A Pair of Rigid Surfaces with pg= q = 2 and K2= 8 Whose Universal Cover is Not the Bidisk

We construct two complex-conjugated rigid minimal surfaces with pg = q = 2 and K2 = 8 whose universal cover is not biholomorphic to the bidisk H × H. We show that these are the unique surfaces with these invariants and Albanese map of degree 2, apart from the family of product-quotient surfaces given in [33]. This completes the classification of surfaces with pg = q = 2, K2 = 8, and Albanese map of degree 2

Evaluating purifying selection in the mitochondrial DNA of various mammalian species

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), the circular DNA molecule inside the mitochondria of all eukaryotic cells, has been shown to be under the effect of purifying selection in several species. Traditional testing of purifying selection has been based simply on ratios of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations, without considering the relative age of each mutation, which can be determined by phylogenetic analysis of this non-recombining molecule. The incorporation of a mutation time-ordering from phylogeny and of predicted pathogenicity scores for nonsynonymous mutations allow a quantitative evaluation of the effects of purifying selection in human mtDNA. Here, by using this additional information, we show that purifying selection undoubtedly acts upon the mtDNA of other mammalian species/genera, namely Bos sp., Canis lupus, Mus musculus, Orcinus orca, Pan sp. and Sus scrofa. The effects of purifying selection were comparable in all species, leading to a significant major proportion of nonsynonymous variants with higher pathogenicity scores in the younger branches of the tree. We also derive recalibrated mutation rates for age estimates of ancestors of these various species and proposed a correction curve in order to take into account the effects of selection. Understanding this selection is fundamental to evolutionary studies and to the identification of deleterious mutations

ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome: a revision of 43 cases

AIM: To evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of the patients diagnosed as ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome, registered in the department. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed the files of forty-three patients followed from 1974 to 2002. RESULTS: A progressive rise in the number of patients diagnosed was found, being 80% females. Clinical suspicion was based mostly on the typical fat distribution; hirsutism and amenorrhoea were important in women. The more reliable diagnostic tests were: 11 pm cortisol, day curve of ACTH and cortisol, and dexamethasone suppression tests. The ACTH response to CRH during inferior petrosal sinus sampling permitted the diagnosis of ectopic source. In thirty-seven patients a pituitary adenoma was diagnosed. The three patients diagnosed before 1985 went for bilateral adrenalectomy (Nelson's syndrome in two); the others were submitted to transsphenoidal pituitary adenomectomy, obtaining remission in twenty six at the first operation and in two others at the second. Three patients had a recidive. Of the six patients with persistent disease (all treated with metyrapone or ketoconazole), three were submitted to radiotherapy, two to bilateral adrenalectomy, and one was waiting for surgery. Four patients had a bronchial carcinoid, successfully removed in three. One patient was lost to follow-up and another was still being evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: We found a positive evolution in the capacity to diagnose and treat these patients. Neurosurgical ability to achieve remission was 80% in the operated cases. More effective technical methods and drugs, as well as a multidisciplinary and dedicated medical team, lead to long lasting remissions in most of the patients

Recurrent hypercortisolism after removal of an ACTH secretor pituitary adenoma associated with an adrenal macronodule

A 29 years old patient was sent to our Outpatient Clinic of Endocrinology presenting clinic of hypercortisolism. Laboratorial study: High urinary free cortisol (UFC); serum cortisol - 25 microg/dl (8 am) (5-25) and 20 microg/dL (11pm); ACTH - 20 pg/mL (9-52) (8 am) and 14 pg/mL (11 pm); serum cortisol after dexamethasone suppression test: 14,9 mg/dL; CRH test: elevation of ACTH; Pituitary MRI: microadenoma; abdominal CT: nodule on the left adrenal. During inferior petrosal sinus sampling with CRH stimulation, ACTH reached 368 pg/mL on the right and 136 pg/mL on the left side. The patient was submitted to transsphenoidal surgery. After surgery, hypertension and physical stigmata improved. In 2006, a relapse of Cushing syndrome was suspected due to worsening of hypertension and increase of weight. A slight increase of UFC, undetectable ACTH and serum cortisol after dexamethasone suppression test equal to 16 microg/dL were found. On abdominal CT, the adrenal nodule kept the same characteristics. In December 2006, the patient was submitted to left adrenalectomy. After surgery, blood pressure normalized, UFC and serum cortisol were reduced, needing substitutive therapy. Progressive tapering of hydrocortisone doses lead to discontinuation in March 2007. He is clinically well, without any treatment. This is an unusual case, in which after surgical cure of Cushing disease, secretory autonomy of a coexisting adrenal nodule occurred. This clinical case is relevant, pointing out the complexity of hypercortisolism cases and the need of long follow-up

Methylation of RNA polymerase II non-consensus Lysine residues marks early transcription in mammalian cells

Dynamic post-translational modification of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) coordinates the co-transcriptional recruitment of enzymatic complexes that regulate chromatin states and processing of nascent RNA. Extensive phosphorylation of serine residues at the largest RNAPII subunit occurs at its structurally-disordered C-terminal domain (CTD), which is composed of multiple heptapeptide repeats with consensus sequence Y1-S2-P3-T4-S5-P6-S7. Serine-5 and Serine-7 phosphorylation mark transcription initiation, whereas Serine-2 phosphorylation coincides with productive elongation. In vertebrates, the CTD has eight non-canonical substitutions of Serine-7 into Lysine-7, which can be acetylated (K7ac). Here, we describe mono- and di-methylation of CTD Lysine-7 residues (K7me1 and K7me2). K7me1 and K7me2 are observed during the earliest transcription stages and precede or accompany Serine-5 and Serine-7 phosphorylation. In contrast, K7ac is associated with RNAPII elongation, Serine-2 phosphorylation and mRNA expression. We identify an unexpected balance between RNAPII K7 methylation and acetylation at gene promoters, which fine-tunes gene expression levels

