Toxicological and pharmacological evaluation of Discaria americana Gillies & Hook (Rhamnaceae) in mice

Medicinal plants (e.g. Discaria americana) have been used by populations for centuries. However, popular use is not enough to validate these plants as safe and effective medicinal products. The present study sought to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicity as well as the anxiolytic and antinociceptive effects of D. americana root bark and aerial parts extracts in mice. In acute toxicity studies, mice were treated with single intraperitoneal doses of the aforementioned extracts. Subacute toxicity studies were performed by oral administration of the extracts over 14 days. Anxiolytic studies consisted of the elevated plus maze method, and antinociceptive studies were based on the hot plate test. The LD50 value for D. americana aerial parts extract was established at >500 mg/kg, and for the root bark extract, 400 mg/kg. D. americana aerial parts extract produced anxiolytic (250 mg/kg) and antinociceptive effects (125, 200 and 250 mg/kg). Conversely, D. americana root bark extract showed neither anxiolytic nor antinociceptive effects in mice.As plantas medicinais (i. e. Discaria americana) têm sido utilizadas pela população por séculos, entretanto, o conhecimento popular não é suficiente para validá-las como medicamentos seguros e/ou efetivos. Assim, o presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a toxicidade aguda e subaguda, bem como o efeito ansiolítico e antinociceptivo dos extratos da casca da raiz e das partes aéreas da D. americana em camundongos. A toxicidade aguda foi avaliada pela administração dos extratos, via intraperitoneal. Para o estudo da toxicidade subaguda os animais foram tratados oralmente com os extratos por 14 dias. O efeito ansiolítico dos extratos foi determinado através do modelo do labirinto em cruz elevado e o efeito antinociceptivo, mediante o teste da placa quente. O valor da DL50 para o extrato das partes aéreas da D. americana foi definido como > 500 mg/kg, enquanto que para o extrato da casca da raiz foi estabelecido em 400 mg/kg. O extrato das partes aéreas da D. americana apresentou atividade ansiolítica (250 mg/kg) e antinociceptiva (125, 200 e 250 mg/kg). O extrato da casca da raiz da D. americana não apresentou efeito ansiolítico nem antinociceptivo

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian - December 17th, 2020

Welcome to EVALITA 2020! EVALITA is the evaluation campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian. EVALITA is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC, http://www.ai-lc.it) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA, http://www.aixia.it) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV, http://www.aisv.it)

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF

The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described

Níveis de cromo orgânico em rações para frangos de corte mantidos sob estresse por calor no período de um a 42 dias de idade Levels of dietary chromiumin rations for male broilers kept under heat stress from one to 42 days of age

Avaliou-se o efeito da suplementação de cromo sobre o desempenho e o rendimento de cortes de frangos, mantidos em ambiente de alta temperatura, no período de um a 42 dias de idade. Foram utilizados 400 frangos de corte, machos, da linhagem Cobb, em um delineamento experimental inteiramente ao acaso, com cinco tratamentos, 0, 350, 700, 1.050 e 1.400ppb de cromo na ração, oito repetições e 10 aves por repetição. Nos períodos de um a 21 e de um a 42 dias de idade, não houve influência dos tratamentos sobre o ganho de peso, o consumo de ração e a conversão alimentar das aves, mas observou-se que o consumo de cromo aumentou de forma linear. Os tratamentos não influenciaram os pesos absoluto e relativo de nenhum dos cortes, peito, coxa e sobrecoxa, avaliados aos 42 dias de idade. A suplementação de até 1.400ppb de cromo na ração não influenciou o desempenho e o rendimento de cortes nobres de frangos de corte mantidos em estresse por calor, no período de um a 42 dias de idade.<br>The effect of dietary organic chromium supplementation on the performance and yield of prime cuts of male broilers from one to 42 days of age reared under high environmental temperature was evaluated. Four-hundred Cobb male broilers, averaging 38±0.14g were distributed in a simple sample random design with five treatments (0; 350; 700; 1,050; and 1,400ppb of chromium in ration), eight replicates, and ten birds per replicates. In periods from one to 21 and from one to 42 days of age, the treatments did not influence the weight gain, the food intake, and the feed:gain ratio of the birds. However, the chromium intake increased in a linear way. No effect of both absolute and relative weights of all evaluated cuts (breast, thigh, and drumstick) was observed. The dietary chromium supplementation up to 1,400ppb did not influence the performance and the carcass traits of the male broilers kept under heat stress from one to 42 days of age

The Prevalence of Clinically Significant Prostate Cancer According to Commonly Used Histological Thresholds in Men Undergoing Template Prostate Mapping Biopsies.

