Performance of yam microtubers from temporary immersion system in field conditions

The yam clones ´Pacala Duclos´ and ´Belep´ of Dioscorea alata were used to evaluate the performance of microtubers formed in temporary immersion systems (TIS) in field conditions. Previously sprouted microtubers with a fresh weight higher than 3.0 gFW were used while in vitro plants and tuber crowns from conventional propagation methods served as control. In both clones there were no significant differences in qualitative morphological characters between plants from microtubers and in vitro plants for all traits but both differed significantly from plants obtained from tuber crowns. The same trend was observed for number, length, diameter and fresh weight of tubers produced 36 weeks after field planting. The number of tubers formed per plant raised from microtubers doubled that raised from tuber crowns in both clones. Microtubers from temporary immersion systems can be grown on the field and used in original seed production programs.Key words: Microtuber, yam, field, temporary immersion system

Eficacia del rituxi mab en el tratamiento de una paciente de edad pediátrica con hemorragia alveolar difusa y lupus eritematoso sitémico

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with multisystemic involvement and unpredictable course. Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (HAD) is a rare and potentially fatal manifestation, and should therfore be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients with pulmonary symptoms. We report the case of a previously healthy 14-year-old girl with severe and refractory diffuse alveolar hemorrhage as the initial manifestation of SLE who was treated effectively with Rituximab (RTX). Currently there are no standardized protocols for these specific cases, so treatment remains individualized. This report supports recent pathophysiologic knowledge of the use of RTX in severe or refractory cases.El Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico (LES) es una enfermedad autoinmune de afectación multisistémica y curso impredecible, la hemorragia alveolar difusa (HAD) es una manifestación rara y potencialmente mortal por lo que debe tenerse como diagnóstico diferencial en pacien- tes con síntomas pulmonares. Reportamos el caso de una niña de 14 años previamente sana que cursa con hemorragia alveolar difusa severa y refractaria en la presentación inicial de LES que fue tratada eficazmente con Rituximab (RTX). Actualmente no existen protocolos estandarizados para estos casos específicos, por lo que el tratamiento sigue siendo individualizado. Este reporte apoya la base de los recientes conocimientos fisiopatogénicos del uso de RTX en casos severos o refractarios

Design Insights to Support the Development of Effective Virtual Reality Nicotine and Vaping Dependency Therapy Scenarios for Future Telehealth

Vaping, or the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), has grown rapidly worldwide and is becoming an epidemic among youth in many countries. Invented as a method to help to quit smoking, ENDS are very popular, reaching increasing numbers of users and becoming a health concern. Virtual reality technology (VRT) represents an important tool for conducting addiction-associated interventions, including telemedicine. The design and quality of virtual reality scenarios (VRS) used for VR interventions are fundamental. How well VRS can replicate real-world scenarios has an impact on how realistic the VR immersion experiences are. Thus, VRS development influences therapeutic outcomes. VRT is used for interventions and treatments for smoking-related nicotine addiction but has yet to be validated for vaping-related disorders. Since vaping represents a technological step forward in nicotine consumption, the accurate contextualization of environments surrounding vapers is fundamental for developing advanced VR tools for the prevention and treatment of vaping disorders. Here, we present the results of focus group discussion with young vapers in New Zealand. The knowledge gained from this study will be used to design VRS for cue exposure and reactivity as a first step toward developing effective solutions for vaping disorders using VR interventions and telemedicine

Comportamientos que favorecen la dinámica de reinfestación de Triatoma infestans del Chaco paraguayo

El Chaco central paraguayo es una región de alto nivel de reinfestación por Triatoma infestans. La población indígena que la habita tiene alta vulnerabilidad por factores culturales y medio ambientales que dificultan acceso y trabajo en la zona. Se propuso conocer factores psicosociales asociados al proceso de reinfestación para desarrollar tareas de vigilancia comunitaria. Estudio transversal, con enfoques cualitativo y cuantitativo. Treinta y seis punto siete por ciento (96) de la población de estudio realizó mejoras en viviendas; 41,6 % (40) mejoró revoque en paredes. Población ubica al vector en el monte, entre leñas, hojas secas, agujeros de árboles, pozos de topos o tatú; alrededor de animales domésticos, techos de viviendas, gallineros, chiquero de cabras y cerdos. Comprometiendo el traslado pasivo de vinchucas se encontró la recolección de leña 98,5 % (266), del monte, 97,7 % (261) el cambio de lugar de ropas, cajas y comida en las viviendas, 54,7 % (146). Se asoció (p< 0,0005) vivienda mejorada con revoque en paredes y no infestación; viviendas con animales (p< 0,03) e infestación; actitud positiva para eliminar el vector (p< 0,04) y no infestación. Comportamientos que comprometen traslado y permanencia de vinchucas fueron acarreo de leña, almacenamiento de comidas y acumulación de ropa y cajas. Paredes revocadas y presencia de animales domésticos se correlacionaron a infestación y actitudes positivas para eliminación de la vinchuca con viviendas sin reinfestación. Todos ellos son factores estratégicos para tareas de prevención y vigilancia con participación comunitaria

Validation of the Spanish version of the borderline symptom list, short form (BSL-23)

Background: The Borderline Symptom List-23 (BSL-23) is a reliable and valid self-report instrument for assessing Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) severity. The psychometric properties of the original version have proven to be adequate. The aim of the present study was to validate the Spanish language version of the BSL-23. Methods: The BSL-23 was administered to 240 subjects with BPD diagnosis. Factor structure, reliability, test-retest stability, convergent validity, and sensitivity to change were analyzed. Results: The Spanish version of the BSL-23 replicates the one-factor structure of the original version. The scale has high reliability (Cronbach's alpha=.949), as well as good test-retest stability, which was checked in a subsample (n=74; r=.734; p<.01). The Spanish BSL-23 shows moderate to high correlations with depressive symptomatology, state and trait anxiety, hostility and impulsivity scores and BPD measures. The Spanish BSL-23 is able to discriminate among different levels of BPD severity and shows satisfactory sensitivity to change after treatment, which was verified by assessing change before and after 12 group sessions of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in a subgroup of 31 subjects. Conclusions: Similar to the original BSL-23, the Spanish BSL-23 is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing BPD severity and sensitivity to change

Estrogen-dependent dynamic profile of eNOS-DNA associations in prostate cancer

In previous work we have documented the nuclear translocation of endothelial NOS (eNOS) and its participation in combinatorial complexes with Estrogen Receptor Beta (ERβ) and Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIFs) that determine localized chromatin remodeling in response to estrogen (E2) and hypoxia stimuli, resulting in transcriptional regulation of genes associated with adverse prognosis in prostate cancer (PCa). To explore the role of nuclear eNOS in the acquisition of aggressive phenotype in PCa, we performed ChIP-Sequencing on chromatin-associated eNOS from cells from a primary tumor with poor outcome and from metastatic LNCaP cells. We found that: 1. the eNOS-bound regions (peaks) are widely distributed across the genome encompassing multiple transcription factors binding sites, including Estrogen Response Elements. 2. E2 increased the number of peaks, indicating hormone-dependent eNOS re-localization. 3. Peak distribution was similar with/without E2 with ≈ 55% of them in extragenic DNA regions and an intriguing involvement of the 5′ domain of several miRs deregulated in PCa. Numerous potentially novel eNOS-targeted genes have been identified suggesting that eNOS participates in the regulation of large gene sets. The parallel finding of downregulation of a cluster of miRs, including miR-34a, in PCa cells associated with poor outcome led us to unveil a molecular link between eNOS and SIRT1, an epigenetic regulator of aging and tumorigenicity, negatively regulated by miR-34a and in turn activating eNOS. E2 potentiates miR-34a downregulation thus enhancing SIRT1 expression, depicting a novel eNOS/SIRT1 interplay fine-tuned by E2-activated ER signaling, and suggesting that eNOS may play an important role in aggressive PCa

