Effect of an altered hormonal environment by blood plasma collected after adrenocorticotropic administration on embryo development and gene expression in porcine embryos

Early embryonic development may be affected by adrenal hyperactivity in stressful situations which may lead to endocrine changes in the embryo environment. A sensitive period in porcine embryo development is the 4-cell stage when the embryo genome activation occurs. A mixed in vivo-in vitro system was implemented to test whether an altered milieu around this stage could affect embryo development and blastocyst quality in the porcine model. After in vitro maturation and fertilisation, presumptive zygotes were exposed for 24 h to plasma collected after ovulation from adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) treated, non-ACTH-treated sows; and, medium without plasma, supplemented with bovine serum albumin. Subsequently, embryo development and differences in gene expression were tested among treatments. Cleavage and blastocyst rates did not differ between treatments. Blastocyst quality by morphology assessment was similar when all the resulting blastocysts were included in the analysis. However, when only expanded blastocysts (and onwards) were included in the analysis, the blastocysts from the non-ACTH plasma group showed better quality score. Blastocyst quality by morphological assessment was not mirrored by the transcription levels of various important genes for embryo development whose gene expression profile did not significantly differ among groups. It is likely that the effect of the altered environment provided by plasma from ACTH-treated sows was too short to affect embryo development. Therefore, a brief exposure to an altered endocrine environment may not have harmful consequences for the embryo once fertilisation occurs. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc

The "preferential option" of a newspaper in Pernambuco for the Roman Catholicism in the 1980s

O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar os discursos jornalísticos sobre o tema “religião”, especialmente do Diario de Peranmbuco, nos anos 1980, procurando observar quais os sentidos construídos sobre o tema pelo jornal. A análise realizada aqui buscou observar, dentro da esfera de relações possíveis entre mídia e religião, de que maneira os jornais podem influenciar os significados do que é religião e de como estas podem influenciar a própria mídia. Pudemos perceber que jornais, como o Diario de Pernambuco, trataram do tema “religião” sob uma forte influência da Igreja Católica Romana, tomando o Catolicismo institucional como o modelo para se referir às demais religiões.The purpose of this article is to analyze the journalistic discourses on the "religion" topic, especially in the Diario de Peranmbuco, in the 1980s, trying to observe the meanings built on the theme by the newspaper. This present analysis sought to observe, within the sphere of possible relations between media and religion, how newspapers can influence the meanings of what religion is and how religions can influence the media itself. We have been able to perceive that newspapers, such as the Diario de Peranmbuco, dealt with the theme of "religion" under the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church, taking institutional Catholicism as the model for referring to other religions

O Movimento Hare Krishna no Brasil: Estudos em Perspectivas

Sobre os organizadores Leon Adan Gutierrez de Carvalho é doutor em História pela UFPR. Membro do Laboratório de Estudos de História das Religiões (Universidade de Pernambuco), pesquisa temas como História das Religiões, História Cultural, História do Movimento Hare Krishna e Hinduísmo. Lúcio Valera é doutor em Ciência da Religião pela Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (MG) e desenvolveu sua pesquisa na Jawaharlal Nehru University, em Nova Delhi (Índia). Atua em temas como Filosofia, Ética, Diálogo Inter-religioso, Religião Comparada. Dados da obra Ano de publicação: 2022 Organizadores: Leon Adan Gutierrez de Carvalho e Lúcio Valera Idioma: Português Número da edição: 1ª Número de páginas: 322 ISBN: 978-65-86342-35-2Com pouco mais de 300 páginas, o livro introduz o leitor ao movimento por meio de considerações históricas e sociológicas. Em seguida, apresenta um resgate da memória dos primeiros anos do Hare Krishna no país. Esse resgate precede a uma análise da presença das mulheres na tradição e a um estudo das ações desenvolvidas pelo movimento que vão além dos “mantras e templos”, como as de caráter educativo executadas em uma ecovila situada em Caruaru (PE). Especificamente em relação à fronteira Brasil-Paraguai-Argentina – região onde está localizada a UNILA e sua Editora Universitária – a obra apresenta um capítulo que analisa a cultura de fronteira e o Hare Krishna entre Foz do Iguaçu (BR), Ciudad del Este (PY) e Puerto Iguazú (AR). Desenvolvida por Júlio da Silveira Moreira, professor da UNILA, a análise parte da tese de que o movimento possui um caráter transcultural e transnacional próprio, pois afirma valores e princípios universais como a centralidade de uma ordem cósmica regida por um deus universal, características que são estudadas, no texto, tendo como base o fluxo populacional e os trânsitos transnacionais da Tríplice Fronteira. É surpreendente, por exemplo, saber que “os primeiros devotos” a circular pela região foram os vendedores de livros sobre o Hare Krishna, chamados de sankirtaneiros. Vindos das cidades argentinas de Buenos Aires e Córdoba, eles seguiam para a capital paraguaia, Assunção, onde foi formado o primeiro núcleo no país vizinho, ainda nos anos 1970. Logo, a abrangência foi ampliada para Ciudad del Este, onde foi instalado um templo e um restaurante. Mais recentemente, o polo de congregação e de atividades regulares na cidade vizinha “tem se constituído historicamente por vários movimentos e deslocamentos socioculturais”, que incluem os três países. Além de possibilitar esse fluxo transfronteiriço, o Movimento Hare Krishna tem provocado ainda um fluxo transnacional, pois recebe regularmente a visita de devotos de muitos países

