three PHR1 subfamily members to regulate downstream Pi-starvation induced genes. Consistent with the positive role of PHR4 in regulating Pi-starvation signaling, the OsPHR4 overexpressors display higher Pi accumulation in the shoot and elevated expression of Pi-starvation induced genes under Pi-sufficient condition. Besides, moderate growth retardation and repression of the Pi-starvation signaling in the OsPHR4 RNA interfering (RNAi) transgenic lines can be observed under Pi-deficient condition. Together, we propose that OsPHR4 mediates the regulation of Pi-starvation signaling and Pi-homeostasis in a PHR1-subfamily dependent manner in rice.

Electronic structure and mechanical properties of osmium borides, carbides and nitrides from first principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yongcheng; Zhao, Jianzhi; Zhang, Bin

2008-06-01

The stabilities, mechanical properties and electronic structures of osmium boride (OsB), carbide (OsC) and nitride (OsN), in the tungsten carbide (WC), rocksalt (NaCl), cesium chloride (CsCl) and zinc blende (ZnS) structures respectively, are systematically predicted by calculations from first-principles. Only four phases, namely, OsB(WC), OsB(CsCl), OsC(WC), and OsC(ZnS), are mechanically stable, and none is a superhard compound, contrary to previous speculation. Most importantly, we find that the changing trends of bulk modulus and shear modulus are completely different for OsB, OsC and OsN in same hexagonal WC structure, which indicates that the underlying sources of hardness and incompressibility are fundamentally different: the former is determined by bonding nature while the latter is closely associated with valence electron density.

Candle Flames in Non-Buoyant Atmospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dietrich, D. L.; Ross, H. D.; Shu, Y.; Tien, J. S.

1999-01-01

This paper addresses the behavior of a candle flame in a long-duration, quiescent microgravity environment both on the space Shuttle and the Mir Orbiting Station (OS). On the Shuttle, the flames became dim blue after an initial transient where there was significant yellow (presumably soot) in the flame. The flame lifetimes were typically less than 60 seconds. The safety-mandated candlebox that contained the candle flame inhibited oxygen transport to the flame and thus limited the flame lifetime. 'Me flames on the Mir OS were similar, except that the yellow luminosity persisted longer into the flame lifetime because of a higher initial oxygen concentration. The Mir flames burned for as long as 45 minutes. The difference in the flame lifetime between the Shuttle and Mir flames was primarily the redesigned candlebox that did not inhibit oxygen transport to the flame. In both environments, the flame intensity and the height-to-width ratio gradually decreased as the ambient oxygen content in the sealed chamber slowly decreased. Both sets of experiments showed spontaneous, axisymmetric flame oscillations just prior to extinction. The paper also presents a numerical model of candle flame. The model is detailed in the gas-phase, but uses a simplified liquid/wick phase. 'Me model predicts a steady flame with a shape and size quantitatively similar to the Shuttle and Mir flames. ne model also predicts pre-extinction flame oscillations if the decrease in ambient oxygen is small enough.

Isolation, structural analysis, and expression characteristics of the maize (Zea mays L.) hexokinase gene family.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhongbao; Zhang, Jiewei; Chen, Yajuan; Li, Ruifen; Wang, Hongzhi; Ding, Liping; Wei, Jianhua

2014-09-01

Hexokinases (HXKs, EC 2.7.1.1) play important roles in metabolism, glucose (Glc) signaling, and phosphorylation of Glc and fructose and are ubiquitous in all organisms. Despite their physiological importance, the maize HXK (ZmHXK) genes have not been analyzed systematically. We isolated and characterized nine members of the ZmHXK gene family which were distributed on 3 of the 10 maize chromosomes. A multiple sequence alignment and motif analysis revealed that the maize ZmHXK proteins share three conserved domains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ZmHXK family can be divided into four subfamilies. We identified putative cis-elements in the ZmHXK promoter sequences potentially involved in phytohormone and abiotic stress responses, sugar repression, light and circadian rhythm regulation, Ca(2+) responses, seed development and germination, and CO2-responsive transcriptional activation. To study the functions of maize HXK isoforms, we characterized the expression of the ZmHXK5 and ZmHXK6 genes, which are evolutionarily related to the OsHXK5 and OsHXK6 genes from rice. Analysis of tissue-specific expression patterns using quantitative real time-PCR showed that ZmHXK5 was highly expressed in tassels, while ZmHXK6 was expressed in both tassels and leaves. ZmHXK5 and ZmHXK6 expression levels were upregulated by phytohormones and by abiotic stress.

MRD assessed by WT1 and NPM1 transcript levels identifies distinct outcomes in AML patients and is influenced by gemtuzumab ozogamicin

PubMed Central

Lambert, Juliette; Lambert, Jérôme; Nibourel, Olivier; Pautas, Cécile; Hayette, Sandrine; Cayuela, Jean-Michel; Terré, Christine; Rousselot, Philippe; Dombret, Hervé; Chevret, Sylvie; Preudhomme, Claude; Castaigne, Sylvie; Renneville, Aline

2014-01-01

We analysed the prognostic significance of minimal residual disease (MRD) level in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treated in the randomized gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) ALFA-0701 trial. Levels of WT1 and NPM1 gene transcripts were assessed using cDNA-based real-time quantitative PCR in 183 patients with WT1 overexpression and in 77 patients with NMP1 mutation (NPM1mut) at diagnosis. Positive WT1 MRD (defined as > 0.5% in the peripheral blood) after induction and at the end of treatment were both significantly associated with a higher risk of relapse and a shorter overall survival (OS). Positive NPM1mut MRD (defined as > 0.1% in the bone marrow) after induction and at the end of treatment also predicted a higher risk of relapse, but did not influence OS. Interestingly, the achievement of a negative NPM1mut MRD was significantly more frequent in patients treated in the GO arm compared to those treated in control arm (39% versus 7% (p=0.006) after induction and 91% versus 61% (p=0.028) at the end of treatment). However, GO did not influence WT1 MRD levels. Our study supports the prognostic significance of MRD assessed by WT1 and NPM1mut transcript levels and show that NPM1 MRD is decreased by GO treatment. PMID:25026287

MRD assessed by WT1 and NPM1 transcript levels identifies distinct outcomes in AML patients and is influenced by gemtuzumab ozogamicin.

PubMed

Lambert, Juliette; Lambert, Jérôme; Nibourel, Olivier; Pautas, Cécile; Hayette, Sandrine; Cayuela, Jean-Michel; Terré, Christine; Rousselot, Philippe; Dombret, Hervé; Chevret, Sylvie; Preudhomme, Claude; Castaigne, Sylvie; Renneville, Aline

2014-08-15

We analysed the prognostic significance of minimal residual disease (MRD) level in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treated in the randomized gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) ALFA-0701 trial. Levels of WT1 and NPM1 gene transcripts were assessed using cDNA-based real-time quantitative PCR in 183 patients with WT1 overexpression and in 77 patients with NMP1 mutation (NPM1mut) at diagnosis. Positive WT1 MRD (defined as > 0.5% in the peripheral blood) after induction and at the end of treatment were both significantly associated with a higher risk of relapse and a shorter overall survival (OS). Positive NPM1mut MRD (defined as > 0.1% in the bone marrow) after induction and at the end of treatment also predicted a higher risk of relapse, but did not influence OS. Interestingly, the achievement of a negative NPM1mut MRD was significantly more frequent in patients treated in the GO arm compared to those treated in control arm (39 % versus 7% (p=0.006) after induction and 91% versus 61% (p=0.028) at the end of treatment). However, GO did not influence WT1 MRD levels. Our study supports the prognostic significance of MRD assessed by WT1 and NPM1mut transcript levels and show that NPM1 MRD is decreased by GO treatment.

