XX/XY Sex Chromosomes in the South American Dwarf Gecko (\u3cem\u3eGonatodes humeralis\u3c/em\u3e)

Sex-specific genetic markers identified using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing, or RADseq, permits the recognition of a species’ sex chromosome system in cases where standard cytogenetic methods fail. Thus, species with male-specific RAD markers have an XX/XY sex chromosome system (male heterogamety) while species with female-specific RAD markers have a ZZ/ZW sex chromosome (female heterogamety). Here, we use RADseq data from 5 male and 5 female South American dwarf geckos (Gonatodes humeralis) to identify an XX/XY sex chromosome system. This is the first confidently known sex chromosome system in a Gonatodes species. We used a low-coverage de novo G. humeralis genome assembly to design PCR primers to validate the male-specificity of a subset of the sex-specific RADseq markers and describe how even modest genome assemblies can facilitate the design of sex-specific PCR primers in species with diverse sex chromosome systems

A Buck-Boost Converter with Extended Duty-Cycle Range in the Buck Voltage Region for Renewable Energy Sources

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Buck-boost DC–DC converters are useful as DC grid interfaces for renewable energy resources. In the classical buck-boost converter, output voltages smaller than the input voltage (the buck region) are observed for duty cycles between 0 and 0.5. Several recent buck-boost converters have been designed to present higher voltage gains. Nevertheless, those topologies show a reduced duty-cycle range, leading to output voltages in the buck region, and thus require the use of very low duty cycles to achieve the lower range of buck output voltages. In this work, we propose a new buck-boost DC-DC converter that privileges the buck region through the extension of the duty-cycle range, enabling buck operation. In fact, the converter proposed here allows output voltages below the input voltage even with duty cycles higher than 0.6. We present the analysis, design, and testing of the extended buck-boost DC-DC converter. Several tests were conducted to illustrate the characteristics of the extended buck-boost DC-DC converter. Test results were obtained using both simulation software and a laboratory prototype.publishersversionpublishe

Assessment of paracetamol toxic effects under varying seawater pH conditions on the marine polychaete hediste diversicolor using biochemical endpoints

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are likely to lower ocean pH values, after its dissolution in seawater. Additionally, pharmaceuticals drugs are environmental stressors due to their intrinsic properties and worldwide occurrence. It is thus of the utmost importance to assess the combined effects of pH decreases and pharmaceutical contamination, considering that their absorption (and effects) are likely to be strongly affected by changes in oceanic pH. To attain this goal, individuals of the marine polychaete Hediste diversicolor were exposed to distinct pH levels (8.2, 7.9, and 7.6) and environmentally relevant concentrations of the acidic drug paracetamol (PAR: 0, 30, 60, and 120 µg/L). Biomarkers such as catalase (CAT), glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and cyclooxygenase (COX) activities, as well as peroxidative damage (through thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) quantification), were quantified to serve as ecotoxicological endpoints. Data showed a general increase in CAT and a decrease in GST activities (with significant fluctuations according to the tested conditions of PAR and pH). These changes are likely to be associated with alterations of the redox cycle driven by PAR exposure. In addition, pH levels seemed to condition the toxicity caused by PAR, suggesting that the toxic effects of this drug were in some cases enhanced by more acidic conditions. An inhibition of AChE was observed in animals exposed to the highest concentration of PAR, regardless of the pH value. Moreover, no lipid peroxidation was observed in most individuals, although a significant increase in TBARS levels was observed for polychaetes exposed to the lowest pH. Finally, no alterations of COX activities were recorded on polychaetes exposed to PAR, regardless of the pH level. The obtained results suggest that seawater acidification is detrimental to marine wildlife, since it may enhance toxic effects caused by environmental realistic concentrations of acidic drugs, such as PAR. This work was crucial to evidence that ocean acidification, in the context of a global change scenario of increased levels of both atmospheric and oceanic CO2, is a key factor in understanding the putative enhanced toxicity of most pharmaceutical drugs that are of an acidic nature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interferential electrical stimulation improves peripheral vasodilatation in healthy individuals

BACKGROUND:Interferential electrical stimulation (IES), which may be linked to greater penetration of deep tissue, may restore blood flow by sympathetic nervous modulation; however, studies have found no association between the frequency and duration of the application and blood flow. We hypothesized that 30 min of IES applied to the ganglion stellate region might improve blood flow redistribution.OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of IES on metaboreflex activation in healthy individuals.METHOD:Interferential electrical stimulation or a placebo stimulus (same protocol without electrical output) was applied to the stellate ganglion region in eleven healthy subjects (age 25±1.3 years) prior to exercise. Mean blood pressure (MBP), heart rate (HR), calf blood flow (CBF) and calf vascular resistance (CVR) were measured throughout exercise protocols (submaximal static handgrip exercise) and with recovery periods with or without postexercise circulatory occlusion (PECO+ and PECO -, respectively). Muscle metaboreflex control of calf vascular resistance was estimated by subtracting the area under the curve when circulation was occluded from the area under the curve from the AUC without circulatory occlusion.RESULTS:At peak exercise, increases in mean blood pressure were attenuated by IES (p<0.05), and the effect persisted under both the PECO+ and PECO- treatments. IES promoted higher CBF and lower CVR during exercise and recovery. Likewise, IES induced a reduction in the estimated muscle metaboreflex control (placebo, 21±5 units vs. IES, 6±3, p<0.01).CONCLUSION:Acute application of IES prior to exercise attenuates the increase in blood pressure and vasoconstriction during exercise and metaboreflex activation in healthy subjects.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FIPE-HCPA, Porto Alegre, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Cardiovascular Surgery DepartmentHospital de Clinicas de Porto AlegreUniversidade de Brasilia Physical Therapy DepartmentUNIFESP, Cardiovascular Surgery DepartmentSciEL

GEMS: The Size Evolution of Disk Galaxies

We combine HST imaging from the GEMS survey with photometric redshifts from COMBO-17 to explore the evolution of disk-dominated galaxies since z<1.1. The sample is comprised of all GEMS galaxies with Sersic indices n<2.5, derived from fits to the galaxy images. We account fully for selection effects through careful analysis of image simulations; we are limited by the depth of the redshift and HST data to the study of galaxies with absolute magnitudes M(V)10. We find strong evolution in the magnitude-size scaling relation for galaxies with M(V)<-20, corresponding to a brightening of 1 mag per sqarcsec in rest-frame V-band by z=1. Yet, disks at a given absolute magnitude are bluer and have lower stellar mass-to-light ratios at z=1 than at the present day. As a result, our findings indicate weak or no evolution in the relation between stellar mass and effective disk size for galaxies with log(M)>10 over the same time interval. This is strongly inconsistent with the most naive theoretical expectation, in which disk size scales in proportion to the halo virial radius, which would predict that disks are a factor of two denser at fixed mass at z=1. The lack of evolution in the stellar mass-size relation is consistent with an ``inside-out'' growth of galaxy disks on average (galaxies increasing in size as they grow more massive), although we cannot rule out more complex evolutionary scenarios.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap

Extracellular Vesicles from Infected Cells Are Released Prior to Virion Release

Here, we have attempted to address the timing of EV and virion release from virally infected cells. Uninfected (CEM), HIV-1-infected (J1.1), and human T cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1)-infected (HUT102) cells were synchronized in G0. Viral latency was reversed by increasing gene expression with the addition of serum-rich media and inducers. Supernatants and cell pellets were collected post-induction at different timepoints and assayed for extracellular vesicle (EV) and autophagy markers; and for viral proteins and RNAs. Tetraspanins and autophagy-related proteins were found to be differentially secreted in HIV-1- and HTLV-1-infected cells when compared with uninfected controls. HIV-1 proteins were present at 6 h and their production increased up to 24 h. HTLV-1 proteins peaked at 6 h and plateaued. HIV-1 and HTLV-1 RNA production correlated with viral protein expression. Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) showed increase of EV concentration over time in both uninfected and infected samples. Finally, the HIV-1 supernatant from the 6-h samples was found not to be infectious; however, the virus from the 24-h samples was successfully rescued and infectious. Overall, our data indicate that EV release may occur prior to viral release from infected cells, thereby implicating a potentially significant effect of EVs on uninfected recipient cells prior to subsequent viral infection and spread

StemChecker: a web-based tool to discover and explore stemness signatures in gene sets

