Embriões somáticos anômalos em Acca sellowiana (O. Berg) Burret (Myrtaceae)

Somatic embryogenesis represents a valuable tool for the studies on the basic aspects of plant embryo development. Today this process is used as a potencial technique for large-scale plant micropropagation although, so far, it has been applied to only a small number of species. However, when somatic embryos are malformed they are considered economically useless. In Acca sellowiana (O. Berg) Burret, an important fruit-producing crop, large amounts of anomalous somatic embryos (76.3%) were found just after 40 days of culture of explants in a 2,4-D containing medium. Among the anomalous forms found in the cotiledonary stage, 12.2% consisted of fused embryos, 40.4% displayed fused cotyledons, 13.0% presented supernumerary cotyledons, and 10.7% showed absence or poorly developed cotyledons, including those without the shoot apical meristem. Histological analyses indicated that the altered embryos were formed either directly from cotyledons, hypocotyl and radicle of the zygotic embryos used as explants, or indirectly from calli formed from these tissue parts. It is suggested that the formation of anomalous somatic embryos, as well as a low frequency of conversion into emblings reflect physiological and/or genetic disturbances triggered by the presence of 2,4-D in the medium. In vitro experimental alternative approaches are discussed in order to lessen the occurrence of malformed somatic embryos.A embriogênese somática representa uma ferramenta importante para estudos básicos do desenvolvimento das plantas. Atualmente este processo é utilizado como uma técnica com potencial para a micropropagação de plantas em grande escala, embora ainda com aplicação restrita a poucas espécies. Entretanto, quando são formados embriões somáticos anômalos a aplicação econômica é inviabilizada. Em Acca sellowiana (O. Berg) Burret, uma importante frutífera nativa, uma elevada quantidade de embriões somáticos com fenótipos alterados (76,3%) foi encontrada já no 40º dia de cultura na presença de 2,4-D. Entre esses, 12,2% consistiam de embriões fundidos, 40,4% apresentavam cotilédones concrescidos, 13% possuíam mais de dois cotilédones e 10,7% não tinham cotilédones ou eles eram pouco desenvolvidos, incluindo os embriões sem meristema apical caulinar. As análises histológicas mostraram que os embriões malformados originavam-se tanto diretamente dos cotilédones, hipocótilo e radícula dos embriões zigóticos utilizados como explantes, como indiretamente de calos formados a partir dessas estruturas. Sugere-se que a formação de embriões somáticos anômalos, bem como a baixa taxa de seu desenvolvimento em plântulas (" emblings" ), refletiria a ocorrência de distúrbios fisiológicos e/ou genéticos protagonizada pela presença de 2,4-D no meio de cultura. São indicadas algumas abordagens experimentais alternativas visando reduzir a ocorrência de embriões somáticos com malformações

Ucayali : ¿cómo vamos en educación?