A multiadaptive sampling technique for cost-effective network measurements

The deployment of efficient measurement solutions to assist network management tasks without interfering with normal network operation assumes a prominent role in today’s high-speed networks attending to the huge amounts of traffic involved. From a myriad of proposals for traffic measurement, sampling techniques are particularly relevant contributing effectively for this purpose as only a subset of the overall traffic volume is handled for processing, preserving ideally the correct estimation of network statistical behavior. In this context, this paper proposes MuST – a multiadaptive sampling technique based on linear prediction, aiming at reducing significantly the measurement overhead and still assuring that traffic samples reflect the statistical characteristics of the global network traffic under analysis. Conversely to current sampling techniques, MuST is a multi and self-adaptive technique as both the sample size and interval between samples are self-adjustable parameters according to the ongoing network activity and the accuracy of prediction achieved. The tests carried out demonstrate that the proposed sampling technique is able to achieve accurate network estimations with reduced overhead, using throughput as reference parameter. The evaluation results, obtained resorting to real traffic traces representing wired and wireless aggregated traffic scenarios and actual network services, prove that the simplicity, flexibility and self-adaptability of the proposed technique can be successfully explored to improve network measurements efficiency over distinct traffic conditions. For optimization purposes, this paper also includes a study of the impact of varying the order of prediction, i.e., of considering different degrees of past memory in the self-adaptive estimation mechanism. The significance of the obtained results is demonstrated through statistical benchmarking.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Impact of dietary starch on extrahepatic tissue lipid metabolism in farmed European (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer)

In aquaculture, there is high interest in substituting marine-derived with vegetable-based ingredients as energy source. Farmed carnivorous fish under high carbohydrate diets tend to increase adiposity but it remains unclear if this happens by increased lipid retention/accumulation, promotion of lipogenic pathways, or both. In order to determine the response of extrahepatic tissue to dietary starch, European (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Asian (Lates calcarifer) seabass were fed a control (low starch; LS) or experimental (high starch; HS) diet, for at least 21 days and then transferred for 6 days to saltwater enriched with deuterated water 2H2O. Incorporation of 2H-labelling follows well-defined metabolic steps, and analysis of triacylglycerols (TAG) 2H-enrichment by 2HNMR allowed evaluation of de novo lipogenesis (DNL) in muscle and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Fractional synthetic rates for TAG-bound fatty acids and glycerol were quantified separately providing a detailed lipogenic profile. The FA profile differed substantially between muscle and VAT in both species, but their lipogenic fluxes revealed even greater differences. In European seabass, HS promoted DNL of TAG-bound FA, in muscle and VAT. High 2H-enrichment also found in muscle TAG-bound glycerol was indicative of its role on lipid cycling. In Asian seabass, HS had no effect on muscle FA composition and lipogenic flux, with no 2H-enriched TAG being detected. VAT on the other hand revealed a strong enhancement of DNL in HS-fed fish along with high TAG-bound glycerol cycling. This study consolidated the use of 2H2O as tracer for fish lipid metabolism in different tissues, under different dietary conditions and suitable to use in different fish models

ARTICONF decentralized social media platform for democratic crowd journalism

Media production and consumption behaviors are changing in response to new technologies and demands, giving birth to a new generation of social applications. Among them, crowd journalism represents a novel way of constructing democratic and trustworthy news relying on ordinary citizens arriving at breaking news locations and capturing relevant videos using their smartphones. The ARTICONF project as reported by Prodan (Euro-Par 2019: parallel processing workshops, Springer, 2019) proposes a trustworthy, resilient, and globally sustainable toolset for developing decentralized applications (DApps) to address this need. Its goal is to overcome the privacy, trust, and autonomy-related concerns associated with proprietary social media platforms overflowed by fake news. Leveraging the ARTICONF tools, we introduce a new DApp for crowd journalism called MOGPlay. MOGPlay collects and manages audiovisual content generated by citizens and provides a secure blockchain platform that rewards all stakeholders involved in professional news production. Besides live streaming, MOGPlay offers a marketplace for audiovisual content trading among citizens and free journalists with an internal token ecosystem. We discuss the functionality and implementation of the MOGPlay DApp and illustrate four pilot crowd journalism live scenarios that validate the prototype

Limitations to Starch Utilization in Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) as Revealed by NMR-Based Metabolomics

Practical diets for commercial barramundi production rarely contain greater than 10% starch, used mainly as a binding agent during extrusion. Alternative ingredients such as digestible starch have shown some capacity to spare dietary protein catabolism to generate glucose. In the present study, a carnivorous fish species, the Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) was subjected to two diets with the same digestible energy: Protein (P) – with high protein content (no digestible starch); and Starch (S) – with high digestible (pregelatinized) starch content. The effects of a high starch content diet on hepatic glycogen synthesis as well as the muscle and liver metabolome were studied using a complementary approach of 1H and 2H NMR. The hepatosomatic index was lower for fish fed high starch content diet while the concentration of hepatic glycogen was similar between groups. However, increased glycogen synthesis via the direct pathway was observed in the fish fed high starch content diet which is indicative of increased carbohydrate utilization. Multivariate analysis also showed differences between groups in the metabolome of both tissues. Univariate analysis revealed more variations in liver than in muscle of fish fed high starch content diet. Variations in metabolome were generally in agreement with the increase in the glycogen synthesis through direct pathway, however, this metabolic shift seemed to be insufficient to keep the growth rate as ensured by the diet with high protein content. Although liver glycogen does not make up a substantial quantity of total stored dietary energy in carnivorous fish, it is a key regulatory intermediate in dietary energy utilization

Experiência do HFF em DISE

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