Saharan dust electrification perceived by a triangle of atmospheric electricity stations in Southern Portugal

Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient (PG) measurements were carried out in three sites forming a triangular array in Southern Portugal. The campaign was performed during the summer, characterized by Saharan dust outbreaks; 16th-17th July 2014 dust event is considered. Short time-scale oscillations of the PG at two of the stations and a mid time-scale suppression of the PG in the three stations are found. Results are interpreted as evidencing long-range dust electrification; attributed to the air-Earth electrical current creating a bipolar charge distribution inside of the dust layer. The relevance of using arrays of sensors, instead of single sited, is highlighted

Orofacial Injuries in Children and Adolescents (2009-2013): A 5-Year Study In Porto, Portugal

The aim of this study was to verify the prevalence of acts of aggression to the head, face and neck towards victims of Physical Violence against Children and Adolescents (PVCA) who were examined at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Delegation North (INMLCF-DN) in Porto, Portugal. A study was carried out on 2,148 complaints of physical aggression against children and adolescents (0 to less than 18 years old) occurred between 2009 and 2013 and which were retrieved from information about violence held on INMLCF-DN data files. Continuous variables were described and the association between them was verified by Chi-square or Fischer’s Exact tests with 5% significance level. Within the 5-year timespan, 1,380 cases were identified with clinical relation with physical aggression. Most subjects evaluated were male adolescents and the most affected body region was the face, to which 747 injuries (24.7%) were recorded, with statistically significant association between sex and region (head and face). Victims in 15-17-year-old age group are more susceptible to violence than those in the 0-14-year-old age range. Dentists routinely examine the face, neck and skull, which make them the most appropriate health professionals to identify cases of aggression early.The authors thank the INMLCF-DN (Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses - Delegação do Norte, Portugal) for technical support and CAPES(Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil) for scholarship

The approximate entropy of the electromyographic signals of tremor correlates with the osmotic fragility of human erythrocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main problem of tremor is the damage caused to the quality of the life of patients, especially those at more advanced ages. There is not a consensus yet about the origins of this disorder, but it can be examined in the correlations between the biological signs of aging and the tremor characteristics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This work sought correlations between the osmotic fragility of erythrocytes and features extracted from electromyographic (EMG) activity resulting from physiological tremor in healthy patients (N = 44) at different ages (24-87 years). The osmotic fragility was spectrophotometrically evaluated by the dependence of hemolysis, provided by the absorbance in 540 nm (<it>A</it>_<it>54</it><it>o)</it>, on the concentration of NaCl. The data were adjusted to curves of sigmoidal regression and characterized by the half transition point (<it>H</it>_<it>50</it>), amplitude of lysis transition (<it>dx</it>) and values of <it>A</it>_{<it>540 </it>}in the curve regions that characterize the presence of lysed (<it>A</it>_<it>1</it>) and preserved erythrocytes (<it>A</it>_<it>2</it>). The approximate entropy was estimated from EMG signals detected from the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle during the movement of the hand of subjects holding up a laser pen towards an Archimedes spiral, fixed in a whiteboard. The evaluations were carried out with the laser pen at rest, at the center of the spiral, and in movement from the center to the outside and from outside to the center. The correlations among the parameters of osmotic fragility, tremor and age were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Negative correlations with age were found for <it>A</it>_{<it>1 </it>}and <it>dx</it>. With the hand at rest, a positive correlation with <it>H</it>_{<it>50 </it>}was found for the approximate entropy. Negative correlations with <it>H</it>_{<it>50 </it>}were found for the entropy with the hand in movement, as from the center to the outside or from the outside to the center of the spiral.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In healthy individuals, the increase in the erythrocyte osmotic fragility was associated with a decrease in the approximate entropy for rest tremor and with an increase of the entropy for movement tremor. This suggests that the neuromuscular degeneration associated with tremor entails also the mechanisms involved in the breakdown of structural homeostasis of the erythrocyte membrane.</p

Donor Killer Immunoglobulin Receptor Gene Content and Ligand Matching and Outcomes of Pediatric Patients with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia Following Unrelated Donor Transplantation

Natural killer (NK) cell determinants predict relapse-free survival after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for acute myelogenous leukemia, and previous studies have shown a beneficial graft-versus-leukemia effect in patients with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). However, whether NK cell determinants predict protection against relapse for JMML patients undergoing HCT is unknown. Therefore, we investigated NK cell-related donor and recipient immunogenetics as determinants of HCT outcomes in patients with JMML. Patients with JMML (age 0 to 3 (HR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.95; P = .032), centromeric A/B score (HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 033 to 0.98; P = .041), and telomeric A/B score (HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.34 to 1.00; P = .048). To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the association of NK cell determinants and outcomes in JMML HCT recipients. This study identifies potential benefits of donor KIR-B genotypes in reducing aGVHD. Our findings warrant further study of the role of NK cells in enhancing the graft-versus-leukemia effect via recognition of JMML blasts

Molecular identification of adenoviruses associated with respiratory infection in Egypt from 2003 to 2010.

