Material no OGM con alto valor proteico que abre perspectivas para la producción extensiva agroecológica y orgánica

Intercambio de saberes en el marco de la jornada de campo multiactoral en La Eudocia, donde se desarrolla la experiencia productiva de Soja NO OGM (organismo no modificado genéticamente) La Manuela.EEA BalcarceFil: Cittadini, Roberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Ischia, Claudia María. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce. Agencia de Extensión Rural Benito Juárez; Argentina.Fil: Ruiz Polizzi, Mauro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce. Agencia de Extensión Rural Mar del Plata; Argentina

Effect of initial levothyroxine dose on neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes in children with congenital hypothyroidism

We designed a multicentre open prospective randomized trial to evaluate the risk-benefit profile of two different initial treatment schemes with levothyroxine (L-T4), 10-12.5 μg/kg/day vs 12.6-15 μg/kg/day, on growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) detected by neonatal screening to identify the best range dose to achieve optimal neurocognitive development

Resource-aware construct design in mammalian cells

Resource competition can be the cause of unintended coupling between co-expressed genetic constructs. Here we report the quantification of the resource load imposed by different mammalian genetic components and identify construct designs with increased performance and reduced resource footprint. We use these to generate improved synthetic circuits and optimise the co-expression of transfected cassettes, shedding light on how this can be useful for bioproduction and biotherapeutic applications. This work provides the scientific community with a framework to consider resource demand when designing mammalian constructs to achieve robust and optimised gene expression

Colchicine for prevention of postpericardiotomy syndrome and postoperative atrial fibrillation : the COPPS-2 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Postpericardiotomy syndrome, postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF), and postoperative effusions may be responsible for increased morbidity and health care costs after cardiac surgery. Postoperative use of colchicine prevented these complications in a single trial. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy and safety of perioperative use of oral colchicine in reducing postpericardiotomy syndrome, postoperative AF, and postoperative pericardial or pleural effusions. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Investigator-initiated, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial among 360 consecutive candidates for cardiac surgery enrolled in 11 Italian centers between March 2012 and March 2014. At enrollment, mean age of the trial participants was 67.5 years (SD, 10.6 years), 69% were men, and 36% had planned valvular surgery. Main exclusion criteria were absence of sinus rhythm at enrollment, cardiac transplantation, and contraindications to colchicine. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomized to receive placebo (n=180) or colchicine (0.5 mg twice daily in patients 6570 kg or 0.5 mg once daily in patients <70 kg; n=180) starting between 48 and 72 hours before surgery and continued for 1 month after surgery. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Occurrence of postpericardiotomy syndrome within 3 months; main secondary study end points were postoperative AF and pericardial or pleural effusion. RESULTS: The primary end point of postpericardiotomy syndrome occurred in 35 patients (19.4%) assigned to colchicine and in 53 (29.4%) assigned to placebo (absolute difference, 10.0%; 95% CI, 1.1%-18.7%; number needed to treat\u2009=\u200910). There were no significant differences between the colchicine and placebo groups for the secondary end points of postoperative AF (colchicine, 61 patients [33.9%]; placebo, 75 patients [41.7%]; absolute difference, 7.8%; 95% CI, -2.2% to 17.6%) or postoperative pericardial/pleural effusion (colchicine, 103 patients [57.2%]; placebo, 106 patients [58.9%]; absolute difference, 1.7%; 95% CI, -8.5% to 11.7%), although there was a reduction in postoperative AF in the prespecified on-treatment analysis (placebo, 61/148 patients [41.2%]; colchicine, 38/141 patients [27.0%]; absolute difference, 14.2%; 95% CI, 3.3%-24.7%). Adverse events occurred in 21 patients (11.7%) in the placebo group vs 36 (20.0%) in the colchicine group (absolute difference, 8.3%; 95% CI; 0.76%-15.9%; number needed to harm\u2009=\u200912), but discontinuation rates were similar. No serious adverse events were observed. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among patients undergoing cardiac surgery, perioperative use of colchicine compared with placebo reduced the incidence of postpericardiotomy syndrome but not of postoperative AF or postoperative pericardial/pleural effusion. The increased risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects reduced the potential benefits of colchicine in this setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT0155218

Sol-gel derived mesoporous Pt and Cr-doped WO(3) thin films: the role played by mesoporosity and metal doping in enhancing the gas sensing properties

