Proposals for Innovation and Improvement of the Quality of Life in Caprine Pastoralist Communities of Subsistence in the Monte Desert, Argentina

In a satisfactory alliance between the main environmental policy organizations and the academy, the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification (ONDTyT) is created. The ONDTyD provides information regarding status and trends of land degradation/desertification in order to promote prevention and mitigation measures used for advising public and private decision-makers in Argentina. It is based in the development of 17 Pilot Sites that constitutes the local level network, providing bio-physical and socio-economic indicators of land degradation. In this network the pilot site of the Monte, the largest dry region of Argentina (Lavalle desert, Mendoza), aims to improve the living conditions of native communities dedicated to subsistence goat farming, located below the poverty line. Precipitation ranges from 80-100 mm/year, strongly affecting productive activities. The proposal includes innovative traits in an area whose natural resources have been devastated. It is framed within a conception of rural territory development generating sustainable development strategies of rural indigenous communities, improve the status of the ecosystem through an integral management of natural and cultural resources, and improve socioeconomic conditions of inhabitants, compatibilizing ecosystem regeneration with investment in infrastructure and services, diversification of productive activities and generation of employment. An interdisciplinary group designed the proposal and the integrated desertification assessment in the fields with active community participation through their knowledge, land and livestock. The pilot case can be replicated throughout the territory. The work combines participatory and integrated methodologies, showing that the Observatory is a successful example of partnership building between the political and scientific-technological sectors in Argentina

Building the Embrapa rice breeding dataset for efficient data reuse.

Embrapa has led breeding programs for irrigated and upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) since 1977, generating a large amount of pedigree and phenotypic data. However, there were no systematic standards for data recording nor long-term data preservation and reuse strategies. With the new aim of making data reuse practical, we recovered all data available and structured it into the Embrapa Rice Breeding Dataset (ERBD). In its current version, the ERBD includes 20,504 crosses involving 9,974 parents, the pedigrees of most of the 4,532 inbred lines that took part in advanced field trials, and phenotypic data from 2,711 field trials (1,118 irrigated, 1,593 upland trials), representing 226,458 field plots. Those trials were conducted over 38 years (1982-2019), in 247 locations, in latitudes ranging from 3°N to 33°S. Phenotypic traits included grain yield, days to flowering, plant height, canopy lodging, and five important fungal diseases: leaf blast, panicle blast, brown spot, leaf scald, and grain discoloration. The total number of data points surpasses 1.27 million. Descriptive statistics were computed over the dataset, split by cropping systems (irrigated or upland). The mean heritability of grain yield was high for both systems, at around .7, whereas the mean coefficient of variation was 13.9% for irrigated trials and 18.7% for upland trials. The ERBD offers the possibility of conducting studies on different aspects of rice breeding and genetics, including genetic gain, G×E analysis, genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction

High seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in non-institutionalised children with mental retardation

Eighty-four children with mental retardation (34 boys, 50 girls; age range 2-18 years, median 6 years) and 84 age- and gender-matched outpatient controls were studied. All children were living at home, had never stayed in an institution, and came from the same urban area. Seropositivity for Helicobacter pylori was found in 42 (50%) of 84 mentally retarded children and 16 (19%) of 84 controls (p < 0.01). Socio-economic factors did not differ between the two groups. The findings indicated that a higher prevalence of H. pylori infection occurs in children with mental retardation, regardless of whether they are institutionalised

Phase II study on weekly bolus topotecan in advanced or recurrent cervical cancer

It was the aim of our study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of weekly topotecan in patients with advanced or recurrent cervical disease

Magnetic Resonance with Diffusion and Dynamic Perfusion-Weighted Imaging in the Assessment of Early Chemoradiotherapy Response of Naso-Oropharyngeal Carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to differentiate post-chemoradiotherapy (CRT) changes from tumor persistence/recurrence in early follow-up of naso-oropharyngeal carcinoma on magnetic resonance (MRI) with diffusion (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion-weighted imaging (DCE-PWI). A total of 37 patients were assessed with MRI both for tumor staging and 4-month follow-up from ending CRT. Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values, area under the curve (AUC), and K(trans) values were calculated from DWI and DCE-PWI images, respectively. DWI and DCE-PWI values of primary tumor (ADC, AUC, K(trans)(pre)), post-CRT changes (ADC, AUC, K(trans)(post)), and trapezius muscle as a normative reference before and after CRT (ADC, AUC, K(trans)(muscle pre) and (muscle post); AUC(post/muscle post):AUC(pre/muscle pre) (AUC(post/pre/muscle)); K(trans)(post/muscle post):K(trans)(pre/muscle pre) (K(trans)(post/pre/muscle)) were assessed. In detecting post-CRT changes, ADC(post) > 1.33 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s and an increase >0.72 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s and/or >65.5% between ADC(post) and ADC(pre) values (ADC(post-pre); ADC(post-pre%)) had 100% specificity, whereas hypointense signal intensity on DWIb800 images showed specificity 80%. Although mean AUC(post/pre/muscle) and K(trans)(post/pre/muscle) were similar both in post-CRT changes (1.10 +/- 0.58; 1.08 +/- 0.91) and tumor persistence/recurrence (1.09 +/- 0.11; 1.03 +/- 0.12), K(trans)(post/pre/muscle) values 1.20 suggested post-CRT fibrosis and inflammatory edema, respectively. In early follow-up of naso-oropharyngeal carcinoma, our sample showed that ADC(post) > 1.33 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s, ADC(post-pre%) > 65.5%, and ADC(post-pre) > 0.72 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s identified post-CRT changes with 100% specificity. K(trans)(post/pre/muscle) values less than 0.85 suggested post-CRT fibrosis, whereas K(trans)(post/pre/muscle) values more than 1.20 indicated inflammatory edema

The BRCA1 c.788G > T (NM_007294.4) variant in a high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) patient: foods for thought

In this report we described the case of a BRCA1/2 (BRCA) molecular testing performed on tumor sample in a High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (HGSOC) patient with two different Next Generation Tumor Sequencing (NGTS) pipelines. The two clinical reports leaded to apparently different BRCA status, providing important foods for thought. After NGTS, the gene sequencing information (i.e., reads) are aligned to the reference gene sequences obtained from public databases, in order to provide an uniform nomenclature for unambiguous variant designation. However, the criteria adopted for variant reporting in tissue test are not always univocal. Particularly, this is the case of rare and unclassified BRCA variants for which the molecular evaluation may be a relevant challenge. Here we described a BRCA1 unclassified variant that may be re-evaluated in the context of alternative BRCA1 transcripts due to its different biological effect. We underlined that an in-depth knowledge of BRCA testing is mandatory for its appropriate use