Gastrointestinal helminths in calves and cows in an organic milk production system

The main aim of this study was to determine the distribution of populations of gastrointestinal helminths in lactating crossbred cows and calves during the grazing season in an organic milk production system. In addition, the potential importance of the peripartum in relation to the parasite load was examined. Between January 2007 and December 2008, parasitological fecal examinations were performed on cattle belonging to the Integrated Animal Production Program of Embrapa Agrobiology. The cows' parasite load remained low during the study period, and there were no statistical differences (p > 0.05) in comparisons between the seasons. The average egg count showed a positive correlation (0.80) with the peripartum, such that egg elimination per gram (p < 0.05) was higher during the week of labor than during the pre and postpartum periods. Calves showed low parasite loads, with significantly higher egg elimination (p < 0.05) during the winter. The study indicated that infection with gastrointestinal helminths was not a limiting factor for milk production in the organic system. Specifically, it was concluded that the nematode load can be maintained at moderate levels throughout the production system, even in the absence of anthelmintic treatment

Timeliness of Clinic Attendance is a good predictor of Virological Response and Resistance to Antiretroviral drugs in HIV-infected patients

Ensuring long-term adherence to therapy is essential for the success of HIV treatment. As access to viral load monitoring and genotyping is poor in resource-limited settings, a simple tool to monitor adherence is needed. We assessed the relationship between an indicator based on timeliness of clinic attendance and virological response and HIV drug resistance

Inter-hemispheric EEG coherence analysis in Parkinson's disease : Assessing brain activity during emotion processing

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is not only characterized by its prominent motor symptoms but also associated with disturbances in cognitive and emotional functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of emotion processing on inter-hemispheric electroencephalography (EEG) coherence in PD. Multimodal emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) were presented to 20 PD patients and 30 age-, education level-, and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) while EEG was recorded. Inter-hemispheric coherence was computed from seven homologous EEG electrode pairs (AF3–AF4, F7–F8, F3–F4, FC5–FC6, T7–T8, P7–P8, and O1–O2) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. In addition, subjective ratings were obtained for a representative of emotional stimuli. Interhemispherically, PD patients showed significantly lower coherence in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands than HC during emotion processing. No significant changes were found in the delta frequency band coherence. We also found that PD patients were more impaired in recognizing negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) than relatively positive emotions (happiness and surprise). Behaviorally, PD patients did not show impairment in emotion recognition as measured by subjective ratings. These findings suggest that PD patients may have an impairment of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (i.e., a decline in cortical connectivity) during emotion processing. This study may increase the awareness of EEG emotional response studies in clinical practice to uncover potential neurophysiologic abnormalities

Onset of asymptotic scaling in deuteron photodisintegration

We investigate the transition from the nucleon-meson to quark-gluon description of the strong interaction using the photon energy dependence of the $d(\gamma,p)n$ differential cross section for photon energies above 0.5 GeV and center-of-mass proton angles between $30^{\circ}$ and $150^{\circ}$. A possible signature for this transition is the onset of cross section $s^{-11}$ scaling with the total energy squared, $s$, at some proton transverse momentum, $P_T$. The results show that the scaling has been reached for proton transverse momentum above about 1.1 GeV/c. This may indicate that the quark-gluon regime is reached above this momentum.Comment: Accepted by PRL; 5 pages, 2 figure

Effect of synbiotic supplementation in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis: a randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by excessive activation of immune processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of synbiotic supplementation on the inflammatory response in children/adolescents with CF. SUBJECTS/METHODS:A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical-trial was conducted with control group (CG, n = 17), placebo-CF-group (PCFG, n = 19), synbiotic CF-group (SCFG, n = 22), PCFG negative (n = 8) and positive (n = 11) bacteriology, and SCFG negative (n = 12) and positive (n = 10) bacteriology. Markers of lung function (FEV1), nutritional status [body mass index-for age (BMI/A), height-for-age (H/A), weight-for-age (W/A), upper-arm fat area (UFA), upper-arm muscle area (UMA), body fat (%BF)], and inflammation [interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-10, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx)] were evaluated before and after 90-day of supplementation with a synbiotic. RESULTS:No significance difference was found between the baseline and end evaluations of FEV1 and nutricional status markers. A significant interaction (time vs. group) was found for IL-12 (p = 0.010) and myeloperoxidase (p = 0.036) between PCFG and SCFG, however, the difference was not maintained after assessing the groups individually. NOx diminished significantly after supplementation in the SCFG (p = 0.030). In the SCFG with positive bacteriology, reductions were found in IL-6 (p = 0.033) and IL-8 (p = 0.009) after supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Synbiotic supplementation shown promise at diminishing the pro-inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-8 in the SCFG with positive bacteriology and NOx in the SCFG in children/adolescents with CF

Observation of an Exotic S=+1S=+1 Baryon in Exclusive Photoproduction from the Deuteron

In an exclusive measurement of the reaction $\gamma d \to K^+ K^- p n$, a narrow peak that can be attributed to an exotic baryon with strangeness $S=+1$ is seen in the $K^+n$ invariant mass spectrum. The peak is at $1.542\pm 0.005$ GeV/c$^2$ with a measured width of 0.021 GeV/c$^2$ FWHM, which is largely determined by experimental mass resolution. The statistical significance of the peak is $5.2 \pm 0.6 \sigma$. The mass and width of the observed peak are consistent with recent reports of a narrow $S=+1$ baryon by other experimental groups.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Measurement of the Polarized Structure Function σLT′\sigma_{LT^\prime} for p(e⃗,e′p)πop(\vec{e},e'p)\pi^o in the Δ(1232)\Delta(1232) Resonance Region

The polarized longitudinal-transverse structure function $\sigma_{LT^\prime}$ has been measured in the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance region at $Q^2=0.40$ and 0.65 GeV$^2$. Data for the $p(\vec e,e'p)\pi^o$ reaction were taken at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using longitudinally polarized electrons at an energy of 1.515 GeV. For the first time a complete angular distribution was measured, permitting the separation of different non-resonant amplitudes using a partial wave analysis. Comparison with previous beam asymmetry measurements at MAMI indicate a deviation from the predicted $Q^2$ dependence of $\sigma_{LT^{\prime}}$ using recent phenomenological models.Comment: 5 pages, LaTex, 4 eps figures: to be published in PRC/Rapid Communications. Version 2 has revised Q^2 analysi

Conservation of geosites as a tool to protect geoheritage: the inventory of Ceará Central Domain, Borborema Province - NE/Brazil

The Ceará Central Domain, in the northern Borborema Province/NE Brazil, encompasses important geological records (geosites) which allow understanding a relevant period of the Earth’s evolution, mainly associated to Neoproterozoic Brazilian/Pan-African Cycle and West Gondwana amalgamation, besides Neoarchean to Ordovician records. The presented geoheritage inventory aims to characterise the geosites with scienti c relevance of Ceará Central Domain. By applying a method for large areas, the nal selection resulted in eight geological frameworks represented by 52 geosites documented in a single database. This is the rst step for a geoconservation strategy based on systematic inventories, statutory protection, geoethical behaviour and awareness about scienti c, educational and/or cultural relevance of geosites.We specially thank all experts that helped us with this inventory: Afonso Almeida, Carlos E.G. de Araújo, César Veríssimo, Christiano Magini, Clóvis Vaz Parente, Felipe G. Costa, Irani C. Mattos, Neivaldo de Castro, Otaciel de Melo, Sebástian G. Chiozza, Ticiano Santos and Stefano Zincone. We are also thankful to Kátia Mansur, Ricardo Fraga Pereira and anonymous reviewers for their valuable contributions. PM is grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for PhD mobility scholarship PDSE Program/Process n 88881.132168/2016-01info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proinflammatory genotype is associated with the frailty phenotype in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Background: Frailty is a state of increased vulnerability to poor resolution of homeostasis after a stressor event, which increases the risk of adverse outcomes including falls, disability and death. The underlying pathophysiological pathways of frailty are not known but the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and heightened chronic systemic inflammation appear to be major contributors. Methods: We used the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing dataset of 3160 individuals over the age of 50 and assessed their frailty status according to the Fried-criteria. We selected single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes involved in the steroid hormone or inflammatory pathways and performed linear association analysis using age and sex as covariates. To support the biological plausibility of any genetic associations, we selected biomarker levels for further analyses to act as potential endophenotypes of our chosen genetic loci. Results: The strongest association with frailty was observed in the Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) (rs1800629, P = 0.001198, β = 0.0894) and the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase, Receptor type, J (PTPRJ) (rs1566729, P = 0.001372, β = 0.09397) genes. Rs1800629 was significantly associated with decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P = 0.00949) and cholesterol levels (P = 0.00315), whereas rs1566729 was associated with increased levels of HDL (P = 0.01943). After correcting for multiple testing none of the associations remained significant. Conclusions: We provide potential evidence for the involvement of a multifunctional proinflammatory cytokine gene (TNF) in the frailty phenotype. The implication of this gene is further supported by association with the endophenotype biomarker results

Evolução na utilização e nos gastos de uma operadora de saúde

Brazil’s aging population and the rising number of people reliant upon the country’s supplementary healthcare system have elicited the concern of public and private managers regarding the increase in healthcare costs. In this paper, the costs per gender, per type of medical expenses and per age group of a major Brazilian self-managed healthcare provider between 2007 and 2013 were analyzed. This healthcare provider is of interest because, besides portraying a single condition of revenue growth restricted to the existing contributors, it also replicates the demographic profile expected for Brazil in 2050, when approximately one-third of its population will be over 60 years of age. The analyses confirm the current literature as they show an increase in healthcare plan usage by the elderly and the difference between admission rates by gender. They also reveal an increase in average length of stay in hospital and the increase in medical costs far above inflation, especially for materials and medicines. It is hoped that this study will help scholars and others interested in comparisons of medical expense trends, especially by age and sex, and that it encourages further collaboration on the sustainability of health insurance providers in Brazil