Protein kinase WNK2 as a tumour suppressor gene in malignant gliomas

Malignant glioblastomas are the most common and lethal adult brain tumours, with patients dying within two years from diagnosis. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and/or development of these tumours, which present a very invasive phenotype within the brain and are genetically heterogeneous and highly resistant to both chemo- and radio-therapies. Recently, the promoter region of the protein kinase WNK2 gene was found to be hypermethylated in 29 of 31 infiltrative gliomas and about 80% of meningiomas. We have previously described that the experimental depletion of WNK2 expression decreases RhoA activity whilst leading to increased Rac1 activity. Because RhoA/Rac1 activities are important for cell migration and glioblastomas are very invasive tumours, we tested the effects of WNK2 on wound-healing assays in glioma cell lines SW1088 and A172. SW1088 cells express endogenous WNK2 and we observed that wound closure was increased upon experimental depletion of endogenous WNK2. In contrast, A172 cells display complete promoter region methylation and WNK2 re-expression was found to decrease migration. Consistently, we observed an increase in Rac1 activity in SW1088 cells upon WNK2 down-regulation, but lower levels of active Rac1 in A172 cells stably expressing WNK2 cDNA when compared with an equivalent cell line stably transfected with the same empty vector. Our studies indicate that loss of WNK2 expression promotes Rac1 activation and may contribute to the highly invasive phenotype that glioblastomas present. We also observed that, in a panel of glioblastoma cell lines, WNK2 promoter methylation correlates with a marked deregulation in Akt, MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 activities, suggesting WNK2 may also be important for tumour cell survival and cell cycle progression.FC

Additive manufacturing of bioactive glass in a biodegradable matrix

Bioactive glass can induce a specific and fast response in the human body that supports tissue regeneration. It is possible to control the design of customized bioapplications with advanced technologies. Although currently used in research, only a few of these technologies have been approved by the FDA to be applied in Tissue Engineering. There is dedicated additive manufacturing equipment to manufacture biomaterials. Since they are emerging technologies in emerging fields of application it is necessary to study and develop formulations with suitable processing characteristics [1]. Formulations of bioactive glass (CaO·P2O5·MgO·SiO2 system) in two different biodegradable matrices (polylactide (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL)) were prepared and processed by material extrusion process, namely by Fused Filament Fabrication technique.. The polymer (PLA or PCL) involves bioactive particles in biocompatible media and allows to acquire extrudable skills. The formulations with different solid contents (20–50 wt.%) were prepared using a brabender mixer type and were characterized by different techniques (e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), melt flow index (MFI)). The inorganic particles influence the rheological and thermal properties of bioactive glass composites. The viscosity decreases with the increase of bioactive glass content in the polymer matrix. Mechanical standard samples and scaffolds were printed and characterized. Bioactive glass composites until 40 wt.% of solid content can be printed. The bioactive glass improves the mechanical resistance of composites compared to a neat polymer matrix. However, formulations with high bioactive glass solid content (50 wt.%) showed printing limitations by their brittleness and clogging tendency.publishe

Anharmonic transitions in nearly dry L-cysteine I

Two special dynamical transitions of universal character have been recently observed in macromolecules at $T_{D}\sim 180 - 220$ K and $T^{*}\sim 100$ K. Despite their relevance, a complete understanding of the nature of these transitions and their consequences for the bio-activity of the macromolecule is still lacking. Our results and analysis concerning the temperature dependence of structural, vibrational and thermodynamical properties of the orthorhombic polymorph of the amino acid L-cysteine (at a hydration level of 3.5%) indicated that the two referred temperatures define the triggering of very simple and specific events that govern all the biochemical interactions of the biomolecule: activation of rigid rotors ($T<T^{*}$), phonon-phonon interactions with phonons of water dimer ($T^{*}<T<T_{D}$), and water rotational barriers surpassing ($T>T_{D}$).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Number, maps and facts: Agriculture leads environmental preservation.

This paper presents the role of Brazilian agriculture in the preservation of native vegetation and palustrine and lacustrine ecosystems. After the approval of the New Brazilian Forest Code, farmers are required to register their rural property in the Rural Environmental Registry. By April 30, 2017, more than four million farmers were included, an area of approximately 408 million hectares. The collected data add up to hundreds of millions of polygons, requiring a computational effort and geoprocessing techniques to treat the data and turn it into information. The results indicate that the area reserved to vegetation preservation by farmers represents 20.5% of Brazilian territory, thus demonstrating the importance of the agriculture in environmental preservation

Gathering spatial data on social vulnerability in Brazil.

The Brazilian Ministry of Agricultural and Social Development coordinates several public policies aimed at minimizing social vulnerabilities by means of several programs. These programs' databases are broadcasted to dedicated teams that manage their data using spreadsheets. The need for an integrated view on the territorial coverage of these data motivated a partnership with Embrapa. This paper aims to present the main results of the quantitative, qualitative and cartographic analyses on this data. The resulting geographic data are available in a web platform that may be used in the decision-making process for the expansion or reorganization of governmental social programs

A formulação de estratégias para pequenas empresas de base tecnológica

Considera-se que uma empresa possui uma estratégia quando determinadamente faz seus produtos/serviços de forma diferente, mais inteligente e planejada do que seus rivais. Apesar de manterem em fundamento as mesmas características, formulá-las para uma grande ou microempresa são processos distintos. Parece ser mais singular ainda quando se analisa o caso das pequenas empresas de base tecnológica. Assim, o objeto deste trabalho é a análise da formulação de estratégias em pequenas empresas de base tecnológica, com o fim de propor contribuições ao processo de formulação de estratégias para esse tipo de empresa. Realizou-se, para tanto, um estudo qualitativo, de multicasos, envolvendo seis pequenas empresas de base tecnológica. A análise do processo de formulação de estratégias dessas empresas mostrou que o elemento fundamental nesse processo é a vocação técnica do empreendedor. É ela que determina a concepção do negócio, induzindo à formulação de estratégias de forma intuitiva e assistemática. As habilidades técnicas do microempresário parecem sobrepor-se às técnicas administrativas de análise ambiental, benchmarking e identificação de oportunidades, numa demonstração clara de atitude quase exclusiva de technology push. Considerando as característicasdeste contexto, propõe-se um modelo de formulação de estratégias para essas empresas

Informações geoespaciais para a gestão dos recursos naturais do Corredor de Nacala - Moçambique.

O projeto Embrapa-Moçambique foi baseado nas similaridades edafoclimáticas existentes entre as savanas moçambicanas e o Cerrado brasileiro e objetiva o levantamento e o mapeamento das potencialidades dos recursos naturais de Moçambique. Neste estudo, organizaram-se bases de dados geográficos existentes do Corredor de Nacala, levantaram-se aspectos da legislação ambiental moçambicana, e realizou-se o mapeamento de florestas em distritos específicos deste corredor para a visualização da gestão de recursos naturais. Como resultados já alcançados, destacam-se a geração da base de dados geográficos on-line, a análise preliminar da integração da legislação ambiental em ambiente de sistemas de informação geográfica e o levantamento do uso e da ocupação dos distritos de Mandimba, Cuamba, Malema e Ribaué