Disfunção tiróidea e amiodarona

Although most patients remain clinically euthyroid, some develop amiodarone-induced hyperthyroidism (HPEAI) or hypothyroidism (HPOAI). The authors present a retrospective analysis of ten patients with amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction. Six patients were female and mean amiodarone intake was 17.7 months. HPOIA was more common (six patients). From all the patients with HPEAI, two had type 2, one had type 1, and one had type 3 hyperthyroidism. Symptoms suggestive of thyroid dysfunction occurred in five patients, most of them with HPOAI. In HPEAI, the most frequent symptom was exacerbation of arrhythmia (three patients). Discontinuation of amiodarone and treatment with levothyroxine was chosen in 83.3% of the HPOAI cases, while thyonamide treatment with corticosteroids and without amiodarone was the option in 75% of the HPEAI cases. There were three deaths, all in patients with HPEAI. HPEAI is potentially fatal. The clinical picture may be vague, so the thyroid monitoring is mandatory

PÉRDIDAS DE CARBONO EN SUELOS DE LA LLANURA COSTERA DE NAYARIT, MÉXICO

Se analizaron las pérdidas de carbono orgánico en suelos a partir de 12 perfiles localizados en el delta del río San Pedro y distribuidos por nivel geomorfológico en la llanura costera del estado de Nayarit, México. El estudio se realizó comparando el contenido de carbono de los suelos con mayor conservación bajo bosque y cultivados. Los niveles considerados para este análisis fueron llanura alta, llanura media y sus depresiones, llanura baja y barras costeras. Las reservas de carbono (RCO) se determinaron teniendo en cuenta la densidad aparente (Da), el espesor de cada horizonte y el contenido de carbono. Los resultados se ponderaron para las profundidades 0-20, 0-50 y 0-100 cm. Las pérdidas de carbono identificadas fueron del 36 % para suelos Cambisoles de la llanura alta, 40 % para Feozem y Cambisoles de la llanura media, 60 % en suelos Feozem y Solonetz de las depresiones de la llanura media, 67 % para Cambisoles de la llanura baja y 90 % para Arenosoles de las barras costeras. Se demostró que la actividad agrícola intensiva y continuada, ha ocasionado pérdidas en el contenido de carbono; así mismo, la capa agrícola (20 cm) resulta la más afectada por esta actividad antropogénica

Holographic View on Quantum Correlations and Mutual Information between Disjoint Blocks of a Quantum Critical System

In (d+1) dimensional Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (MERA) networks, tensors are connected so as to reproduce the discrete, (d + 2) holographic geometry of Anti de Sitter space (AdSd+2) with the original system lying at the boundary. We analyze the MERA renormalization flow that arises when computing the quantum correlations between two disjoint blocks of a quantum critical system, to show that the structure of the causal cones characteristic of MERA, requires a transition between two different regimes attainable by changing the ratio between the size and the separation of the two disjoint blocks. We argue that this transition in the MERA causal developments of the blocks may be easily accounted by an AdSd+2 black hole geometry when the mutual information is computed using the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. As an explicit example, we use a BTZ AdS3 black hole to compute the MI and the quantum correlations between two disjoint intervals of a one dimensional boundary critical system. Our results for this low dimensional system not only show the existence of a phase transition emerging when the conformal four point ratio reaches a critical value but also provide an intuitive entropic argument accounting for the source of this instability. We discuss the robustness of this transition when finite temperature and finite size effects are taken into account.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. Abstract and Figure 1 has been modified. Minor modifications in Section 1 and Section

Epiparasitic plants specialized on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Over 400 non-photosynthetic species from 10 families of vascular plants obtain their carbon from fungi and are thus defined as myco-heterotrophs. Many of these plants are epiparasitic on green plants from which they obtain carbon by 'cheating' shared mycorrhizal fungi. Epiparasitic plants examined to date depend on ectomycorrhizal fungi for carbon transfer and exhibit exceptional specificity for these fungi, but for most myco-heterotrophs neither the identity of the fungi nor the sources of their carbon are known. Because many myco-heterotrophs grow in forests dominated by plants associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF; phylum Glomeromycota), we proposed that epiparasitism would occur also between plants linked by AMF. On a global scale AMF form the most widespread mycorrhizae, thus the ability of plants to cheat this symbiosis would be highly significant. We analysed mycorrhizae from three populations of Arachnitis uniflora (Corsiaceae, Monocotyledonae), five Voyria species and one Voyriella species (Gentianaceae, Dicotyledonae), and neighbouring green plants. Here we show that non-photosynthetic plants associate with AMF and can display the characteristic specificity of epiparasites. This suggests that AMF mediate significant inter-plant carbon transfer in nature

