Age-related increase of kynurenic acid in human cerebrospinal fluid-IgG and beta(2)-microglobulin changes

Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is an endogenous metabolite in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation and is an antagonist at the glycine site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate as well as at the alpha 7 nicotinic cholinergic receptors. In the brain tissue KYNA is synthesised from L-kynurenine by kynurenine aminotransferases (KAT) I and II. A host of immune mediators influence tryptophan degradation. In the present study, the levels of KYNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum in a group of human subjects aged between 25 and 74 years were determined by using a high performance liquid chromatography method. In CSF and serum KAT I and II activities were investigated by radioenzymatic assay, and the levels of β2-microglobulin, a marker for cellular immune activation, were determined by ELISA. The correlations between neurochemical and biological parameters were evaluated. Two subject groups with significantly different ages, i.e. 50 years, p < 0.001, showed statistically significantly different CSF KYNA levels, i.e. 2.84 ± 0.16 fmol/μl vs. 4.09 ± 0.14 fmol/μl, p < 0.001, respectively; but this difference was not seen in serum samples. Interestingly, KYNA is synthesised in CSF principally by KAT I and not KAT II, however no relationship was found between enzyme activity and ageing. A positive relationship between CSF KYNA levels and age of subjects indicates a 95% probability of elevated CSF KYNA with ageing (R = 0.6639, p = 0.0001). KYNA levels significantly correlated with IgG and β2-microglobulin levels (R = 0.5244, p = 0.0049; R = 0.4253, p = 0.043, respectively). No correlation was found between other biological parameters in CSF or serum. In summary, a positive relationship between the CSF KYNA level and ageing was found, and the data would suggest age-dependent increase of kynurenine metabolism in the CNS. An enhancement of CSF IgG and β2-microglobulin levels would suggest an activation of the immune system during ageing. Increased KYNA metabolism may be involved in the hypofunction of the glutamatergic and/or nicotinic cholinergic neurotransmission in the ageing CNS

Surface nano-patterning through styrene adsorption on Si(100)

We present an ab initio study of the structural and electronic properties of styrene molecules adsorbed on the dimerized Si(100) surface at different coverages, ranging from the single-molecule to the full monolayer. The adsorption mechanism primarily involves the vinyl group via a [2+2] cycloaddition process that leads to the formation of covalent Si-C bonds and a local surface derelaxation, while it leaves the phenyl group almost unperturbed. The investigation of the functionalized surface as a function of the coverage (e.g. 0.5 -- 1 ML) and of the substrate reconstruction reveals two major effects. The first results from Si dimer-vinyl interaction and concerns the controlled variation of the energy bandgap of the interface. The second is associated to phenyl-phenyl interactions, which gives rise to a regular pattern of electronic wires at surface, stemming from the pi-pi coupling. These findings suggest a rationale for tailoring the surface nano-patterning of the surface, in a controlled way.Comment: 19 pages (preprint), 4 figures, supplementary materia

Dissipation in planar resonant planetary systems

Close-in planetary systems detected by the Kepler mission present an excess of periods ratio that are just slightly larger than some low order resonant values. This feature occurs naturally when resonant couples undergo dissipation that damps the eccentricities. However, the resonant angles appear to librate at the end of the migration process, which is often believed to be an evidence that the systems remain in resonance. Here we provide an analytical model for the dissipation in resonant planetary systems valid for low eccentricities. We confirm that dissipation accounts for an excess of pairs that lie just aside from the nominal periods ratios, as observed by the Kepler mission. In addition, by a global analysis of the phase space of the problem, we demonstrate that these final pairs are non-resonant. Indeed, the separatrices that exist in the resonant systems disappear with the dissipation, and remains only a circulation of the orbits around a single elliptical fixed point. Furthermore, the apparent libration of the resonant angles can be explained using the classical secular averaging method. We show that this artifact is only due to the severe damping of the amplitudes of the eigenmodes in the secular motion.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, accepted to A&

Sistema de produção de banana para a Zona da Mata de Pernambuco.

