The evolution of late Paleocene-early Eocene carbonate platforms of the Tethys

Abstrac

The three-body recombination of a condensed Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance

In this paper, we study the three-body recombination rate of a homogeneous dilute Bose gas with a Feshbach resonance at zero temperature. The ground state and excitations of this system are obtained. The three-body recombination in the ground state is due to the break-up of an atom pair in the quantum depletion and the formation of a molecule by an atom from the broken pair and an atom from the condensate. The rate of this process is in good agreement with the experiment on $^{23}$Na in a wide range of magnetic fields.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Monitoraggio ambientale e biologico dell’esposizione ad idrocarburi mono-aromatici ed a metil tert-butil etere in un gruppo di lavoratori addetti all’erogazione di carburanti

Lo studio è stato condotto per valutare gli indicatori biologici di esposizione a vapori di benzina in lavoratori addetti all’erogazione di carburante tramite un approccio combinato di monitoraggio ambientale e biologico. L’esposizione personale a benzene, toluene, etilbenzene e xilene (BTEX) e l’escrezione urinaria di BTEX, metil tert-butil etere (MTBE-U), degli acidi trans,transmuconico (t,t-MA) ed S-fenilmercapturico (S-PMA) e della cotinina sono stati valutati con tecniche cromatografiche accoppiate alla spettrometria di massa. I livelli di MTBE-U erano influenzati dalla sola esposizione professionale a vapori di benzina, mentre quelli di B-U ed S-PMA dipendevano da abitudine tabagica ed esposizione professionale

Biomarkers of nucleic acid oxidation, polymorphism in, and expression of, hOGG1 gene in styrene-exposed workers.

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Diagnóstico molecular de huanglongbing dos citros, via qPCR, em mudas de valência sobre Swingle.

O HLB é, sem dúvidas, a grande ameaça da citricultura no país, por ser uma doença severa e destrutiva, com prejuízos no desenvolvimento da planta e na produção de frutos. Os agentes causais da doença são espécies da bactéria Candidatus Liberibacter spp., que se alojam em vasos do floema. Três espécies de Liberibacter estão associadas ao HLB dos citros: Ca. Liberibacter africanus, Ca. L. asiaticus e Ca. L. americanus, sendo as duas últimas de ocorrência no Brasil. A doença pode se propagar através de seu vetor, o psilídeo Diaphorina citri, e/ou por enxertia de tecidos infectados (Bové, 2006). O HLB não provoca a morte das plantas, mas, com o passar dos anos, elas se tornam debilitadas e improdutivas. Pomares inteiros podem ficar inviáveis economicamente dentro de sete a dez anos após o aparecimento da primeira planta sintomática se as medidas de controle não forem tomadas (Gottwald et al., 2007).O período de incubação do HLB depende de vários fatores, variando geralmente de seis a doze meses (Bové, 2006). Diante disso, a inspeção visual do pomar não representa o controle da doença, visto que plantas assintomáticas, porém infectadas, podem permanecer como fontes de inóculo para plantas ainda sadias. Como discutido por Bové (2006) e Gottwald et al. (2007), o conhecimento da proporção de plantas sintomáticas e assintomáticas é importante e deve ser utilizado na decisão da eliminação de pomares inteiros altamente infestados. Assim, a detecção de Ca. Liberibacter sp. precocemente é de extrema importância, pois minimiza, dentro do possível, o impacto financeiro aos citricultores com a erradicação das plantas.Hoje o método mais confiável para o diagnóstico do HLB é o PCR quantitativo em tempo real (qPCR), que amplifica e detecta o DNA bacteriano presente no tecido. O método visual é também utilizado, porém o diagnóstico é impreciso e pode levar a falsos negativos (plantas infectadas e ainda assintomáticas) ou falsos positivos, uma vez que os sintomas da doença podem ser facilmente confundidos com deficiência nutricional.pdf 186

Protein disulfide isomerase A1 regulates breast cancer cell immunorecognition in a manner dependent on redox state

Oxidoreductase protein disulphide isomerases (PDI) are involved in the regulation of a variety of biological processes including the modulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, unfolded protein response (UPR), ER‑mitochondria communication and the balance between pro‑survival and pro‑death pathways. In the current study the role of the PDIA1 family member in breast carcinogenesis was investigated by measuring ROS generation, mitochondrial membrane disruption, ATP production and HLA‑G protein levels on the surface of the cellular membrane in the presence or absence of PDIA1. The results showed that this enzyme exerted pro‑apoptotic effects in estrogen receptor (ERα)‑positive breast cancer MCF‑7 and pro‑survival in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA‑MB‑231 cells. ATP generation was upregulated in PDIA1‑silenced MCF‑7 cells and downregulated in PDIA1‑silenced MDA‑MB‑231 cells in a manner dependent on the cellular redox status. Furthermore, MCF‑7 and MDA‑MB‑231 cells in the presence of PDIA1 expressed higher surface levels of the non‑classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA‑G) under oxidative stress conditions. Evaluation of the METABRIC datasets showed that low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA expression levels correlated with longer survival in both ERα‑positive and ERα‑negative stage 2 breast cancer patients. In addition, analysis of the PDIA1 vs. the HLA‑G mRNA ratio in the subgroup of the living stage 2 breast cancer patients exhibiting low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA levels revealed that the longer the survival time of the ratio was high PDIA1 and low HLA‑G mRNA and occurred predominantly in ERα‑positive breast cancer patients whereas in the same subgroup of the ERα‑negative breast cancer mainly this ratio was low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA. Taken together these results provide evidence supporting the view that PDIA1 is linked to several hallmarks of breast cancer pathways including the process of antigen processing and presentation and tumor immunorecognition

Metallic elements in exhaled breath condensate of patients with interstitial lung diseases

Epidemiological data support the hypothesis that environmental and occupational agents play an important role in the development of interstitial lung diseases such as idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIPs) and sarcoidosis. The aim of this study was to assess the elemental composition of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) of unknown etiology and healthy subjects as an indirect evaluation of tissue burden, which could improve our understanding of the role of metals in the pathogenesis of ILDs. EBC was obtained from 33 healthy subjects, 22 patients with sarcoidosis, 15 patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and 19 with IIPs. Trace elements and toxic metals in the samples were measured by means of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. There are only small overall differences in the EBC levels of a number of metallic elements among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), NSIP or sarcoidosis, and no pattern is capable of distinguishing them with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. However, a pattern of pneumotoxic (Si, Ni) and essential elements (Zn, Se and Cu) with the addition of Co distinguished the patients with ILDs from healthy non-smokers with relatively high degrees of sensitivity (96.4%) and specificity (90.9%). Assessing the elemental composition of EBC in patients with different ILDs seems to provide useful information. The non-invasiveness of the EBC method makes it suitable for patients with pulmonary diseases, although further studies are required to confirm the usefulness of this approach and to better understand the underlying pathophysiological processes

Bronchoalveolar lavage, sputum and exhaled clinically relevant inflammatory markers: values in healthy adults.

11noBronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), induced sputum and exhaled breath markers (exhaled nitric oxide and exhaled breath condensate) can each provide biological insights into the pathogenesis of respiratory disorders. Some of their biomarkers are also employed in the clinical management of patients with various respiratory diseases. In the clinical context, however, defining normal values and cut-off points is crucial. The aim of the present review is to investigate to what extent the issue of defining normal values in healthy adults has been pursued for the biomarkers with clinical value. The current authors reviewed data from literature that specifically addressed the issue of normal values from healthy adults for the four methodologies. Most studies have been performed for BAL (n = 9), sputum (n = 3) and nitric oxide (n = 3). There are no published studies for breath condensate, none of whose markers yet has clinical value. In healthy adult nonsmokers the cut-off points (mean+2sd) for biomarkers with clinical value were as follows. BAL: 16.7% lymphocytes, 2.3% neutrophils and 1.9% eosinophils; sputum: 7.7 x 10(6).mL(-1) total cell count and 2.2% eosinophils; nitric oxide: 20.2 ppb. The methodologies differ concerning the quantity and characteristics of available reference data. Studies focusing on obtaining reference values from healthy individuals are still required, more evidently for the new, noninvasive methodologies.nonemixedBALBI B; PIGNATTI P; CORRADI M; BAIARDI P; BIANCHI L; BRUNETTI G; RADAELI A; MOSCATO G; MUTTI A; SPANEVELLO A; MALERBA MBalbi, B; Pignatti, P; Corradi, M; Baiardi, P; Bianchi, L; Brunetti, G; Radaeli, A; Moscato, G; Mutti, A; Spanevello, Antonio; Malerba, M