Genetic diversity of the sunflower caterpillar (Chlosyne lacinia saundersii Doubleday and Hewitson) ( Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) populations determined by molecular RAPD markers.

Chlosyne lacinia saundersii is one of the most important pests of sunflower and it is the main target of insecticides applications. Larvae were collected in Londrina (PR), Santa Maria (RS), Dourados (MS), Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brasília (DF), Barreiras (BA), Uberaba (MG) and Vilhena (RO). Genomic DNA was extracted and amplified with ten-mer primers, which produced 101 loci. The size of the RAPD amplicons ranged from 180 to 2564 bp. Polymorphism among populations ranged from 31% to 67%, with the highest polymorphisms of 57% and 67% being detected in Uberaba and Vilhena populations, respectively. Populations with the highest similarity determined with Dice coefficient were from Ribeirão Preto and Barreiras, while insects from Londrina showed the highest similarity among them. Gene flow of C. lacinia saundersii 1.1 was lower than those previously observed for the noctuid Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner, suggesting that C. lacinia saundersii populations are more isolated than the ones of this noctuid. Through the Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA), RAPD variance was 33.64% among geographical populations and 66.36% within populations. These results suggest that populations of C. lacinia saundersii are genetically structured

Resíduo desidratado de vitivinícolas do Vale do São Francisco associado a diferentes fontes energéticas na alimentação de ovinos: desempenho animal.

Objetivou-se com a realização deste trabalho avaliar o ganho de peso e conversão alimentar em ovinos confinados recebendo dietas contendo resíduo de vitivinícolas associado a diferentes fontes energéticas. Foram utilizados 18 ovinos sem padrão racial definido, não castrados, com peso médio de 23 kg e oito meses de idade. O período experimental constou de 63 dias, sendo as dietas compostas de 50% de resíduo de vitivinícolas e 50% de concentrados energéticos: grão de milho moído (Zea mays), raspa de mandioca (Manihot esculenta) enriquecida com 1,8% de uréia e farelo de palma forrageira (Opuntia ficus) enriquecido com 1,1% de uréia. Para determinação do ganho de peso os animais foram pesados no início do experimento e a cada sete dias e, para coversão alimentar foi feita a relação entre o consumo de matéria seca e ganho de peso total num período de 63 dias. Os ganhos de peso médio diários foram de 117, 71 e 132g; a conversão alimentar 9,50, 13,28 e 11,30, respectivamente para as combinações resíduo e grão de milho moído, raspa de mandioca e farelo de palma. As médias diárias de ganho de peso vivo obtido pelos ovinos ao longo do período de engorda revelaram um bom potencial forrageiro do resíduo de vitivinícolas combinado as diferentes fontes energéticas

Enterotype May Drive the Dietary-Associated Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Analyses of typical bacterial clusters in humans named enterotypes may facilitate understanding the host differences in the cardiometabolic profile. It stills unknown whether the three previously described enterotypes were present in populations living below the equator. We examined how the identification of enterotypes could be useful to explain the dietary associations with cardiometabolic risk factors in Brazilian subjects. In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 268 adults (54.2% women) reported their dietary habits and had clinical and biological samples collected. In this study, we analyzed biochemical data and metagenomics of fecal microbiota (16SrRNA sequencing, V4 region). Continuous variables were compared using ANOVA, and categorical variables using chi-square test. Vsearch clustered the operational taxonomic units, and Silva Database provided the taxonomic signatures. Spearman coefficient was used to verify the correlation between bacteria abundances within each enterotype. One hundred subjects were classified as omnivore, 102 lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and 66 strict vegetarians. We found the same structure as the three previously described enterotypes: 111 participants were assigned to Bacteroides, 55 to Prevotella, and 102 to Ruminococcaceae enterotype. The Prevotella cluster contained higher amount of strict vegetarians individuals than the other enterotypes (40.0 vs. 20.7 and 20.6, p = 0.04). Subjects in this enterotype had a similar anthropometric profile but a lower mean LDL-c concentration than the Bacteroides enterotype (96 +/- 23 vs. 109 +/- 32 mg/dL, p = 0.04). We observed significant correlations between bacterial abundances and cardiometabolic risk factors, but coefficients differed depending on the enterotype. In Prevotella enterotype, Eubacterium ventriosum (r BMI = -0.33, p = 0.03, and r HDL-c = 0.33, p = 0.04), Akkermansia (r 2h glucose = -0.35, p = 0.02), Roseburia (r BMI = -0.36, p = 0.02 and r waist = -0.36, p = 0.02), and Faecalibacterium (r insulin = -0.35, p = 0.02) abundances were associated to better cardiometabolic profile. The three enterotypes previously described are present in Brazilians, supporting that those bacterial clusters are not population-specific. Diet-independent lower LDL-c levels in subjects from Prevotella than in other enterotypes suggest that a protective bacterial cluster in the former should be driving this association. Enterotypes seem to be useful to understand the impact of daily diet exposure on cardiometabolic risk factors. Prospective studies are needed to confirm their utility for predicting phenotypes in humans.FAPESPUniv Sao Paulo, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidemiol, Sao Paulo, BrazilFundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Rene Rachou Res Ctr, Belo Horizonte, MG, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Prevent Med, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Heart Inst Incor, Lab Genet & Mol Cardiol, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Prevent Med, Sao Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 2012/12626-9FAPESP: 2012/03880-9Web of Scienc

Susceptibility of Mice to Trypanosoma evansi Treated with Human Plasma Containing Different Concentrations of Apolipoprotein L-1

