Massive Upper GI Bleeding from Duodenal Invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma successfully treated with embolization and Hemospray®

Direct invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) into the duodenum is a unique and life-threatening complication of HCC that has been rarely reported. A 60-year-old male with known HCC and cirrhosis presented with melena. Computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis showed a 7cm hepatic mass abutting the duodenum. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy demonstrated a large, actively oozing mass in the duodenum treated with Hemospray® followed by transarterial embolization (TAE). Active upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal invasion of HCC can be successfully treated with Hemospray® Endoscopic Hemostat and TAE

7. Habitat Use and Home Range of Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) in North Georgia Piedmont

The Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a terrestrial species native to the eastern United States. Eastern Box Turtles are experiencing range-wide population decline and are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Despite this, little research has been conducted regarding home range and habitat use in the Southeastern US. Therefore, since May 2013, we have conducted a radiotelemetry study to investigate factors that influence Box Turtle movement, habitat use, and survival in the Northeastern Piedmont region of Georgia. The study site is composed of mixed hardwood-pine uplands primarily comprised of oaks and maples, mesic and upland areas dominated by Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), beaver-created wetland, and maintained utility line areas. Our research includes 21 radio-transmitted turtles that are tracked on foot by homing 1-2 times a week. From spring 2013 to winter 2017, an average of 74 radiolocations (range: 6 to 166) per turtle were collected. Home ranges (100% minimum convex polygon) varied from less than 1 to over 6 ha. Radiotracked turtles primarily used mixed-upland areas and areas dominated by Chinese privet. The assessment of habitat use and home ranges will continue throughout 2017 with tracking and further data analysis. Keywords: Terrapene carolina carolina, radiotelemetry, home range, habitat use, Ligustrum sinens

Midgut and Fat Body Bacteriocytes in Neotropical Cerambycid Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Xylophagous insects derive nutrients from intractable substrates by producing or ingesting cellulolytic enzymes, or by maintaining associations with symbiotic microbes. Wood-boring cerambycid beetle larvae sometimes house maternally-transmitted endosymbiotic yeasts that are presumed to provide their hosts with nutritional beneÞts. These are thought to be absent from species in the large subfamily Lamiinae; nevertheless yeasts have been repeatedly isolated from the guts of neotropical lamiines. The objective of this study was to conduct transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies of cerambycid larval midgut tissues to determine if gut yeasts were intracellular, or simply present in the gut lumen. Nine cerambycid larvae were harvested from two trees in the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae) in the rain forest of SE Peru; seven were identified using mtDNA sequence data and processed for TEM. Yeasts cultured from larval frass or exuvia, and identified with rDNA sequence data, were identical or similar to yeasts previously isolated from beetles. In TEM analyses yeast cells were found only in the gut lumens, sometimes associated with fragments of thick-walled xylem cells. Apparent bacteriocytes were found in either midgut or fat body tissue of three larval specimens, including two lamiines. This is the Þrst report of a potential fat body symbiosis in a cerambycid beetle. Future studies of cerambycid symbiosis should distinguish the identities and potential roles of free-living organisms in the gut lumen from those of organisms harbored within gut epithelial or fat body tissue

BMAJ-II, uma Fosfolipase A2 Homóloga Básica da Peçonha da serpente Bothrops marajoensis com potencial parasiticida

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós- Graduação: Mestrado em Biologia Experimental (PGBIOEXP) da Fundação Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR) como requisito final para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Biologia Experimental. Orientador: Prof. Dr. Leonardo de Azevedo Calderon.Peçonhas de serpentes contêm várias proteínas que apresentam potencial para serem aplicadas em diversas áreas da saúde e medicina. Uma classe de toxina que vem sendo objeto de estudo, são as fosfolipases A2 (PLA2s), as quais têm importante participação no envenenamento ofídico, estando associadas a diversas respostas tais como processo inflamatório, miotoxicidade, cardiotoxicidade, hemólise e outros que ocorrem em acidentes ofídicos. Além disso, componentes de peçonhas de serpentes, tais como as L-aminoácido oxidases e PLA2s, demonstram potencial antiparasitário, podendo ser úteis para o desenvolvimento de alternativas terapêuticas nessa área. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo a purificação, caracterização bioquímica e biológica de uma nova PLA2 básica de Bothrops marajoensis com potencial atividade parasiticida. A peçonha foi fracionada aplicando duas etapas cromatográficas iniciando por troca iônica utilizando uma resina CM Sepharose em pH 8,0. A fração de interesse foi selecionada para as etapas seguintes baseada em sua massa molecular e tempo de retenção, e submetida a cromatografia de fase reversa em coluna C18. Realizou-se análise por SDS-PAGE da toxina isolada nomeada Bmaj-II, uma análise eletroforética bidimensional, o sequenciamento parcial de seus aminoácidos, um ensaio de atividade enzimática, uma investigação das estruturas secundárias por dicroísmo circular e ensaios de espalhamento de luz dinâmico. Em seguida, o potencial anti-parasitário da peçonha de B. marajoensis e de Bmaj-II foi avaliado contra promastigotas de Leishmania infantum e epimastigotas de Trypanosoma cruzi in vitro em concentrações de 6,25 a 100 μg/mL, e contra formas intraeritrocíticas de Plasmodium falciparum em concentrações entre 0,09 e 12,5 μg/mL. Posteriormente, a atividade citotóxica sobre células hospedeiras HepG2 foi avaliada. A Bmaj-II mostrou-se homogênea com uma massa molecular confirmada por espectrometria de massa MALDI-TOF2 de 13.956 Da. Apresentou-se um pI de 9,68 indicando compatibilidade de massa e pI de PLA2s de peçonhas de serpentes (svPLA2) básicas. Os resultados dos demais ensaios de caracterização estrutural sugerem a Bmaj-II como PLA2 homóloga Lys49 com uma alta tendência de formar agregações. A toxina isolada demonstrou significativa atividade antiparasitária contra todos os protozoários, contra L. infantum e T. cruzi aproximadamente 30% em concentração de 100 μg/mL, sendo observado também, uma atividade substancialmente maior da peçonha, entre 60-80% em concentração de 100 μg/mL. A atividade da peçonha e da Bmaj-II contra P. falciparum apresentou IC50 de 0,14 ± 0,08 e 6,41 ± 0,64 μg/mL, respectivamente, com valores de CC50 de citotoxicidade contra células HepG2 de 43,64 ± 7,94 e 53,07 μg/mL, respectivamente. Os resultados obtidos mostram o isolamento da Bmaj-II, uma PLA2 Lys49 inédita da peçonha de Bothrops marajoensis além de evidenciar sua atividade microbicida sobre L. infantum, T. cruzi, e P. falciparum. O estudo do seu potencial biotecnológico em relação à leishmaniose, a doença de Chagas e a malária deve ser aprofundado

Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Attention in Young Mexican-American Children: The CHAMACOS Study

BackgroundExposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, well-known neurotoxicants, has been associated with neurobehavioral deficits in children.ObjectivesWe investigated whether OP exposure, as measured by urinary dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites in pregnant women and their children, was associated with attention-related outcomes among Mexican-American children living in an agricultural region of California.MethodsChildren were assessed at ages 3.5 years (n = 331) and 5 years (n = 323). Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). We administered the NEPSY-II visual attention subtest to children at 3.5 years and Conners' Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (K-CPT) at 5 years. The K-CPT yielded a standardized attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Confidence Index score. Psychometricians scored behavior of the 5-year-olds during testing using the Hillside Behavior Rating Scale.ResultsPrenatal DAPs (nanomoles per liter) were nonsignificantly associated with maternal report of attention problems and ADHD at age 3.5 years but were significantly related at age 5 years [CBCL attention problems: β = 0.7 points; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.2-1.2; ADHD: β = 1.3; 95% CI, 0.4-2.1]. Prenatal DAPs were associated with scores on the K-CPT ADHD Confidence Index > 70th percentile [odds ratio (OR) = 5.1; 95% CI, 1.7-15.7] and with a composite ADHD indicator of the various measures (OR = 3.5; 95% CI, 1.1-10.7). Some outcomes exhibited evidence of effect modification by sex, with associations found only among boys. There was also limited evidence of associations between child DAPs and attention.ConclusionsIn utero DAPs and, to a lesser extent, postnatal DAPs were associated adversely with attention as assessed by maternal report, psychometrician observation, and direct assessment. These associations were somewhat stronger at 5 years than at 3.5 years and were stronger in boys

Potential health impacts of heavy metals on HIV-infected population in USA.

Noninfectious comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases have become increasingly prevalent and occur earlier in life in persons with HIV infection. Despite the emerging body of literature linking environmental exposures to chronic disease outcomes in the general population, the impacts of environmental exposures have received little attention in HIV-infected population. The aim of this study is to investigate whether individuals living with HIV have elevated prevalence of heavy metals compared to non-HIV infected individuals in United States. We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2010 to compare exposures to heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and total mercury in HIV infected and non-HIV infected subjects. In this cross-sectional study, we found that HIV-infected individuals had higher concentrations of all heavy metals than the non-HIV infected group. In a multivariate linear regression model, HIV status was significantly associated with increased blood cadmium (p=0.03) after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, poverty income ratio, and smoking. However, HIV status was not statistically associated with lead or mercury levels after adjusting for the same covariates. Our findings suggest that HIV-infected patients might be significantly more exposed to cadmium compared to non-HIV infected individuals which could contribute to higher prevalence of chronic diseases among HIV-infected subjects. Further research is warranted to identify sources of exposure and to understand more about specific health outcomes

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Measurement of the underlying event activity in inclusive Z boson production in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

This paper presents a measurement of the underlying event activity in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV, performed using inclusive Z boson production events collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb(-1). The underlying event activity is quantified in terms of the charged particle multiplicity, as well as of the scalar sum of the charged particles' transverse momenta in different topological regions defined with respect to the Z boson direction. The distributions are unfolded to the stable particle level and compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators, as well as with similar CDF and CMS measurements at center-of-mass energies of 1.96 and 7TeV respectively.Peer reviewe

Measurement of associated Z plus charm production in proton-proton collisions at root s=8TeV

A study of the associated production of a Z boson and a charm quark jet (Z + c), and a comparison to production with a b quark jet (Z + b), in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are presented. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1), collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The Z boson candidates are identified through their decays into pairs of electrons or muons. Jets originating from heavy flavour quarks are identified using semileptonic decays of c or b flavoured hadrons and hadronic decays of charm hadrons. The measurements are performed in the kinematic region with two leptons with pT(l) > 20 GeV, vertical bar eta(l)vertical bar 25 GeV and vertical bar eta(jet)vertical bar Z + c + X) B(Z -> l(+)l(-)) = 8.8 +/- 0.5 (stat)+/- 0.6 (syst) pb. The ratio of the Z+c and Z+b production cross sections is measured to be sigma(pp -> Z+c+X)/sigma (pp -> Z+b+X) = 2.0 +/- 0.2 (stat)+/- 0.2 (syst). The Z+c production cross section and the cross section ratio are also measured as a function of the transverse momentum of theZ boson and of the heavy flavour jet. The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions.Peer reviewe