Minimal Modification To The Tri-bimaximal Neutrino Mixing

Current experimental data on neutrino oscillations are consistent with the tri-bimaximal mixing. If future experimental data will determine a non-zero $V_{e3}$ and/or find CP violations in neutrino oscillations, there is the need to modify the mixing pattern. We find that a simple neutrino mass matrix, resulting from $A_4$ family symmetry breaking with residual $Z_3$ and $Z_2$ discrete symmetries respectively for the Higgs sectors generating the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, can satisfy the required modifications. The neutrino mass matrix is minimally modified with just one additional complex parameter compared with the one producing the tri-bimaximal mixing. In this case, the CP violating Jarlskog factor $J$ has a simple form ($|J|=|V_{e1}V_{e3}|/2\sqrt{3}$ for real neutrino mass matrix), and also $V_{\mu i} = 1/\sqrt{3}$. We also discuss how this mixing matrix can be tested experimentally.Comment: Latex 11 pages with no figures. References adde

1-(2-Chlorobenzyloxy)-3-[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl-propan-2-ol Derivatives: Synthesis, Characterization, and DFT-Based Descriptors Analysis

A novel series of 1-(2-chlorobenzyloxy)-3-[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl-propan-2-ol derivatives was designed and synthesized using copper catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition in the key step. Theoretical investigation of molecular and electronic properties by means of global and local reactivity indexes of the synthetized compounds was carried out, using DFT (Density Functional Theory) at PBEPBE/6-31++G∗∗ levelCONACY

LEPRA LEPROMATOSA PENEAL EN PACIENTE CON ENFERMEDAD DE CHAGAS. REPORTE DE UN CASO

Se presenta el caso de un paciente masculino de 52 años con fimosis secundaria a una masa pseudotumoral prepucial. El paciente presentaba una historia de enfermedad de Hansen con afectación de piel, laringe y bronquios. Previa a la circuncisión, el examen físico revelaba, además de las alteraciones lepromatosas, un mega esófago secundario a estenosis en la porción distal. El análisis laboratorial mediante la técnica de ELISA dio positivo para Trypanosoma cruzi, patógeno responsable de la enfermedad de Chagas. Sólo pudimos encontrar un caso previo reportado de lepra lepromatosa con afectación prepucial. La coexistencia de lepra y miocardiopatía chagásica es inusual pero bien conocida por casos reportados en Brasil e India. Sin embargo, de acuerdo a nuestros conocimientos, éste es el primer caso reportado de una sociación entre lepra lepromatosa y mega esófago chagásico en un paciente con fimosis

HISTORIA UNIVERSAL

GUÍA DIDÁCTICA / PLANEACIÓN DIDÁCTICA (NMS

Evaluation of a Diagnostic Decision Support System for the Triage of Patients in a Hospital Emergency Department

One of the biggest challenges for the management of the emergency department (ED) is to expedite the management of patients since their arrival for those with low priority pathologies selected by the classification systems, generating unnecessary saturation of the ED. Diagnostic decision support systems (DDSS) can be a powerful tool to guide diagnosis, facilitate correct classification and improve patient safety. Patients who attended the ED of a tertiary hospital with the preconditions of Manchester Triage system level of low priority (levels 3, 4 and 5), and with one of the five most frequent causes for consultation: dyspnea, chest pain, gastrointestinal bleeding, general discomfort and abdominal pain, were interviewed by an independent researcher with a DDSS, the Mediktor system. After the interview, we compare the Manchester triage and the final diagnoses made by the ED with the triage and diagnostic possibilities ordered by probability obtained by the Mediktor system, respectively. In a final sample of 214 patients, the urgency assignment made by both systems does not match exactly, which could indicate a different classification model, but there were no statistically significant differences between the assigned levels (S = 0.059, p = 0.442). The diagnostic accuracy between the final diagnosis and any of the first 10 Mediktor diagnoses was of 76.5%, for the first five diagnoses was 65.4%, for the first three diagnoses was 58%, and the exact match with the first diagnosis was 37.9%. The classification of Mediktor in this segment of patients shows that a higher level of severity corresponds to a greater number of hospital admissions, hospital readmissions and emergency screenings at 30 days, although without statistical significance. It is expected that this type of applications may be useful as a complement to the triage, to accelerate the diagnostic approach, to improve the request for appropriate complementary tests in a protocolized action model and to reduce waiting times in the ED

Association of VAV2 and VAV3 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors

Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are cardiovascular risk factors closely associated to the development of renal and cardiovascular target organ damage. VAV2 and VAV3, members of the VAV family proto-oncogenes, are guanosine nucleotide exchange factors for the Rho and Rac GTPase family, which is related with cardiovascular homeostasis. We have analyzed the relationship between the presence of VAV2 rs602990 and VAV3 rs7528153 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage (heart, vessels and kidney) in 411 subjects. Our results show that being carrier of the T allele in VAV2 rs602990 polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of obesity, reduced levels of ankle-brachial index and diastolic blood pressure and reduced retinal artery caliber. In addition, being carrier of T allele is associated with increased risk of target organ damage in males. On the other hand, being carrier of the T allele in VAV3 rs7528153 polymorphism is associated with a decreased susceptibility of developing a pathologic state composed by the presence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity or cardiovascular damage, and with an increased risk of developing altered basal glycaemia. This is the first report showing an association between VAV2 and VAV3 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage

HER2 expression in cervical cancer as a potential therapeutic target

BACKGROUND: Trastuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against the HER2 receptor is currently being used in breast and other tumor types. Early studies have shown that a variable proportion of cervical carcinoma tumors overexpress the HER2 receptor as evaluated by diverse techniques and antibodies. Currently it is known that a tumor response to trastuzumab strongly correlates with the level of HER2 expression evaluated by the Hercep Test, thus, it seems desirable to evaluate the status of expression of this receptor using the FDA-approved Hercep Test and grading system to gain insight in the feasibility of using trastuzumab in cervical cancer patients. METHODS: We analyzed a series of cervical cancer cell lines, the primary tumors of 35 cases of cervical cancer patients and four recurrent cases, with the Hercep Test in order to establish whether this tumor type overexpress HER2 at level of 2+/3+ as trastuzumab is currently approved for breast cancer having such level of expression. RESULTS: The results indicate that only 1 out of 35 primary tumors cases overexpress the receptor at this level, however, two out of four recurrent tumors that tested negative at diagnosis shifted to Hercep Test 2+ and 3+ respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The low frequency of expression in primary cases suggests that trastuzumab could have a limited value for the primary management of cervical cancer patients, however, the finding of "conversion" to Hercep Test 2+ and 3+ of recurrent tumors indicates the need to further evaluate the expression of HER2 in the metastatic and recurrent cases

Parental transfer of the antimicrobial protein LBP/BPI protects Biomphalaria glabrata eggs against oomycete infections

Copyright: © 2013 Baron et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was funded by ANR (ANR-07-BLAN-0214 and ANR-12-EMMA-00O7-01), CNRS and INRA. PvW was financially supported by the BBSRC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Quantitative trait loci conferring grain mineral nutrient concentrations in durum wheat 3 wild emmer wheat RIL population

Mineral nutrient malnutrition, and particularly deficiency in zinc and iron, afflicts over 3 billion people worldwide. Wild emmer wheat, Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides, genepool harbors a rich allelic repertoire for mineral nutrients in the grain. The genetic and physiological basis of grain protein, micronutrients (zinc, iron, copper and manganese) and macronutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and sulfur) concentration was studied in tetraploid wheat population of 152 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from a cross between durum wheat (cv. Langdon) and wild emmer (accession G18-16). Wide genetic variation was found among the RILs for all grain minerals, with considerable transgressive effect. A total of 82 QTLs were mapped for 10 minerals with LOD score range of 3.2–16.7. Most QTLs were in favor of the wild allele (50 QTLs). Fourteen pairs of QTLs for the same trait were mapped to seemingly homoeologous positions, reflecting synteny between the A and B genomes. Significant positive correlation was found between grain protein concentration (GPC), Zn, Fe and Cu, which was supported by significant overlap between the respective QTLs, suggesting common physiological and/or genetic factors controlling the concentrations of these mineral nutrients. Few genomic regions (chromosomes 2A, 5A, 6B and 7A) were found to harbor clusters of QTLs for GPC and other nutrients. These identified QTLs may facilitate the use of wild alleles for improving grain nutritional quality of elite wheat cultivars, especially in terms of protein, Zn and Fe