Physiotherapeutic Management in Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer treatment can lead to various physic and psychic long-term morbidities, such as restricted shoulder joint range of motion, lymphedema, impaired muscle strength, or cancer-related fatigue. Physiotherapy is a body-oriented approach to tackle these different complaints. This chapter starts with possible prehabilitation approaches until therapy or surgery. It continues with early post-op mobilization and shoulder-arm exercises during the early stages and additionally breathing exercises. In the following rehabilitation period and after hospital discharge, the focus lies on shoulder joint range of motion, muscle strengthening, and body posture to regain normal activities of daily life. This is supported by easy learnable exercises and therapy measures. Lymphedema prevention and treatment are discussed as well as sports therapy, which is divided into endurance and strength training. Therefore, an active lifestyle is encouraged by also considering necessary precautions while training during chemotherapy cycles. Common symptoms and problems, such as cancer-related fatigue and chemotherapy-induced polyneuropathy, are tackled with techniques, such as yoga or balance training. Scar therapy and radiation-induced lung injury are delineated followed by massage therapy proposals and specified exercises to enhance oxygen uptake

Medida de similitud basada en saliencia

La proliferación en todos los ámbitos de la producción multimedia está dando lugar a la aparición de nuevos paradigmas de recuperación de información visual. Dentro de éstos, uno de los más significativos es el de los sistemas de recuperación de información visual, VIRS (Visual Information Retrieval Systems), en los que una de las tareas más representativas es la ordenación de una población de imágenes según su similitud con un ejemplo dado. En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta original para la evaluación de la similitud entre dos imágenes, basándose en la extensión del concepto de saliencia desde el espacio de imágenes al de características para establecer la relevancia de cada componente de dicho vector. Para ello se introducen metodologías para la cuantificación de la saliencia de valores individuales de características, para la combinación de estas cuantificaciones en procesos de comparación entre dos imágenes, y para, finalmente, establecer la mencionada ponderación de cada característica en atención a esta combinación. Se presentan igualmente los resultados de evaluar esta propuesta en una tarea de recuperación de imágenes por contenido en comparación con los obtenidos con la distancia euclídea. Esta comparación se realiza mediante la evaluación de ambos resultados por voluntarios

Exploring the mechanical character of molybdenum grain boundaries via nanoindentation and three-point-bending

The interactions of interfaces with dislocations have been extensively studied in the past. Still, there is a lack of high throughput methods, which can potentially be used for systematic studies to cover a wide range of grain boundary types. Nanoindentation offers the opportunity to combine a high spatial resolution with high effectiveness, thus enabling to obtain comprehensive mechanical data in the vicinity of grain boundaries. The present study on coarse-grained molybdenum will show results of mechanical property mapping near grain boundaries. Here, for the first time also the indenter tip rotation angle with respect to the loading axis as well as the grain orientation are considered. Results will show that neglecting these parameters can bias interpretations of the interface/dislocation interactions, as the localized deformation paths around the indentation are thereby significantly changed. Systematic experiments on commercially pure, recrystallized molybdenum have been performed to investigate the dependence of the hardness increase near grain boundaries with respect to the boundary misorientation angle. As a complementary method, three-point-bending is applied on mm-sized specimens until individual grain boundaries delaminate, which in turn will be identified and cross-checked with findings of the nanoindentation tests. Doping molybdenum with elements like carbon and/or boron is known to suppress intercrystalline failure. For this reason, the presented grain boundary characterization methods will be applied to extract mechanical changes caused by these doping elements

Great Cause—Small Effect: Undeclared Genetically Engineered Orange Petunias Harbor an Inefficient Dihydroflavonol 4-Reductase

A recall campaign for commercial, orange flowering petunia varieties in spring 2017 caused economic losses worldwide. The orange varieties were identified as undeclared genetically engineered (GE)-plants, harboring a maize dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR, A1), which was used in former scientific transgenic breeding attempts to enable formation of orange pelargonidin derivatives from the precursor dihydrokaempferol (DHK) in petunia. How and when the A1 cDNA entered the commercial breeding process is unclear. We provide an in-depth analysis of three orange petunia varieties, released by breeders from three countries, with respect to their transgenic construct, transcriptomes, anthocyanin composition, and flavonoid metabolism at the level of selected enzymes and genes. The two possible sources of the A1 cDNA in the undeclared GE-petunia can be discriminated by PCR. A special version of the A1 gene, the A1 type 2 allele, is present, which includes, at the 3′-end, an additional 144 bp segment from the non-viral transposable Cin4-1 sequence, which does not add any functional advantage with respect to DFR activity. This unequivocally points at the first scientific GE-petunia from the 1980s as the A1 source, which is further underpinned e.g., by the presence of specific restriction sites, parts of the untranslated sequences, and the same arrangement of the building blocks of the transformation plasmid used. Surprisingly, however, the GE-petunia cannot be distinguished from native red and blue varieties by their ability to convert DHK in common in vitro enzyme assays, as DHK is an inadequate substrate for both the petunia and maize DFR. Recombinant maize DFR underpins the low DHK acceptance, and, thus, the strikingly limited suitability of the A1 protein for a transgenic approach for breeding pelargonidin-based flower color. The effect of single amino acid mutations on the substrate specificity of DFRs is demonstrated. Expression of the A1 gene is generally lower than the petunia DFR expression despite being under the control of the strong, constitutive p35S promoter. We show that a rare constellation in flavonoid metabolism—absence or strongly reduced activity of both flavonol synthase and B-ring hydroxylating enzymes—allows pelargonidin formation in the presence of DFRs with poor DHK acceptance.Peer Reviewe

Glyco engineered pentameric SARS-CoV-2 IgMs show superior activities compared to IgG1 orthologues

Immunoglobulin M (IgM) is the largest antibody isotype with unique features like extensive glycosylation and oligomerization. Major hurdles in characterizing its properties are difficulties in the production of well-defined multimers. Here we report the expression of two SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies in glycoengineered plants. Isotype switch from IgG1 to IgM resulted in the production of IgMs, composed of 21 human protein subunits correctly assembled into pentamers. All four recombinant monoclonal antibodies carried a highly reproducible human-type N-glycosylation profile, with a single dominant N-glycan species at each glycosite. Both pentameric IgMs exhibited increased antigen binding and virus neutralization potency, up to 390-fold, compared to the parental IgG1. Collectively, the results may impact on the future design of vaccines, diagnostics and antibody-based therapies and emphasize the versatile use of plants for the expression of highly complex human proteins with targeted posttranslational modifications

Tracking the little ones: use of fluorescent powder to follow a leaf litter lizard (Coleodactylus meridionalis, Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil

Abstract The ecology of movement is an expanding area, marked by the diversity of analytical methods and protocols, which enables this integrative reading. We investigated movement ecology aspects of Coleodactylus meridionalis in southern Bahia, northeastern Brazil, using fluorescent powder with mineral oil to track individuals. We monitored 69 individuals of C. meridionalis that walked an average distance of 148 cm in 2h. We identified this movement as foraging due to the orientation of the step sequence and microenvironments used. We find no significant differences between walking distance and weight. However, we found a decrease in activity over the follow-up period. Most of the lizard’s movements were directed north, while south, east, and west were followed equally. The individuals stayed predominantly on the ground (leaf litter), but it was possible to observe the use of other surfaces, such as trunks and burrows on the ground. Therefore, we studied the movement in three dimensions (ground height, distance traveled, and orientation of steps). We observed the lizard’s foraging, one of the most common and least investigated movements in small lizards like C. meridionalis. This involves not only the species’ activity schedule but other intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape the movement decisions of individuals