La disfagia orofaríngea como factor de riesgo en adultos con diagnóstico de neumonía

La disfagia orofaríngea es una entidad subdiagnosticada y es alta la prevalencia de personas a las que afecta. Los extremos de la vida son los principales afectados, especialmente la vejez ya que son menores las medidas destinadas a su detección y tratamiento. Asimismo, la frecuente presencia de neumonía es un indicio para predecir el alto riesgo de disfagia orofaríngea y definir la necesidad de valoración. La detección sistemática de los pacientes de riesgo supone el punto de partida para efectuar el diagnóstico y tratamiento apropiados. Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar a la disfagia orofaríngea como factor de riesgo en adultos que hayan tenido diagnóstico de neumonía. El instrumento aplicado para la recolección de datos fue la encuesta de cribado y despistaje de disfagia denominada Eating Assesment Tool 10 Despistaje de la Disfagia. La muestra se conformó por 10 adultos mayores de 60 años que tuvieron diagnóstico de neumonía. El 90% de la muestra obtuvo puntuaciones totales mayores a 3 y, por lo tanto, era susceptible de presentar problemas para tragar. Además, la correlación entre el tiempo en que los sujetos tuvieron neumonía y las puntuaciones totales altas permitió relacionar estos factores, ya que las personas que sufrieron neumonía recientemente presentaron mayor riesgo de disfagia que las aquellas que presentaron neumonía en un período de tiempo más lejano. En conclusión, la disfagia orofaríngea es un factor de riesgo para la neumonía. Las puntuaciones altas no solo indicarían que la persona tiene dificultades para alimentarse de manera segura y eficaz, sino que las mismas podrían incidir en neumonía o neumonías recurrentes. Por ello se puede inferir que detectando oportunamente la disfagia se podría evitar la neumoníaFil: Felix, Mariana. Universidad Nacional de San Lui

A importância da bioética no ensino de Ciências e Biologia para professores (as) e alunos (as) do ensino médio de uma escola estadual de Aracaju-SE

Com o crescente avanço de áreas da saúde como a Genética, a Biologia Molecular e tecnologias de manipulação dos seres vivos, já não é suficiente pensar a respeito do que é possível com a ciência, mas também refletir sobre o que é eticamente aceitável ou não. Tais preocupações fazem parte do campo da Bioética. Nesse viés, é necessário o debate ético sobre as diferentes implicações científicas através da problematização e análise crítica em sala de aula, visando à formação integral dos (as) sujeitos e seu papel na sociedade. A Bioética permite o diálogo entre diferentes áreas do conhecimento e a reflexão ética quanto ao avanço científico. Metodologias ativas por sua vez, permitem a personalização do ensino, centralizando o sujeito no centro da aprendizagem para que esse construa o conhecimento com autonomia. Esta pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa objetivou investigar as concepções de professores (as) e alunos (as) da 3ª série do ensino médio de uma escola estadual de Aracaju/SE, a respeito do papel da Bioética no ensino de Ciências e Biologia, a partir do uso de metodologias ativas. Em um primeiro momento foi aplicado um questionário para os (as) discentes em duas turmas da 3ª série do ensino médio e logo após foi dada a aplicação de um questionário para o (a) professor (a) que ministra as aulas de Biologia nessas turmas. O segundo momento contemplou a aplicação do modelo híbrido de Rotação por estações com quatro propostas desenvolvidas com recursos on-line e off-line que foram analisadas pelos (as) discentes organizados em grupos. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que tanto o (a) professor (a) quanto os (as) alunos (as) consideram importante o papel da ética para orientar o desenvolvimento responsável da humanidade e convívio em sociedade. A aplicação do modelo de Rotação por Estações demonstrou a importância do trabalho em grupo e da problematização para o aprimoramento de habilidades como a escrita, a leitura, o diálogo e a capacidade de argumentação para tomada de decisões coletivas entre os indivíduos, fatores que são essenciais na formação básica dos (as) estudantes e para o exercício crítico da cidadaniaSão Cristóvão, S

High throughput sequencing unravels tomato- pathogen interactions towards a sustainable plant breeding

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most economically important vegetables throughout the world. It is one of the best studied cultivated dicotyledonous plants, often used as a model system for plant research into classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and molecular biology. Tomato plants are affected by different pathogens such as viruses, viroids, fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, and nematodes, that reduce yield and affect product quality. The study of tomato as a plant-pathogen system helps to accelerate the discovery and understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying disease resistance and offers the opportunity of improving the yield and quality of their edible products. The use of functional genomics has contributed to this purpose through both traditional and recently developed techniques, that allow the identification of plant key functional genes in susceptible and resistant responses, and the understanding of the molecular basis of compatible interactions during pathogen attack. Nextgeneration sequencing technologies (NGS), which produce massive quantities of sequencing data, have greatly accelerated research in biological sciences and offer great opportunities to better understand the molecular networks of plant–pathogen interactions. In this review, we summarize important research that used high-throughput RNA-seq technology to obtain transcriptome changes in tomato plants in response to a wide range of pathogens such as viruses, fungi, bacteria, oomycetes, and nematodes. These findings will facilitate genetic engineering efforts to incorporate new sources of resistance in tomato for protection against pathogens and are of major importance for sustainable plant-disease management, namely the ones relying on the plant’s innate immune mechanisms in view of plant breeding

Plant-Pathogen Interaction

Plant diseases result in severe losses to natural plant systems, and also cause problems for economics and production in agricultural systems. While many biotic constraints are well known and confronted with variable success, the occurrence of emerging pathogens and the progressive incidence of novel virulent strains, races, or pathotypes is evident. Plant disease management faces challenges due to the increasing incidence of emergent diseases, with a consequent decrease in the production potential of agriculture. Furthermore, the deteriorating ecology of agro-ecosystems and the depletion of natural resources, together with an increased risk of disease epidemics resulting from agricultural intensification and monocultures, should be taken into account. Moreover, the practicability of some of the currently available plant protection measures is questionable. The UE directories for commercialization withdrawal of several chemical substances used for pest and disease control, and the new rules for reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions contained in the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, bring new challenges to agricultural production

The dual role of Plant Viruses in CRISPR

Plant viruses cause devastating diseases in many agriculture systems, being a serious threat for the provision of adequate nourishment to a continuous growing population. At the present there are no chemical products that directly target the viruses, and their control rely mainly on preventive sanitary measures to reduce viral infections that, although important, have proved to be far from enough. The current most effective and sustainable solution is the use of virusresistant varieties, which require too much work and time to obtain. In the recent years, the versatile gene editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas has simplified the engineering of crops and has successfully been used for the development of viral resistant plants. CRISPR stands for Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, and is based on a natural adaptive immune system that most archaeal and some bacterial species present to defend themselves against invading bacteriophages. Plant viral resistance using CRISPR/Cas technology has been achieved either through manipulation of plant genome (plant-mediated resistance), by mutating host factors required for viral infection, or through manipulation of virus genome (virus-mediated resistance), for which CRISPR/Cas systems must specifically target and cleave viral DNA or RNA. Viruses present an efficient machinery and comprehensive genome structure and, in a different perspective, they have been used as biotechnological tools in several areas such as medicine, materials industry and agriculture with several purposes. Due to all this potential, it is not surprising that viruses have also been used as vectors for CRISPR technology, namely to deliver CRISPR components into plants, a crucial step for the success of CRISPR technology. Here we discuss the basic principles of CRISPR/Cas technology, with a special focus on the advances of CRISPR/Cas to engineer plant resistance against DNA and RNA viruses. We also describe several strategies for the delivery of these systems into plant cells, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of plant viruses as vectors. We conclude by discussing the constrains faced by the application of CRISPR/Cas technology in agriculture and future prospects