Relationship between specific adverse events and efficacy of exemestane therapy in early postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

PubMed

Fontein, D B Y; Houtsma, D; Hille, E T M; Seynaeve, C; Putter, H; Meershoek-Klein Kranenbarg, E; Guchelaar, H J; Gelderblom, H; Dirix, L Y; Paridaens, R; Bartlett, J M S; Nortier, J W R; van de Velde, C J H

2012-12-01

Many adverse events (AEs) associated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) involve symptoms related to the depletion of circulating estrogens, and may be related to efficacy. We assessed the relationship between specific AEs [hot flashes (HF) and musculoskeletal AEs (MSAE)] and survival outcomes in Dutch and Belgian patients treated with exemestane (EXE) in the Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational (TEAM) trial. Additionally, the relationship between hormone receptor expression and AEs was assessed. Efficacy end points were relapse-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific mortality (BCSM), starting at 6 months after starting EXE treatment. AEs reported in the first 6 months of treatment were included. Specific AEs comprised HF and/or MSAE. Landmark analyses and Cox proportional hazards models assessed survival differences up to 5 years. A total of 1485 EXE patients were included. Patients with HF had a better RFS than patients without HF [multivariate hazard ratio (HR) 0.393, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.19-0.813; P = 0.012]. The occurrence of MSAE versus no MSAE did not relate to better RFS (multivariate HR 0.677, 95% CI 0.392-1.169; P = 0.162). Trends were maintained for OS and BCSM. Quantitative hormone receptor expression was not associated with specific AEs. Some AEs associated with estrogen depletion are related to better outcomes and may be valuable biomarkers in AI treatment.

Low BRMS1 expression promotes nasopharyngeal carcinoma metastasis in vitro and in vivo and is associated with poor patient survival

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) is a metastasis suppressor gene. This study aimed to investigate the impact of BRMS1 on metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to evaluate the prognostic significance of BRMS1 in NPC patients. Methods BRMS1 expression was examined in NPC cell lines using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. NPC cells stably expressing BRMS1 were used to perform wound healing and invasion assays in vitro and a murine xenograft assay in vivo. Immunohistochemical staining was performed in 274 paraffin-embedded NPC specimens divided into a training set (n = 120) and a testing set (n = 154). Results BRMS1 expression was down-regulated in NPC cell lines. Overexpression of BRMS1 significantly reversed the metastatic phenotype of NPC cells in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, low BRMS1 expression was associated with poor distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS, P < 0.001) and poor overall survival (OS, P < 0.001) in the training set; these results were validated in the testing set and overall patient population. Cox regression analysis demonstrated that low BRMS1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for DMFS and OS in NPC. Conclusions Low expression of the metastasis suppressor BRMS1 may be an independent prognostic factor for poor prognosis in NPC patients. PMID:22931099

Osmium isotope evidence for uniform distribution of s- and r-process components in the early solar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokoyama, Tetsuya; Rai, Vinai K.; Alexander, Conel M. O'D.; Lewis, Roy S.; Carlson, Richard W.; Shirey, Steven B.; Thiemens, Mark H.; Walker, Richard J.

2007-07-01

We have precisely measured Os isotopic ratios in bulk samples of five carbonaceous, two enstatite and two ordinary chondrites, as well as the acid-resistant residues of three carbonaceous chondrites. All bulk meteorite samples have uniform 186Os/ 188Os, 188Os/ 189Os and 190Os/ 189Os ratios, when decomposed by an alkaline fusion total digestion technique. These ratios are also identical to estimates for Os in the bulk silicate Earth. Despite Os isotopic homogeneity at the bulk meteorite scale, acid insoluble residues of three carbonaceous chondrites are enriched in 186Os, 188Os and 190Os, isotopes with major contributions from stellar s-process nucleosynthesis. Conversely, these isotopes are depleted in acid soluble portions of the same meteorites. The complementary enriched and depleted fractions indicate the presence of at least two types of Os-rich components in these meteorites, one enriched in Os isotopes produced by s-process nucleosynthesis, the other enriched in isotopes produced by the r-process. Presolar silicon carbide is the most probable host for the s-process-enriched Os present in the acid insoluble residues. Because the enriched and depleted components present in these meteorites are combined in proportions resulting in a uniform chondritic/terrestrial composition, it requires that disparate components were thoroughly mixed within the solar nebula at the time of the initiation of planetesimal accretion. This conclusion contrasts with evidence from the isotopic compositions of some other elements (e.g., Sm, Nd, Ru, Mo) that suggests heterogeneous distribution of matter with disparate nucleosynthetic sources within the nebula.

Comparative Study of Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties of Osmate Double Perovskites: Ca2FeOsO6 versus Ca2Co(Ni)OsO6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Kartik; Saha-Dasgupta, Tanusri

2018-04-01

Employing density functional theory, we study the trend in the electronic and magnetic properties of 3d-5d double perovskites, upon varying the 3d element for a fixed choice of 5d element, namely Ca2BOsO6 (B = Fe/Co/Ni). While all three compounds are reported to be ferrimagnets, the magnetic transition temperature of Ca2FeOsO6 is reported to be 2-2.4 times larger than that of Ca2CoOsO6 or Ca2NiOsO6. Our first-principles study provides microscopic insight into this trend. This trend is found to be caused by the downward shift in the position of d level energies of the B site element with respect to that of the Os t2g level upon moving across the 3d series from Fe to Co and Ni. This in turn changes the nominal valence of the Os ion from 5+ in Ca2FeOsO6 to 6+ in Ca2CoOsO6 and Ca2NiOsO6, resulting in differing superexchange paths between Ca2FeOsO6 and Ca2Co(Ni)OsO6, and additionally enabling the hybridization-mechanism-driven magnetism in Ca2FeOsO6. These together significantly enhance the magnetic transition temperature in Ca2FeOsO6 compared with that in Ca2Co(Ni)OsO6.

PROGRAMA PARA LA VERIFICACIN DE LA TECNOLOGIA AMBIENTAL/ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION PROGRAM (ETV) (EPA/600/F-98/015A)

EPA Science Inventory

A travs de su historia, la Agencia de Proteccin del Medio Ambiente estadounidense (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA) ha evaluado distintas tecnologas para determinar su efectividad en el monitoreo, la prevencin, el control, y la limpieza de la contaminacin ambiental. Sin...

Intercultural Education Series. Some Perspectives on Inter-America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Armond, Louis; And Others

This publication of the Programa de Educacion Interamericana builds upon the overall cultural base on Latin America presented for the teacher in SO 001 424 by providing additional information for understanding past and present events. It also presents, in general view, the development of music, literature, and art. A third dimension is introduced,…

The Colombian Remote Sensing Program,

DTIC Science & Technology

refer to are: Plan de Integracion Nacional, (PIN), Programa de Desarrollo Rural Integrado, (DRI), Plan Nacional de Alimentacion y Nutricion (PAN) and... Politica Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia. The goals and organization of the program are presented in the last part of this report, together with the description of those activities deemed necessary for performing them.

Evaluating the Impact of National Educational Policy to Reduce Retention and Increase Achievement in Compulsory Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barata, M. Clara; Calheiros, M. Manuela; Patrício, Joana Nunes; Graça, João; Lima, M. Luisa

2015-01-01

Despite the accumulated evidence that retention is an ineffective and potentially harmful remedial strategy, several countries struggle with high levels of retention in compulsory schooling. This article provides evidence of the impact of the Portuguese national educational policy "Programa Mais Sucesso Escolar" (PMSE) using class size,…

China’s Relations with Portuguese-speaking Countries: A Growing but Unnoticed Relation

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Brazil and China Expand Satellite Program and African Countries Receive data from CBERS) Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia do Brasil (Brazilian Ministry...Washington D.C. Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia do Brasil (Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology). “Brasil e China Ampliao Base do Programa CBERS

United States Department of Education Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linton, John

2008-01-01

In this article, the author reports the appointment of Zina Watkins to the Office of Correctional Education. Zina Watkins is a recent graduate of the prestigious Presidential Management Fellows Program--a program designed to bring the best and brightest to federal service. He also relates how pleased he was for receiving an invitation to…

Ensayos de Plantacion Estadisticamente Validos

Treesearch

C. B. Briscoe

1961-01-01

En la America Latina se plantan cada ano mas de cien millones de abolitos y por lo menos deberian plantar diez veces esta cantidad. El control y desarrollo racional de un programa de tal magnitud requieren que se establezcan y se interpreten sayos de plantacion cuidadosamente planeados. Dichos ensayos cuidadosamente planeados rediran resultados estadistacamente validos...

Continuing Vocational Training in Local Government in Portugal, 2000-05--What Has Changed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabrito, Belmiro Gil; Simao, Ana Margarida Veiga; Alves, Mariana Gaio; Almeida, Antonio

2009-01-01

Local government in Portugal had a good opportunity to modernise through the Programa de Formacao para as Autarquias Locais (Foral) [Training programme for local authorities], implemented between 2000 and 2005. Substantial financial resources were made available through the programme to retrain local government human resources in order to improve…

The Effective Research-Based Characteristics of Professional Development of the National Science Foundation's GK-12 Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormas, Peter C.; Barufaldi, James P.