Reúne información estadística relevante de la situación actual de la educación de la región Ucayali, ha sido hecho para servir como una guía informativa amigable de todos aquellos actores de la región que puedan influir positivamente en su realidad educativa. Entre 2004 y 2013, ha habido una tendencia de aumento a una tasa media de crecimiento anual del gasto público educativo por alumno de 11.4% en inicial, 11% en primaria y 12.4% en secundaria. Sin embargo, cuando se observa el gasto en educación, respecto al GPT (Gasto Público Total), pasa lo contrario, hay una tendencia a la baja, esto a una tasa media de decrecimiento de -5.3%. Ambas situaciones no son particularidades de Ucayali sino características a nivel nacional. Ninguna de las Provincias de Ucayali supera el 30% de locales educativos con los tres servicios básicos, es decir, todas se encuentran en los dos quintiles inferiores. Asimismo hay amplias diferencias entre distritos respecto a este indicador, así por ejemplo Curimana tiene 31% y Distritos como Yarua y Purus tienen 0%. En el 2009, el indicador de la Región Ucayali asciende a 11% frente a un 41.5% para todo el Perú. El porcentaje de escuelas con acceso a Internet tanto a nivel nacional como de la región Ucayali registra un crecimiento sostenido en los últimos diez años, en particular en el caso de secundaria, que en Ucayali pasó de tener en el 2005 solo el 6.4% de escuelas con Internet a 25.6% en 2014. Sin embargo, tanto en primaria como en secundaria, este indicador está muy por debajo del nivel nacional (18.2 puntos porcentuales por debajo para primaria y 26.4 para secundaria). Las tasas de asistencia para Ucayali en comparación con el nivel nacional tienden a ser estadísticamente iguales para primaria, existiendo sólo diferencias significativas para los años 2006 y 2008, mientras que en inicial y secundaria las brechas respecto del porcentaje nacional, por lo general, sí tienden a ser estadísticamente significativas. El acceso a educación en el nivel de primaria ha disminuido ligeramente pasando de 90% en 2004 a 88.7%; mientras que por su parte la tasa en secundaria se han mantenido (70.1 % e 2004 y 70.4% el 2013); por otra parte, en inicial la tasa pasó de 57.8% en 2004 a 66% en 2013. En 2014, el indicador de Ucayali resulta ser mejor en comparación con el indicador nacional sólo en secundaria (en la región: 9, frente al nacional: 11). Los valores de la mayoría de distritos para inicial y primaria se sitúa en dos grupos que se encuentran comprendidos entre 14.8 y 29.4 alumnos por profesor, mientras que en el caso de secundaria todos los distritos se ubican en los dos grupos más bajos, valores por debajo de 14.7. Ucayali presenta mayores tasas de desaprobación, atraso y retiro en primaria y secundaria con respecto a todo el país. El porcentaje de desaprobados en primaria fluctúa desde 4.1% para Callería hasta 14.8% para Iparia y en secundaria fluctúa desde 10.8% para Nueva Requena hasta 24.2% para Yurua. Respecto al atraso escolar, los distritos en primaria se ubican en los quintiles más bajos (debajo de 40%), mientras que en secundaria ocurre lo mismo con la mayoría de distritos

Bibliometric Analysis of Gender Authorship Trends and Collaboration Dynamics over 30 Years of Spine 1985 to 2015

Study Design. A bibliometric analysis. Objective. The aim of this article was to study bibliometric changes over the last 30 years of Spine. These trends are important regarding academic publication productivity. Summary of Background Data. Inflation in authorship number and other bibliometric variables has been described in the scientific literature. The issue of author gender is taking on increasing importance, as efforts are being made to close the gender gap. Methods. From 1985 to 2015, 10-year incremental data for several bibliometric variables were collected, including author gender. Standard bivariate statistical analyses were performed. Trends over time were assessed by the Cochran linear trend. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results. Inclusion criteria were met for 1566 manuscripts. The majority of the manuscripts were from North America (51.2%), Europe (25.2%), and Asia (20.8%). The number of manuscripts, authors, countries, pages, and references all increased from 1985 to 2015. There was a slight increase in female first authors over time (17.5% to 18.4%, P = 0.048). There was no gender change over time for corresponding authors (14.3% to 14.0%, P = 0.29). There was an 88% increase in the percentage of female first authors having male corresponding authors (P = 0.00004), and a 123% increase in male first authors having female corresponding authors (P = 0.0002). The 14% to 18% of female authors in Spine is higher than the ∼5% female membership of the Scoliosis Research Society and North American Spine Society. Conclusion. Manuscripts in Spine over the past 30 years have shown a significant increase in the number of authors, collaborating institutions and countries, printed pages, references, and number of times each manuscript was cited. There has been a mild increase in female first authorship, but none in corresponding authorship. Increases in female authorship will likely require recruitment of more females into the discipline rather than providing females in the discipline with authorship opportunities. Level of Evidence: N/

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (bodymass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Prevalence and architecture of de novo mutations in developmental disorders.

The genomes of individuals with severe, undiagnosed developmental disorders are enriched in damaging de novo mutations (DNMs) in developmentally important genes. Here we have sequenced the exomes of 4,293 families containing individuals with developmental disorders, and meta-analysed these data with data from another 3,287 individuals with similar disorders. We show that the most important factors influencing the diagnostic yield of DNMs are the sex of the affected individual, the relatedness of their parents, whether close relatives are affected and the parental ages. We identified 94 genes enriched in damaging DNMs, including 14 that previously lacked compelling evidence of involvement in developmental disorders. We have also characterized the phenotypic diversity among these disorders. We estimate that 42% of our cohort carry pathogenic DNMs in coding sequences; approximately half of these DNMs disrupt gene function and the remainder result in altered protein function. We estimate that developmental disorders caused by DNMs have an average prevalence of 1 in 213 to 1 in 448 births, depending on parental age. Given current global demographics, this equates to almost 400,000 children born per year

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (body mass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use