Amauropelta opposita (Thelypteridaceae), new record for the Argentinean flora

Amauropelta opposita, una especie conocida hasta ahora para el sur de Brasil como su límite de distribución más austral, fue recolectada por primera vez en el noreste de Argentina (Misiones). Se incluyen sus características morfológicas, sinonimia y lectotipificación; se brindan ilustraciones, fotografías, un mapa con la ubicación de la nueva cita, así como una clave para la identificación de las especies de Amauropelta que habitan en Misiones.Amauropelta opposita, a species known up to now for southern Brazil as its southernmost distribution limit, was collected for the first time in northeasternArgentina (Misiones). Its morphological characteristics, synonymy and lectotypification are included; illustrations, photographs, a map with the location of the new record, as well as a key of the species of Amauropelta that live in Misiones are provided.Fil: Ponce, Marta Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Zanotti, Christian Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

Amauropelta opposita (Thelypteridaceae), new record for the Argentinean flora

Amauropelta opposita, una especie conocida hasta ahora para el sur de Brasil como su límite de distribución más austral, fue recolectada por primera vez en el noreste de Argentina (Misiones). Se incluyen sus características morfológicas, sinonimia y lectotipificación; se brindan ilustraciones, fotografías, un mapa con la ubicación de la nueva cita, así como una clave para la identificación de las especies de Amauropelta que habitan en Misiones.Amauropelta opposita, a species known up to now for southern Brazil as its southernmost distribution limit, was collected for the first time in northeasternArgentina (Misiones). Its morphological characteristics, synonymy and lectotypification are included; illustrations, photographs, a map with the location of the new record, as well as a key of the species of Amauropelta that live in Misiones are provided.Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet

Mitochondrial D-loop sequence variation among Italian horse breeds

The genetic variability of the mitochondrial D-loop DNA sequence in seven horse breeds bred in Italy (Giara, Haflinger, Italian trotter, Lipizzan, Maremmano, Thoroughbred and Sarcidano) was analysed. Five unrelated horses were chosen in each breed and twenty-two haplotypes were identified. The sequences obtained were aligned and compared with a reference sequence and with 27 mtDNA D-loop sequences selected in the GenBank database, representing Spanish, Portuguese, North African, wild horses and an Equus asinus sequence as the outgroup. Kimura two-parameter distances were calculated and a cluster analysis using the Neighbour-joining method was performed to obtain phylogenetic trees among breeds bred in Italy and among Italian and foreign breeds. The cluster analysis indicates that all the breeds but Giara are divided in the two trees, and no clear relationships were revealed between Italian populations and the other breeds. These results could be interpreted as showing the mixed origin of breeds bred in Italy and probably indicate the presence of many ancient maternal lineages with high diversity in mtDNA sequences

APLICAÇÃO DE UM SISTEMA DE GESTÃO DE RESÍDUOS SÓLIDOS NO INSTITUTO FEDERAL DE EDUCAÇÃO, CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA CATARINENSE CAMPUS VIDEIRA

Com o aumento considerável das indústrias e a produção de bens de consumo, como também com a era dos descartáveis, onde a maioria dos produtos são inutilizados e descartados rapidamente, houve a necessidade de introduzir processos de minimização e controle dos resíduos sólidos gerados. Assim, o presente estudo qualificou e quantificou os resíduos sólidos gerados no Instituto Federal Catarinense, com o objetivo de fornecer as diretrizes para a implantação de um Sistema de Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos e de um Programa de Coleta Seletiva, conforme o Plano de Gerenciamento de Resíduos Sólidos preconizado pela Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos 12.305/10. O estudo foi desenvolvido no período de agosto a novembro de 2014, em que foram realizadas 10 caracterizações gravimétricas nas amostras de resíduos coletadas no local de estudo. Os resultados apontaram que 82,61% dos resíduos eram orgânicos/rejeitos e 17,39% materiais recicláveis. Ao término deste estudo foi possível elaborar as diretrizes para a implantação de um Sistema de Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos com Programa de Coleta Seletiva, sugerindo-se que esta ocorra em acordo com o programa já implantado no município de Videira

Altered adipocyte differentiation and unbalanced autophagy in type 2 Familial Partial Lipodystrophy: an in vitro and in vivo study of adipose tissue browning

