Efeitos de um programa de condicionamento físico na funcionalidade de indivíduos com paralisia cerebral / Effects of a fitness program in functional capacity of individuals with cerebral palsy

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar o ganho de funcionalidade em indivíduos com paralisia cerebral (PC) após um programa de condicionamento físico. Quatorze indivíduos diagnosticados com PC realizaram um programa de exercícios físicos que englobou exercícios aeróbicos, exercícios resistidos e alongamentos de membros inferiores realizados duas vezes por semana por um período de seis meses. Os participantes foram avaliados antes e após a intervenção através do teste de caminhada de seis minutos e de dez metros, índice de gasto energético (IGE), teste TimedUp and Go (TUG) e pelas dimensões D e E da Medida da Função Motora Grosa (GMFM). Todos os parâmetros analisados mostraram diferenças positivas após o programa de exercícios físicos e houve melhora estatisticamente significante com p0,05 no teste de caminhada de dez metros, teste de caminhada de seis minutos,TUG e no IGE. NoGMFM a dimensão D e E apresentaram diferenças,porém não foram estatisticamente significantes.Os achados neste estudo podem prover evidências que apoiam a efetividade de um programa de exercícios físicos em indivíduos com PC. Melhoras significativas no deslocamento e gasto energético foram observadas após seis meses de participação no programa de exercícios, o que sugere uma melhora na mobilidade funcional destes indivíduos.

Head control acquisition in preterm and fulhterm infants

A stable postural control is the basis for the organisation and voluntary execution of movements. In infants this control is shown by the development of motor abilities such as head control. Premature deliveries may generate risks to a child, such as lesions to the central nervous system, especially in the regions responsible for voluntary motricity. This study aimed at comparing the development of head control acquisition between preterm and full-term infants at the age of 2 and 4 months (preterm infant ages being corrected). Video recordings of five infants born prematurely and 5 born at term were analysed, within the Motor Development Follow-up Program For Preterm Born Children, maintained by the Department of Physical Therapy at the Londrina State University School Hospital. The items related to the development of head control included in the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) were used in the evaluation. Although scores obtained by preterm and fullterm infants differed, the differences were found not to be statistically significant, thus suggesting that premature birth does not represent a risk for the final acquisition of head control. Despite the slightly late development in the acquisition of head control observed in preterm infants, both groups had similar scores at the age of four months.O controle postural estável constitui a base para a organização e execução voluntária do movimento. Esse controle exterioriza-se, noslactentes, pela emergência de habilidades motoras como o controle dacabeça. Partos prematuros podem gerar muitos riscos para a criança, como o comprometimento do sistema nervoso central, em especial de algumas regiões gerenciadoras da motricidade voluntária. O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar a evolução da aquisição do controle de cabeça entre lactentes nascidos pré-termo e a termo, aos 2 e 4 meses de idade, sendo a idade corrigida para os primeiros. Foram analisados videorregistros de cinco lactentes pré-termo e cinco a termo, incluídos em um Programa de Acompanhamento do Desenvolvimento Motor em Crianças Pré-termo do Departamento de Fisioterapia do Hospital Universitário do Norte do Paraná da UEL. Foram avaliados itens relacionados à aquisição do controle de cabeça do instrumento de avaliação G M F M (Gross Motor Function Measure). Os dados colhidos mostraram diferença de pontuação entre os grupos de lactentes pré-termo e a termo, mas a diferença não se mostrou estatisticamente significante, sugerindo que o nascimento pré-termo não afeta o controle de cabeça final. Apesar de um ligeiro atraso do desenvolvimento da aquisição do controle de cabeça dos lactentes prétermo, ao final dos 4 meses ambos os grupos apresentavam pontuaçõessimilares

From flavors and pharmaceuticals to advanced biofuels: Production of isoprenoids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Isoprenoids denote the largest group of chemicals in the plant kingdom and are employed for a wide range of applications in the food and pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, isoprenoids have additionally been recognized as suitable replacements for petroleum-derived fuels and could thus promote the transition towards a more sustainable society. To realize the biofuel potential of isoprenoids, a very efficient production system is required. While complex chemical structures as well as the low abundance in nature demonstrate the shortcomings of chemical synthesis and plant extraction, isoprenoids can be produced by genetically engineered microorganisms from renewable carbon sources. In this article, we summarize the development of isoprenoid applications from flavors and pharmaceuticals to advanced biofuels and review the strategies to design microbial cell factories, focusing on Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of these compounds. While the high complexity of biosynthetic pathways and the toxicity of certain isoprenoids still denote challenges that need to be addressed, metabolic engineering has enabled large-scale production of several terpenoids and thus, the utilization of these compounds is likely to expand in the future

An expanded evaluation of protein function prediction methods shows an improvement in accuracy

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging. Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict biological functions using Gene Ontology and gene-disease associations using Human Phenotype Ontology on a set of 3681 proteins from 18 species. CAFA2 featured expanded analysis compared with CAFA1, with regards to data set size, variety, and assessment metrics. To review progress in the field, the analysis compared the best methods from CAFA1 to those of CAFA2. Conclusions: The top-performing methods in CAFA2 outperformed those from CAFA1. This increased accuracy can be attributed to a combination of the growing number of experimental annotations and improved methods for function prediction. The assessment also revealed that the definition of top-performing algorithms is ontology specific, that different performance metrics can be used to probe the nature of accurate predictions, and the relative diversity of predictions in the biological process and human phenotype ontologies. While there was methodological improvement between CAFA1 and CAFA2, the interpretation of results and usefulness of individual methods remain context-dependent. Keywords: Protein function prediction, Disease gene prioritizationpublishedVersio

An Expanded Evaluation of Protein Function Prediction Methods Shows an Improvement In Accuracy

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging. Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict biological functions using Gene Ontology and gene-disease associations using Human Phenotype Ontology on a set of 3681 proteins from 18 species. CAFA2 featured expanded analysis compared with CAFA1, with regards to data set size, variety, and assessment metrics. To review progress in the field, the analysis compared the best methods from CAFA1 to those of CAFA2. Conclusions: The top-performing methods in CAFA2 outperformed those from CAFA1. This increased accuracy can be attributed to a combination of the growing number of experimental annotations and improved methods for function prediction. The assessment also revealed that the definition of top-performing algorithms is ontology specific, that different performance metrics can be used to probe the nature of accurate predictions, and the relative diversity of predictions in the biological process and human phenotype ontologies. While there was methodological improvement between CAFA1 and CAFA2, the interpretation of results and usefulness of individual methods remain context-dependent