Impact of inbreeding on growth and development of young open-pollinated progeny of Eucalyptus globulus

The use of open-pollinated seeds from seed orchards is a common strategy for the deployment of genetically improved eucalypts, including Eucalyptus globulus, an important pulpwood tree in many temperate climate areas. However, seed quality can be affected by the rate of selfing and to a lesser extent by contamination from pollen outside the orchard. Inbreeding between related parents and especially from self-crosses is known to cause diminished growth and developmental abnormalities in the resulting progeny. This study looks at the magnitude and variation in selfing and the impact in inbreeding depression across several E. globulus families collected over the years in a seed orchard. The effects on growth and development of outcrossed and selfed progeny were studied across five progeny trials, after pedigree reconstruction of the open pollinated progeny based on SSR genotyping. An additive genetic mixed linear model was fitted to the data to evaluate the impact of inbreeding on height growth. The results showed a significant inbreeding depression, with a height growth reduction of 15% in selfed progeny, when compared with crosses from unrelated parents. These inbreeding depression values varied among families, ranging between 7% and 24%, evidencing the importance of genetic background. Contamination rates were on average 10% suggesting long distance pollen dispersal was present. A small number of abnormal phenotypes (less than 10%) was observed in the field. This was associated with specific, unrelated, crosses and not to high inbreeding rates such as found among selfed progeny. The relevance of these results for orchard management and parent selection is discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of corporate social responsibility performance on earnings management: Family versus non-family firms

The study analyses the impact of corporate social responsibility performance on earnings management in family firms as compared with non-family firms. We analysed 650 Spanish firms, listed and unlisted, in the period 2011-2016. The result shows a higher quality of financial information in family firms, a relationship which is reinforced by good governance factors, including the participation of women in management. The factors analysed are supported by agency and institutional theories. The study contributes to reducing the gap in the literature on the quality of financial information associated with family firms vs. non family firms.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The effect of corporate governance factors on the quality of financial reporting in family and non-family firms

The objective of this study is to explore the quality of financial information of Spanish firms, by comparing family firms with non-family firms, and relating this quality with corporate governance practices. For this purpose, a sample of 650 Spanish firms was analysed during the period 2011-2016. Based on agency theory and socioemotional wealth literature, the results show a higher quality of financial information in family firms, a relationship which is reinforced by corporate governance factors. Our results are consistent with the scant previous research, and with the premises of agency theory, which indicate lower asymmetry of information between owners and managers in the singular context of family firms. Additionally, our work provides evidence that the participation of women on the board boosts the quality of financial information in family firms, contributing to the justification of family firm heterogeneity in terms of earnings management. This study contributes to reducing the gap in the literature on the influence of the family business context and the influence of women on the board on the quality of financial reporting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Governação das sociedades e qualidade da informação financeira em empresas familiares versus não familiares

O presente estudo analisa a qualidade da informação financeira em empresas familiares versus não familiares, relacionando medidas de transparência na governação das sociedades. Foram analisadas 650 empresas espanholas, cotadas e não cotadas, no período de 2011-2016. O resultado demonstra a maior qualidade da informação financeira em empresas familiares, relação que é reforçada pela participação de mulheres na administração, experiência da empresa e intangibilidade de ativos. Os fatores analisados estão suportados nas teorias da agência, da riqueza socio-emocional e institucional. O estudo contribui para reduzir a lacuna na literatura sobre qualidade da informação financeira associada à governação familiar versus não familiar.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Lições aprendidas através do despiste de abuso a pessoas idosas num serviço de urgência

Artigo realizado com dados de uma tese de mestrado da primeira autora em psicologia do desenvolvimento pela Universidade de Coimbra.Os serviços de urgência podem ser um dos contextos decisivos para o despiste e encaminhamento de casos de maus tratos a pessoas idosas. Queremos explorar a capacidade de detecção de casos de abuso e negligência que algumas medidas de despiste apresentam quando aplicadas por profissionais de saúde em serviços de urgência. Utilizou-se o questionário de eliciação de abuso de Carney, Kahan e Paris (2003), adaptado por Ferreira-Alves e Sousa (2005). Os resultados mostraram indicadores preocupantes e mostraram implicitamente as vantagens de em serviços de urgência se aplicarem medidas de despiste do abuso. Caberá agora continuar a estudar se se deverá usar por rotina o despiste de abuso a pessoas idosas em serviços de urgência, dada a dimensão do abuso aqui detectado. No que diz respeito à tipologia das situações de abuso, verificou-se uma maioria de indicadores de negligência (81.5%) e abuso emocional (75.4%). Relativamente ao abuso financeiro, verificou-se que 35.4% das pessoas idosas inquiridas referiu este tipo de indicadores, cabendo ao abuso físico a menor percentagem (7.7%).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inhibition of Fas expression by RNAi modulates 5-fluorouracil-induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells expressing wild-type p53

