The FoodCast research image database (FRIDa)

In recent years we have witnessed an increasing interest in food processing and eating behaviors. This is probably due to several reasons. The biological relevance of food choices, the complexity of the food-rich environment in which we presently live (making food-intake regulation difficult), and the increasing health care cost due to illness associated with food (food hazards, food contamination, and aberrant food-intake). Despite the importance of the issues and the relevance of this research, comprehensive and validated databases of stimuli are rather limited, outdated, or not available for non-commercial purposes to independent researchers who aim at developing their own research program. The FoodCast Research Image Database (FRIDa) we present here includes 877 images belonging to eight different categories: natural-food (e.g., strawberry), transformed-food (e.g., french fries), rotten-food (e.g., moldy banana), natural-non-food items (e.g., pinecone), artificial food-related objects (e.g., teacup), artificial objects (e.g., guitar), animals (e.g., camel), and scenes (e.g., airport). FRIDa has been validated on a sample of healthy participants (N = 73) on standard variables (e.g., valence, familiarity, etc.) as well as on other variables specifically related to food items (e.g., perceived calorie content); it also includes data on the visual features of the stimuli (e.g., brightness, high frequency power, etc.). FRIDa is a well-controlled, flexible, validated, and freely available (http://foodcast.sissa.it/neuroscience/) tool for researchers in a wide range of academic fields and industry. \ua9 2013 Foroni, Pergola, Argiris and Rumiati

Large-scale diversity estimation through surname origin inference

The study of surnames as both linguistic and geographical markers of the past has proven valuable in several research fields spanning from biology and genetics to demography and social mobility. This article builds upon the existing literature to conceive and develop a surname origin classifier based on a data-driven typology. This enables us to explore a methodology to describe large-scale estimates of the relative diversity of social groups, especially when such data is scarcely available. We subsequently analyze the representativeness of surname origins for 15 socio-professional groups in France

Angiopoietin decoy secreted at tumor site impairs tumor growth and metastases by inducing local inflammation and altering neoangiogenesis

The extracellular domain of the receptor tyrosine kinase Tie2/TEK (exTEK) has been used as an angiopoietin decoy to study the role of angiopoietins in the tumor-host interactions, using a syngeneic model of experimental metastases and subcutaneous tumor. Soluble exTEK secreted by transfected tumor cells inhibited HUVECs from forming tubes in Matrigel. ExTEK-transfected C26 colon carcinoma and TS/A mammary tumor cells displayed reduced growth rate when injected subcutaneously, and reduced ability to form experimental metastases when injected intravenously. Immunohistochemical analysis of tumors and metastases showed increased leukocytes infiltration and signs of inflammation in exTEK-secreting compared to parental tumor, as well as impairment in neo-vessel growth and organization. However, while neoangiogenesis eventually rescued in the subcutis, it failed to organize in the experimental metastases of exTEK-secreting tumor, contributing to the hampering of metastatic growth and to increased mice survival. The reactive infiltrate of C26TEK contained a different percentage of leukocytes and was responsible for the tumor inhibition. In fact, leukopenia induced by gamma-irradiation of recipient mice or injection into interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) gene knockout (GKO) mice resulted in reduced mouse survival and an increased number of lung metastases. On the other hand, interleukin (IL)-12 treatment prolonged the survival of mice bearing subcutaneous C26TEK but not of those bearing lung metastases, suggesting that IL-12 could exert further antiangiogenic effects at the site where the tumor can restore neoangiogenesis. These results show in vivo that reduced angiopoietin availability at the tumor site induces a local inflammatory response and impairment of neoangiogenesis which act synergistically to limit tumor growth and metastasis

An efficient and reproducible method for transformation of genetically recalcitrant bifidobacteria

This study describes an efficient transformation system for the introduction of plasmid DNA into Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010 and Bifidobacterium asteroides PRL2011, for which to the best of our knowledge no transformation data have been reported previously. The method is based on electroporation of bifidobacterial cells, which were made competent by an optimized methodology based on varying media and growth conditions. Furthermore, the transformation protocol was applied in order to design a PRL2010-derivative, which carries antibiotic resistance against chloramphenicol and which was used to monitor PRL2010 colonization in a murine model

