Impairment of the erythrocyte membrane fluidity in survivors of acute myocardial infarction : a prospective study

© 1999 – IOS Press. All rights reservedErythrocytes have to constantly adapt themselves to the varying circulatory system shear stress forces and capillaries diameter. Membrane lipid and protein content have an important role in determining the erythrocyte shape and are main determinants of the membrane solid and fluid behavior which enables the erythrocyte to respond to the outer environment modifications. Membrane fluidity is an inverse index of membrane microviscosity. The aim of the present work is to evaluate prospectively in three periods of time (discharge, after 6 months and one year later) in survivors of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) the erythrocyte membrane fluidity (outer and inner bilayer) and establish a relation with the cardiovascular events or need of coronary revascularization during a two year clinical follow up. Sixty survivors of acute myocardial infarction were recruited during 1994–96 and were prospectively studied in three periods (discharge, 6 months and after one year), and were compared with a control group (n = 36). Membrane lipid fluidity was determined by means of fluorescence polarization with two probes: 1,6-diphenyl-1,2,5-hexatriene (DPH) and 1,4-trimethylamine 6-phenyl hexa-1,3,5-triene (TMA-DPH), for the characterisation of the hydrophobic and external polar region, respectively. The hydrophobic region was more rigidified (p < 0:01) in the erythrocytes from AMI patients, in relation to the control group. During the time of the study there was a progressive erythrocyte membrane rigidification (DPH p < 0:001; TMA-DPH p < 0:001). We found no relation between erythrocyte membrane fluidity and the coronary risk factors, cardiovascular events or the need of coronary revascularization during the clinical follow-up. In conclusion, after the myocardial infarction erythrocyte membrane of AMI survivors becomes more rigid with time, which could contribute to the decreased erythrocyte deformability and the increased blood viscosity previously described in this group of patients

Dark Proteome Database: Studies on Disorder

There is a misconception that intrinsic disorder in proteins is equivalent to darkness. The present study aims to establish, in the scope of the Swiss-Prot and Dark Proteome databases, the relationship between disorder and darkness. Three distinct predictors were used to calculate the disorder of Swiss-Prot proteins. The analysis of the results obtained with the used predictors and visualization paradigms resulted in the same conclusion that was reached before: disorder is mostly unrelated to darkness. (c) 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Design and analysis of a database to evaluate children’s reading aloud performance

To evaluate the reading performance of children, human assessment is usually involved, where a teacher or tutor has to take time to individually estimate the performance in terms of fluency (speed, accuracy and expression). Automatic estimation of reading ability can be an important alternative or complement to the usual methods, and can improve other applications such as e-learning. Techniques must be developed to analyse audio recordings of read utterances by children and detect the deviations from the intended correct reading i.e. disfluencies. For that goal, a database of 284 European Portuguese children from 6 to 10 years old (1st–4th grades) reading aloud amounting to 20 h was collected in private and public Portuguese schools. This paper describes the design of the reading tasks as well as the data collection procedure. The presence of different types of disfluencies is analysed as well as reading performance compared to known curricular goals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

High-level resistance to isoniazid and ethionamide in multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis of the Lisboa family is associated with inhA double mutations

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of isoniazid and ethionamide resistance and to identify associated mutations in endemic multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. Methods Seventeen clinical MDR tuberculosis (TB) strains were characterized by standard and semi-quantitative drug susceptibility testing to assess the level of isoniazid and ethionamide resistance. The genes katG, inhA, ethA and ndh were screened for mutations. All strains were genotyped by 24 loci mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) analysis. Results All strains showed high-level resistance to both isoniazid (>1 mg/L) and ethionamide (>25 mg/L). MIRU-VNTR typing revealed the presence of two main clusters, Lisboa3 and Q1, in 16/17 strains, all of which showed the C−15T mutation in the promoter region of the inhA gene. The 16 strains belong to the Latino-American-Mediterranean (LAM) genotype and the other strain belongs to the Beijing genotype. Sequencing of the inhA open reading frame revealed that the 16 strains also had mutations in the structural region of the gene, leading to the S94A substitution in 9 strains and the I194T substitution in 7 strains. Conclusions The results reveal that the presence of a mutation in the inhA regulatory region together with a mutation in the inhA coding region can lead to the development of high-level isoniazid resistance and cross-resistance to ethionamide among the MDR-TB strains circulating in Lisbon. This mutational pattern also hints to a possible involvement of strain-specific factors that could be a feature of the Portuguese MDR-TB strains where the LAM family is the major circulating genotyp

Study of the magnetic disaccommodation in La doped YIG

The relaxation of the initial magnetic permeability of La doped yttrium iron garnet (YIG) samples with nominal composition Y3-xLaxFe5O12 (0< x <0.6) is analysed in this work. The results show a very different behaviour depending on the sintering atmosphere used for the fabrication of the samples. Concretely, for the samples sintered in air, it just have been detected the usual relaxation peak found in YIG at 130 K. However, a new relaxation peak appears around room temperature for the samples sintered in CO2 atmosphere when the La content is at least of 0.3. These results have been interpreted in terms of the formation of a secondary perovskite phase when the La solubility limit is reached. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Portuguese study of familial dilated cardiomyopathy: the FATIMA study

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a myocardial disease, characterized by ventricular dilatation and impaired systolic function, that in more than 30% of cases has a familial or genetic origin. Given its age-dependent penetrance, DCM frequently manifests in adults by signs or symptoms of heart failure, arrhythmias or sudden death. The predominant mode of inheritance is autosomal dominant, and in these cases mutations are identified in genes coding for cytoskeletal, sarcomeric or nuclear envelope proteins. To date, most studies aimed at molecular diagnosis of DCM have been in selected families, or in larger groups of patients, but screening for mutations in a limited number of genes. Consequently, the epidemiology of mutations in familial DCM remains unknown. There is thus a need for multicenter studies, involving screening for a wide range of mutations in several families and in cases of idiopathic DCM. The present article describes the methodology of a multicenter study, aimed at clinical and molecular characterization of familial DCM patients in the Portuguese population.A miocardiopatia dilatada (MCD) é uma doença do músculo cardíaco caracterizada pela dilatação ventricular e compromisso da função sistólica, sendo possível identificar, numa percentagem superior a 30% dos casos, uma origem familiar ou genética. Dada a penetrância dependente da idade, manifesta-se muitas vezes em adultos por sinais ou sintomas de insuficiência cardíaca, arritmias ou morte súbita. O padrão autossómico dominante predomina, sendo possível identificar, nestes casos, mutações em genes de proteínas do citoesqueleto celular, sarcómero ou membrana nuclear. Até ao momento, a maioria dos trabalhos visando o diagnóstico molecular nos casos de MCD foi realizada em famílias seleccionadas, ou em grupos mais abrangentes de doentes, mas rastreando mutações num número restrito de genes. Consequentemente a epidemiologia das mutações nos casos familiares de MCD continua por esclarecer. É neste contexto que se coloca a necessidade de efectuar estudos multicêntricos, envolvendo uma pesquisa mutacional diversificada em várias familias e nos casos idiopáticos de MCD. O presente artigo descreve a metodologia de um estudo multicêntrico que tem como objectivo a caracterização clínica e molecular de casos familiares de MCD na população portuguesa

Stability under humidity, UV-light and bending of AZO films deposited by ALD on Kapton

H2020-ICT-2014-1 ERC-CoG-2014 CapTherPV, 647596Aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were grown by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on yellow Kapton and transparent Kapton (type CS) substrates for large area flexible transparent thermoelectric applications, which performance relies on the thermoelectric properties of the transparent AZO films. Therefore, their adhesion to Kapton, environmental and bending stability were accessed. Plasma treatment on Kapton substrates improved films adhesion, reduced cracks formation, and enhanced electrical resistance stability over time, of importance for long term thermoelectric applications in external environment. While exposure to UV light intensity caused the films electrical resistance to vary, and therefore their maximum power density outputs (0.3–0.4 mW/cm3) for a constant temperature difference (∼10 °C), humidity exposure and consecutive bending up to a curvature radius above the critical one (∼18 mm) not. Testing whether the films can benefit from encapsulation revealed that this can provide extra bending stability and prevent contacts deterioration in the long term.publishersversionpublishe

Efeito de curto prazo do fogo e da trituração da capoeira na densidade de esporos de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares no solo.

No estado do Pará, a agricultura tradicional é de corte e queima com redução do tempo de pousio, resultando na perda da capacidade produtiva dos solos agrícolas - isso tem motivado o desenvolvimento de alternativas conservadoras. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a influência do preparo de área agrícola em curto prazo na densidade de esporos de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares (FMA), em Marapanim-Pa. O estudo foi conduzido em áreas de uso convencional, experiência exitosa e referência (capoeira). Em cada área, foram definidos quatro transectos, onde foram coletados solos nas profundidades de 0-5 e 5-10 cm. Cada transecto correspondeu a uma repetição. O corte e queima apresentou menor número de FMA e o corte e trituração foi semelhante ao da capoeira na profundidade de 0 ? 5 cm. O corte e trituração da capoeira representa uma alternativa conservacionista que permite a manutenção dos esporos de FMA no solo, na época avaliadaEdição dos Resumos do IX Congresso Brasileiro de Agroecologia e IV Seminário Estadual de Agroecologia, Belém, PA, set./out. 2015