Expressão dos genes nodC, nodW e nopP em Bradyrhizobium japonicum estirpe CPAC 15 avaliada por RT-qPCR.

Resumo O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a expressão, por RT-qPCR, dos genes de nodulação nodC e nodW e do gene nopP da estirpe CPAC 15, que provavelmente atuam na infecção das raízes da soja. Foram realizados dois experimentos. No primeiro, a expressão dos genes foi avaliada nas células após a incubação com genisteína por 15 min, 1, 4 e 8 horas. Os resultados revelaram que os três genes apresentaram maior expressão imediatamente após o contato com o indutor (15 min). No segundo experimento, a bactéria foi cultivada na presença de indutores (genisteína ou exsudatos de sementes de soja) por 48 horas. A expressão dos três genes foi maior na presença de genisteína, com valores de expressão para nodC, nodW e nopP superiores ao controle. Os resultados obtidos confirmam a funcionalidade dos três genes na estirpe CPAC 15, com ênfase para o nopP, cuja funcionalidade em Bradyrhizobium japonicum foi descrita pela primeira vez. Termos para indexação: Glycine max, flavonoides, genes de nodulação, sistema de secreção tipo III

Clustering Italian medical texts: a case study on referrals

In the medical domain, there is a large amount of valuable information that is stored in textual format. These unstructured data have long been ignored, due to the difficulties of introducing them in statistical models, but in the last years, the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) has seen relevant improvements, with models capable of achieving relevant results in various tasks, including information extraction, classification and clustering. NLP models are typically language-specific and often domain-specific, but most of the work to date has been focused on the English language, especially in the medical domain. In this work, we propose a pipeline for clustering Italian medical texts, with a case study on clinical questions reported in referral

Desmoplastic small round cell tumour: Cytological and immunocytochemical features

BACKGROUND: Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare and highly aggressive neoplasm. The cytological diagnosis of these tumors can be difficult because they show morphological features quite similar to other small round blue cells tumors. We described four cases of DSRCT with cytological sampling: one obtained by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and three from serous effusions. The corresponding immunocytochemical panel was also reviewed. METHODS: Papanicolaou stained samples from FNAB and effusions were morphologically described. Immunoreaction with WT1 antibody was performed in all cytological samples. An immunohistochemical panel including the following antibodies was performed in the corresponding biopsies: 34BE12, AE1/AE3, Chromogranin A, CK20, CK7, CK8, Desmin, EMA, NSE, Vimentin and WT1. RESULTS: The smears showed high cellularity with minor size alteration. Nuclei were round to oval, some of them with inconspicuous nucleoli. Tumor cells are clustered, showing rosette-like feature. Tumor cells in effusions and FNA were positive to WT1 in 3 of 4 cytology specimens (2 out 3 effusions and one FNA). Immunohistochemical reactions for vimentin, NSE, AE1/AE3 and WT1 were positive in all cases in tissue sections. CONCLUSION: The use of an adjunct immunocytochemical panel coupled with the cytomorphological characteristics allows the diagnosis of DSRCT in cytological specimens

Independent, additive and interactive effects of acute normobaric hypoxia and cold on submaximal and maximal endurance exercise

Purpose: To evaluate the independent and combined effects of hypoxia (FiO2 = 13.5%) and cold (- 20 °C) on physiological and perceptual responses to endurance exercise. Methods: 14 trained male subjects ([Formula: see text]O2max: 64 ± 5 mL/kg/min) randomly performed a discontinuous maximal incremental test to exhaustion on a motorized treadmill under four environmental conditions: Normothermic-Normoxia (N), Normothermic-Hypoxia (H), Cold-Normoxia (C) and Cold-Hypoxia (CH). Performance and physiological and perceptual responses throughout exercise were evaluated. Results: Maximal WorkLoad (WL) and WL at lactate threshold (LT) were reduced in C (- 2.3% and - 3.5%) and H (- 18.0% and - 21.7%) compared to N, with no interactive (p = 0.25 and 0.81) but additive effect in CH (- 21.5% and - 24.6%). Similarly, HRmax and Vemax were reduced in C (- 3.2% and - 14.6%) and H (- 5.0% and - 7%), showing additive effects in CH (- 7.7% and - 16.6%). At LT, additive effect of C (- 2.8%) and H (- 3.8%) on HR reduction in CH (- 5.7%) was maintained, whereas an interactive effect (p = 0.007) of the two stressors combined was noted on Ve (C: - 3.1%, H: + 5.5%, CH: - 10.9%). [La] curve shifted on the left in CH, displaying an interaction effect between the 2 stressors on this parameter. Finally, RPE at LT was exclusively reduced by hypoxia (p < 0.001), whereas TSmax is synergistically reduced by cold and hypoxia (interaction p = 0.047). Conclusion: If compared to single stress exposure, exercise performance and physiological and perceptual variables undergo additive or synergistic effects when cold and hypoxia are combined. These results provide new insight into human physiological responses to extreme environments

Specific strength in sport climbing disciplines

Strength of the upper limbs has been suggested to de a determinant in climbing performance (1). However, different kinds of assessments have provided contradictory results. Strength has been measured with general (handgrip) and specific (SCD, specific climbing dynamometer) tools. Isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and rate of force development (RFD) can be considered as outcomes. The SCD showed validity (correlated with lead performance n=38, r=-0.61, p<0.001)(2), reliability (Typical Error as CV was 8, 16% for SCD MVC and peak-RFD and ICC of 0.91, 0.82, respectively) (3) and internal responsiveness (effect size 1.44 in SCD peak-RFD) (4). Lead and Boulder are widespread disciplines in sport climbing. Boulder climbers showed higher values of MVC and pRFD compared to Lead climbers (5). Muscle fatigue (i.e. decrease in MVC and RFD parameters) can give further details in the importance of neuromuscular properties in sport climbing disciplines. The aim of this study was to examine muscle fatigue after Boulder and Lead activity. Methods Fourteen climbers (age 29 \ub1 10 yrs, height 176 \ub1 8 cm, weight 70 \ub1 7 kg, climbing level IRCRA scale moderate to advanced) participated in a simulated competition in Lead and Boulder. Before the measurement climbers were involved in a survey investigation. Participants were randomly assigned to a sequence Lead-Boulder or Boulder-Lead in a counterbalanced design with two conditions (i.e. Lead and Boulder) and washout (i.e. recovery) period of 4 hours. Specific strength (MVC and RFD) was measured with a SCD at baseline and after Boulder and Lead. Results Climbers perceived strength of the forearms to be important in boulder and lead (12 and 13% of the answers) performances and physical strength of higher importance in boulder compared to lead (34 and 42% of answers). MVC and pRFD at baseline were 7.2 \ub1 1.1 N/kg and 38.2 \ub1 8.6 N/kg/s. After boulder, MVC and pRFD were 6.8 \ub1 1.5 N/kg and 32.7 \ub1 10.3 N/kg/s, percentage differences -7.4 (90% CI \ub1 7.3) and -16.3 (90% CI \ub1 15). After lead MVC and pRFD were 6.4 \ub1 1.7 N/kg and 30 \ub1 11.3 N/kg/s, percentage differences -12.8 (90% CI \ub1 10.8) and -25.4 (90% CI \ub1 13). Discussion The decline in strength after Lead and Boulder simulation of competition confirms the occurrence of muscle fatigue. This study confirmed previous results attained after a Lead official competition and simulation for pRFD (-19%) and MVC (-6%) (2). The great decline in pRFD underlined the importance of rapidly exerting the strength (i.e. contact strength) during both disciplines. Conclusion Specific strength should be assessed with SCD. Rate of force development seams to be more appropriate compared to maximal voluntary contraction for investigating fatigue after climbing disciplines. References 1. Watts, P.B., Eur J Appl Physiol, 2004. 91(4): 361-72. 2. Fanchini, M., et al. In 15th Annual Congress of ECSS. 2010. Antalya, Turkey 3. Fanchini M, et al. In 16th Annual Congress of Sport Science ECSS. 2011. Liverpool, UK. 4 Fanchini M, et al. In 2nd International Rock Climbing Research Congress 2014, Pontresina, Switzerland 5 Fanchini M et al. J Strength Cond Res,2013. 27(2): 310-31

Detecting early signals of COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020 in small areas by monitoring healthcare utilisation databases: first lessons learned from the Italian Alert_CoV project

