Measurement of junctional tension in epithelial cells at the onset of primitive streak formation in the chick embryo via non-destructive optical manipulation

Peer reviewe

A cohort study on acute ocular motility disorders in pediatric emergency department

Background: Acute ocular motility disorders (OMDs) in children admitted to Emergency Department (ED) represents a not so rare condition with a wide spectrum of different etiologies. The emergency physician must be skilled in rapidly identifying patients with potentially life threatening (LT) forms, requiring further diagnostic procedures. The aim of the study was to assess characteristics of children with acute Ocular Motility Disorders (OMDs), and to identify "red flags" for recognition of underlying life-threatening (LT) conditions. Methods: A retrospective cohort study evaluated children (2 months-17 years) admitted to a tertiary Emergency Department in 2009-2014. A subgroup analysis was performed comparing children with and without LT conditions. Results: Of 192 visits for OMDs, the isolated strabismus occurred most frequently (55.6%), followed by pupil disorders (31.8%), ptosis (5.2%) and combined OMDs (11.5%). The majority of acute OMDs involved no underlying LT conditions (n = 136) and most of them were infants or toddlers (50%). In a multivariable analysis, LT conditions included especially children over 6 years of age, increasing the odds ratio by 2% for each months of age (p = 0.009). LT etiologies were 16 times more likely in combined OMDs (p = 0.018), were over 13 times more likely to report associated extra-ocular signs/symptoms (p = 0.017) and over 50 times more likely to report co-morbidity (p = 0.017). Conclusion: OMDs are not an uncommon presentation at ED. Although most of them involve non-LT conditions, the ED physician should consider potential "red flags" for appropriate management of children such as age > 6 years, combined OMDs, extra-ocular symptoms and co-morbidity

Obtención de azúcares fermentables vía hidrólisis subcrítica a partir de la cascarilla de café en una unidad de Laboratorio Batch

Obtaining fermentable sugars via subcritical hydrolysis from the coffee husk in a Batch Laboratory uni Resumen En Colombia, una de las economías más fuertes es el cultivo de café (Banco Mundial, 2012), que a su vez genera grandes cantidades de material orgánico (solo el 7% de la fruta corresponde al café consumible (Muñoz Ortega, L.G., 2015) que no se utiliza. De acuerdo con lo anterior, la cáscara de café presenta una oportunidad para su transformación para reducir los azúcares y un potencial contra la generación de bioetanol de segunda generación. Por este motivo, en esta investigación, el estudio se realizó mediante hidrólisis subcrítica a temperaturas entre 250-280 ° C, presiones entre 1500 y 2000 psi y tiempos de retención de 15 a 30 minutos en un reactor por lotes, lo que permitió un total de 8 muestras por medio. De la notación de Montgomery y 2 muestras intermedias, para conocer el porcentaje máximo de azúcares reductores que alcanzaría la cáscara de café dependiendo de las condiciones a las que estuvo expuesta cada muestra. Usando el método DNS (Gil, D., Bocourt, E., & Maqueira, Y., 2006), se encontró que el mayor porcentaje de azúcares (9.146%) fue el resultado de la prueba BC con una temperatura de 250 ° C, una presión de 2000 psi y un tiempo de reacción de 30 minutos, mientras que el porcentaje más bajo (4.5%) fue el resultado de la carrera 1 con una temperatura de 250 ° C, una presión de 1500 psi y un tiempo de retención de 15 minutos. El análisis de varianza desarrollado a través del programa MiniTab nos permitió determinar que el tiempo y la combinación de temperatura y tiempo son los que tienen el mayor impacto en las carreras. Palabras clave: bioetanol; café; azúcares reductores; hidrólisis subcrítica. Abstract In Colombia, one of the strongest economies is the cultivation of coffee (Banco Mundial, 2012), which in turn generates large amounts of organic material (only 7% of the fruit corresponds to consumable coffee (Muñoz Ortega, L.G., 2015) that is not used. According to the above, the coffee husk presents an opportunity for its transformation to reducing sugars and a potential against the generation of second generation bioethanol. For this reason in this investigation the study was carried out by subcritical hydrolysis at temperatures between 250-280 ° C, pressures between 1500 - 2000 psi and retention times 15 - 30 minutes in a batch reactor, which allowed a total of 8 samples by means of the Montgomery notation and 2 intermediate samples, to know the maximum percentage of reducing sugars that the coffee husk would reach depending on the conditions to which each sample was exposed. Using the DNS method (Gil, D., Bocourt, E., & Maqueira, Y., 2006), it was found that the highest percentage of sugars (9.146%) was the result of run BC with a temperature of 250 ° C, pressure of 2000 psi and reaction time of 30 minutes, while the lowest percentage (4.5%) was the result of run 1 with a temperature of 250 ° C, pressure of 1500 psi and retention time of 15 minutes. The analysis of variance developed through the MiniTab program allowed us to determine that the time and the temperature-time combination are the ones that have the greatest impact on the runs. Keywords:  bioetanol; coffee; reducing sugars; subcritical hydrolysis

Histological evaluation of the distribution of systemic AA-amyloidosis in nine domestic shorthair cats

Amyloidosis is a group of protein-misfolding disorders characterized by the accumulation of amyloid in organs, both in humans and animals. AA-amyloidosis is considered a reactive type of amyloidosis and in humans is characterized by the deposition of AA-amyloid fibrils in one or more organs. In domestic shorthair cats, AA-amyloidosis was recently reported to be frequent in shelters. To better characterize this pathology, we report the distribution of amyloid deposits and associated histological lesions in the organs of shelter cats with systemic AA-amyloidosis. AA-amyloid deposits were identified with Congo Red staining and immunofluorescence. AA-amyloid deposits were then described and scored, and associated histological lesions were reported. Based on Congo Red staining and immunofluorescence nine shelter cats presented systemic AA-amyloidosis. The kidney (9/9), the spleen (8/8), the adrenal glands (8/8), the small intestine (7/7) and the liver (8/9) were the organs most involved by amyloid deposits, with multifocal to diffuse and from moderate to severe deposits, both in the organ parenchyma and/or in the vascular compartment. The lung (2/9) and the skin (1/8) were the least frequently involved organs and deposits were mainly focal to multifocal, mild, vascular and perivascular. Interestingly, among the organs with fibril deposition, the stomach (7/9), the gallbladder (6/6), the urinary bladder (3/9), and the heart (6/7) were reported for the first time in cats. All eye, brain and skeletal muscle samples had no amyloid deposits. An inflammatory condition was identified in 8/9 cats, with chronic enteritis and chronic nephritis being the most common. Except for secondary cell compression, other lesions were not associated to amyloid deposits. To conclude, this study gives new insights into the distribution of AA-amyloid deposits in cats. A concurrent chronic inflammation was present in almost all cases, possibly suggesting a relationship with AA-amyloidosis

Histological evaluation of the distribution of systemic AA-amyloidosis in nine domestic shorthair cats.

Amyloidosis is a group of protein-misfolding disorders characterized by the accumulation of amyloid in organs, both in humans and animals. AA-amyloidosis is considered a reactive type of amyloidosis and in humans is characterized by the deposition of AA-amyloid fibrils in one or more organs. In domestic shorthair cats, AA-amyloidosis was recently reported to be frequent in shelters. To better characterize this pathology, we report the distribution of amyloid deposits and associated histological lesions in the organs of shelter cats with systemic AA-amyloidosis. AA-amyloid deposits were identified with Congo Red staining and immunofluorescence. AA-amyloid deposits were then described and scored, and associated histological lesions were reported. Based on Congo Red staining and immunofluorescence nine shelter cats presented systemic AA-amyloidosis. The kidney (9/9), the spleen (8/8), the adrenal glands (8/8), the small intestine (7/7) and the liver (8/9) were the organs most involved by amyloid deposits, with multifocal to diffuse and from moderate to severe deposits, both in the organ parenchyma and/or in the vascular compartment. The lung (2/9) and the skin (1/8) were the least frequently involved organs and deposits were mainly focal to multifocal, mild, vascular and perivascular. Interestingly, among the organs with fibril deposition, the stomach (7/9), the gallbladder (6/6), the urinary bladder (3/9), and the heart (6/7) were reported for the first time in cats. All eye, brain and skeletal muscle samples had no amyloid deposits. An inflammatory condition was identified in 8/9 cats, with chronic enteritis and chronic nephritis being the most common. Except for secondary cell compression, other lesions were not associated to amyloid deposits. To conclude, this study gives new insights into the distribution of AA-amyloid deposits in cats. A concurrent chronic inflammation was present in almost all cases, possibly suggesting a relationship with AA-amyloidosis

