Gene expression analysis by ESTs sequencing of the Brazilian frog Phyllomedusa nordestina skin glands

AbstractThe subfamily Phyllomedusinae has attracted a great interest of many researchers mainly due to the high diversity of these frog species and plethora of pharmacological activities frequently observed for their skin secretions. Despite of this fact, mainly for new species, limited information is available regarding the molecular composition of these skin secretions and the cellular components involved in their production. Phyllomedusa nordestina is a recently described Brazilian frog species also popularly known as ‘tree-frogs’. Aiming at contributing to the biological knowledge of this species, we show here the gene expression profile of this frog skin secretion using a global ESTs analysis of a cDNA library. The marked aspect of this analysis revealed a significant higher transcriptional level of the opioid peptide dermorphins in P. nordestina skin secretion than in Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis, which is its closest related species, belonging both to the same phylogenetic group. Precursors of bioactive peptides as dermaseptins, phylloseptins, tryptophyllins, and bradykinin-like peptideswere also found in this library. Transcripts encoding proteins related to ordinary cellular functions and pathways were also described. Some of them are chiefly involved in the production of the skin secretion. Taken together, the data reported here constitute a contribution to the characterization of the molecular diversity of gene-encoded polypeptides with potential possibility of pharmacological exploitation. The transcriptional composition of the skin secretion may also help to give the necessary support for the definition of P. nordestina as a new species, which actually relies basically on frog morphological characteristics and geographical distribution

Interpretabilidade de modelos aplicados aos dados do Enem.

Introdução O desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias nos ultimos anos, tanto de hardware quanto de software, viabilizou a aplicacão de técnicas mais sofisticadas de modelagem, como as de aprendizado de maquina. Focadas principalmente em aumentar o poder preditivo, essas técnicas muitas vezes se baseiam em abordagens não paramétricas e não lineares, que resultam em modelos mais precisos e menos interpretaveis [3]. E diante desse cenário que a interpretabilidade de um modelo pode se tornar um fator tão importante quanto a precisao de suas predições [2]. Por esta razão, metodologias como Shap Values foram desenvolvidas para apresentar relações entre as variáveis preditivas e a variável resposta, que muitas vezes nao são tão evidentes. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho e elencar quais são as informações mais relevantes para um modelo aplicado aos dados socioeconomicos do Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem), bem como identificar como elas impactam o seu funcionamento atraves dos Shap Values

Evaluation of the House of Memories Family Carers Awareness Day 2017

House of Memories is an award-winning dementia awareness programme led by National Museums Liverpool (NML) in the UK. The original health and social care model, launched in 2012 with funding from the Department of Health, was designed to support carers working in health and social care sectors and ancillary public services to provide person-centred care and promote living well with dementia. The programme was subsequently developed and delivered in different regional settings with a range of national partners and support from statutory health commissioners. More than 11,000 health and social care workers have participated in the programme since 2012. In 2016, NML launched the family carers awareness programme with funding from Department of Health, working in partnership with New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester; Salford Museum and Art Gallery; and the British Museum, London. Designed specifically for family carers and community-based volunteers, the half-day programme uses museum collections and resources to advocate empathic communication with people living with dementia; enable greater understanding within the care community of a person’s history and life experience; empower family carers with information and ideas that they can use on a daily basis; promoting community wellbeing and resilience

Tolerância de Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner, Pseudoplusia includens (Walker) E Rachiplusia nu (Guenée) à proteína Cry1Ac.

A soja geneticamente modificada com o gene sintetico de Cry1Ac e uma alternativa ao controle quimico de lepidopteros pragas na cultura da soja. Com a introducao da soja Bt, tornam-se necessarios estudos de analise de risco para prevenir a selecao de insetos resistentes e tambem para compreender o nivel de suscetibilidade dos insetos-alvo a proteina Cry1Ac e com isso iniciar um programa de manejo de resistencia. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a suscetibilidade de Anticarsia gemmatalis Hubner, Pseudoplusia includens (Walker) e Rachiplusia nu (Guenee) provenientes do Rio Grande do Sul a proteina Cry1Ac. Para determinar a suscetibilidade foi utilizada a proteina sintetica de Cry1Ac, MVPII (11,14%). Foram testadas sete concentracoes da proteina Cry1Ac, incorporadas na dieta artificial, apos geleificacao, em cada celula foi inoculada uma lagarta neonata. As lagartas foram mantidas na dieta por sete dias, apos esse periodo avaliou-se a mortalidade e o peso das lagartas sobreviventes. Observou-se que, em ordem decrescente de tolerancia, P. includens apresentou menor suscetibilidade (CL50 1,53 μg Cry1Ac.ml-1 de dieta) a proteina Cry1Ac, seguida por R. nu (CL50 0,70 μg Cry1Ac.ml-1) e por ultimo A. gemmatalis, a qual foi a especie com maior suscetibilidade (CL50 0,04 μg Cry1Ac.ml-1)

Risk Indicators for Tooth Loss Due to Periodontal Disease

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142117/1/jper1910.pd

Características da carcaça de Tourinhos Nelore x Limousin alimentados com dietas contendo gérmen de milho integral.

Foram avaliadas as características quantitativas das carcaças de 24 tourinhos Nelore X Limousin submetidos a dietas contendo 0%, 15% e 45% de gérmen de milho integral (GMI), terminados em confinamento, com peso e idade média inicial de 321,25 kg e vinte meses, respectivamente

Living Cellular Construct for Increasing the Width of Keratinized Gingiva: Results From a Randomized, Within‐Patient, Controlled Trial

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142206/1/jper1414.pd

Facilitating the access of the wider community into child and adolescent mental health services in Liverpool and Sefton (UK): The co-customisation of the CYP as One platform with young people; parents and health service providers

Background Children and young people (CYP) from underrepresented communities in the Liverpool and Sefton regions (UK) experienced an increase in mental health needs, pre-pandemic. The “CYP as One” online platform was introduced via a co-creation schedule, to support the uptake of service users into child and adolescent mental health services. However, post-pandemic, the risk of poor mental health for CYP further increased. The current study co-customised the “CYP as One” platform to facilitate the wider access and inclusion of CYP from underserved communities into relevant mental health services through ensuring their viewpoints are sufficiently represented in the referral process. Methods The co-customisation schedule utilised the Living lab approach. Service user feedback was extracted from the “CYP as One” platform and data was generated via seven online focus groups conducted over two months. The focus groups included 16-19-year-old young people; parents of under 16-year-old children and health service providers. Content analysis was conducted on service user feedback, which was covertly presented to focus group participants to aid the conversations during the focus groups. The final data analysis involved conducting a thematic analysis on service user feedback and focus group data. Findings The thematic analysis on service user feedback and focus group data returned seven themes. Contrasting preferences of referral methods; the importance of inclusive access to a wide range of platform users; the relevance of demonstrating empathy and sympathy via non-face-to-face referrals; perspective taking aids in the mutual understanding of the needs of stakeholders involved; digital content should account for age and social-development related differences in this context; CYP and parents require timely and relevant mental health information; digital means of referral methods may integrate fragmented services. Conclusions Involving insights from service users; the public and health service providers allowed the in-depth exploration of everyday challenges service users may face when using the “CYP as One” platform. The solutions identified by participants to such issues represent a reliable improvement to the platform. Ensuring that the digital content can replace in-person referral processes is of utmost importance to support CYP who previously experienced difficulties in engaging with mental health services

Trans-Arctic asymmetries, melting pots and weak species cohesion in the low-dispersal amphiboreal seaweed Fucus distichus

Amphiboreal taxa are often composed of vicariant phylogroups and species complexes whose divergence and phylogeographic affinities reflect a shared history of chronic isolation and episodic trans-Arctic dispersal. Ecological filters and shifting selective pressures may also promote selective sweeps, niche shifts and ecological speciation during colonization, but these are seldom considered at biogeographical scales. Here we integrate genetic data and Ecologic Niche Models (ENMs) to investigate the historical biogeography and cohesion of the polymorphic rockweed Fucus distichus throughout its immense amphiboreal range, focusing on trans-Arctic asymmetries, glacial/interglacial dynamics, and integrity of sympatric eco-morphotypes. Populations were sampled throughout the Pacific and the Atlantic, from southern rear-edges to the high-Arctic. They were genotyped for seven microsatellites and an mtDNA spacer, and genetic diversity and structure were assessed from global to local scales. ENMs were used to compare niche divergence and magnitude of post-glacial range shifts in Pacific versus Atlantic sub-ranges. Haplotypic and genotypic data revealed distinct and seemingly isolated Pacific vs Arctic/Atlantic gene-pools, with finer-scale regional sub-structuring pervasive in the Pacific. MtDNA diversity was highly structured and overwhelmingly concentrated in the Pacific. Regionally, Alaska showed the highest intra-population diversity but the lowest levels of endemism. Some sympatric/parapatric ecotypes exhibited distinct genotypic/ haplotypic compositions. Strikingly, niche models revealed higher Pacific tolerance to maximum temperatures and predicted a much more consolidated presence in the NE Atlantic. Glacial and modern ranges overlapped extensively in the Pacific, whereas the modern Atlantic range was largely glaciated or emerged during the Last Glacial Maximum. Higher genetic and ecogeographic diversity supports a primary Pacific diversification and secondary Atlantic colonization, also likely reflecting the much larger and more stable climatic refugia in the Pacific. The relic distribution and reduced ecological/morphological plasticity in the NE Atlantic are hypothesized to reflect functional trans-Arctic bottlenecks, recent colonization or competition with congeners. Within the Pacific, Alaska showed signatures of a post-glacial melting pot of eastern and southern populations. Genetic/ecotypic variation was generally not sufficiently discontinuous or consistent to justify recognizing multiple taxonomic entities, but support a separate species in the eastern Pacific, at the southern rear-edge. We predict that layered patterns of phylogeographic structure, incipient speciation and niche differences might be common among widespread low-dispersal amphiboreal taxa