Association Between Interleukin 6 -174 G/c Promoter Gene Polymorphism And Runners’ Responses To The Dietary Ingestion Of Antioxidant Supplementation Based On Pequi (caryocar Brasiliense Camb.) Oil: A Before-after Study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Exercise is a double-edged sword: when practiced in moderation, it increases the expression of antioxidant enzymes, but when practiced strenuously it causes oxidative stress and cell damage. In this context, polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL)-6 gene should be investigated better because they can influence performance, at least in exercise that generates oxidative stress and leads to muscular injuries with consequent inflammation. In this work, we investigated the influence of IL-6 –174 G/C polymorphism on tissue damage and inflammation markers, lipid peroxidation, hemogram and lipid profile of runners before and after ingestion of 400 mg of pequi oil in capsules supplied daily for 14 consecutive days. The IL-6 genotypes were associated with significant differences in lipid peroxidation, with the CC mutant having lower values. There were also significant differences among these genotypes in the response to supplementation with pequi oil, exercise-induced damage and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. The best protection against damage was observed with the heterozygous genotype. Although the CC genotype showed an increase in CRP levels after supplementation, the lack of a positive correlation between triglycerides and high-sensitivity CRP in this mutant genotype after supplementation indicated a protective effect of pequi. These findings deserve further investigation, particularly with regard to the quantification of circulating IL-6 concentrations. © 2016, Sociedade Brasileira de Genética.394554566CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoUnB, Universidade de BrasíliaConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Novel Experience Induces Persistent Sleep-Dependent Plasticity in the Cortex but not in the Hippocampus

Episodic and spatial memories engage the hippocampus during acquisition but migrate to the cerebral cortex over time. We have recently proposed that the interplay between slow-wave (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep propagates recent synaptic changes from the hippocampus to the cortex. To test this theory, we jointly assessed extracellular neuronal activity, local field potentials (LFP), and expression levels of plasticity-related immediate-early genes (IEG) arc and zif-268 in rats exposed to novel spatio-tactile experience. Post-experience firing rate increases were strongest in SWS and lasted much longer in the cortex (hours) than in the hippocampus (minutes). During REM sleep, firing rates showed strong temporal dependence across brain areas: cortical activation during experience predicted hippocampal activity in the first post-experience hour, while hippocampal activation during experience predicted cortical activity in the third post-experience hour. Four hours after experience, IEG expression was specifically upregulated during REM sleep in the cortex, but not in the hippocampus. Arc gene expression in the cortex was proportional to LFP amplitude in the spindle-range (10–14 Hz) but not to firing rates, as expected from signals more related to dendritic input than to somatic output. The results indicate that hippocampo-cortical activation during waking is followed by multiple waves of cortical plasticity as full sleep cycles recur. The absence of equivalent changes in the hippocampus may explain its mnemonic disengagement over time

Phosphorus removal by a fixed-bed hybrid polymer nanocomposite biofilm reactor

Eutrophication is one of the main challenges regarding the ecological quality of surface waters, phosphorus bioavailability being its main driver. In this context, a novel hybrid polymer nanocomposite (HPN-Pr) biofilm reactor aimed at integrated chemical phosphorus adsorption and biological removal was conceived. The assays pointed to removal of 1.2 mg P/g of reactive phosphorus and 1.01 mg P/g of total phosphorus under steady-state conditions. A mathematical adsorption–biological model was applied to predict reactor performance, which indicated that biological activity has a positive effect on reactor performance, increasing the amount of reactive phosphorus removed.The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the financial support under Project SFRH/BD/39085/2007

Strain-dependent Optical Emission In In1 - Xgaxas/inp Quantum Wells

InGaAs/InP strained-layer modulation -doped quantum wells were studied by photoluminescence. The combination of the built-in strain and the quantum confinement in this system leads to a strong valence band mixing yielding direct and indirect band gap structures. We demonstrate that the optical emission line shape is strongly dependent on the valence band dispersion and it is a good method to distinguish between direct and indirect structures. The application of an external biaxial tensile strain to the samples provides an additional evidence of direct-to-indirect band gap transition in strained heterostructures.641515330111533014Gershoni, D., Vandenberg, J.M., Hamm, R.A., Temkin, H., Panish, M.B., (1987) Phys. Rev. B, 36, p. 1320Gershoni, D., Temkin, H., Vandenberg, J.M., Chu, S.N.G., Hamm, R.A., Panish, M.B., (1988) Phys. Rev. Lett., 60, p. 448Gershoni, D., Temkin, H., Panish, M.B., Hamm, R.A., (1989) Phys. Rev. B, 39, p. 5531Chao, C.Y.-P., Chuang, S.L., (1992) Phys. Rev. B, 46, p. 4110Sugawara, M., Okazaki, N., Fujii, T., Yamazaki, S., (1993) Phys. Rev. B, 48, p. 8102Michler, P., Hangleiter, A., Moritz, A., Fuchs, G., Härle, V., Scholz, F., (1993) Phys. Rev. B, 48, p. 111991Triques, A.L.C., Brum, J.A., (1995) Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors, Vancouver, Canada, 1994, 2, pp. 1328-1331. , edited by D.J. Lockwood (World Scientific)Weihofen, R., Weiser, G., Starck, Ch., Simes, R.J., (1995) Phys. Rev. B, 51, p. 4296Dalfors, J., Lundström, R., Holtz, P.O., Radamson, H.H., Monemar, B., Wallin, J., Landgren, G., (1997) Appl. Phys. Lett., 71, p. 503Hosea, T.J.C., Rowland, G., (1998) Supercond. Sci. Technol., 13, p. 207Tudury, H.A.P., Ribeiro, E., Iikawa, F., Brum, J.A., Bernussi, A.A., Carvalho W., Jr., Gobbi, A., unpublishedBastard, G., Brum, J.A., (1986) IEEE J. Quantum Electron., 22, p. 1625Bastard, G., (1992) Wave Mechanics Applied to Semiconductor Heterostructures, , Les Editions de Physique, ParisBaptizmanskii, V.V., Novak, I.I., Titovets, Yu.F., (1979) Sov. Phys. Solid State, 21, p. 1915Liarokapis, E., Richter, W., (1992) Meas. Sci. Technol., 3, p. 347Thewalt, M.L.W., Harrison, D.A., Reinhart, C.F., Wolk, J.A., Lafontaine, H., (1997) Phys. Rev. Lett., 79, p. 26

Overweight and Class I Obesity Are Associated with Lower 10-Year Risk of Mortality in Brazilian Older Adults: The Bambuí Cohort Study of Ageing

Background: Prospective studies mostly with European and North-American populations have shown inconsistent results r

C-Reactive Protein and B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Yield Either a Non-Significant or a Modest Incremental Value to Traditional Risk Factors in Predicting Long-Term Overall Mortality in Older Adults

Background:New biomarkers may aid in preventive and end-of-life decisions in older adults if they enhance the prognostic ability of traditional risk factors. We investigated whether C-reactive protein (CRP) and/or B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) improve the ability to predict overall mortality among the elderly of the Bambuí, Brazil Study of Aging when added to traditional risk factors.Methods:From 1997 to 2007, 1,470 community-dwelling individuals (≥60 years) were followed-up. Death was ascertained by continuous verification of death certificates. We calculated hazard ratios per 1 standard deviation change (HR) of death for traditional risk factors only (old model), and traditional risk factors plus CRP and/or BNP (new models) and assessed calibration of the models. Subsequently, we compared c-statistic of each of the new models to the old one, and calculated integrated discriminative improvement (IDI) and net reclassification improvement (NRI).Results:544 (37.0%) participants died in a mean follow-up time of 9.0 years. CRP (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.17-1.40), BNP (HR 1.31 95% CI 1.19-1.45), and CRP plus BNP (HR 1.26, 95% CI 1.15-1.38, and HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.16-1.42, respectively) were independent determinants of mortality. All models were well-calibrated. Discrimination was similar among the old (c-statistic 0.78 [0.78-0.81]) and new models (p=0.43 for CRP; p=0.57 for BNP; and p=0.31 for CRP plus BNP). Compared to the old model, CRP, BNP, and CRP plus BNP models led to an IDI of 0.009 (p<0.001), -0.005 (p<0.001) and -0.003 (p=0.84), and a NRI of 0.04 (p=0.24), 0.07 (p=0.08) and 0.06 (p=0.10), respectively.Conclusions:Despite being independent predictors of long-term risk of death, compared to traditional risk factors CRP and/or BNP led to either a modest or non-significant improvement in the ability of predicting all-cause mortality in older adults

Identification of QTLs for grain yield and other traits in tropical maize under high and low soil-nitrogen environments.

Article purchased; Published online: 03 Nov 2017Low soil Nitrogen (low-N) is one of the most important abiotic stresses responsible for significant yield losses in maize (Zea mays. L.). The development and commercialization of low N tolerant genotypes can contribute to improved food security in developing countries. However, selection for low N tolerance is difficult because it is a complex trait with strong interaction between genotypes and environments. Marker assisted breeding holds great promise for improving such complex traits more efficiently in less time, but requires markers associated with the trait of interest. In this study, 150 BC2F1 families of CML 444 x CML 494 were evaluated at two location for two consecutive seasons to identify SNP markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield and other agronomic traits under low- and high-N environments. A total of 13 QTLs were identified with 158 SNP markers, of which nine and four QTLs were detected under low- and high-N environments, respectively. Five QTLs one each for grain yield (qgy-1), days to silking (qdts-1) and anthesis- silking interval (qasi-6), and two for stay green characteristic (qsg-1 and qsg-4) were close to their adjacent markers, with an interval of 0.7 to 5.2 cM between them and explained phenotypic variance of 9 to 21%. These QTLs would be invaluable for rapid introgression of genomic regions into maize populations using marker assisted selection (MAS) approaches. However, further validation of these QTLs is needed before use in MAS

Wolbachia pipientis: first detection in populations of Glycaspis brimblecombei (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) and Psyllaephagus bliteus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in Brazil

The sucking insect, Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae), is originally from Australia and reduces the productivity of Eucalyptus crops. The parasitoid Psyllaephagus bliteus Riek (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is the main agent used in the integrated management of G. brimblecombei. Endosymbionts, in insects, are important in the adaptation and protection of their hosts to the environment. The intracellular symbionts Wolbachia, induces reproductive changes such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization, male death and parthenogenesis. The objective of this study was to report the first record of Wolbachia pipientis in populations of G. brimblecombei and of its parasitoid P. bliteus in the field in Brazil. Branches with adults of G. brimblecombei and P. bliteus were collected from eucalyptus trees in commercial farms in six Brazilian states and, after emergence, the insects obtained were frozen at -20 °C. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect the Wolbachia endosymbiont. Wolbachia pipientis was identified in individuals of G. brimblecombei and its parasitoid P. bliteus from populations of the counties of Agudos and Mogi-Guaçu (São Paulo State), Itamarandiba (Minas Gerais State) and São Jerônimo da Serra (Paraná State) in Brazi