Female and male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) discriminate diets according to energetic quantity

The food choice of animals is influenced by several factors including the quantity and nutrients available. It is not known, however, whether faced with alternatives that present the same amount of food, with similar flavor and obtained with the same response cost, rats would discriminate between diets with different energetic quantities. The aim was to verify whether female and male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) discriminate between three types of food that differ in their energetic content (whether or not they prefer one) and whether the flavor could affect the choice between two diets with equal energetic quantities. Twelve Wistar rats (six of each sex) underwent tests of choice between pairs of diets of different energetic values. After the tests, the animals had at their disposal, in the home cage, two diets with the same energetic content, which differed in flavor (one contained sucrose) - Flavor test. The consumption of each diet was measured for five consecutive days. All the subjects demonstrated a preference for the more energetic alternative, regardless of the combination of diets presented. In the Flavor test the animals did not show significant preference for any diet, i.e., the consumption of both the S and N diets were statistically equal for all subjects. It was concluded that the animals, regardless of sex, discriminated between the diets with different energetic values and that the flavor did not seem to be a determinant variable in the food choice.

Clinical outcome measures in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), as a chronic condition, is associated with significant disease- and treatment-related morbidity, thus impacting children's quality of life. In order to optimize JIA management, the paediatric rheumatologist has begun to regularly use measurements of disease activity developed, validated and endorsed by international paediatric rheumatology professional societies in an effort to monitor the disease course over time and assess the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in JIA patients.A literature review was performed to describe the main outcome measures currently used in JIA patients to determine disease activity status.The Juvenile Disease Activity Score (JADAS), in its different versions (classic JADAS, JADAS-CRP and cJADAS) and the validated definitions of disease activity and response to treatment represent an important tool for the assessment of clinically relevant changes in disease activity, leading more and more to a treat-to-target strategy, based on a tight and thorough control of the patient condition. Moreover, in recent years, increasing attention on the incorporation of patient-reported or parent-reported outcomes (PRCOs), when measuring the health state of patients with paediatric rheumatic diseases has emerged.We think that the care of JIA patients cannot be possible without taking into account clinical outcome measures and, in this regard, further work is required

Ewing's sarcoma: epidemiology and prognosis for patients treated at the Pediatric Oncology Institute, IOP-GRAACC-UNIFESP

OBJECTIVE: To outline the epidemiological profile and prognosis for Ewing's sarcoma in the Brazilian population. Material and METHODS: The medical records of 64 patients with intraosseous Ewing's sarcoma who were treated at the Pediatric Oncology Institute, IOP-GRAACC-UNIFESP, between 1995 and 2010, were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: The statistical analysis on the data obtained did not correlate factors such as sex, trauma, pathological fracture and time taken for case diagnosis with the treatment outcome. Factors such as initial metastasis, lung metastasis, tumor site, age, recurrence and type of surgery showed results corroborating what has been established in the literature. CONCLUSION: The prognosis in cases of Ewing's sarcoma was mainly influenced by the presence of metastases at the time of diagnosis.OBJETIVO: Traçar o perfil epidemiológico e o prognóstico do sarcoma de Ewing na população brasileira. Material e MÉTODO: Foram avaliados, retrospectivamente, os prontuários de 64 pacientes tratados, com sarcoma de Ewing intraósseo, no Instituto de Oncologia Pediátrica, IOP-GRAACC-UNIFESP, no período de 1995 a 2010. RESULTADOS: A análise estatística dos dados obtidos não correlacionou fatores como sexo, trauma, fratura patológica e tempo ao diagnóstico com o desfecho do tratamento. Fatores como metástase inicial, metástase pulmonar, local do tumor, idade, recidiva e tipo de cirurgia indicam resultados que corroboram a literatura consagrada. CONCLUSÃO: O prognóstico no sarcoma de Ewing foi influenciado principalmente pela presença de metástase ao diagnóstico.UNIFESPUNIFESPSciEL

Limits to reproduction and seed size-number trade-offs that shape forest dominance and future recovery

International audienceThe relationships that control seed production in trees are fundamental to understanding the evolution of forest species and their capacity to recover from increasing losses to drought, fire, and harvest. A synthesis of fecundity data from 714 species worldwide allowed us to examine hypotheses that are central to quantifying reproduction, a foundation for assessing fitness in forest trees. Four major findings emerged. First, seed production is not constrained by a strict trade-off between seed size and numbers. Instead, seed numbers vary over ten orders of magnitude, with species that invest in large seeds producing more seeds than expected from the 1:1 trade-off. Second, gymnosperms have lower seed production than angiosperms, potentially due to their extra investments in protective woody cones. Third, nutrient-demanding species, indicated by high foliar phosphorus concentrations, have low seed production. Finally, sensitivity of individual species to soil fertility varies widely, limiting the response of community seed production to fertility gradients. In combination, these findings can inform models of forest response that need to incorporate reproductive potential

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

The seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹ (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Detecçãoo de traços de radioisótopos no meio ambiente

Anais do II Encontro de Iniciação Científica e de Extensão da Unila - Sessão de Física, Matemática e Ciência da Computação - 03/07/13 – 13h30 às 18h30 - Unila-PTI - Bloco 03 – Espaço 03 – Sala 01Elementos radiativos podem se acumular com o tempo no solo, afluente de rios, plantas e animais. Os elementos como o 137Cs, 60Co e 131I podem ser detectados em diversos lugares, mesmo em baixa concentra ̧c ̃ao. Estes elementos podem ser detectados com ajuda de detectores adequados, entre os mais utilizados encontram-se o detector Geiger Muller e o detector cinti- lador. O primeiro ́e um detector de geometria cil ́ ındrica com um alambre no centro, cheio de um g ́ as nobre que ́e ionizada ao receber radia ̧c ̃ao, produzindo uma sinal el ́etrica caracter ́ ıstica ao n ́ ıvel de energia detectada; o detector cintilador funciona com a produ ̧c ̃ao de centelleo pela excita ̧c ̃ ao que produze a radia ̧c ̃ao ao passar por um cristal de centelleo aderido ao detector, a qual ́e convertida num pulso el ́etrico por um fotomultiplicador. O monitoramento de tra ̧cos de radiois ́otopos ́e indispens ́avel para se tra ̧car algum tipo de politica publica que avalie, evite ou diminua os riscos da presen ̧ca destes elementos na Biota. Os radiois ́ otopos tamb ́em s ̃ao utilizados em medicina nuclear para estudos e tratamento por emiss ̃ ao de raios gama no corpo humano. Come ̧cou-se a simular os n ́ ıveis de radia ̧c ̃ao aceit ́ aveis e as condi ̧c ̃oes estruturais que devem ser cumpridas na hora de irradiar o corpo humano com radiois ́otopos. Para encontrar as condi ̧c ̃oes seguras foi utilizado duas fontes (137Cs e 60Co) no programa computacional RADLab, com placas de alum ́ ınio com um detector de NaI(Tl) 2x2. Os resultados obtidos na simula ̧c ̃ ao foram comparados com dados reais chegando a conclus ̃oes.Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA

Gelatin films dendronized selectively on one side. Enhancing antimicrobial properties and water repellence

To develop a material with potential biomedical applications, novelgelatin films were prepared by cold-casting method using cerium(III) and genipinsolution as cross-linking agents, and surface modified with dendritic molecules. Thestructure and properties of the synthesized gelatin films were investigated by ATRFTIR,mechanical tests, swelling behavior and water vapor permeability (WVP).The results showed that cross-linking could improve the mechanical and microbiologicalproperties and lower the hydrophilic property of gelatin films. According toATR-FTIR analysis, it can be concluded that the dendronization took place on onlyone of the faces of the films. The results have shown that the experimentalmethodology performed allows one-surface modification, so a novel biomaterialwas obtained in the form of a film with good properties and dendritic structure inone face (hydrophobic and hydrophilic faces), rendering a multivalent structureuseful in biomedicine development.Fil: García Schejtman, Sergio Davi. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Toselli, Ricard. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas; ArgentinaFil: Strumia, Miriam Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); ArgentinaFil: Martinelli, Marisa. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentin