Oral glucose lowering drugs in type 2 diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents a challenge in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients. Renal impairment may affect drug clearance and other pharmacokinetic processes which can increase toxicity and drug to drug interactions or cause ineffective therapy. There are many oral glucose lowering drugs available for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with different mechanisms of action and different pharmacokinetic profiles. While all classes may be used in patients with mild renal impairment, therapeutic options for patients with moderate to severe CKD are still limited. This review focuses on the pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and safety of oral glucose lowering drugs in patients with T2DM and CKD

Virtual prey with Lévy motion are preferentially attacked by predatory fish

This work was funded by a NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/K009370/1) and a Leverhulme Trust grant (RPG-2017-041 V) awarded to C.C.I.Of widespread interest in animal behavior and ecology is how animals search their environment for resources, and whether these search strategies are optimal. However, movement also affects predation risk through effects on encounter rates, the conspicuousness of prey, and the success of attacks. Here, we use predatory fish attacking a simulation of virtual prey to test whether predation risk is associated with movement behavior. Despite often being demonstrated to be a more efficient strategy for finding resources such as food, we find that prey displaying Lévy motion are twice as likely to be targeted by predators than prey utilizing Brownian motion. This can be explained by the predators, at the moment of the attack, preferentially targeting prey that were moving with straighter trajectories rather than prey that were turning more. Our results emphasize that costs of predation risk need to be considered alongside the foraging benefits when comparing different movement strategies.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Densidade populacional e peso médio de perfilhos de Panicum spp. em resposta a doses de fósforo e calcário na fase de estabelecimento.

O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar a densidade populacional e o peso médio de perfilhos de genótipos de Panicum spp. em resposta a doses de fósforo (P) e calagem. O delineamento experimental adotado foi inteiramente ao acaso com três repetições em parcelas subdivididas. Os tratamentos experimentais foram três doses de P (0, 60 e 400 kg/ha de P2O5) alocados nas parcelas e seis genótipos de P. maximum (Mombaça, Massai, PM32, PM34, PM39 e PM40), alocados nas subparcelas. Para o estudo do fator calagem a área foi dividida em metades iguais que receberam calcário equivalente a 35% e 50% de saturação por bases (V%). No 60º dia após o plantio foi avaliada a densidade populacional de perfilhos e o seu peso médio individual. A densidade populacional de perfilhos nas parcelas de V50 foi de 580 perfilhos/m2, enquanto que nas parcelas de V35, a densidade foi de 561 perfilhos/m2. A densidade populacional de perfilhos respondeu positivamente ao aumento das doses de P, independente de genótipo. Para a V35, os genótipos com ponto de máxima resposta mais baixo foram o acesso PM32 e o capim Massai, 77 e 86 kg/ha P2O5, respectivamente. Quanto ao peso médio de perfilhos, o ponto de máxima resposta para os acessos PM32 e PM34 na V35 foi de 273 e 272 kg/ha P2O5, respectivamente. De modo preliminar, o acesso PM32 apresentou máximo potencial de resposta com doses mais baixas de P, tanto para densidade populacional como para peso médio de perfilhos

Central Inhibition of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Reduces Hypertension by Attenuating Oxidative Stress in the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla in Renovascular Hypertensive Rats

Inflammation in the central nervous system is being considered a key player linked to neurogenic hypertension. Using combined in vivo and in vitro approaches, we investigated the effects of central inhibition of TNF-α on blood pressure, sympathetic tone, baroreflex sensitivity, and oxidative stress in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) of rats with 2-kidney-1-clip (2K1C) renovascular hypertension. Continuous infusion of pentoxifylline, a TNF-α inhibitor, into the lateral ventricle of the brain for 14 consecutive days reduced blood pressure and improved baroreflex sensitivity in renovascular hypertensive rats. Furthermore, central TNF-α inhibition reduced sympathetic modulation and blunted the increased superoxide accumulation in the RVLM of 2K1C rats. Our findings suggest that TNF-α play an important role in the maintenance of sympathetic vasomotor tone and increased oxidative stress in the RVLM during renovascular hypertension

Biomassa de forrageiras tropicais: potenciais teórico de produção de energia elétrica e etanol.

A bioeconomia pode ser definida como a economia cuja a produção de alimentos, fármacos, fibras, produtos industriais, bens, serviços e energia baseia-se na utilização de recursos renováveis de maneira sustentável. A bioeconomia pode contribuir com o fortalecimento da relação entre agricultura e indústria, tornando-as parte do mesmo processo, e resultando em maior valor adicionado para a agricultura. Assim, a bioeconomia pode ser compreendida como uma oportunidade para a agricultura brasileira utilizar e aprimorar todo o seu potencial de multifuncionalidade, ou seja, sua ampla capacidade de produção de alimentos, fibras, energia, prestação de serviços ambientais e ecossistêmicos, química verde e novos insumos (Embrapa, 2018). O uso e a transformação da biomassa possuem papel central, resultando em menor dependência de fontes fósseis. Nesse contexto, o uso intensivo de novos conhecimentos científicos e tecnológicos, advindos das áreas de biotecnologia, genômica, biologia sintética, bioinformática e engenharia genética, é fundamental.bitstream/item/224650/1/Circular-50-Marcelo-Ayres.pd

Chronic consumption of distilled sugarcane spirit induces anxiolytic-like effects in mice

OBJECTIVE: Chronic ethanol consumption is a major public health problem throughout the world. We investigated the anxiolytic-like effects and the possible ever injury induced by the chronic consumption of ethanol or sugarcane spirit in mice. METHOD: Adult mice were exposed to a two-bottle free-choice paradigm for 6 weeks. The mice in Group A (n = 16) had access to sugarcane spirit + distilled water, the mice in Group B (n = 15) had access to ethanol + distilled water, and the mice in Group C (control, n = 14) had access to distilled water + distilled water. The ethanol content in the beverages offered to Groups A and B was 2% for the first week, 5% for the second week and 10% for the remaining four weeks. At the end of the experimental period, the mice were evaluated using the elevated-plus maze and the hole-board test to assess their anxiety-related behaviors. We also determined the serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels. RESULTS: In the elevated-plus maze, the time spent in the open arms was increased in the mice exposed to chronic ethanol (32 + 8 vs. 7 + 2 s, n = 9) or sugarcane spirit (36 + 9 vs. 7 + 2 s, n = 9) compared to the controls. In the hole-board test, the mice exposed to ethanol or sugarcane spirit displayed increases in their head-dipping frequency (16 + 1 for the control group, 27 + 2 for the ethanol group, and 31 + 3 for the sugarcane-spirit group; n = 9 for each group). In addition, the mice exposed to sugarcane spirit displayed an increase in the aspartate aminotransferase / alanine aminotransferase ratio compared to the ethanol group (1.29 + 0.17 for the control group and 2.67 + 0.17 for the sugarcane spirit group; n = 8 for each group). CONCLUSION: The chronic consumption of sugarcane-spirit produces liver injury and anxiolytic-like effects and the possible liver injury in mice

Repeatability, number of harvests, and phenotypic stability of dry matter yield and quality traits of Panicum maximum jacq.

Selection of superior forage genotypes is based on agronomic traits assayed in repeated measures. The questions are how repeatable the performance of individual genotypes is and how many harvests are needed to select the best genotypes. The objectives were to estimate repeatability coefficients of dry matter yield (DMY) and forage quality, their phenotypic stability and the number of harvests needed for an accurate selection. Two randomized complete block design experiments data with 24 genotypes each, undergoing 12 and 16 harvests, over a period of 2 and 3 years, respectively, were used. The DMY repeatability estimates ranged from 0.42 to 0.55, suggesting a low heritability. The mean numbers of repeated measures were 5 and 7 harvests for 0.80 and 0.85 accuracy, respectively. The inclusion of the first two harvests negatively affects the estimates. Repeatability for quality traits ranged from 0.30 to 0.69, indicating low to moderate heritability.Título em português: Repetibilidade, número de colheitas e estabilidade fenotípica da produção de matéria seca e de características de qualidade de Panicum maximum jacq

Uso de arroz e feijão de baixa qualidade industrial em produto alimentício nobre.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver e caracterizar biscoitos tipo chips a base de farinhas de grãos quebrados de arroz polido e de feijão carioca, bem como verificar a influência de diferentes proporções de arroz polido na qualidade sensorial do produt

Tremor in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The spectrum of neurological manifestations of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) is diverse and not fully understood. In addition to peripheral neuropathy, mild autonomic impairment has been reported. These problems themselves could also result in secondary neurological consequences, such as the exacerbation of enhanced physiological tremor. Indeed, some patients in our cohort complained of tremor. Hence, we hypothesized that enhanced physiological tremor would be more severe in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than controls