Pipeline for macro- and microarray analyses

The pipeline for macro- and microarray analyses (PMmA) is a set of scripts with a web interface developed to analyze DNA array data generated by array image quantification software. PMmA is designed for use with single- or double-color array data and to work as a pipeline in five classes (data format, normalization, data analysis, clustering, and array maps). It can also be used as a plugin in the BioArray Software Environment, an open-source database for array analysis, or used in a local version of the web service. All scripts in PMmA were developed in the PERL programming language and statistical analysis functions were implemented in the R statistical language. Consequently, our package is a platform-independent software. Our algorithms can correctly select almost 90% of the differentially expressed genes, showing a superior performance compared to other methods of analysis. The pipeline software has been applied to 1536 expressed sequence tags macroarray public data of sugarcane exposed to cold for 3 to 48 h. PMmA identified thirty cold-responsive genes previously unidentified in this public dataset. Fourteen genes were up-regulated, two had a variable expression and the other fourteen were down-regulated in the treatments. These new findings certainly were a consequence of using a superior statistical analysis approach, since the original study did not take into account the dependence of data variability on the average signal intensity of each gene. The web interface, supplementary information, and the package source code are available, free, to non-commercial users at http://ipe.cbmeg.unicamp.br/pub/PMmA.61561

Influence of coil geometry, supply conditions and nanoparticle heating properties on magnetic hyperthermia in mouse models

For in vivo magnetic hyperthermia tests, which are typically conducted on small animal models, one of the objectives is the design of alternating current (AC) magnetic field applicators able to guarantee an effective activation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). During therapy application, it is critical to optimize heat deposition due to MNPs and minimize side effects in healthy tissues. For an accurate treatment planning, it is required to carefully select the geometry of the applicator coils and their location with respect to the body, as a function of the position and size of the tumour target region. Additionally, one should preliminary estimate the impact of experimental conditions on the MNP heating efficiency and thus on their capability to induce a temperature increase in tissues. Biophysical constraints have also to be taken into account in the choice of AC magnetic field parameters (frequency and amplitude), to avoid eddy current effects as much as possible. In this study, we present realistic simulations of preclinical tests on a mouse model, evaluating thermal response under various experimental conditions. We investigate different field applicator configurations, including helical, Helmholtz and pancake coils, while also analysing the role of the amplitude and frequency of the supply current, as well as of the type and administered dose of MNPs. The temperature increase in tissues, resulting from the heating effects due to AC magnetic field exposure and MNP activation, is calculated by means of in-house finite element models that solve the low -frequency electromagnetic field problem and the bioheat transfer equation. This in silico approach, which is applicable to any type of field applicators and MNPs, has been demonstrated to provide useful insights for the optimization of in vivo experiments, enabling the design of safer and more effective treatments

Big Five personality traits and coping strategies of Italian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic first wave

Little is known about the role personality traits may have played for university students in diminishing and compensating for the negative impact of COVID-19 in its early phases, promoting adaptive coping. University students represent a population which was consistently obliged to follow social distance rules due to the early shift of many organizations from face-to-face to online learning. Therefore, it is worth exploring whether the Big Five traits acted as risk or protective factors after the outbreak of a disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic for Italian university students. We involved a sample of 2,995 university students who completed an online survey in March 2020. We measured the Big Five personality traits through the Big Five Inventory-2-XS (Soto and John, 2017) and their coping strategies through the Robust—Pandemic Coping Scale (Burro et al., 2021). The latter assessed four COVID-19-related coping dimensions, namely Despair (e.g., including helplessness and feeling lack of control), Aversion (e.g., referring to oppositive strategies), Proactivity (e.g., comprising problem solving and information seeking), and Adjustment (e.g., concerning reappraisal and assertiveness). Preliminarily, two Linear Mixed Models indicated that university students had higher scores in Conscientiousness, followed by Open-Mindedness, and then Agreeableness. These three traits were, in turn, higher than Extraversion and Negative Emotionality, which did not differ among them. Concerning coping, university students reacted more frequently utilizing adaptive strategies (with Proactivity used more frequently than Adjustment) rather than maladaptive strategies (with Despair higher than Aversion). A Path Analysis examining the relations between the Big Five traits and the four coping dimensions showed that Negative Emotionality can be considered as a risk factor, and that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Open-Mindedness can be conceptualized as protective factors. More interestingly, we found that Extraversion entailed both a risk and a protective role for Italian university students after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding limitations, these findings can be the basis for developing disaster preparation and prevention actions, aiming at promoting students’ positive coping towards current and future disasters

