The use of genes for performance enhancement: doping or therapy?

Recent biotechnological advances have permitted the manipulation of genetic sequences to treat several diseases in a process called gene therapy. However, the advance of gene therapy has opened the door to the possibility of using genetic manipulation (GM) to enhance athletic performance. In such ‘gene doping’, exogenous genetic sequences are inserted into a specific tissue, altering cellular gene activity or leading to the expression of a protein product. The exogenous genes most likely to be utilized for gene doping include erythropoietin (EPO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1), myostatin antagonists, and endorphin. However, many other genes could also be used, such as those involved in glucose metabolic pathways. Because gene doping would be very difficult to detect, it is inherently very attractive for those involved in sports who are prepared to cheat. Moreover, the field of gene therapy is constantly and rapidly progressing, and this is likely to generate many new possibilities for gene doping. Thus, as part of the general fight against all forms of doping, it will be necessary to develop and continually improve means of detecting exogenous gene sequences (or their products) in athletes. Nevertheless, some bioethicists have argued for a liberal approach to gene doping

Co‐existing monophasic teratoma and uterine adenocarcinoma in a female dog

Ovarian teratomas are occasionally reported in dogs; the rarest type is the monophasic teratoma,composed of tissues originating from only one germ layer. Canine endometrial adenocarcinomas are also rare in dogs and mainly affect geriatric females. This report describes case of co-existing ovarian teratoma and uterine adenocarcinoma in a 10-year old nulliparous female Boxer presented with lethargy, anorexia and purulent vaginal discharge. Abdominal ultrasonography evidenced pyometra and a mass in the left ovary. This was composed of a uniform whitish tissue with multiple cystic structures. The histology revealed an atrophy of the ovarian parenchyma, compressed by a proliferation of well-differentiated nervous tissue staining positively to vimentin, S100 and neuronal specific enolase (NSE), and negatively to keratin and inhibin. The left uterine horn, whose diameter was markedly increased, showed foci of endometrial cellular atypia, evident nucleoli and mitoses, at light microscopy. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of a coexisting ovarian monophasic teratoma and endometrial adenocarcinoma, two rare reproductive neoplasia in dogs

Caracterização das explorações de ovinos Serra da Estrela

A raça ovina serra da estrela tem o seu solar ao largo da nascente da bacia hidrográfica do rio Mondego. Com um efectivo actual de cerca de 90000 cabeças e encabeçamento de 35,8, esta raça autóctone de vocação predominantemente leiteira, apresenta na rusticidade, uma característica fundamental para a sua adaptação ao sistema semi-extensivo em que é explorada. A alimentação é feita à base de pastagens naturais e melhoradas, forragens e concentrados apenas durante o alavão. Nos ovis predominam as construções próprias para o efeito, utilizando tanto o sistema de camas de mato ou palha, como o ripado. As condições higiosanitárias da maioria das explorações são ainda muito deficitárias quer ao nível da qualidade das estruturas quer ao nível do maneio dos animais. Aquando da selecção das explorações foram tomados em conta, entre outros, critérios como a dimensão do efectivo, a indemnidade em relação à Brucelose, o tipo de maneio, bem como a existência de suspeita clínica O sobredimensionamento das explorações, a não existência de maternidades e parques de recria, comedouros e bebedouros mal dimensionados, a ausência de instalações para isolamento de animais doentes ou suspeitos, foram também identificados como factores predisponentes ao aparecimento e manutenção nas explorações de doenças com características epidemiológicas semelhantes à paratuberculose. O exame clínico de alguns animais destas explorações revelou a existência de animais com acentuadas quebras de produção, emagrecimento progressivo, diarreia terminal e edema intermandibular, compatíveis com um quadro sintomático de Paratuberculose ovina.Agradecimentos: Ao Projecto Agro 786, Medida 8. Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e Demonstração. Acção 8.1-Desenvolvimento Experimental e Demonstração, bem como a todas as entidades nele interveniente

Bringing participation closer to local governance expectations in Portugal: An exploratory study