The Relativistic Avatars of Giant Magnons and their S-Matrix

The motion of strings on symmetric space target spaces underlies the integrability of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Although these theories, whose excitations are giant magnons, are non-relativistic they are classically equivalent, via the Polhmeyer reduction, to a relativistic integrable field theory known as a symmetric space sine-Gordon theory. These theories can be formulated as integrable deformations of gauged WZW models. In this work we consider the class of symmetric spaces CP^{n+1} and solve the corresponding generalized sine-Gordon theories at the quantum level by finding the exact spectrum of topological solitons, or kinks, and their S-matrix. The latter involves a trignometric solution of the Yang-Baxer equation which exhibits a quantum group symmetry with a tower of states that is bounded, unlike for magnons, as a result of the quantum group deformation parameter q being a root of unity. We test the S-matrix by taking the semi-classical limit and comparing with the time delays for the scattering of classical solitons. We argue that the internal CP^{n-1} moduli space of collective coordinates of the solitons in the classical theory can be interpreted as a q-deformed fuzzy space in the quantum theory. We analyse the n=1 case separately and provide a further test of the S-matrix conjecture in this case by calculating the central charge of the UV CFT using the thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz.Comment: 33 pages, important correction to S-matrix to ensure crossing symmetr

Macro-Climatic Distribution Limits Show Both Niche Expansion and Niche Specialization among C4 Panicoids

Grasses are ancestrally tropical understory species whose current dominance in warm open habitats is linked to the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. C4 grasses maintain high rates of photosynthesis in warm and water stressed environments, and the syndrome is considered to induce niche shifts into these habitats while adaptation to cold ones may be compromised. Global biogeographic analyses of C4 grasses have, however, concentrated on diversity patterns, while paying little attention to distributional limits. Using phylogenetic contrast analyses, we compared macro-climatic distribution limits among ~1300 grasses from the subfamily Panicoideae, which includes 4/5 of the known photosynthetic transitions in grasses. We explored whether evolution of C4 photosynthesis correlates with niche expansions, niche changes, or stasis at subfamily level and within the two tribes Paniceae and Paspaleae. We compared the climatic extremes of growing season temperatures, aridity, and mean temperatures of the coldest months. We found support for all the known biogeographic distribution patterns of C4 species, these patterns were, however, formed both by niche expansion and niche changes. The only ubiquitous response to a change in the photosynthetic pathway within Panicoideae was a niche expansion of the C4 species into regions with higher growing season temperatures, but without a withdrawal from the inherited climate niche. Other patterns varied among the tribes, as macro-climatic niche evolution in the American tribe Paspaleae differed from the pattern supported in the globally distributed tribe Paniceae and at family level.Fil: Aagesen, Lone. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Biganzoli, Fernando. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bena, María Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Godoy Bürki, Ana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Reinheimer, Renata. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Zuloaga, Fernando Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

Role of Esrrg in the Fibrate-Mediated Regulation of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Human ApoA-I Transgenic Mice

We have used a new ApoA-I transgenic mouse model to identify by global gene expression profiling, candidate genes that affect lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in response to fenofibrate treatment. Multilevel bioinformatical analysis and stringent selection criteria (2-fold change, 0% false discovery rate) identified 267 significantly changed genes involved in several molecular pathways. The fenofibrate-treated group did not have significantly altered levels of hepatic human APOA-I mRNA and plasma ApoA-I compared with the control group. However, the treatment increased cholesterol levels to 1.95-fold mainly due to the increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The observed changes in HDL are associated with the upregulation of genes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis and lipid hydrolysis, as well as phospholipid transfer protein. Significant upregulation was observed in genes involved in fatty acid transport and β-oxidation, but not in those of fatty acid and cholesterol biosynthesis, Krebs cycle and gluconeogenesis. Fenofibrate changed significantly the expression of seven transcription factors. The estrogen receptor-related gamma gene was upregulated 2.36-fold and had a significant positive correlation with genes of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and mitochondrial functions, indicating an important role of this orphan receptor in mediating the fenofibrate-induced activation of a specific subset of its target genes.National Institutes of Health (HL48739 and HL68216); European Union (LSHM-CT-2006-0376331, LSHG-CT-2006-037277); the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens; the Hellenic Cardiological Society; the John F Kostopoulos Foundatio