Optical and Near Infrared Study of the Cepheus E outflow, a very low excitation object

We present images and spectra of the Cepheus E (Cep E) region at both optical and infrared wavelengths. Only the brightest region of the southern lobe of the Cep E outflow reveals optical emission, suggesting that the extinction close to the outflow source plays an important r\^ole in the observed difference between the optical and IR morphologies. Cep E is a unique object since it provides a link between the spectroscopic properties of the optical Herbig-Haro (HH) objects and those of deeply embedded outflows.Comment: Accepted Astron. J., 8 files: paper, tables plus 6 figure

Clinical, histological and prognostic features of a novel nail-bed lesion of cats: 41 cases

There is a distinct subset of lesions arising on the digits of cats, located at or close to the nail-bed epithelium, which are typically composed of proliferative fibroblast-like cells, multinucleate giant cells and areas of osseous metaplasia, but currently there is no published literature detailing the clinical or histological features of these lesions. This study identified 41 such cases from two large commercial diagnostic laboratories and assessed various histological and clinical features; 22 cases had additional follow-up data available

A reporter for amyloid precursor protein γ-secretase activity in Drosophila

A key event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the deposition of senile plaques consisting largely of a peptide known as β-amyloid (Aβ) that is derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP). A proteolytic activity called γ-secretase cleaves APP in the transmembrane domain and is required for Aβ generation. Aberrant γ-secretase cleavage of APP underlies the majority of early onset, familial AD. γ-Secretase resides in a large multi-protein complex, of which Presenilin, Nicastrin, APH-1 and PEN-2 are four essential components. Thus, identifying components and pathways by which the γ-secretase activity is regulated is crucial to understanding the mechanisms underlying AD pathogenesis, and may provide new diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets. Here we describe the generation of Drosophila that act as living reporters of γ-secretase activity in the fly eye. In these reporter flies the size of the eye correlates with the level of endogenous γ-secretase activity, and is very sensitive to the levels of three genes required for APP γ-secretase activity, presenilin, nicastrin and aph-1. Thus, these flies provide a sensitized system with which to identify other components of the γ-secretase complex and regulators of its activity. We have used these flies to carry out a screen for mutations that suppress γ-secretase activity and have identified a small chromosomal region that contains a gene or genes whose products may promote γ-secretase activity

Modular classes of Poisson-Nijenhuis Lie algebroids

The modular vector field of a Poisson-Nijenhuis Lie algebroid $A$ is defined and we prove that, in case of non-degeneracy, this vector field defines a hierarchy of bi-Hamiltonian $A$-vector fields. This hierarchy covers an integrable hierarchy on the base manifold, which may not have a Poisson-Nijenhuis structure.Comment: To appear in Letters in Mathematical Physic

Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Is it Still Increasing?

Introdução: A Doença de Crohn (DC), Colite Ulcerosa (CU) e Colite Indeterminada (CI), habitualmente designadas por Doença Inflamatória Intestinal (DII), representam um grupo heterogéneo de patologias crónicas, de etiologia desconhecida e evolução variável, podendo manifestar-se, em idade pediátrica, em cerca de 25 a 30% dos casos. Estudos epidemiológicos internacionais comprovam o aumento exponencial da sua incidência nos países industrializados, em particular da DC, nos últimos 50 anos. Objectivos: Caracterização da população pediátrica com o diagnóstico de DII, seguida na consulta de Gastrenterologia Infantil do Hospital de Dona Estefânia (HDE). Material e Métodos: Estudo descritivo e retrospectivo, mediante consulta de processos clínicos, de doentes com o diagnóstico de DII, entre 1987 e 2009 (23 anos). Utilizaram-se critérios clínicos, radiológicos e histológicos para a definição de DII. Foram estudadas as seguintes variáveis: caracterização da DII, sexo, antecedentes familiares, idade à data do diagnóstico, intervalo de tempo entre o início da sintomatologia e respectivo diagnóstico e apresentação clínica. Foram comparados quatro intervalos de tempo: 1987-1992, 1993-1998, 1999-2004 e 2005-2009. Resultados: Foram incluídas 100 crianças, 51 pertencentes ao sexo feminino, das quais 59% correspondem a DC, 38% a CU e 3% a CI. Verificou-se a presença de antecedentes familiares de DII em sete casos, não se verificando diferença significativa de sexo entre a CU e a DC. No período compreendido entre 2005 e 2009 foi registado o maior número de novos casos (55 no total; média: 11 casos/ano) e entre 1987 e 1992 registou-se o menor número de novos casos (9; 1,5 casos/ano). O intervalo de tempo que decorreu entre o início dos sintomas e o diagnóstico de DII variou entre nove meses (1987-1992) e quatro meses (2005-2009). A idade no momento do diagnóstico variou entre os 14 meses e os 17 anos, com um valor médio de 10,5 anos. A sintomatologia inaugural mais frequente foi a presença de dor abdominal, a diarreia e a hematoquézia. Conclusão: A DII engloba um grupo heterogéneo de patologias, nem sempre fáceis de diagnosticar ou classificar, dada a ausência de critérios de diagnóstico uniformes. Os resultados apresentados mostram o aumento do número de novos casos, na consulta de Gastrenterologia do HDE, nas últimas duas décadas, não se verificando diferença no que diz respeito ao sexo. O tempo que decorreu entre o início dos sintomas e o diagnóstico diminuiu ao longo dos anos, tendo permanecido inalterada a idade no momento do diagnóstico e a apresentação clínica

High coercivity induced by mechanical milling in cobalt ferrite powders

In this work we report a study of the magnetic behavior of ferrimagnetic oxide CoFe2O4 treated by mechanical milling with different grinding balls. The cobalt ferrite nanoparticles were prepared using a simple hydrothermal method and annealed at 500oC. The non-milled sample presented coercivity of about 1.9 kOe, saturation magnetization of 69.5 emu/g, and a remanence ratio of 0.42. After milling, two samples attained coercivity of 4.2 and 4.1 kOe, and saturation magnetization of 67.0 and 71.4 emu/g respectively. The remanence ratio MR/MS for these samples increase to 0.49 and 0.51, respectively. To investigate the influence of the microstructure on the magnetic behavior of these samples, we used X-ray powder diffraction (XPD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The XPD analysis by the Williamson-Hall plot was used to estimate the average crystallite size and strain induced by mechanical milling in the samples

Child-driven design of milk micelles for drug delivery

Poster presented at the 9th EuPFI Conference [European Paediatric Formulation Initiative], 19-21th Sep 2017, Warsaw, PolandN/

System and market failures: the unavailability of magnesium sulphate for the treatment of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Low cost and effective drugs, such as magnesium sulphate, need to be included in initiatives to improve access to essential medicines in Afric