Relação entre o manejo da água e a ocorrência de danos por salinidade em arroz irrigado.

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RNA-Seq transcriptomics and pathway analyses reveal potential regulatory genes and molecular mechanisms in high- and low-residual feed intake in Nordic dairy cattle

BACKGROUND: The selective breeding of cattle with high-feed efficiencies (FE) is an important goal of beef and dairy cattle producers. Global gene expression patterns in relevant tissues can be used to study the functions of genes that are potentially involved in regulating FE. In the present study, high-throughput RNA sequencing data of liver biopsies from 19 dairy cows were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between high- and low-FE groups of cows (based on Residual Feed Intake or RFI). Subsequently, a profile of the pathways connecting the DEGs to FE was generated, and a list of candidate genes and biomarkers was derived for their potential inclusion in breeding programmes to improve FE. RESULTS: The bovine RNA-Seq gene expression data from the liver was analysed to identify DEGs and, subsequently, identify the molecular mechanisms, pathways and possible candidate biomarkers of feed efficiency. On average, 57 million reads (short reads or short mRNA sequences < ~200 bases) were sequenced, 52 million reads were mapped, and 24,616 known transcripts were quantified according to the bovine reference genome. A comparison of the high- and low-RFI groups revealed 70 and 19 significantly DEGs in Holstein and Jersey cows, respectively. The interaction analysis (high vs. low RFI x control vs. high concentrate diet) showed no interaction effects in the Holstein cows, while two genes showed interaction effects in the Jersey cows. The analyses showed that DEGs act through certain pathways to affect or regulate FE, including steroid hormone biosynthesis, retinol metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism and drug metabolism cytochrome P450. CONCLUSION: We used RNA-Seq-based liver transcriptomic profiling of high- and low-RFI dairy cows in two breeds and identified significantly DEGs, their molecular mechanisms, their interactions with other genes and functional enrichments of different molecular pathways. The DEGs that were identified were the CYP’s and GIMAP genes for the Holstein and Jersey cows, respectively, which are related to the primary immunodeficiency pathway and play a major role in feed utilization and the metabolism of lipids, sugars and proteins. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3622-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Geospatial Heterogeneity in Monetary Value of Proximity to Waterfront Ecosystem Services in the Gulf of Mexico

Open spaces, including waterfront areas, are critical to coastal communities and provide many benefits, including recreation opportunities, economic development, ecological benefits, and other ecosystem services. However, it is not clear how values of waterfront ecosystem services vary across geographical areas which prevents development and adoption of site-specific natural resource conservation plans and suitable long-term land management strategies. This study estimated the monetary value of distance to different waterfront types in coastal counties of Mississippi and Alabama (U.S.) using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach as an extension to a traditional hedonic pricing method (HPM). In addition, the study utilized publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau instead of certified rolls of county property assessors and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data which can be costly and difficult to obtain. Residents valued most waterfront types which was reflected in greater assessed prices for houses in proximity to these waterfronts. However, the value of ecosystem services associated with waterfronts differed geospatially. The marginal implicit prices ranged from −$6343 to$6773 per km depending on a waterfront type. These estimates will be useful to city developers, land-use planners, and other stakeholders to make more informed and balanced decisions related to natural resource preservation associated with coastal areas, land-use planning, and zoning. In addition, information from this study can be used in developing healthy living environments where local economy can benefit from increased property tax revenues associated with waterfronts and their ecosystem services

New automated image analysis method for the assessment of Ki-67 labeling index in meningiomas.

Many studies have emphasised the importance of Ki-67 labeling index (LI) as the proliferation marker in meningiomas. Several authors confirmed, that Ki-67 LI has prognostic significance and correlates with likelihood of tumour recurrences. These observations were widely accepted by pathologists, but up till now no standard method for Ki-67 LI assessment was developed and introduced for the diagnostic pathology. In this paper we present a new computerised system for automated Ki-67 LI estimation in meningiomas as an aid for histological grading of meningiomas and potential standard method of Ki-67 LI assessment. We also discuss the concordance of Ki-67 LI results obtained by presented computerized system and expert pathologist, as well as possible pitfalls and mistakes in automated counting of immunopositive or negative cells. For the quantitative evaluation of digital images of meningiomas the designed software uses an algorithm based on mathematical description of cell morphology. This solution acts together with the Support Vector Machine (SVM) used in the classification mode for the recognition of immunoreactivity of cells. The applied sequential thresholding simulated well the human process of cell recognition. The same digital images of randomly selected tumour areas were parallelly analysed by computer and blindly by two expert pathologists. Ki-67 labeling indices were estimated and the results compared. The mean relative discrepancy between the levels of Ki-67 LI by our system and by the human expert did not exceed 14% in all investigated cases. These preliminary results suggest that the designed software could be an useful tool supporting the diagnostic digital pathology. However, more extended studies are needed for approval of this suggestion