The role of receptivity in the courtship behavior of Podocnemis erythrocephala in captivity

The courtship behavior of Podocnemis erythrocephala (Red-headed Amazon River Turtle) in captivity was studied to examine female receptivity and male response to female rejection. We observed 20 females and 39 males in 150 sessions (3–6 h/day for a total of 450 h). In 36% of the trials, there was no interaction between males and females, and 20% of the trials resulted in copulations. All males introduced into tanks approached females, and eventually there was aggression among the males. In 48% of the experiments, females also searched for or approached males. When males initially approached females, they either accepted the male’s advances (14%), rejected the male passively (38%), or rejected the male aggressively (48%). In 86% of the cases where males were rejected, 4% attempted to approach females again, and in 51% they were ultimately successful

Differential Role of Human Choline Kinase α and β Enzymes in Lipid Metabolism: Implications in Cancer Onset and Treatment

11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table.Background The Kennedy pathway generates phosphocoline and phosphoethanolamine through its two branches. Choline Kinase (ChoK) is the first enzyme of the Kennedy branch of synthesis of 1phosphocholine, the major component of the plasma membrane. ChoK family of proteins is composed by ChoKα and ChoKβ isoforms, the first one with two different variants of splicing. Recently ChoKα has been implicated in the carcinogenic process, since it is over-expressed in a variety of human cancers. However, no evidence for a role of ChoKβ in carcinogenesis has been reported. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we compare the in vitro and in vivo properties of ChoKα1 and ChoKβ in lipid metabolism, and their potential role in carcinogenesis. Both ChoKα1 and ChoKβ showed choline and ethanolamine kinase activities when assayed in cell extracts, though with different affinity for their substrates. However, they behave differentially when overexpressed in whole cells. Whereas ChoKβ display an ethanolamine kinase role, ChoKα1 present a dual choline/ethanolamine kinase role, suggesting the involvement of each ChoK isoform in distinct biochemical pathways under in vivo conditions. In addition, while overexpression of ChoKα1 is oncogenic when overexpressed in HEK293T or MDCK cells, ChoKβ overexpression is not sufficient to induce in vitro cell transformation nor in vivo tumor growth. Furthermore, a significant upregulation of ChoKα1 mRNA levels in a panel of breast and lung cancer cell lines was found, but no changes in ChoKβ mRNA levels were observed. Finally, MN58b, a previously described potent inhibitor of ChoK with in vivo antitumoral activity, shows more than 20-fold higher efficiency towards ChoKα1 than ChoKβ. Conclusion/Significance This study represents the first evidence of the distinct metabolic role of ChoKα and ChoKβ isoforms, suggesting different physiological roles and implications in human carcinogenesis. These findings constitute a step forward in the design of an antitumoral strategy based on ChoK inhibition.This work has been supported by grants to JCL from Comunidad de Madrid (GR-SAL-0821-2004), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2008-03750, RD06/0020/0016), Fundación Mutua Madrileña, and by a grant to ARM from Fundación Mutua Madrileña.Peer reviewe

Two highly divergent alcohol dehydrogenases of melon exhibit fruit ripening-specific expression and distinct biochemical characteristics