Creación del centro de interpretación de hechicería socio cultural e histórico en el sector de cachiche del departamento de Ica

El crecimiento de la población y el auge turístico único de un pueblo es la esencia que debería mostrar y ser un icono de partida como ejemplo para iniciar una carrera económica y cultural en donde los pobladores y visitantes interactúen mutuamente de manera social y verbal, teniendo como apoyo los grandes atractivos místicos y sobre naturales que acontecen un su localidad, esto fomentaría la expansión de las leyendas urbanas, leyendas que año tras año quedan de comentarios en comentarios con ritos paganos que se realizan en “Cachiche”, pueblo que acoge y expende un gran misterio en sus alrededores porque es allí donde encontramos misterios y casos extraordinarios con evidencias prometedoras y sorprendentes, hechos que acontecieron a lo largo de los años el cual solo alimenta los misterios y creencias que dejaron los pobladores de antaño y lo más resaltantes las brujas. Esos personajes que anidaron una gran cultura mística y dejaron como legado a sus poblados esos sorprendentes poderes que son requeridos por personas que a lo largo del tiempo y especialmente en fechas paganas acuden con desesperación a los pobladores con el fin de solicitar sus dones para hacer el bien como también para hacer el mal, solo nosotros como espectadores tenemos la obligación de mantener esta religión pagana viva e incentivar la creencia popular con sus leyendas míticas, es así que nuestro Cachiche se convierte en un lugar con gran apogeo turísticos y religioso con grandes poderes que llevan sus pobladores y se demuestra en sus trabajos y poderes místicos. Esta investigación tiene como fundamento principal, hacer conocer la importancia de la revalorización histórica cultural del pueblo de Cachiche rescatando mediante la activación de las memorias colectivas, expresadas en sus mitos y leyendas conservadas mediante sus costumbre local contando con un entorno perfecto que lo envuelve en hechos incontables sin explicaciones justificables en concordancia a lo real, quedando anecdóticamente en los habitantes del pueblo, siendo transmitido a la vez entre familiares, amigos, visitantes atraídos por su enigmático, místico, entorno paranormal, su naturaleza posee árboles de huarangos sinuosos, amorfos, parecen tomar formas de los movimientos de ritos y bailes que en noches de luna llena, mujeres de belleza particularmente rara, cada martes y viernes se reunían de todos los lugares de Ica en Cachiche, siendo este su centro ideal, el lugar donde albergó incontables mujeres con poderes sobrenaturales, que venían huyendo desde Europa de la santa inquisición, por acusaciones de hechicería y por ciertas noches de luna llena parecen cobrar vid

The impact of CD160 deficiency on alloreactive CD8 T cell responses and allograft rejection

.CD160 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily with a pattern of expression mainly restricted to cytotoxic cells. To assess the functional relevance of the HVEM/CD160 signaling pathway in allogeneic cytotoxic responses, exon 2 of the CD160 gene was targeted by CRISPR/Cas9 to generate CD160 deficient mice. Next, we evaluated the impact of CD160 deficiency in the course of an alloreactive response. To that aim, parental donor WT (wild-type) or CD160 KO (knock-out) T cells were adoptively transferred into non-irradiated semiallogeneic F1 recipients, in which donor alloreactive CD160 KO CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells clonally expanded less vigorously than in WT T cell counterparts. This differential proliferative response rate at the early phase of T cell expansion influenced the course of CD8 T cell differentiation and the composition of the effector T cell pool that led to a significant decreased of the memory precursor effector cells (MPECs) / short-lived effector cells (SLECs) ratio in CD160 KO CD8 T cells compared to WT CD8 T cells. Despite these differences in T cell proliferation and differentiation, allogeneic MHC class I mismatched (bm1) skin allograft survival in CD160 KO recipients was comparable to that of WT recipients. However, the administration of CTLA-4.Ig showed an enhanced survival trend of bm1 skin allografts in CD160 KO with respect to WT recipients. Finally, CD160 deficient NK cells were as proficient as CD160 WT NK cells in rejecting allogeneic cellular allografts or MHC class I deficient tumor cells. CD160 may represent a CD28 alternative costimulatory molecule for the modulation of allogeneic CD8 T cell responses either in combination with costimulation blockade or by direct targeting of alloreactive CD8 T cells that upregulate CD160 expression in response to alloantigen stimulation.S

Acute fasting before conception affects metabolic and endocrine status without impacting follicle and oocyte development and embryo gene expression in the rabbit.

Food deprivation affects female reproduction. The goal of the present study was to elucidate in the rabbit model the effects of acute energy restriction on ovarian function (follicle development, atresia rate and in vitro oocyte maturation) and embryonic development and gene expression of some candidate genes. Serum metabolic parameters (non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), triglycerides, glucose, insulin and leptin concentrations) and endocrine markers (oestradiol-17β and progesterone concentrations) were also studied. A control group of nulliparous does fed ad libitum and a 72-h fasted group were used. At the end of the nutritional treatment, the ovaries of half of the animals were retrieved while the other animals were re-fed and artificially inseminated to recover embryos at 84 h after insemination, during the luteal phase. At the end of fasting, increased serum NEFA and decreased leptin concentrations were observed in the fasted group, but no differences appeared in serum steroid concentrations, follicle population and atresia rate or nuclear and cytoplasmic oocyte maturation. In the luteal phase, insulin concentrations increased notably in the fasted group. The number of recovered embryos per female and the speed of embryo development were reduced in the food-deprived group. Acute fasting altered both metabolic and endocrine markers and embryo development, but follicle and oocyte development and embryo gene expression were not affected

Suboptimal culture conditions induce more deviations in gene expression in male than female bovine blastocysts

BACKGROUND: Since the development of in vitro embryo production in cattle, different supplements have been added to culture media to support embryo development, with serum being the most popular. However, the addition of serum during embryo culture can induce high birthweights and low viability in calves (Large Offspring Syndrome). Analysis of global gene expression in bovine embryos produced under different conditions can provide valuable information to optimize culture media for in vitro embryo production. RESULTS: We used RNA sequencing to examine the effect of in vitro embryo production, in either serum-containing or serum-free media, on the global gene expression pattern of individual bovine blastocysts. Compared to in vivo derived embryos, embryos produced in serum-containing medium had five times more differentially expressed genes than embryos produced in serum-free conditions (1109 vs. 207). Importantly, in vitro production in the presence of serum appeared to have a different impact on the embryos according to their sex, with male embryos having three times more genes differentially expressed than their female counterparts (1283 vs. 456). On the contrary, male and female embryos produced in serum-free conditions showed the same number (191 vs. 192) of genes expressed differentially; however, only 44 of those genes were common in both comparisons. The pathways affected by in vitro production differed depending on the type of supplementation. For example, embryos produced in serum-containing conditions had a lower expression of genes related to metabolism while embryos produced in serum-free conditions showed aberrations in genes involved in lipid metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: Serum supplementation had a major impact on the gene expression pattern of embryos, with male embryos being the most affected. The transcriptome of embryos produced in serum-free conditions showed a greater resemblance to that of in vivo derived embryos, although genes involved in lipid metabolism were altered. Male embryos appeared to be most affected by suboptimal in vitro culture, i.e. in the presence of serum

