Low signal intensity of motor cortex in SWI sequence: a radiological marker for motor neuron disease?

Hosp Beneficencia Portuguesa São Paulo, BR-01323000 São Paulo, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Neurol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Neurol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Genotypic determination coefficient and estimation of other parameters in rubber tree clones

Este estudo foi desenvolvido para determinar a variabilidade genética presente em um conjunto de quatorze clones de seringueira Hevea spp. Os clones utilizados foram das séries Fx, IAN e PFB, todos selecionados na região Norte do Brasil. Os caracteres estudados foram: produção de borracha seca por corte pelo teste precoce de produção de Mendes, altura, diâmetro do caule, número de lançamentos, espessura de folha, espessura de casca, número de anéis de vasos laticíferos, diâmetro dos vasos laticíferos dos anéis, densidade dos vasos em 5 mm do anel e distância média entre os consecutivos anéis de vasos laticíferos. O coeficiente de variação genotípica variou de 1,06% a 59,15%. Os coeficientes de determinação genotípica estimados foram: 0,96, 0,79, 0,77 e 0,69, para produção, número de lançamentos, diâmetro de caule e espessura da casca, respectivamente. O ganho genético estimado foi muito baixo para o número de anéis de vasos laticíferos e diâmetro dos vasos laticíferos dos anéis, indicando que a seleção para esses caracteres não resultará em ganho apreciável. Seleção de clones, baseada em produção, diâmetro do caule e distância média entre os consecutivos anéis de vasos laticíferos, poderá resultar em progressos satisfatórios.Estimates of genetic variability were obtained for a fixed set of fourteen clones of rubber tree, Hevea spp. The set comprised clones from Fx, IAN and PFB series, all selected in the Northern region of Brazil. The characters studied were yield of dry rubber per tapping by Mendes early test, height, stem diameter, whorls number, leaf thickness, bark thickness, total number of latex vessel rings, diameter of latex vessels, density of latex vessels per 5 mm of ring, and average distance of consecutive latex vessel rings. The genotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 1.06% to 59.15%. The genotypic coefficient of determination estimates were 0.96, 0.79, 0.77 and 0.69 for yield, whorls number, stem diameter and bark thickness, respectively. The estimated genetic gain was low for total number of latex vessel rings and diameter of latex vessels and, hence, selection for these characters may not result in accentuated progress. Selection of clones based on yield, stem diameter and average distance between consecutive latex vessel ring a may be effective

A SURVEY of CHRONIC GVHD and OTHER OUTCOMES - A SNAPSHOT of BRAZILIAN ALLOGENEIC HEMATOPOIETIC CELL TRANSPLANTATION (HCT) CENTERS

Univ Fed Parana, BR-80060000 Curitiba, Parana, BrazilNatl Canc Inst, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilState Univ São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Estadual Campinas, Campina, BrazilUniv Fed Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilAmaral Carvalho Hosp, Jau, BrazilAmaral Carvalho Hosp, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilAlbert Einstein Hosp, São Paulo, BrazilCanc Hosp Barretos, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, BrazilPernambuco Blood Bank, Recife, PE, BrazilUniv Fed Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BrazilUniv State Univ São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, BrazilFred Hutchinson Canc Res Ctr, Seattle, WA 98104 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Genetic regulators of mineral amount in Nelore cattle muscle predicted by a new co-expression and regulatory impact factor approach.

Mineral contents in bovine muscle can affect meat quality, growth, health, and reproductive traits. To better understand the genetic basis of this phenotype in Nelore (Bos indicus) cattle, we analysed genome-wide mRNA and miRNA expression data from 114 muscle samples. The analysis implemented a new application for two complementary algorithms: the partial correlation and information theory (PCIT) and the regulatory impact factor (RIF), in which we included the estimated genomic breeding values (GEBVs) for the phenotypes additionally to the expression levels, originally proposed for these methods. We used PCIT to determine putative regulatory relationships based on significant associations between gene expression and GEBVs for each mineral amount. Then, RIF was adopted to determine the regulatory impact of genes and miRNAs expression over the GEBVs for the mineral amounts. We also investigated over-represented pathways, as well as pieces of evidences from previous studies carried in the same population and in the literature, to determine regulatory genes for the mineral amounts. For example, NOX1 expression level was positively correlated to Zinc and has been described as Zinc-regulated in humans. Based on our approach, we were able to identify genes, miRNAs and pathways not yet described as underlying mineral amount. The results support the hypothesis that extracellular matrix interactions are the core regulator of mineral amount in muscle cells. Putative regulators described here add information to this hypothesis, expanding the knowledge on molecular relationships between gene expression and minerals.Article: 8436

Putative genes involved in muscle functioning are differentially expressed in Nelore steers divergent for sodium and potassium concentration.

Editores: Luiz Lehmann Coutinho, ESALQ/USP; Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano, Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste; Gerson Barreto Mourão, ESALQ/USP; Aline Silva Mello Cesar, ESALQ/USP; Bárbara Silva Vignato, FZEA/USP; Mirele Daiana Poleti, ESALQ/USP; Wellison Jarles da Silva Diniz, UFSCar

f(R) theories

Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations, and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom

Effects of Brazil's political crisis on the science needed for biodiversity conservation

The effects of Brazil’s political crisis on science funding necessary for biodiversity conservation are likely to be global. Brazil is not only the world’s most biodiverse nation, it is responsible for the greater part of the Amazon forest, which regulates the climate and provides rain to much of southern South America. Brazil was a world leader in satellite monitoring of land-use change, in-situ biodiversity monitoring, reduction in tropical-forest deforestation, protection of indigenous lands, and a model for other developing nations. Coordinated public responses will be necessary to prevent special-interest groups from using the political crisis to weaken science funding, environmental legislation and law enforcement. Keywords: Brazil, biodiversity, climate change, governance, fundin

Surveillance of active human cytomegalovirus infection in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HLA sibling identical donor): search for optimal cutoff value by real-time PCR

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection still causes significant morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Therefore, it is extremely important to diagnosis and monitor active CMV infection in HSCT patients, defining the CMV DNA levels of virus replication that warrant intervention with antiviral agents in order to accurately prevent CMV disease and further related complications.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During the first 150 days after allogeneic HSTC, thirty patients were monitored weekly for active CMV infection by <it>pp65 </it>antigenemia, nested-PCR and real-time PCR assays. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plot analysis was performed to determine a threshold value of the CMV DNA load by real-time PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using ROC curves, the optimal cutoff value by real-time PCR was 418.4 copies/10⁴PBL (sensitivity, 71.4%; specificity, 89.7%). Twenty seven (90%) of the 30 analyzed patients had active CMV infection and two (6.7%) developed CMV disease. Eleven (40.7%) of these 27 patients had acute GVHD, 18 (66.7%) had opportunistic infection, 5 (18.5%) had chronic rejection and 11 (40.7%) died - one died of CMV disease associated with GVHD and bacterial infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The low incidence of CMV disease in HSCT recipients in our study attests to the efficacy of CMV surveillance based on clinical routine assay. The quantification of CMV DNA load using real-time PCR appears to be applicable to the clinical practice and an optimal cutoff value for guiding timely preemptive therapy should be clinically validated in future studies.</p