Aprendizajes de Estudiantes de Enfermería Involucrados en Proyectos de Investigación: Revisión Integrativa de la Literatura

To identify the learning outcomes and skills obtained of undergraduate nursing students involved in research projects. Methods: This was an integrative literature review, based on a research protocol in the CINAHL Complete databases; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Cochrane Methodology Register; MedicLatina; MEDLINE, Scopus and JBI, including primary and secondary studies, published between 2015 and 2020. Results: A total of five heterogeneous articles were included, which were categorized using Kirkpatrick’s (adapted) model. Seventeen learning outcomes acquired through participation in research projects were identified, from the learning of new knowledge and skills to the development of new attitudes and behaviors. Final considerations: The involvement of nursing students in research projects is important to their professional development. Future investment in research on this topic can help cement the potential of this type of student involvement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons as markers of the Drosophila buzzatii colonization in Australia

Background: Transposable elements (TEs) constitute an important source of genetic variability owing to their jumping and regulatory properties, and are considered to drive species evolution. Several factors that are able to induce TE transposition in genomes have been documented (for example environmental stress and inter- and intra-specific crosses) but in many instances the reasons for TE mobilisation have yet to be elucidated. Colonising populations constitute an ideal model for studying TE behaviour and distribution as they are exposed to different environmental and new demographic conditions. In this study, the distribution of two TEs, Osvaldo and Isis, was examined in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia. Comparing Osvaldo copy numbers between Australian and Old World (reported in previous studies) colonisations provides a valuable tool for elucidating the colonisation process and the effect of new conditions encountered by colonisers on TEs. Results: The chromosomal distributions of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia revealed sites of high insertion frequency (>10%) and low frequency sites. Comparisons between Osvaldo insertion profiles in colonising populations from the Old World and Australia demonstrate a tendency towards a higher number of highly occupied sites with higher insertion frequency in the Old World than in Australian populations. Tests concerning selection against deleterious TE insertions indicate that Isis is more controlled by purifying selection than Osvaldo. The distribution of both elements on chromosomal arms follows a Poisson distribution and there are non-significant positive correlations between highly occupied sites and chromosomal inversions. Conclusions: The occupancy profile of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons is characterised by the existence of high and low insertion frequency sites in the populations. These results demonstrate that Australian D. buzzatii populations were subjected to a founder effect during the colonisation process. Moreover, there are more sites with high insertion frequency in the Old World colonisation than in the Australian colonisation, indicating a probable stronger bottleneck effect in Australia. The results suggest that selection does not seem to play a major role, compared to demography, in the distribution of transposable elements in the Australian populations

One fungus, which genes?: development and assessment of universal primers for potential secondary fungal DNA barcodes

The aim of this study was to assess potential candidate gene regions and corresponding universal primer pairs as secondary DNA barcodes for the fungal kingdom, additional to ITS rDNA as primary barcode. Amplification efficiencies of 14 (partially) universal primer pairs targeting eight genetic markers were tested across > 1 500 species (1 931 strains or specimens) and the outcomes of almost twenty thousand (19 577) polymerase chain reactions were evaluated. We tested several well-known primer pairs that amplify: i) sections of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene large subunit (D1-D2 domains of 26/28S); ii) the complete internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1/2); iii) partial beta-tubulin II (TUB2); iv) gamma-actin (ACT); v) translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1 alpha); and vi) the second largest subunit of RNA-polymerase II (partial RPB2, section 5-6). Their PCR efficiencies were compared with novel candidate primers corresponding to: i) the fungal-specific translation elongation factor 3 (TEF3); ii) a small ribosomal protein necessary for t-RNA docking; iii) the 60S L10 (L1) RP; iv) DNA topoisomerase I (TOPI); v) phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK); vi) hypothetical protein LNS2; and vii) alternative sections of TEF1 alpha. Results showed that several gene sections are accessible to universal primers (or primers universal for phyla) yielding a single PCR-product. Barcode gap and multi-dimensional scaling analyses revealed that some of the tested candidate markers have universal properties providing adequate infra- and inter-specific variation that make them attractive barcodes for species identification. Among these gene sections, a novel high fidelity primer pair for TEF1 alpha, already widely used as a phylogenetic marker in mycology, has potential as a supplementary DNA barcode with superior resolution to ITS. Both TOPI and PGK show promise for the Ascomycota, while TOPI and LNS2 are attractive for the Pucciniomycotina, for which universal primers for ribosomal subunits often fail

Patterns of Cognitive Performance in Healthy Ageing in Northern Portugal: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Background: The Minho Integrative Neuroscience Database (MIND)-Ageing project aims to identify predictors of healthy cognitive ageing, including socio-demographic factors. In this exploratory analysis we sought to establish baseline cohorts for longitudinal assessment of age-related changes in cognition. Methods: The population sample (472 individuals) was strictly a convenient one, but similar to the Portuguese population in the age profile. Participants older than 55 years of age were included if they did not present defined disabling pathologies or dementia. A standardized clinical interview was conducted to assess medical history and a battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to characterize global cognition (Mini Mental State Examination), memory and executive functions (Selective Reminding Test; Stroop Color and Word Test; and Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale). Cross-sectional analysis of the neuropsychological performance with individual characteristics such as age, gender, educational level and setting (retirement home, senior university, day care center or community), allowed the establishment of baseline clusters for subsequent longitudinal studies. Results: Based on different socio-demographic characteristics, four main clusters that group distinctive patterns of cognitive performance were identified. The type of institution where the elders were sampled from, together with the level of formal education, were the major hierarchal factors for individual distribution in the four clusters. Of notice, education seems to delay the cognitive decline that is associated with age in all clusters. Conclusions: Social-inclusion/engagement and education seem to have a protective effect on mental ageing, although this effect may not be effective in the eldest elders

Long-term changes in habitat and trophic level of Southern Ocean squid in relation to environmental conditions

Long-term studies of pelagic nekton in the Southern Ocean and their responses to ongoing environmental change are rare. Using stable isotope ratios measured in squid beaks recovered from diet samples of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans, we assessed decadal variation (from 1976 to 2016) in the habitat (δ13C) and trophic level (δ15N) of five important Southern Ocean squid species in relation to indices of environmental conditions—Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Based on δ13C values, corrected for the Suess effect, habitat had changed over the last 50 years for Taonius sp. B (Voss), Gonatus antarcticus, Galiteuthis glacialis and Histioteuthis atlantica but not Moroteuthopsis longimana. By comparison, mean δ15N values were similar across decades for all five species, suggesting minimal changes in trophic levels. Both SAM and SOI have increased in strength and frequency over the study period but, of the five species, only in Taonius sp. B (Voss) did these indices correlate with, δ13C and δ15N values, indicating direct relationships between environmental conditions, habitat and trophic level. The five cephalopod species therefore changed their habitats with changing environmental conditions over the last 50 years but maintained similar trophic levels. Hence, cephalopods are likely to remain important prey for top predators in Southern Ocean food webs, despite ongoing climate change

Drosophila Evolution over Space and Time (DEST): A New Population Genomics Resource

Drosophila melanogaster is a leading model in population genetics and genomics, and a growing number of whole-genome data sets from natural populations of this species have been published over the last years. A major challenge is the integration of disparate data sets, often generated using different sequencing technologies and bioinformatic pipelines, which hampers our ability to address questions about the evolution of this species. Here we address these issues by developing a bioinformatics pipeline that maps pooled sequencing (Pool-Seq) reads from D. melanogaster to a hologenome consisting of fly and symbiont genomes and estimates allele frequencies using either a heuristic (PoolSNP) or a probabilistic variant caller (SNAPE-pooled). We use this pipeline to generate the largest data repository of genomic data available for D. melanogaster to date, encompassing 271 previously published and unpublished population samples from over 100 locations in >20 countries on four continents. Several of these locations have been sampled at different seasons across multiple years. This data set, which we call Drosophila Evolution over Space and Time (DEST), is coupled with sampling and environmental metadata. A web-based genome browser and web portal provide easy access to the SNP data set. We further provide guidelines on how to use Pool-Seq data for model-based demographic inference. Our aim is to provide this scalable platform as a community resource which can be easily extended via future efforts for an even more extensive cosmopolitan data set. Our resource will enable population geneticists to analyze spatiotemporal genetic patterns and evolutionary dynamics of D. melanogaster populations in unprecedented detail.We thank four reviewers and the handling editor for helpful comments on previous versions of our manuscript. We are grateful to the members of the DrosEU and DrosRTEC consortia for their long-standing support, collaboration, and for discussion. DrosEU was funded by a Special Topic Networks (STN) grant from the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB). M.K. was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation (grant no. FWF P32275); J.G. by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (H2020-ERC-2014-CoG-647900) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU-2011-24397); T.F. by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF grants PP00P3_133641, PP00P3_165836, and 31003A_182262) and a Mercator Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG), held as a EvoPAD Visiting Professor at the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster; AOB by the National Institutes of Health (R35 GM119686); M.K. by Academy of Finland grant 322980; V.L. by Danish Natural Science Research Council (FNU) (grant no. 4002-00113B); FS Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (grant no. STA1154/4-1), Project 408908608; J.P. by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Projects 274388701 and 347368302; A.U. by FPI fellowship (BES-2012-052999); ET Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (grant no. 1737/17); M.S.V., M.S.R. and M.J. by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (451-03-68/2020-14/200178); A.P., K.E. and M.T. by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (451-03-68/2020-14/200007); and TM NSERC grant RGPIN-2018-05551. The authors acknowledge Research Computing at The University of Virginia for providing computational resources and technical support that have contributed to the results reported within this publication (https://rc.virginia.edu, last accessed September 6, 2021)

Beyond Genetic Factors in Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy: Protein Glycation and the Loss of Fibrinogen's Chaperone Activity

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is a systemic conformational disease characterized by extracellular amyloid fibril formation from plasma transthyretin (TTR). This is a crippling, fatal disease for which liver transplantation is the only effective therapy. More than 80 TTR point mutations are associated with amyloidotic diseases and the most widely accepted disease model relates TTR tetramer instability with TTR point mutations. However, this model fails to explain two observations. First, native TTR also forms amyloid in systemic senile amyloidosis, a geriatric disease. Second, age at disease onset varies by decades for patients bearing the same mutation and some mutation carrier individuals are asymptomatic throughout their lives. Hence, mutations only accelerate the process and non-genetic factors must play a key role in the molecular mechanisms of disease. One of these factors is protein glycation, previously associated with conformational diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The glycation hypothesis in FAP is supported by our previous discovery of methylglyoxal-derived glycation of amyloid fibrils in FAP patients. Here we show that plasma proteins are differentially glycated by methylglyoxal in FAP patients and that fibrinogen is the main glycation target. Moreover, we also found that fibrinogen interacts with TTR in plasma. Fibrinogen has chaperone activity which is compromised upon glycation by methylglyoxal. Hence, we propose that methylglyoxal glycation hampers the chaperone activity of fibrinogen, rendering TTR more prone to aggregation, amyloid formation and ultimately, disease

Detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in human lymphoma tissue by a novel microbial detection array

BACKGROUND: Infectious agents are estimated to play a causative role in approximately 20% of cancers worldwide. Viruses, notably the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), are associated with 10-15% of B-cell lymphomas and are found at a higher frequency in immunosuppressed patients. In this study, we screened human lymphoma tissues using a novel Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA), a comprehensive detection system that contains probes for all sequenced viruses and bacteria. This technology has been applied to identify pathogen-associated diseases. RESULTS: We evaluated samples from 58 cases with various lymphoid tissue disorders using LLMDA. These included 30 B-cell lymphomas (9 indolent and 21 aggressive type), 2 T-cell lymphomas and 2 NK/T cell lymphomas, 4 plasmacytomas as well as 8 specimens of benign lymphoid tissue. Five of 21 high-grade B-cell lymphomas were positive for Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA (EBER+), while all the indolent B-cell lymphomas were EBER-. Similarly, both NK/T cell lymphomas were EBER+, and the benign tissues were EBER-. We also screened 10 cases of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). Five of these cases (4 B-cell lymphomas and 1 NK/T cell lymphoma) were EBER+, and the remaining five cases were EBER-. CONCLUSIONS: We have confirmed the reliability of the LLMDA methods by detecting EBV in EBV-positive lymphomas while observing no false-positive results in EBV-negative lymphomas. The LLMDA technique provides a sensitive and alternative method for identifying known viral pathogen associated with tumors and may prove useful for future clinical identification of novel cancer-associated viral pathogens

The program for biodiversity research in Brazil: The role of regional networks for biodiversity knowledge, dissemination, and conservation

The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research necessary to understand biodiversity and the processes that affect it. There are presently 161 sampling sites (see some of them at Supplementary Appendix), most of which use a standardized methodology that allows comparisons across biomes and through time. To date, there are about 1200 publications associated with PPBio that cover topics ranging from natural history to genetics and species distributions. Most of the field data and metadata are available through PPBio web sites or DataONE. Metadata is available for researchers that intend to explore the different faces of Brazilian biodiversity spatio-temporal variation, as well as for managers intending to improve conservation strategies. The Program also fostered, directly and indirectly, local technical capacity building, and supported the training of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students. The main challenge is maintaining the long-term funding necessary to understand biodiversity patterns and processes under pressure from global environmental changes