Faculty of Public Accounting. Volume 9 No. 12 June 1991

Nuestra Facultad de Contaduría ha cumplido recientemente 17 años de labores y nada mejor para celebrar este aniversario que la noticia sobre la aproba- ción dada por el ICFES al programa de Especialización en Hevisoría Fiscal y Auditoría Externa que esperamos iniciar en el mes de septiembre. Es el primer programa aprobado a una Universidad en el país para adelantar estudios de formación avanzada en estas disciplinas. En la ciudad hermana de Cúcuta se celebrará desde agosto 14 al 17 el X Congreso Colombiano de Contadores Públicos y el primer encuentro Colombo Venezolano de Profesionales de la Contaduría. La organización del evento espera contar con la asístencia de nutridas delegaciones de todas las ciudades del país con el loable propósito de buscar la unificación en una sola agremiación de todos los Contadores Públicos de Colombia.Presentación. - 2 Quinto encuentro colombiano de investigaciób de la Facuktad de Contaduría Pública UNAB. -3 Primer encuentro colombiano de investigación de la Ciencia Contable. 6 Inventario de investigación de la Facultad. - 9Our School of Accounting has recently completed 17 years of work and there is nothing better to celebrate this anniversary than the news about the approval given by ICFES to the Specialization Program in Fiscal Audit and External Audit that we hope to start in the month of September. It is the first program approved for a University in the country to carry out advanced training studies in these disciplines. In the sister city of Cúcuta, the X Colombian Congress of Public Accountants and the first Colombo-Venezuelan meeting of Accounting Professionals will be held from August 14 to 17. The organization of the event hopes to have the assistance of large delegations from all the cities of the country with the laudable purpose of seeking the unification in a single union of all Public Accountants of Colombia

REPLY: Answer to the comment of Casas et al. about González Acebrón et al.’s (2011) paper

Depto. de Mineralogía y PetrologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Shifts in food webs and niche stability shaped survivorship and extinction at the end-Cretaceous

It has long been debated why groups such as non-avian dinosaurs became extinct whereas mammals and other lineages survived the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago. We used Markov networks, ecological niche partitioning, and Earth System models to reconstruct North American food webs and simulate ecospace occupancy before and after the extinction event. We find a shift in latest Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, as medium-sized species counterbalanced a loss of megaherbivores, but dinosaur niches were otherwise stable and static, potentially contributing to their demise. Smaller vertebrates, including mammals, followed a consistent trajectory of increasing trophic impact and relaxation of niche limits beginning in the latest Cretaceous and continuing after the mass extinction. Mammals did not simply proliferate after the extinction event; rather, their earlier ecological diversification might have helped them survive

Patterns of viral load in chronic hepatitis B

ABSTRACT Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level is a predictor of the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B patients. Nevertheless, the distribution of viral load levels in chronic HBV patients in Brazil has yet to be described. This cross-sectional study included 564 participants selected in nine Brazilian cities located in four of the five regions of the country using the database of a medical diagnostics company. Admission criteria included hepatitis B surface antigen seropositivity, availability of HBV viral load samples and age ≥ 18 years. Males comprised 64.5% of the study population. Mean age was 43.7 years. Most individuals (62.1%) were seronegative for the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Median serum ALT level was 34 U/L. In 58.5% of the patients HBV-DNA levels ranged from 300 to 99,999 copies/mL; however, in 21.6% levels were undetectable. Median HBV-DNA level was 2,351 copies/mL. Over 60% of the patients who tested negative for HBeAg and in whom ALT level was less than 1.5 times the upper limit of the normal range had HBV-DNA levels > 2,000 IU/mL, which has been considered a cut-off point for indicating a liver biopsy and/or treatment. In conclusion, HBV-DNA level identified a significant proportion of Brazilian individuals with chronic hepatitis B at risk of disease progression. Furthermore, this tool enables those individuals with high HBV-DNA levels who are susceptible to disease progression to be identified among patients with normal or slightly elevated ALT

MRI Study of Minor Physical Anomaly in Childhood Autism Implicates Aberrant Neurodevelopment in Infancy

Background: MPAs (minor physical anomalies) frequently occur in neurodevelopmental disorders because both face and brain are derived from neuroectoderm in the first trimester. Conventionally, MPAs are measured by evaluation of external appearance. Using MRI can help overcome inherent observer bias, facilitate multi-centre data acquisition, and explore how MPAs relate to brain dysmorphology in the same individual. Optical MPAs exhibit a tightly synchronized trajectory through fetal, postnatal and adult life. As head size enlarges with age, inter-orbital distance increases, and is mostly completed before age 3 years. We hypothesized that optical MPAs might afford a retrospective 'window' to early neurodevelopment; specifically, inter-orbital distance increase may represent a biomarker for early brain dysmaturation in autism. Methods: We recruited 91 children aged 7-16; 36 with an autism spectrum disorder and 55 age- and gender-matched typically developing controls. All children had normal IQ. Inter-orbital distance was measured on T1-weighted MRI scans. This value was entered into a voxel-by-voxel linear regression analysis with grey matter segmented from a bimodal MRI data-set. Age and total brain tissue volume were entered as covariates. Results: Intra-class coefficient for measurement of the inter-orbital distance was 0.95. Inter-orbital distance was significantly increased in the autism group (p = 0.03, 2-tailed). The autism group showed a significant relationship between inter-orbital distance grey matter volume of bilateral amygdalae extending to the unci and inferior temporal poles. Conclusions: Greater inter-orbital distance in the autism group compared with healthy controls is consistent with infant head size expansion in autism. Inter-orbital distance positively correlated with volume of medial temporal lobe structures, suggesting a link to "social brain" dysmorphology in the autism group. We suggest these data support the role of optical MPAs as a "fossil record" of early aberrant neurodevelopment, and potential biomarker for brain dysmaturation in autism. © 2011 Cheung et al.published_or_final_versio

