Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis. A Report of 4 Cases Occurring in One Family

We describe slipped capital femoral epiphysis in 4 members of a black, obese family, who were all first-degree relatives. The aetiology of slipped capital femoral epiphysis is unknown, although it is thought to be multifactorial. Genetic predisposition and environmental factors have been associated with the condition. A familial incidence with at least two cases in the same family has been reported. In epidemiological studies, this incidence ranges from 3% to 35%. Our cases were investigated in an attempt to find a possible aetiological genetic factor. A genetic predisposition with an autosomal dominant pattern of transmission is suggested, although environmental variables must be considered as provocative factors

Eficiência da bioadição na remoção de matéria orgânica em sistemas aquaculturais

Several techniques are currently used to treat effluents. Bioaugmentation is a new bioremediation strategy and has been employed to improve effluent quality by treating the water during the production process. This technology consists basically of the addition of microorganisms able to degrade or remove polluting compounds, especially organic matter and nutrients. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of bioaugmentation on some parameters of organic matter and on the performance of juvenile tilapias in an intensive aquaculture production system. The combination of two bacterial consortiums in a complete randomized design was employed in a factorial analysis with two factors. Statistical differences between treatments were analyzed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test at the 5% level. One of the treatments, heterotrophic bacterial supplementation, was able to reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) by 23%, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by 83.7% and phytoplanktonic biomass by 43%. On the other hand, no damage was done to either the physical-chemical indicators of water quality or to the growth performance of juvenile tilapias assessed in this study.Existem diversas tecnologias para tratamento de efluentes, o processo de bioadição consiste em uma vertente da biorremediação e tem sido empregado na melhoria da qualidade dos efluentes através do tratamento da água de produção. Esta tecnologia consiste basicamente na adição de microrganismos com a capacidade de degradar ou remover compostos poluentes, especialmente matéria orgânica e nutrientes. Este estudo objetivou avaliar os efeitos da suplementação de composto bioativo sobre alguns parâmetros de matéria orgânica e de desempenho de juvenis de tilápias em um sistema intensivo de produção aquacultural. Foi empregada a combinação de dois consórcios bacterianos em delineamento inteiramente aleatorizado, em um esquema fatorial com dois fatores. As diferenças estatísticas entre os tratamentos foram analisadas por meio da análise de variância (ANOVA) e do teste de Tukey ao nível de 5%. Verificou-se neste estudo, que a bioadição heterotrófica foi capaz de reduzir em 23% a demanda bioquímica de oxigênio (DBO); em 83,7%, o carbono orgânico dissolvido (COD); e em 43%, a biomassa fitoplanctônica. Por outro lado, não se observou nenhum prejuízo com relação aos parâmetros físico-químicos de qualidade de água bem como ao desempenho de crescimento para juvenis de tilápias avaliados neste estudo.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Sialyl Lewis x expression in canine malignant mammary tumours: correlation with clinicopathological features and E-Cadherin expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sialyl Lewis x (sLe^x) antigen is a carbohydrate antigen that is considered not only a marker for cancer but also implicated functionally in the malignant behaviour of cancer cells. Overexpression of sLe^xis associated with enhanced progression and metastases of many types of cancer including those of the mammary gland. Canine mammary tumours can invade and give rise to metastases via either lymphatic or blood vessels.</p> <p>E-Cadherin is specifically involved in epithelial cell-to-cell adhesion. In cancer, E-Cadherin underexpression is one of the alterations that characterizes the invasive phenotype and is considered an invasion/tumour suppressor gene. Partial or complete loss of E-Cadherin expression correlates with poor prognosis in canine malignant mammary cancer.</p> <p>The aim of this study was to analyse the sLe^xexpression in canine malignant mammary tumours and to evaluate if the presence of sLe^xcorrelates with the expression of E-Cadherin and with clinicopathological features.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty-three cases of canine mammary carcinomas were analysed immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies against sLe^x(IgM) and E-Cadherin (IgG). The clinicopathological data were then assessed to determine whether there was a correlation with sLe^xtumour expression. Double labelled immunofluorescence staining was performed to analyse the combined expression of sLe^xand E-Cadherin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>sLe^xexpression was consistently demonstrated in all cases of canine mammary carcinomas with different levels of expression. We found a significant relationship between the levels of sLe^xexpression and the presence of lymph node metastases. We also demonstrated that when E-Cadherin expression was increased sLe^xwas reduced and vice-versa. The combined analysis of both adhesion molecules revealed an inverse relationship.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the present study we demonstrate the importance of sLe^xin the malignant phenotype of canine malignant mammary tumours. Our results support the use of sLe^xas a prognostic tumour marker in canine mammary carcinomas. Furthermore, we showed that sLe^xand E-Cadherin expression were inversely correlated. Future studies are warranted to clarify the molecular mechanism underlying the relation between sLe^xand E-Cadherin in canine mammary carcinoma cells which represents an important comparative model to woman breast cancer.</p