AbstractDrug resistance to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is still a major limitation to its clinical use. In addition, the clinical value of p53 as a predictive marker for 5-FU-based chemotherapy remains a matter of debate. Here, we used HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells expressing wild-type p53 and investigated whether inhibition of Fas expression by interference RNA modulates 5-FU-induced apoptosis. Cells were treated with 5-FU (1, 4 or 8 μM) for 8–48 h. Cell viability was evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion. Apoptosis was assessed by changes in nuclear morphology and caspase activity. The interference RNA technology was used to silence Fas expression. Caspase activation, p53, Fas, cytochrome c, and Bcl-2 family protein expression was evaluated by immunoblotting. 5-FU was cytotoxic in HCT116 cells (p<0.001). Nuclear fragmentation and caspase-3, -8 and -9 activities were also markedly increased in HCT116 cells after 5-FU (p<0.001). In addition, wild-type p53 and Fas expression were 25- and 4-fold increased (p<0.05). Notably, when interference RNA was used to inhibit Fas, 5-FU-mediated nuclear fragmentation and caspase activity were markedly reduced in HCT116 cells. Finally, western blot analysis of mitochondrial extracts from HCT116 cells exposed to 5-FU showed a 6-fold increase in Bax, together with a 3-fold decrease in cytochrome c (p<0.001). In conclusion, 5-FU exerts its cytotoxic effects, in part, through a p53/Fas-dependent apoptotic pathway that involves Bax translocation and mitochondrial permeabilization

Earnings management and corporate social responsibility: Family and non-family firms

El presente estudio investiga la relación entre las prácticas de earnings management y la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) en empresas familiares y no familiares. Se analizaron 135 empresas francesas cotizadas en el período 2011-2016. Los resultados muestran menores niveles de earnings management en las empresas familiares, mientras que las acciones de RSC también surgen asociadas positivamente a la mayor calidad de la información financiera. Adicionalmente, observamos la heterogeneidad de las empresas familiares en lo que respecta a la relación con el RSC, verificándose niveles más elevados de gestión del resultado cuando se trata del mantenimiento del valor de mercado de las acciones. Este resultado parece estar asociado a la preservación de la riqueza financiera de la familia que se superpone a los efectos de las acciones de RSC en el refuerzo de la transparencia, aspecto corroborado para medidas alternativas de earnings management. Las evidencias obtenidas agregan valor a la investigación previa en la compleja relación de la calidad de la información financiera en empresas familiares frente a no familiares.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploration of the Eucalyptus globulus gene pool

The first Europeans to discover Eucalyptus globulus were French explorers in 1792. Its seed was rapidly spread throughout the world in the 19th century and this was the species by which much of the world first knew the genus. However, it was in the industrial forests of the 20th century that this species, once considered the ‘Prince of Eucalypts’, achieved greatest prominence due to its fast growth and superior pulp qualities. Formal breeding first commenced in 1966 in Portugal and in the late 1980’s large base population trials from open-pollinated seed collections from native stands were established in many countries. These trials have provided unprecedented insights into the quantitative genetic control of numerous traits of economic and ecological importance and how this variation is spatially distributed in the native range of the species. However with large, fully pedigreed breeding populations becoming available for quantitative analysis and the rapidly expanding knowledge of DNA sequence variation, we are now at the threshold of a new understanding of this important eucalypt gene pool. Indications of the significance of non-additive genetic effects are becoming available. The E. globulus chloroplast genome has now been sequenced and several genome maps have been published. Studies of the variation in nuclear microsatellites and the lignin biosynthesis gene CCR confirm the complex, spatially structured nature of the native gene pool. Strong spatial structuring of the chloroplast genome has provided a tool for tracking seed migration and the geographic origin of exotic landraces. Highly divergent lineages of chloroplast DNA have been discovered and studies of the hypervariable JLA+ region argue that some components of the E. globulus gene pool have been assimilated from other species following hybridisation

Aberrant MEK5/ERK5 signalling contributes to human colon cancer progression via NF-κB activation

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved. Cell Death and Disease is an open-access journal published by Nature Publishing Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0This study was designed to evaluate MEK5 and ERK5 expression in colon cancer progression and to ascertain the relevance of MEK5/ERK5 signalling in colon cancer. Expression of MEK5 and ERK5 was evaluated in 323 human colon cancer samples. To evaluate the role of MEK5/ERK5 signalling in colon cancer, we developed a stable cell line model with differential MEK5/ERK5 activation. Impact of differential MEK5/ERK5 signalling was evaluated on cell cycle progression by flow cytometry and cell migration was evaluated by wound healing and transwell migration assays. Finally, we used an orthotopic xenograft mouse model of colon cancer to assess tumour growth and progression. Our results demonstrated that MEK5 and ERK5 are overexpressed in human adenomas (P<0.01) and adenocarcinomas (P<0.05), where increased ERK5 expression correlated with the acquisition of more invasive and metastatic potential (P<0.05). Interestingly, we observed a significant correlation between ERK5 expression and NF-κB activation in human adenocarcinomas (P<0.001). We also showed that ERK5 overactivation significantly accelerated cell cycle progression (P<0.05) and increased cell migration (P<0.01). Furthermore, cells with overactivated ERK5 displayed increased NF-κB nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity (P<0.05), together with increased expression of the mesenchymal marker vimentin (P<0.05). We further demonstrated that increased NF-κB activation was associated with increased IκB phosphorylation and degradation (P<0.05). Finally, in the mouse model, lymph node metastasis was exclusively seen in orthotopically implanted tumours with overactivated MEK5/ERK5, and not in tumours with inhibited MEK5/ERK5. Our results suggested that MEK5/ERK5/NF-κB signalling pathway is important for tumour onset, progression and metastasis, possibly representing a novel relevant therapeutic target in colon cancer treatment.This study was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (HMSP-ICT/0018/2011, SFRH/BD/96517/2013, SFRH/BD/88619/2012 and SFRH/BD/79356/2011).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio