Saving the present in Brazil: Perspectives from collaborations with indigenous museums

This paper explores some of the challenges and benefits involved in the collaboration between the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, the India Vanuire Historical and Pedagogical Museum, and the Kaingang people of Vanuire, as well as some of the outcomes of these partnerships, such as the creation of the Kaingang Wowkriwig Museum. These experiences showed that working in collaboration with indigenous groups can be mutually beneficial and rewarding. The benefits include opportunities to empower the Kaingang to create and manage their own museums, and to exchange more effective preservation strategies, information about manufacturing technologies, as well as the original use and significance of objects. Moreover, the significance of objects whose value had diminished was revived by the new perspectives brought about by these inclusive approaches. The paper concludes that many other museums can act as agents of these processes but a prerequisite is a reconsideration of their relationships with indigenous groups and how the past can be redressed

On the Banach lattice structure of L-w(1) of a vector measure on a delta-ring

We study some Banach lattice properties of the space L-w(1)(v) of weakly integrable functions with respect to a vector measure v defined on a delta-ring. Namely, we analyze order continuity, order density and Fatou type properties. We will see that the behavior of L-w(1)(v) differs from the case in which is defined on a sigma-algebra whenever does not satisfy certain local sigma-finiteness property.J. M. Calabuig and M. A. Juan were supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (project MTM2008-04594). O. Delgado was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (project MTM2009-12740-C03-02). E. A. Sanchez Perez was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (project MTM2009-14483-C02-02).Calabuig Rodriguez, JM.; Delgado Garrido, O.; Juan Blanco, MA.; Sánchez Pérez, EA. (2014). On the Banach lattice structure of L-w(1) of a vector measure on a delta-ring. Collectanea Mathematica. 65(1):67-85. doi:10.1007/s13348-013-0081-8S6785651Brooks, J.K., Dinculeanu, N.: Strong additivity, absolute continuity and compactness in spaces of measures. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 45, 156–175 (1974)Calabuig, J.M., Delgado, O., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Factorizing operators on Banach function spaces through spaces of multiplication operators. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 364, 88–103 (2010)Calabuig, J.M., Juan, M.A., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Spaces of $$p$$ -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure defined on a $$\delta$$ -ring. Oper. Matrices 6, 241–262 (2012)Curbera, G.P.: El espacio de funciones integrables respecto de una medida vectorial. Ph. D. thesis, University of Sevilla, Sevilla (1992)Curbera, G.P.: Operators into $$L^1$$ of a vector measure and applications to Banach lattices. Math. Ann. 293, 317–330 (1992)Curbera, G.P., Ricker, W.J.: Banach lattices with the Fatou property and optimal domains of kernel operators. Indag. Math. (N.S.) 17, 187–204 (2006)G. P. Curbera and W. J. Ricker, Vector measures, integration and applications. In: Positivity (in Trends Math.), Birkhäuser, Basel, pp. 127–160 (2007)Curbera, G.P., Ricker, W.J.: The Fatou property in $$p$$ -convex Banach lattices. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 328, 287–294 (2007)Delgado, O.: $$L^1$$ -spaces of vector measures defined on $$\delta$$ -rings. Arch. Math. 84, 432–443 (2005)Delgado, O.: Optimal domains for kernel operators on $$[0,\infty )\times [0,\infty )$$ . Studia Math. 174, 131–145 (2006)Delgado, O., Soria, J.: Optimal domain for the Hardy operator. J. Funct. Anal. 244, 119–133 (2007)Delgado, O., Juan, M.A.: Representation of Banach lattices as $$L_w^1$$ spaces of a vector measure defined on a $$\delta$$ -ring. Bull. Belg. Math. Soc. Simon Stevin 19(2), 239–256 (2012)Diestel, J., Uhl, J.J.: Vector measures (Am. Math. Soc. surveys 15). American Mathematical Society, Providence (1997)Dinculeanu, N.: Vector measures, Hochschulbcher fr Mathematik, vol. 64. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin (1966)Fernández, A., Mayoral, F., Naranjo, F., Sáez, C., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Spaces of $$p$$ -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure. Positivity 10, 1–16 (2006)Fremlin, D.H.: Measure theory, broad foundations, vol. 2. Torres Fremlin, Colchester (2001)Jiménez Fernández, E., Juan, M.A., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: A Komlós theorem for abstract Banach lattices of measurable functions. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 383, 130–136 (2011)Lewis, D.R.: On integrability and summability in vector spaces. Ill. J. Math. 16, 294–307 (1972)Lindenstrauss, J., Tzafriri, L.: Classical Banach spaces II. Springer, Berlin (1979)Luxemburg, W.A.J., Zaanen, A.C.: Riesz spaces I. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1971)Masani, P.R., Niemi, H.: The integration theory of Banach space valued measures and the Tonelli-Fubini theorems. I. Scalar-valued measures on $$\delta$$ -rings. Adv. Math. 73, 204–241 (1989)Masani, P.R., Niemi, H.: The integration theory of Banach space valued measures and the Tonelli-Fubini theorems. II. Pettis integration. Adv. Math. 75, 121–167 (1989)Thomas, E.G.F.: Vector integration (unpublished) (2013)Turpin, Ph.: Intégration par rapport à une mesure à valeurs dans un espace vectoriel topologique non supposé localement convexe, Intègration vectorielle et multivoque, (Colloq., University Caen, Caen, 1975), experiment no. 8, Dèp. Math., UER Sci., University Caen, Caen (1975)Okada, S., Ricker, W.J., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Optimal domain and integral extension of operators acting in function spaces (Oper. Theory Adv. Appl.), vol. 180. Birkhäuser, Basel (2008)Zaanen, A.C.: Riesz spaces II. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1983

Development and validation of exhaled breath condensate microRNAs to identify and endotype asthma in children

Detection and quantification of microRNAs (miRNAs) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) has been poorly explored. Therefore we aimed to assess miRNAs in EBC as potential biomarkers to diagnose and endotype asthma in school aged children. In a cross sectional, nested case control study, all the asthmatic children (n = 71) and a random sample of controls (n = 115), aged 7 to 12 years, attending 71 classrooms from 20 local schools were selected and arbitrarily allocated to the development or validation set. Participants underwent skin-prick testing, spirometry with bronchodilation, had exhaled level of nitric oxide determined and EBC collected. Based on previous studies eleven miRNAs were chosen and analyzed in EBC by reverse transcription-quantitative real-time PCR. Principal component analysis was applied to identify miRNAs profiles and associations were estimated using regression models. In the development set (n = 89) two clusters of miRNAs were identified. After adjustments, cluster 1 and three of its clustered miRNAs, miR-126-3p, miR-133a-3p and miR-145-5p were positively associated with asthma. Moreover miR-21-5p was negatively associated with symptomatic asthma and positively associated with positive bronchodilation without symptoms. An association was also found between miR-126-3p, cluster 2 and one of its clustered miRNA, miR-146-5p, with higher FEF25-75 reversibility. These findings were confirmed in the validation set (n = 97) where two identical clusters of miRNAs were identified. Additional significant associations were observed between miR-155-5p with symptomatic asthma, negative bronchodilation with symptoms and positive bronchodilation without symptoms. We showed that microRNAs can be measured in EBC of children and may be used as potential biomarkers of asthma, assisting asthma endotype establishment.Authors gratefully acknowledge the funding by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000010 - Health, Comfort and Energy in the Built Environment (HEBE), cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and EXALAR 21 project financed by FEDER/FNR and by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (EXALAR 21 02/SAICT/2017 - Project nº 30193). FCM kindly acknowledges the scholarship SFRH/BD/144563/2019 granted by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, as well as the Fulbright Research Grant 2019/2020 granted by Fulbright Portugal. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Telomere Length Shows No Association with BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Status

This study aimed to determine whether telomere length (TL) is a marker of cancer risk or genetic status amongst two cohorts of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and controls. The first group was a prospective set of 665 male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and controls (mean age 53 years), all healthy at time of enrolment and blood donation, 21 of whom have developed prostate cancer whilst on study. The second group consisted of 283 female BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and controls (mean age 48 years), half of whom had been diagnosed with breast cancer prior to enrolment. TL was quantified by qPCR from DNA extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes. Weighted and unweighted Cox regressions and linear regression analyses were used to assess whether TL was associated with BRCA1/2 mutation status or cancer risk. We found no evidence for association between developing cancer or being a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carrier and telomere length. It is the first study investigating TL in a cohort of genetically predisposed males and although TL and BRCA status was previously studied in females our results don't support the previous finding of association between hereditary breast cancer and shorter TL

Randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effect of fecal microbiota transplant for initial Clostridium difficile infection in intestinal microbiome

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of fecal donor-unrelated donor mix (FMT-FURM) transplantation as first-line therapy for C. difficile infection (CDI) in intestinal microbiome. Methods We designed an open, two-arm pilot study with oral vancomycin (250mg every 6 h for 10–14 days) or FMT-FURM as treatments for the first CDI episode in hospitalized adult patients in Hospital Universitario “Dr. Jose Eleuterio Gonzalez”. Patients were randomized by a closed envelope method in a 1: 1 ratio to either oral vancomycin or FMT-FURM. CDI resolution was considered when there was a reduction on the Bristol scale of at least 2 points, a reduction of at least 50% in the number of bowel movements, absence of fever, and resolution of abdominal pain (at least two criteria). From each patient, a fecal sample was obtained at days 0, 3, and 7 after treatment. Specimens were cultured to isolate C. difficile, and isolates were characterized by PCR. Susceptibility testing of isolates was performed using the agar dilution method. Fecal samples and FMT-FURM were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Results We included 19 patients; 10 in the vancomycin arm and 9 in the FMT-FURM arm. However, one of the patients in the vancomycin arm and two patients in the FMT-FURM arm were eliminated. Symptoms resolved in 8/9 patients (88.9%) in the vancomycin group, while symptoms resolved in 4/7 patients (57.1%) after the first FMT-FURM dose (P = 0.26) and in 5/7 patients (71.4%) after the second dose (P = 0.55). During the study, no adverse effects attributable to FMT-FURM were observed in patients. Twelve isolates were recovered, most isolates carried tcdB, tcdA, cdtA, and cdtB, with an 18-bp deletion in tcdC. All isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin but susceptible to metronidazole, linezolid, fidaxomicin, and tetracycline. In the FMT-FURM group, the bacterial composition was dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria at all-time points and the microbiota were remarkably stable over time. The vancomycin group showed a very different pattern of the microbial composition when comparing to the FMT-FURM group over time. Conclusion The results of this preliminary study showed that FMT-FURM for initial CDI is associated with specific bacterial communities that do not resemble the donors’ sample.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Extending colonic mucosal microbiome analysis - Assessment of colonic lavage as a proxy for endoscopic colonic biopsies

This study was supported through GI Research funds and MRC Grant Ref: MR/M00533X/1 to GH.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the assessment of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Before trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), assessment of cardiac function and accurate measurement of the aortic root are key to determine the correct size and type of the prosthesis. The aim of this study was to compare cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) for the assessment of aortic valve measurements and left ventricular function in high-risk elderly patients submitted to TAVI.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis and contraindications for surgical aortic valve replacement were screened from April 2009 to January 2011 and imaged with TTE and CMR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients who underwent both TTE and CMR (n = 49) had a mean age of 80.8 ± 4.8 years and a mean logistic EuroSCORE of 14.9 ± 9.3%. There was a good correlation between TTE and CMR in terms of annulus size (R²= 0.48, p < 0.001), left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) diameter (R²= 0.62, p < 0.001) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (R²= 0.47, p < 0.001) and a moderate correlation in terms of aortic valve area (AVA) (R²= 0.24, p < 0.001). CMR generally tended to report larger values than TTE for all measurements. The Bland-Altman test indicated that the 95% limits of agreement between TTE and CMR ranged from -5.6 mm to + 1.0 mm for annulus size, from -0.45 mm to + 0.25 mm for LVOT, from -0.45 mm²to + 0.25 mm²for AVA and from -29.2% to 13.2% for LVEF.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In elderly patients candidates to TAVI, CMR represents a viable complement to transthoracic echocardiography.</p

The stellar halo of the Galaxy

Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most ubiquitous component of galaxies, independently of their Hubble type. This review focuses on our current understanding of the spatial structure, the kinematics and chemistry of halo stars in the Milky Way. In recent years, we have experienced a change in paradigm thanks to the discovery of large amounts of substructure, especially in the outer halo. I discuss the implications of the currently available observational constraints and fold them into several possible formation scenarios. Unraveling the formation of the Galactic halo will be possible in the near future through a combination of large wide field photometric and spectroscopic surveys, and especially in the era of Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures. References updated and some minor changes. Full-resolution version available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~ahelmi/stellar-halo-review.pd

Renormalization of the QED of self-interacting second order spin 1/2 fermions

We study the one-loop level renormalization of the electrodynamics of spin 1/2 fermions in the Poincar\'e projector formalism, in arbitrary covariant gauge and including fermion self-interactions, which are dimension four operators in this framework. We show that the model is renormalizable for arbitrary values of the tree level gyromagnetic factor g within the validity region of the perturbative expansion, \alpha g^2 << 1. In the absence of tree level fermion self-interactions, we recover the pure QED of second order fermions, which is renormalizable only for |g|=2. Turning off the electromagnetic interaction we obtain a renormalizable Nambu-Jona-Lasinio-like model with second order fermions in four space-time dimensions.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures. Published versio