Phytoplankton dynamics in relation to seasonal variability and upwelling and relaxation patterns at the mouth of Ria de Aveiro (West Iberian Margin) over a four-year period

From June 2004 to December 2007, samples were weekly collected at a fixed station located at the mouth of Ria de Aveiro (West Iberian Margin). We examined the seasonal and inter-annual fluctuations in composition and community structure of the phytoplankton in relation to the main environmental drivers and assessed the influence of the oceano-graphic regime, namely changes in frequency and intensity of upwelling events, over the dynamics of the phytoplankton assemblage. The samples were consistently handled and a final subset of 136 OTUs (taxa with relative abundance > 0.01%) was subsequently submitted to various multivariate analyses. The phytoplankton assemblage showed significant changes at all temporal scales but with an overriding importance of seasonality over longer-(inter-annual) or shorter-term fluctuations (upwelling-related). Sea-surface temperature, salinity and maximum upwelling index were retrieved as the main driver of seasonal change. Seasonal signal was most evident in the fluctuations of chlorophyll a concentration and in the high turnover from the winter to spring phytoplankton assemblage. The seasonal cycle of production and succession was disturbed by upwelling events known to disrupt thermal stratification and induce changes in the phytoplankton assemblage. Our results indicate that both the frequency and intensity of physical forcing were important drivers of such variability, but the outcome in terms of species composition was highly dependent on the available local pool of species and the timing of those events in relation to the seasonal cycle. We conclude that duration, frequency and intensity of upwelling events, which vary seasonally and inter-annually, are paramount for maintaining long-term phytoplankton diversity likely by allowing unstable coexistence and incorporating species turnover at different scales. Our results contribute to the understanding of the complex mechanisms of coastal phytoplankton dynamics in relation to changing physical forcing which is fundamental to improve predictability of future prospects under climate change.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) [SFRH/BPD/ 94562/2013]; FEDER funds; national funds; CESAM [UID/AMB/50017]; FCT/MEC through national funds; FEDERinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Guidelines for the recording and evaluation of pharmaco-EEG data in man: the International Pharmaco-EEG Society (IPEG)

The International Pharmaco-EEG Society (IPEG) presents updated guidelines summarising the requirements for the recording and computerised evaluation of pharmaco-EEG data in man. Since the publication of the first pharmaco-EEG guidelines in 1982, technical and data processing methods have advanced steadily, thus enhancing data quality and expanding the palette of tools available to investigate the action of drugs on the central nervous system (CNS), determine the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of novel therapeutics and evaluate the CNS penetration or toxicity of compounds. However, a review of the literature reveals inconsistent operating procedures from one study to another. While this fact does not invalidate results per se, the lack of standardisation constitutes a regrettable shortcoming, especially in the context of drug development programmes. Moreover, this shortcoming hampers reliable comparisons between outcomes of studies from different laboratories and hence also prevents pooling of data which is a requirement for sufficiently powering the validation of novel analytical algorithms and EEG-based biomarkers. The present updated guidelines reflect the consensus of a global panel of EEG experts and are intended to assist investigators using pharmaco-EEG in clinical research, by providing clear and concise recommendations and thereby enabling standardisation of methodology and facilitating comparability of data across laboratories

The selectivity, voltage-dependence and acid sensitivity of the tandem pore potassium channel TASK-1 : contributions of the pore domains