Measuring occupational mismatch: overeducation and overskill in Europe. Evidence from PIAAC

Occupational mismatch has been a hot topic in the economics literature in the last decades, but still today there is no consensus on how to conceptualize and measure this phenomenon. We explore the unique opportunity offered by the recent PIAAC survey to measure occupational mismatch at individual level based on both education variables (overeducation) and on skills proficiency variables (overskilling), using both objective and subjective methods for each. We use data for 17 European countries and compute a total of 20 indicators of occupation mismatch. We find that indeed the conceptualization and measurement of this phenomenon play an important role and that education and skill mismatch do not measure the same phenomenon. In fact, only a low percentage of population is both education and skill mismatched, while the majority is mismatched in only one of these types. At country level, we find a negative correlation between the incidence of education and skill mismatch, which has important policy implications when it comes to address this labour market inefficiency.JRC.DDG1.01-Econometrics and applied statistic

Triggering on Forward Physics

The feasibility is investigated of a dedicated trigger stream in the CMS trigger menu, with an output rate of cal O (1)~kHz on the First Level Trigger and cal O (1)~Hz on the High Level Trigger. By combining jet trigger information from the CMS calorimeter with information from the TOTEM Roman Pot detectors at 220 m distance from the interaction point, the default dijet trigger thresholds foreseen in the CMS trigger tables can be lowered substantially while respecting the CMS trigger bandwidth limits. The efficacy of the dedicated diffractive trigger stream is demonstrated for hard single-diffractive and double-Pomeron exchange events

Occupational mismatch in Europe: Understanding overeducation and overskilling for policy making

This technical report presents EU-17 evidence on the extent of different measures of overeducation and overskilling among working age population in an attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between education and skill mismatch within the broader definition of occupation mismatch. It further investigates how countries differ or share common patterns in terms of amount and typology of mismatch, while investigating the socio-economic determinants responsible for different types of occupational mismatch considered. Lastly, at a very exploratory level, it provides average predicted probabilities for the different types of occupational mismatch identified using CEDEFOP skill forecast by educational level and occupation for 2020. Comparing these predicted values provides a method of measuring the overall impact on occupational mismatch of differences in age, gender or education level while controlling for other observed characteristics. Special attention is systematically paid to the role of educational systems and policies in the matterJRC.DDG.01-Econometrics and applied statistic

POPs’ effect on cardiometabolic and inflammatory profile in a sample of women with obesity and hypertension

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are man-made compounds with metabolic disruption impact. We investigated the effect of POP exposure in the cardiometabolic and inflammatory profile in a population of women with obesity and hypertension. In 43 premenopausal women (22 treated vs. 21 nontreated) undergoing bariatric surgery, blood and adipose tissue samples (visceral (vAT) and abdominal subcutaneous (scAT)) were collected. Median concentrations of ∑HCH and ∑POPs in vAT were significantly higher in treated women. VAT ∑HCH and scAT ∑HCH and ∑POPs concentrations were positively correlated with systolic blood pressure in the non-treated group. Our findings suggest that exposure to POPs and its accumulation in vAT and circulating in plasma may be associated to a higher cardiovascular risk in women with obesity and hypertension, with or without antihypertensive treatment.This work was supported by FCT (Fundo Social Europeu, Programa Operacional Potencial Humano da EU (POPH); PEst-OE/SAU/UI0038/2011; SFRH/BD/46640/2008, SFRH/BD/64691/2009), and Projetos de Investigação na Pré-graduação 2011, Universidade do Porto.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio