Recomendação de Curvas de Crescimento para Crianças Nascidas Pré-Termo

Em 2013, a Secção de Neonatologia da Sociedade Portuguesa de Pediatria, face à existência de várias curvas de avaliação de crescimento para crianças nascidas pré-termo e à falta de homogeneidade de critérios na sua escolha, nomeou um grupo de peritos que procedeu à revisão crítica das curvas disponíveis e recomenda as que considera mais adequadas para utilização na prática clínica em fases específicas da vida: ao nascimento (Fenton 2013), durante o internamento na unidade de Neonatologia (Fenton 2013 e Ehrenkranz 1999) e a longo prazo (OMS 2006). As decisões foram tomadas com base na classificação sistemática do nível de evidência e do grau de recomendação. A presente recomendação: é válida enquanto não forem publicados os resultados do estudo do consórcio multicêntrico INTERGROWTH-21st, recentemente incumbido da construção de valores de referência, mais próximos do padrão, de crianças nascidas pré-termo; tem o propósito de auxiliar os clínicos na decisão clínica, mas não ser o único instrumento de avaliação do crescimento das crianças nascidas pré-termo; pode não proporcionar elementos suficientes para orientação do crescimento de todas estas crianças

Solving the multi-period water distribution network design problem with a hybrid simulated anealling

This work presents an optimization technique based on Simulated Annealing (SA) to solve the Water Distribution Network Design problem, considering multi-period restrictions with time varying demand patterns. The design optimization of this kind of networks is an important issue in modern cities, since a safe, adequate, and accessible supply of potable water is one of the basic necessities of any human being. Given the complexity of this problem, the SA is improved with a local search procedure, yielding a hybrid SA, in order to obtain good quality networks designs. Additionally, four variants of this algorithm based on different cooling schemes are introduced and analyzed. A broad experimentation using different benchmark networks is carried out to test our proposals. Moreover, a comparison with an approach from the literature reveals the goodness to solve this network design problem.Fil: Bermudez, Carlos Alberto. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Salto, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Confluencia; ArgentinaFil: Minetti, Gabriela Fabiana. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Loss of 5'-Methylthioadenosine Phosphorylase (MTAP) is Frequent in High-Grade Gliomas; Nevertheless, it is Not Associated with Higher Tumor Aggressiveness.

The 5'-methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) gene is located in the chromosomal region 9p21. MTAP deletion is a frequent event in a wide variety of human cancers; however, its biological role in tumorigenesis remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to characterize the MTAP expression profile in a series of gliomas and to associate it with patients' clinicopathological features. Moreover, we sought to evaluate, through glioma gene-edited cell lines, the biological impact of MTAP in gliomas. MTAP expression was evaluated in 507 glioma patients by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the expression levels were associated with patients' clinicopathological features. Furthermore, an in silico study was undertaken using genomic databases totalizing 350 samples. In glioma cell lines, MTAP was edited, and following MTAP overexpression and knockout (KO), a transcriptome analysis was performed by NanoString Pan-Cancer Pathways panel. Moreover, MTAP's role in glioma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion was evaluated. Homozygous deletion of 9p21 locus was associated with a reduction of MTAP mRNA expression in the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) - glioblastoma dataset (p < 0.01). In addition, the loss of MTAP expression was markedly high in high-grade gliomas (46.6% of cases) determined by IHC and Western blotting (40% of evaluated cell lines). Reduced MTAP expression was associated with a better prognostic in the adult glioblastoma dataset (p < 0.001). Nine genes associated with five pathways were differentially expressed in MTAP-knockout (KO) cells, with six upregulated and three downregulated in MTAP. Analysis of cell proliferation, migration, and invasion did not show any significant differences between MTAP gene-edited and control cells. Our results integrating data from patients as well as in silico and in vitro models provide evidence towards the lack of strong biological importance of MTAP in gliomas. Despite the frequent loss of MTAP, it seems not to have a clinical impact in survival and does not act as a canonic tumor suppressor gene in gliomas

Enhancement of PLA-PVA surface adhesion in bilayer assemblies by PLA aminolisation

