Afadin Signaling at the Spinal Neuroepithelium Regulates Central Canal Formation and Gait Selection

Skarlatou et al. report that afadin function in the developing spinal neuroepithelium controls organization of the midline. Afadin elimination from the motor neuron progenitor zone results in duplication of the central canal, aberrant wiring of dI4-5, V0, and V2a premotor neurons, and loss of left-right limb alternation.publishersversionpublishe

Drosophila motor neuron boutons remodel through membrane blebbing coupled with muscle contraction

Funding Information: We would like to thank Telmo Pereira from the Microscopy Facility for technical support, the Fly Facility at Nova Medical Research; CONGENTO: consortium for genetically tractable organisms. We thank the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center and VDRC for antibodies and fly stocks. This work was supported by PTDC-01778/2022- NeuroDev3D to R.O.T. GEMiNI and PTDC/BIA-COM/0151/2020 to C.S.M and European Research Council H2020-GA 810207-ARPCOMPLEXITY to E.R.G. A.R.F. is supported with a PhD scholarship from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal, reference SFRH/BD/144488/2019, and J.P.M. with a reference SFRH/BD/130920/2017. This work also supported by iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020), and LS4FUTURE (LA/P/0087/2020). Funding Information: We would like to thank Telmo Pereira from the Microscopy Facility for technical support, the Fly Facility at Nova Medical Research; CONGENTO: consortium for genetically tractable organisms. We thank the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center and VDRC for antibodies and fly stocks. This work was supported by PTDC-01778/2022- NeuroDev3D to R.O.T. GEMiNI and PTDC/BIA-COM/0151/2020 to C.S.M and European Research Council H2020-GA 810207-ARPCOMPLEXITY to E.R.G.. A.R.F. is supported with a PhD scholarship from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal, reference SFRH/BD/144488/2019, and J.P.M. with a reference SFRH/BD/130920/2017. This work also supported by iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020), and LS4FUTURE (LA/P/0087/2020). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Wired neurons form new presynaptic boutons in response to increased synaptic activity, however the mechanism(s) by which this occurs remains uncertain. Drosophila motor neurons (MNs) have clearly discernible boutons that display robust structural plasticity, being therefore an ideal system in which to study activity-dependent bouton genesis. Here, we show that in response to depolarization and in resting conditions, MNs form new boutons by membrane blebbing, a pressure-driven mechanism that occurs in 3-D cell migration, but to our knowledge not previously described to occur in neurons. Accordingly, F-actin is decreased in boutons during outgrowth, and non-muscle myosin-II is dynamically recruited to newly formed boutons. Furthermore, muscle contraction plays a mechanical role, which we hypothesize promotes bouton addition by increasing MN confinement. Overall, we identified a mechanism by which established circuits form new boutons allowing their structural expansion and plasticity, using trans-synaptic physical forces as the main driving force.publishersversionpublishe

Comparison between two bone substitutes for alveolar ridge preservation after tooth extraction: Cone-beam computed tomography results of a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial

AIM To test the non-inferiority of demineralized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) compared to DBBM with 10% collagen (DBBM-C) for maintenance of bone volume after tooth extraction in the anterior maxilla. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-six patients were randomly treated with DBBM or DBBM-C, both of which were covered with a collagen matrix for ridge preservation in the anterior maxilla. Cone-beam computed tomographic analysis was performed immediately and 4 months after treatment. The primary outcome, for which non-inferiority of DBBM was tested, was change in the horizontal ridge width 1 mm below the buccal alveolar crest (HW-1) 4 months after extraction. RESULTS Four months after extraction, HW-1 measured -1.60 mm ± 0.82 mm for DBBM-C, while the DBBM group showed a mean loss of -1.37 mm ± 0.84 mm (p = 0.28, 0.23 [95% CI: -0.19; 0.64]). The horizontal ridge width at 3 mm (HW-3) showed -0.98 mm (±0.67 mm) for DBBM-C and -0.84 mm (±0.62 mm) for DBBM (p = 0.40, 0.12 [95% CI: -0.19; 0.45]), and the horizontal ridge width at 5 mm (HW-5) showed -0.67 mm (±0.47 mm) for DBBM-C and -0.56 mm (±0.48 mm) for DBBM (p = 0.36, 0.11 [95% CI: -0.13; 0.34]). CONCLUSIONS The present clinical trial demonstrated non-inferiority of DBBM compared to DBBM-C for maintenance of alveolar bone volume 4 months after tooth extraction in the anterior maxilla

Synthesis of beta-phenylchalcogeno-alpha, beta-unsaturated esters, ketones and nitriles using microwave and solvent-free conditions