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) participate in the biosynthetic pathway of aroma volatiles in fruit by interconverting aldehydes to alcohols and providing substrates for the formation of esters. Two highly divergent ADH genes (15% identity at the amino acid level) of Cantaloupe Charentais melon (Cucumis melo var. Cantalupensis) have been isolated. Cm-ADH1 belongs to the medium-chain zinc-binding type of ADHs and is highly similar to all ADH genes expressed in fruit isolated so far. Cm-ADH2 belongs to the short-chain type of ADHs. The two encoded proteins are enzymatically active upon expression in yeast. Cm-ADH1 has strong preference for NAPDH as a co-factor, whereas Cm-ADH2 preferentially uses NADH. Both Cm-ADH proteins are much more active as reductases with Kms 10–20 times lower for the conversion of aldehydes to alcohols than for the dehydrogenation of alcohols to aldehydes. They both show strong preference for aliphatic aldehydes but Cm-ADH1 is capable of reducing branched aldehydes such as 3-methylbutyraldehyde, whereas Cm-ADH2 cannot. Both Cm-ADH genes are expressed specifically in fruit and up-regulated during ripening. Gene expression as well as total ADH activity are strongly inhibited in antisense ACC oxidase melons and in melon fruit treated with the ethylene antagonist 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), indicating a positive regulation by ethylene. These data suggest that each of the Cm-ADH protein plays a specific role in the regulation of aroma biosynthesis in melon fruit

Numerical elimination and moduli space of vacua

We propose a new computational method to understand the vacuum moduli space of (supersymmetric) field theories. By combining numerical algebraic geometry (NAG) and elimination theory, we develop a powerful, efficient, and parallelizable algorithm toextract important information such as the dimension, branch structure, Hilbert series and subsequent operator counting, as well as variation according to coupling constants and mass parameters. We illustrate this method on a host of examples from gauge theory, string theory, and algebraic geometry

Classical and semi-classical energy conditions

The standard energy conditions of classical general relativity are (mostly) linear in the stress-energy tensor, and have clear physical interpretations in terms of geodesic focussing, but suffer the significant drawback that they are often violated by semi-classical quantum effects. In contrast, it is possible to develop non-standard energy conditions that are intrinsically non-linear in the stress-energy tensor, and which exhibit much better well-controlled behaviour when semi-classical quantum effects are introduced, at the cost of a less direct applicability to geodesic focussing. In this article we will first review the standard energy conditions and their various limitations. (Including the connection to the Hawking--Ellis type I, II, III, and IV classification of stress-energy tensors). We shall then turn to the averaged, nonlinear, and semi-classical energy conditions, and see how much can be done once semi-classical quantum effects are included.Comment: V1: 25 pages. Draft chapter, on which the related chapter of the book "Wormholes, Warp Drives and Energy Conditions" (to be published by Springer), will be based. V2: typos fixed. V3: small typo fixe

Morbidity, outcomes and cost-benefit analysis of wildlife rehabilitation in Catalonia (Spain)

Background There are few studies of careful examination of wildlife casualties in Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers. These studies are essential for detecting menaces to wild species and providing objective criteria about cost-benefit of treatments in those centers. The release rate is considered the main outcome indicator, but other parameters such as length of stay at the center and a cost-benefit index expressed as number of released animals per euro and day, could be used as reliable estimators of the rehabilitation costs. Methodology A retrospective study based on 54772 admissions recorded from 1995-2013 in the database of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Torreferrussa (Catalonia, NW Spain) assessed the morbidity, outcomes and cost-benefits of the rehabilitation practices. Results Three hundred and two species were included: 232 birds (n = 48633), 37 mammals (n = 3293), 20 reptiles (n = 2705) and 13 amphibians (n = 141). The most frequent causes of admission were: 39.8% confiscation of protected species (89.4% passerines), 31.8% orphaned young animals (35.3% swifts, 21.7% diurnal raptors and owls) and 17.4% trauma casualties (46.7% raptors and owls). The highest proportion of releases was found in the captivity confiscation category [87.4% passerines (median time of stay: 12 days)], followed by the orphaned category [78% owls (66 days), 76.5% diurnal birds of prey (43 days), 75.6% hedgehogs (49 days), 52.7% swifts (19 days) and 52% bats (55 days)]. For the trauma group, 46.8% of releases were hedgehogs (44 days) and 25.6% owls (103 days). As regards the cost-benefit index, the trauma casualties and infectious diseases had the worse values with 1.3 and 1.4 released animals/euro/day respectively, and were particularly low in raptors, waders, marine birds and chiroptera. On the contrary, captivity (4.6) and misplacement (4.1) had the best index, particulary in amphibian, reptiles and passerines. Conclusions/significance Cost-benefit studies including the release rate, the time of stay at the center and the costbenefit index should be implemented for improving management efficiency of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers