Health Education through Analogies: Preparation of a Community for Clinical Trials of a Vaccine against Hookworm in an Endemic Area of Brazil

Conducting clinical trials of new vaccines in rural, resource-limited areas can be challenging since the people living in these areas often have high levels of illiteracy, little experience with clinical research, and limited access to routine health care. Especially difficult is obtaining informed consent for participation in this type of research and ensuring that potential participants adequately understand the potential risks and benefits of participation. The researchers have been preparing a remote field site in the northeastern part of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, for clinical trials of experimental hookworm vaccines. A special educational video was designed based on the method of analogies to introduce new scientific concepts related to the researchers' work and to improve knowledge of hookworm, a disease that is highly prevalent in their community. A questionnaire was administered both before and after the video was shown to a group of adults at the field site, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the video in disseminating knowledge about hookworm infection and about the vaccine being developed. Therefore, even in a rural, resource-limited area, educational tools can be specially designed that significantly improve understanding and therefore the likelihood of obtaining truly informed consent for participation in clinical research

Association of insularity and body condition to cloacal bacteria prevalence in a small shorebird

Do islands harbour less diverse disease communities than mainland? The island biogeography theory predicts more diverse communities on mainland than on islands due to more niches, more diverse habitats and availability of greater range of hosts. We compared bacteria prevalences ofCampylobacter,ChlamydiaandSalmonellain cloacal samples of a small shorebird, the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) between two island populations of Macaronesia and two mainland locations in the Iberian Peninsula. Bacteria were found in all populations but, contrary to the expectations, prevalences did not differ between islands and mainland. Females had higher prevalences than males forSalmonellaand when three bacteria genera were pooled together. Bacteria infection was unrelated to bird's body condition but females from mainland were heavier than males and birds from mainland were heavier than those from islands. Abiotic variables consistent throughout breeding sites, like high salinity that is known to inhibit bacteria growth, could explain the lack of differences in the bacteria prevalence between areas. We argue about the possible drivers and implications of sex differences in bacteria prevalence in Kentish plovers

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Fluid signature of the shear zone–controlled Veio de Quartzo ore body in the world-class BIF-hosted Cuiabá gold deposit, Archaean Rio das Velhas greenstone belt, Brazil: a fluid inclusion study

The world-class Cuiabá gold deposit of the Archaean Rio das Velhas greenstone belt in Brazil is hosted in banded iron formation containing carbonaceous matter and carbonate, within the reclined, isoclinal Cuiabá fold. Mineralised quartz veins are hosted in andesite in the stratigraphic footwall of the banded iron ores and form some of the more recently discovered ore bodies. Fluid inclusion data of the quartz vein–associated “Veio de Quartzo” ore body are obtained from four quartz types (Qz1, Qz2, Qz3, Qz5) in gold-mineralised V1 shear vein and V2 extensional veins, barren V3 extensional vein array, and V4 breccia-style veins, all developed during the Archaean D1 event. Three fluid types are distinguished: (i) aqueous fluids of low salinity (1.8–3.8 wt% NaCl equiv), homogenisation (into liquid) at 220 to 230 °C; (ii) aqueous fluids of moderate salinity (5.3–12.7 wt% NaCl equiv), and homogenisation at 250 to 290 °C; and (iii) aqueous-carbonic fluids of moderate salinity (6.0–15.1 wt% NaCl equiv), with 30–91 mol% CO2, 8–41 mol% CH4 and up to 28 mol% N2 and decrepitation (into vapour) at 280 to 310 °C. Based on an independent pressure estimate, a pressure correction was applied to aqueous fluid inclusions, resulting in minimum trapping temperatures at 360 °C for V1 veins, 330 °C for V2 veins, 300 °C for V3 veins and 270 °C for the late-stage V4 veins. Ion chromatography analyses reveal a Br/Cl ratio of 0.7 × 10−3 in Qz1-V1, from 1.4 to 1.5 × 10−3 in Qz2-V2, 0.3 to 0.4 × 10−3 in Qz3-V3 and 0.7 to 0.9 × 10−3in Qz5-V4 veins. Zinc, Pb and Cu are relatively enriched with ~ 100 to 1000 ppm in aqueous and aqueous-carbonic fluid inclusion assemblages in all vein and quartz types, which is similar to other orogenic gold deposits hosted in the Rio das Velhas greenstone belt. The fluid inclusion data are consistent with a model invoking a metamorphic origin for the mineralising fluid. A two-step model of hydrothermal fluid flow and gold enrichment is suggested to have developed during the Archaean D1 event, with an early, aqueous-carbonic fluid pulse of relatively high temperature (from V1 up to V3) and an evolved, aqueous-carbonic fluid pulse of lower temperature (V4, breccia-style veins). The Rio das Velhas greenstone belt is dominated by regionally metamorphosed metasedimentary rocks, resulting in a complex hydrothermal fluid evolution and related gold mineralisation such as the shear zone–controlled Veio de Quartzo ore body