Encystment of Acanthamoeba and Evaluating the Biobus Program

Acanthamoeba are ubiquitous protists that play an environmental role in regulating microbial diversity; they also occasionally cause infections of the eye (Acanthamoeba keratitis) and brain (granulomatous amoebic encephalitis). These organisms exhibit two distinct phenotypes. The trophozoite form dominates in favorable conditions, in which the Acanthamoeba move through the extension of pseudopodia, engulfing microbes and other particles. During stressful conditions, the Acanthamoeba undergo a process of encystment, in which they build a double cell wall and become relatively inactive. The cyst form can survive years until more favorable conditions arise, at which point they may excyst. For this study, multiple laboratory encystment methods were compared to determine the percent encystment and the different viabilities of laboratory-produced cysts. Furthermore, four different encystment genes were targeted for development of a primer library for reverse-transcription, polymerase chain reaction expression studies. The library was developed using sequences accessed from various databases, including NCBI and EMBL; primers were screened through polymerase chain reaction, and those primers producing positive results were used to further screen cellular RNA that was extracted from encysting cells over various time points during the encystment process, and using various encystment media. Using these methods, target gene involvement in the encystment process was compared between species and encystment methods. These studies lay the foundation for quantitative gene expression analysis, and provide the basis for comparison of various encystment methods

Are cognitive disorders more common in geriatric diabetic patients? What factors contribute to cognitive decline?

Cognitive screening is recommended for all geriatric DM patients. Suggested validated screening tests are the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire and the clock drawing test. Screening should be repeated on a twice-yearly basis in those who are borderline and annually in those who are negative. In the case of positive screening, a specialist clinical diagnostic assessment is recommended. In patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, evaluating and treating possible modifiable risk factors is recommended, such as sensory and physical functional disorders, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, etc. Simplification of antidiabetic drug treatment is also recommended in these patients

Pasta-making properties of the new durum wheat variety biensur suitable for the northern mediterranean environment

Industrial pasta is commonly made from mixtures of semolina from different durum wheat varieties, and there is a very low market presence of mono-varietal pasta from local, short supply chains. In this work, dough rheological properties and pasta quality traits of the new durum wheat cv. Biensur, which has a high HMW/LMW-GS ratio, were evaluated with a view to developing short-chain, mono-varietal pasta production in NE Italy. Chemical and sensory analyses on short-cut pasta, viz. tubetti, made with semolina from cv. Biensur at two drying temperatures revealed that it has good technological characteristics and stability, excellent cooking and sensory properties, and is comparable to the high-quality commercial reference cv. Aureo. We conclude that Biensur provides farmers and traders with new market opportunities and offers improvements to the environmental and economic sustainability of the durum wheat chain

Prognose do crescimento volumétrico de espécies de Eucalyptus para a Região Centro-Sul do Brasil.

Relatam-se os resultados obtidos para a prognose do crescimento volumetrico de Eucalyptus deanei, E. viminalis, E. globulus var. bicostata, E. cambiju e E. nitens, implantados na regiao de Ponta Grossa, PR. Dois modelos, comprovadamente adequados, foram testados com esse objetivo: i. metodo das regressoes sucessivas, desenvolvido por Ferreira (1978) e melhorado por Guimaraes e Castro (1982) e Ferreira (1989); ii. funcao sigmoidal de Chapman-Richards, de dois parametros,com diversas aplicacoes no campo florestal. Apos as analises efetuadas, apresentam-se as seguintes conclusoes: 1. O modelo das regressoes sucessivas, com a vantagem de nao necessitar da serie historica completa dos volumes para uma mesma parcela para ser ajustada, tem precisao satisfatoria para os objetivos deste trabalho. 2. Os melhores resultados, expressos pelos menores erros da projecao volumetrica, foram obtidos com o modelo de Chapman - Richards. 3. A idade base para tres anos de idade. 4. Nao foi possivel ajustar-se os modelos testados aos dados de E. nitens devido a inadaptacao da especie a regiao de Ponta Grossa. Nessa especie observou-se uma acentuada queda de sobrevivencia ao longo da rotacao. 5. Para o modelo de regressoes sucessivas, a mesma equacao pode ser utilizada para todas as especies, com base no volume obtido ao quarto ano

Conditional Involvement of CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 in the Degradation of Phytochrome A.

All higher plants possess multiple phytochrome photoreceptors, with phytochrome A (phyA) being light labile and other members of the family being relatively light stable (phyB-phyE in Arabidopsis [Arabidopsis thaliana]). phyA also differs from other members of the family because it enables plants to deetiolate in far-red light-rich environments typical of dense vegetational cover. Later in development, phyA counteracts the shade avoidance syndrome. Light-induced degradation of phyA favors the establishment of a robust shade avoidance syndrome and was proposed to be important for phyA-mediated deetiolation in far-red light. phyA is ubiquitylated and targeted for proteasome-mediated degradation in response to light. Cullin1 and the ubiquitin E3 ligase CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1) have been implicated in this process. Here, we systematically analyze the requirement of cullins in this process and show that only CULLIN1 plays an important role in light-induced phyA degradation. In addition, the role of COP1 in this process is conditional and depends on the presence of metabolizable sugar in the growth medium. COP1 acts with SUPPRESSOR OF PHYTOCHROME A (SPA) proteins. Unexpectedly, the light-induced decline of phyA levels is reduced in spa mutants irrespective of the growth medium, suggesting a COP1-independent role for SPA proteins

Clinical Features of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Older Adults

The COVID-19 clinical presentation is extremely heterogenous and, in older people, it is influenced not simply by chronologic age but also by common geriatric syndromes, such as multimorbidity, motor disability, and frailty. Consequently, although typical respiratory symptoms remain the most frequent clinical presentation of COVID-19 in all age classes, in older patients, atypical symptoms (including but not limited to delirium and hyporexia) are more common than in middle-aged adults and have been associated with adverse outcomes. Moreover, some studies described the tendency of COVID-19 presenting symptoms to aggregate in clusters, and this approach seems to better capture the complexity of COVID-19 disease. The prognostic value of COVID-19 symptom clusters, however, is currently poorly investigated, especially in the older population

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE INLET FLOW IN A NON-PREMIXED COMBUSTION CHAMBER

The evaluation, validation and development of the models used in computation fluid dynamics requires the availability of experimental data for which the boundary conditions, especially the conditions of the inlet flow, are well defined. Laser diagnostics techniques provide experimental data used in computational fluid dynamics and are a powerful tool for measurements of the mean properties and fluctuations of the turbulent flow because they are non-intrusive methods, with high repetition rate and high spatial and temporal resolution. Therefore, in the present work an experimental study of the inlet flow (inert and combusting flows) in a non-premixed combustion chamber is presented. The velocity measurements were carried out using a laser Doppler velocimeter at the entrance region of the combustion chamber. An asymmetry on the mean flow and an increase on the total velocity fluctuations with the increase of the equivalence ratio was observed. The major effect on the increase of the equivalence ratio was a presence of a coherent movement on large scales associated to the flame brush dynamics

Quantum mechanics in curved space-time

In this paper, the principles of the general relativity are used to formulate quantum wave equations for spin-0 and spin-1/2 particles. More specifically, the equations are worked in a Schwarzschild-like metric. As a test, the hydrogen atom spectrum is calculated. A comparison of the calculated spectrum with the numerical data of the deuterium energy levels shows a significant improvement of the accord, and the deviations are almost five times smaller then the ones obtained with the Dirac theory. The implications of the theory considering the strong interactions are also discussed