A simple, clean and efficient solvent-free protocol was developed for hydrochalcogenation of alkynes containing a Michael acceptor (ester, ketone and nitrile) with phenylchalcogenolate anions generated in situ from the respective diphenyl dichalcogenide (Se, Te, S), using alumina supported sodium borohydride. This efficient and improved method is general and furnishes the respective (Z)-beta-phenylchalcogeno-<FONT FACE=Symbol>a,b</FONT>-unsaturated esters, ketones and nitriles, in good yield and higher selectivity, compared with those that use organic solvent and inert atmosphere. The use of microwave (MW) irradiation facilitates the procedure and accelerates the reaction

The steroid-hormone ecdysone coordinates parallel pupariation neuromotor and morphogenetic subprograms via epidermis-to-neuron Dilp8-Lgr3 signal induction

Funding Information: We thank Drs. Carlos Ribeiro, Christen Mirth, Elio Sucena, Filip Port, Frank Schnorrer, Julien Colombani, Maria Dominguez, Maria Luisa Vasconcelos, Pierre Leopold, Simon Bullock, Rita Teodoro, Gerald Rubin, Melissa Harrison, Kate O’Connor-Giles, Jill Wildonger, Mariana Melani, Pablo Wappner, and Christian Wegener for fly stocks and reagents. We thank Ryohei Yagi and Konrad Basler for the LHV2 plasmid and Brain McCabe for the mhc-Gateway destination plasmid. We thank Carlos Ribeiro and Dennis Goldschmidt for help in designing and constructing one of the pupariation arenas and Mariana Melani, Pablo Wappner, Arash Bashirullah, and Filip Port for sharing resources and unpublished data. We thank Arash Bashirullah, Fillip Port, and Carlos Ribeiro for discussions and/or comments on the manuscript, and Jim Truman for discussions on Fraenkel’s pupariation factors. Stocks obtained from the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (NIH P40OD018537) were used in this study. Work in the Integrative Biomedicine Laboratory was supported by the European Commission FP7 (PCIG13-GA-2013-618847), by the FCT (IF/00022/2012; Congento LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022170, cofinanced by FCT/Lisboa2020; UID/Multi/04462/2019; PTDC/BEXBCM/1370/2014; PTDC/MED-NEU/30753/2017; PTDC/BIA-BID/31071/2017; FCT SFRH/BPD/94112/ 2013; SFRH/BD/94931/2013), the MIT Portugal Program (MIT-EXPL/BIO/0097/2017), and FAPESP (16/09659-3, 16/10342-4, and 17/17904-0). AG is a CONICET researcher, YV holds a CONICET postdoctoral fellowship and FPS and MJD hold a PhD fellowship from CONICET. Work in the Garelli lab was supported by ANPCyT (Agencia Nacional para la Promoción de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, PICT 2014-2900 and PICT 2017-0254) and CONICET (PIP11220150100182CO). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Innate behaviors consist of a succession of genetically-hardwired motor and physiological subprograms that can be coupled to drastic morphogenetic changes. How these integrative responses are orchestrated is not completely understood. Here, we provide insight into these mechanisms by studying pupariation, a multi-step innate behavior of Drosophila larvae that is critical for survival during metamorphosis. We find that the steroid-hormone ecdysone triggers parallel pupariation neuromotor and morphogenetic subprograms, which include the induction of the relaxin-peptide hormone, Dilp8, in the epidermis. Dilp8 acts on six Lgr3-positive thoracic interneurons to couple both subprograms in time and to instruct neuromotor subprogram switching during behavior. Our work reveals that interorgan feedback gates progression between subunits of an innate behavior and points to an ancestral neuromodulatory function of relaxin signaling.publishersversionpublishe

Quality of life in liver transplant recipients and the influence of sociodemographic factors

Abstract OBJECTIVE To verify the influence of sociodemographic factors on the quality of life of patients after liver transplant. METHOD Cross-sectional study with 150 patients who underwent liver transplant at a referral center. A sociodemographic instrument and the Liver Disease Quality of Life questionnaire were applied. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, as well as multiple comparisons by the Tukey test and Games-Howell tests when p <0.05. RESULTS Old age had influence on domains of symptoms of liver disease (p = 0.049), sleep (p = 0.023) and sexual function (p = 0.03). Men showed better significant mean values than women for the loneliness dimension (p = 0.037). Patients with higher educational level had higher values for the domain of stigma of liver disease (p = 0.014). There was interference of income in the domains of quality of social interaction (p = 0.033) and stigma of the disease (p = 0.046). CONCLUSION In half of the quality of life domains, there was influence of some sociodemographic variable

