Annona coriacea Mart. fractions promote cell cycle arrest and inhibit autophagic flux in human cervical cancer cell lines

Plant-based compounds are an option to explore and perhaps overcome the limitations of current antitumor treatments. Annona coriacea Mart. is a plant with a broad spectrum of biological activities, but its antitumor activity is still unclear. The purpose of our study was to determine the effects of A. coriacea fractions on a panel of cervical cancer cell lines and a normal keratinocyte cell line. The antitumor effect was investigated in vitro by viability assays, cell cycle, apoptosis, migration, and invasion assays. Intracellular signaling was assessed by Western blot, and major compounds were identified by mass spectrometry. All fractions exhibited a cytotoxic effect on cisplatin-resistant cell lines, SiHa and HeLa. C3 and C5 were significantly more cytotoxic and selective than cisplatin in SiHa and Hela cells. However, in CaSki, a cisplatin-sensitive cell line, the compounds did not demonstrate higher cytotoxicity when compared with cisplatin. Alkaloids and acetogenins were the main compounds identified in the fractions. These fractions also markedly decreased cell proliferation with p21 increase and cell cycle arrest in G2/M. These effects were accompanied by an increase of H2AX phosphorylation levels and DNA damage index. In addition, fractions C3 and C5 promoted p62 accumulation and decrease of LC3II, as well as acid vesicle levels, indicating the inhibition of autophagic flow. These findings suggest that A. coriacea fractions may become effective antineoplastic drugs and highlight the autophagy inhibition properties of these fractions in sensitizing cervical cancer cells to treatment.e FINEP (MCTI/FINEP/MS/SCTIE/DECIT-01/ 2013—FP XII-BIOPLAT), Barretos Cancer Hospital, CAPES, CNPq, FAPEMIG, UFSJ. RMR is a recipient of CNPq Productivity Gran

Comparison of respiratory muscle strength between fragility subgroups in community elderly

A fragilidade ? composta por um trip? constitu?do por: sarcopenia, disfun??o imunol?gica e desregula??o neuroend?crina. A sarcopenia ? definida como uma diminui??o na for?a e na pot?ncia muscular, sendo que os m?sculos respirat?rios tamb?m s?o afetados. O objetivo foi comparar a for?a muscular respirat?ria (FMR) em idosas residentes na comunidade, classificadas como n?o fr?geis (NF), pr?-fr?geis (PF) e fr?geis (F) e correlacionar a FMR com a for?a de preens?o manual (FPM). O estudo foi do tipo transversal, com uma amostra de conveni?ncia composta por 106 idosas. As participantes foram classificadas quanto ao fen?tipo de fragilidade. A FMR foi avaliada por meio da press?o inspirat?ria m?xima (PIm?x) e da press?o expirat?ria m?xima (PEm?x). Foram encontradas diferen?as significativas da FMR entre os grupos NF e F (PIm?x: p=0,001 e PEm?x: p<0,001) e entre os grupos PF e F (PIm?x: p<0,001 e PEm?x: p<0,001). Em rela??o ? FPM, foram observadas diferen?as significativas entre todos os grupos (p<0,001). Houve correla??o entre FMR e FPM apenas no grupo fr?gil. Desta forma, a FPM pode ser importante na pr?tica cl?nica para diferenciar os subgrupos de fragilidade e identificar a perda de for?a muscular, incluindo a perda da FMR.Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecu?ria de Minas Gerais (EPAMIG)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq)Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES)The fragility consist in a tripod comprising: sarcopenia, immune dysregulation, and neuroendocrine dysfunction. Sarcopenia is defined as a decrease in strength and muscle power, so that the respiratory muscles are also affected. The aim was to compare respiratory muscle strength (RMS) in elderly community residents, classified as nonfrail (NF), pre frail (PF) and frail (F), and correlate RMS with the handgrip strength (HS). The study was cross-sectional, with a convenience sample of 106 elderly women. Participants were classified according to the phenotype of frailty. The RMS was assessed by maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and maximum expiratory pressure (MEP). Significant differences were found in RMS between groups NF and F (MIP: p=0.001 and MEP: p<0.001) and between groups PF and F (MIP: p<0.001 and MEP: p<0.001). In relation to HS, significant differences were observed between all groups (p<0.001). There was correlation between HS and RMS only in the frail group. Thus, the HS may be important in the clinical evaluation to differentiate subgroups of fragility and identify the loss of muscle strength, including the loss of RMS

Prime Focus Spectrograph - Subaru's future -

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) of the Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts (SuMIRe) project has been endorsed by Japanese community as one of the main future instruments of the Subaru 8.2-meter telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. This optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph targets cosmology with galaxy surveys, Galactic archaeology, and studies of galaxy/AGN evolution. Taking advantage of Subaru's wide field of view, which is further extended with the recently completed Wide Field Corrector, PFS will enable us to carry out multi-fiber spectroscopy of 2400 targets within 1.3 degree diameter. A microlens is attached at each fiber entrance for F-ratio transformation into a larger one so that difficulties of spectrograph design are eased. Fibers are accurately placed onto target positions by positioners, each of which consists of two stages of piezo-electric rotary motors, through iterations by using back-illuminated fiber position measurements with a wide-field metrology camera. Fibers then carry light to a set of four identical fast-Schmidt spectrographs with three color arms each: the wavelength ranges from 0.38 {\mu}m to 1.3 {\mu}m will be simultaneously observed with an average resolving power of 3000. Before and during the era of extremely large telescopes, PFS will provide the unique capability of obtaining spectra of 2400 cosmological/astrophysical targets simultaneously with an 8-10 meter class telescope. The PFS collaboration, led by IPMU, consists of USP/LNA in Brazil, Caltech/JPL, Princeton, & JHU in USA, LAM in France, ASIAA in Taiwan, and NAOJ/Subaru.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to "Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, Ian S. McLean, Suzanne K. Ramsay, Hideki Takami, Editors, Proc. SPIE 8446 (2012)

As Oficinas Temáticas e a Experimentação utilizadas na Formação Continuada de professores de uma escola pública de Belém – PA

O presente artigo apresenta os resultados de um projeto desenvolvido em uma Escola Pública de Ensino Fundamental e Médio localizada na cidade de Belém-Pará. O desenvolvimento do projeto deu-se com os professores que atuam na disciplina Ciências desenvolvida no Ensino Fundamental – Séries Iniciais.Os conteúdos de Ciências selecionados foram trabalhados com professores através de Oficinas Temáticas e em seguida realizadas atividades experimentais com materiais alternatvos em consonância com as temáticas discutidas em sala de aula. Tais resultados indicaram a viabilidade de ações desta natureza e sua efetiva contribuição para a Formação Continuada de professores para este nível de ensino de forma complementar a reflexão desses professores sobre a disciplina Ciência

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file