2,146 research outputs found
Correlation between the heterosis of maize hybrids and genetic divergence among lines
The objective of this work was to evaluate grain yield of maize single cross hybrids obtained from diallel crosses among contrasting lines, to estimate the combining ability of the lines, and finally to confirm if the genetic diversity among those lines assessed by molecular markers is correlated with single cross hybrids heterosis. The 36 single cross hybrids resulting from partial diallel and 12 parental lines were evaluated in Campinas in randomized block design, with three replicates and two control lines checks. General combining ability of the lines was estimated according to Griffing model 4. Correlations among matrices were estimated through Mantel statistics, considering heterosis, yield and specific combining ability with genetic divergence assessed by AFLP and SSR. The hybrids PM518 x L111 exhibited an outstanding yield and the lines PM518, IP4035 and L111 showed positive general combining ability. The estimate heterosis ranged from 927 to 6,698 kg ha(-1). A positive and significant correlation was observed in parental lines between heterosis and genetic diversity assessed by AFLP and SSR. The genetic divergence, however, was not enough to determine the specific combining ability and the hybrids yield.42681181
Local host response following an intramammary challenge with Staphylococcus fleurettii and different strains of Staphylococcus chromogenes in dairy heifers
Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are a common cause of subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle. The CNS inhabit various ecological habitats, ranging between the environment and the host. In order to obtain a better insight into the host response, an experimental infection was carried out in eight healthy heifers in mid-lactation with three different CNS strains: a Staphylococcus fleurettii strain originating from sawdust bedding, an intramammary Staphylococcus chromogenes strain originating from a persistent intramammary infection (S. chromogenes IM) and a S. chromogenes strain isolated from a heifer's teat apex (S. chromogenes TA). Each heifer was inoculated in the mammary gland with 1.0 x 10(6) colony forming units of each bacterial strain (one strain per udder quarter), whereas the remaining quarter was infused with phosphate-buffered saline. Overall, the CNS evoked a mild local host response. The somatic cell count increased in all S. fleurettii-inoculated quarters, although the strain was eliminated within 12 h. The two S. chromogenes strains were shed in larger numbers for a longer period. Bacterial and somatic cell counts, as well as neutrophil responses, were higher after inoculation with S. chromogenes IM than with S. chromogenes TA. In conclusion, these results suggest that S. chromogenes might be better adapted to the mammary gland than S. fleurettii. Furthermore, not all S. chromogenes strains induce the same local host response
The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil): Objectives and Design
Brazil is experiencing among the world’s fastest demographic aging worldwide. This demographic transition is occurring in a context of few resources and great social inequalities. The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil) is a nationally representative study of 9,412 people aged 50 years or older, residing in 70 municipalities across the 5 Brazilian regions. ELSI-Brazil allows investigations of the aging process, its health, psychosocial and economic determinants, and societal consequences. The baseline examination (2015–2016) included detailed household and individual interviews and physical measurements (blood pressure, anthropometry, grip strength, and timed walk and balance tests). Blood tests and sample storage were performed in a subsample of study participants. Subsequent waves are planned for every 3 years. The study adopts a conceptual framework common to other large-scale longitudinal studies of aging in the world, such as the Health and Retirement Study, allowing cross-national comparisons. The goal of ELSI-Brazil is not only to build an understanding of aging in a large, Western, middle-income country in a rapid demographic transition but also to provide scientific data to support and study policy changes that may affect older adults. We describe the methodology of the study and some descriptive results of the baseline survey
Influence of homogenization conditions on physical properties and antioxidant activity of fully biodegradable pea protein-alpha-tocopherol films
In this study, antioxidant biodegradable films based
on pea protein and alpha-tocopherol were successfully developed
by solution casting. The effect of both the homogenization
conditions (rotor stator and microfluidizer) and the relative
humidity (RH) on the microstructure and physical properties
(transparency, tensile, oxygen and water vapour barrier
properties) of pea protein/alpha-tocopherol-based films was
evaluated. The addition of alpha-tocopherol produced minimal
changes in the films transparency, while providing them
with antioxidant properties and improved water vapour and
oxygen barrier properties (up to 30 % in both water vapour
and oxygen permeability) when films were at low and intermediate
RH. The addition of alpha-tocopherol in
microfluidized films gave rise to an increase in their resistance
to break and extensibility (up to 27 % in E values) at intermediate
and high RH. These results add a new insight into the
potential of employing pea protein and alpha-tocopherol in the
development of fully biodegradable antioxidant films which
are of interest in food packagingThe authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia throughout the project AGL2010-20694, co-funded by FEDER. Author M.J.Fabra is a recipient of a Juan de la Cierva contract from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad.Fabra, MJ.; Jiménez, A.; Talens Oliag, P.; Chiralt, A. (2014). Influence of homogenization conditions on physical properties and antioxidant activity of fully biodegradable pea protein-alpha-tocopherol films. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 7(12):3569-3578. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-014-1372-0S35693578712ASTM (1995). Standard test methods for water vapor transmission of materials. Standards Desingnations: E96-95. In: Annual Book of ASTM Standards (pp. 406-413); American Society for Testing and Materials: Philadelphia, PA.ASTM (2001). Standard test method for tensile properties of thin plastic sheeting. Standard D882. In: Annual book of American Standard Testing Methods (pp 162-170). D882. Philadelphia:ASTM.Bertan, L. C., Tanada-Palmu, P. S., Siani, A. C., & Grosso, C. R. F. (2005). Effect of fatty acids and “Brazilian elemi” on composite films based on gelatin. Food Hydrocolloids, 19(1), 73–82.Byun, Y., Kim, Y. T., & Whiteside, S. (2010). Characterization of an antioxidant polylactic acid (PLA) film prepared with alpha-tocopherol, BHT and polyethylene glycol using film cast extruder. Journal of Food Engineering, 100, 239–244.Cerqueira, M. A., Costa, M. J., Fuciños, C., Pastrana, L. M., & Vicente, A. A. (2014). Development of active and nanotechnology-based smart edible packaging systems: physical-chemical characterization. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 7(5), 1472–1482.Choi, W. S., & Han, J. H. (2001). Physical and mechanical properties of pea–protein-based edible films. Journal of Food Science, 66, 319–322.Choi, W. S., & Han, J. H. (2002). 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A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the impact of low back pain on people's lives
Copyright @ 2014 Froud et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background - Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem that many interpret within a biopsychosocial model. There is renewed concern that core-sets of outcome measures do not capture what is important. To inform debate about the coverage of back pain outcome measure core-sets, and to suggest areas worthy of exploration within healthcare consultations, we have synthesised the qualitative literature on the impact of low back pain on people’s lives.
Methods - Two reviewers searched CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PEDro, and Medline, identifying qualitative studies of people’s experiences of non-specific LBP. Abstracted data were thematic coded and synthesised using a meta-ethnographic, and a meta-narrative approach.
Results - We included 49 papers describing 42 studies. Patients are concerned with engagement in meaningful activities; but they also want to be believed and have their experiences and identity, as someone ‘doing battle’ with pain, validated. Patients seek diagnosis, treatment, and cure, but also reassurance of the absence of pathology. Some struggle to meet social expectations and obligations. When these are achieved, the credibility of their pain/disability claims can be jeopardised. Others withdraw, fearful of disapproval, or unable or unwilling to accommodate social demands. Patients generally seek to regain their pre-pain levels of health, and physical and emotional stability. After time, this can be perceived to become unrealistic and some adjust their expectations accordingly.
Conclusions - The social component of the biopsychosocial model is not well represented in current core-sets of outcome measures. Clinicians should appreciate that the broader impact of low back pain includes social factors; this may be crucial to improving patients’ experiences of health care. Researchers should consider social factors to help develop a portfolio of more relevant outcome measures.Arthritis Research U
A Discrete Event Simulation model to evaluate the treatment pathways of patients with Cataract in the United Kingdom
Background The number of people affected by cataract in the United Kingdom (UK) is growing rapidly due to ageing population. As the only way to treat cataract is through surgery, there is a high demand for this type of surgery and figures indicate that it is the most performed type of surgery in the UK. The National Health Service (NHS), which provides free of charge care in the UK, is under huge financial pressure due to budget austerity in the last decade. As the number of people affected by the disease is expected to grow significantly in coming years, the aim of this study is to evaluate whether the introduction of new processes and medical technologies will enable cataract services to cope with the demand within the NHS funding constraints. Methods We developed a Discrete Event Simulation model representing the cataract services pathways at Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital. The model was inputted with data from national and local sources as well as from a surgery demand forecasting model developed in the study. The model was verified and validated with the participation of the cataract services clinical and management teams. Results Four scenarios involving increased number of surgeries per half-day surgery theatre slot were simulated. Results indicate that the total number of surgeries per year could be increased by 40% at no extra cost. However, the rate of improvement decreases for increased number of surgeries per half-day surgery theatre slot due to a higher number of cancelled surgeries. Productivity is expected to improve as the total number of doctors and nurses hours will increase by 5 and 12% respectively. However, non-human resources such as pre-surgery rooms and post-surgery recovery chairs are under-utilized across all scenarios. Conclusions Using new processes and medical technologies for cataract surgery is a promising way to deal with the expected higher demand especially as this could be achieved with limited impact on costs. Non-human resources capacity need to be evenly levelled across the surgery pathway to improve their utilisation. The performance of cataract services could be improved by better communication with and proactive management of patients.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Drone aggregation behavior in the social wasp Vespula germanica (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): Effect of kinship and density
Inbreeding can have negative consequences on population viability because of the reduced fitness of the progeny. In general, most species have developed mechanisms to minimize inbreeding such as dispersal and kin avoidance behavior. In the eusocial Hymenoptera, related individuals typically share a common nest and have relatively short mating periods, this could lead to inbreeding, and because of their single?locus complementary sex determination system, it may generate diploid males that could result in infertile triploid progeny representing a cost for the colony. Vespula germanica, is an eusocial wasp that has invaded many parts of the world, despite likely facing a reduced genetic pool during the arrival phases. We ask whether male wasp display specific aggregation behavior that favors genetic diversity, key to reduce inbreeding. Through a set of laboratory experiments, we investigated the effects of drone nestmateship and density on the aggregation behavior of V. germanica drones. We show that drones avoid aggregating with their nestmates at all densities while non-nestmates are avoided only at high densities. This suggests that lek genetic diversity and density could be regulated through drone behavior and in the long run minimize inbreeding favoring invasion success.Fil: Masciocchi, Maité. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Angeletti, Bárbara. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Von Ellrichshausen, Andres Santiago. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentin
Jaw and Long Bone Marrows Have a Different Osteoclastogenic Potential
Osteoclasts, the multinucleated bone-resorbing cells, arise through fusion of precursors from the myeloid lineage. However, not all osteoclasts are alike; osteoclasts at different bone sites appear to differ in numerous respects. We investigated whether bone marrow cells obtained from jaw and long bone differed in their osteoclastogenic potential. Bone marrow cells from murine mandible and tibiae were isolated and cultured for 4 and 6 days on plastic or 6 and 10 days on dentin. Osteoclastogenesis was assessed by counting the number of TRAP+ multinucleated cells. Bone marrow cell composition was analyzed by FACS. The expression of osteoclast- and osteoclastogenesis-related genes was studied by qPCR. TRAP activity and resorptive activity of osteoclasts were measured by absorbance and morphometric analyses, respectively. At day 4 more osteoclasts were formed in long bone cultures than in jaw cultures. At day 6 the difference in number was no longer observed. The jaw cultures, however, contained more large osteoclasts on plastic and on dentin. Long bone marrow contained more osteoclast precursors, in particular the myeloid blasts, and qPCR revealed that the RANKL:OPG ratio was higher in long bone cultures. TRAP expression was higher for the long bone cultures on dentin. Although jaw osteoclasts were larger than long bone osteoclasts, no differences were found between their resorptive activities. In conclusion, bone marrow cells from different skeletal locations (jaw and long bone) have different dynamics of osteoclastogenesis. We propose that this is primarily due to differences in the cellular composition of the bone site-specific marrow
The role of an extended medial column arthrodesis for Charcot midfoot neuroarthropathy
The etiology of diabetic Charcot neuroarthropathy involving the midfoot often includes an inciting traumatic event or repetitive micro-trauma from an uncompensated biomechanical imbalance that potentiates an incompletely understood pathway leading to a rocker-bottom foot deformity and ulceration. In the setting of a severe Charcot foot fracture and/or dislocation with obvious osseous instability, diagnostic delay can potentiate the limb-threatening sequelae of infected midfoot ulcerations in this patient population. In this article, the authors discuss the thought process as well as the advantages of performing an extended medial column arthrodesis for selected Charcot midfoot deformities
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