Transthyretin is not necessary for thyroid hormone metabolism in conditions of increased hormone demand

Thyroid hormones circulate in blood mainly bound to plasma proteins. Transthyretin is the major thyroxine plasma carrier in mice. Studies in transthyretin-null mice revealed that the absence of transthyretin results in euthyroid hypothyroxinemia and normal thyroid hormone tissue distribution, with the exception of the choroid plexus in the brain. Therefore, transthyretin does not influence normal thyroid hormone homeostasis under standard laboratory conditions. To investigate if transthyretin has a buffer/storage role we challenged transthyretin-null and wild-type mice with conditions of increased hormone demand: (i) exposure to cold, which elicits thermogenesis, a process that requires thyroid hormones; and (ii) thyroidectomy, which abolishes thyroid hormone synthesis and secretion and induces severe hypothyroidism. Transthyretin-null mice responded as the wild-type both to changes induced by stressful events, namely in body weight, food intake and thyroid hormone tissue content, and in the mRNA levels of genes whose expression is altered in such conditions. These results clearly exclude a role for transthyretin in thyroid hormone homeostasis even under conditions of increased hormone demand.POCTI/NSE/37315/2001, from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) and FEDER; J C S is a recipient of a PhD fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal

Circulating low density neutrophils of breast cancer patients are associated with their worse prognosis due to the impairment of T cell responses

Funding: This work was supported by Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PD/BD/114023/2015, SFRH/BD/148422/2019 and 2021.08031.BD); and iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020 and DAI/2019/46).Neutrophils are prominent immune components of tumors, having either anti-tumor (N1) or pro-tumor activity (N2). Circulating neutrophils, divided into high density neutrophils (HDN) and low density neutrophils (LDN), functionally mirror those N1 and N2 cells, respectively. LDN are rare in non-pathological conditions, but frequent in cancer, exhibiting a pro-tumor phenotype. These findings have been mainly demonstrated in animal models, thus proper validation in humans is still imperative. Here, we observed that LDN were increased in the blood of breast cancer (BC) patients, particularly with metastatic disease. Within the population of non-metastatic patients, LDN were more prevalent in patients with poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy than patients with a good response. The higher incidence of LDN in BC patients with severe disease or resistance to treatment can be explained by their pro-tumor/immunosuppressive characteristics. Moreover, the percentage of LDN in BC patients' blood was negatively correlated with activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes and positively correlated with immunosuppressive regulatory T cells. The ability of LDN to spoil anti-tumor immune responses was further demonstrated ex vivo. Hence, this study reveals the potential of LDN as a biomarker of BC response to treatment and opens new avenues for developing new immunotherapies.publishersversionpublishe

Efficiency of triple emitter source (TES) for irrigation experiments of horticultural crops

Triple emitter source TES experimental irrigation was designed. Three trickle laterals were connected together in order to form a triple joint lateral. Two of them and their emitters are connected to two tanks of stock solutions. The third lateral contains only fresh water. The emitters of the two solution lines have different and varying discharges to obtain several mixings of the two stock solutions. The third line is necessary to obtain constant water application rates for each trickling point along the lateral. This method was tested for several experiments involving the study of the combined effects of salinity and fertilizers on the yield function of horticultural crops, namely lettuce and cabbage. As concluding remarks, it was shown the high uniformity of the factor to be evaluated, through the use of Christiansen coefficient of uniformity distribution CUC, which value was always larger than 90%. Main advantage of this experimental design is its smaller experimental plots (reducing pollution and research costs)

Scalable Task Cleanup Assignment for Multi-agents

This paper describes a group of robots for cleaning a simulated environment and proposes an ecient algorithm for navigation based on Path nding A *. No need for vision sensors. As a result it was observed that the robots can work cooperatively to clear the ground and that the navigation algorithm is e ective in cleaning. In order to test its eciency it was compared the combination of the Path nding A* algorithm and the decision algorithm proposed in this paper with Path nding A* and Euclidean distance, resulted in an improvement in time and distance traveled

Characterization of Neossolos Regolíticos (Psamments) through a pluviometric gradient in Brazilian semiarid.

There is still little information about Neossolos Regoliticos ( Neosols) , therefore, generating information about fertility, genesis and mineralogy is important to define the proper use and management. The work aimed to characterize morphologically, physically, chemically and mineralogically three Neossolos Regoliticos (Psamments) along a pluviometric gradient ( 400 and 600 mm). For this purpose, trenches were opened, where the description and collection of soil samples proceeded. It was not possible to notice rainfall interference in the differentiation of horizons and depth of soils. However, increased clay contents from very dry soil to the sub-humid zone, showing the influence to rainfall that is also reflected in the natural fertility of Neossolos Regoliticos (Psamments). No Brasil, o conhecimento sobre esses solos é escasso, o que demanda geração de informações sobre a sua fertilidade, gênese e mineralogia, entre outros aspectos, para o uso e manejo adequados. O objetivo desse trabalho foi realizar a caracterização morfológica, física, química e mineralógica de Neossolos Regolíticos ao longo de um gradiente pluviométrico no semiárido Paraibano. Para tanto, dividiu-se a região em três zonas de acordo com a precipitação média anual: muito seca (_> 400 e 600 mm) onde foram abertas três trincheiras para coleta e descrição dos solos em cada horizonte. Não foi possível notar interferência da pluviometria na diferenciação dos horizontes e na profundidade dos solos. Os teores de argila aumentaram do solo da zona muito seca para a subúmida, evidenciando a influência das precipitações pluviométricas que também se refletiram na fertilidade natural dos Neossolos Regolíticos. A mineralogia da fração argila mostrou-se relativamente semelhante entre os solos estudados com caulinita, quartzo, feldspato e mica