Data Availability: The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to legal or ethical reasons.Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) present complementary barrier properties, and their combination in multilayer assemblies (laminates) could provide materials with more effective barrier capacity for food packaging purposes. However, their low chemical affinity compromises adequate polymer adhesion. Surface free energy modification of thermo-processed PLA films through treatment with 1,6-hexanediamine was used to enhance adhesion with polar PVA aqueous solutions. Treatments of 1 and 3 min increased the polar component of the solid surface tension, while treatments above 10 min provoked a corrosive effect in the films structure. Extensibility analyses of PVA solutions loaded with carvacrol (15 wt.%) and different Tween 85 ratios on PLA-activated surfaces allowed the selection of the 1-min aminolysed surface for obtaining PLA-PVA bilayers, by casting PVA solutions on the PLA films. This study revealed that despite aminolisation enhancing the PLA surface affinity for aqueous PVA solutions, casting-obtained bilayers presented limited oxygen barrier effectiveness due to heterogeneous thickness of PVA layer in the laminates.The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain (project AGL2016-76699-R). The author A. Tampau thanks MINECO for the pre-doctoral research grant #BES-2014-068100.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potential link between caffeine consumption and pediatric depression: A case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early-onset depressive disorders can have severe consequences both from developmental and functional aspects. The etiology of depressive disorders is complex and multi-factorial, with an intricate interaction among environmental factors and genetic predisposition. While data from studies on adults suggest that caffeine is fairly safe, effects of caffeine in children, who are in period of rapid brain development, are currently unknown. Furthermore, systematic research addressing the relationship between depressive symptoms in children and caffeine consumption is lacking.</p> <p>The present study examined the effects of caffeine consumption on depressed mood in children with depression and non-depressed participants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Children and adolescents (n = 51) already enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study, aged 9-12 years, were assessed for depressive symptoms with the Children Depressive Inventory (CDI). Psychopathological symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and eating habits were assessed with the Nutrition-Behavior Inventory (NBI) <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>. The children were compared to control children without psychopathology attending public schools in a Southern Brazilian city.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants with CDI scores ≥ 15 (mean = 19; S.D. = 4) also had high NBI scores (mean = 52; S.D. = 19, p < 0.001) suggestive of a relationship between depressive symptoms and environmental factors, in this case nutrition/behavior. Additional linear regression adjusted statistical analysis, considering the factors of consumption of sweets and caffeine individually, showed that caffeine, but not sweets, was associated with depressive symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings indicate that depressed children consume more caffeinated drinks than non-depressed children. Nonetheless while a strong association between depressive symptoms and caffeine consumption among children was found, further research should investigate whether or not this association is due to a cause and effect relationship.</p

Genome of the Avirulent Human-Infective Trypanosome—Trypanosoma rangeli

Background: Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite infecting humans and other wild and domestic mammals across Central and South America. It does not cause human disease, but it can be mistaken for the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. We have sequenced the T. rangeli genome to provide new tools for elucidating the distinct and intriguing biology of this species and the key pathways related to interaction with its arthropod and mammalian hosts.  Methodology/Principal Findings: The T. rangeli haploid genome is ,24 Mb in length, and is the smallest and least repetitive trypanosomatid genome sequenced thus far. This parasite genome has shorter subtelomeric sequences compared to those of T. cruzi and T. brucei; displays intraspecific karyotype variability and lacks minichromosomes. Of the predicted 7,613 protein coding sequences, functional annotations could be determined for 2,415, while 5,043 are hypothetical proteins, some with evidence of protein expression. 7,101 genes (93%) are shared with other trypanosomatids that infect humans. An ortholog of the dcl2 gene involved in the T. brucei RNAi pathway was found in T. rangeli, but the RNAi machinery is non-functional since the other genes in this pathway are pseudogenized. T. rangeli is highly susceptible to oxidative stress, a phenotype that may be explained by a smaller number of anti-oxidant defense enzymes and heatshock proteins.  Conclusions/Significance: Phylogenetic comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial genes indicates that T. rangeli and T. cruzi are equidistant from T. brucei. In addition to revealing new aspects of trypanosome co-evolution within the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, comparative genomic analysis with pathogenic trypanosomatids provides valuable new information that can be further explored with the aim of developing better diagnostic tools and/or therapeutic targets