METODOLOGIAS DE DESNUDAMENTO PARCIAL DE OÓCITOS BOVINOS MATURADOS E SUBMETIDOS À VITRIFICAÇÃO

Different methods of partial denudation of maturated bovine oocytes were evaluated for in vitro embryo production and vitrification procedures, in three experiments. First the effect of partial denudation by successive pipetting was evaluated. In the second experiment, the denudation by pipetting was compared with the use of hyaluronidase, and finally, the effect of both methods was evaluated in regard to the vitrification of oocytes. Oocytes were submitted to treatments after 22 hours of maturation in TCM 199 medium. For the vitrification, they were firstly exposed for 30 seconds to an equilibrium solution and for 20 seconds to a vitrification solution (20% EG + 20% DMSO + 0.3M SUC), loaded in open pulled straws (OPS) and plunged into liquid nitrogen. The rewarming of the oocytes suspensions was carried out by plunged them in decreasing sucrose concentrations. Oocytes of all treatments were submitted to an additional 2 hours maturation period, followed by fertilization. Presumptive zygotes were cultured in SOFaaci medium. In the first experiment the denudation resulted in a decreased blastocyst rate (28.7% to 20.5% PDiferentes metodologias de desnudamento parcial de oócitos bovinos maturados foram avaliadas na produção in vitro de embriões e na vitrificação, em três experimentos. No primeiro avaliou-se o efeito do desnudamento parcial realizado por sucessivas pipetagens. No segundo, comparou-se o desnudamento através de sucessivas pipetagens, com o realizado pela enzima hialuronidase e no terceiro, avaliou-se a influência das duas metodologias na vitrificação de oócitos. Os oócitos foram submetidos aos tratamentos após 22 horas de maturação em meio TCM 199. Para a vitrificação, foram expostos por 30 segundos a uma solução de equilíbrio e 20 segundos a uma solução de vitrificação (20%EG + 20% Dimitilsufoxido (DMSO) + 0,3MSAC), envasados em palhetas abertas e estiradas (OPS) e mergulhados em N2 líquido. O reaquecimento foi realizado com exposição a concentrações decrescentes de sacarose. Os oócitos de todos os tratamentos foram submetidos a duas horas adicionais de maturação, seguida da fecundação e os possíveis zigotos cultivados em meio SOFaaci. No experimento I foi observado um decréscimo de 28,7% para 20,5% na taxa de blastocistos com o emprego do desnudamento (

The Advertisement Calls and Distribution of Two Sympatric Species of \u3cem\u3eChiasmocleis\u3c/em\u3e (Méhely 1904) (Anura, Microhylidae, Gastrophryninae) from the Atlantic Forest

The advertisement calls of Chiasmocleis cordeiroi and C. crucis are described for populations from the municipalities of Igrapiúna and Camacan, respectively, state of Bahia, Brazil. Both calls consist of multipulsed notes produced in series. Differences between the two calls are: dominant frequency, higher in C. cordeiroi (range 4500-4898 Hz; C. crucis range 4069-4435 Hz); note rate, higher in C. cordeiroi (range 6.20--7.46 s/note; C. crucis range 5.17-5.59 s/note); pulse rate, higher in C. cordeiroi (151.82-194.83 s/note; C. crucis range 125.30- 142.12 s/note); and the structure of the modulation patterns of the notes. Moreover, the advertisement calls of C. crucis and C. cordeiroi are more similar than the calls of all syntopic congeners. Furthermore, the current distribution of both species was extended

Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin®) for diabetic retinopathy at 24-months: The 2008 Juan Verdaguer-planas lecture

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains the major threat to sight in the working age population. Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a manifestation of DR that produces loss of central vision. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a major cause of visual loss in diabetic patients. In PDR, the growth of new vessels is thought to occur as a result of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release into the vitreous cavity as a response to ischemia. Furthermore, VEGF increases vessel permeability leading to deposition of proteins in the interstitium that facilitate the process of angiogenesis and macular edema. This review demonstrates multiple benefits of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) on DR including DME and PDR at 24 months of follow up. The results indicate that IVB injections may have a beneficial effect on macular thickness and visual acuity (VA) in diffuse diabetic macular edema. Therefore, in the future this new therapy could replace or complement focal/grid laser photocoagulation in DME. In PDR, this new option could be an adjuvant agent to pan-retina photocoagulation so that more selective therapy may be applied. In addition, we report a series of patients in which tractional retinal detachment developed or progressed after adjuvant preoperative IVB in severe PDR. © 2010 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd

Artificial neural network for prediction of the area under the disease progress curve of tomato late blight

ABSTRACT: Artificial neural networks (ANN) are computational models inspired by the neural systems of living beings capable of learning from examples and using them to solve problems such as non-linear prediction, and pattern recognition, in addition to several other applications. In this study, ANN were used to predict the value of the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for the tomato late blight pathosystem. The AUDPC is widely used by epidemiologic studies of polycyclic diseases, especially those regarding quantitative resistance of genotypes. However, a series of six evaluations over time is necessary to obtain the final area value for this pathosystem. This study aimed to investigate the utilization of ANN to construct an AUDPC in the tomato late blight pathosystem, using a reduced number of severity evaluations. For this, four independent experiments were performed giving a total of 1836 plants infected with Phytophthora infestans pathogen. They were assessed every three days, comprised six opportunities and AUDPC calculations were performed by the conventional method. After the ANN were created it was possible to predict the AUDPC with correlations of 0.97 and 0.84 when compared to conventional methods, using 50 % and 67 % of the genotype evaluations, respectively. When using the ANN created in an experiment to predict the AUDPC of the other experiments the average correlation was 0.94, with two evaluations, 0.96, with three evaluations, between the predicted values of the ANN and they were observed in six evaluations. We present in this study a new paradigm for the use of AUDPC information in tomato experiments faced with P. infestans. This new proposed paradigm might be adapted to different pathosystems