ANATOMY AND DRYING OF WOOD OF FOUR SPECIES FROM AN AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM

Drying is an important process in the generation of wood products, as it increases the quality of the final products; however, it is influenced by various anatomical characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of anatomy on the drying of wood of Parapiptadenia rigida (Benth.) Brenan, Peltophorum dubium (Spreng.) Taub., Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill × Eucalyptus urophylla S.T. Blake (hybrid), and Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) Blake trees from an agroforestry system. Three trees aged 9 years were sampled for each species. The trees were removed from the study region when their diameter at breast height (DBH) was 1.30 m from the ground. Blocks were made with dimensions of 5.0 × 5.0 × 15.0 cm for the evaluation of oven drying and 1.5 × 1.5 × 2.0 cm for anatomical features. S. parahyba has the highest value of fiber diameter (35.1 µm) and lumen diameter (27.6 µm), whereas P. dubium had the highest value of cell wall thickness (6.8 µm). The average equilibrium moisture content was 10.98% after 40 days of drying. The anatomy of the wood influenced the drying of the four species intensity, which was related to humidity during all periods. The anatomical parameters that most influenced drying were fiber diameter (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.77), lumen diameter (0.76), and fiber cell wall thickness (0.73); the higher the values, the greater was the drying intensity

The Nucleoporin Nup96 Is Required for Proper Expression of Interferon-Regulated Proteins and Functions

Nup98 and Nup96 are components of the nuclear transport machinery and are induced by interferons (IFN). Nup98 is a constituent of an mRNA export pathway that is targeted by viruses and regulated by IFN. However, the role of Nup96 in IFN-related mechanisms has not been established. To investigate the function of Nup96 in vivo, we generated Nup96 +/− mice that express low levels of Nup96, as Nup96 −/− mice are lethal. The Nup96 +/− mice presented selective alterations of the immune system, which resulted in downregulation and impaired IFN α- and γ-mediated induction of MHC I and IFNγ induction of MHC II, ICAM-1, and other proteins. Frequency of TCRαβ+ and CD4+ T cells, which depends on MHC function, is reduced in NUP96 +/− mice. Upon immunization, Nup96 +/− mice showed impaired antigen presentation and T cell proliferation. Nup96 +/− cells and mice were highly susceptible to viral infection, demonstrating a role for Nup96 in innate and adaptive immunity

Mechanical ventilation and death in pregnant patients admitted for COVID-19: a prognostic analysis from the Brazilian COVID-19 registry score

Abstract Background The assessment of clinical prognosis of pregnant COVID-19 patients at hospital presentation is challenging, due to physiological adaptations during pregnancy. Our aim was to assess the performance of the ABC2-SPH score to predict in-hospital mortality and mechanical ventilation support in pregnant patients with COVID-19, to assess the frequency of adverse pregnancy outcomes, and characteristics of pregnant women who died. Methods This multicenter cohort included consecutive pregnant patients with COVID-19 admitted to the participating hospitals, from April/2020 to March/2022. Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and the composite outcome of mechanical ventilation support and in-hospital mortality. Secondary endpoints were pregnancy outcomes. The overall discrimination of the model was presented as the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Overall performance was assessed using the Brier score. Results From 350 pregnant patients (median age 30 [interquartile range (25.2, 35.0)] years-old]), 11.1% had hypertensive disorders, 19.7% required mechanical ventilation support and 6.0% died. The AUROC for in-hospital mortality and for the composite outcome were 0.809 (95% IC: 0.641–0.944) and 0.704 (95% IC: 0.617–0.792), respectively, with good overall performance (Brier = 0.0384 and 0.1610, respectively). Calibration was good for the prediction of in-hospital mortality, but poor for the composite outcome. Women who died had a median age 4 years-old higher, higher frequency of hypertensive disorders (38.1% vs. 9.4%, p < 0.001) and obesity (28.6% vs. 10.6%, p = 0.025) than those who were discharged alive, and their newborns had lower birth weight (2000 vs. 2813, p = 0.001) and five-minute Apgar score (3.0 vs. 8.0, p < 0.001). Conclusions The ABC2-SPH score had good overall performance for in-hospital mortality and the composite outcome mechanical ventilation and in-hospital mortality. Calibration was good for the prediction of in-hospital mortality, but it was poor for the composite outcome. Therefore, the score may be useful to predict in-hospital mortality in pregnant patients with COVID-19, in addition to clinical judgment. Newborns from women who died had lower birth weight and Apgar score than those who were discharged alive