Measuring fast gene dynamics in single cells with time-lapse luminescence microscopy.

Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy is an important tool for measuring in vivo gene dynamics in single cells. However, fluorescent proteins are limited by slow chromophore maturation times and the cellular autofluorescence or phototoxicity that arises from light excitation. An alternative is luciferase, an enzyme that emits photons and is active upon folding. The photon flux per luciferase is significantly lower than that for fluorescent proteins. Thus time-lapse luminescence microscopy has been successfully used to track gene dynamics only in larger organisms and for slower processes, for which more total photons can be collected in one exposure. Here we tested green, yellow, and red beetle luciferases and optimized substrate conditions for in vivo luminescence. By combining time-lapse luminescence microscopy with a microfluidic device, we tracked the dynamics of cell cycle genes in single yeast with subminute exposure times over many generations. Our method was faster and in cells with much smaller volumes than previous work. Fluorescence of an optimized reporter (Venus) lagged luminescence by 15-20 min, which is consistent with its known rate of chromophore maturation in yeast. Our work demonstrates that luciferases are better than fluorescent proteins at faithfully tracking the underlying gene expression

Undokai: encuentro deportivo de japoneses-brasileños en Rio Grande do Sul

O objetivo deste estudo é compreender como se constituiu o encontro esportivo Undokai dos nipo-brasileiros em Ivoti/Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, no início do século XXI. Realizou-se uma coleta de informações, principalmente em jornais, os quais foram submetidos à técnica da análise documental. Evidenciou-se que o Undokai foi instituído como uma das formas de preservar a cultura do grupo de nipo-brasileiros residentes na cidade de Ivoti. A despeito das dificuldades enfrentadas nos primeiros tempos, tais tradições não foram submergidas com o movimento migratório. Por meio de encontros esportivos, este grupo também buscou distinguir-se diante de diferentes grupos étnicos que compunham a sociedade em que estavam inseridos.The aim of this study is to understand how the Japanese Undokai sporting event was instituted in Ivoti/Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the early 21st century. A collection of information was carried out mainly in documentary sources, which were submitted to the technique of documentary analysis. It was evidenced that the Undokai was instituted as one of the ways to preserve the culture of the group of Japanese-Brazilians residing in the city of Ivoti. Despite the difficulties encountered in the early days, such traditions were not submerged by the migratory movement. Therefore, through sporting meetings, this group also sought to distinguish itself from different ethnic groups that made up the society in which they were inserted.El objetivo de este estudio es comprender cómo se instituyó el encuentro deportivo Undokai de japoneses-brasileños en Ivoti/Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, a principios del siglo XXI. Se recopiló información, principalmente de periódicos, que fueron sometidos ala técnica de análisis documental. Era evidente que el Undokai se estableció como una de las formas de preservar la cultura del grupo japonés-brasileño residente en la ciudad de Ivoti. Apesar de las dificultades enfrentadas en los primeros días, estas tradiciones no fueron sumergidas con el movimiento migratorio. A través de encuentros deportivos, este grupo también buscó distinguirse frente a las diferentes etnias que conformaban la sociedad en la que se insertaba

Memorias de la práctica deportiva extracurricular en escuelas privadas en Paraná (1980-1990)