During the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale diagnostic testing and contact tracing have proven insufficient to promptly monitor the spread of infections.AimTo develop and retrospectively evaluate a system identifying aberrations in the use of selected healthcare services to timely detect COVID-19 outbreaks in small areas. Methods: Data were retrieved from the healthcare utilisation (HCU) databases of the Lombardy Region, Italy. We identified eight services suggesting a respiratory infection (syndromic proxies). Count time series reporting the weekly occurrence of each proxy from 2015 to 2020 were generated considering small administrative areas (i.e. census units of Cremona and Mantua provinces). The ability to uncover aberrations during 2020 was tested for two algorithms: the improved Farrington algorithm and the generalised likelihood ratio-based procedure for negative binomial counts. To evaluate these algorithms' performance in detecting outbreaks earlier than the standard surveillance, confirmed outbreaks, defined according to the weekly number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, were used as reference. Performances were assessed separately for the first and second semester of the year. Proxies positively impacting performance were identified. Results: We estimated that 70% of outbreaks could be detected early using the proposed approach, with a corresponding false positive rate of ca 20%. Performance did not substantially differ either between algorithms or semesters. The best proxies included emergency calls for respiratory or infectious disease causes and emergency room visits. Conclusion: Implementing HCU-based monitoring systems in small areas deserves further investigations as it could facilitate the containment of COVID-19 and other unknown infectious diseases in the future

Solving Fuzzy Job-Shop Scheduling Problems with a Multiobjective Optimizer

International audienceIn real-world manufacturing environments, it is common to face a job-shop scheduling problem (JSP) with uncertainty. Among different sources of uncertainty, processing times uncertainty is the most common. In this paper, we investigate the use of a multiobjective genetic algorithm to address JSPs with uncertain durations. Uncertain durations in a JSP are expressed by means of triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs). Instead of using expected values as in other work, we consider all vertices of the TFN representing the overall completion time. As a consequence, the proposed approach tries to obtain a schedule that optimizes the three component scheduling problems (corresponding to the lowest, most probable, and largest durations) all at the same time. In order to verify the quality of solutions found by the proposed approach, an experimental study was carried out across different benchmark instances. In all experiments, comparisons with previous approaches that are based on a single-objective genetic algorithm were also performed

Dataset of manually measured QT intervals in the electrocardiogram

BACKGROUND: The QT interval and the QT dispersion are currently a subject of considerable interest. Cardiac repolarization delay is known to favor the development of arrhythmias. The QT dispersion, defined as the difference between the longest and the shortest QT intervals or as the standard deviation of the QT duration in the 12-lead ECG is assumed to be reliable predictor of cardiovascular mortality. The seventh annual PhysioNet/Computers in Cardiology Challenge, 2006 addresses a question of high clinical interest: Can the QT interval be measured by fully automated methods with accuracy acceptable for clinical evaluations? METHOD: The PTB Diagnostic ECG Database was given to 4 cardiologists and 1 biomedical engineer for manual marking of QRS onsets and T-wave ends in 458 recordings. Each recording consisted of one selected beat in lead II, chosen visually to have minimum baseline shift, noise, and artifact. In cases where no T wave could be observed or its amplitude was very small, the referees were instructed to mark a 'group-T-wave end' taking into consideration leads with better manifested T wave. A modified Delphi approach was used, which included up to three rounds of measurements to obtain results closer to the median. RESULTS: A total amount of 2*5*548 Q-onsets and T-wave ends were manually marked during round 1. To obtain closer to the median results, 8.58 % of Q-onsets and 3.21 % of the T-wave ends had to be reviewed during round 2, and 1.50 % Q-onsets and 1.17 % T-wave ends in round 3. The mean and standard deviation of the differences between the values of the referees and the median after round 3 were 2.43 ± 0.96 ms for the Q-onset, and 7.43 ± 3.44 ms for the T-wave end. CONCLUSION: A fully accessible, on the Internet, dataset of manually measured Q-onsets and T-wave ends was created and presented in additional file: 1 (Table 4) with this article. Thus, an available standard can be used for the development of automated methods for the detection of Q-onsets, T-wave ends and for QT interval measurements