BACKGROUND: Human adenoviruses of species B, C, and E (HAdV-B, -C, -E) are frequent causative agents of acute respiratory infections worldwide. As part of a surveillance program aimed at identifying the etiology of influenza-like illness (ILI) in Egypt, we characterized 105 adenovirus isolates from clinical samples collected between 2003 and 2010. METHODS: Identification of the isolates as HAdV was accomplished by an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and confirmed by a set of species and type specific polymerase chain reactions (PCR). RESULTS: Of the 105 isolates, 42% were identified as belonging to HAdV-B, 60% as HAdV-C, and 1% as HAdV-E. We identified a total of six co-infections by PCR, of which five were HAdV-B/HAdV-C co-infections, and one was a co-infection of two HAdV-C types: HAdV-5/HAdV-6. Molecular typing by PCR enabled the identification of eight genotypes of human adenoviruses; HAdV-3 (n = 22), HAdV-7 (n = 14), HAdV-11 (n = 8), HAdV-1 (n = 22), HAdV-2 (20), HAdV-5 (n = 15), HAdV-6 (n = 3) and HAdV-4 (n = 1). The most abundant species in the characterized collection of isolates was HAdV-C, which is concordant with existing data for worldwide epidemiology of HAdV respiratory infections. CONCLUSIONS: We identified three species, HAdV-B, -C and -E, among patients with ILI over the course of 7 years in Egypt, with at least eight diverse types circulating

Magnetic resonance imaging brain atrophy assessment in primary age-related tauopathy (PART)

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized pathologically by the accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Recently, primary age-related tauopathy (PART) has been described as a new anatomopathological disorder where NFTs are the main feature in the absence of neuritic plaques. However, since PART has mainly been studied in post-mortem patient brains, not much is known about the clinical or neuroimaging characteristics of PART. Here, we studied the clinical brain imaging characteristics of PART focusing on neuroanatomical vulnerability by applying a previously validated multiregion visual atrophy scale. We analysed 26 cases with confirmed PART with paired clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisitions. In this selected cohort we found that upon correcting for the effect of age, there is increased atrophy in the medial temporal region with increasing Braak staging (r = 0.3937, p = 0.0466). Upon controlling for Braak staging effect, predominantly two regions, anterior temporal (r = 0.3638, p = 0.0677) and medial temporal (r = 0.3836, p = 0.053), show a trend for increased atrophy with increasing age. Moreover, anterior temporal lobe atrophy was associated with decreased semantic memory/language (r = - 0.5823, p = 0.0056; and r = - 0.6371, p = 0.0019, respectively), as was medial temporal lobe atrophy (r = - 0.4445, p = 0.0435). Overall, these findings support that PART is associated with medial temporal lobe atrophy and predominantly affects semantic memory/language. These findings highlight that other factors associated with aging and beyond NFTs could be involved in PART pathophysiology.NACC database is funded by NIA/NIH Grant U01 AG016976. NACC data are contributed by the NIA-funded ADCs: P30 AG019610 (PI Eric Reiman, MD), P30 AG013846 (PI Neil Kowall, MD), P30 AG062428–01 (PI James Leverenz, MD) P50 AG008702 (PI Scott Small, MD), P50 AG025688 (PI Allan Levey, MD, PhD), P50 AG047266 (PI Todd Golde, MD, PhD), P30 AG010133 (PI Andrew Saykin, PsyD), P50 AG005146 (PI Marilyn Albert, PhD), P30 AG062421–01 (PI Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD), P30 AG062422–01 (PI Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD), P50 AG005138 (PI Mary Sano, PhD), P30 AG008051 (PI Thomas Wisniewski, MD), P30 AG013854 (PI Robert Vassar, PhD), P30 AG008017 (PI Jeffrey Kaye, MD), P30 AG010161 (PI David Bennett, MD), P50 AG047366 (PI Victor Henderson, MD, MS), P30 AG010129 (PI Charles DeCarli, MD), P50 AG016573 (PI Frank LaFerla, PhD), P30 AG062429–01(PI James Brewer, MD, PhD), P50 AG023501 (PI Bruce Miller, MD), P30 AG035982 (PI Russell Swerdlow, MD), P30 AG028383 (PI Linda Van Eldik, PhD), P30 AG053760 (PI Henry Paulson, MD, PhD), P30 AG010124 (PI John Trojanowski, MD, PhD), P50 AG005133 (PI Oscar Lopez, MD), P50 AG005142 (PI Helena Chui, MD), P30 AG012300 (PI Roger Rosenberg, MD), P30 AG049638 (PI Suzanne Craft, PhD), P50 AG005136 (PI Thomas Grabowski, MD), P30 AG062715–01 (PI Sanjay Asthana, MD, FRCP), P50 AG005681 (PI John Morris, MD), P50 AG047270 (PI Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD). NIH grants to JFC (R01AG054008, R01NS095252, R01AG062348, RF1AG060961), the Tau Consortium, and Alzheimer’s Association (NIRG- 469 15-363188