Sexually dimorphic gene expression in bovine conceptuses at the initiation of implantation

In cattle, maternal recognition of pregnancy occurs on Day 16 via secretion of interferon tau (IFNT) by the conceptus. The endometrium can distinguish between embryos with different developmental competencies. In eutherian mammals, X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is required to ensure an equal transcriptional level of most X-linked genes for both male and female embryos in adult tissues, but this process is markedly different in cattle than mice. We examined how sexual dimorphism affected conceptus transcript abundance and amino acid composition as well as the endometrial transcriptome during the peri-implantation period of pregnancy. Of the 5132 genes that were differentially expressed on Day 19 in male compared to female conceptuses, 2.7% were located on the X-chromosome. Concentrations of specific amino acids were higher in the uterine luminal fluid of male compared to female conceptuses, while female conceptuses had higher transcript abundance of specific amino acid transporters (SLC6A19 and SLC1A35). Of note, the endometrial transcriptome was not different in cattle gestating a male or a female conceptus. These data support the hypothesis that, far from being a blastocyst specific phenomenon, XCI is incomplete before and during implantation in cattle. Despite differences in transcript abundance and amino acid utilization in male versus female conceptuses, the sex of the conceptus itself does not elicit a different transcriptomic response in the endometrium

Respuesta al tratamiento con estibogluconato sódico para leishmaniasis cutánea en población indígena y mestiza, Amazonas 2014-2018

Objetive. To determine the response to treatment with Sodium Stibogluconate in indigenous and mestizo population with diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis according to treatment cycle, sex and life stage, belonging to the Microredes Nieva, Galilea, Tingo and Pedro Ruiz Gallo of the Amazon Region of 2014 - 2018, in Peru. Material and methods: Descriptive, retrospective, longitudinal-sectional study, having as sample universe 559 patient records; the method was inductive, technical data analysis and the instrument was the data record. Results: In the indigenous population, 98.1% responded to the treatment with the first cycle of Sodium Stibogluconate and in the mestizo population it was 94%, the other patients responded with the second treatment cycle; also of the total mestizo patients, 47.5% were female and 70.4% of the indigenous population were male (p=0,000); of the most affected life stages with the second cycle of treatment were the adult 50% (indigenous population) and in the child stage 11.2% (mestizo population). Conclusion: The highest percentage of the patients presented an adequate response (they cured with the first cycle of treatment) to Sodium Stibogluconate in both populations also the most affected life stages were adulthood and childhoodObjetivo. Determinar la respuesta al tratamiento con Estibogluconato Sódico en población indígena y mestiza con diagnóstico de leishmaniasis cutánea según ciclo de tratamiento, sexo y etapa de vida, pertenecientes a las Microredes Nieva, Galilea, Tingo y Pedro Ruiz Gallo de la Región Amazonas del 2014 – 2018, en Perú. Material y métodos: Estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo, de corte longitudinal, teniendo como universo muestral 559 fichas de pacientes; el método fue inductivo, técnica análisis de datos y el instrumento fue la ficha de registro de datos. Resultados: En la población indígena el 98,1% respondió al tratamiento con primer ciclo de Estibogluconato Sódico y en la población mestiza fue el 94%, los demás pacientes respondieron con segundo ciclo de tratamiento; asimismo del total de pacientes mestizos, el 47,5% fue femenino y de la población indígena el 70,4% fue masculino (p=0,000); de las etapas de vida más afectadas con segundo ciclo de tratamiento fueron la adulta 50% (población indígena) y en la etapa niño 11,2% (población mestiza). Conclusión: El mayor porcentaje de los pacientes presentaron una respuesta adecuada (curaron con el primer ciclo de tratamiento) al Estibogluconato Sódico en ambas poblaciones asimismo las etapas de vida más afectadas fueron la adultez y la niñez