Sleep and Academic Performance in Undergraduates: A Multi-measure, Multi-predictor Approach

The present study examined the associations of sleep patterns with multiple measures of academic achievement of undergraduate university students and tested whether sleep variables emerged as significant predictors of subsequent academic performance when other potential predictors, such as class attendance, time devoted to study, and substance use are considered. A sample of 1654 (55% female) full-time undergraduates 17 to 25 yrs of age responded to a self-response questionnaire on sleep, academics, lifestyle, and well-being that was administered at the middle of the semester. In addition to self-reported measures of academic performance, a final grade for each student was collected at the end of the semester. Univariate analyses found that sleep phase, morningness/eveningness preference, sleep deprivation, sleep quality, and sleep irregularity were significantly associated with at least two academic performance measures. Among 15 potential predictors, stepwise multiple regression analysis identified 5 significant predictors of end-of-semester marks: previous academic achievement, class attendance, sufficient sleep, night outings, and sleep quality (R(2)=0.14 and adjusted R(2)=0.14, F(5, 1234)= 40.99, p < .0001). Associations between academic achievement and the remaining sleep variables as well as the academic, well-being, and lifestyle variables lost significance in stepwise regression. Together with class attendance, night outings, and previous academic achievement, self-reported sleep quality and self-reported frequency of sufficient sleep were among the main predictors of academic performance, adding an independent and significant contribution, regardless of academic variables and lifestyles of the students

DNA repair genes polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility to Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms in a Portuguese population: the role of base excision repair genes polymorphisms

Sob uma licença CC-BY-NC-ND - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The role of base excision repair (BER) genes in Philadelphia-negative (PN)-myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) susceptibility was evaluated by genotyping eight polymorphisms [apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1, mutY DNA glycosylase, earlier mutY homolog (E. coli) (MUTYH), 8‑oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1, poly (ADP‑ribose) polymerase (PARP) 1, PARP4 and X‑ray repair cross‑complementing 1 (XRCC1)] in a case‑control study involving 133 Caucasian Portuguese patients. The results did not reveal a correlation between individual BER polymorphisms and PN‑MPNs when considered as a whole. However, stratification for essential thrombocythaemia revealed i) borderline effect/tendency to increased risk when carrying at least one variant allele for XRCC1_399 single‑nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); ii) decreased risk for Janus kinase 2‑positive patients carrying at least one variant allele for XRCC1_399 SNP; and iii) decreased risk in females carrying at least one variant allele for MUTYH SNP. Combination of alleles demonstrated an increased risk to PN‑MPNs for one specific haplogroup. These findings may provide evidence for gene variants in susceptibility to MPNs. Indeed, common variants in DNA repair genes may hamper the capacity to repair DNA, thus increasing cancer susceptibility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Apoptosis deregulation expression in Philadelphia-negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in a Portuguese population

Poster presented at the 7th International Conference on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms / European School of Haematology. 27-29 October 2016. Estoril, PortugalObjectives: evaluate the role of apoptosis SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in PN-­‐MPNs (Philadelphia-­chromosome negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasmssusceptibility).N/

Isolamento de Candida parapsilosis em paciente com diagnóstico clínico de candidíase atrófica crônica.

Species of the genus Candida are constituent parts of the buccal indigenous microbiota. They are often the cause of different types of candidosis when local or systemic factors interrupt the ecological balance, turning the fungus into an opportunist pathogen. The chronic atrophic candidiasis or stomatitis caused by artificial teeth is frequent among us. Its main etiological agent is the Candida albicans. Other species such as the Candida parapsilosis, C. tropicalis and C. stellatoidea may be also isolated from the infection. This paper describes the isolation and identification of Candida parapsilosis in female patients with clinic diagnosis of chronic atrophic candidiasis. The microorganism was isolated in Sabouraud agar and identified by means of the microscopic examination and automatized technique. (System Vitec-Biomerrieux).Espécies do gênero Candida fazem parte da microbiota indígena bucal. Podem causar diferentes tipos de candidoses, quando fatores locais ou sistêmicos interrompem o equilíbrio ecológico, tornando o fungo um patógeno oportunista. A candidíase atrófica crônica ou estomatite por dentadura é freqüente em nosso meio, sendo o principal agente etiológico a Candida albicans. Outras espécies como a Candida parapsilosis, C. tropicalis e C. stellatoidea também podem ser isoladas da infecção. Este trabalho descreve o isolamento e a identificação de Candida parapsilosis em paciente do sexo feminino com diagnóstico clínico de candidíase atrófica crônica. O isolamento do microrganismo foi feito em Ágar Sabouraud e foi identificado através do exame microscópico e de técnica automatizada (Sistema Vitec-Biomerrieux)

The role of base excision repair polymorphisms in individual susceptibility to Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms

Poster presented at the 6th International Conference on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. European School of Haematology, Estoril, 2014

The role of apoptosis polymorphisms in individual susceptibility to Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms

Poster presented at the 18th Annual Reunion of Sociedade Portuguesa de Genética Humana. Lisboa, 2014

Sustainable strategies based on glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids for the recovery of monoclonal antibodies from cell culture supernatants

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are of crucial interest for therapeutic purposes, particularly in vaccination and immunization, and in the treatment of life-threatening diseases. However, their downstream processing from the complex cell culture media in which they are produced still requires multiple steps, making mAbs extremely high-cost products. Therefore, the development of cost-effective, sustainable and biocompatible purification strategies for mAbs is in high demand to decrease the associated economic, environmental and health burdens. Herein, novel aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of glycine–betaine analogue ionic liquids (AGB-ILs) and K2HPO4/KH2PO4 at pH 7.0, the respective three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems, and hybrid processes combined with ultrafiltration were investigated and compared in terms of performance as alternative strategies for the purification and recovery of anti-human interleukin-8 (anti-IL-8) mAbs, which are specific therapeutics in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture supernatants. With the studied ABS, mAbs preferentially partition to the IL-rich phase, with recovery yields up to 100% and purification factors up to 1.6. The best systems were optimized in what concerns the IL concentration, allowing to take advantage of IL-based three-phase partitioning approaches where a precipitate enriched in mAbs is obtained at the ABS interface, yielding 41.0% of IgG with a purification factor of 2.7 (purity of 60.9%). Hybrid processes combining the two previous techniques and an ultrafiltration step were finally applied, allowing the recovery of mAbs from the different fractions in an appropriate buffer solution for further biopharmaceutical formulations, while allowing the simultaneous IL removal and reuse. The best results were obtained with the hybrid process combining TPP and ultrafiltration, allowing to obtain mAbs with a purity higher than 60%. The recyclability of the IL was additionally demonstrated, revealing no losses in the purification and recovery performance of these systems for mAbs. The biological activity of anti-IL-8 mAbs is maintained after the several purification and recovery steps, indicating that the novel ABS, three-phase partitioning and hybrid processes comprising AGB-ILs are promising and sustainable strategies in mAbs downstream processing.publishe

Spatially resolved self-consistent spectral modelling of jellyfish galaxies from MUSE with FADO: trends with mass and stripping intensity

We present a spatially resolved stellar population analysis of 61 jellyfish galaxies and 47 control galaxies observed with ESO/MUSE attempting to understand the general trends of the stellar populations as a function of the stripping intensity and mass. This is the public sample from the GASP programme, with $0.01 < z < 0.15$ and $8.9 <\log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 12.0$. We apply the spectral population synthesis code FADO to fit self-consistently both the stellar and nebular contributions to the spectra of the sources. We present 2D morphological maps for mean stellar ages, metallicities, gas-phase oxygen abundances, and star formation rates for the galaxies with Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation ({\sc inla}), which is efficient in reconstructing spatial data of extended sources. We find that ``extreme stripping'' and ``stripping'' galaxies are typically younger than the other types. Regarding stellar and nebular metallicities, the ``stripping'' and ``control passive'' galaxies are the most metal-poor. Based on the phase space for jellyfish cluster members we find trends in ages, metallicities, and abundances with different regions of the diagram. We also compute radial profiles for the same quantities. We find that both the stripping and the stellar masses seem to influence the profiles, and we see differences between various groups and distinct mass bins. The radial profiles for different mass bins present relations already shown in the literature for undisturbed galaxies, i.e., profiles of ages and metallicities tend to increase with mass. However, beyond $\sim0.75$ effective radius, the ages of the most massive galaxies become similar to or lower than the ages of the lower mass ones.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 71 pages (13 of main text and 58 of supplementay material). 123 figure

National Health Care Network for children with oral clefts: organization, functioning, and preliminary outcomes

Introduction. Oral clefts are major congenital anomalies that may affect the lip and/or palate, and that may also involve the nose and nostrils. In Argentina, their prevalence is approximately 15 per 10 000 births. In 2015, the Ministry of Health of Argentina created a national health care network for children with oral clefts in Argentina through the joint work with the National Registry of Congenital Anomalies (Red Nacional de Anomaliás Congénitas, RENAC) (coordinating center for the national network) and the SUMAR Program. The objective of this study was to describe the health care network and its preliminary outcomes. Population and methods. A total of 61 centers that provided a comprehensive treatment for oral clefts or in collaboration with other centers were identified and accredited. Maternity centers were connected with treating centers grouped in health care network nodes. Results. In the period between March 2015 and February 2016, 550 newborn infants who were exclusively covered by the public health care system were identified. Among these, 18% had a cleft lip; 62%, cleft lip and palate; and 20%, cleft palate only; 75% were isolated cases and 25%, in association with other congenital anomalies. Conclusion. Approximately 70% of children were assessed by a certified treating institution and are receiving treatment. The network seeks to improve data systematization, include the largest number of centers possible, strengthen interdisciplinary team work, and promote highquality standards for treatments.Fil: Cassinelli, Agustina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Pauselli, Nadia. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Piola, Agustina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Martinelli, Claudia. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación; ArgentinaFil: Alves De Azevedo, José L.. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación; ArgentinaFil: Bidondo, Mariá P.. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Groisman, Boris. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Barbero, Pablo Miguel. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Liascovich, Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán". Centro Nacional de Genética Médica; ArgentinaFil: Sala, Ana. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación; Argentin