Plant Viruses: From Targets to Tools for CRISPR

Plant viruses cause devastating diseases in many agriculture systems, being a serious threat for the provision of adequate nourishment to a continuous growing population. At the present, there are no chemical products that directly target the viruses, and their control rely mainly on preventive sanitary measures to reduce viral infections that, although important, have proved to be far from enough. The current most effective and sustainable solution is the use of virus-resistant varieties, but which require too much work and time to obtain. In the recent years, the versatile gene editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas has simplified the engineering of crops and has successfully been used for the development of viral resistant plants. CRISPR stands for ‘clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats’ and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, and is based on a natural adaptive immune system that most archaeal and some bacterial species present to defend themselves against invading bacteriophages. Plant viral resistance using CRISPR/Cas technology can been achieved either through manipulation of plant genome (plant-mediated resistance), by mutating host factors required for viral infection; or through manipulation of virus genome (virus-mediated resistance), for which CRISPR/Cas systems must specifically target and cleave viral DNA or RNA. Viruses present an efficient machinery and comprehensive genome structure and, in a different, beneficial perspective, they have been used as biotechnological tools in several areas such as medicine, materials industry, and agriculture with several purposes. Due to all this potential, it is not surprising that viruses have also been used as vectors for CRISPR technology; namely, to deliver CRISPR components into plants, a crucial step for the success of CRISPR technology. Here we discuss the basic principles of CRISPR/Cas technology, with a special focus on the advances of CRISPR/Cas to engineer plant resistance against DNA and RNA viruses. We also describe several strategies for the delivery of these systems into plant cells, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of plant viruses as vectors. We conclude by discussing some of the constrains faced by the application of CRISPR/Cas technology in agriculture and future prospects

Metagenomic analysis of fungal microbiota associated to grapevine trunk diseases in Alentejo region

Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) are considered among the most important problems affecting the longevity and productivity of vineyards in all the major growing regions of the world, causing important economic losses. They are caused by wood inhabiting fungi, namely by 133 species belonging to 9 families and 34 genera, with similar life cycles and epidemiology. Until now, no effective treatments are known. Aiming to gain a better knowledge of these diseases and search alternatives to limit their development, the present work intended to molecularly identify GTDs- associated fungi, grapevine endophytic community and fungi with antagonist ability against GTDs. For this study, two important cultivars from the Alentejo region were selected, ‘Alicante Bouschet’ and ‘Trincadeira’, which demonstrate different levels of susceptibility to GTDs. Samples consisted of cuttings from plants with and without trunk diseases symptoms from both cultivars in a vineyard located in this region. Total DNA was extracted from cortical scrapings and sequenced using a metagenomic approach based on next generation sequence analysis. Deep sequencing of fungal-directed ITS1 and ITS2 amplicons led to the detection of 215 taxa in grapevine fungal microbiota, with nine fungi previously described as responsible for GTDs. Unexpectedly, symptomatic plants showed a lower relative abundance of GTDs-associated fungi and a higher relative abundance of possible antagonist fungi, in opposition to what was obtained in asymptomatic plants in both cultivars. Nevertheless, symptomatic plants showed greater diversity of GTDs phytopathogenic fungi when compared to asymptomatic plants. These facts corroborate previous reports referring that trunk diseases symptoms are intensified by a set of several associated fungi on the same plant. Some fungal species with biological antagonist characteristics were also identified but their role in GTDs still need further investigation. This study allowed a deeper knowledge of grapevine fungal communities of the selected cultivars and updated the information on the abundance and diversity of GTDs associated fungi and their relationship with the symptomatology in plants. Additional studies are still required to better understand plant-pathogen interactions and contribute to the mitigation and control of GTDs in the Alentejo region

Multiscale Model of CVD Growth of Graphene on Cu(111) Surface

Due to its outstanding properties, graphene has emerged as one of the most promising 2D materials in a large variety of research fields. Among the available fabrication protocols, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) enables the production of high quality single-layered large area graphene. To better understand the kinetics of CVD graphene growth, multiscale modeling approaches are sought after. Although a variety of models have been developed to study the growth mechanism, prior studies are either limited to very small systems, are forced to simplify the model to eliminate the fast process, or they simplify reactions. While it is possible to rationalize these approximations, it is important to note that they have non-trivial consequences on the overall growth of graphene. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the kinetics of graphene growth in CVD remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a kinetic Monte Carlo protocol that permits, for the first time, the representation of relevant reactions on the atomic scale, without additional approximations, while still reaching very long time and length scales of the simulation of graphene growth. The quantum-mechanics-based multiscale model, which links kinetic Monte Carlo growth processes with the rates of occurring chemical reactions, calculated from first principles makes it possible to investigate the contributions of the most important species in graphene growth. It permits the proper investigation of the role of carbon and its dimer in the growth process, thus indicating the carbon dimer to be the dominant species. The consideration of hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions enables us to correlate the quality of the material grown within the CVD control parameters and to demonstrate an important role of these reactions in the quality of the grown graphene in terms of its surface roughness, hydrogenation sites, and vacancy defects. The model developed is capable of providing additional insights to control the graphene growth mechanism on Cu(111), which may guide further experimental and theoretical developments