This article is motivated by the recognition of existing gaps between most common participatory practices and the hopes of participatory governance materialisation. Beyond normative mismatches, tangible gaps exist regarding the prospects and the effective results of participation, but also those resulting from the way citizens and civil society perceptions become misaligned with those of local public authorities. Thus, the paper ponders the tension between the heavy legacies of traditional forms of political action and policy delivery, embedded in modernist and sectorial structures of public administration, and the emergence of new demands originated by innovative programmatic layouts and new social movements agendas and citizenship cultures, all accompanied by growingly pressing societal challenges. The correspondent theoretical debates recover the issues of co-creation and co-production (Albrechts, 2013, Watson, 2014, Wamsler, 2016), and the way they have been confronting traditional forms of participation, hence also considering the role of civic initiatives in the reconfiguration of the public sphere (Fung & Wright, 2008, Seixas & Mota, 2021). This debate is triggered by the notion that innovative participative practices are permeating local governance practices unevenly, leading to fragmented effects of positive contamination of the more traditional ones, as has been recognized for the Portuguese situation (Seixas & Guterres, 2019, Falanga & Ferrão, 2021, Rio Fernandes et al, 2021). The article organizes relevant empirical information regarding diverse examples of innovation in local participatory practices in Portugal. The main goal of the research is to bring further observation and interpretation for the possible evolution – including its unbalances and gaps (of dialogue) between traditional and innovative forms of governance, participation over co-creation, in addition to the bridging routes that have been explored. The purpose is to identify productive lines of coalescence between the different agents and spaces, thus contributing to position more stable and permanent arrangements within the Portuguese local governance systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quinoidization of regioregular oligo(THIENO[3,4-b]THIOPHENE)s

Caracterización de oligotiofenosUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

The epidermal ‘excretory’ syncytial plates in species of Temnocephala (Platyhelminthes, Temnocephalida): Proposal of a new methodology

The epidermis of temnocephalids is formed by a mosaic of syncytial plates as revealed by electron microscopy and/or 5% silver nitrate impregnation. The variable form and size have been observed but the value of the epidermal ‘excretory’ syncytial plates (EPs) in the identification of Temnocephala species never were proper discuss. Ten species of Temnocephala were studied using images taken with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), describing a morphometry method to allow the comparison, thus, evaluating the EPs as a specific character in the identification of species of Temnocephala. The measurements (length of the anterior and posterior portions of the plate relative to the excretory pore, width of the internal and external limits, length of the portion exceeding the tentacles, total width, and total length) were obtained using AxioVision® Zeiss LWE 4.7.2 (AVZ) software. The EPs of the species tested were different revealing unique characteristics thus allowing their use as specific characters within Temnocephala. There was a pattern for each host group (Mollusca, Crustacea, Insecta, and Chelonia); the exceptions were the crustacean species and one insect species. The intra-specific variation study in Temnocephala trapeziformis demonstrated that this character varied minimally within the species. The SEM images and the AVZ software measurements were positive for the characterization of species of Temnocephala. The cirrus remained the most important specific character within Temnocephala. The traditional morphometric method was sufficient to demonstrate several specific EP characteristics, but new EPs should always be clearly described and illustrated following the now proposed methodology for Temnocephala species identification.(As placas epidérmicas sinciciais ‘excretoras’ em espécies de Temnocephala (Platyhelminthes, Temnocephalida): Proposta de uma nova metodologia.) A epiderme dos representantes da ordem Temnocephalida é formada por um mosaico de placas epidérmicas sinciciais evidenciado através da microscopia eletrônica e da impregnação com nitrato de prata 5%. A variação de forma e tamanho do par de sincícios pós-tentaculares, ou ‘placas excretoras’ (PEs), entre as espécies já foram observados, mas o valor das PEs na identificação de espécies de Temnocephala nunca foi adequadamente discutido. Dez espécies de Temnocephala foram analisadas através de imagens obtidas em microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), descrevendo um método morfométrico que permite a comparação, e avaliação, das PEs como carácter específico. As medidas (comprimento da porção anterior e posterior, largura do limite interno e externo, comprimento da porção da placa acima do limite dos tentáculos, comprimento e largura totais) foram obtidas no programa AxioVision Zeiss LE 4.7.2 (AVZ). As PEs das espécies estudadas diferiram entre si e possuem características únicas que fazem delas bons caracteres diagnósticos específicos. Possuem um padrão por grupo hospedeiro; as exceções são as espécies epibiontes em crustáceos e uma espécie epibionte em insetos. O estudo da variação intraespecífica de Temnocephala trapeziformis mostrou que este caráter tem pouca variação dentro de uma mesma espécie. A visualização das PEs em MEV e as medidas obtidas através do programa AVZ produziram bons resultados na caracterização das espécies. O estudo morfométrico tradicional foi suficiente para evidenciar as características específicas das PEs. Estas devem ser claramente descritas e ilustradas, seguindo a metodologia agora proposta, para permitir a utilização deste caráter diagnóstico na identificação das espécies de Temnocephala

Expansão de busca utilizando vocabulário controlado.

O objetivo dessa proposta é expandir as expressões de busca especificadas pelo usuário, de modo a abrir o leque de resultados, melhorando especialmente a cobertura destes, conferindo uma maior precisão nos resultados das buscas