PURPOSE: Transrectal prostate biopsies are inaccurate and, thus, the prevalence of clinically significant prostate cancer in men undergoing biopsy is unknown. We determined the ability of different histological thresholds to denote clinically significant cancer in men undergoing a more accurate biopsy, that of transperineal template prostate mapping. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this multicenter, cross-sectional cohort of men who underwent template prostate mapping biopsies between May 2006 and January 2012, 4 different thresholds of significance combining tumor grade and burden were used to measure the consequent variation with respect to the prevalence of clinically significant disease. RESULTS: Of 1,203 men 17% (199) had no previous biopsy, 38% (455) had a prior negative transrectal ultrasound biopsy, 24% (289) were on active surveillance and 21% (260) were seeking risk stratification. Mean patient age was 63.5 years (SD 7.6) and median prostate specific antigen was 7.4 ng/ml (IQR 5.3-10.5). Overall 35% of the patients (424) had no cancer detected. The prevalence of clinically significant cancer varied between 14% and 83% according to the histological threshold used, in particular between 30% and 51% among men who had no previous biopsy, between 14% and 27% among men who had a prior negative biopsy, between 36% and 74% among men on active surveillance, and between 47% and 83% among men seeking risk stratification. CONCLUSIONS: According to template prostate mapping biopsy between 1 in 2 and 1 in 3 men have prostate cancer that is histologically defined as clinically significant. This suggests that the commonly used thresholds may be set too low

Níveis de lisina digestível da ração e temperatura ambiente para frangos de corte em crescimento Dietary digestible lysine levels and environmental temperature for growing broiler chickens

Este estudo foi conduzido para avaliar os efeitos dos níveis de lisina digestível da ração e da temperatura ambiente sobre o desempenho e as características de carcaça de frangos de corte dos 22 a 42 dias de idade. Foram utilizados 672 frangos Ross®, machos, com peso médio de 726 g, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado segundo arranjo fatorial 4 &times; 4, com seis repetições de sete aves. Os frangos foram mantidos nas temperaturas de 18,5; 21,1; 24,5 e 27,0ºC e foram alimentados com rações com diferentes níveis de lisina digestível (0,934; 1,009; 1,084 e 1,159%). Não houve interação temperatura ambiente &times; níveis de lisina da ração para as variáveis estudadas. O consumo de ração (CR) e o ganho de peso (GP) não foram influenciados pelos níveis de lisina. O consumo de ração reduziu linearmente com a temperatura ambiente e o ganho de peso aumentou até a temperatura estimada de 21,5ºC. A conversão alimentar melhorou até o nível estimado de 1,085% de lisina digestível. Os pesos de carcaça (PC), peito com osso (PPO), coxa (PCX) e sobrecoxa (PSCX) aumentaram até as temperaturas estimadas de 21,9; 21,0; 22,7 e 23,7ºC, respectivamente. Os rendimentos de carcaça (RC), coxa (RCX) e sobrecoxa (RSCX) aumentaram, enquanto o peso do peito sem osso (PPSO) e os rendimentos de peito com osso (RPO) e sem osso (RPSO) reduziram linearmente com a temperatura ambiente. O PCX e o RCX aumentaram, mas o RSCX reduziu linearmente com os níveis de lisina da ração. O PC, PPO, PSCX, RC, RPO e o RPSO não foram influenciados pelos níveis de lisina. A temperatura ambiente no intervalo de 18,5 e 27,0ºC não influenciou as exigências de lisina das aves. A condição para melhor conversão alimentar no período de 22 a 42 dias foi obtida com o nível de 1,085% de lisina digestível na ração e com a temperatura ambiente estimada de 23,3ºC.<br>This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of the dietary digestible lysine levels and environmental temperature on performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens from 22 to 42 days-old. Six hundred seventy two males Ross® broiler chickens with an average weight of 726 g were allotted to a completely randomized design, in a 4 &times; 4 factorial arrangement with six replicates and seven birds per experimental unit. The chickens were fed with different digestible lysine levels in the diet (0.934, 1.009, 1.084, and 1.159%) and kept under different environmental temperatures (18.5, 21.1, 24.5, and 27.0&deg;C). There were no interactions between environmental temperature and lysine levels in the diet for the studied variables. Feed intake and the weight gain (WG) were not influenced by lysine levels in the diet. Feed intake linearly reduced with the environmental temperature and the WG increased up to the estimated temperature of 21.5&deg;C. The feed:gain ratio improved up to the estimated digestible lysine level in the diet of 1.085%. The weights of carcass (CW), boned breast (BBW), thigh (TW) and drumstick (DW) increased up to the estimated temperatures of 21.9, 21.7, 22.7, and 23.7&deg;C, respectively. The yields of carcass (CY), thigh (TY) and drumstick (DY) increased, whereas the deboned breast weight (DBW), the boned breast yield (BBY) and deboned breast yield (DBY) linearly decreased with the environmental temperature. The TW and TY increased, whereas the DY linearly decreased with the lysine levels in the diet. The lysine levels did not influence the CW, BBW, DW, CY, BBY and DBY. The environmental temperature in the range from 18.5 to 27.0&deg;C did not influence the lysine requirements of the birds. The condition that provided better feed:gain ratio during the experimental period was obtained with the digestible lysine level in the diet of 1.085% and the estimated environmental temperature of 23.3&deg;C