Estirpes de bactérias selecionadas para a otimização da fixação biológica de nitrogênio em leguminosas florestais .

Este comunicado apresenta resultados de pesquisas referente a seleção de estirpes em condições estéreis para Chamaecrista nictitans (L.) Moench, Mimosa pellita L. e Mimosa floculosa Burkart (etapa 2) e em condições não estéreis para Mimosa xantocentra Mart. e Erythrina falcata Benth (etapa 3). As estirpes testadas pertencem a coleção do Laboratório de Leguminosas da Embrapa Agrobiologia.bitstream/item/42764/1/COT120-09.pd

Automated quantification and evaluation of motion artifact on coronary CT angiography images

Abstract Purpose This study developed and validated a Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm to automatically quantify the severity of motion artifacts on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images. The algorithm was then used to develop a Motion IQ Decision method to automatically identify whether a CCTA dataset is of sufficient diagnostic image quality or requires further correction. Method The developed Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm includes steps to identify the right coronary artery (RCA) regions of interest (ROIs), segment vessel and shading artifacts, and to calculate the motion artifact score (MAS) metric. The segmentation algorithms were verified against ground‐truth manual segmentations. The segmentation algorithms were also verified by comparing and analyzing the MAS calculated from ground‐truth segmentations and the algorithm‐generated segmentations. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm first identifies slices with unsatisfactory image quality using a MAS threshold. The algorithm then uses an artifact‐length threshold to determine whether the degraded vessel segment is large enough to cause the dataset to be nondiagnostic. An observer study on 30 clinical CCTA datasets was performed to obtain the ground‐truth decisions of whether the datasets were of sufficient image quality. A five‐fold cross‐validation was used to identify the thresholds and to evaluate the Motion IQ Decision algorithm. Results The automated segmentation algorithms in the Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm resulted in Dice coefficients of 0.84 for the segmented vessel regions and 0.75 for the segmented shading artifact regions. The MAS calculated using the automated algorithm was within 10% of the values obtained using ground‐truth segmentations. The MAS threshold and artifact‐length thresholds were determined by the ROC analysis to be 0.6 and 6.25 mm by all folds. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm demonstrated 100% sensitivity, 66.7% ± 27.9% specificity, and a total accuracy of 86.7% ± 12.5% for identifying datasets in which the RCA required correction. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm demonstrated 91.3% sensitivity, 71.4% specificity, and a total accuracy of 86.7% for identifying CCTA datasets that need correction for any of the three main vessels. Conclusion The Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm calculated accurate

Estirpes de rizóbio eficientes na fixação biológica de nitrogênio para leguminosas com potencial de uso na recuperação de áreas mineradas.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo selecionar estirpes de rizóbio eficientes na fixação biológica de nitrogênio para leguminosas herbáceas de crescimento rápido e sistema radicular profuso Tephrosia adunca e Mimosa xanthocentra.bitstream/CNPAB-2010/35739/1/cot115.pdfParceria; UFRRJ

Recomendação de estirpes para leguminosas florestais-ano 2009.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi selecionar e recomendar estirpes de bactérias mais eficientes na FBN para espécies leguminosas florestais.bitstream/item/104079/1/Recomendacao-de-estirpe-para-leguminsa-florestal-2009-SERIE-DOC-264.pd

In memoriam Ruth Soonets

Eesti Arst 2024; 103(8):40

Association of anxiety with intracortical inhibition and descending pain modulation in chronic myofascial pain syndrome

Background: This study aimed to answer three questions related to chronic myofascial pain syndrome (MPS): 1) Is the motor cortex excitability, as assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation parameters (TMS), related to state-trait anxiety? 2) Does anxiety modulate corticospinal excitability changes after evoked pain by Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST)? 3) Does the state-trait anxiety predict the response to pain evoked by QST if simultaneously receiving a heterotopic stimulus [Conditional Pain Modulation (CPM)]? We included females with chronic MPS (n = 47) and healthy controls (n = 11), aged 19 to 65 years. Motor cortex excitability was assessed by TMS, and anxiety was assessed based on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The disability related to pain (DRP) was assessed by the Profile of Chronic Pain scale for the Brazilian population (B:PCP:S), and the psychophysical pain measurements were measured by the QST and CPM. Results: In patients, trait-anxiety was positively correlated to intracortical facilitation (ICF) at baseline and after QST evoked pain (β = 0.05 and β = 0.04, respectively) and negatively correlated to the cortical silent period (CSP) (β = -1.17 and β = -1.23, respectively) (P <0.05 for all comparisons). After QST evoked pain, the DRP was positively correlated to ICF (β = 0.02) (P < 0.05). Pain scores during CPM were positively correlated with trait-anxiety when it was concurrently with high DRP (β = 0.39; P = 0.02). Controls’ cortical excitability remained unchanged after QST. Conclusions: These findings suggest that, in chronic MPS, the imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory descending systems of the corticospinal tract is associated with higher trait-anxiety concurrent with higher DRP

Chemical Validation of Methionyl tRNA Synthetase (MetRS) as a Druggable Target in <i>Leishmania donovani</i>

Methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS) has been chemically validated as a drug target in the kinetoplastid parasite Trypanosoma brucei. In the present study we investigate the validity of this target in the related trypanosomatid Leishmania donovani. Following development of a robust highthroughput compatible biochemical assay, a compound screen identified DDD806905 as a highly potent inhibitor of LdMetRS (Ki 18 nM). Crystallography revealed this compound binds to the methionine pocket of MetRS with enzymatic studies confirming DDD806905 displays competitive inhibition with respect to methionine and mixed inhibition with respect to ATP binding. DDD806905 showed activity, albeit with different levels of potency, in various Leishmania cell-based viability assays, with on-target activity observed in both Leishmania promastigote cell assays and a Leishmania tarentolae in vitro translation assay. Unfortunately this compound failed to show efficacy in an animal model of leishmaniasis. We investigated the potential causes for the discrepancies in activity observed in different Leishmania cell assays and the lack of efficacy in the animal model and found that high protein binding as well as sequestration of this dibasic compound into acidic compartments may play a role. Despite medicinal chemistry efforts to address the dibasic nature of DDD806905 and analogues, no progress could be achieved with the current chemical series. Although DDD806905 is not a developable anti-leishmanial compound, MetRS remains an attractive anti-leishmanial drug target

Discovery of a Novel Class of Orally Active Trypanocidal N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors

N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) represents a promising drug target for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), which is caused by the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei. We report the optimization of a high throughput screening hit (1) to give a lead molecule DDD85646 (63), which has potent activity against the enzyme (IC50 = 2 nM) and T. brucei (EC50 = 2 nM) in culture. The compound has good oral pharmacokinetics and cures rodent models of peripheral HAT infection. This compound provides an excellent tool for validation of T. brucei NMT as a drug target for HAT as well as a valuable lead for further optimization.</p

Project analysis of a reel combine

Atualmente vem ocorrendo a ruptura do tubo central dos molinetes pertencentes às plataformas de corte de 23 pés de largura fabricadas na SLC-John Deere. Tal fato vem acontecendo freqüentemente, implicando em gasto extra à empresa, visto que a falha do mecanismo ocorre muitas vezes dentro do seu prazo de garantia. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo determinar as causas da falha do molinete e assim apontar as possíveis soluções para tal problema, utilizando-se para este fim conhecimentos vibratórios, mecânico-metalúrgicos e estruturais, visando caracterizar os esforços aos quais o mecanismo está submetido.Nowadays has been occurring the rupture of the reel central tube belongs to the 23 width feet headers made in SLC-John Deere. Such fact has been happening frequently, implicating in extra wasting to the company, since that the mechanism failure occurs several times within its insurance rate. The present work has as its goal to detect the causes of the reel failure and then show the possible solutions for such problem, using for this porpose dynamic, mechanic-metallurgy and structural knowledge, trying to show the efforts that the mechanism is submitted

Monitoramento e controle de cultivos de Scenedesmus sp. com uso de sensores ópticos

Apesar do crescente interesse na utilização de microalgas como matéria‐prima em processos da indústria, os elevados custos de produção diminuem sua atratividade. Uma oportunidade de melhoria na viabilidade econômica são os métodos analíticos empregados no monitoramento dos cultivos, comumente realizados de maneira off‐line. No presente estudo, foram desenvolvidos três protótipos de sensores ópticos para monitoramento online do crescimento de Scenedesmus sp, utilizando sensores de luminância TSL 2561 da Adafruit e lâmpadas de LED azul como fonte de emissão de luz. A cor da fonte de luz foi selecionada após realizados testes de correlação entre a densidade ótica tomadas em espectrofotômetro a 570 nm e luminância a partir de lâmpadas de LED azul, vermelha, verde e amarela. O primeiro protótipo desenvolvido permaneceu fora do cultivo e uma bomba peristáltica realizou a circulação de meio no seu interior, enquanto os protótipos 2 e 3 foram imersos no meio de cultura. A validação dos sensores foi feita ao correlacionar as medições com medidas de densidade ótica em espectrofotômetro a 570 nm e ao analisar a estabilidade dos mesmos. As correlações para os protótipos 1, 2 e 3 foram R² = 0,9699, R² = 0,9362 e R² = 0,9141, respectivamente. Os protótipos 1 e 2 apresentaram má performance devido a problemas operacionais advindos de falhas no funcionamento da bomba de circulação de meio e na vedação do sensor, respectivamente. O Protótipo 3 foi utilizado para monitorar a turbidez de um cultivo sob regime contínuo com estratégia de controle liga‐desliga (turbidostato), apresentando boa estabilidade enquanto a cultura não apresentou sedimentos em suspensão. Após 71 h, a produtividade do cultivo contínuo foi de 0,0289 g/L/dia, 15,2% maior do que o cultivo monitorado pelo Protótipo 1, realizado em batelada. Os protótipos desenvolvidos mostraram‐se capazes de monitorar o crescimento de Scenedesmus sp., em especial o Protótipo 3, entretanto, sugere‐se que novos testes utilizando o mesmo sejam realizados, uma vez que apresentou problema de estabilidade quando o meio de cultivo continha sedimentos em suspensão