Integrating Soluble Biomarkers and Imaging Technologies in the Identification of Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Patients

The clinical utility of a biomarker depends on its ability to identify high-risk individuals to optimally manage the patient. A new biomarker would be of clinical value if it is accurate and reliable, provides good sensitivity and specificity, and is available for widespread application. Data are accumulating on the potential clinical utility of integrating imaging technologies and circulating biomarkers for the identification of vulnerable (high-risk) cardiovascular patients. A multi-biomarker strategy consisting of markers of inflammation, hemostasis and thrombosis, proteolysis and oxidative stress, combined with new imaging modalities (optical coherence tomography, virtual histology plus IVUS, PET) can increase our ability to identify such thombosis-prone patients. In an ideal scenario, cardiovascular biomarkers and imaging combined will provide a better diagnostic tool to identify high-risk individuals and also more efficient methods for effective therapies to reduce such cardiovascular risk. However, additional studies are required in order to show that this approach can contribute to improved diagnostic and therapeutic of atherosclerotic disease

Teaching Chemistry in a Spiral Progression Approach: Lessons from Science Teachers in the Philippines

As the Philippines moves towards implementing the K-12 curriculum, there has been a mismatch in teacher preparation in science. The present teacher education curriculum prepares science teachers to specialise in a specific field (e.g. integrated science, biology, chemistry, and physics). However, in the K-12 curriculum, they are required to teach all the sciences in a spiral progression approach. Hence, this study analysed the experiences of science teachers in teaching chemistry in the K-12 curriculum in order to identify their challenges and how they are overcoming them. Findings suggest that the teacher’s content, pedagogy, and assessment in chemistry are problematic; specifically, challenges such as instruction-related factors, teacher competence, in-service training sufficiency, job satisfaction, support from upper management, laboratory adequacy, school resources, assessment tools, and others influence teacher success in teaching chemistry. These identified challenges greatly affect the ultimate beneficiaries of education, which is the learner

El Sureño: prensa, política y negocios en Bahía Blanca durante los años sesenta

El presente artículo analiza el itinerario y la propuesta editorial de El Sureño (ES), undiario editado en Bahía Blanca entre 1964 y 1970. Esta investigación nos brinda una vía de acceso para explorar las estrategias que implementaron los periódicos comerciales en ciudades intermedias de Argentina en la persecución de los objetivos de lucro e influencia dentro de su campo de actividad. El trabajo explora los intereses políticos y económicos que se expresaron a través de esta iniciativa, sus redes de inserción y las limitaciones que obstaculizaron su éxito

Traveling wave model of an AWG-based multiwavelength laser

This work presents a traveling wave model description of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) based multiwavelength laser. The purpose is to design a device with frequency spacing of 70 GHz between channels at 1550 nm central wavelength, aiming to dimension the required channel bandwidth to achieve a target side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) among longitudinal modes

Long-Term Ozone Variability and Trends from Reanalyses: Can It Be Done?

Stratospheric ozone concentrations have begun to show early signs of recovery following the implementation of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments as well as in response to decreasing upper-stratospheric temperatures. Secular trends in stratospheric ozone are modulated by considerable interannual variability and systematic changes in transport patterns that are expected under increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially in the lower stratosphere. These factors necessitate the continued close monitoring of stratospheric ozone in upcoming decades, with a special focus on the lower stratosphere.As highly resolved data sets combining a plethora of observations with model simulations atmospheric reanalyses are, in principle, well suited for the task. All major reanalyses generate ozone output. However, significant spurious discontinuities that arise from step changes in the observing systems prevent a straightforward analysis of ozone trends and long-term variability. Building on our recent work, in this presentation we will demonstrate that trend detection is nonetheless possible using the ozone record from NASA's MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2) reanalysis bias-corrected using a chemistry model simulation as a transfer function. Next, we will outline several strategies to reduce artificial discontinuities in the ozone record in future NASA reanalyses. This discussion will be illustrated by an example of joint assimilation of bias-corrected ozone profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Aura satellite (2004 to present) and the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) sensors that are expected to operate on future NOAA platforms

Excreção de amônia por tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) de acordo com variações na temperatura da água e massa do peixe.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi quantificar taxas de excreção diária de amônia em tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), principal espécie criada na Amazônia, que podem variar de acordo com a temperatura da água e a massa dos peixes

