Portugal and Angola: the politics of a troubled media relationship

In his last text of 2016, published on Christmas day, the editor of Angola’s official newspaper, Jornal de Angola, wrote a ‘message of harmony’ where he chose to focus on diplomatic relations with the former colonial power. José Ribeiro’s reading was clear: “Forty one years after independence the Portuguese elites still treat us impolitely as if we were their slaves” (Ribeiro, 2016). This posture would be reinforced precisely a week later in the first editorial of 2017: “Angola will not cease to be an independent country (…) no longer willing to accept mouldy neo-colonial impositions from abroad” (Ribeiro, 2017).(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Agreement of Self-Reported and Genital Measures of Sexual Arousal in Men and Women: A Meta-Analysis

The assessment of sexual arousal in men and women informs theoretical studies of human sexuality and provides a method to assess and evaluate the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias. Understanding measures of arousal is, therefore, paramount to further theoretical and practical advances in the study of human sexuality. In this meta-analysis, we review research to quantify the extent of agreement between self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal, to determine if there is a gender difference in this agreement, and to identify theoretical and methodological moderators of subjective-genital agreement. We identified 132 peer- or academically-reviewed laboratory studies published between 1969 and 2007 reporting a correlation between self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal, with total sample sizes of 2,505 women and 1,918 men. There was a statistically significant gender difference in the agreement between self-reported and genital measures, with men (r = .66) showing a greater degree of agreement than women (r = .26). Two methodological moderators of the gender difference in subjective-genital agreement were identified: stimulus variability and timing of the assessment of self-reported sexual arousal. The results have implications for assessment of sexual arousal, the nature of gender differences in sexual arousal, and models of sexual response

Bioassay design and length of time in the laboratory affect intercolonial interactions of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

This study examined the effect of diet, experimental design, and length of time in the laboratory on intercolonial agonism among Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, colonies. In pairings of 12 C. formosanus Shiraki colonies collected in an urban forest, there was no significant reduction in survival of termites in 30 out of 59 colony pairs compared to colony controls, but there was <50% survival in 18 colony pairs and <10% survival in six colony pairs. There was no correlation between the level of aggressive behavior and the laboratory diet of the termites. Effect of bioassay design and length of time in the laboratory was evaluated in three colony pairs where tests were first conducted on the day of field collection, then colony pairs were retested every 7 days. Aggressive behavior decreased over time in both bioassays, but it tended to decrease more rapidly in the Petri dish tests. The rapid loss of agonism in groups of termites kept in the laboratory demonstrates that changes in environmental factors affect intercolonial agonism

Diagnostic and prognostic value of procalcitonin among febrile critically ill patients with prolonged ICU stay

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Procalcitonin (PCT) has been proposed as a diagnostic and prognostic sepsis marker, but has never been validated in febrile patients with prolonged ICU stay.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients were included in the study provided they were hospitalised in the ICU for > 10 days, were free of infection and presented a new episode of SIRS, with fever >38°C being obligatory. Fifty patients fulfilled the above criteria. PCT was measured daily during the ICU stay. The primary outcome was proven infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-seven out of 50 patients were diagnosed with infection. Median PCT on the day of fever was 1.18 and 0.17 ng/ml for patients with and without proven infections (p < 0.001). The area under the curve for PCT was 0.85 (95% CI; 0.71-0.93), for CRP 0.65 (0.46-0.78) and for WBC 0.68 (0.49-0.81). A PCT level of 1 ng/mL yielded a negative predictive value of 72% for the presence of infection, while a PCT of 1.16 had a specificity of 100%. A two-fold increase of PCT between fever onset and the previous day was associated with proven infection (p 0.001) (OR = 8.55; 2.4-31.1), whereas a four-fold increase of PCT of any of the 6 preceding days was associated with a positive predictive value exceeding 69.65%. A PCT value less than 0.5 ng/ml on the third day after the advent of fever was associated with favorable survival (p 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The reported data support that serial serum PCT may be a valuable diagnostic and prognostic marker in febrile chronic critically ill patients.</p

The basal epithelial marker P-cadherin associates with breast cancer cell populations harboring a glycolytic and acid-resistant phenotype

"BMC Cancer 2014 14:734"BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells are hypoxia-resistant and present a preponderant glycolytic metabolism. These characteristics are also found in basal-like breast carcinomas (BLBC), which show increased expression of cancer stem cell markers.Recently, we demonstrated that P-cadherin, a biomarker of BLBC and a poor prognostic factor in this disease, mediates stem-like properties and resistance to radiation therapy. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate if P-cadherin expression was associated to breast cancer cell populations with an adapted phenotype to hypoxia. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was performed to address the expression of P-cadherin, hypoxic, glycolytic and acid-resistance biomarkers in primary human breast carcinomas. In vitro studies were performed using basal-like breast cancer cell lines. qRT-PCR, FACS analysis, western blotting and confocal microscopy were used to assess the expression of P-cadherin after HIF-1a stabilization, achieved by CoCl2 treatment. siRNA-mediated knockdown was used to silence the expression of several targets and qRT-PCR was employed to evaluate the effects of P-cadherin on HIF-1a signaling. P-cadherin high and low breast cancer cell populations were sorted by FACS and levels of GLUT1 and CAIX were assessed by FACS and western blotting. Mammosphere forming efficiency was used to determine the stem cell activity after specific siRNA-mediated knockdown, further confirmed by western blotting. RESULTS: We demonstrated that P-cadherin overexpression was significantly associated with the expression of HIF-1a, GLUT1, CAIX, MCT1 and CD147 in human breast carcinomas. In vitro, we showed that HIF-1a stabilization was accompanied by increased membrane expression of P-cadherin and that P-cadherin silencing led to a decrease of the mRNA levels of GLUT1 and CAIX. We also found that the cell fractions harboring high levels of P-cadherin were the same exhibiting more GLUT1 and CAIX expression. Finally, we showed that P-cadherin silencing significantly decreases the mammosphere forming efficiency in the same range as the silencing of HIF-1a, CAIX or GLUT1, validating that all these markers are being expressed by the same breast cancer stem cell population. CONCLUSIONS: Our results establish a link between aberrant P-cadherin expression and hypoxic, glycolytic and acid-resistant breast cancer cells, suggesting a possible role for this marker in cancer cell metabolismo.This work was funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE Program (Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade) and by national funds through FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal), mainly in the context of the scientific project PTDC/SAU-GMG/120049/2010-FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-021209, and partially by PTDC/SAU-FCF/104347/2008. FCT funded the research grants of BS (SFRH/BD/69353/2010), ASR (SFRH/BPD/75705/2011), ARN (grant from the project PTDC/SAU-GMG/120049/2010), CP (SFRH/BPD/69479/2010), AV (SFRH/BPD/90303/2012), as well as JP, with Programa Ciencia 2007 (Contratacao de Doutorados para o SCTN - financiamento pelo POPH - QREN - Tipologia 4.2 - Promocao do Emprego Cientifico, comparticipado pelo Fundo Social Europeu e por fundos nacionais do MCTES) and Programa IFCT (FCT Investigator). IPATIMUP is an Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and is partially supported by FCT

Cascade of Neural Events Leading from Error Commission to Subsequent Awareness Revealed Using EEG Source Imaging

The goal of the present study was to shed light on the respective contributions of three important action monitoring brain regions (i.e. cingulate cortex, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex) during the conscious detection of response errors. To this end, fourteen healthy adults performed a speeded Go/Nogo task comprising Nogo trials of varying levels of difficulty, designed to elicit aware and unaware errors. Error awareness was indicated by participants with a second key press after the target key press. Meanwhile, electromyogram (EMG) from the response hand was recorded in addition to high-density scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). In the EMG-locked grand averages, aware errors clearly elicited an error-related negativity (ERN) reflecting error detection, and a later error positivity (Pe) reflecting conscious error awareness. However, no Pe was recorded after unaware errors or hits. These results are in line with previous studies suggesting that error awareness is associated with generation of the Pe. Source localisation results confirmed that the posterior cingulate motor area was the main generator of the ERN. However, inverse solution results also point to the involvement of the left posterior insula during the time interval of the Pe, and hence error awareness. Moreover, consecutive to this insular activity, the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was activated in response to aware and unaware errors but not in response to hits, consistent with the implication of this area in the evaluation of the value of an error. These results reveal a precise sequence of activations in these three non-overlapping brain regions following error commission, enabling a progressive differentiation between aware and unaware errors as a function of time elapsed, thanks to the involvement first of interoceptive or proprioceptive processes (left insula), later leading to the detection of a breach in the prepotent response mode (right OFC)

Caenorhabditis elegans BAH-1 Is a DUF23 Protein Expressed in Seam Cells and Required for Microbial Biofilm Binding to the Cuticle

The cuticle of Caenorhabditis elegans, a complex, multi-layered extracellular matrix, is a major interface between the animal and its environment. Biofilms produced by the bacterial genus Yersinia attach to the cuticle of the worm, providing an assay for surface characteristics. A C. elegans gene required for biofilm attachment, bah-1, encodes a protein containing the domain of unknown function DUF23. The DUF23 domain is found in 61 predicted proteins in C. elegans, which can be divided into three distinct phylogenetic clades. bah-1 is expressed in seam cells, which are among the hypodermal cells that synthesize the cuticle, and is regulated by a TGF-β signaling pathway