Comparative descriptions of eggs from three species of Rhodnius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae)

The authors describe and compare the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of eggs from the three most recent described species of the genus Rhodnius Stål, 1859, which have not previously been studied. These species are Rhodnius colombiensis (Mejia, Galvão & Jurberg 1999), Rhodnius milesi (Carcavallo, Rocha, Galvão & Jurberg 2001) and Rhodnius stali (Lent, Jurberg & Galvão 1993). The results revealed that there are similarities in the exochorial architecture of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy; these include the predominance of hexagonal cells that are common to all Rhodnius species and variable degrees of lateral flattening, which is common not only to species of this genus, but also to the Rhodniini tribe. Differences in overall colour, the presence of a collar in R. milesi, a longitudinal bevel in R. stali and the precise length of R. colombiensis can be useful distinguishing features. As a result of this study, the key for egg identification proposed by Barata in 1981 can be updated.European Community - Chagas Disease Intervention ActivitiesCNPqCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES

Colour assessment outcomes – a new approach to grading the severity of color vision loss

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have shown that a significant percentage of subjects with anomalous, congenital trichromacy can perform the suprathreshold, colour-related tasks encountered in many occupations with the same accuracy as normal trichromats. In the absence of detailed, occupation-specific studies, an alternative approach is to make use of new findings and the statistical outcomes of past practices that have been considered safe to produce graded, justifiable categories of colour vision that can be enforced. METHODS: We analyzed traditional color assessment outcomes and measured severity of colour vision loss using the CAD test in 1363 subjects (336 normals, 705 deutan, 319 protan and 3 tritan). The severity of colour vision loss was measured in each subject and statistical, pass / fail outcomes established for each of the most commonly used, conventional colour assessment tests and protocols. RESULTS: The correlation between the number of Ishihara (IH) test plates subjects fail and the severity of RG colour vision loss was very poor. The 38 plates IH test has high sensitivity when no errors are allowed (i.e., only 0.71% deutans and 0.63% protans pass). Protocols based on zero errors are uncommon since 18.15% of normal trichromats fail. The most common protocols employ either the 24 or the 14 plates editions with two or less errors. These protocols pass almost all normal trichromats, but the deutans and some protans that also pass (when two or less errors are allowed) can be severely deficient. This is simply because the most challenging plates have not been included in the 24 and 14 plates editions. As a result, normals no longer fail, but the deutans and protans that pass have more severe loss of colour vision since they fail less challenging plates. The severity of colour vision loss was measured in each subject and statistical, pass / fail outcomes established for each of the most commonly used, conventional colour assessment tests and protocols. DISCUSSION: Historical evidence and new findings that relate severity of loss to the effective use of colour signals in a number of tasks provide the basis for a new colour grading system based on six categories. A single colour assessment test is needed to establish the applicant’s Colour Vision category which can range from ‘supernormal’ (CV0), for the most stringent, colour-demanding tasks, to ‘severe colour deficiency’, when red / green colour vision is either absent or extremely weak (CV5)

Trasplante de hígado: estrategias de enseñanza utilizadas con pacientes que esperan por la cirugía

O objetivo deste estudo é descrever os resultados de aprendizagem da experiência de implementação de estratégias de ensino com os pacientes que serão submetidos a transplante de fígado. Uma delas é a entrega de um manual de orientação aos pacientes que entram no programa, com posterior aplicação de questionário relacionado ao conteúdo do manual. Analisou-se 13 pacientes em lista de espera para transplante de fígado, todos ocupando as primeiras posições no cadastro técnico. Em relação às respostas obtidas dos questionários aplicados, a média de acertos foi de 80,6%, sendo que apenas um paciente acertou todas as questões. Durante a correção e esclarecimento das dúvidas, concluiu-se que a leitura do manual de orientação e a aplicação do questionário proporcionam esclarecimento melhor dos pacientes e de seus familiares em relação aos aspectos mais importantes da cirurgia. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: This study aims to describe the learning results of the implementation of teaching strategies involving patients who will be submitted to liver transplantation. One of these strategies is to give the patients a manual with orientations and the subsequent application of a questionnaire related to the content of the manual. Authors analyzed 13 patients who were waiting for liver transplantation. With respect to the answers regarding the questionnaire, an average of 83.8% of correct responses was given and only one patient got all the questions right. During the correction and the time to clarify their doubts, authors concluded that the opportunity of reading the manual and applying the questionnaire allowed patients and families to get a better understanding about the surgery's most important aspects _________________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMEN: Este estudio tiene como objetivo describir la experiencia de implementación de estrategias de enseñanza con pacientes que van a ser sometidos al trasplante de hígado. Una de ellas es la entrega de un manual de orientación a los pacientes que empiezan el programa, con la posterior aplicación de un cuestionario relacionado al contenido del manual. Fueron analizados 13 pacientes que estaban aguardando el trasplante de hígado, ocupando las primeras posiciones en el registro técnico. Con relación a las respuestas obtenidas de los cuestionarios aplicados, el promedio de respuestas correctas fue del 83.8%, siendo que solamente un paciente tuvo todas las respuestas correctas. Durante la revisión de las respuestas y aclaración de las dudas, los autores concluyeron que la lectura del manual de orientación y la aplicación del cuestionario proporcionan una aclaración a los pacientes y sus familiares con respecto a los aspectos más importantes de la cirugí

Pathogen and Circadian Controlled 1 (PCC1) Protein Is Anchored to the Plasma Membrane and Interacts with Subunit 5 of COP9 Signalosome in Arabidopsis

The Pathogen and Circadian Controlled 1 (PCC1) gene, previously identified and further characterized as involved in defense to pathogens and stress-induced flowering, codes for an 81-amino acid protein with a cysteine-rich C-terminal domain. This domain is essential for homodimerization and anchoring to the plasma membrane. Transgenic plants with the ß- glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene under the control of 1.1 kb promoter sequence of PCC1 gene display a dual pattern of expression. At early post-germination, PCC1 is expressed only in the root vasculature and in the stomata guard cells of cotyledons. During the transition from vegetative to reproductive development, PCC1 is strongly expressed in the vascular tissue of petioles and basal part of the leaf, and it further spreads to the whole limb in fully expanded leaves. This developmental pattern of expression together with the late flowering phenotype of long-day grown RNA interference (iPCC1) plants with reduced PCC1 expression pointed to a regulatory role of PCC1 in the photoperiod-dependent flowering pathway. iPCC1 plants are defective in light perception and signaling but are not impaired in the function of the core CO-FT module of the photoperiod-dependent pathway. The regulatory effect exerted by PCC1 on the transition to flowering as well as on other reported phenotypes might be explained by a mechanism involving the interaction with the subunit 5 of the COP9 signalosome (CSN).This work was funded by grants BIO2008-00839, BIO2011-27526 and CSD2007-0057 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain to J.L. A fellowship/contract of the FPU program of the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (Spain) funded R.M. work. 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