Stem cells present unique regenerative abilities, offering great potential for treatment of prevalent pathologies such as diabetes, neurodegenerative and heart diseases. Various research groups dedicated significant effort to identify sets of genes-so-called stemness signatures-considered essential to define stem cells. However, their usage has been hindered by the lack of comprehensive resources and easy-to-use tools. For this we developed StemChecker, a novel stemness analysis tool, based on the curation of nearly fifty published stemness signatures defined by gene expression, RNAi screens, Transcription Factor (TF) binding sites, literature reviews and computational approaches. StemChecker allows researchers to explore the presence of stemness signatures in user-defined gene sets, without carrying-out lengthy literature curation or data processing. To assist in exploring underlying regulatory mechanisms, we collected over 80 target gene sets of TFs associated with pluri- or multipotency. StemChecker presents an intuitive graphical display, as well as detailed statistical results in table format, which helps revealing transcriptionally regulatory programs, indicating the putative involvement of stemness-associated processes in diseases like cancer. Overall, StemChecker substantially expands the available repertoire of online tools, designed to assist the stem cell biology, developmental biology, regenerative medicine and human disease research community. StemChecker is freely accessible at http://stemchecker.sysbiolab.eu.Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) [RH/BPD/96890/2013, SFRH/BPD/70718/2010, PTDC/BIA/GEN/116519/2010, IF/00881/2013, PTDC/BIA-GEN/116519/2010]; Programa Doutoral ProRegeM-Mecanismos de Doenca e Medicina Regenerativa [PD/00117/2012]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Caracterização geoquímica e estrutural do Granodiorito Cruzeiro do Sul: magmatismo shoshonítico pós-colisional neoproterozoico em zona de transcorrência, região de Quitéria, RS

The Cruzeiro do Sul Granodiorite is located in the Eastern portion of the Sul-rio-grandense shield. It forms one ENE-WSW elongate body of approximately 4 km² within a sinistral strike slip shear zone. The rocks were originally considered as part of the Arroio dos Ratos Complex, but they were recently mapped as a separate unit because igneous textures are widely preserved and they are intrusive in the gneissis complex rocks. The Cruzeiro do Sul Granodiorite is thus a porphyritic horblende-biotite granodiorite in a mafic-rich (M' ~ 20), medium-grained matrix. The magmatic foliation is marked by the shape alignment of feldspar megacrystals and mafic minerals. A solid-state, mylonitic structure is well-developed mainly near the contacts. Leucocratic veins are found both concordant and discordant to the main foliation, and they may give rise to a composite banding within high-strain zones, together with elongate mafic microgranular enclaves and synplutonic dykes of tonalitic to dioritic composition. The mylonitic foliation trends EW to ENE-WSW with medium to steep dip, and contains a shallow plunging stretching lineation, which indicates a transcurrent kinematic for this shear zone. Structural evidences, such as the parallelism and progressive evolution of mylonitic foliation relative to the magmatic one, as well as the elongated form of granodioritic bodies and the concordant character of planar structures with the ENE shear zone, are interpreted as an indication of syntectonic emplacement. Moreover, the absence of metamorphic foliation reworked by mylonitic shows that the Cruzeiro do Sul Granodiorite registers only one phase of deformation, which would have occurred during their emplacement. Thus, we have concluded that the Cruzeiro do Sul Granodiorite has no relation with the EW transversal event, and low dip angle responsible for the deformation of Arroio dos Ratos Complex, but is linked to the transcurrent event of Dorsal de Canguçu Shear Zone. The structural and compositional features of Cruzeiro do Sul Granodiorite magmatism are consistent with its post-collisional character, and the shoshonitic affinity is given by its high Sr contents, regular rare earth element chondrite-normalized patterns and the abundance of light rare earth regarding the heavy rare earth elements. Patterns of trace elements with enrichment in Ba and Rb, and impoverishment of High-Field Strength in relation to Large Ion Lithophile Elements is also an important feature of the rocks of shoshonitic affinity. Their medium- to high-K content, and metaluminous to slightly peraluminous characters are possibly indicative of some crustal contamination during their differentiation. The conditions of P and T, calculated with the geobarometer Alt-Hb and Plg-Hb thermobarometer were estimated at about 4.3 to 5.3 kbars and crystallization temperatures on the order of 720 to 760°C. The feldspar microstructures suggest deformation temperatures consistent with the amphibolite facies.O Granodiorito Cruzeiro do Sul localiza-se na porção leste do escudo Sul-rio-grandense e ocorre como um corpo de aproximadamente 4 km², alongado na direção ENE-WSW, controlado por uma zona de cisalhamento transcorrente sinistral. Esta unidade foi desmembrada do Complexo Arroio dos Ratos por constituir corpos mapeáveis intrusivos no mesmo, que preservam suas características primárias. Este granitoide compreende hornblenda-biotita granodioritos ricos em máficos (M'~ 20), possui foliação magmática marcada pelo alinhamento dimensional dos feldspatos e minerais máficos, com um importante componente milonítico, principalmente próximo aos contatos. Veios leucograníticos concordantes e discordantes são comuns e, em zonas de mais alta deformação, geram um bandamento composto juntamente com enclaves microgranulares máficos alongados e diques sinplutônicos de composição diorítica a tonalítica paralelos à foliação. A foliação milonítica é paralela à primária, com direção EW a ENE-WSW e médio a alto ângulo de mergulho, contendo lineação de estiramento de baixo caimento para W e WSW, indicando-se a cinemática transcorrente da zona de cisalhamento. O sentido de movimento sinistral desta zona é confirmado por diversos indicadores cinemáticos de escalas meso e microscópica, e as microestruturas desenvolvidas sobre os feldspatos indicam temperaturas de deformação compatíveis com as da fácies anfibolito. A forma alongada dos corpos paralelamente à zona de transcorrência, a concordância e a progressão da foliação magmática em relação à milonítica, ambas paralelas aos limites das intrusões, são evidências estruturais de seu caráter sintectônico. Por outro lado, a ausência de foliação metamórfica retrabalhada pela milonítica permite concluir que o granitoide estudado registra apenas uma fase de deformação, que teria ocorrido durante o seu posicionamento, descartando sua relação com o evento transversal de direção EW e baixo ângulo de mergulho responsável pela deformação do Complexo Arroio dos Ratos e vinculando-o ao evento de transcorrência da Zona de Cisalhamento Dorsal de Canguçu. As características composicionais são consistentes com o caráter pós-colisional do magmatismo, e a afinidade shoshonítica é revelada pelos altos teores de Sr, pelo comportamento linear e homogêneo dos elementos terras raras e pela abundância dos elementos terras raras leves em relação aos elementos terras raras pesados. Os padrões de elementos traço, com enriquecimento em Ba e Rb e empobrecimento dos HFS (High Field Strength Elements) em relação aos LILE (Large Ion Lithophile Elements), bem como seu caráter metaluminoso, também são importantes características que marcam sua afinidade shoshonítica. As condições de P e T, calculadas a partir do geobarômetro Alt-Hb e do termobarômetro Plg-Hb, são estimadas em cerca de 4,3 a 5,3 kbars e temperaturas de cristalização na ordem de 720 a 760°C

CD3e expression in HTLV-1-infected individuals is associated with proviral load and Tax expression

Financial support: FUNDHERP, CTC, INCTC, FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES

Near-Ultraviolet Properties of a Large Sample of Type Ia Supernovae as Observed with the Swift UVOT

We present ultraviolet (UV) and optical photometry of 26 Type Ia supernovae (SNe~Ia) observed from March 2005 to March 2008 with the NASA {\it Swift} Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT). The dataset consists of 2133 individual observations, making it by far the most complete study of the UV emission from SNe~Ia to date. Grouping the SNe into three subclasses as derived from optical observations, we investigate the evolution of the colors of these SNe, finding a high degree of homogeneity within the normal subclass, but dramatic differences between that group and the subluminous and SN 2002cx-like groups. For the normal events, the redder UV filters on UVOT ($u$, $uvw1$) show more homogeneity than do the bluer UV filters ($uvm2$, $uvw2$). Searching for purely UV characteristics to determine existing optically based groupings, we find the peak width to be a poor discriminant, but we do see a variation in the time delay between peak emission and the late, flat phase of the light curves. The UV light curves peak a few days before the $B$ band for most subclasses (as was previously reported by Jha et al. 2006a), although the SN 2002cx-like objects peak at a very early epoch in the UV. That group also features the bluest emission observed among SNe~Ia. As the observational campaign is ongoing, we discuss the critical times to observe, as determined by this study, in order to maximize the scientific output of future observations.Comment: Accepted to Astrophysical Journa