Analysis of Calcium Spiking in Plant Root Epidermis through CWC Modeling

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A Spatial Calculus of Wrapped Compartments

The Calculus of Wrapped Compartments (CWC) is a recently proposed modelling language for the representation and simulation of biological systems behaviour. Although CWC has no explicit structure modelling a spatial geometry, its compartment labelling feature can be exploited to model various examples of spatial interactions in a natural way. However, specifying large networks of compartments may require a long modelling phase. In this work we present a surface language for CWC that provides basic constructs for modelling spatial interactions. These constructs can be compiled away to obtain a standard CWC model, thus exploiting the existing CWC simulation tool. A case study concerning the modelling of Arbuscular Mychorrizal fungi growth is discussed.Comment: Presented at MeCBIC 201

Composition, density, and biomass of salpidae and chaetognatha in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean (34.5°S-39°S)

Salps and chaetognaths constitute an important fraction of the macrozooplankton and have a prominent role in the marine food web. In our study, we analyzed the species composition, density, and biomass in an area of the southern Atlantic Ocean during the austral winters of 1999, 2000, and 2001. The most abundant and frequent species were the salpids Ihlea magalhanica (Apstein, 1894) and Iasis zonaria (Pallas, 1774), and the chaetognaths Parasagitta friderici (Ritter-Zahony, 1911) and Serratosagitta tasmanica (Thomson, 1947). Chaetognaths were found in over 80% of the stations throughout the three winters, reaching up to 67 individuals (ind) m -3. Salps were found surviving at low population densities in 2000 and 2001, but in 1999, there were mass occurrences of I. zonaria and I. magalhanica, reaching densities of 301 and 123 ind m -3, respectively. To estimate biomass in C units, the relationship between dry weight and size was calculated for S. tasmanica and for solitaries and aggregates of I. zonaria and I, magalhanica. The biomass of salps and chaetognaths (as mg C m -3) over the shelf during the three consecutive winters was strongly related to prevailing physical and biological conditions. In 1999, the greatest contribution to macrozooplankton biomass corresponded to salps, while in 2000 and 2001, chaetognaths dominated the biomass. In swarm conditions, like in 1999, I. zonaria and I. magalhanica widely dominated over copepods and chaetognaths, producing an increase in the quantity of available C of up to 60 times in relation to the periods with very low population densities.Fil: Daponte, María Cristina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Calcagno, Javier Angel. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Acevedo Luque, María José de Jesús. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martos, Patricia. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Machinandiarena, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Esnal, Graciela Beatriz. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The Emerging Role of miRNAs and Their Clinical Implication in Biliary Tract Cancer

Biliary tract cancers are aggressive malignancies that include gallbladder cancer and tumors of intra- and extrahepatic ducts and have a poor prognosis. Surgical resection remains the main curative therapy. Nevertheless, numerous patients experience recurrence even after radical surgery. This scenario drives the research to identify biliary tract cancer biomarkers despite the limited progress that has been made. Recently, a large number of studies have demonstrated that deregulated expression of microRNAs is closely associated with cancer development and progression. In this review, we highlight the role and importance of microRNAs in biliary tract cancers with an emphasis on utilizing circulating microRNAs as potential biomarkers. Additionally, we report several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in microRNA genes that are associated with the susceptibility of biliary tract tumors

Significado atribuído pela família ao cuidado da criança hospitalizada

Objetivo: Conhecer os significados atribuídos pela família ao cuidado que oferta à criança no hospital.Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo, baseado na Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas com 15 familiares cuidadores de crianças internadas na Unidade de Pediatria de um hospital universitário do sul do Brasil, no primeiro semestre de 2010. Três familiares validaram os dados do estudo.Resultados: Emergiram quatro categorias referentes à principal referencia de cuidado, ao controle sobre os profissionais, ao cuidado da segurança e à fonte de informações acerca das crianças no hospital. A coleta e a análise dos dados, realizadas de forma sistemática e comparativa, mostraram que o familiar cuidador reconhece-se como a principal referência de cuidado da criança, realiza controle no hospital, cuida da segurança e apresenta-se como fonte de informações acerca da criança tanto para a equipe de saúde quanto para outros familiares. Conclusão: Os familiares necessitam ser auxiliados, instrumentalizados e empoderados pelo profissional da enfermagem para a aquisição de habilidades e competências de cuidado, levando em conta o significado que atribuem à experiência vivida.Objetivo: Conocer los significados dados por la familia a los cuidados ofrecidos a los niños hospitalizados.Metodología: Se trata de una investigación cualitativa basada en la Teoría Fundamentada en Datos. La recolección de datos se realizó a través de entrevistas a 15 cuidadores familiares de niños internados en la Unidad de Pediatría de un hospital universitario en el sur de Brasil, en el primer semestre de 2010. Los datos del estudio fueron validados por tres familiares más.Resultados: Surgieron cuatro categorías relacionadas con la principal referencia de cuidado, el control sobre los profesionales, el cuidado de la seguridad y la fuente de información acerca de los niños en el hospital. La recolección y el análisis de los datos, realizados de forma sistemática y comparativa, mostraron que el familiar cuidador es reconocido como la principal referencia de cuidado del niño. Además lleva el control en el hospital, se ocupa de la seguridad y se identifica, tanto para el equipo de salud como para otros parientes, como una fuente de información sobre el niño.Conclusión: El profesional de enfermería debe apoyar, instrumentalizar y empoderar a los familiares de los niños para que adquieran las habilidades y las competencias del cuidado, teniendo en cuenta el significado que se le atribuye a la experiencia vivida.Objective: To know meaning given by the family to care provided to the hospitalized children.Methodology: Qualitative study, based on Grounded Theory (GT). Data were collected using interviews conducted with 15 family caregivers of children admitted to the Pediatric Unit of a university hospital in southern Brazil, in the first half of 2010. The study data were validated by three family members more. Results: Four categories have emerged concerning the main reference of care, control over professionals, care for safety and the source of information about children in the hospital. Data collection and analysis were carried out in a systematic and comparative manner. They, showed that family caregiver is recognized as the primary reference of child care, taking control in hospital, being responsible for security, identifying, both for health team and for other relatives, as an information source about the child. Conclusion: Nursing professional must support, instrumentalize, and empower family members of children in order for them to acquire abilities and for care, considering the meaning given to the experience

Experimental Gastric Carcinogenesis in Cebus apella Nonhuman Primates

The evolution of gastric carcinogenesis remains largely unknown. We established two gastric carcinogenesis models in New-World nonhuman primates. In the first model, ACP03 gastric cancer cell line was inoculated in 18 animals. In the second model, we treated 6 animals with N-methyl-nitrosourea (MNU). Animals with gastric cancer were also treated with Canova immunomodulator. Clinical, hematologic, and biochemical, including C-reactive protein, folic acid, and homocysteine, analyses were performed in this study. MYC expression and copy number was also evaluated. We observed that all animals inoculated with ACP03 developed gastric cancer on the 9th day though on the 14th day presented total tumor remission. In the second model, all animals developed pre-neoplastic lesions and five died of drug intoxication before the development of cancer. The last surviving MNU-treated animal developed intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma observed by endoscopy on the 940th day. The level of C-reactive protein level and homocysteine concentration increased while the level of folic acid decreased with the presence of tumors in ACP03-inoculated animals and MNU treatment. ACP03 inoculation also led to anemia and leukocytosis. The hematologic and biochemical results corroborate those observed in patients with gastric cancer, supporting that our in vivo models are potentially useful to study this neoplasia. In cell line inoculated animals, we detected MYC immunoreactivity, mRNA overexpression, and amplification, as previously observed in vitro. In MNU-treated animals, mRNA expression and MYC copy number increased during the sequential steps of intestinal-type gastric carcinogenesis and immunoreactivity was only observed in intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer. Thus, MYC deregulation supports the gastric carcinogenesis process. Canova immunomodulator restored several hematologic measurements and therefore, can be applied during/after chemotherapy to increase the tolerability and duration of anticancer treatments