The Transit-Time Distribution from the Northern Hemisphere Midlatitude Surface

The distribution of transit times from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitude surface is a fundamental property of tropospheric transport. Here we present an analysis of the transit time distribution (TTD) since air last contacted the northern midlatitude surface layer, as simulated by the NASA Global Modeling Initiative Chemistry Transport Model. We find that throughout the troposphere the TTD is characterized by long flat tails that reflect the recirculation of old air from the Southern Hemisphere and results in mean ages that are significantly larger than the modal age. Key aspects of the TTD -- its mode, mean and spectral width -- are interpreted in terms of tropospheric dynamics, including seasonal shifts in the location and strength of tropical convection and variations in quasi-isentropic transport out of the northern midlatitude surface layer. Our results indicate that current diagnostics of tropospheric transport are insufficient for comparing model transport and that the full distribution of transit times is a more appropriate constraint

Structural and Electronic Properties of Graphene Oxide for Different Degree of Oxidation1

In the last year, the investigation of two-dimensional materials as graphene oxide is a fundamental goal to produce innovative devices with wide range of applications in many areas. In the present work, we report a systematic study of structural and electronic properties of graphene oxide for different oxidations levels (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) using density functional calculations for electronic ground state and a statistical approach on carbon-carbon bond length obtained after the geometric optimization of graphene covered with epoxide and hydroxyl functional groups. The theoretical models proposed and studied here are accord with the well-known experimental data. Our statistical results of the carbon-carbon bond length shown that hydroxyl groups disturbs the structure of graphene more than epoxide groups, however, both hydroxyl and epoxide groups are responsible of the change of hybridization sp2 to sp3, while the degree of oxidation increase. In addition, our electronic structure calculations confirm that with low degree of oxidation, the graphene oxide is semiconductor, and with full degree of oxidation graphene oxide is an insulating material. The minimum of total energy is found when the graphene oxide has full coverage. This work can contribute to understand the plasticity and ductility properties of graphene oxide recently reported

proMetalloproteinase-10 is associated with brain damage and clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) mediate tissue injury during stroke but also neurovascular remodeling and we have shown that MMP-10 is involved in atherothrombosis. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between proMMP-10 and clinical outcome, assessing inflammatory and proteolytic markers, in patients with acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: We prospectively studied 76 patients with ischemic stroke treated with tPA within the first 3 h from symptom onset, compared with 202 non-tPA-treated ischemic stroke patients and 83 asymptomatic subjects. Stroke severity was assessed with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) and severe brain edema were diagnosed by cranial CT. Good functional outcome was defined as a modified Rankin scale score </= 2 at 90 days. Serum levels of MMP-9, proMMP-10, TIMP-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha), interleukin-6 and cellular fibronectin were measured at admission. The effect of TNFalpha on endothelial proMMP-10 was assessed in vitro. RESULTS: Serum proMMP-10 concentration in ischemic stroke patients, non-treated or treated with t-PA, which was higher than age-matched healthy subjects (P < 0.0001), was independently associated with higher infarct volume, severe brain edema, neurological deterioration and poor functional outcome at 3 months (all P < 0.05), but not with HT. proMMP-10 levels were also independently and positively associated with circulating levels of TNFalpha (P < 0.0001), which induced its endothelial expression in vitro, both mRNA and protein. MMP-9, however, was only associated with HT and severe edema (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Increased serum proMMP-10 after acute ischemic stroke, associated with TNFalpha, is a new marker of brain damage and poor outcome

EFECTO DEL AMONÍACO SOBRE EL CRECIMIENTO DE LA GAMITANA Colossoma macropomum (Cuvier, 1818)

El efecto de la concentración de amoníaco sobre el crecimiento fue probado usandosoluciones acuosas con concentraciones de 0.002 (control), 0.07 y 0.46 mg/l de NHy un control. Los peces fueron mantenidos en tanques de 500 litros con estas soluciones por un período de 2 meses. No se observaron efectos significativos del amoníaco sobre el crecimiento de la gamitana en este período. Se concluye que la gamitana es una especie muy tolerante y que puede ser mantenida en concentraciones de amoníaco de 0.46 mg/l sin comprometer su crecimiento