Uncommon Trimethoxylated Flavonol Obtained from Rubus rosaefolius

This study shows the evaluation the antiproliferative effect of the extract, fractions, and uncommon compounds isolated from R. rosaefolius leaves. The compounds were identified by conventional spectroscopic methods such as NMR-H1 and C13 and identified as 5,7-dihydroxy-6,8,4′-trimethoxyflavonol (1), 5-hydroxy-3,6,7,8,4′-pentamethoxyflavone (2), and tormentic acid (3). Both hexane and dichloromethane fractions showed selectivity for multidrug-resistant ovary cancer cell line (NCI-ADR/RES) with total growth inhibition values of 11.1 and 12.6 μg/ml, respectively. Compound 1 also showed selective activity against the same cell line (18.8 μg/ml); however, it was especially effective against glioma cells (2.8 μg/ml), suggesting that this compound may be involved with the in vitro antiproliferative action

Impactos ambientais do manejo agroecológico da caatinga no Rio Grande do Norte.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os impactos ambientais do manejo agroecológico da caatinga, em unidades de produção familiar no Rio Grande do Norte, pelo método Ambitec de produção animal - dimensão ambiental, desenvolvido pela Embrapa Meio Ambiente. Foram avaliadas sete unidades de produção familiar, em quatro projetos de assentamentos de reforma agrária do Município de Apodi, RN. Os dados para o levantamento foram obtidos por meio de questionários aplicados aos representantes das unidades produtivas familiares, que atribuíram, a cada variável estudada, um valor que representou a alteração proporcionada pela implementação da tecnologia. Após a inserção dos coeficientes de alteração de cada variável dos indicadores por unidade de produção, o coeficiente de impacto foi automaticamente calculado por meio da planilha Ambitec. O manejo agroecológico da caatinga resultou num impacto ambiental positivo, e suas maiores contribuições foram relacionadas aos efeitos positivos dos seguintes indicadores: capacidade produtiva do solo, uso de insumos materiais, qualidade do produto e diminuição da emissão de poluentes à atmosfera. Dois indicadores geraram efeitos negativos: o uso de energia e o uso de recursos naturais. Pela superioridade dos benefícios gerados, o manejo agroecológico da caatinga é uma inovação tecnológica geradora de impactos ambientais positivos

Nursing diagnoses of newborns with sepsis in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

OBJECTIVES: to elaborate the Nursing Diagnoses of newborns with sepsis in a neonatal intensive care unit and characterize the profile of the neonates and their mothers.METHOD: a cross-sectional and quantitative study, with a sample of 41 neonates. A physical examination and consultation of the hospital records were undertaken, using an instrument. The elaboration of the Nursing Diagnoses followed a process of diagnostic inference and was based on the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association 2012-2014.RESULTS: the mothers were around 25 years old, had a low average number of pre-natal consultations, and various complications during the pregnancy; and the newborns were predominantly premature and with very low birth weights. Five Nursing Diagnoses predominated, and all the neonates presented Risk of Shock and Risk of fluid volume imbalance.CONCLUSION: the Nursing Diagnoses of the neonates with sepsis can guide the formulating of specific assistential plans. The study contributes to the generation of new knowledge and found various relationships between the Nursing Diagnoses and the variables selected in the characterization of the neonates, which deserve to be elucidated in greater detail based on further research on the issue

Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains

Ruiz JC, D'Afonseca V, Silva A, et al. Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(4): e18551.Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity. Methodology and Findings: We characterized two C. pseudotuberculosis genomes (Cp1002, isolated from goats; and CpC231, isolated from sheep). Analysis of the predicted genomes showed high similarity in genomic architecture, gene content and genetic order. When C. pseudotuberculosis was compared with other Corynebacterium species, it became evident that this pathogenic species has lost numerous genes, resulting in one of the smallest genomes in the genus. Other differences that could be part of the adaptation to pathogenicity include a lower GC content, of about 52%, and a reduced gene repertoire. The C. pseudotuberculosis genome also includes seven putative pathogenicity islands, which contain several classical virulence factors, including genes for fimbrial subunits, adhesion factors, iron uptake and secreted toxins. Additionally, all of the virulence factors in the islands have characteristics that indicate horizontal transfer. Conclusions: These particular genome characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis, as well as its acquired virulence factors in pathogenicity islands, provide evidence of its lifestyle and of the pathogenicity pathways used by this pathogen in the infection process. All genomes cited in this study are available in the NCBI Genbank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) under accession numbers CP001809 and CP001829

Genotype and phenotype landscape of MEN2 in 554 medullary thyroid cancer patients: the BrasMEN study

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused by RET gene germline mutations that is characterized by medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) associated with other endocrine tumors. Several reports have demonstrated that the RET mutation profile may vary according to the geographical area. In this study, we collected clinical and molecular data from 554 patients with surgically confirmed MTC from 176 families with MEN2 in 18 different Brazilian centers to compare the type and prevalence of RET mutations with those from other countries. The most frequent mutations, classified by the number of families affected, occur in codon 634, exon 11 (76 families), followed by codon 918, exon 16 (34 families: 26 with M918T and 8 with M918V) and codon 804, exon 14 (22 families: 15 with V804M and 7 with V804L). When compared with other major published series from Europe, there are several similarities and some differences. While the mutations in codons C618, C620, C630, E768 and S891 present a similar prevalence, some mutations have a lower prevalence in Brazil, and others are found mainly in Brazil (G533C and M918V). These results reflect the singular proportion of European, Amerindian and African ancestries in the Brazilian mosaic genome

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio