Anti-retinal autoantibodies in experimental ocular and systemic toxoplasmosis

Background: Patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) develop autoreactivity to several retinal antigens, including retinal S-antigen. By establishing an experimental rabbit model of systemic and of primary and secondary ocular toxoplasmosis, we wished to investigate the onset and development of humoral response to retinal S-antigen. Methods: Of twelve infection-naïve rabbits, six were left untreated, and the other six were infected subcutaneously with 5,000 tachyzoites of the highly virulent, non-cyst-forming BK-strain of Toxoplasma gondii. Three months later, the left eye of each animal was infected transvitreally with 5,000 tachyzoites of the same strain. The right eye of each rabbit served as an uninfected control. Blood and aqueous humor were collected prior to infection, and up to 90days thereafter. Using the ELISA technique, all samples were analyzed in parallel for total IgG, and antibodies against toxoplasmic, bovine retinal S-antigen and peptide 35 from human S-antigen. Results: In infection-naïve rabbits Toxoplasma-specific antibodies were detected 10 to15days after systemic and ocular infection. Serum antibodies against retinal S-antigen and peptide 35 were not detected in response to systemic Toxoplasma infection. After ocular challenge, aqueous-humour levels of antibodies against retinal S-antigen and peptide 35 in the infected eye began to rise 10 to 15days later in infection-naïve, but not in infection-immunized animals. During the early post-infection period, the concentrations of anti-retinal antibodies in the infected eye correlated with the severity of inflammatory tissue destruction, but returned to baseline later even though the inflammatory response persisted. In the uninfected partner eye, concentrations of anti-retinal and toxoplasmic antibodies did not correlate with each other. Conclusion: Our data afford no evidence of similarities between toxoplasmic and retinal antigens, nor of infection-induced humoral autoimmunity. They indicate rather that retinal autoantigens are liberated in the context of inflammatory tissue destruction due to ocular toxoplasmosi

Translation initiation site prediction on a genomic scale : beauty in simplicity

Motivation: The correct identification of translation initiation sites (TIS) remains a challenging problem for computational methods that automatically try to solve this problem. Furthermore, the lion's share of these computational techniques focuses on the identification of TIS in transcript data. However, in the gene prediction context the identification of TIS occurs on the genomic level, which makes things even harder because at the genome level many more pseudo-TIS occur, resulting in models that achieve a higher number of false positive predictions. Results: In this article, we evaluate the performance of several 'simple' TIS recognition methods at the genomic level, and compare them to state-of-the-art models for TIS prediction in transcript data. We conclude that the simple methods largely outperform the complex ones at the genomic scale, and we propose a new model for TIS recognition at the genome level that combines the strengths of these simple models. The new model obtains a false positive rate of 0.125 at a sensitivity of 0.80 on a well annotated human chromosome ( chromosome 21). Detailed analyses show that the model is useful, both on its own and in a simple gene prediction setting

Proceso de diseño del Centro de Interpretación Cañadón del Duraznillo, Golfo San Jorge, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Este trabajo examina el proceso de diseño del Centro de Interpretación Cañadón del Duraznillo, ubicado en el Golfo San Jorge, Santa Cruz, Argentina. Desde los primeros esbozos morfológicos hasta la selección de materiales y detalles constructivos, dicho proceso fue guiado por simulaciones y estudios de las condiciones ambientales específicas a este caso particular, como así también recomendaciones generales apropiadas para este clima y localización geográfica a partir de bibliografía especializada y experiencias proyectuales anteriores. Los estudios desarrollados incluyeron simulaciones de asoleamiento, radiación solar, viento, iluminación natural y características térmicas de los materiales de la envolvente. El objetivo de este artículo es presentar un caso específico de arquitectura de bajo impacto ambiental y alto grado de eficiencia energética y examinar la productividad metodológica del diseño arquitectónico asistido por estudios en un laboratorio de estudios bioambientales.Fil: Kozak, Daniel Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales; ArgentinaFil: de Schiller, S.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Centro de Investigacion Habitat y Energia; ArgentinaFil: Evans, J. M.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Centro de Investigacion Habitat y Energia; ArgentinaFil: Adamo, G.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Centro de Investigacion Habitat y Energia; ArgentinaFil: Abálsamo, D.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Centro de Investigacion Habitat y Energia; Argentin

Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in dense urban watersheds. The case of the Medrano stream basin (MSB) in Buenos Aires

Conventional urban drainage approaches have historically focused on the volume of stormwater to be displaced with the aim of moving it as fast and as far as possible from the city. They have also been negligent regarding water quality and the inherent value of watercourses to distinct forms of life in cities, from maintaining biodiversity to providing recreational space for residents. Contemporary responses to these issues point to a paradigm change: They seek to replicate the natural mechanisms of absorption and retention, with the aim of addressing pluvial drainage needs closer to the site of origin. This article aims to explore the extent to which such an approach could be accommodated in one dense and highly impervious setting in the Global South. Specifically, it compares urban morphology, land value, hydraulic performance, and politico-institutional conditions of grey and Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) scenarios in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The findings suggest that even in very dense and impervious urban basins it is possible to implement BGI with a significant effect in achieving urban-sustainability goals. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that it is possible to deculvert watercourses in line with Compact City principles through the development of hybrid BGI/grey-infrastructure systems.Fil: Kozak, Daniel Matias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Centro de Investigación Hábitat y Energía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales; ArgentinaFil: Henderson, Hayley. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales; Argentina. Australian National University; AustraliaFil: de Castro Mazarro, Alejandro. Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development,; AlemaniaFil: Rotbart, Demián. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo; ArgentinaFil: Aradas, Rodolfo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Sustentabilidad en arquitectura urbana: presentación de un proyecto de investigación

Esta comunicación presenta la investigación “Sustentabilidad en Arquitectura Urbana: Criterios de eficiencia energética y diseño bioambiental para un contexto de densidad media y media-baja en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires”, recientemente aprobada y distinguida con el primer lugar en la categoría “Tecnología en Relación Proyectual” del Concurso de Propuestas de Investigación para Equipos Jóvenes FADU-UBA. La motivación principal de esta investigación surgió a partir de constatar que los estudios y desarrollos de proyectos de arquitectura con criterios de eficiencia energética y sustentabilidad se han volcado mayoritariamente a casos de edificios de perímetro libre localizados en sitios remotos o - en menor medida - a proyectos de gran escala. Por este motivo, y con el fin de aportar soluciones a un sector de gran peso en el consumo energético de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, esta investigación propone concentrarse en la arquitectura urbana de densidad media y media-baja.This article presents the research “Sustainability in Urban Architecture: energy-efficient and bioclimatic design criteria for a medium and medium-low density context in Buenos Aires City”, recently approved and distinguished with the first award in the “Technology and Design Category” at the Young Researcher Competition, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires. The main motivation behind this research came after realizing that the study and development of architecture with energy-efficient and sustainability criteria has mainly focused on cases of free-standing buildings, mostly located in suburban or far off remote places or – to a lesser degree - on large-scale projects. With the aim of providing solutions to an area that has a great impact on the energy consumption in Buenos Aires City, this research proposes to focus on medium and medium-low density urban architecture.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Fertility and pregnancy outcomes following uterine artery embolization (UAE) for uterine arteriovenous malformation (AVM)

A 19-year-old patient presented with intractable uterine bleeding, 11 weeks post-abortion. A pelvic ultrasound with Doppler and color imaging suggested a uterine arteriovenous malformation. Failing conservative therapies, the patient consented to uterine artery embolization (UAE). Two months later, she conceived and had an uneventful normal vaginal delivery at term. Since this is an extremely rare condition, allowing limited clinical exposure and experience, there may be an underlying reluctance by general practitioners to treat these cases with uterine artery embolization for fear of compromising future fertility and pregnancies. However, data from the 20 pregnancies embolized for uterine AVM cited in the present report and data from embolization for uterine fibroids indicate that such fears may be unfounded since pregnancy rates and outcomes may not be compromised after UAE. © 2009 Springer-Verlag

Weather and Climate Information for Tourism

The tourism sector is one of the largest and fastest growing global industries and is a significant contributor to national and local economies around the world. The interface between climate and tourism is multifaceted and complex, as climate represents both a vital resource to be exploited and an important limiting factor that poses risks to be managed by the tourism industry and tourists alike. All tourism destinations and operators are climate-sensitive to a degree and climate is a key influence on travel planning and the travel experience. This chapter provides a synopsis of the capacities and needs for climate services in the tourism sector, including current and emerging applications of climate services by diverse tourism end-users, and a discussion of key knowledge gaps, research and capacity-building needs and partnerships that are required to accelerate the application of climate information to manage risks to climate variability and facilitate successful adaptation to climate change

The +4G Site in Kozak Consensus Is Not Related to the Efficiency of Translation Initiation

The optimal context for translation initiation in mammalian species is GCCRCCaugG (where R = purine and “aug” is the initiation codon), with the -3R and +4G being particularly important. The presence of +4G has been interpreted as necessary for efficient translation initiation. Accumulated experimental and bioinformatic evidence has suggested an alternative explanation based on amino acid constraint on the second codon, i.e., amino acid Ala or Gly are needed as the second amino acid in the nascent peptide for the cleavage of the initiator Met, and the consequent overuse of Ala and Gly codons (GCN and GGN) leads to the +4G consensus. I performed a critical test of these alternative hypotheses on +4G based on 34169 human protein-coding genes and published gene expression data. The result shows that the prevalence of +4G is not related to translation initiation. Among the five G-starting codons, only alanine codons (GCN), and glycine codons (GGN) to a much smaller extent, are overrepresented at the second codon, whereas the other three codons are not overrepresented. While highly expressed genes have more +4G than lowly expressed genes, the difference is caused by GCN and GGN codons at the second codon. These results are inconsistent with +4G being needed for efficient translation initiation, but consistent with the proposal of amino acid constraint hypothesis