DEGRADAÇÃO DE Agrotóxicos POR FUNGOS BASIDIOMICETOS EM SOLO AGRÍCOLA CONTENDO ALTOS NÍVEIS DE TRÊS PRODUTOS DIFERENTES

Estudou-se a degradação de solo agrícola contaminado por longo tempo de aplicação de agrotóxicos (paraquate, clorotalonil e deltametrina) pelos fungos basidiomicetos Pleurotus ostreatus e Phanerochete crysosporium com e sem uso de surfactantes. Determinou-se a degradação dos três produtos em meio de cultura pelos fungos, sendo testados vários substratos para inoculação dos fungos ao solo. As enzimas produzidas durante a degradação também foram avaliadas. Todos os produtos foram degradados em meio de cultura em porcentagens variadas de maneira sequencial. O período de maior degradação revelou a maior quantidade de enzimas, sendo o bagaço de caju o substrato com maior crescimento fúngico e produção de enzimas.Verificou-se degradação completa do herbicida paraquate no solo na presença de surfactantes. A degradação do clorotalonil foi acelerada pela presença do surfactante e só ocorreu após a degradação do paraquate. O inseticida deltametrina, que apresentava menor concentração no solo, foi o substrato menos degradado. Houve maior produção de enzimas no início do crescimento fúngico, quando o herbicida paraquate foi degradado.

Application of a multicriteria decision model for the classification of Paraíba’s municipalities as to the occurrence of domestic and family violence against women

The objective of the present work is to classify the municipalities of the state of Paraíba according to the propensity for the occurrence of Domestic and Family Violence Against Women. Data used come from the Municipal Basic Information Survey (MUNIC, in Portuguese), performed in 2019, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, in Portuguese). Additionally, the records of cases of violence from the Women’s Assistance Center (Ligue 180) were used to evaluate the classification. The ELECTRE Tri-B method was applied for the classification task, considering a set of socioeconomic criteria, to group municipalities into four classes: Low, Medium, High and Very High. The results suggest that more than 80% of the municipalities in Paraíba were classified as having a high propensity, which means that they have a lack of services and strategies to protect women, demanding, therefore, greater attention of the state for the implementation of assistance services.

Identification and functional characterisation of CRK12:CYC9, a novel cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-cyclin complex in Trypanosoma brucei

The protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, is spread by the tsetse fly and causes trypanosomiasis in humans and animals. Both the life cycle and cell cycle of the parasite are complex. Trypanosomes have eleven cdc2-related kinases (CRKs) and ten cyclins, an unusually large number for a single celled organism. To date, relatively little is known about the function of many of the CRKs and cyclins, and only CRK3 has previously been shown to be cyclin-dependent in vivo. Here we report the identification of a previously uncharacterised CRK:cyclin complex between CRK12 and the putative transcriptional cyclin, CYC9. CRK12:CYC9 interact to form an active protein kinase complex in procyclic and bloodstream T. brucei. Both CRK12 and CYC9 are essential for the proliferation of bloodstream trypanosomes in vitro, and we show that CRK12 is also essential for survival of T. brucei in a mouse model, providing genetic validation of CRK12:CYC9 as a novel drug target for trypanosomiasis. Further, functional characterisation of CRK12 and CYC9 using RNA interference reveals roles for these proteins in endocytosis and cytokinesis, respectively

Attenuation of capsaicin-induced acute and visceral nociceptive pain by α- and β-amyrin, a triterpene mixture isolated from Protium heptaphyllum resin

Abstract The triterpene mixture, a-and h-amyrin, isolated from Protium heptaphyllum resin was evaluated on capsaicinevoked nociception in mice. Orally administered a-and h-amyrin (3 to 100 mg/kg) significantly suppressed the nociceptive behaviors-evoked by either subplantar (1.6 Ag) or intracolonic (149 Ag) application of capsaicin. The antinociception produced by a-and h-amyrin against subplantar capsaicin-induced paw-licking behavior was neither potentiated nor attenuated by ruthenium red (1.5 mg/kg, s.c.), a non-specific antagonist of vanilloid receptor (TRPV1), but was greatly abolished in animals pretreated with naloxone (2 mg/kg, s.c.), suggesting an opioid mechanism. However, participation of a 2 -adrenoceptor involvement was unlikely since yohimbine (2 mg/ kg, i.p.) pretreatment failed to block the antinociceptive effect of a-and h-amyrin in the experimental model of visceral nociception evoked by intracolonic capsaicin. The triterpene mixture (3 to 30 mg/kg, p.o.) neither altered significantly the pentobarbital sleeping time, nor impaired the ambulation or motor coordination in open-field and rota-rod tests, respectively, indicating the absence of sedative or motor abnormality that could account for its antinociception. Nevertheless, a-and h-amyrin could significantly block the capsaicin (10 mg/kg, s.c.)-induce

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

DEGRADAÇÃO DE Agrotóxicos POR FUNGOS BASIDIOMICETOS EM SOLO AGRÍCOLA CONTENDO ALTOS NÍVEIS DE TRÊS PRODUTOS DIFERENTES

Estudou-se a degradação de solo agrícola contaminado por longo tempo de aplicação de agrotóxicos (paraquate, clorotalonil e deltametrina) pelos fungos basidiomicetos Pleurotus ostreatus e Phanerochete crysosporium com e sem uso de surfactantes. Determinou-se a degradação dos três produtos em meio de cultura pelos fungos, sendo testados vários substratos para inoculação dos fungos ao solo. As enzimas produzidas durante a degradação também foram avaliadas. Todos os produtos foram degradados em meio de cultura em porcentagens variadas de maneira sequencial. O período de maior degradação revelou a maior quantidade de enzimas, sendo o bagaço de caju o substrato com maior crescimento fúngico e produção de enzimas.Verificou-se degradação completa do herbicida paraquate no solo na presença de surfactantes. A degradação do clorotalonil foi acelerada pela presença do surfactante e só ocorreu após a degradação do paraquate. O inseticida deltametrina, que apresentava menor concentração no solo, foi o substrato menos degradado. Houve maior produção de enzimas no início do crescimento fúngico, quando o herbicida paraquate foi degradado.