The aim of this study was to test the susceptibility of mice to Trypanosoma evansi treated with human plasma containing different concentrations of apolipoprotein L-1 (APOL1). For this experiment, a strain of T. evansi and human plasma (plasmas 1, 2, and 3) from 3 adult males clinically healthy were used. In vivo test used 50 mice divided in 5 groups (A to E) with 10 animals in each group. Animals of groups B to E were infected, and then treated with 0.2 ml of human plasma in the following outline: negative control (A), positive control (B), treatment with plasma 1 (C), treatment with plasma 2 (D), and treatment with plasma 3 (E). Mice treated with human plasma showed an increase in longevity of 40.9±0.3 (C), 20±9.0 (D) and 35.6±9.3 (E) days compared to the control group (B) which was 4.3±0.5 days. The number of surviving mice and free of the parasite (blood smear and PCR negative) at the end of the experiment was 90%, 0%, and 60% for groups C, D, and E, respectively. The quantification of APOL1 was performed due to the large difference in the treatments that differed in the source plasma. In plasmas 1, 2, and 3 was detected the concentration of 194, 99, and 115 mg/dl of APOL1, respectively. However, we believe that this difference in the treatment efficiency is related to the level of APOL1 in plasmas

Influence of adhesive on optical fiber-based strain measurements on printed circuit boards

The use of optical fiber sensing for strain measurements on printed circuit boards is a recent approach, and there is a lack of f reliable methods to obtain valid strain measurements. This work investigates the influence of different adhesives and their application for strain measurements using optical fiber sensors on PCB, considering room and high temperature tests. Strain developed in PCB during production and quality testing are measured by a single distributed optical fiber sensor, interrogated by Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry. Different adhesives are evaluated for room and high temperatures strain measurements. Different thicknesses of the adhesive layer are studied under tensile and bending loadings. The mechanical properties of the adhesives and their effectiveness in optical fiber measurements were evaluated. A suitable adhesive selection is required for reliable strain measurements under different testing requirements: cyanoacrylate based for room temperature testing; epoxy or polyimide-based for high temperature measurements. The adhesive thickness should be the lowest and uniformly applied. A linear relationship between adhesive thickness and strain error was found, being necessary the application of a correction factor for valid strain measurements. Optical distributed sensing is highlighted as an alternative approach to conventional strain gauges for PCB strain measurements, reducing the installation complexity, significantly enlarging the number of measured points, without reducing the quality of the strain measurements. Selection of the best adhesive is crucial, as well as its thickness for reliable strain measurements.Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project n 839479; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-39479]''. It was also funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 program and National Funds through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) to IPC under projects UIDB/05256/2020(IPC), UIDP/05256/2020 (IPC), UIDB/04436/2020(CMEMS) and UIDP/04436/2020 (CMEMS)

Dynapenia, abdominal obesity or both: which accelerates the gait speed decline most?

OBJECTIVE: to investigate whether the combination of dynapenia and abdominal obesity is worse than these two conditions separately regarding gait speed decline over time. METHODS: a longitudinal study was conducted involving 2,294 individuals aged 60 years or older free of mobility limitation at baseline (gait speed >0.8 m/s) who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Dynapenia was determined as a grip strength 102 cm for men and >88 cm for women. The participants were divided into four groups: non-dynapenic/non-abdominal obese (ND/NAO); only abdominal obese (AO); only dynapenic (D) and dynapenic/abdominal obese (D/AO). Generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse gait speed decline (m/s) as a function of dynapenia and abdominal obesity status over an 8-year follow-up period. RESULTS: over time, only the D/AO individuals had a greater gait speed decline (-0.013 m/s per year, 95% CI: -0.024 to -0.002; P < 0.05) compared to ND/NAO individuals. Neither dynapenia nor abdominal obesity only was associated with gait speed decline. CONCLUSION: dynapenic abdominal obesity is associated with accelerated gait speed decline and is, therefore, an important modifiable condition that should be addressed in clinical practice through aerobic and strength training for the prevention of physical disability in older adults

Dynapenic abdominal obesity increases mortality risk among English and Brazilian older adults: A 10-year follow-up of the ELSA and SABE studies

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: There is little epidemiological evidence demonstrating that dynapenic abdominal obesity has higher mortality risk than dynapenia and abdominal obesity alone. Our main aim was to investigate whether dynapenia combined with abdominal obesity increases mortality risk among English and Brazilian older adults over ten-year follow-up. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: United Kingdom and Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: Data came from 4,683 individuals from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and 1,490 from the Brazilian Health, Well-being and Aging study (SABE), hence the final sample of this study was 6,173 older adults. MEASUREMENTS: The study population was categorized into the following groups: nondynapenic/ non-abdominal obese, abdominal obese, dynapenic, and dynapenic abdominal obese according to their handgrip strength ( 102 cm for men and > 88 cm for women). The outcome was all-cause mortality over a ten-year follow-up. Adjusted hazard ratios by sociodemographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: The fully adjusted model showed that dynapenic abdominal obesity has a higher mortality risk among the groups. The hazard ratios (HR) were 1.37 for dynapenic abdominal obesity (95% CI = 1.12–1.68), 1.15 for abdominal obesity (95% CI = 0.98–1.35), and 1.23 for dynapenia (95% CI = 1.04–1.45). CONCLUSIONS: Dynapenia is an important risk factor for mortality but dynapenic abdominal obesity has the highest mortality risk among English and Brazilian older adults