Psoriatic arthritis: epidemiological and clinical aspects in a cohort of 1.306 italian patients

Because there is the impression that psoriatic arthritis is a composite disorder with mild forms close to more severe and aggressive ones, we conducted a multicenter study with the aim of characterizing disease expression in a large cohort of Italian patients. One-thousand-three-hundred-six patients fulfilled inclusion criteria and were analyzed in this study. Psoriasis antedated the onset of arthritis in the majority of the cases (67.7%). More rare was inverse or simultaneous onset which occurred in 17.3% and 15.0% of the cases, respectively. Peripheral articular involvement (mono-oligo or polyarthritis) was recorded in 88.7% of the cases while spondylitis occurred in 11.3%. Peripheral enthesopathies were found in 28.1% of the cases with a marked occurrence in patients with axial involvement (64.5% vs 35.5% in oligo or polyarthritis). Abnormal levels of ESR and CRP respectively occurred in 52.2% and in 52.6% of the cases, while rheumatoid factor was detected in 5.0% of the cases. On the basis of distribution of joint involvement, symmetry and presence of peripheral enthesopathies we recognized three clusters of arthritis. Patients included in Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 showed a severe form of polyarthritis in most of the cases (82.9%), with increased serum levels of inflammatory indices in more than 85% of the cases. Almost all the hospitalized patients (97.1%) were included in this two clusters. They markedly assumed steroids and methotrexate or another DMARD. About half of the patients (51.1%) included in Cluster 3 showed mono-oligo articular involvement. Serum inflammatory indices were increased in 20.8% of the cases while hospitalization occurred only in 2.9% of the cases and NSAIDs were the treatment of choice. The evidence in our country of a large prevalence of severe forms of arthritis needing specific and aggressive approach outlines the requirement of an intense educational action aimed at increasing the awareness of this condition

Diversidade genética de bovinos de corte por meio de marcadores microssatélites.

Uma alternativa para atender a demanda do mercado por carne de qualidade é a utilização de cruzamentos entre raças zebuínas e taurinas adaptadas. Assim, as raças Bonsmara, Caracu e Senepol (taurinas adaptadas), Angus (taurina não-adaptada) e Nelore (zebuína) foram analisadas utilizando cinco marcadores microssatélites para avaliar a diversidade genética existente dentro e entre as raças e orientar a sua utilização em cruzamentos. Foram analisados 127 touros Bonsmara, Caracu, Senepol, Angus e Nelore e as frequências alélicas foram utilizadas para estimar diversidade gênica, conteúdo de polimorfismo informativo, probabilidade de exclusão e uma matriz de distância genética Euc1ideana. Considerando a média das distâncias Euclideanas, calculadas individualmente para cada marcador, a maior distância genética foi observada entre as raças Angus e Nelore (0,62) e as menores entre Caracu e as demais raças taurinas adaptadas (0,41 e 0,35 para Bonsmara e Senepol, respectivamente). Entre as taurinas adaptadas, a Bonsmara foi a que apresentou a menor distância em relação ao Angus (0,50) e a maior em relação ao Nelore (0,59). A raça Caracu apresentou distância intermediária para Angus (0,53) e Nelore (0,55). As raças Bonsmara e Caracu apresentaram distância genética, em média, 8,3% maior que a raça Senepol para matrizes Angus X Nelore, proporcionando uma expectativa de maior heterose quando cruzadas com estas matrizes

Combining Native and Malted Triticale Flours in Biscuits: Nutritional and Technological Implications

Triticale-based biscuits were formulated with increasing substitution levels (i.e., 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% w/w) of malted triticale flour (MTF). The products were analyzed for technological and nutritional characteristics, including the evaluation of the in vitro starch digestion. The results indicated that the substitution of triticale flour with MTF increased (p < 0.05) the total dietary fiber and ash contents. Total starch decreased (p < 0.05) when the level of MTF increased in the formulation, causing an increase in reducing sugars and an increase in the starch hydrolysis index and in the in vitro predicted glycemic index (pGI). The hardness and spread ratio values of biscuits decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing levels of MTF in the recipe. The lightness of doughs and biscuits decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing MTF levels. Overall, MTF could be used to formulate biscuits with higher dietary fiber content than native triticale flour and a medium to high in vitro glycemic index value as a function of the substitution level

Sailing into the wind : new disciplines in Australian higher education

Much is made of the potential of lifelong learning for individuals and organisations. In this article we tend to make much less of it, certainly with respect to its use in universities to discipline academics. Nevertheless, we argue that academics now need to re-learn the positions they occupy and the stances they take in response to the marketisation of Australian universities. In particular, we suggest that the position of (pure) critique no longer commands attention in Australian contexts of higher education, although the paper does not suggest a disregard for a critical stance purely for the sake of participation. It is in understanding the interconnections between position and stance , and how they might be strategically performed during the everyday practices of academics, that a more promising way of engaging with the venalities of the market is envisaged; a strategy that could be described as \u27sailing into the wind\u27. In discussing these matters, the paper draws on semi-structured interviews with academics located in university faculties/departments/schools of education along Australia\u27s eastern seaboard

The nosological significance of Folie à Deux: a review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Folie à Deux is a rare syndrome that has attracted much clinical attention. There is increasing doubt over the essence of the condition and the validity of the original description, such that it remains an elusive entity difficult to define. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review of the literature of all cases reporting the phenomenon of Folie à Deux, from the years 1993–2005. RESULTS: 64 cases were identified of which 42 met the inclusion criteria. The diagnoses in the primary and secondary were more heterogeneous than current diagnostic criteria suggest. There exists a high degree of similarity between the primary and secondary in terms of susceptibility to psychiatric illness, family and past psychiatric history, than previously thought. CONCLUSION: Folie à Deux can occur in many situations outside the confines of the current classification systems and is not as rare as believed, and should alert the clinician to unrecognized psychiatric problems in the secondary

Kaposi's Sarcoma Herpesvirus Upregulates Aurora A Expression to Promote p53 Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation

Aberrant expression of Aurora A kinase has been frequently implicated in many cancers and contributes to chromosome instability and phosphorylation-mediated ubiquitylation and degradation of p53 for tumorigenesis. Previous studies showed that p53 is degraded by Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) encoded latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) through its SOCS-box (suppressor of cytokine signaling, LANASOCS) motif-mediated recruitment of the EC5S ubiquitin complex. Here we demonstrate that Aurora A transcriptional expression is upregulated by LANA and markedly elevated in both Kaposi's sarcoma tissue and human primary cells infected with KSHV. Moreover, reintroduction of Aurora A dramatically enhances the binding affinity of p53 with LANA and LANASOCS-mediated ubiquitylation of p53 which requires phosphorylation on Ser215 and Ser315. Small hairpin RNA or a dominant negative mutant of Aurora A kinase efficiently disrupts LANA-induced p53 ubiquitylation and degradation, and leads to induction of p53 transcriptional and apoptotic activities. These studies provide new insights into the mechanisms by which LANA can upregulate expression of a cellular oncogene and simultaneously destabilize the activities of the p53 tumor suppressor in KSHV-associated human cancers

Mapeamento de QTLs de características fisiológicas relacionadas a estresse térmico em bovinos leiteiros cruzados.

O objetivo neste trabalho foi mapear QTLs (Loci de características quantitativas) para características fisiológicas relacionadas a estresse térmico em vacas leiteiras cruzadas F2 (½ Gir x ½ Holandês). Os animais foram submetidos ao conforto térmico (22°C a 70% de umidade relativa) por 12 horas (M1) e ao estresse calórico (42ºC e 60% de umidade relativa) (M2) durante seis horas, logo após o período de conforto, nas estações de verão e inverno, em câmara bioclimática. Foram registradas a temperatura retal (TR) e a freqüência respiratória (FR) na M1 e M2 e, a taxa de sudação (TS) na M2. Dados genotípicos obtidos a partir de amostras de DNA das fêmeas Gir, dos animais F1 e F2 e dos touros Holandeses foram utilizados para formação de um mapa de ligação que foi utilizado para a análise de QTLs através do delineamento de mapeamento de intervalos múltiplos das famílias F2. Para TR foram encontrados QTLs nos cromossomos, 3, 6, 7, 8, 21 e 26; para FR, nos cromossomos 4, 6, 26 e 29 e para TS nos cromossomos 3, 13, 23 e 29, sendo alguns onze de efeitos aditivo e cinco aditivo + dominante. Para todas as características foram identificados QTLs, entre altamente significativos a sugestivos, nas estações de inverno e de verão. Nesse trabalho foi possível mapear seis QTLs altamente significativos e dez QTLs sugestivos relacionados com as diferentes características relacionadas ao estresse térmico, nas duas estações analisadas e em várias regiões do genoma