Physical and leisure activities and it’s impact on cognition in aging

Modelo de estudo: estudo de prevalência. Objetivos do estudo: Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar a prevalência de atividades físicas e de lazer entre um grupo de idosos com idade entre 70 e 75 anos. Além disso, foi investigado se a inserção nessas atividades pode exercer influência sobre a cognição. Metodologia: Participaram do estudo 45 idosos de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 70 e 75 anos, cadastrados em um Núcleo de Saúde da Família (NSF) na cidade de Ribeirão Preto (SP), sem doenças neurológicas (previamente diagnosticadas), não acamados e não asilados. Foram utilizados um questionário para levantamento de dados sociodemográficos e de saúde, hábitos de vida e rotina do idoso, formulado com questões de caracterização dos sujeitos, incluindo informações sobre a realização e características das atividades de lazer e físicas, e o Mini-Exame do Estado Mental – MEEM. Resultados: No grupo estudado, 52,3% referiram praticar atividade física, principalmente caminhada, sendo maior a participação entre os homens (69,2%) do que entre as mulheres (43,7%). Quanto às atividades de lazer, 80% relatou participar de alguma atividade (81,2% das mulheres e 76,9% dos homens), sendo que a maioria (66,6%) apontou como lazer o hábito de freqüentar igreja. Os idosos que praticavam atividades de lazer obtiveram escores no MEEM significativamente superiores àqueles que não praticavam, verificado pelo teste t (p<0,05). Não houve diferença significativa (p>0,05) de desempenho no MEEM quando comparados os indivíduos que praticavam atividade física e aqueles que não praticavam. Conclusões:  O estímulo às atividades de lazer deve também ser considerado quando se pensam em atividades de promoção à saúde, especialmente no que tange a aumentar as possibilidades de um envelhecimento físico e cognitivo saudável.  Paper design: prevalence study.Objective:The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of physical and leisure activities among a gruop of elderly with age of 70 to 75. Furthermore, it was investigated if those activities would have an influence in cognition. Methods: Participated in this study 45 elderly of both gender in the age of 70 to 75. They were non bedridden, non living in an asylum, had no neurolical diseases ( pre diagnosticated) and were cadastrated in a Núcleo de Saúde da Família (NSF) in the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Two questionnaire were used: one to gatter data of social and economic state, health, life habits and the elderly routine, formulated with questions to qualify the subjects including informations about leisure and physical activities ; and the other one was the Mini Exame of Mental Health. Results: In this studied group 52,3% reported the habit to praticate physical activities, especialy walk, and men refered doing it more (69,2%) then women (43,7%). About the leisure activities 80% reported doing it (81,2% of the women and 76,9% of the men). The most refered tipe was going to church (66,6%). The elderly who practiced leisure activities had a significative higher score, verified by the t test, on the Mini Exame then those who didn’t. Conclusions: The incentive to leisure activities should be considered when one thinks about health promotion, specialy when there is a possibility to upgrade the chances of a healthy physical and cognition aging

Case Report: Heterozygous Germline Variant in EIF6 Additional to Biallelic SBDS Pathogenic Variants in a Patient With Ribosomopathy Shwachman–Diamond Syndrome

Background: Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is a rare autosomal recessive ribosomopathy mainly characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, skeletal alterations, neutropenia, and a relevant risk of hematological transformation. At least 90% of SDS patients have pathogenic variants in SBDS, the first gene associated with the disease with very low allelic heterogeneity; three variants, derived from events of genetic conversion between SBDS and its pseudogene, SBDSP1, provided the alleles observed in about 62% of SDS patients.Methods: We performed a reanalysis of the available WES files of a group of SDS patients with biallelic SBDS pathogenic variants, studying the results by next bioinformatic and protein structural analysis. Parallelly, careful clinical attention was given to the patient focused in this study.Results: We found and confirmed in one SDS patient a germline heterozygous missense variant (c.100T>C; p.Phe34Leu) in the EIF6 gene. This variant, inherited from his mother, has a very low frequency, and it is predicted as pathogenic, according to several in silico prediction tools. The protein structural analysis also envisages the variant could reduce the binding to the nascent 60S ribosomal.Conclusion: This study focused on the hypothesis that the EIF6 germline variant mimics the effect of somatic deletions of chromosome 20, always including the locus of this gene, and similarly may rescue the ribosomal stress and ribosomal dysfunction due to SBDS mutations. It is likely that this rescue may contribute to the stable and not severe hematological status of the proband, but a definite answer on the role of this EIF6 variant can be obtained only by adding a functional layer of evidence. In the future, these results are likely to be useful for selected cases in personalized medicine and therapy

Comparative genomics of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis reveals a strict monophyletic bifidobacterial taxon

Strains of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis are extensively exploited by the food industry as health-promoting bacteria, although the genetic variability of members belonging to this taxon has so far not received much scientific attention. In this article, we describe the complete genetic makeup of the B. animalis subsp. lactis Bl12 genome and discuss the genetic relatedness of this strain with other sequenced strains belonging to this taxon. Moreover, a detailed comparative genomic analysis of B. animalis subsp. lactis genomes was performed, which revealed a closely related and isogenic nature of all currently available B. animalis subsp. lactis strains, thus strongly suggesting a closed pan-genome structure of this bacterial group