O objetivo deste trabalho é compreender os aspectos que convergiram para o enfraquecimento do esporte extracurricular em escolas particulares do estado do Paraná, nas décadas de 1980 e 1990. A metodologia utilizada foi a da História Oral. Para tanto, foram realizadas seis entrevistas com atletas, técnicos e/ou gestores do esporte escolar paranaense da época. Foi possível identificar que o esporte era utilizado como ferramenta de marketing institucional; as escolas deixaram de investir no esporte por distintos motivos; a escola foi ofuscada na medida em que os estudantes/atletas passam a participar de seleções municipais e estaduais; a situação financeira nacional forçou uma reestruturação dos investimentos; o esporte passou a ser uma possibilidade de arrecadação de investimentos financeiros; houve uma mudança de comportamento dos jovens; a crítica ao ensino de esportes na Educação Física durante a década de 1990 teve influência nesse processo de enfraquecimento.This work focuses on understanding aspects that weakened extracurricular sports practice in private schools in the state of Paraná during the 1980s and 1990s. It employed Oral History as a methodology. Six interviews were conducted with athletes, coaches and/or school sports managers in the state at the time. It was found that: sports were used as institutional marketing tools; schools stopped investing in sports for different reasons; schools had been overshadowed when students/ athletes began to participate in municipal and state teams; the national financial scenario forced investments to be restructured; sports had become a way to raise financial investments; behavioral change was seen in young people; criticism of sports education in Physical Education influenced that weakening process (during the 1990s).El objetivo de este trabajo es comprender los aspectos que convergieron llevando al debilitamiento de los deportes extracurriculares en escuelas privadas en el estado de Paraná, en los años 1980 y 1990. La metodología utilizada fue la Historia Oral. Se realizaron seis entrevistas con atletas, entrenadores y/o gestores del deporte escolar en Paraná en esa época. Fue posible identificar que el deporte se utilizó como una herramienta de marketing institucional; las escuelas dejaron de invertir en deporte por diferentes razones; la escuela se ha visto ofuscada en la medida en que los estudiantes/atletas participan en selecciones municipales y estaduales; la situación financiera nacional forzó una reestructuración de las inversiones; el deporte se ha convertido en una posibilidad para aumentar las inversiones financieras; hubo un cambio en el comportamiento de los jóvenes; la crítica a la enseñanza del deporte en Educación Física durante la década de 1990 influenció en ese proceso de debilitamiento

Planeación ambiental para la conservación de la biodiversidad en las áreas operativas de Ecopetrol, ventana Sierra Nevada de Santa Martas, Ciénaga, Magdalena

El estudio se centró caracterizar la riqueza de especies de anfibios, reptiles, mamíferos, aves y plantas de la Reserva Ciudad Antigua ubicada en el municipio de Ciénaga, Corregimiento El Congo, Departamento del Magdalena, así como identificar las especies que son Objeto de Conservación debido a su importancia ecológica, endemismo y/ó amenaza.BogotáPlaneación ambiental para la conservación de la biodiversidad en las áreas operativas de Ecopetro

Cultura y sociedad en movimiento

La presente compilación de textos, que aborda temáticas diversas sobre cultura y sociedad, es corolario de un esfuerzo compartido de profesores investigadores y alumnos de licenciatura y posgrado con el fin de dar a conocer resultados de las investigaciones que se están realizando en el organismo académico, incluyendo, por supuesto, otros trabajos llevados a cabo por colegas de instituciones y disciplinas afines; de esta manera se fortalecen los cuerpos académicos y se promueven las líneas de generación y aplicación del conocimiento de éstos, evidenciando algunos campos de conocimiento de la antropología.Como es manifiesto, la obra en su conjunto aborda distintos temas desde diversas perspectivas epistemológicas y teórico-conceptuales. Constituye un trabajo plural que articula la perspectiva antropológica, con otras lentes disciplinares. Cuerpo, agricultura, desigualdad y bienestar se entrelazan como ejes en principio divergentes, que hallan en lo sociocultural un elemento común de análisis. Así, los textos aquí englobados tienen la expectativa de aportar en la discusión contemporánea de viejos y nuevos derroteros de interés antropológico, y social en general

Khresmoi Professional: Multilingual Semantic Search for Medical Professionals

There is increasing interest in and need for innovative solutions to medical search. In this paper we present the EU funded Khresmoi medical search and access system, currently in year 3 of 4 of development across 12 partners . The Khresmoi system uses a component based architecture housed in the cloud to allow for the development of several innovative applications to support target users medical information needs. The Khresmoi search systems based on this architecture have been designed to support the multilingual and multimod al information needs of three target groups the general public, general practitioners and consultant radiologists. In this paper we focus on the presentation of the systems to support the latter two groups using semantic, multilingual text and image based (including 2D and 3D radiology images) search

Evaluation of flight efficiency for Stockholm Arlanda Airport arrivals

Analysis of punctuality of airport arrivals, as well as identification of causes of the delays within transition airspace, is an important step in evaluating performance of the Terminal Maneuvering Area (TMA) Air Navigation Services: without knowing the current performance levels, it is difficult to identify which areas could be improved. Deviations from the flight plans is one of the major reasons for arrival delays. In this work, we quantified the impact of the deviations from the flight plans on the fuel burn. One of the main reasons of fuel waste is non- optimal vertical profiles during the descent phase. We calculated how much extra fuel is wasted due to vertical flight inefficiency within Stockholm TMA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Whole-chromosome hitchhiking driven by a male-killing endosymbiont.

Neo-sex chromosomes are found in many taxa, but the forces driving their emergence and spread are poorly understood. The female-specific neo-W chromosome of the African monarch (or queen) butterfly Danaus chrysippus presents an intriguing case study because it is restricted to a single 'contact zone' population, involves a putative colour patterning supergene, and co-occurs with infection by the male-killing endosymbiont Spiroplasma. We investigated the origin and evolution of this system using whole genome sequencing. We first identify the 'BC supergene', a broad region of suppressed recombination across nearly half a chromosome, which links two colour patterning loci. Association analysis suggests that the genes yellow and arrow in this region control the forewing colour pattern differences between D. chrysippus subspecies. We then show that the same chromosome has recently formed a neo-W that has spread through the contact zone within approximately 2,200 years. We also assembled the genome of the male-killing Spiroplasma, and find that it shows perfect genealogical congruence with the neo-W, suggesting that the neo-W has hitchhiked to high frequency as the male-killer has spread through the population. The complete absence of female crossing-over in the Lepidoptera causes whole-chromosome hitchhiking of a single neo-W haplotype, carrying a single allele of the BC supergene and dragging multiple non-synonymous mutations to high frequency. This has created a population of infected females that all carry the same recessive colour patterning allele, making the phenotypes of each successive generation highly dependent on uninfected male immigrants. Our findings show how hitchhiking can occur between the physically unlinked genomes of host and endosymbiont, with dramatic consequences

Impact of interstitial lung disease on the survival of systemic sclerosis with pulmonary arterial hypertension

To assess severity markers and outcomes of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) with or without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH-SSc/non-PAH-SSc), and the impact of interstitial lung disease (ILD) on PAH-SSc. Non-PAH-SSc patients from the Spanish SSc registry and PAH-SSc patients from the Spanish PAH registry were included. A total of 364 PAH-SSc and 1589 non-PAH-SSc patients were included. PAH-SSc patients had worse NYHA-functional class (NYHA-FC), worse forced vital capacity (FVC) (81.2 +/- 20.6% vs 93.6 +/- 20.6%, P < 0.001), worse tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (17.4 +/- 5.2 mm vs 19.9 +/- 6.7 mm, P < 0.001), higher incidence of pericardial effusion (30% vs 5.2%, P < 0.001) and similar prevalence of ILD (41.8% vs. 44.9%). In individuals with PAH-SSc, ILD was associated with worse hemodynamics and pulmonary function tests (PFT). Up-front combination therapy was used in 59.8% and 61.7% of patients with and without ILD, respectively. Five-year transplant-free survival rate was 41.1% in PAH-SSc patients and 93.9% in non-PAH-SSc patients (P < 0.001). Global survival of PAH-SSc patients was not affected by ILD regardless its severity. The multivariate survival analysis in PAH-SSc patients confirmed age at diagnosis, worse NYHA-FC, increased PVR, reduced DLCO, and lower management with up-front combination therapy as major risk factors. In conclusion, in PAH-SSc cohort risk of death was greatly increased by clinical, PFT, and hemodynamic factors, whereas it was decreased by up-front combination therapy. Concomitant ILD worsened hemodynamics and PFT in PAH-SSc but not survival regardless of FVC impairment