Assessment of the Accuracy of High-Throughput Sequencing of the ITS1 Region of Neocallimastigomycota for Community Composition Analysis

Anaerobic fungi (Neocallimastigomycota) are common inhabitants of the digestive tract of large mammalian herbivores, where they make an important contribution to plant biomass degradation. The internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region is currently the molecular marker of choice for anaerobic fungal community analysis, despite its known size polymorphism and heterogeneity. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of high-throughput sequencing of the ITS1 region of anaerobic fungi for community composition analysis. To this end, full-length ITS1 clone libraries from five pure cultures, representing the ITS1 region size range, were Sanger sequenced to generate a reference dataset. Barcoded amplicons of the same five pure cultures, and four different mock communities derived from them, were then sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. The resulting sequences were then assessed in relation to either the reference dataset (for the pure cultures) or the corresponding theoretical mock communities. Annotation of sequences obtained from individual pure cultures was not always consistent at the clade or genus level, irrespective of whether data from clone libraries or high-throughput sequencing were analyzed. The detection limit of the high-throughput sequencing method appeared to be influenced by factors other than the parameters used during data processing, as some taxa with theoretical values >0.6% were not detected in the mock communities. The high number of PCR cycles used was considered to be a potential explanation for this observation. Accuracy of two of the four mock communities was limited, and this was speculated to be due to preferential amplification of smaller sized ITS1 regions. If this is true, then this is predicted to be an issue with only six of the 32 named anaerobic fungal clades. Whilst high-throughput sequencing of the ITS1 region from anaerobic fungi can be used for environmental sample analysis, we conclude that the accuracy of the method is influenced by sample community composition. Furthermore, ambiguity in the annotation of sequences within pure cultures due to ITS1 heterogeneity reinforces the limitations of the ITS1 region for the taxonomic assignment of anaerobic fungi. In order to overcome these issues, there is a need to develop an alternative taxonomic marker for anaerobic fungi.</p

Partial resistance of oat genotypes to crow rust

O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar os diferentes níveis de resistência à ferrugem-da-folha em genótipos de aveia, e avaliar seu efeito sobre componentes do rendimento de grãos. Os experimentos foram conduzidos na Estação Experimental Agronômica da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, em 1995 e 1996. Foram avaliados dez genótipos de aveia com reações diferenciadas à moléstia. A ferrugem-da-folha causou prejuízos no rendimento de grãos, em diferentes densidades de cultivo da aveia, e o peso de grãos foi o componente mais afetado. Porém, alguns genótipos, como o UFRGS 910906, não foram afetados, apesar de apresentarem níveis intermediários de severidade da moléstia, o que evidencia a possibilidade de combinar resistência parcial e potencial de rendimento num mesmo genótipo.The aim of this study was to determine the different levels of resistance to crown rust of oat genotypes, and to evaluate its effects on yield components. The experiments were carried out at the agronomy experimental station of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 1995 and 1996. Ten genotypes with differentiated reactions to the disease were evaluated. Crown rust caused damage to grain yield, in different crop densities, and grain weight was the most affected yield component. However, some genotypes like UFRGS 910906 were not affected even at intermediate levels of the disease, showing thereby the possibility to combine partial resistance and yield potential in the same genotype

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia Santander de Quilichao- Guachene.

El presente documento da cuenta de las acciones psicosociales en entornos de violencia, donde se utiliza la imagen narrativa y la foto voz, las cuales brindan herramientas al profesional en el ejercicio de acompañamiento a las víctimas de conflicto armado, haciéndose necesario la ayuda de otras disciplinas con el fin de obtener mejores resultados, donde se logra un trabajo integral entre víctima y grupo interdisciplinario, orientando los procesos de atención, asistencia y reparación a víctimas del conflicto armado, con base a la ley 1448 del 2011. Se hace entrega del documento final del diplomado de profundización ´´acompañamiento psicosocial en escenarios de violencia``, como opción de grado de la universidad nacional abierta y a distancia UNAD, donde a partir del estudio de los diferentes escenarios, historias de vida de las víctimas, subjetividades, se logra identificar las acciones y estrategias adecuadas que serán implementadas como aporte al cambio social, emocional y familiar de las víctimas y de los diferentes contextos donde la se concentren los hechos de violencia, tomando como herramienta en este proceso el enfoque narrativo, que contribuye al análisis de VOCES: Relatos de violencia y esperanza en Colombia, Editado por el Banco mundial en el año 2009, aplicando técnicas y modelos que articulen el abordaje psicosocial de las víctimas del conflicto armado en el territorio nacional, donde se ha vulnerado el individuo y su esencia desde lo físico, psicológico, educativo, familiar, económico, donde se le brinde a las víctimas un acompañamiento con responsable y humanista dirigido hacia la transformación del individuo y el colectivo, donde no se re -victimice a la víctima de conflicto, buscando la emancipación emocional, económica que afecta la calidad de vida de la víctima, y que a partir del enfoque narrativo logren una transformación adquiriendo las herramientas adecuadas con las cuales seda un renacer del individuo. Comprender las dinámicas que se dan dentro de las narrativas brindando al profesional una visión más profunda de lo que se quiere indagar sobre la historia, pasada, presente y la visión que tienen del futuro, como el replantear el proyecto de vida, metas a corto, mediano y largo plazo que conlleven a la víctima a ser resilientes a partir de lo vivido y de lo que lleva en su mente.This document gives an account of the psychosocial actions in violent environments, where the narrative image and the photo voice are used, which provide tools to the professional in the exercise of accompaniment to the victims of armed conflict, making the help of other disciplines necessary. In order to obtain better results, where an integral work between victim and interdisciplinary group is achieved, guiding the processes of attention, assistance and reparation to victims of the armed conflict, based on the law 1448 of 2011. The final document is delivered of the diploma of deepening ´´a psychosocial accompaniment in scenarios of violence``, as an option of degree of the national university open and distance UNAD, where from the study of the different scenarios, life stories of the victims, subjectivities, it is possible to identify the appropriate actions and strategies that will be implemented as a contribution to social, emotional change and family of the victims and of the different contexts where the violence is concentrated, taking as a tool in this process the narrative approach, which contributes to the analysis of VOCES: Stories of violence and hope in Colombia, Edited by the World Bank in in 2009, applying techniques and models that articulate the psychosocial approach of the victims of the armed conflict in the national territory, where the individual and his essence have been violated from the physical, psychological, educational, family, economic, where he is offered to the victims an accompaniment with responsible and humanist directed towards the transformation of the individual and the collective, where the victim of conflict is not re-victimized, seeking emotional, economic emancipation that affects the quality of life of the victim, and that from the narrative approach they achieve a transformation by acquiring the appropriate tools with which the individual is reborn. Understand the dynamics that occur within the narratives by giving the professional a deeper insight into what they want to inquire about the history, past, present and vision they have of the future, such as re-raising the life project, goals to Short, medium and long term that lead the victim to be resilient based on what they have lived and what they have in their mind

ANÁLISE DOS NÍVEIS DE IMUNOGLOBULINAS SÉRICAS E MONÓCITOS DE PACIENTES EM TRATAMENTO COM AUTO-HEMOTERAPIA

A auto-hemoterapia (AHT) é uma prática de uso clínico crescente, que vem sendo utilizada como tentativa no tratamento de diversos problemas de saúde, tanto em humanos como em animais. Esse estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da AHT por meio da avaliação dos níveis de imunoglobulinas e de monócitos de pacientes que realizaram pela primeira vez o tratamento. Foi realizada a coleta de sangue antes e após 24 horas da realização da AHT, e também durante nove dias consecutivos em dez participantes, sendo cinco homens e cinco mulheres. Para realização da AHT foi coletado 10 mL de sangue venoso e aplicado no quadrante látero-superior do músculo glúteo máximo. Dos dez participantes analisados nove apresentaram aumento do número de monócitos que variou de 17% a 250%. Observou-se também aumento da Imunoglobulina M em nove dos indivíduos estudados, que variou de 10 a 28%. O aumento da Imunoglobulina G foi demonstrado em todos os participantes e variou de 13 a 36%. Foi observado também aumento de 2,6 a 89% da Imunoglobulina A em nove pacientes e aumento de 2,7 a 88,2% da Imunoglobulina E em oito indivíduos. Conclui-se que a auto-hemoterapia é fator de incremento da imunidade do organismo, pois mostrou aumento do número de monócitos e de imunoglobulinas

La hiperreactividad cardiovascular como factor predictivo de la hipertensión arterial en la mujer

Fundamento: No existen suficientes evidencias que permitan afirmar que la hiperreactividad cardiovascular constituye un factor de riesgo en la predicción de la hipertensión arterial en la mujer.Objetivo: determinar el valor predictivo de la hiperreactividad cardiovascular en la hipertensión arterial en la mujer.Métodos: se desarrolló un estudio prospectivo de cohorte, con 212 mujeres: 120 normorreactivas cardiovasculares y 92 hiperreactivas cardiovasculares. Se realizaron dos mediciones, una en el 2008 para identificar la presencia o no de reactividad cardiovascular, y otra en el 2013 para detectar la hipertensión arterial mediante la prueba del peso sostenido. Algunas de las variables estudiadas fueron: hiperreactividad cardiovascular, obesidad, edad, historia familiar de hipertensión arterial, y hábito de fumar. Se determinó el riesgo relativo de las mujeres con hiperreactividad cardiovascular de desarrollar hipertensión arterial, mediante un modelo de regresión logística.Resultados: el porcentaje de nuevas hipertensas después de cinco años, fue tres veces superior en las hiperreactivas cardiovasculares respecto a las normorreactivas cardiovasculares. La hiperreactividad cardiovascular fue la variable de mayor peso en la predicción de la hipertensión arterial.Conclusión: las mujeres con hiperreactividad cardiovascular tienen un mayor riesgo de padecer hipertensión arterial que las normorreactivas cardiovasculares. La hiperreactividad cardiovascular es el factor de riesgo de mayor valor predictivo de hipertensión arterial.</p

Geographic distribution of phlebotomine sandfly species (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Central-West Brazil

This study updates the geographic distributions of phlebotomine species in Central-West Brazil and analyses the climatic factors associated with their occurrence. The data were obtained from the entomology services of the state departments of health in Central-West Brazil, scientific collections and a literature review of articles from 1962-2014. Ecological niche models were produced for sandfly species with more than 20 occurrences using the Maxent algorithm and eight climate variables. In all, 2,803 phlebotomine records for 127 species were analysed. Nyssomyia whitmani,Evandromyia lenti and Lutzomyia longipalpiswere the species with the greatest number of records and were present in all the biomes in Central-West Brazil. The models, which were produced for 34 species, indicated that the Cerrado areas in the central and western regions of Central-West Brazil were climatically more suitable to sandflies. The variables with the greatest influence on the models were the temperature in the coldest months and the temperature seasonality. The results show that phlebotomine species in Central-West Brazil have different geographical distribution patterns and that climate conditions in essentially the entire region favour the occurrence of at least one Leishmania vector species, highlighting the need to maintain or intensify vector control and surveillance strategies

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin