Genetic diversity in Jatropha species from different regions of Brazil based on morphological characters and inters-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular markers

Jatropha belonging to Euphorbiaceae family has around 170 species distributed throughout tropical semi-arid regions of Africa and the Americas. Some of its species include Jatropha curcas L. (Physic Nut), Jatropha pohliana Müll.Arg. (Brazilian Purging Nut) and Jatropha gossypiifolia L. (Black Physic Nut). Phenotypic and genetic studies of a population are important for plant improvements, helping in the characterization of accesses, as well as facilitating selection of parental for directed crossings. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate accesses of three Jatropha species from different regions of Brazil, through morphological characters and ISSR molecular markers, in order to group them according to the existing degree of divergence. A higher interspecific variability, rather than intraspecific, was observed among accesses, for morphological as well as molecular characters. Qualitative and quantitative characters showed variability between accesses and may serve as reference for future genetic studies. There was no relation between similarity patterns and geographical origin of accesses in the group analysis. Average percentage of polymorphism found for inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers between the studied accesses was 40.6%. A higher genetic variability interspecific was observed than intraspecific, suggesting the search for genetic variability among species Jatropha through interspecific crosses.Keywords: Germplasm, Jatropha curcas, Jatropha gossypiifolia, Jatropha pohliana, variability

A conceptual approach to enhance the well-being of elderly people

The number of elderly people living alone is increasing. Consequently, a lot of research works have been addressing this issue in order to propose solutions that can enhance the quality of life of elderly people. Most of them have been concerned in dealing with objective issues such as forgetfulness or detecting falls. In this paper, we propose a conceptual approach of a system that intends to enhance the daily sense of user’s well-being. For that, our proposal consists in a system that works as a social network and a smartwatch application that works unobtrusively and collects the user’s physiological data. In addition, we debate how important features such as to detect user’s affective states and to potentiate user’s memory could be implemented. Our study shows that there are still some important limitations which affect the success of applications built in the context of elderly care and which are mostly related with accuracy and usability of this kind of system. However, we believe that with our approach we will be able to address some of those limitations and define a system that can enhance the well-being of elderly people and improve their cognitive capabilities.The work presented in this paper has been developed under the EUREKA - ITEA3 Project PHE (PHE-16040), and by National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the projects UID/EEA/00760/2019 and UID/CEC/00319/2019 and by NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-033275 (AIRDOC - “Aplicação móvel Inteligente para suporte individualizado e monitorização da função e sons Respiratórios de Doentes Obstrutivos Crónicos ”) by NORTE 2020 (Programa Operacional Regional do Norte)

A comparison of dietary patterns derived by cluster and principal components analysis in a UK cohort of children

Background/Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify dietary patterns in a cohort of 7-year-old children through cluster analysis, compare with patterns derived by principal components analysis (PCA), and investigate associations with sociodemographic variables. Subjects/Methods: The main caregivers in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) recorded dietary intakes of their children (8279 subjects) using a 94-item food frequency questionnaire. Items were then collapsed into 57 food groups. Dietary patterns were identified using k-means cluster analysis and associations with sociodemographic variables examined using multinomial logistic regression. Clusters were compared with patterns previously derived using PCA. Results: Three distinct clusters were derived: Processed (4177 subjects), associated with higher consumption of processed foods and white bread, Plant-based (2065 subjects), characterized by higher consumption of fruit, vegetables and non-white bread, and Traditional British (2037 subjects), associated with higher consumption of meat, vegetables and full-fat milk. Membership of the Processed cluster was positively associated with girls, younger mothers, snacking and older siblings. Membership of the Plant-based cluster was associated with higher educated mothers and vegetarians. The Traditional British cluster was associated with council housing and younger siblings. The three clusters were similar to the three dietary patterns obtained through PCA; each principal component score being higher on average in the corresponding cluster.Conclusions:Both cluster analysis and PCA identified three dietary patterns very similar both in the foods associated with them and sociodemographic characteristics. Both methods are useful for deriving meaningful dietary patterns. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved

Virulence in Murine Model Shows the Existence of Two Distinct Populations of Brazilian Vaccinia virus Strains

Brazilian Vaccinia virus had been isolated from sentinel mice, rodents and recently from humans, cows and calves during outbreaks on dairy farms in several rural areas in Brazil, leading to high economic and social impact. Some phylogenetic studies have demonstrated the existence of two different populations of Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains circulating in nature, but little is known about their biological characteristics. Therefore, our goal was to study the virulence pattern of seven Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains. Infected BALB/c mice were monitored for morbidity, mortality and viral replication in organs as trachea, lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, brain and spleen. Based on the virulence potential, the Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains were grouped into two groups. One group contained GP1V, VBH, SAV and BAV which caused disease and death in infected mice and the second one included ARAV, GP2V and PSTV which did not cause any clinical signals or death in infected BALB/c mice. The subdivision of Brazilian Vaccinia virus strains into two groups is in agreement with previous genetic studies. Those data reinforce the existence of different populations circulating in Brazil regarding the genetic and virulence characteristics

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente