Simulated hypergravity induces changes in human tendon-derived cells: from cell morphology to gene expression

Gravity influences physical and biological processes, having an impact on development, as well as homeostasis of living systems. The musculoskeletal system is comprised of several mechano- responsive tissues and altered gravitational forces are known to influence distinct properties, including bone mineral density and skeletal muscle mass. This is particularly relevant in a near- weightlessness (microgravity) environment, which is found during spaceflight and, not less importantly, during bed resting. Over the years, several studies have been conducted under simulated conditions of altered gravity owing to the advances on ground-based facilities, such as bioreactors for microgravity / hypo-gravity (1g) studies. Interestingly, microgravity-induced alterations are comparable to tissue degeneration caused by disuse and ageing. In turn, exposing musculoskeletal tissues to hypergravity may constitute a way of simulating (over)loading or, eventually, to be used as a measure to rescue cell phenotype after exposure to near-weightlessness conditions. Different studies have focused on bone, cartilage and skeletal muscle, but effects on tendons and ligaments have been underappreciated. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of increasing g-levels (5g, 10g, 15g and 20g) and different hypergravity exposure periods (4 and 16 h) on the behaviour of human tendon- derived cells (hTDCs). For this purpose, hTDCs were exposed to simulated hypergravity conditions using the Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC, ESA, The Netherlands). Human TDCs cultured under standard conditions (1g, normogravity, Earth gravity force) were used as controls. The effects of hypergravity on the viability of hTDCs, as well as on the expression of tendon related markers at the gene level were evaluated. Simulated hypergravity resulted in a reduced cell content after 16 h independently of g-level, as determined by DNA quantification. Additionally, the different g-levels studied led to changes in cell and cytoskeleton morphology. Strikingly, a 16-hour period of exposure resulted in alterations of gene expression profiles. Overall, gene expression of tendon-related markers, including collagen types I (col1a1) and III (col3a1), scleraxis (scx), tenomodulin (tnmd), decorin (dcn) and tenascin (tnc), seemed to be increased upon hypergravity stimulation and in comparison to cells cultured under control conditions. Altogether, these results highlight that altered gravity, particularly simulated hypergravity, has an influence on the phenotype of tendon cells, opening new avenues for research focused on using altered gravity as a model for overloading-induced tendon tissue injury or as measure to rescue the phenotype of degenerated tendon cells. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank ESA Education Office for Spin Your Thesis! 2016 programme. R.C-A acknowledges the PhD grant SFRH/BD/96593/2013 from FCT â Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. SFRH/BD/96593/2013 from FCT –Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Zoneamento Agroecológico do município de Guia Lopes da Laguna - MS.

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Uptake of oxLDL and IL-10 production by macrophages requires PAFR and CD36 recruitment into the same lipid rafts

Macrophage interaction with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) leads to its differentiation into foam cells and cytokine production, contributing to atherosclerosis development. In a previous study, we showed that CD36 and the receptor for platelet-activating factor (PAFR) are required for oxLDL to activate gene transcription for cytokines and CD36. Here, we investigated the localization and physical interaction of CD36 and PAFR in macrophages stimulated with oxLDL. We found that blocking CD36 or PAFR decreases oxLDL uptake and IL-10 production. OxLDL induces IL-10 mRNA expression only in HEK293T expressing both receptors (PAFR and CD36). OxLDL does not induce IL-12 production. The lipid rafts disruption by treatment with βCD reduces the oxLDL uptake and IL-10 production. OxLDL induces co-immunoprecipitation of PAFR and CD36 with the constitutive raft protein flotillin-1, and colocalization with the lipid raft-marker GM1-ganglioside. Finally, we found colocalization of PAFR and CD36 in macrophages from human atherosclerotic plaques. Our results show that oxLDL induces the recruitment of PAFR and CD36 into the same lipid rafts, which is important for oxLDL uptake and IL-10 production. This study provided new insights into how oxLDL interact with macrophages and contributing to atherosclerosis development

Zoneamento Agroecológico do município de Bonito/MS.

A Embrapa Solos em parceria com a Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Agrário, da Produção, da Indústria, do Comércio e do Turismo - SEPROTUR realizou o Zoneamento Agroecológico do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul ? Fase I - com objetivo de contribuir na indicação de áreas passíveis de exploração agrícola sustentável. No desenvolvimento desse trabalho foram considerados aspectos legais, restrições ambientais, potencial das culturas, aspectos do clima, de geomorfologia e dos solos. Esses parâmetros estão integrados em ambiente de sistema de informação geográfica com apoio de algebra de mapas, no intuito de avaliar a adequabilidade de uso das terras e apresentar uma proposição de planejamento de uso e ocupação das terras. Os resultados desse trabalho foram consolidados por município e dão origem a esse boletim de pesquisa. As terras indicadas para o uso com lavouras somam cerca de 280.000 ha, correspondendo a aproximadamente 66,5% da área total do município, enquanto que as recomendadas equivalentem a 22,7% e as áreas recomendadas para pastagem especial ou cultivo de arroz correspondem a aproximadamente 8% da área do município que corresponde a algo como 40.000 hectares. Nestas unidades é fundamental avaliar-se criteriosamente a utilização de pastagens nestas terras quando essas ainda se encontram sob cobertura vegetal, visto que, praticamente 50% destas terras ainda permanecem com vegetação natural em seus diversos graus de conservação. As terras recomendadas para conservação dos recursos naturais e/ou recuperação ambiental somam quase 30.000 ha, as quais constituem áreas de alta fragilidade ambiental e/ou apresentam restrições legais de uso como áreas de preservação permanente.bitstream/item/103010/1/BPD-145-Bonito-MS.pd

Levantamento de reconhecimento de baixa intensidade dos solos do Município de Nioaque, Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul.

O Levantamento de Reconhecimento de Baixa Intensidade dos Solos do Município de Nioaque foi realizado como uma das etapas do Projeto "Zoneamento Agroecológico do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul", coordenado pela Embrapa Solos em convênio com governo do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul por meio da Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Agrário, da Produção, da Indústria, do Comércio e do Turismo (SEPROTUR). Abrangendo aproximadamente 3.924 km2, o município de Nioaque está localizado na região sudoeste do estado, entre as coordenadas geográficas (UTM) 9.514.396 e 9.514.076 m de latitude sul e 386.922 e 387.327 m de longitude oeste. Insere-se no compartimento geológico composto pela Formação Aquidauana e pela Formação Botucatu do Grupo São Bento. O relevo varia de suave ondulado, quando associado à Depressão Periférica do rio Miranda, até ondulado e forte ondulado com pendentes curtas e declives fortes, na medida em que se aproxima da zona de contato com a serra de Maracaju. O tipo climático predominante é Aw, megatérmico seco segundo a classificação de Köppen, com temperatura média anual de 23,3ºC e precipitação média anual de 1.126 mm. A metodologia consistiu na delimitação dos principais domínios e/ ou padrões fisiográficos e macro-ambientes do município, a partir de dados de sensores remotos e do modelo digital de elevação (MDE), principalmente dos dados de altimetria e de declividade. Predominam no município solos de Levantamento de Reconhecimento de Baixa Intensidade dos Solos do Município de Nioaque, Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul textura arenosa (NEOSSOLOS) a média (LATOSSOLOS, ARGISSOLOS) normalmente distróficos, sendo provenientes da decomposição dos arenitos da Formação Botucatu e dos arenitos mais argilosos da Série Aquidauana, Associados às rochas eruptivas básicas, nas proximidades da serra de Maracaju, foram identificados solos de textura mais argilosa (NITOSSOLOS) e com maior saturação por bases e maior teor de carbono no horizonte superficial (CHERNOSSOLOS) e apresentando argilo-minerais 2:1 (VERTISSOLOS HIDROMÓRFICOS). Estas características influenciam no comportamento destes solos frente aos diferentes usos e práticas de manejo devendo ser consideradas no planejamento de uso sustentável dos solos.bitstream/item/84291/1/bpd-131-levantamento-nioaque.pd

Expression and trans-specific polymorphism of self-incompatibility RNases in Coffea (Rubiaceae)

Self-incompatibility (SI) is widespread in the angiosperms, but identifying the biochemical components of SI mechanisms has proven to be difficult in most lineages. Coffea (coffee; Rubiaceae) is a genus of old-world tropical understory trees in which the vast majority of diploid species utilize a mechanism of gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI). The S-RNase GSI system was one of the first SI mechanisms to be biochemically characterized, and likely represents the ancestral Eudicot condition as evidenced by its functional characterization in both asterid (Solanaceae, Plantaginaceae) and rosid (Rosaceae) lineages. The S-RNase GSI mechanism employs the activity of class III RNase T2 proteins to terminate the growth of "self" pollen tubes. Here, we investigate the mechanism of Coffea GSI and specifically examine the potential for homology to S-RNase GSI by sequencing class III RNase T2 genes in populations of 14 African and Madagascan Coffea species and the closely related self-compatible species Psilanthus ebracteolatus. Phylogenetic analyses of these sequences aligned to a diverse sample of plant RNase T2 genes show that the Coffea genome contains at least three class III RNase T2 genes. Patterns of tissue-specific gene expression identify one of these RNase T2 genes as the putative Coffea S-RNase gene. We show that populations of SI Coffea are remarkably polymorphic for putative S-RNase alleles, and exhibit a persistent pattern of trans-specific polymorphism characteristic of all S-RNase genes previously isolated from GSI Eudicot lineages. We thus conclude that Coffea GSI is most likely homologous to the classic Eudicot S-RNase system, which was retained since the divergence of the Rubiaceae lineage from an ancient SI Eudicot ancestor, nearly 90 million years ago.United States National Science Foundation [0849186]; Society of Systematic Biologists; American Society of Plant Taxonomists; Duke University Graduate Schoolinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

A search for point sources of EeV photons

Measurements of air showers made using the hybrid technique developed with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for point sources of EeV photons anywhere in the exposed sky. A multivariate analysis reduces the background of hadronic cosmic rays. The search is sensitive to a declination band from -85{\deg} to +20{\deg}, in an energy range from 10^17.3 eV to 10^18.5 eV. No photon point source has been detected. An upper limit on the photon flux has been derived for every direction. The mean value of the energy flux limit that results from this, assuming a photon spectral index of -2, is 0.06 eV cm^-2 s^-1, and no celestial direction exceeds 0.25 eV cm^-2 s^-1. These upper limits constrain scenarios in which EeV cosmic ray protons are emitted by non-transient sources in the Galaxy.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Reconstruction of inclined air showers detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the method devised to reconstruct inclined cosmic-ray air showers with zenith angles greater than $60^\circ$ detected with the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured signals at the ground level are fitted to muon density distributions predicted with atmospheric cascade models to obtain the relative shower size as an overall normalization parameter. The method is evaluated using simulated showers to test its performance. The energy of the cosmic rays is calibrated using a sub-sample of events reconstructed with both the fluorescence and surface array techniques. The reconstruction method described here provides the basis of complementary analyses including an independent measurement of the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using very inclined events collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP