A Novel Non-invasive Method to Detect RELM Beta Transcript in Gut Barrier Related Changes During a Gastrointestinal Nematode Infection

Currently, methods for monitoring changes of gut barrier integrity and the associated immune response via non-invasive means are limited. Therefore, we aimed to develop a novel non-invasive technique to investigate immunological host responses representing gut barrier changes in response to infection. We identified the mucous layer on feces from mice to be mainly composed of exfoliated intestinal epithelial cells. Expression of RELM-β, a gene prominently expressed in intestinal nematode infections, was used as an indicator of intestinal cellular barrier changes to infection. RELM-β was detected as early as 6 days post-infection (dpi) in exfoliated epithelial cells. Interestingly, RELM-β expression also mirrored the quality of the immune response, with higher amounts being detectable in a secondary infection and in high dose nematode infection in laboratory mice. This technique was also applicable to captured worm-infected wild house mice. We have therefore developed a novel non-invasive method reflecting gut barrier changes associated with alterations in cellular responses to a gastrointestinal nematode infection

Startup: uma nova forma de empreender

Pela significativa mudança na forma de abrir, gerir e conduzir uma empresa no âmbito nacional e internacional, surgiu a proposta de fazer o presente estudo que apresenta o empreendedorismo e suas novas tendências. O movimento de startup mostra-se como uma tendência em grande crescimento, principalmente pelo empreendedor iniciante. Por esse motivo tem-se como objetivo principal apontar o perfil dos empreendedores de startup. E como objetivos específicos: identificar quais características empreendedoras os empresários de startup possuem; reconhecer qual a importância os entrevistados dão para o administrador e suas competências em uma startup; e por último apontar quais fatores são mais importantes para uma startup de sucesso segundo os empresários de startups. Para atingir os objetivos em questão, foi aplicado um questionário com perguntas abertas e fechadas durante um evento de startup ocorrido no mês de abril de 2013, em Brasília-DF. Com os resultados foi possível responder a pergunta de pesquisa, juntamente com o objetivo geral e os objetivos específicos e correspondeu a expectativa da pesquisa e de alicerce para trabalhos futuros

Fragmentation and Evolution of Molecular Clouds. II: The Effect of Dust Heating

We investigate the effect of heating by luminosity sources in a simulation of clustered star formation. Our heating method involves a simplified continuum radiative transfer method that calculates the dust temperature. The gas temperature is set by the dust temperature. We present the results of four simulations, two simulations assume an isothermal equation of state and the two other simulations include dust heating. We investigate two mass regimes, i.e., 84 Msun and 671 Msun, using these two different energetics algorithms. The mass functions for the isothermal simulations and simulations which include dust heating are drastically different. In the isothermal simulation, we do not form any objects with masses above 1 Msun. However, the simulation with dust heating, while missing some of the low-mass objects, forms high-mass objects (~20 Msun) which have a distribution similar to the Salpeter IMF. The envelope density profiles around the stars formed in our simulation match observed values around isolated, low-mass star-forming cores. We find the accretion rates to be highly variable and, on average, increasing with final stellar mass. By including radiative feedback from stars in a cluster-scale simulation, we have determined that it is a very important effect which drastically affects the mass function and yields important insights into the formation of massive stars.Comment: 19 pages, 28 figures. See http://www.astro.phy.ulaval.ca/staff/hugo/dust/ms_dust.big.pdf for high resolution version of documen

Chemical cardiomyopathies: Functional consequences of the application of chloroquine to guinea pig isolated heart

Carlos Costa: Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina.-- Hugo Torres: Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina.-- Hector Hartmann: Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina.-- Javier Dutra: Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina.-- Gonzalo Ferreira: Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina. Contacto: Ferreira, Gonzalo. Laboratorio de Canales Iónicos. Departamento de Biofísica. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de la República. Gral Flores 2125. CP 11800, Montevideo. Uruguay. Tel.: 29243414 ext 3203; E- mail: [email protected] cloroquina, es un fármaco utilizado en tratamiento y profilaxis de enfermedades producidas por plasmodios como malaria. También es usada en el tratamiento de algunas neoplasias, artritis reumatoide y lupus eritematoso crónico. La intoxicación por cloroquina puede resultar en cuadros clínicos de extrema gravedad, pudiendo ocasionar la muerte de los pacientes. Entre los órganos de impacto de toxicidad de la cloroquina se encuentra el corazón. Las características fisiopatológicas de las fallas cardíacas que origina la exposición aguda a cloroquina están pobremente caracterizadas. Este trabajo estudia los efectos de exposición aguda a cloroquina en corazón, identificando algunas funciones y moléculas afectadas en dicho órgano. Nuestros hallazgos indican que cloroquina produce inotropismo negativo (dosis de efecto medio, IC50 ~ 5 μM), siendo totalmente reversible a bajas dosis. Las cinéticas de promoción y de lavado del efecto, son sumamente rápidas (segundos). Cloroquina es también cronotrópica negativa y arritmogenética, con IC50 levemente mayor. Dosis superiores a 100 μM eliminan contracciones con persistencia de actividad eléctrica. Canales de Ca2+ tipo L se bloquean a partir de estas concentraciones. Los resultados sugieren que la exposición extracelular aguda a cloroquina en el rango μM, en corazones aislados, afectan la función cardíaca contráctil y eléctrica, con diferente sensibilidad para ambas. El bloqueo a canales de Ca2+ tipo L, sugiere que éstos pueden estar involucrados en el desacople excitocontráctil que produce la droga, mediante inhibición de la liberación de Ca2+ inducida por Ca2+, pudiendo relacionarse con su capacidad de producir cardiomiopatías químicas.Chloroquine, is a drug used in the treatment and prophylaxis of plasmodium related diseases, such as malaria. It is also used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, chronic lupus erythematosus or neoplasms. It has a toxic collateral effect and deaths have been reported in patients who have used it. One of the targets of CQ toxicity is the heart. The pathophysiological features of heart failure caused by acute exposure to chloroquine are poorly characterized. This paper characterizes the effects of acute exposure to chloroquine at the cardiac level, trying to understand how this drug may impair heart function. Our findings indicate that cholorquine has a negative inotropic effect (mean effect dose, IC50 ~ 5 μM), being reversible at low concentrations. The kinetics of promotion and wash-out are extremely fast (seconds). Chloroquine has also an arrhythmogenic and a negative chronotropic effect, with a slightly higher IC50. Doses exceeding 100 μM, almost fully impair contractile activity, though electrical activity can still be observed. These doses also block L-type Ca2+ currents, partially explaining the negative inotropic effect of the drug inhibiting calcium induced calcium release. The results indicate that acute exposure to chloroquine in the μM range, impair heart function at the contractile and electrical levels, with a different sensitivity for both, suggesting multiple mechanisms of action of this drug, presumably related to its ability to cause chemical cardiomyopathy, from among which, L-type Ca2+ channels might be implicated

Cement matrix containing lightweight aggregate based on Non-Metallic Fraction Printed Circuit Boards (NMFPCB'S)

Materials such as river sand, used in construction, have a high demand, and thus generate great environmental impacts while being extracted, such as erosion of the rivers banks and your siltation. With the increasing restriction of river sand extraction which can generate a reduction in the product's offer in the civil construction sector, it is necessary to develop waste recycling technologies for the production of sands with less environmental impact. One of the alternatives for the production of mortar for construction is the replacement of sands extracted from rivers by waste from other industries, such as the electronics industry that presents large and growing production worldwide, due to technological advances. Thus, this work aims to evaluate the influence of partial replacement of quartz sand by lightweight aggregate based non-metallic fraction of printed circuit boards (NMFPCB's) on the properties of cementitious matrix in the fresh and hardened states. For this, the electronic components of the printed circuit boards (PCBs) were removed, they were grinded and then through magnetic and electrostatic separation processes to separate the most valuable and abundant part of metals. The water to cement ratio was 0.48 in all the experiments, the Portland cement to sand ratio was 1:3 (in mass) for the control, and the mortars with NMFPCB's replacement of sand by volume of 25% and 50% were also made. These were characterized mechanically by axial compressive strength test at different ages. The partial results showed that with the increase of sand substitution by NMFPCB's there was a reduction of the mortar consistency index in the fresh state. Results showed that matrix that suffered the substitution of sand by light aggregate, decreased the compressive strength in relation to the reference, but have potential to use in construction industry as blocks or non-structural elements

Guts within guts: the microbiome of the intestinal helminth parasite Ascaris suum is derived but distinct from its host

Background Intestinal helminths are extremely prevalent among humans and animals. In particular, intestinal roundworms affect more than 1 billion people around the globe and are a major issue in animal husbandry. These pathogens live in intimate contact with the host gut microbiota and harbor bacteria within their own intestines. Knowledge of the bacterial host microbiome at the site of infection is limited, and data on the parasite microbiome is, to the best of our knowledge, non-existent. Results The intestinal microbiome of the natural parasite and zoonotic macropathogen, Ascaris suum was analyzed in contrast to the diversity and composition of the infected host gut. 16S sequencing of the parasite intestine and host intestinal compartments showed that the parasite gut has a significantly less diverse microbiome than its host, and the host gut exhibits a reduced microbiome diversity at the site of parasite infection in the jejunum. While the host’s microbiome composition at the site of infection significantly determines the microbiome composition of its parasite, microbial signatures differentiate the nematodes from their hosts as the Ascaris intestine supports the growth of microbes that are otherwise under-represented in the host gut. Conclusion Our data clearly indicate that a nematode infection reduces the microbiome diversity of the host gut, and that the nematode gut represents a selective bacterial niche harboring bacteria that are derived but distinct from the host gut

Datação química de monazitas por microssonda eletrônica na UFRGS

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Local perceptions of climate change impacts and migration patterns in Malé, Maldives

For the last few decades, Maldives has been seen as being at the forefront of addressing climate change impacts. The low elevation of the islands makes them vulnerable to slow-onset hazards, such as coastal erosion, sea-level rise, salinity intrusion, and change in monsoon patterns and hence rainfall. Consequently, migration has long been discussed as an adaptation strategy for the population. This study covers outcomes from our field research conducted among islanders in Malé, the capital of Maldives, in 2013. It contributes empirical evidence toward understanding complex relations among environmental challenges, climate change, and migration. We set up two main research questions. The first question explored islanders' perceptions of impacts of climatic variability in recent years and possible impacts of future climate change. The second question probed whether out-migration from the islands might be considered to be an adaptation strategy and whether the islanders were willing to move outside Maldives due to projected climate change impacts. We conducted our field research in the capital Malé and nearby residential islands, using quantitative questionnaires with local respondents (N=347). Our results suggest that, besides a set of actually experienced environmental and climate challenges, slow-onset climate change impacts such as sea-level rise are perceived as being one of the key factors affecting Maldivian society and livelihoods. More than 50% of respondents perceive future sea-level rise to be a serious challenge at the national level and they accept that migration from islands to other countries might be a potential option. Conversely, from the individual perspective, sea-level rise is not perceived by the local population as being one of their own important challenges. The reason is that many other factors - cultural, religious, economic and social - play an important role in decisionmaking about migrating or not