Demanda mediana por serviços públicos e desempenho eleitoral: evidências do modelo do eleitor mediano para os municípios brasileiros

O objetivo deste trabalho é testar empiricamente a validade do modelo do eleitor mediano para o caso brasileiro. O teste foi viabilizado pela possibilidade de reeleição, estabelecida em 1997 por meio da Emenda da Reeleição. Com informações municipais do Censo Populacional e do TSE para o ano de 2000, identificaram-se as cestas ofertadas por candidatos à reeleição como os gastos efetuados durante seus primeiros mandatos. Em seguida, estimou-se a demanda por serviços públicos locais. Relaxando a hipótese de informação perfeita dos candidatos em relação à demanda mediana, e impondo uma hipótese menos forte, de expectativas racionais, justificou-se a estimação de uma medida de erro de percepção dos candidatos à reeleição em relação à demanda mediana. Em seguida, estimou-se o impacto do módulo dessa medida sobre o desempenho eleitoral dos candidatos à reeleição usando modelos de seleção. O resultado obtido sugere que o modelo do eleitor mediano é válido para os municípios brasileiros

Desafio do Núcleo de Atenção Médica Integrada diante da necessidade de inserção de fonoaudiólogo na Rede Municipal de Saúde de Fortaleza

OBJETIVO: Demonstrar a necessidade da inserção do fonoaudiólogo na rede municipal de saúde de Fortaleza-CE, diante da elevada demanda de usuários e da escassez de serviços gratuitos de fonoaudiologia nesse município. MÉTODOS: Estudo documental, transversal e descritivo com abordagem quantitativa, realizado de julho e setembro de 2008, no qual foram analisados os documentos de atendimentos fonoaudiológicos do Núcleo de Atenção Médica Integrada da Universidade de Fortaleza (NAMI-Unifor), no período de janeiro de 2006 a dezembro de 2007. RESULTADOS: Houve predomínio de atendimento das faixas etárias de 0 e 6 anos no setor de audiologia, (22,05%); e de 0 a 10 anos no setor de fonoterapia, (58,09%). O exame audiológico mais procurado foi a audiometria (65,78%); o principal responsável pelo encaminhamento ao setor de audiologia foi o otorrinolaringologista (56,39%). No setor de fonoterapia, a linguagem foi a área com maior prevalência de atendimentos (36,99%). A terapia em grupo atingiu percentual significativo, com 37,27%, em 2007. Foi registrada queda no número de atendimentos durante o período de recesso da Universidade, devido à redução do número de alunos. CONCLUSÃO: Com um trabalho em nível de atenção primária, no que concerne à saúde da comunicação humana/deglutição, haveria diminuição de gastos públicos com o tratamento das alterações fonoaudiológicas nos demais níveis de atenção. A presença do fonoaudiólogo nas Unidades Básicas de Saúde (UBS) possibilitaria a melhoria da qualidade de vida da população em todos os ciclos de vida, além da redução da sobrecarga nos serviços gratuitos que prestam atendimento fonoaudiológico no município de Fortaleza.PURPOSE: To demonstrate the need to include the speech-language pathologist and audiologist in the municipal health system of the city of Fortaleza (Northeastern Brazil), due to the high demand of patients and the lack of public speech-language and audiology services in the city. METHODS: Documental, cross-sectional and descriptive study with a quantitative approach, developed between July and September 2008. Data were collected through the analysis of the records of the speech-language and audiology assistance provided for patients at NAMI-Unifor (The Medical Care Nucleus of the University of Fortaleza) in the period from January 2006 to December 2007. RESULTS: There was predominance of the assistance provided for the age groups between 0 and 6 years old in the audiology service (22.05%) and 0 to 10 years old in the speech-language therapy service (58.09%). The most applied audiology procedure was audiometry (65.78%), and the main professional responsible for referring patients to the audiology service was the otorhinolaryngologist (56.39%). In speech-language therapy, oral language and/or writing was the area with the highest prevalence of visits (36.99%). Group therapy reached a significant percentage: 37.27% in 2007. A fall in the number of visits during the University's recess period was observed, due to the reduction in the number of students who are responsible for the procedures. CONCLUSION: With work in the level of primary care as regards the health of human communication/deglutition, there would be a reduction in public expenses with the treatment of speech-language and audiology alterations in the other health care levels. The presence of the speech-language therapist in the Primary Care Units would help to improve the quality of life of the population across the whole life cycle, and would also reduce the burden in the public services that provide speech-language therapy in the city of Fortaleza