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Viabilidade econômica de um sistema de produção de cabras leiteiras no Submédio do São Francisco.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi fazer um levantamento dos custos de produção visando determinar a receita mínima para garantir a viabilidade de um sistema de produção de leite de cabra na região do submédio do rio São Francisco. Os dados foram coletados durante o período de julho de 2007 a junho de 2008. Foram determinados os índices produtivos do rebanho, os custos operacionais efetivos, custos indiretos e o custo total e a relação benefício/custo. A produção média de leite foi de 1,2 L/cabra/dia, com 90 cabras em lactação, por um período de seis meses. Os custos com mão-de-obra e ração concentrada corresponderam a 60,8% dos custos operacionais. A pesquisa registrou resultados economicamente insatisfatórios em diversos índices econômicos. A relação benefício/custo foi de 0,68% e o ponto de nivelamento foi de 33372 L/ano. A situação mínima desejada seria a produtividade média de 1,8 L/ cabra/dia e o preço de R$ 1,00/ L de leite. Na situação desejada, a relação benefício/custo seria 1,11% e o ponto de nivelamento de 25576 L/ano. No período avaliado, o sistema de produção do sistema de cabras leiteiras mostrou-se ineficiente

Chirikov Diffusion in the Asteroidal Three-Body Resonance (5,-2,-2)

The theory of diffusion in many-dimensional Hamiltonian system is applied to asteroidal dynamics. The general formulations developed by Chirikov is applied to the Nesvorn\'{y}-Morbidelli analytic model of three-body (three-orbit) mean-motion resonances (Jupiter-Saturn-asteroid system). In particular, we investigate the diffusion \emph{along} and \emph{across} the separatrices of the (5,-2,-2) resonance of the (490) Veritas asteroidal family and their relationship to diffusion in semi-major axis and eccentricity. The estimations of diffusion were obtained using the Melnikov integral, a Hadjidemetriou-type sympletic map and numerical integrations for times up to $10^{8}$ years.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

Synchronization in Von Bertalanffy’s models

Many data have been useful to describe the growth of marine mammals, invertebrates and reptiles, seabirds, sea turtles and fishes, using the logistic, the Gom-pertz and von Bertalanffy's growth models. A generalized family of von Bertalanffy's maps, which is proportional to the right hand side of von Bertalanffy's growth equation, is studied and its dynamical approach is proposed. The system complexity is measured using Lyapunov exponents, which depend on two biological parameters: von Bertalanffy's growth rate constant and the asymptotic weight. Applications of synchronization in real world is of current interest. The behavior of birds ocks, schools of fish and other animals is an important phenomenon characterized by synchronized motion of individuals. In this work, we consider networks having in each node a von Bertalanffy's model and we study the synchronization interval of these networks, as a function of those two biological parameters. Numerical simulation are also presented to support our approaches

Phenotypic plasticity of composite beef cattle performance using reaction norms model with unknown covariate.

The objective of the present study was to determine the presence of genotype by environment interaction (G × E) and to characterize the phenotypic plasticity of birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), postweaning weight gain (PWG) and yearling scrotal circumference (SC) in composite beef cattle using the reaction norms model with unknown covariate. The animals were born between 1995 and 2008 on 33 farms located throughout all Brazilian biomes between latitude &#8722;7° and &#8722;31°, longitude &#8722;40° and &#8722;63°. The contemporary group was chosen as the environmental descriptor, that is, the environmental covariate of the reaction norms. In general, higher estimates of direct heritability were observed in extreme favorable environments. The mean of direct heritability across the environmental gradient ranged from 0.05 to 0.51, 0.09 to 0.43, 0.01 to 0.43 and from 0.12 to 0.26 for BW, WW, PWG and SC, respectively. The variation in direct heritability observed indicates a different response to selection according to the environment in which the animals of the population are evaluated. The correlation between the level and slope of the reaction norm for BW and PWG was high, indicating that animals with higher average breeding values responded better to improvement in environmental conditions, a fact characterizing a scale of G × E. Low correlation between the intercept and slope was obtained for WW and SC, implying re-ranking of animals in different environments. Genetic variation exists in the sensitivity of animals to the environment, a fact that permits the selection of more plastic or robust genotypes in the population studied. Thus, the G × E is an important factor that should be considered in the genetic evaluation of the present population of composite beef cattle.Firstview article 27 set. 2012

Repetibilidade dos pesos e ganho de peso do nascimento a desmama de bezerros da raça Nelore.

Repetibilidade do ganho de peso ao nascimento e a desmama