Development of a highly sensitive noncompetitive electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of atrazine by phage anti-immunocomplex assay

The development of immunosensors for the detection of small molecules is of great interest because of their simplicity, high sensitivity and extended analytical range. Due to their size, small compounds cannot be simultaneously recognized by two antibodies impeding their detection by noncompetitive two-site immunoassays, which are superior to competitive ones in terms of sensitivity, kinetics, and working range. In this work, we combine the advantages of magneto-electrochemical immunosensors with the improved sensitivity and direct proportional signal of noncompetitive immunoassays to develop a new Phage Anti-Immunocomplex Electrochemical Immunosensor (PhAIEI) for the detection of the herbicide atrazine. The noncompetitive assay is based on the use of recombinant M13 phage particles bearing a peptide that specifically recognizes the immunocomplex of atrazine with an anti-atrazine monoclonal antibody. The PhAIEI performed with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.2 pg mL−1, which is 200-fold better than the LOD obtained using the same antibody in an optimized conventional competitive ELISA, with a large increase in working range. The developed PhAIEI was successfully used to assay undiluted river water samples with no pretreatment and excellent recoveries. Apart from the first demonstration of the benefits of integrating phage anti-immunocomplex particles into electrochemical immunosensors, the extremely low and environmentally relevant detection limits of atrazine attained with the PhAIEIS may have direct applicability to fast and sensitive detection of this herbicide in the environment.Fil: González Techera, Andrés. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Zon, María Alicia. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química. Area Electroquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Molina, Patricia Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química. Area Electroquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Hector. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química. Area Electroquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: González Sapienza, Gualberto. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Arevalo, Fernando Javier. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química. Area Electroquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Significados atribuídos ao envelhecimento ativo e saudável em um grupo de pessoas vivendo em comunidade idosos

Indexación: Scopus.Objetivo: conocer e interpretar las experiencias y los significados que le atribuyen al envejecimiento activo y saludable un grupo de personas mayores de 64 años que viven en comunidad en la ciudad de Montevideo, Uruguay. Método: se optó por el método cualitativo con enfoque hermenéutico dialéctico. La recolección de datos se realizó a través de entrevistas en profundidad a 11 personas mayores de 64 años de la ciudad de Montevideo, Uruguay. Resultados: el análisis de los datos permitió construir las categorías de: desarrollo personal, alteración del estado físico, pérdidas, cambios del rol social, falta de reconocimiento, actividades de recreación. Conclusión: se identificaron aspectos relevantes sobre las necesidades de sentirse útiles para la sociedad y familia, reconocen que su capacidad funcional ha disminuido, sienten limitaciones físicas. Se devela el sentimiento de las pérdidas, tanto económicas, como físicas y laborales. Manifiestan que una fortaleza es su salud mental la que los mantiene vivos y activos.Objective: to find out and interpret the experiences and meanings attributed to the active and healthy aging of a group of elderly people over 64 living in community in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. Method: we chose the qualitative method with dialectical hermeneutic approach. Data collection occurred through in-depth interviews with 11 elderly people aged 64 or more in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. Results: data analysis allowed us to construct the categories personal development, physical state changing, losses, social role changes, lack of recognition, recreation activities. Conclusion: we identified relevant aspects on the need to feel useful for society and family; they recognize that their functional capacity has decreased; they feel physical limitations. Feelings of economic, physical and labor losses showed up in the study. They point out that their mental health is their strength that keeps them alive and active.http://ref.scielo.org/zq7wr

Bioinformatic approaches for the genetic and phenotypic characterization of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeast collection

The objective of the present study was to compare genetic and phenotypic variation of 103 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from winemaking environments. We used bioinformatics approaches to identify genetically similary strains with specific phenotypes and to estimate a strain's biotechnological potential. 
A S. cerevisiae collection, comprising 440 strains that were obtained from winemaking environments in Portugal has been constituted during the last years. All strains were genetically characterized by a set of eleven highly polymorphic microsatellites and showed unique allelic combinations. Using neural networks, a subset of 103 genetically most diverse strains was chosen for phenotypic analysis, that included growth in synthetic must media at various temperatures, utilization of carbon sources (glucose, ribose, arabinose, xylose, saccharose, galactose, rafinose, maltose, glycerol, potassium acetate and pyruvic acid), growth in ethanol containing media, evaluation of osmotic and oxidative stress resistance, H2S production and utilization of different nitrogen sources. Using supervised data mining approaches we have found that genotype represented with presence/absence of eleven microsatellites relates well with geographical location (performance evaluation using leave-out-out technique resulted in high performance scores; e.g., area under ROC curve was above 0.8 for a number of standard machine learning approaches tested). To find relations between phenotypes and genotypes, we used a two-step approach which first hierarchically clusters the strains according to their phenotype, and then tests if the resulting sub-clusters are identifiable using strain’s genetic data. Several groups of strains with similar phenotype profiles and common features in genotype were identified this way, and they are subject to further investigations. 

Financially supported by the programs POCI 2010 (FEDER/FCT, POCTI/AGR/56102/2004) and AGRO (ENOSAFE, Nº 762).
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Measurement of psychological entitlement in 28 countries

This article presents the cross-cultural validation of the Entitlement Attitudes Questionnaire, a tool designed to measure three facets of psychological entitlement: active, passive, and revenge entitlement. Active entitlement was defined as the tendency to protect individual rights based on self-worthiness. Passive entitlement was defined as the belief in obligations to and expectations toward other people and institutions for the fulfillment of the individual’s needs. Revenge entitlement was defined as the tendency to protect one’s individual rights when violated by others and the tendency to reciprocate insults. The 15-item EAQ was validated in a series of three studies: the first one on a general Polish sample (N = 1,900), the second one on a sample of Polish students (N = 199), and the third one on student samples from 28 countries (N = 5,979). A three-factor solution was confirmed across all samples. Examination of measurement equivalence indicated partial metric invariance of EAQ for all national samples. Discriminant and convergent validity of the EAQ was also confirmed

Antimicrobial therapies for odontogenic infections in children and adolescents. Literature review and clinical recomendations.

Abstract: Oral infections are caused by an imbalance in the patient’s indigenous flora which changes from commensal to opportunistic. Odontogenic infections are the most common reason for consultation in children and adolescents. Rational use of antibiotics is the best strategy to avoid microbial resistance. Dental infections should first receive proper local treatment, which can also be complemented with a systemic method.  Appropriate drug selection and dosing should be made. Amoxicilin is the first choice for antimicrobial agents in pediatric dentistry. Clindamycin and clarithromycin are the best alternative for patients with penicillin hypersensibility. In this literature review, the authors intended to establish clear clinical management guidelines for emergency treatment and subsequent final resolution.Keywords: Antibiotics, microbial drug resistance, dental focal infection, children and adolescents.Terapias antimicrobianas en infecciones odontogénicas en niños y adolescentes. Revisión de la literatura y recomendaciones para la clínica.Resumen: Las infecciones bucales son producidas por un desequilibrio de la flora indígena del paciente que pasa de comensal a oportunista. Las consultas más frecuentes  en niños y adolescentes son las infecciones odontogénicas. El uso racional de antibióticos, es la estrategia más importante para evitar la resistencia microbiana. Las infecciones dentarias deben recibir en primera instancia el tratamiento local correspondiente y a veces complementarse con tratamiento sistémico seleccionando y dosificando adecuadamente el fármaco. El antimicrobiano de primera elección en odontopediatría es la amoxicilina y para pacientes con hipersensibilidad a las penicilinas, se indican claritromicina o clindamicina. Esta revisión de la literatura busca establecer pautas de manejo clínico claras para el tratamiento de urgencia y su posterior resolución definitiva.Palabras clave: Antimicrobianos, fármaco resistencia microbiana, infección focal dental, niños y adolescentes

Survey of molecular methods for the typing of wine yeast strains

A survey of the genetic polymorphisms produced by distinct methods was performed in 23 commercial winery yeast strains. The microsatellite typing, using 6 different loci, an optimized interdelta sequence analysis and RFLP of mitochondrial DNA generated by the enzyme Hinf I had the same discriminatory power: among the 23 commercial yeast strains, 21 distinct patterns were obtained. Karyotype analysis originated 22 patterns, thereby allowing the discrimination of one of the three strains that were not distinguished by the other methods. Due to the equivalence of the results obtained in this survey, any of the methods can be applied at the industrial scale.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCTI/BIO/38106/2001 (Eixo 2, Medida 2.3, QCAIII - FEDER).Instituto de Cooperação Científica e Tecnológica Internacional (ICCTI) - grant nº 657 C2.Comunidade Europeia (UE) - contract number QLK4-CT-2001-51873

On the nonlinear dynamics of topological solitons in DNA

Dynamics of topological solitons describing open states in the DNA double helix are studied in the frameworks of the model which takes into account asymmetry of the helix. It is shown that three types of topological solitons can occur in the DNA double chain. Interaction between the solitons, their interactions with the chain inhomogeneities and stability of the solitons with respect to thermal oscillations are investigated.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figure

Ribeiro, Djamila, Quem tem medo do feminismo negro? San Pablo, Companhia das Letras, 2018, 148 pp.

Conocer mi historia y la historia de mis antepasados, me posibilitó romper con la historia única e identificar todo lo negativo que había sido dicho de las personas como yo, escribe Djamila Ribeiro en «La máscara del silencio». Este texto, con el que la autora elige abrir su segundo libro Quem tem medo do feminismo negro? (en español ¿Quién tiene miedo del feminismo negro?),1 es un ejercicio de autonarración y autoconsciencia, porque cuando no sabes de dónde vienes, es más fácil ir para donde la máscara dice que es su tu lugar (Ribeiro, 2048: 20).Conocer mi historia y la historia de mis antepasados, me posibilitó romper con la historia única e identificar todo lo negativo que había sido dicho de las personas como yo, escribe Djamila Ribeiro en «La máscara del silencio». Este texto, con el que la autora elige abrir su segundo libro Quem tem medo do feminismo negro? (en español ¿Quién tiene miedo del feminismo negro?),1 es un ejercicio de autonarración y autoconsciencia, porque cuando no sabes de dónde vienes, es más fácil ir para donde la máscara dice que es su tu lugar (Ribeiro, 2048: 20)

Incumplimiento imperfecto y sus remedios.

Abstract. In general, when we study the breach of contract and its consequences and remedies, we refer to the classification into temporary and definitive breach. However, several times, we see cases that are not included in none of these breach classes and we have to determine which are the remedies that creditor, victim of such breach, has at his disposal to solve the situation. We make reference to those cases where the debtor complies with its obligation but in a defective manner. This article has the objective of studying imperfect or defective breach of contract, determining its concept and remedies.Resumen. Generalmente cuando estudiamos el incumplimiento y sus consecuencias y remedios lo hacemos en base a su clasificación en definitivo y temporal. Sin embargo, muchas veces en la práctica nos encontramos ante casos que no se encuentran incluidos en ninguna de estas dos categorías y se nos plantea el problema de determinar cuáles son los remedios que el acreedor, víctima de tal incumplimiento, tiene a su disposición. Nos referimos a aquellos casos en los que el deudor cumple pero de forma defectuosa. Este trabajo tiene por fin estudiar esta categoría de incumplimiento, tratando de delimitar su concepto y sus remedios

¿qué esperan las madres que se haga con la ceibalita?

Incluye bibliografía.La presente investigación aborda las expectativas de las familias sobre el uso de las XO con fines escolares. Se indagó si existen expectativas comunes, similares o cambiantes y si están relacionadas a las características de las familias, a los contextos socioeconómicos y culturales, o a sus propios niveles de apropiación de diferentes tecnologías. Se examinó si estas expectativas coinciden con las que la escuela supone que tienen o deben tener