Síndrome OHVIRA com Remanescente Uretérico

OHVIRA syndrome is characterized by a didelphys uterus with an obstructed/blind hemi-vagina and ipsilateral renal agenesis. We presented a case of a female child with a pre-natal diagnosis of left renal agenesis whose post-natal imaging findings were consistent with OHVIRA syndrome.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dominance of grain size impacts on seasonal snow albedo at deforested sites in New Hampshire

Snow cover serves as a major control on the surface energy budget in temperate regions due to its high reflectivity compared to underlying surfaces. Winter in the northeastern United States has changed over the last several decades, resulting in shallower snowpacks, fewer days of snow cover, and increasing precipitation falling as rain in the winter. As these climatic changes occur, it is imperative that we understand current controls on the evolution of seasonal snow albedo in the region. Over three winter seasons between 2013 and 2015, snow characterization measurements were made at three open sites across New Hampshire. These near-daily measurements include spectral albedo, snow optical grain size determined through contact spectroscopy, snow depth, snow density, black carbon content, local meteorological parameters, and analysis of storm trajectories using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model. Using analysis of variance, we determine that land-based winter storms result in marginally higher albedo than coastal storms or storms from the Atlantic Ocean. Through multiple regression analysis, we determine that snow grain size is significantly more important in albedo reduction than black carbon content or snow density. And finally, we present a parameterization of albedo based on days since snowfall and temperature that accounts for 52% of variance in albedo over all three sites and years. Our improved understanding of current controls on snow albedo in the region will allow for better assessment of potential response of seasonal snow albedo and snow cover to changing climate

Untargeted metabolomic profile for the detection of prostate carcinoma-preliminary results from PARAFAC2 and PLS-DA Models

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the main biomarker for the screening of prostate cancer (PCa), which has a high sensibility (higher than 80%) that is negatively offset by its poor specificity (only 30%, with the European cut-off of 4 ng/mL). This generates a large number of useless biopsies, involving both risks for the patients and costs for the national healthcare systems. Consequently, efforts were recently made to discover new biomarkers useful for PCa screening, including our proposal of interpreting a multi-parametric urinary steroidal profile with multivariate statistics. This approach has been expanded to investigate new alleged biomarkers by the application of untargeted urinary metabolomics. Urine samples from 91 patients (43 affected by PCa; 48 by benign hyperplasia) were deconjugated, extracted in both basic and acidic conditions, derivatized with different reagents, and analyzed with different gas chromatographic columns. Three-dimensional data were obtained from full-scan electron impact mass spectra. The PARADISe software, coupled with NIST libraries, was employed for the computation of PARAFAC2 models, the extraction of the significative components (alleged biomarkers), and the generation of a semiquantitative dataset. After variables selection, a partial least squares–discriminant analysis classification model was built, yielding promising performances. The selected biomarkers need further validation, possibly involving, yet again, a targeted approach

Digestión anaerobia de estiércol de ovino para producir biogás y bioabono

Objective: To test three different sheep manure management to produce biogas and biofertilizer. Design/methodology/approach: A 2.51 m3 membrane reactor was used and three ways of preparing the manure were evaluated: fresh crushed, fresh without treatment and dry ground. Each treatment was evaluated for one month and the daily production of biogas, the ambient temperature and the pH of the effluent and the flowing were recorded. The nutritional content of the digest was analyzed. Results: The highest production of biogas (1.20 m3 día-1) was obtained with fresh crushed manure, and was statistically higher than that generated with fresh untreated manure (0.86 m3 día-1) and dry ground manure (0.75 m3 día-1). These yields were from 0.05 to 0.08 m3 of biogas per kg of manure fed. The liquid effluent showed a low content of nutrients, however, about 56 liters were obtained daily. The mud, on the other hand, presented important contents of nutrients that makes it a material with high potential as a biofertilizer. Limitations on study/implications: During the evaluation of untreated fresh manure and dry ground manure the ambient temperature was higher, but the biogas production was lower. Findings/conclusions: It was demonstrated that good production of biogas and biofertilizers can be obtained from sheep manure by means of their anaerobic digestion in a tubular biodigester.Objetivo: Evaluar tres diferentes manejos de estiércol de ovino para producir biogás y bioabono. Diseño/metodología/aproximación: Se usó un reactor de geomembrana de 2.51 m3 y se evaluaron tres formas de preparar el estiércol de ovino: fresco triturado, fresco sin tratamiento y seco molido. Cada manejo se evaluó por un mes y se registró la producción diaria de biogás, la temperatura ambiente y pH del afluente y del efluente. Se analizó el contenido nutrimental del digerido. Resultados: La mayor producción de biogás (1.20 m3 d-1) se obtuvo con el estiércol fresco triturado, y fue estadísticamente mayor al generado con estiércol fresco sin tratar (0.86 m3 d-1) y con estiércol seco molido (0.75 m3 d-1). Estos rendimientos fueron de 0.05 a 0.08 m3 de biogás por kg de estiércol alimentado. El efluente líquido mostró bajo contenido de nutrientes, no obstante diariamente se obtuvieron alrededor de 56 L. El lodo, en cambio, registró contenidos importantes de nutrientes que lo hace un material con alto potencial como bioabono. Limitaciones del estudio/implicaciones: Durante la evaluación del estiércol fresco sin tratamiento y seco molido la temperatura ambiente fue mayor, pero la producción de biogás fue menor. Hallazgos/conclusiones: Se demostró que a partir del estiércol de ovino se puede obtener buena producción de biogás y bioabonos, mediante su digestión anaerobia en un biodigestor tubular

IFNAR1-Signalling Obstructs ICOS-mediated Humoral Immunity during Non-lethal Blood-Stage Plasmodium Infection

Funding: This work was funded by a Career Development Fellowship (1028634) and a project grant (GRNT1028641) awarded to AHa by the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC). IS was supported by The University of Queensland Centennial and IPRS Scholarships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells appear inactive during sub-microscopic Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage infection, yet retain their ability to respond to TLR stimulation

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are activators of innate and adaptive immune responses that express HLA-DR, toll-like receptor (TLR) 7, TLR9 and produce type I interferons. The role of human pDC in malaria remains poorly characterised. pDC activation and cytokine production were assessed in 59 malaria-naive volunteers during experimental infection with 150 or 1,800 P. falciparum-parasitized red blood cells. Using RNA sequencing, longitudinal changes in pDC gene expression were examined in five adults before and at peak-infection. pDC responsiveness to TLR7 and TLR9 stimulation was assessed in-vitro. Circulating pDC remained transcriptionally stable with gene expression altered for 8 genes (FDR < 0.07). There was no upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules CD86, CD80, CD40, and reduced surface expression of HLA-DR and CD123 (IL-3R-α). pDC loss from the circulation was associated with active caspase-3, suggesting pDC apoptosis during primary infection. pDC remained responsive to TLR stimulation, producing IFN-α and upregulating HLA-DR, CD86, CD123 at peak-infection. In clinical malaria, pDC retained HLA-DR but reduced CD123 expression compared to convalescence. These data demonstrate pDC retain function during a first blood-stage P. falciparum exposure despite sub-microscopic parasitaemia downregulating HLA-DR. The lack of evident pDC activation in both early infection and malaria suggests little response of circulating pDC to infection

CD4+ Natural Regulatory T Cells Prevent Experimental Cerebral Malaria via CTLA-4 When Expanded In Vivo