We have investigated the contribution to ionic selectivity of residues in the selectivity filter and pore helices of the P1 and P2 domains in the acid sensitive potassium channel TASK-1. We used site directed mutagenesis and electrophysiological studies, assisted by structural models built through computational methods. We have measured selectivity in channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes, using voltage clamp to measure shifts in reversal potential and current amplitudes when Rb+ or Na+ replaced extracellular K+. Both P1 and P2 contribute to selectivity, and most mutations, including mutation of residues in the triplets GYG and GFG in P1 and P2, made channels nonselective. We interpret the effects of these—and of other mutations—in terms of the way the pore is likely to be stabilised structurally. We show also that residues in the outer pore mouth contribute to selectivity in TASK-1. Mutations resulting in loss of selectivity (e.g. I94S, G95A) were associated with slowing of the response of channels to depolarisation. More important physiologically, pH sensitivity is also lost or altered by such mutations. Mutations that retained selectivity (e.g. I94L, I94V) also retained their response to acidification. It is likely that responses both to voltage and pH changes involve gating at the selectivity filter

Using zeta-potential measurements to quantify peptide partition to lipid membranes

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.Many cellular phenomena occur on the biomembranes. There are plenty of molecules (natural or xenobiotics) that interact directly or partially with the cell membrane. Biomolecules, such as several peptides (e.g., antimicrobial peptides) and proteins, exert their effects at the cell membrane level. This feature makes necessary investigating their interactions with lipids to clarify their mechanisms of action and side effects necessary. The determination of molecular lipid/water partition constants (Kp) is frequently used to quantify the extension of the interaction. The determination of this parameter has been achieved by using different methodologies, such as UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. In this work, we derived and tested a mathematical model to determine the Kp from ζ-potential data. The values obtained with this method were compared with those obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy, which is a regular technique used to quantify the interaction of intrinsically fluorescent peptides with selected biomembrane model systems. Two antimicrobial peptides (BP100 and pepR) were evaluated by this new method. The results obtained by this new methodology show that ζ-potential is a powerful technique to quantify peptide/lipid interactions of a wide variety of charged molecules, overcoming some of the limitations inherent to other techniques, such as the need for fluorescent labeling.This work was partially supported by project PTDC/QUI/ 69937/2006 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), and by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal). JMF and MMD also thank FCT-MCTES for grants IMM/BT/37-2010 and SFRH/BD/41750/2007, respectively

On the Stability of Non-Supersymmetric Quantum Attractors in String Theory

We study four dimensional non-supersymmetric attractors in type IIA string theory in the presence of sub-leading corrections to the prepotential. For a given Calabi-Yau manifold, the D0-D4 system admits an attractor point in the moduli space which is uniquely specified by the black hole charges. The perturbative corrections to the prepotential do not change the number of massless directions in the black hole effective potential. We further study non-supersymmetric D0-D6 black holes in the presence of sub-leading corrections. In this case the space of attractor points define a hypersurface in the moduli space.Comment: References Added, Typos Corrected, Appendix A.2 Reordere

Discrimination of water quality monitoring sites in River Vouga using a mixed-effect state space model

The surface water quality monitoring is an important concern of public organizations due to its relevance to the public health. Statistical methods are taken as consistent and essential tools in the monitoring procedures in order to prevent and identify environmental problems. This work presents the study case of the hydrological basin of the river Vouga, in Portugal. The main goal is discriminate the water monitoring sites using the monthly dissolved oxygen concentration dataset between January 2002 and May 2013. This is achieved through the extraction of trend and seasonal components in a linear mixed-effect state space model. The parameters estimation is performed with both maximum likelihood method and distribution-free estimators in a two-step procedure. The application of the Kalman smoother algorithm allows to obtain predictions of the structural components as trend and seasonality. The water monitoring sites are discriminated through the structural components by a hierarchical agglomerative clustering procedure. This procedure identified different homogenous groups relatively to the trend and seasonality components and some characteristics of the hydrological basin are presented in order to support the results

All solutions of the localization equations for N=2 quantum black hole entropy

We find the most general bosonic solution to the localization equations describing the contributions to the quantum entropy of supersymmetric black holes in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity coupled to n_v vector multiplets. This requires the analysis of the BPS equations of the corresponding off-shell supergravity (including fluctuations of the auxiliary fields) with AdS2 \times S2 attractor boundary conditions. Our work completes and extends the results of arXiv:1012.0265 that were obtained for the vector multiplet sector, to include the fluctuations of all the fields of the off-shell supergravity. We find that, when the auxiliary SU(2) gauge field strength vanishes, the most general supersymmetric configuration preserving four supercharges is labelled by n_v+1 real parameters corresponding to the excitations of the conformal mode of the graviton and the scalars of the n_v vector multiplets. In the general case, the localization manifold is labelled by an additional SU(2) triplet of one-forms and a scalar function.Comment: 27 page