Type-2 Familial Partial Lipodystrophy is caused by LMNA mutations. Patients gradually lose subcutaneous fat from the limbs, while they accumulate adipose tissue in the face and neck. Several studies have demonstrated that autophagy is involved in the regulation of adipocyte differentiation and the maintenance of the balance between white and brown adipose tissue. We identified deregulation of autophagy in laminopathic preadipocytes before induction of differentiation. Moreover, in differentiating white adipocyte precursors, we observed impairment of large lipid droplet formation, altered regulation of adipose tissue genes, and expression of the brown adipose tissue marker UCP1. Conversely, in lipodystrophic brown adipocyte precursors induced to differentiate, we noticed activation of autophagy, formation of enlarged lipid droplets typical of white adipocytes, and dysregulation of brown adipose tissue genes. In agreement with these in vitro results indicating conversion of FPLD2 brown preadipocytes toward the white lineage, adipose tissue from FPLD2 patient neck, an area of brown adipogenesis, showed a white phenotype reminiscent of its brown origin. Moreover, in vivo morpho-functional evaluation of fat depots in the neck area of three FPLD2 patients by PET/CT analysis with cold stimulation showed the absence of brown adipose tissue activity. These findings highlight a new pathogenetic mechanism leading to improper fat distribution in lamin A-linked lipodystrophies and show that both impaired white adipocyte turnover and failure of adipose tissue browning contribute to disease.We thank FPLD2 patients for donating biological samples. We thank the Italian Network for Laminopathies and the European Consortium of Lipodystrophies (ECLip) for support and helpful discussion. We thank Aurelio Valmori for the technical support. The studies were supported by Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute “5 per mille” 2014 project to MC, AIProSaB project 2016 and Fondazione Del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna grant 2015–2016 “New pharmacological approaches in bone laminopathies based on the use of antibodies neutralizing TGF beta 2” to GL. GL is also supported by PRIN MIUR project 2015FBNB5Y.S

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives : data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population.Peer reviewe

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

APLICAÇÃO DE UM SISTEMA DE GESTÃO DE RESÍDUOS SÓLIDOS NO INSTITUTO FEDERAL DE EDUCAÇÃO, CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA CATARINENSE CAMPUS VIDEIRA

Com o aumento considerável das indústrias e a produção de bens de consumo, como também com a era dos descartáveis, onde a maioria dos produtos são inutilizados e descartados rapidamente, houve a necessidade de introduzir processos de minimização e controle dos resíduos sólidos gerados. Assim, o presente estudo qualificou e quantificou os resíduos sólidos gerados no Instituto Federal Catarinense, com o objetivo de fornecer as diretrizes para a implantação de um Sistema de Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos e de um Programa de Coleta Seletiva, conforme o Plano de Gerenciamento de Resíduos Sólidos preconizado pela Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos 12.305/10. O estudo foi desenvolvido no período de agosto a novembro de 2014, em que foram realizadas 10 caracterizações gravimétricas nas amostras de resíduos coletadas no local de estudo. Os resultados apontaram que 82,61% dos resíduos eram orgânicos/rejeitos e 17,39% materiais recicláveis. Ao término deste estudo foi possível elaborar as diretrizes para a implantação de um Sistema de Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos com Programa de Coleta Seletiva, sugerindo-se que esta ocorra em acordo com o programa já implantado no município de Videira

Survival motor neuron (SMN) polymorphism in relation to congenital arthrogryposis in two Piedmont calves (piemontese)

The term arthrogryposis refers to a symptom complex that is characterised by congenital limb contractures. Arthrogryposis has been reported in man, in farm animals and in pets. Several forms have been reported to have a genetic origin in man. In Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian cattle, congenital contractures have been recorded and classified as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The survival motor neuron gene (SMN) has been suggested as a candidate gene for SMA. In the last 20 years, the National Association of Piedmont Cattle have recorded arthrogryposis cases. We cloned and sequenced SMN cDNA extracted from the spinal cord samples of two animals: one Piedmont calf showing a severe clinical form of arthrogryposis and one normal Piedmont calf. In the affected calf, more than 50% of the 5$'$end clones showed a ATG $>$ TTG single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in exon 1 that should determine a Met $>$ Leu aminoacid change (single point mutation M3L). This mutation is associated with a 9 bp increase length of 5$'$UTR and to a TTC $\rightarrow$ TTT silent mutation in exon 1. No single point mutation or 5$'$end polymorphism was shown in healthy animals and in the remaining 50% of the clones from the affected calf. We hypothesise a possible pathogenic effect of the 5$'$end-exon 1 polymorphism