Studies in malaria patients indicate that higher frequencies of peripheral blood CD4+ Foxp3+ CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells correlate with increased blood parasitemia. This observation implies that Treg cells impair pathogen clearance and thus may be detrimental to the host during infection. In C57BL/6 mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA, depletion of Foxp3+ cells did not improve parasite control or disease outcome. In contrast, elevating frequencies of natural Treg cells in vivo using IL-2/anti-IL-2 complexes resulted in complete protection against severe disease. This protection was entirely dependent upon Foxp3+ cells and resulted in lower parasite biomass, impaired antigen-specific CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell responses that would normally promote parasite tissue sequestration in this model, and reduced recruitment of conventional T cells to the brain. Furthermore, Foxp3+ cell-mediated protection was dependent upon CTLA-4 but not IL-10. These data show that T cell-mediated parasite tissue sequestration can be reduced by regulatory T cells in a mouse model of malaria, thereby limiting malaria-induced immune pathology

Ring distributions leading to species formation: a global topographic analysis of geographic barriers associated with ring species

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the mid 20^thcentury, Ernst Mayr and Theodosius Dobzhansky championed the significance of circular overlaps or ring species as the perfect demonstration of speciation, yet in the over 50 years since, only a handful of such taxa are known. We developed a topographic model to evaluate whether the geographic barriers that favor processes leading to ring species are common or rare, and to predict where other candidate ring barriers might be found.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 952,147 geographic barriers identified on the planet, only about 1% are topographically similar to barriers associated with known ring taxa, with most of the likely candidates occurring in under-studied parts of the world (for example, marine environments, tropical latitudes). Predicted barriers separate into two distinct categories: (i) single cohesive barriers (< 50,000 km²), associated with taxa that differentiate at smaller spatial scales (salamander: <it>Ensatina eschscholtzii</it>; tree: <it>Acacia karroo</it>); and (ii) composite barriers - formed by groups of barriers (each 184,000 to 1.7 million km²) in close geographic proximity (totaling 1.9 to 2.3 million km²) - associated with taxa that differentiate at larger spatial scales (birds: <it>Phylloscopus trochiloide</it>s and <it>Larus </it>(sp. <it>argentatus </it>and <it>fuscus</it>)). When evaluated globally, we find a large number of cohesive barriers that are topographically similar to those associated with known ring taxa. Yet, compared to cohesive barriers, an order of magnitude fewer composite barriers are similar to those that favor ring divergence in species with higher dispersal.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While these findings confirm that the topographic conditions that favor evolutionary processes leading to ring speciation are, in fact, rare, they also suggest that many understudied natural systems could provide valuable demonstrations of continuous divergence towards the formation of new species. Distinct advantages of the model are that it (i) requires no <it>a priori </it>information on the relative importance of features that define barriers, (ii) can be replicated using any kind of continuously distributed environmental variable, and (iii) generates spatially explicit hypotheses of geographic species formation. The methods developed here - combined with study of the geographical ecology and genetics of taxa in their environments - should enable recognition of ring species phenomena throughout the world.</p

Formal Modeling and Analysis of the MAL-Associated Biological Regulatory Network: Insight into Cerebral Malaria

The discrete modeling formalism of René Thomas is a well known approach for the modeling and analysis of Biological Regulatory Networks (BRNs). This formalism uses a set of parameters which reflect the dynamics of the BRN under study. These parameters are initially unknown but may be deduced from the appropriately chosen observed dynamics of a BRN. The discrete model can be further enriched by using the model checking tool HyTech along with delay parameters. This paves the way to accurately analyse a BRN and to make predictions about critical trajectories which lead to a normal or diseased response. In this paper, we apply the formal discrete and hybrid (discrete and continuous) modeling approaches to characterize behavior of the BRN associated with MyD88-adapter-like (MAL) – a key protein involved with innate immune response to infections. In order to demonstrate the practical effectiveness of our current work, different trajectories and corresponding conditions that may lead to the development of cerebral malaria (CM) are identified. Our results suggest that the system converges towards hyperinflammation if Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) remains constitutively active along with pre-existing high cytokine levels which may play an important role in CM pathogenesis