Epigenetic mechanisms of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in obesity

The incidence of obesity has dramatically increased over the last decades. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the possible association between the pandemics of obesity and some endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), termed “obesogens”. These are a heterogeneous group of exogenous compounds that can interfere in the endocrine regulation of energy metabolism and adipose tissue structure. Oral intake, inhalation, and dermal absorption represent the major sources of human exposure to these EDCs. Recently, epigenetic changes such as the methylation of cytosine residues on DNA, post-translational modification of histones, and microRNA expression have been considered to act as an intermediary between deleterious effects of EDCs and obesity development in susceptible individuals. Specifically, EDCs exposure during early-life development can detrimentally affect individuals via inducing epigenetic modifications that can permanently change the epigenome in the germline, enabling changes to be transmitted to the next generations and predisposing them to a multitude of diseases. The purpose of this review is to analyze the epigenetic alterations putatively induced by chemical exposures and their ability to interfere with the control of energy metabolism and adipose tissue regulation, resulting in imbalances in the control of body weight, which can lead to obesity

Divergência genética em genótipos de girassol.

Uma investigação sobre a diversidade genética em 15 genótipos de girassol, por meio de 12 características agronômicas, foi implementada no Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, Brasil. Análises de variância univariada e multivariada revelaram diferenças entre os genótipos. A distância generalizada de Mahalanobis indicou um alto grau de divergência genética. Os genótipos foram agrupados em três grupos. As características início do florescimento, 50% do florescimento, número de folhas e altura da inserção do capítulo contribuíram com grande parte da divergência genética observada. Por meio desses resultados, é possível identificar materiais divergentes e complementares para o desenvolvimento de novos cultivares superiores

Novel Data Acquisition System for Silicon Tracking Detectors

We have developed a novel data acquisition system for measuring tracking parameters of a silicon detector in a particle beam. The system is based on a commercial Analog-to-Digital VME module and a PC Linux based Data Acquisition System. This DAQ is realized with C++ code using object-oriented techniques. Track parameters for the beam particles were reconstructed using off-line analysis code and automatic detector position alignment algorithm. The new DAQ was used to test novel Czochralski type silicon detectors. The important silicon detector parameters, including signal size distributions and signal to noise distributions, were successfully extracted from the detector under study. The efficiency of the detector was measured to be 95 %, the resolution about 10 micrometers, and the signal to noise ratio about 10.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 6 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures. PSN TUGP00

Sunflower and peanut emergency : initial development under sugarcane mulch.

The research aimed to evaluate the effect of residual sugarcane mulch on sunflower and peanut plant emergence and initial development. Vases of 4.0 L were disposed in a randomized experimental blocks design, with four replications, in a factorial arrangement of five mulch amounts and three cultivars of each crop. The mulch treatments consisted of four increasing amounts (5, 10, 15 e 20 t ha-1) and a tester with no mulch. The sunflower cultivars were the varieties IAC-iarama and Catissol and the hybrid H-358; the peanut cultivars were IAC-Caiapó, Runner 886 and Tatu. The speed emergency index and final percentage, the plant height and shoot dry mass were evaluated. The presence of different levels of sugarcane mulch negatively influences the emergency and initial plant development mainly in peanut but also in sunflower. The negative effects are stronger especially for the runner type of peanut cultivars, while cultivar Tatu was less influenced by the mulch thickness

The CLAS12 Software Framework and Event Reconstruction

We describe offline event reconstruction for the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at 12 GeV (CLAS12), including an overview of the offline reconstruction framework and software tools, a description of the algorithms developed for the individual detector subsystems, and the overall approach for charged and neutral particle identification. We also present the scheme for data processing and the code management procedures

Treatment of late-stage Freiburg\u2019s disease using a temporary metal interpositional device

There are few reports of the surgical treatment for late stage Freiburg\u2019s disease with flattening of the metatarsal head and osteoarthritis. We describe the results of the surgical treatment of ten consecutive patients with advanced stage Freiburg\u2019s disease (Smillie\u2019s stage V), using a technique that has not been published previously

A New Multi-Index Method for the Eutrophication Assessment in Transitional Waters: Large-Scale Implementation in Italian Lagoons

Eutrophication represents one of the most impacting threats for the ecological status and related ecosystem services of transitional waters; hence, its assessment plays a key role in the management of these ecosystems. A new multi-index method for eutrophication assessment, based on the ecological index MaQI (Macrophyte Quality Index), the trophic index TWQI (Transitional Water Quality Index), and physicochemical quality elements (sensu Dir. 2000/60/EC), was developed including both driver and impact indicators. The study presents a large-scale implementation of the method, which included more than 100 Italian lagoon sites, covering a wide variability of lagoon typologies and conditions. Overall, 35% of sites resulted in eutrophic status, 45% in mesotrophic, and 25% in oligotrophic status

Glucosamine-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress affects GLUT4 expression via activating transcription factor 6 in rat and human skeletal muscle cells

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Glucosamine, generated during hyperglycaemia, causes insulin resistance in different cells. Here we sought to evaluate the possible role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the induction of insulin resistance by glucosamine in skeletal muscle cells. METHODS: Real-time RT-PCR analysis, 2-deoxy-D: -glucose (2-DG) uptake and western blot analysis were carried out in rat and human muscle cell lines. RESULTS: In both rat and human myotubes, glucosamine treatment caused a significant increase in the expression of the ER stress markers immunoglobulin heavy chain-binding protein/glucose-regulated protein 78 kDa (BIP/GRP78 [also known as HSPA5]), X-box binding protein-1 (XBP1) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6). In addition, glucosamine impaired insulin-stimulated 2-DG uptake in both rat and human myotubes. Interestingly, pretreatment of both rat and human myotubes with the chemical chaperones 4-phenylbutyric acid (PBA) or tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), completely prevented the effect of glucosamine on both ER stress induction and insulin-induced glucose uptake. In both rat and human myotubes, glucosamine treatment reduced mRNA and protein levels of the gene encoding GLUT4 and mRNA levels of the main regulators of the gene encoding GLUT4 (myocyte enhancer factor 2 a [MEF2A] and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1alpha [PGC1alpha]). Again, PBA or TUDCA pretreatment prevented glucosamine-induced inhibition of GLUT4 (also known as SLC2A4), MEF2A and PGC1alpha (also known as PPARGC1A). Finally, we showed that overproduction of ATF6 is sufficient to inhibit the expression of genes GLUT4, MEF2A and PGC1alpha and that ATF6 silencing with a specific small interfering RNA is sufficient to completely prevent glucosamine-induced inhibition of GLUT4, MEF2A and PGC1alpha in skeletal muscle cells. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: In this work we show that glucosamine-induced ER stress causes insulin resistance in both human and rat myotubes and impairs GLUT4 production and insulin-induced glucose uptake via an ATF6-dependent decrease of the GLUT4 regulators MEF2A and PGC1alpha