Migrationlab Social Impact Report 2016

This report offers an overview on the Welcome to the Living Room (WTTLR) activities during the research and development year within the ECF Idea Camp R&D Grant 2016. The results reveal the growth of Migrationlab as an organization as well as the positive impact our activities have for those joining these events. During the research our aim was to rethink public space and build inclusive communities through the organization of WTTLR experiences. The WTTLRs described in this report took place in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. They were co-created spaces of encounter, where migrants, refugees and locals met, befriended and inspired each other through storytelling, social design, art and food. This report does not aim to quantify the experiences of the participants, nor to produce a representative sample of the impact; rather, we sought to explore and unpack the meanings participants gave to their experiences when they participated in the different Migrationlab activities. Our main findings, covered in more depth in this report, are threefold: • the WTTLR experiences are a way to produce public spaces, offering a safe environment by creatively transforming each specific location. • migrants, refugees and locals are willing, eager and have the need to tell their stories and be heard in a safe environment. • the WTTLR experiences offer these communities the possibility. to together build a new language and concepts of how we could look at the world and each other.Global Challenges (FGGA

Genotype × environment interaction for long-yearling weight in Canchim cattle quantified by reaction norm analysis.

The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of genotype × environment interactions (G×E) for long-yearling weight in Canchim cattle (5/8 Charolais + 3/8 zebu) in Brazil using reaction norms (RN). The hierarchical RN model included the fixed effect of age of the animal (linear coefficient) and random effects of contemporary groups and additive animal genetic intercept and slope of the RN and contemporary group effects as random effects. Contemporary groups as the most elemental representation of management conditions in beef cattle were chosen to represent the environmental covariate of the RN. The deviance information criteria demonstrated that a homoskedastic residual RN model provided a better data fit compared with a heteroskedastic counterpart and with a traditional animal model, which had the worst fit. The environmental gradient for long-yearling weight based on contemporary group effects ranged from ?105 to 150 kg. The additive direct variance and heritability estimates increased with increasing environmental gradient from 74.33 ± 22.32 to 1,922.59 ± 258.99 kg2 and from 0.08 ± 0.02 to 0.68 ± 0.03, respectively. The high genetic correlation (0.90 ± 0.03) between the intercept and the slope of the RN shows that animals with the greatest breeding values best responded to environmental improvement, characterizing scale effect as the source of G×E for long-yearling weight. The phenotypic plasticity demonstrated by the slope of the RN of the animal indicates the possibility to change genotype expression along the environmental gradient through selection. The results demonstrate the importance of accounting for G×E in the genetic evaluation of this population

the significant effect of size and concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles on magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement

In this study, iron oxide (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles (IONs) were successfully synthesized using sol-gel method, and characterized by XRD and VSM. The potential application of the differently sized IONs (22 nm and 30 nm) as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents was investigated. The relaxation time (T2) of the IONs was measured at room temperature and concentration range of 9–84 µg/ml using fast spin echo sequence with six echoes. The size was found to affect the contrast enhancement of the MRI image, with the T2 for 22 nm sized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles exhibiting a shorter dephasing compared to the 30 nm sized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The T2 relaxivity also decreased with increasing concentration (9–84 µg/ml) of the γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Based on the T2-weighted analysis, a better signal (i.e. brighter image) was achieved for the 30 nm sized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Thus, the use of IONs to enhance MR image contrast is dependent on the nanoparticle size and concentration of the IONs. In general, the results indicate that the synthesized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are promising materials for use as MRI contrast agents. Keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging, Iron oxides nanoparticles, T2 relaxivity, XRD, VS

Interação genótipo-ambiente para peso ao sobreano em alguns estados brasileiros e em clusters de municípios do estado de São Paulo em bovinos da raça Canchim.

Foram analisados dados de rebanhos Canchim pertencentes a alguns estados do Brasil (IGA1) e clusters de municípios paulistas (IGA2) para a investigação da presença de interação genótipo-ambiente (IGA) para a característica peso ao sobreano (PS). Duas investigações distintas foram realizadas para os diferentes ambientes (IGA1 e IGA2) por meio da comparação de dois modelos sugeridos em cada ambiente, um com o efeito aleatório de touro-ambiente e o outro sem este efeito. Para o estudo no ambiente IGA1 foi constatada a presença da IGA, indicando alteração significativa no desempenho de PS dos animais conforme a região em que foram avaliados. No estudo no ambiente IGA2 não foi encontrada diferença significativa entre os desempenhos de PS nos clusters paulistas, sugerindo não haver IGA entre os municípios analisados. No entanto, no estudo de IGA2 houve variação entre os modelos das estimativas das variâncias genéticas, de ambiente e fenotípicas, o que não permitiu descartar a possibilidade da presença da IGA

Association of LEC and tnpA Helicobacter pylori genes with gastric cancer in a Brazilian population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>seroprevalence in Brazilians varies and is dependent on socioeconomic status, sanitation conditions and ethnicity; furthermore, <it>H. pylori </it>is not always associated with the incidence of gastric cancer, suggesting the role of more virulent strains. The purpose of this study was to analyze the association of more virulent <it>H. pylori </it>strains with gastric cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>DNA was extracted from gastric biopsies of thirty-four cases of gastric cancer (11 intestinal-type, 23 diffuse-type), and thirty-four of patients with endoscopic gastritis. The presence of <it>cag</it>PAI genes (<it>cagA</it>, <it>cagA </it>promoter, <it>cagE</it>, <it>cagM</it>, <it>tnpB</it>, <it>tnpA</it>, <it>cagT </it>and the left end of the <it>cag</it>II (LEC)) and <it>babA </it>were analyzed by PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparison of <it>H. pylori </it>isolates from gastric cancer and gastritis patients showed significant associations of <it>tnpA </it>and LEC with gastric cancer (73.5% [OR, 6.66; 95% CI, 2.30-19.25] and 58.8% [OR, 10.71; 95% CI, 3.07-37.28] of cases, respectively). Other <it>cag</it>PAI genes were detected in both groups at similar frequencies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>tnpA </it>and LEC of <it>H. pylori cag</it>PAI were associated with gastric cancer; nonetheless, these results were restricted within this group of patients and further studies are needed to confirm these results in a larger sample and determine their role in gastric carcinogenesis.</p

Utilização de técnicas estatísticas multivariadas para definição de ambiente de produção do peso ao sobreano para o estudo da interação genótipo-ambiente em bovinos Canchim.

As respostas diferentes de genótipos às variações ambientais são investigadas nos estudos de interação genótipo-ambiente. A definição de ambiente nesses estudos ainda é um desafio, pois muitos fatores não genéticos podem causar efeito sobre a expressão de um conjunto de genes. Neste estudo, com as técnicas de estatística multivariada foram definidos ambientes de produção de bovinos Canchim, por meio de variáveis ambientais, formando grupos homogêneos de municípios do estado de São Paulo com informações de peso ao sobreano desta raça. As técnicas de Agrupamento Hierárquico e não Hierárquico foram eficientes para a simplificação e formação de quatro clusters homogêneos com membros de municípios paulistas, e heterogêneos entre si. Já, a técnica de componentes principais (CP) permitiu discriminar para cada cluster os fatores ambientais mais relevantes em sua formação, através de dois CP que preservaram 81,52% da variabilidade contida no conjunto das variáveis ambientais originais. As técnicas de estatística multivariada foram, portanto, ferramentas eficientes para discriminar ambientes de produção em estudos da interação genótipo-ambiente de bovinos Canchim