A Rasch analysis of the School-Related Well-being (SRW) scale: Measuring well-being in the transition from primary to secondary school

Within educational systems, promoting well-being is an essential objective along with traditional aims focused on students\u2019 learning. However, scarce attention has been devoted to school-related well-being in the transition from primary to lower secondary school, also for the paucity of brief instruments deputed to measure it. We assessed well-being at school for fourthgraders and seventh-graders, by adapting and validating the Italian version of the School-Related Well-Being (SRW) scale, using in sequence exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Rasch analysis. Through the Rasch analysis, we transformed the SRW scale into an instrument that respects the properties of the fundamental measurement. We measured well-being and achievement emotions at time 1 and grades at time 2. The SRW scale correlated with another measure of well-being and with students\u2019 achievement emotions. Grade-level differences emerged, with a decrease of well-being that attested a maladaptive trend at increasing age; moreover, females reported higher well-being than males. Well-being at school was positively linked to achievement. Beyond its methodological relevance, this study highlights the need for developing interventions to support students in the transition from primary to lower secondary school, which is such a pivotal time in their learning path

Can a web application foster emotional competence in children and adolescents? The case of PandHEMOT®

The COVID-19 pandemic has had many traumatic consequences for the physical and psychological functioning of children and adolescents. Internet-based interventions can reach a large audience and be a potentially powerful resource for promoting well-being among young people. We tested the efficacy of the web application PandHEMOT®, developed ad hoc for increasing knowledge about pandemics, emotions, and emotion regulation. We involved a sample of 147 Italian third and seventh graders. The sample was assigned to an experimental (participating in the training) and a waitlist condition (who participated following a waitlist design). All the participants completed pretest and posttest measures. The intervention was structured into three units. The training took place between November and December 2021. Generalized linear mixed models and linear mixed models revealed that knowledge about pandemics, emotions, emotion regulation, and metacognitive awareness increased for the experimental condition. Moreover, adolescents performed better than children. The findings supported the efficacy of an Internet-based training for increasing children and adolescents' resilience, according to the standards of evidence-based research

Preparing children to cope with earthquakes: Building emotional competence

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, can have a traumatic impact on children’s psychological wellbeing and development. The efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing children’s socio-emotional learning has been documented in the literature. At the same time, these techniques are the key for training children for possible future disasters by enhancing their knowledge about behavioural preparedness and emotional competence. However, research on evidence-based training programs on earthquakes combining digital and traditional activities is scarce. We tested the efficacy of a 10-unit training program for primary school children, developed within the XXX (XXX) project. It aimed at increasing knowledge of and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies, through digital (using the web-application XXX® developed ad-hoc) and traditional activities (completing paper-and-pencil tasks). The participants were 548 second and fourth-graders from Italian schools. They were divided into an experimental group (participating in the training program) and a control group. Both groups participated in pretests and posttests to evaluate changes in their knowledge of training-related contents. For ethical reasons, we also measured children’s wellbeing. Generalised linear mixed models indicated an improvement in the experimental group’s knowledge and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies after the training program, compared to the control group. Children’s general wellbeing did not deteriorate during participation in the project. The results documented the efficacy of the evidence-based training program developed within the XXX project. The program provides a preventive method for enhancing earthquake-related resilience that could be generalised to other kinds of disasters

Changes in the bacterial community of soil from a neutral mine drainage channel

Mine drainage is an important environmental disturbance that affects the chemical and biological components in natural resources. However, little is known about the effects of neutral mine drainage on the soil bacteria community. Here, a high-throughput 16S rDNA pyrosequencing approach was used to evaluate differences in composition, structure, and diversity of bacteria communities in samples from a neutral drainage channel, and soil next to the channel, at the Sossego copper mine in Brazil. Advanced statistical analyses were used to explore the relationships between the biological and chemical data. The results showed that the neutral mine drainage caused changes in the composition and structure of the microbial community, but not in its diversity. The Deinococcus/Thermus phylum, especially the Meiothermus genus, was in large part responsible for the differences between the communities, and was positively associated with the presence of copper and other heavy metals in the environmental samples. Other important parameters that influenced the bacterial diversity and composition were the elements potassium, sodium, nickel, and zinc, as well as pH. The findings contribute to the understanding of bacterial diversity in soils impacted by neutral mine drainage, and demonstrate that heavy metals play an important role in shaping the microbial population in mine environments95CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP550240/2010-12012/05429-

PROSPECÇÃO de Inibidores da Acetilcolinesterase em Plantas Da família Rubiaceae na Mata Atlântica

O neurotransmissor acetilcolina e a enzima acetilcolinesterase são mediadores de fundamental importância na regulação de inúmeras funções fisiológicas relacionadas ao Sistema Nervoso Central e Periférico. Determinadas patologias animais estão estritamente relacionadas ao comprometimento da via colinesterásica, como: miastenia gravis, botulismo e paralisia do carrapato. Dessa maneira, apesar de ainda não terem cura, a estratégia farmacológica mais eficaz empregada consiste no uso de fármacos anticolinesterásicos para evitar a degradação da acetilcolina. Assim, esta pesquisa objetivou realizar um estudo integrado de caracterização química e avaliação farmacológica de espécies da família Rubiaceae coletadas, potencialmente úteis como fonte de fármacos anticolinesterásicos, por apresentarem em sua constituição compostos quimicamente ativos, segundo dados da literatura. Para isso, foram realizados dois protocolos de avaliação da atividade anticolinesterásica, pelo método de cromatografia em camada delgada e avaliação espectrofotométrica, além dos ensaios de prospecção fitoquímica dos extratos. Foram estudadas 25 espécies da família Rubiaceae, pertencentes a 8 gêneros distintos, que resultaram em 28 amostras. Para cada uma das espécies foram obtidos dois extratos de naturezas polares diferentes. Acerca da atividade anticolinesterásica, das amostras testadas, 5 apresentaram atividade considerada promissora segundo padrões de classificação da literatura para ambos os métodos testados, destas destacam-se: Faramea campanella, Faramea martiana, Psychotria carthagenensis, Psycotria 1 e Rudgea coronata Saint-hilaire. Cada um dos gêneros ativos apresentou uma constituição química especifica segundo resultados da avaliação fitoquímica

Development and early implementation of a public communication campaign to help adults to support children and adolescents to cope with coronavirus-related emotions: A community case study

Epidemics and pandemics can traumatically impact the emotional wellbeing of adults, children, and adolescents in diverse ways. This impact can be reduced by applying a range of evidence-based coping strategies. Based on previous research, we created a pamphlet-based communication campaign designed to assist adults to provide support for young people confronted with emotional distress associated with the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)] and the related disease [coronavirus disease (COVID-19)] in 2020. We developed a pamphlet describing the common emotions children and adolescents report feeling in the face of disasters and the coping strategies that have proven effective in mitigating them. The target population was adults who interact with children and adolescents in both formal and informal settings. The pamphlet included basic information on this specific emergency, emotions that might be commonly experienced, and coping strategies for dealing with negative emotions. The aim of this paper is to describe the planning, development, and implementation of the campaign. First, we monitored how the media gave visibility to the campaign during the 40 days following the release of the pamphlet: it potentially reached a large audience at a national and international level through at least 216 media channels included the HEMOT\uae (Helmet for EMOTions) website. Second, Google Analytics\u2122 data from the HEMOT\uae website enabled us to examine the characteristics of the visitors to the website and the behavior of those who viewed the pamphlet. More than 6,000 visitors, most from Europe followed by the Americas, visited the website in the first 40 days after the pamphlet publication. The webpage including the pamphlet obtained over 6,200 views, most directly or via other websites. A cluster analysis suggested that the access to the webpage did not mirror the trend concerning the new cases of COVID-19 in Italy (which increased during the central phase of the campaign) or worldwide (which continued to increase across the 40 days). Third, data gathered with a convenience sample of adults who had consulted the pamphlet provided a perspective on the comprehensibility of the messages conveyed by the pamphlet and on the utility for children and adolescents. The process we have demonstrated in this example could be replicated in different communities and settings to respond to the spread of the COVID-19 or to respond to other widespread or more localized disasters

Preferência de Bemisia tabaci, biótipo B (Hemiptera: aleyrodidae) a genótipos de soja.

O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a preferência de B. tabaci a 18 genótipos de soja com chance de escolha, em condições de casa de vegetação. Os genótipos avaliados foram: BRI 04-01668, BRI 04-01685, BRI 04-02770, BRI 04-02855, BRI 04-02935, BRI 04-02983, BRS 7860RR, BRS Barreira, BRS Gisele RR, BRS Juliana, BRS Valiosa RR, BRSGO 7960, BRSGO 8060, CD219, CD 215, Emgopa 302RR, IAC 17 e IAC 19. Os materiais com menores infestações de ovos e ninfas foram: BRI 04-01668, BRI 04-01685, BRI 04-02770 e IAC 17 (padrão de resistência) e os mais infestados foram BRS Juliana RR e Emgopa 302RR Os genótipos BRS 7860RR e BRSGO 8060 apresentaram o mesmo perfil de não preferência que IAC19 (padrão de resistência)