Chagas Cardiomyopathy Manifestations and Trypanosoma cruzi Genotypes Circulating in Chronic Chagasic Patients

Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a complex disease that is endemic and an important problem in public health in Latin America. The T. cruzi parasite is classified into six discrete taxonomic units (DTUs) based on the recently proposed nomenclature (TcI, TcII, TcIII, TcIV, TcV and TcVI). The discovery of genetic variability within TcI showed the presence of five genotypes (Ia, Ib, Ic, Id and Ie) related to the transmission cycle of Chagas disease. In Colombia, TcI is more prevalent but TcII has also been reported, as has mixed infection by both TcI and TcII in the same Chagasic patient. The objectives of this study were to determine the T. cruzi DTUs that are circulating in Colombian chronic Chagasic patients and to obtain more information about the molecular epidemiology of Chagas disease in Colombia. We also assessed the presence of electrocardiographic, radiologic and echocardiographic abnormalities with the purpose of correlating T. cruzi genetic variability and cardiac disease. Molecular characterization was performed in Colombian adult chronic Chagasic patients based on the intergenic region of the mini-exon gene, the 24Sα and 18S regions of rDNA and the variable region of satellite DNA, whereby the presence of T.cruzi I, II, III and IV was detected. In our population, mixed infections also occurred, with TcI-TcII, TcI-TcIII and TcI-TcIV, as well as the existence of the TcI genotypes showing the presence of genotypes Ia and Id. Patients infected with TcI demonstrated a higher prevalence of cardiac alterations than those infected with TcII. These results corroborate the predominance of TcI in Colombia and show the first report of TcIII and TcIV in Colombian Chagasic patients. Findings also indicate that Chagas cardiomyopathy manifestations are more correlated with TcI than with TcII in Colombia

A recombinant Fasciola gigantica 14-3-3 epsilon protein (rFg14-3-3e) modulates various functions of goat peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Background The molecular structure of Fasciola gigantica 14-3-3 protein has been characterized. However, the involvement of this protein in parasite pathogenesis remains elusive and its effect on the functions of innate immune cells is unknown. We report on the cloning and expression of a recombinant F. gigantica 14-3-3 epsilon protein (rFg14-3-3e), and testing its effects on specific functions of goat peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Methods rFg14-3-3e protein was expressed in Pichia pastoris. Western blot and immunofluorescence assay (IFA) were used to examine the reactivity of rFg14-3-3e protein to anti-F. gigantica and anti-rFg14-3-3e antibodies, respectively. Various assays were used to investigate the stimulatory effects of the purified rFg14-3-3e protein on specific functions of goat PBMCs, including cytokine secretion, proliferation, migration, nitric oxide (NO) production, phagocytosis, and apoptotic capabilities. Potential protein interactors of rFg14-3-3e were identified by querying the databases Intact, String, BioPlex and BioGrid. A Total Energy analysis of each of the identified interaction was performed. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was conducted using Funcassociate 3.0. Results Sequence analysis revealed that rFg14-3-3e protein had 100% identity to 14-3-3 protein from Fasciola hepatica. Western blot analysis showed that rFg14-3-3e protein is recognized by sera from goats experimentally infected with F. gigantica and immunofluorescence staining using rat anti-rFg14-3-3e antibodies demonstrated the specific binding of rFg14-3-3e protein to the surface of goat PBMCs. rFg14-3-3e protein stimulated goat PBMCs to produce interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), corresponding with low levels of IL-4 and interferon gamma (IFN-γ). Also, this recombinant protein promoted the release of NO and cell apoptosis, and inhibited the proliferation and migration of goat PBMCs and suppressed monocyte phagocytosis. Homology modelling revealed 65% identity between rFg14-3-3e and human 14-3-3 protein YWHAE. GO enrichment analysis of the interacting proteins identified terms related to apoptosis, protein binding, locomotion, hippo signalling and leukocyte and lymphocyte differentiation, supporting the experimental findings. Conclusions Our data suggest that rFg14-3-3e protein can influence various cellular and immunological functions of goat PBMCs in vitro and may be involved in mediating F. gigantica pathogenesis. Because of its involvement in F. gigantica recognition by innate immune cells, rFg14-3-3e protein may have applications for development of diagnostics and therapeutic interventions

Axonal Regeneration and Neuronal Function Are Preserved in Motor Neurons Lacking ß-Actin In Vivo

The proper localization of ß-actin mRNA and protein is essential for growth cone guidance and axon elongation in cultured neurons. In addition, decreased levels of ß-actin mRNA and protein have been identified in the growth cones of motor neurons cultured from a mouse model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), suggesting that ß-actin loss-of-function at growth cones or pre-synaptic nerve terminals could contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease. However, the role of ß-actin in motor neurons in vivo and its potential relevance to disease has yet to be examined. We therefore generated motor neuron specific ß-actin knock-out mice (Actb-MNsKO) to investigate the function of ß-actin in motor neurons in vivo. Surprisingly, ß-actin was not required for motor neuron viability or neuromuscular junction maintenance. Skeletal muscle from Actb-MNsKO mice showed no histological indication of denervation and did not significantly differ from controls in several measurements of physiologic function. Finally, motor axon regeneration was unimpaired in Actb-MNsKO mice, suggesting that ß-actin is not required for motor neuron function or regeneration in vivo