2011-01-01

This study investigates the effective research-based characteristics of professional development (ERBCPD) of the National Science Foundation's GK-12 Program--a program which partners institutions of higher education with local school districts and places science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates in the K-12 classroom with…

Spanish? What Spanish? The Search for a 'Caribbean Standard.'

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollingsworth, C.

1978-01-01

Variations in lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax of Spanish as spoken in Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Castile have led to a diversity in the types of Spanish taught in Caribbean schools. The Programa Interamericano de Linguistica y Ensenanza de Idiomas is conducting a survey which will provide authoritative standards for Spanish teachers.…

Government-Sponsored Bursaries: Examining Financial Support for Residents to Study at Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James-MacEachern, Melissa

2017-01-01

This study examines the George Coles bursary program--a financial aid plan designed to "keep residents at home" so they can attend university, by providing a bursary in their first year of university following high school graduation. The study offers insight into higher education students' financial circumstances, thereby suggesting…

The Full-Time School Program in Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zermeño, Marcela Georgina Gómez; Fahara, Manuel Flores; de la Garza, Lorena Alemán

2014-01-01

The Full-time Schools Program in Mexico ("Programa Escuelas de Tiempo Completo," PETC), began in the 2007-2008 school year with the aim of improving the learning opportunities of basic education students by extending the school day to eight hours a day, in order to offer an innovative and flexible pedagogical proposal that includes six…

Effectiveness of an Intervention Program for Improving School Atmosphere: Some Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, A. M.; Rivas, M. T.; Trianes, M. V.

2006-01-01

This work describes the results of the "Programa de Desarrollo Social y Afectivo" [Social and Affective Development Program] (Trianes & Munoz, 1994; Trianes, 1996), under way during four years at a public school in a disadvantaged area Malaga, earmarked for special educational resources. The intervention is meant to improve classroom…

Computer Virus Protection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajala, Judith B.

2004-01-01

A computer virus is a program--a piece of executable code--that has the unique ability to replicate. Like biological viruses, computer viruses can spread quickly and are often difficult to eradicate. They can attach themselves to just about any type of file, and are spread by replicating and being sent from one individual to another. Simply having…

Shifting Pedagogies through Distributed Leadership: Mentoring Chilean Early Childhood Educators in Literacy Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Michael; Han, Jinghe; Woodrow, Christine

2012-01-01

The potential of a sociocultural approach for empowering early childhood educators cannot be presumed, and its impact on leadership strategies and literacy teaching may be open to question. This paper reports on research into a professional learning program, the "Programa Futuro Infantil Hoy", developed and implemented by a team of…

University of Idaho's FCS Extension Educators Develop Leaders to Serve in Public Office

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Katie; Cummins, Melissa; Hansen, Lyle; Petty, Barbara; Tifft, Kathee; Laumatia, Laura

2013-01-01

In order to meet clientele needs and strengthen family and consumer sciences (FCS) programming, University of Idaho Extension educators expanded their roles through the Horizons program--a community leadership program, funded by the Northwest Area Foundation, aimed at reducing poverty in small rural and reservation communities. This study measured…

Decentralization and Educational Performance: Evidence from the PROHECO Community School Program in Rural Honduras

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Di Gropello, Emanuela; Marshall, Jeffery H.

2011-01-01

We analyze the effectiveness of the Programa Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria (PROHECO) community school program in rural Honduras. The data include standardized tests and extensive information on school, teacher, classroom and community features for 120 rural schools drawn from 15 states. Using academic achievement decompositions we find that…

Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Computer-Assisted Learning Program--A Novel Approach to Teaching Gynaecological Surgery.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jha, Vikram; Widdowson, Shelley; Duffy, Sean

2002-01-01

Discusses computer-assisted learning (CAL) in medical education and describes the development of an interactive CAL program on CD-ROM, combining video, illustrations, and three-dimensional images, to enhance understanding of vaginal hysterectomy in terms of the anatomy and steps of the surgical procedure. (Author/LRW)

Molecular Comparison of Topotypic Specimens Confirms Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) dunhami Causey (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Colombian Amazon

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-01

of Health, Albany, NY, USA 5Facultad de Medicina , Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia 6Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades...Tropicales, Facultad de Medicina , Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia The presence of Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) dunhami Causey in Colombia

Re-Os geochronology and Os isotope fingerprinting of petroleum sourced from a Type I lacustrine kerogen: Insights from the natural Green River petroleum system in the Uinta Basin and hydrous pyrolysis experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cumming, Vivien M.; Selby, David; Lillis, Paul G.; Lewan, Michael D.

2014-08-01

Rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronology of marine petroleum systems has allowed the determination of the depositional age of source rocks as well as the timing of petroleum generation. In addition, Os isotopes have been applied as a fingerprinting tool to correlate oil to its source unit. To date, only classic marine petroleum systems have been studied. Here we present Re-Os geochronology and Os isotope fingerprinting of different petroleum phases (oils, tar sands and gilsonite) derived from the lacustrine Green River petroleum system in the Uinta Basin, USA. In addition we use an experimental approach, hydrous pyrolysis experiments, to compare to the Re-Os data of naturally generated petroleum in order to further understand the mechanisms of Re and Os transfer to petroleum. The Re-Os geochronology of petroleum from the lacustrine Green River petroleum system (19 ± 14 Ma - all petroleum phases) broadly agrees with previous petroleum generation basin models (∼25 Ma) suggesting that Re-Os geochronology of variable petroleum phases derived from lacustrine Type I kerogen has similar systematics to Type II kerogen (e.g., Selby and Creaser, 2005a,b; Finlay et al., 2010). However, the large uncertainties (over 100% in some cases) produced for the petroleum Re-Os geochronology are a result of multiple generation events occurring through a ∼3000-m thick source unit that creates a mixture of initial Os isotope compositions in the produced petroleum phases. The 187Os/188Os values for the petroleum and source rocks at the time of oil generation vary from 1.4 to 1.9, with the mode at ∼1.6. Oil-to-source correlation using Os isotopes is consistent with previous correlation studies in the Green River petroleum system, and illustrates the potential utility of Os isotopes to characterize the spatial variations within a petroleum system. Hydrous pyrolysis experiments on the Green River Formation source rocks show that Re and Os transfer are mimicking the natural system. This transfer from source to bitumen to oil does not affect source rock Re-Os systematics or Os isotopic compositions. This confirms that Os isotope compositions are transferred intact from source to petroleum during petroleum generation and can be used as a powerful correlation tool. These experiments further confirm that Re-Os systematics in source rocks are not adversely affected by petroleum maturation. Overall this study illustrates that the Re-Os petroleum geochronometer and Os isotope fingerprinting tools can be used on a wide range of petroleum types sourced from variable kerogen types.

Re-Os geochronology and Os isotope fingerprinting of petroleum sourced from a Type I lacustrine kerogen: insights from the natural Green River petroleum system in the Uinta Basin and hydrous pyrolysis experiments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cumming, Vivien M.; Selby, David; Lillis, Paul G.; Lewan, Michael D.

2014-01-01

Rhenium–osmium (Re–Os) geochronology of marine petroleum systems has allowed the determination of the depositional age of source rocks as well as the timing of petroleum generation. In addition, Os isotopes have been applied as a fingerprinting tool to correlate oil to its source unit. To date, only classic marine petroleum systems have been studied. Here we present Re–Os geochronology and Os isotope fingerprinting of different petroleum phases (oils, tar sands and gilsonite) derived from the lacustrine Green River petroleum system in the Uinta Basin, USA. In addition we use an experimental approach, hydrous pyrolysis experiments, to compare to the Re–Os data of naturally generated petroleum in order to further understand the mechanisms of Re and Os transfer to petroleum. The Re–Os geochronology of petroleum from the lacustrine Green River petroleum system (19 ± 14 Ma – all petroleum phases) broadly agrees with previous petroleum generation basin models (∼25 Ma) suggesting that Re–Os geochronology of variable petroleum phases derived from lacustrine Type I kerogen has similar systematics to Type II kerogen (e.g., Selby and Creaser, 2005a, Selby and Creaser, 2005b and Finlay et al., 2010). However, the large uncertainties (over 100% in some cases) produced for the petroleum Re–Os geochronology are a result of multiple generation events occurring through a ∼3000-m thick source unit that creates a mixture of initial Os isotope compositions in the produced petroleum phases. The 187Os/188Os values for the petroleum and source rocks at the time of oil generation vary from 1.4 to 1.9, with the mode at ∼1.6. Oil-to-source correlation using Os isotopes is consistent with previous correlation studies in the Green River petroleum system, and illustrates the potential utility of Os isotopes to characterize the spatial variations within a petroleum system. Hydrous pyrolysis experiments on the Green River Formation source rocks show that Re and Os transfer are mimicking the natural system. This transfer from source to bitumen to oil does not affect source rock Re–Os systematics or Os isotopic compositions. This confirms that Os isotope compositions are transferred intact from source to petroleum during petroleum generation and can be used as a powerful correlation tool. These experiments further confirm that Re–Os systematics in source rocks are not adversely affected by petroleum maturation. Overall this study illustrates that the Re–Os petroleum geochronometer and Os isotope fingerprinting tools can be used on a wide range of petroleum types sourced from variable kerogen types.