Mesoporous Cr or Pt-doped WO(3) thin films to be employed as ammonia gas sensors were prepared by a fast one-step sol-gel procedure, based on the use of triblock copolymer as templating agent. The obtained films were constituted by aggregates of interconnected WO(3) nanocrystals (20-50 nm) separated by mesopores with dimensions ranging between 2 and 15 nm. The doping metals, Pt and Cr, resulted differently hosted in the WO(3) mesoporous matrix. Chromium is homogeneously dispersed in the oxide matrix, mainly as Cr(III) and Cr(V) centers, as revealed by EPR spectroscopy; instead platinum segregated as Pt (0) nanoparticles (4 nm) mainly included inside the WO(3) nanocrystals. The semiconductor layers containing Pt nanoclusters revealed, upon exposure to NH(3), remarkable electrical responses, much higher than Cr-doped and undoped layers, particularly at low ammonia concentration (6.2 ppm). This behavior was attributed to the presence of Pt nanoparticles segregated inside the semiconductor matrix, which act as catalysts of the N-H bond cleavage, decreasing the activation barrier in the ammonia dissociation. The role of the mesoporous structure in influencing the chemisorption and the gas diffusion in the WO(3) matrix appeared less decisive than the electronic differences between the two examined doping metals. The overall results suggest that a careful combination between mesoporous architecture and metal doping can really promote the electrical response of WO(3) toward ammonia

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article

La stima della variabiltà genetica della razza chianina attraverso i dati genealogici e molecolari: il confronto tra parentele e rassomiglianza genetica

RIASSUNTO Sono stati considerati i dati genealogici e molecolari di 187 bovini di razza Chianina, suddivisi per sesso e provincia di provenienza. Sulla base delle loro parentele note (1300 soggetti in totale), sono stati calcolati i coefficienti di parentela additiva tra i soggetti, il coefficiente di consanguineità di ogni soggetto ed il coefficiente di parentela medio all’interno delle province. Mediante l’impiego della Cluster Analysis, sulla matrice dei coefficienti di parentela dei 187 soggetti, sono stati evidenziati 19 gruppi di parenti, con una parentela media compresa tra 0,125 e 0,500. La provincia con la parentela media più alta è risultata Perugia (aij = 0,194), mentre Grosseto e Firenze non hanno fatto registrare alcuna parentela al loro interno. Esistono limitati legami di parentela tra i soggetti di province diverse. Il confronto tra la rassomiglianza genetica ottenuta con l’IMG e le parentele additive dei soggetti non sempre ha indicato coerenza nei due metodi di stima. Questo può essere spiegato dal fatto che le parentele stimano la probabilità di geni identici per discendenza nelle ultime generazioni considerate, in questo caso sei, mentre l’IMG stima tutte le rassomiglianze conservate o disperse in tutto il processo evolutivo. SUMMARY The genealogical and molecular data of 187 Chianina bulls, subdivided for sex and province of origin, were considered. On the basis of their relationships (1300 subjects in total), the coefficients of additive relationship between subjects and the consanguinity coefficients of each subject were estimated. By using the Cluster Analysis on the matrix of the coefficients of relationship of the 187 individuals, 19 groups of relative subjects were identified, with an average relationship ranging between 0.125 and 0.500. The province with the higher average relationship resulted Perugia, while Grosseto and Florence don’t exhibit any relationship. Very few bound exist between the subjects of different provinces. The comparison between genetic similarities estimated by the IMG method and the additive relationship not always gave a full consistency of the two methodology

New insights into the sensing mechanism of shape controlled ZnO particles

The sensing behavior of pyramidal (PY), prismatic hexagonal (EP) and hexagonal rod-like (ER) ZnO micro and sub-microparticles, has been compared with that of commercial ZnO (ZnO®) particles having nanometric size and uneven shape. The performances have been firstly related to the predominance of specific crystal surfaces and then, more in depth, to the paramagnetic defects in ZnO (and), detected by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), in order to associate the particles morphology with the defects amount and reactivity and, in turn, with a particular sensing mechanism. The results showed that the sensing behavior of ZnO® containing irregular nanoparticles is essentially related to the alternate formation and filling of oxygen vacancies during the gas pulse (oxygen vacancy mechanism), while that of ER and EP crystals does not seem to directly involve the defects. In particular, the sensing properties of shape controlled ZnO particles are mainly attributed to the ability of (0001) exposed surfaces in favoring a far better chemisorption of negatively charged oxygen species, then available for the reactions with the reducing gas (i.e. ionosorption mechanism). The outcomes and the approach adopted in this study may positively contribute to the debate still existing between the oxygen vacancy and ionosorption models by giving indications on the predominance of a specific sensing mechanism in shape controlled ZnO

Atypical Ocular Coloboma in Tuberous Sclerosis-2: Report of Two Novel Cases

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant multisystemic disorder caused by mutations in either TSC1 or TSC2 genes and is characterized by hamartomas in multiple organs. The most frequent and best-known ocular manifestation in TSC is the retinal hamartoma. Less frequent ocular manifestations include punched out areas of retinal depigmentation, eyelid angiofibromas, uveal colobomas, papilledema, and sector iris depigmentation. In this article, we report 2 patients carrying known pathogenic variants in the TSC2 gene who exhibited an atypical, unilateral, iris coloboma associated with localized areas of retinal dysembryogenesis