EL PROGRAMA CITI: UNA ALTERNATIVA PARA LA CAPACITACIÓN EN ÉTICA DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN AMÉRICA LATINA

PubMed Central

Litewka, Sergio; Goodman, Kenneth; Braunschweiger, y Paul

2011-01-01

El Programa CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) es un curso basado en Internet y desarrollado por voluntarios, que brinda material educacional sobre protección de sujetos humanos en investigaciones biomédicas y de conducta, buenas prácticas clínicas, conducta responsable de la investigación y trato humanitario a animales de laboratorio. Es un esfuerzo conjunto del Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center y la Universidad de Miami. Con la colaboración de expertos locales, gran parte del contenido se ha adaptado para América Latina, se ha traducido al español y portugués y se han establecido acuerdos de colaboración con instituciones especializadas en bioética en Chile, Brasil, Costa Rica y Perú. Los autores presentan una metodología accesible para la capacitación en ética de la investigación y una justificación de su uso y difusión en América Latina PMID:21687817

Clinical Significance of Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Pulmonary Lymphoepithelioma-like Carcinoma (LELC) Patients.

PubMed

Xie, Mian; Wu, Xiaojun; Wang, Fang; Zhang, Jinjun; Ben, Xiaosong; Zhang, Jiexia; Li, Xiaoxiang

2018-02-01

Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a histologically distinctive subtype of NSCLC and an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated epithelial neoplasm. We investigated the clinical significance of plasma concentrations of EBV DNA in patients with pulmonary LELC. Two independent sets of plasma samples from a total of 429 patients with patients with pulmonary LELC (287 initial and 142 confirmatory) were available for EBV DNA determination. Plasma samples from the patients were subjected to a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction before treatment and 3 months after radical resection. Cutoff points were determined for pretreatment plasma EBV DNA concentration (low <4000 copies/mL versus high ≥4000 copies/mL) on the basis of a measure of heterogeneity with the log-rank test statistic with respect to overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression were used to evaluate the relationship between plasma EBV DNA concentrations and clinical outcome. Among patients with advanced-stage pulmonary LELC who underwent sequential blood draws, we evaluated the relationship between change in disease status and change in EBV DNA concentrations by using nonparametric tests. High EBV DNA concentration was associated with shorter OS in the initial, confirmatory, and combined data sets (combined data set hazard ratio = 3.67, 95% confidence interval: 2.72-4.38, p < 0.001). These findings persisted after multivariable adjustment. Compared with low EBV DNA concentration, high EBV DNA concentration was associated with shorter OS in patients with any stage of disease. High EBV DNA concentration was also associated with shorter disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with stage I/II disease. Patients with persistently detectable plasma EBV DNA had significantly poorer OS (p < 0.001) and DFS (p < 0.001) than did patients with undetectable EBV DNA 3 months after radical resection. In patients who underwent sequential evaluation of EBV DNA, an association was identified between an increase in EBV DNA concentration and a poor response to treatment and disease progression of pulmonary LELC. High baseline EBV DNA concentration is an independent poor prognostic marker in patients with pulmonary LELC. These results should be confirmed in larger prospective trials. Copyright © 2017 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Serum IGF-1, IGFBP-3 levels and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in early breast cancer patients.

PubMed

Papadakis, Georgios Z; Mavroudis, Dimitrios; Georgoulias, Vasilios; Souglakos, John; Alegakis, Athanasios K; Samonis, George; Bagci, Ulas; Makrigiannakis, Antonis; Zoras, Odysseas

2017-04-01

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-axis is involved in human oncogenesis and metastasis development for various solid tumors including breast cancer. Aim of this study was to assess the association between IGF-1, IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) serum levels and the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of women diagnosed with early breast cancer (EBC), before and after adjuvant chemotherapy. 171 patients with early-stage breast adenocarcinomas were retrospectively evaluated. Immunoradiometric (IRMA) assays were employed for the in-vitro determination of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 serum levels in blood samples collected after surgical treatment and before initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy. CTCs' presence was assessed through detection of cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) mRNA transcripts using quantitative real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). IGF-1, IGFBP-3 serum levels were correlated with CTCs' presence before and after adjuvant chemotherapy as well as with tumor characteristics including tumor size, axillary lymph node status, oestrogen (ER)/progestorene (PR) and human epidermural growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptor status. Log-rank test was applied to investigate possible association between IGF-1, IGFBP-3 serum levels and disease-free interval (DFI) and overall survival (OS). Before initiation of adjuvant therapy IGF-1, IGFBP-3 serum levels were moderately associated (Spearman's rho=0.361, p<0.001) with each other, while presenting significant differences across age groups (all p values<0.05). IGF-1 serum levels did not correlate with the presence of CTCs before initiation (p=0.558) or after completion (p=0.474) of adjuvant chemotherapy. Similarly, IGFBP-3 serum levels did not show significant association with detectable CTCs either before (p=0.487) or after (p=0.134) completion of adjuvant chemotherapy. There was no statistically significant association between the clinical outcome of patients in terms of DFI, OS and IGF-1(DFI: p=0.499; OS: p=0.220) or IGFBP-3 (DFI: p=0.900; OS: p=0.406) serum levels. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 serum levels before initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy are not indicative of CTCs' presence in the blood and do not correlate with clinical outcome of women with early-stage breast cancer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive prognostic value of HER2-HER3 co-expression and p-mTOR in gastric cancer patients.

PubMed

Cao, Guo-Dong; Chen, Ke; Chen, Bo; Xiong, Mao-Ming

2017-12-12

The HER2-HER3 heterodimer significantly decreases survival in breast cancer patients. However, the prognostic value of HER2-HER3 overexpression remains unknown in gastric cancer (GC). The expression levels of HER2, HER3, Akt, p-Akt, mTOR and p-mTOR were examined in specimens from 120 GC patients by immunohistochemistry and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. The associations of HER proteins, PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway-related proteins, clinicopathological features of GC, and overall survival (OS) were assessed. To comprehensively evaluate the prognostic values of pathway-related proteins, meta-analyses were conducted with STATA 11.0. HER2 overexpression was significantly associated with HER3 levels (P = 0.02). HER3 was highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues. High HER2 and HER3 levels were associated with elevated p-Akt and p-mTOR amounts (P < 0.05). Furthermore, HER2-HER3 co-expression was associated with high p-Akt and p-mTOR (P < 0.05) levels. Meanwhile, p-mTOR overexpression was tightly associated with differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage and OS (P < 0.05). By meta-analyses, Akt, p-Akt, and mTOR levels were unrelated to clinicopathological characters. HER3 overexpression was associated with depth of invasion (OR = 2.39, 95%CI 1.62-3.54, P < 0.001) and lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.35, 95%CI 1.34-4.11, P = 0.003). Further, p-mTOR overexpression was associated with patient age, tumor location, depth of invasion (OR = 1.63, 95%CI 1.08-2.45, P = 0.02) and TNM stage (OR = 1.73, 95%CI 1.29-2.32, P < 0.001). In addition, HER2-HER3 overexpression corresponded to gradually shortened 5-year OS (P < 0.05), and significant relationships were shown among HER3, p-mTOR overexpression, and 1-, 3-, 5-year OS (P < 0.05). HER2-HER3 co-expression may potentially enhance mTOR phosphorylation. HER2-HER3 co-expression and p-mTOR are both related to the prognosis of GC patients.

The causes for geographical variations in OS187/OS186 at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turekian, K. K.; Esser, B. K.; Ravizza, G. E.

1988-01-01

Researchers at Yale has approached the problem of the osmium isotopic composition of marine deposits formed in contact with both oxidized and reduced bottom waters. The measured (187) Os/(186) Os ratios of modern bulk sediment can be explained using mixing equations involving continental detrital, volcaniclastic, cosmogenic and hydrogeneous components. These studies show that sediments deposited under reducing marine conditions contain a hydrogenous component which is enriched in Re and has a radiogenic (187) Os/(186) Os ratio. The presence of such a hydrogenous component in the marine fish clay at Stevns Klint can account for the elevation of its (187) Os/(186) Os ration above the expected meteoritic value. Mass balance considerations require the Re/Os ratio of the phase precipitated from the terminal Cretaceous sea at Stevns Klint to have been about one tenth the value observed in contemporary deposits in the Black Sea, assuming Re has not been lost (or Os gained) subsequent to precipitation. In continental sections, the elevation of the (187) Os/(186) Os ratio in boundary layers may be due to precipitation from continental waters of crustally-derived radiogenic osmium either contemporaneous with the meteoritic (or mantle) osmium deposition or later during diagenesis.

Sulfide and whole rock Re-Os systematics of eclogite and pyroxenite xenoliths from the Slave Craton, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aulbach, Sonja; Creaser, Robert A.; Pearson, Norm J.; Simonetti, Stefanie S.; Heaman, Larry M.; Griffin, William L.; Stachel, Thomas

2009-06-01

We characterized single sulfides in eclogite and pyroxenite xenoliths from the Diavik kimberlites (central Slave Craton, Canada) with regard to their petrography, major-element composition and Re-Os isotope systematics. Together with trace-element and Re-Os isotope compositions of whole rocks, these data allow identification of the major Re-Os host phases and provide constraints on the origin(s) of sulfides in these samples. The majority of sulfide minerals contain 8 to 28 at.% Ni, with intragranular sulfides having on average significantly lower contents (~ 6 at.%) than intergranular sulfides (~ 12 at.%). These high Ni-sulfides are not in equilibrium with an eclogitic assemblage and were likely introduced from a peridotitic source subsequent to eclogite formation. In contrast, their Re-Os abundances and Re/Os ratios (average ~ 825 ppb, 190 ppb and 10, respectively) overlap those of primary eclogitic sulfides. These conflicting compositional characteristics may document open-system disequilibrium processes accompanying the introduction of sulfides into eclogites. The general association of high 187Os/ 188Os with high 187Re/ 188Os of sulfides in three low-temperature eclogite xenoliths suggests that the addition is not young. In contrast, sulfides in a high-temperature eclogite plot on a ~ 90 Ma errorchron with radiogenic initial 187Os/ 188Os, perhaps indicative of young introduction of sulfides from a deep enriched source. Sulfides in a single pyroxenite xenolith have Ni, Re and Os contents intermediate between pristine eclogitic and peridotitic sulfides, and correlated Re-Os isotope systematics defining an age of 1.84 ± 0.14 Ga with a radiogenic 187Os/ 188Os i (0.16 ± 0.01). The age and 187Os/ 188Os i are identical to those obtained for eclogitic sulfide inclusions in diamonds from Diavik, thus supporting a link between eclogite and pyroxenite formation. Several eclogite and pyroxenite whole rocks show evidence for addition of secondary sulfides, but many plot on Paleoproterozoic Re-Os age arrays - particularly so at low Re/Os - coincident with previously determined ages using Lu-Hf and Pb-Pb techniques. They may represent sulfide-poor varieties that did not suffer secondary sulfide addition and that may be best suited to yielding meaningful Re-Os ages.

A comparison using Faraday cups with 1013 Ω amplifiers and a secondary electron multiplier to measure Os isotopes by negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, G. Q.; Xu, J. F.

2017-12-01

According to the Johnson-Nyquist noise equation, the value of electron noise is proportional to the square root of the resistor value. This ralationship gives a theoretical improvement of in the signal/noise ratio by going from 1011 Ω to 1013 Ω amplifiers for Faraday detection in thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). We measured Os isotopes using static Faraday cups with 1013 Ω amplifiers in a negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry (NTIMS) and compared the results with those obtained with 1011 Ω amplifiers and by peak hopping on a single secondary electron multiplier (SEM). We analysed large loads of Os (1 μg) at a range of intensities of 187OsO3 (0.02 - 10 mV) in addition to small loads of Os (5 - 500 pg) to compare the results of the three methods. Using 1013 Ω amplifiers, the long time reproducibility determined from Merck Os was 187Os/188Os = 0.1211 ±0.0086 and 0.120229 ±0.000034 at 0.02 mV and 10 mV of 187OsO3 intensities. Meanwhile, the analysed JMC Os loading 5 and 500 pg showed 187Os/188Os = 0.10669 ±0.00036 and 0.106807 ± 0.000023. In comparison, the values measured by SEM were 187Os/188Os = 0.10704 ± 0.00056 and 0.10690 ± 0.00013. All errors are in 2 SD. Both the accuracy and precision analysed using the 1013 Ω amplifiers and SEM are identical when the Os amounts are within 10 - 50 pg. However, the former analysis time can be shortened by approximately 2/3. SEM measurement is still the most precise method for Os amounts 10 pg, but the analyses of 1013 Ω amplifiers suggest they are significantly better than SEM for Os amounts > 50 pg.

OsPT4 Contributes to Arsenate Uptake and Transport in Rice

PubMed Central

Ye, Ying; Li, Peng; Xu, Tangqian; Zeng, Liting; Cheng, Deng; Yang, Meng; Luo, Jie; Lian, Xingming

2017-01-01

Arsenic (As) is toxic to organisms, and elevated As accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa) grain may pose a significant health risk to humans. The predominant form of As in soil under aerobic conditions is As(V), which has a chemical structure similar to that of PO43-. Rice roots take up As(V) by phosphate (Pi) transporters, such as OsPT1 and OsPT8. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of OsPT4, belonging to the Pht1 family, on rice As(V) uptake and transport. We determined the mRNA amounts of OsPTs in rice seedlings, and expressions of OsPT1, OsPT4, and OsPT8 were up-regulated under As(V) conditions. OsPT4-overexpressing plants were obtained to examine the As (V) transport activity of OsPT4 in rice. When transgenic rice grew in hydroponic culture with 25 and 50 μM As(V), the plants showed sensitivity to As(V) stress with aboveground parts showing delayed growth and the roots stunted. The OsPT4 CRISPR lines showed the opposite phenotype. When plants were grown in 5 μM As(V) solution for 7 days, the As accumulation of OsPT4-overexpressing plants increased up to twice in roots and shoots. Furthermore, the arsenate uptake rates of OsPT4-overexpressing lines were higher compared with wild type. The Vmax of As(V) uptake in OsPT4-overexpressing plants increased 23–45% compared with Nipponbare. In the flooded soil, the As accumulation of OsPT4-overexpressing plants increased 40–66% and 22–30% in straw and grain, respectively. While in OsPT4-cr plants As accumulation in roots decreased 17–30% compared with Nipponbare. Therefore, the present study indicates that OsPT4 is involved in As(V) uptake and transport and could be a good candidate gene to generate low As-accumulating rice. PMID:29312424

An Atypical Late Embryogenesis Abundant Protein OsLEA5 Plays a Positive Role in ABA-Induced Antioxidant Defense in Oryza sativa L.

PubMed

Huang, Liping; Zhang, MengYao; Jia, Jing; Zhao, Xixi; Huang, Xingxiu; Ji, E; Ni, Lan; Jiang, Mingyi

2018-05-01

OsLEA5 acts as a co-regulator of a transcriptional fact ZFP36 to enhance the expression and the activity of ascorbate peroxidase OsAPX1 to regulate seed germination in rice, but it it unknown whether OsLEA5 is also crucial in plant seedlings under stress conditions. To determine this, we generated OsLEA5 overexpression and knockdown rice plants. We found that overexpression of OsLEA5 in rice plants enhanced the tolerance to drought and salt stress; in contrast, an RNA interference (RNAi) mutant of OsLEA5 rice plants was more sensitive to drought and salinity. Further investigation found that various stimuli and ABA could induce OsLEA5 expression, and OsLEA5 acted downstream of ZFP36 to be involved in ABA-induced generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the regulation of the expression and the activities of antioxidant defense enzymes in plants leaves, and OsLEA5 contributed to stabilize ZFP36. Additionally, OsLEA5 participates in the accumulation of ABA by up-regulating ABA biosynthesis genes and down-regulating ABA metabolism genes. Moreover, we found that two homologs of OsLEA5 (5C700, short for Os05g0526700; and 5C300, short for Os05g0584300) which were induced by ABA also interacted with ZFP36 separately; interestingly, the nuclear-located 5C700 could also act as a co-activator of ZFP36 to modulate OsAPX1, while 5C300 which was down-regulated by ABA induction acted as an ABA-induced inhibitor of ZFP36 to regulate OsAPX1. Hence, our conclusion is that OsLEA5 participates in the ABA-mediated antioxidant defense to function in drought and salt stress response in rice, and the 5C subgroup of LEAs contribute by acting as co-regulators of the transcription factor ZFP36.

The promoter activities of sucrose phosphate synthase genes in rice, OsSPS1 and OsSPS11, are controlled by light and circadian clock, but not by sucrose.

PubMed

Yonekura, Madoka; Aoki, Naohiro; Hirose, Tatsuro; Onai, Kiyoshi; Ishiura, Masahiro; Okamura, Masaki; Ohsugi, Ryu; Ohto, Chikara

2013-01-01

Although sucrose plays a role in sugar sensing and its signaling pathway, little is known about the regulatory mechanisms of the expressions of plant sucrose-related genes. Our previous study on the expression of the sucrose phosphate synthase gene family in rice (OsSPSs) suggested the involvement of sucrose sensing and/or circadian rhythm in the transcriptional regulation of OsSPS. To examine whether the promoters of OsSPSs can be controlled by sugars and circadian clock, we produced transgenic rice plants harboring a promoter-luciferase construct for OsSPS1 or OsSPS11 and analyzed the changes in the promoter activities by monitoring bioluminescence from intact transgenic plants in real-time. Transgenic plants fed sucrose, glucose, or mannitol under continuous light conditions showed no changes in bioluminescence intensity; meanwhile, the addition of sucrose increased the concentration of sucrose in the plants, and the mRNA levels of OsSPS remained constant. These results suggest that these OsSPS promoters may not be regulated by sucrose levels in the tissues. Next, we investigated the changes in the promoter activities under 12-h light/12-h dark cycles and continuous light conditions. Under the light-dark cycle, both OsSPS1 and OsSPS11 promoter activities were low in the dark and increased rapidly after the beginning of the light period. When the transgenic rice plants were moved to the continuous light condition, both P OsSPS1 ::LUC and P OsSPS11 ::LUC reporter plants exhibited circadian bioluminescence rhythms; bioluminescence peaked during the subjective day with a 27-h period: in the early morning as for OsSPS1 promoter and midday for OsSPS11 promoter. These results indicate that these OsSPS promoters are controlled by both light illumination and circadian clock and that the regulatory mechanism of promoter activity differs between the two OsSPS genes.

Auxin regulated OsRGP1 and OsSuS are involved in the gravitropic bending of rice shoot bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Liwei; Cui, Dayong; Cai, Weiming

The gravitropic bending of rice shoot in horizontal position results from differential elongation of cells between two halves of shoot bases. In our experiment, reversibly glycosylated polypeptide (OsRGP1), sucrose synthase (OsSuS) genes which related to sugar metabolism were identified by suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) in gravitropism in rice shoot bases. Realtime RT-PCR were used to study the expression of two genes in detail. OsRGP1 and OsSuS were differentially induced in the abaxial (lower) side of rice shoot bases during gravitropism. The OsRGP1 and OsSuS expression were regulated by auxin. The sequence analysis of their promoters was in concurrence. TIBA treatment could inhibit the asymmetrical expression of OsRGP1 and OsSuS in gravitropism in rice shoot bases. In addition, there was more hexose in the lower side of rice shoot bases in gravitropism. Our data suggested that asymmetric redistribution of auxin following gravistimulation resulted in the different localized expression of OsRGP1 and OsSuS. It is possible that asymmetrical expression of OsSuS resulted in the asymmetrical distribution of hexose and asymmetrical expression of OsRGP1 induced the synthesis of cell wall polysaccharides in the lower half of rice shoot bases. Hexose and cell wall polysaccharides accumulation in lower side of rice shoot bases might contribute to the cell expansion, thus leading to gravitropic bending.

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae TALE proteins recruit OsTFIIAγ1 to compensate for the absence of OsTFIIAγ5 in bacterial blight in rice.

PubMed

Ma, Wenxiu; Zou, Lifang; Ji, Zhiyuan; Xu, Xiameng; Xu, Zhengyin; Yang, Yangyang; Alfano, James R; Chen, Gongyou

2018-04-28

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), causal agent of bacterial blight (BB) of rice, uses transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) to interact with the basal transcription factor gama subunit OsTFIIAγ5 (Xa5) and activates transcription of host genes. However, how OsTFIIAγ1, the other OsTFIIAγ protein, functions in the presence of TALEs remains unclear. In this study, we show that OsTFIIAγ1 plays a compensatory role in the absence of Xa5. The expression of OsTFIIAγ1, which is activated by TALE PthXo7, increased the expression of host genes targeted by avirulent and virulent TALEs. Defective OsTFIIAγ1 rice lines showed reduced expression of the TALE-targeted susceptibility (S) genes, OsSWEET11 and OsSWEET14, which resulted in increased BB resistance. Selected TALEs (PthXo1, AvrXa7, and AvrXa27) were evaluated for interactions with OsTFIIAγ1, Xa5 and xa5 (naturally-occurring mutant form of Xa5) using biomolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and microscale thermophoresis (MST). BiFC and MST demonstrated that the three TALEs bind Xa5 and OsTFIIAγ1 with a stronger affinity than xa5. These results provide insight into the complex roles of OsTFIIAγ1 and OsTFIIAγ5 in TALE-mediated host gene transcription. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 BSPP and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Re-Os in Lunar Soils and Meteoritic Siderophiles on the Lunar Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, J. H.; Papanastassiou, D. A.; Wasserburg, G. J.

2001-01-01

Re-Os isotopes in lunar soils indicate approximately chondritic Re, Os, and Os isotopic compositions and substantial Re/Os fractionation, possibly due to the terminal lunar cataclysm. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

A negative excursion at 14-16 Ma in seawater osmium isotope record: Implications for paleoceanographic studies using Fe-Mn crusts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goto, K. T.; Tejada, M. L. G.; Suzuki, K.

2017-12-01

Osmium isotope stratigraphy is a recently proposed method to determine the depositional age of Fe-Mn crusts [1, 2]. Seawater Os isotope (187Os/188Os) is roughly determined by the balance of riverine Os inputs with radiogenic value (187Os/188Os = 1.4), and mantle-derived and extra-terrestrial Os inputs with non-radiogenic value (187Os/188Os = 0.12) [3]. Secular variation of global seawater Os isotope (seawater Os isotope curve) has been reconstructed by the analysis of pelagic sediments and exhibits large variations ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 with several negative excursions [3]. Hence, the depositional age of Fe-Mn crusts can be approximately estimated by fitting their Os isotope depth profiles to the seawater Os isotope curve (Osmium isotope stratigraphy). However, this method allows multiple interpretations which are partly due to the lack of high-resolution seawater Os isotope curve [1, 2]. For example, the available seawater Os isotope curve does not exhibit negative anomaly during the Miocene, which contrasts with Os isotope records of Fe-Mn crusts [4]. In the present study, we obtained a high-resolution Os isotope record of Miocene seawater using hemipelagic sediments from IODP Expedition 351 SiteU1438. We found a small negative Os isotope anomaly as low as 0.7 from sediments deposited at 14-16 Ma. The magnitude of this anomaly is similar to those reported from Fe-Mn crusts. Although the extrapolation of Be-10 ages for Fe-Mn crust indicate a younger age for the anomaly ( 11 Ma) [4], we could not find any discernable isotope anomaly at 11 Ma. Our finding is consistent with the timing of major eruption of the Columbia River flood basalts (CFRB) which could provide non-radiogenic Os to seawater at 14-16 Ma [5]. Hence, we suggest that the observed isotope anomaly reflect eruption and subsequent weathering of the CFRB. As the similar Os isotope anomaly is commonly found from Fe-Mn crusts, the Os isotope anomaly at 14-16 Ma could be used as a key event to constrain depositional ages of Fe-Mn crusts. In the presentation, we will also discuss the significance of our findings to paleoceanographic studies using Fe-Mn crusts. References: [1] Klemm et al., 2005 EPSL; [2] Nielsen et al., 2009 EPSL; [3] Peucker-Ehrenbrink & Ravizza, 2012 The Geologic Time Scale 2012; [4] Klemm et al., 2008 EPSL; [5] Hopper et al., 2002 GSA Bulletin

Quality of Primary Health Care for children and adolescents living with HIV.

PubMed

Nascimento, Leticia do; Paula, Cristiane Cardoso de; Magnago, Tania Solange Bosi de Souza; Padoin, Stela Maris de Mello; Harzheim, Erno; Silva, Clarissa Bohrer da

2016-08-29

to evaluate the quality of health care for children and adolescents living with HIV, among the different types of Primary Health Care services of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. cross-sectional study, developed with 118 Primary Health Care professionals. The Primary Care Evaluation Instrument, Professional version, was used. For verification of the variables associated with the high score, Poisson Regression was used. the professionals of the Family Health Strategy, when compared to those of the Primary Health Units, obtained a greater degree of orientation to primary care, both for the overall score and for the derived attributes score, as well as for the integrality and community orientation attributes. A specialization in Primary Health Care, other employment and a statutory work contract were associated with quality of care. the Family Health Strategy was shown to provide higher quality health care for children and adolescents living with HIV, however, the coverage is still low. The need was highlighted to expand this coverage and invest in vocational training directed toward Primary Care and making the professionals effective, through public selection procedure, as well as an improvement program that recognizes the care requirements, in these settings, of children and adolescents infected with HIV. avaliar a qualidade de atenção à saúde da criança e adolescente vivendo com HIV, entre os diferentes tipos de serviço de Atenção Primária à Saúde, de Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. estudo transversal, desenvolvido com 118 profissionais da Atenção Primária à Saúde. Utilizou-se o Instrumento de Avaliação da Atenção Primária, versão Profissionais. Para verificação das variáveis associadas ao alto escore, foi utilizada a Regressão de Poisson. os profissionais da Estratégia Saúde da Família, quando comparados aos de Unidades Básicas de Saúde, obtiveram maior grau de orientação à atenção primária, tanto pelo escore geral quanto derivado, assim como nos atributos integralidade e orientação comunitária. Especialização em Atenção Primária à Saúde, outro emprego, vínculo estatutário mostraram-se associados à qualidade da atenção. destaca-se a Estratégia Saúde da Família com maior qualidade de atenção à saúde da criança e adolescente vivendo com HIV, entretanto, a cobertura ainda é baixa. Evidencia-se a necessidade de ampliação dessa cobertura, bem como investimento na qualificação profissional direcionada para Atenção Primária e na efetivação dos profissionais, por meio de concurso público, além de programa de aperfeiçoamento que reconheça a demanda do cuidado, nesses cenários, às crianças e adolescentes infectadas pelo HIV. evaluar la calidad de la atención de la Salud del niño y adolescente que viven con el virus HIV entre los diferentes tipos de servicio de Atención Primaria de la Salud, de Santa María, Rio Grande do Sul. estudio transversal, desarrollado con 118 profesionales de la Atención Primaria de la Salud. Se utilizó el Instrumento de Evaluación de la Atención Primaria, versión Profesionales. Para verificar las variables asociadas a un alto puntaje, fue utilizada la Regresión de Poisson. los profesionales de la Estrategia Salud de la Familia cuando comparados a los de Unidades Básicas de Salud, obtuvieron mayor grado de orientación para la atención primaria, tanto por el puntaje general como por el derivado, así como en los atributos integralidad y orientación comunitaria. La especialización en Atención Primaria de la Salud, tener otro empleo y el vínculo institucional se mostraron asociados a la calidad de la atención. se destaca la Estrategia Salud de la Familia con mayor calidad de atención de la Salud del niño y adolescente que viven con el virus HIV, entre tanto, la cobertura todavía es baja. Fue puesta en evidencia la necesidad de ampliar dicha cobertura, así como hacer inversiones en la calificación profesional orientada para la Atención Primaria y en la contratación de los profesionales por medio de concurso público, además de contar co¿n un programa de perfeccionamiento que reconozca la demanda del cuidado, en esos escenarios, a los niños y adolescentes infectados por el HIV.

Rhenium-osmium isotope and highly-siderophile-element abundance systematics of angrite meteorites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riches, Amy J. V.; Day, James M. D.; Walker, Richard J.; Simonetti, Antonio; Liu, Yang; Neal, Clive R.; Taylor, Lawrence A.

2012-11-01

Coupled 187Os/188Os compositions and highly-siderophile-element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, Pd, and Re) abundance data are reported for eight angrite achondrite meteorites that include quenched- and slowly-cooled textural types. These data are combined with new major- and trace-element concentrations determined for bulk-rock powder fractions and constituent mineral phases, to assess angrite petrogenesis. Angrite meteorites span a wide-range of HSE abundances from <0.005 ppb Os (e.g., Northwest Africa [NWA] 1296; Angra dos Reis) to >100 ppb Os (NWA 4931). Chondritic to supra-chondritic 187Os/188Os (0.1201-0.2127) measured for Angra dos Reis and quenched-angrites correspond to inter- and intra-sample heterogeneities in Re/Os and HSE abundances. Quenched-angrites have chondritic-relative rare-earth-element (REE) abundances at 10-15×CI-chondrite, and their Os-isotope and HSE abundance variations represent mixtures of pristine uncontaminated crustal materials that experienced addition (<0.8%) of exogenous chondritic materials during or after crystallization. Slowly-cooled angrites (NWA 4590 and NWA 4801) have fractionated REE-patterns, chondritic to sub-chondritic 187Os/188Os (0.1056-0.1195), as well as low-Re/Os (0.03-0.13), Pd/Os (0.071-0.946), and relatively low-Pt/Os (0.792-2.640). Sub-chondritic 187Os/188Os compositions in NWA 4590 and NWA 4801 are unusual amongst planetary basalts, and their HSE and REE characteristics may be linked to melting of mantle sources that witnessed prior basaltic melt depletion. Angrite HSE-Yb systematics suggest that the HSE behaved moderately-incompatibly during angrite magma crystallization, implying the presence of metal in the crystallizing assemblage. The new HSE abundance and 187Os/188Os compositions indicate that the silicate mantle of the angrite parent body(ies) (APB) had HSE abundances in chondritic-relative proportions but at variable abundances at the time of angrite crystallization. The HSE systematics of angrites are consistent with protracted post-core formation accretion of materials with chondritic-relative abundances of HSE to the APB, and these accreted materials were rapidly, yet inefficiently, mixed into angrite magma source regions early in Solar System history.

The rice terpene synthase gene OsTPS19 functions as an (S)-limonene synthase in planta, and its overexpression leads to enhanced resistance to the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

PubMed

Chen, Xujun; Chen, Hao; Yuan, Joshua S; Köllner, Tobias G; Chen, Yuying; Guo, Yufen; Zhuang, Xiaofeng; Chen, Xinlu; Zhang, Yong-Jun; Fu, Jianyu; Nebenführ, Andreas; Guo, Zejian; Chen, Feng

2018-03-06

Rice blast disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is the most devastating disease of rice. In our ongoing characterization of the defence mechanisms of rice plants against M. oryzae, a terpene synthase gene OsTPS19 was identified as a candidate defence gene. Here, we report the functional characterization of OsTPS19, which is up-regulated by M. oryzae infection. Overexpression of OsTPS19 in rice plants enhanced resistance against M. oryzae, while OsTPS19 RNAi lines were more susceptible to the pathogen. Metabolic analysis revealed that the production of a monoterpene (S)-limonene was increased and decreased in OsTPS19 overexpression and RNAi lines, respectively, suggesting that OsTPS19 functions as a limonene synthase in planta. This notion was further supported by in vitro enzyme assays with recombinant OsTPS19, in which OsTPS19 had both sesquiterpene activity and monoterpene synthase activity, with limonene as a major product. Furthermore, in a subcellular localization experiment, OsTPS19 was localized in plastids. OsTPS19 has a highly homologous paralog, OsTPS20, which likely resulted from a recent gene duplication event. We found that the variation in OsTPS19 and OsTPS20 enzyme activities was determined by a single amino acid in the active site cavity. The expression of OsTPS20 was not affected by M. oryzae infection. This indicates functional divergence of OsTPS19 and OsTPS20. Lastly, (S)-limonene inhibited the germination of M. oryzae spores in vitro. OsTPS19 was determined to function as an (S)-limonene synthase in rice and plays a role in defence against M. oryzae, at least partly, by inhibiting spore germination. © 2018 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Function of xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolases in rice

PubMed Central

Hara, Yoshinao; Yokoyama, Ryusuke; Osakabe, Keishi; Toki, Seiichi; Nishitani, Kazuhiko

2014-01-01

Background and Aims Although xyloglucans are ubiquitous in land plants, they are less abundant in Poales species than in eudicotyledons. Poales cell walls contain higher levels of β-1,3/1,4 mixed-linked glucans and arabinoxylans than xyloglucans. Despite the relatively low level of xyloglucans in Poales, the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH) gene family in rice (Oryza sativa) is comparable in size to that of the eudicotyledon Arabidopsis thaliana. This raises the question of whether xyloglucan is a substrate for rice XTH gene products, whose enzyme activity remains largely uncharacterized. Methods This study focused on OsXTH19 (which belongs to Group IIIA of the XTH family and is specifically expressed in growing tissues of rice shoots), and two other XTHs, OsXTH11 (Group I/II) and OsXTH20 (Group IIIA), for reference, and measurements were made of the enzymatic activities of three recombinant rice XTHs, i.e. OsXTH11, OsXTH20 and OsXTH19. Key Results All three OsXTH gene products have xyloglucan endohydrolase (XEH, EC 3·2·1·151) activity, and OsXTH11 has both XEH and xyloglucan endotransglycosylase (XET, EC 2·4·1207) activities. However, these proteins had neither hydrolase nor transglucosylase activity when glucuronoarabinoxylan or mixed-linkage glucan was used as the substrate. These results are consistent with histological observations demonstrating that pOsXTH19::GUS is expressed specifically in the vicinity of tissues where xyloglucan immunoreactivity is present. Transgenic rice lines over-expressing OsXTH19 (harbouring a Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter::OsXTH19 cDNA construct) or with suppressed OsXTH19 expression (harbouring a pOsXTH19 RNAi construct) did not show dramatic phenotypic changes, suggesting functional redundancy and collaboration among XTH family members, as was observed in A. thaliana. Conclusions OsXTH20 and OsXTH19 act as hydrolases exclusively on xyloglucan, while OsXTH11 exhibits both hydrolase and XET activities exclusively on xyloglucans. Phenotypic analysis of transgenic lines with altered expression of OsXTH19 suggests that OsXTH19 and related XTH(s) play redundant roles in rice growth. PMID:24363334

Expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 is associated with poor overall survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PubMed Central

Kiyasu, Junichi; Miyoshi, Hiroaki; Hirata, Akie; Arakawa, Fumiko; Ichikawa, Ayako; Niino, Daisuke; Sugita, Yasuo; Yufu, Yuji; Choi, Ilseung; Abe, Yasunobu; Uike, Naokuni; Nagafuji, Koji; Okamura, Takashi; Akashi, Koichi; Takayanagi, Ryoichi; Shiratsuchi, Motoaki

2015-01-01

Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is expressed on both select diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) tumor cells and on tumor-infiltrating nonmalignant cells. The programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 pathway inhibits host antitumor responses; however, little is known about how this pathway functions in the tumor microenvironment. The aim of this study was to determine the clinicopathological impact of PD-L1+ DLBCL. We performed PD-L1/PAX5 double immunostaining in 1253 DLBCL biopsy samples and established a new definition of PD-L1+ DLBCL. We also defined the criteria for microenvironmental PD-L1+ (mPD-L1+) DLBCL (ie, PD-L1– DLBCL in which PD-L1+ nonmalignant cells are abundant in the tumor microenvironment). Of the 273 patients whose clinical information was available, quantitative analysis of PD-1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was performed. The prevalence rates of PD-L1+ and mPD-L1+ DLBCL were 11% and 15.3%, respectively. Both PD-L1+ and mPD-L1+ DLBCL were significantly associated with non–germinal center B-cell (GCB) type and Epstein-Barr virus positivity. The number of PD-1+ TILs was significantly higher in GCB-type tumors and lower in mPD-L1– and PD-L1+ DLBCL. Patients with PD-L1+ DLBCL had inferior overall survival (OS) compared with that in patients with PD-L1– DLBCL (P = .0009). In contrast, there was no significant difference in OS between mPD-L1+ and mPD-L1– DLBCL (P = .31). The expression of PD-L1 maintained prognostic value for OS in multivariate analysis (P = .0323). This is the first report describing the clinicopathological features and outcomes of PD-L1+ DLBCL. Immunotherapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway should be considered in this distinct DLBCL subgroup. PMID:26239088

Fusion and quasifission studies for the 40Ca+186W,192Os reactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, E.; Hinde, D. J.; Williams, E.; Dasgupta, M.; Carter, I. P.; Cook, K. J.; Jeung, D. Y.; Luong, D. H.; Palshetkar, C. S.; Rafferty, D. C.; Ramachandran, K.; Simenel, C.; Wakhle, A.

2017-09-01

Background: All elements above atomic number 113 have been synthesized using hot fusion reactions with calcium beams on statically deformed actinide target nuclei. Quasifission and fusion-fission are the two major mechanisms responsible for the very low production cross sections of superheavy elements. Purpose: To achieve a quantitative measurement of capture and quasifission characteristics as a function of beam energy in reactions forming heavy compound systems using calcium beams as projectiles. Methods: Fission fragment mass-angle distributions were measured for the two reactions 40Ca+186W and 40C+192Os, populating 226Pu and 232Cm compound nuclei, respectively, using the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility and CUBE spectrometer at the Australian National University. Mass ratio distributions, angular distributions, and total fission cross sections were obtained from the experimental data. Simulations to match the features of the experimental mass-angle distributions were performed using a classical phenomenological approach. Results: Both 40Ca+186W and 40C+192Os reactions show strong mass-angle correlations at all energies measured. A maximum fusion probability of 60 -70 % is estimated for the two reactions in the energy range of the present study. Coupled-channels calculations assuming standard Woods-Saxon potential parameters overpredict the capture cross sections. Large nuclear potential diffuseness parameters ˜1.5 fm are required to fit the total capture cross sections. The presence of a weak mass-asymmetric quasifission component attributed to the higher angular momentum events can be reproduced with a shorter average sticking time but longer mass-equilibration time constant. Conclusions: The deduced above-barrier capture cross sections suggest that the dissipative processes are already occurring outside the capture barrier. The mass-angle correlations indicate that a compact shape is not achieved for deformation aligned collisions with lower capture barriers. The average sticking time of fast quasifission events is 10-20 s.

New high resolution geochemistry of Lower Jurassic marine sections in western North America: A global positive carbon isotope excursion in the Sinemurian?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Porter, Sarah J.; Smith, Paul L.; Caruthers, Andrew H.; Hou, Pengfei; Gröcke, Darren R.; Selby, David

2014-07-01

Recognising variations in the carbon isotope compositions of marine organic-rich sedimentary rocks can provide insight into changes in ocean chemistry throughout geological time. Further, identification of global excursions in the carbon isotope record has proved to be valuable as a chronostratigraphic correlation tool. This investigation presents new high-resolution organic carbon isotope data (δCorg13) for marine sediments from 2 regions in North America (Last Creek, British Columbia, Canada and Five Card Draw, Nevada, USA). The carbon isotope profiles demonstrate that there were significant differences between the carbon reservoirs at Five Card Draw and Last Creek, notably in the upper part of the Leslei Zone. The δCorg13 values show a gradual positive CIE (∼2‰) at Last Creek in the upper part of the Leslei Zone. This corresponds to a coeval positive CIE of similar duration in Dorset, UK (upper Turneri Zone; Jenkyns and Weedon, 2013), suggesting that this may be a global marine carbon isotope signature, and likely reflects a widespread increase in primary productivity during the Early Sinemurian. In addition, a brief negative CIE is observed in the uppermost Lower Sinemurian at Last Creek. This negative excursion is not recorded in the Dorset section, suggesting localised upwelling of 12C-rich bottom-waters at Last Creek. Further, the signals identified at Last Creek are not present in coeval sections at Five Card Draw, thus highlighting a significant difference between these localities. Osmium (Os) isotope data (initial 187Os/188Os values) provide a quantitative determination of the contrasting depositional environments of Five Card Draw and Last Creek (at least partially restricted with high levels of continental inundation and open-ocean, respectively). This demonstrates that basinal restriction may act as a major factor that controls isotopic stratigraphic signatures, thus preventing the identification of global or widespread regional excursions.