New and interesting records of Brazilian bryophytes

This paper presents data on morphology, ecology and distribution of 16 species of bryophytes collected in Pernambuco, Brazil, that are interesting floristic records. Notothylasorbicularis (Schwein.) Sull. is new to Brazil, 11 species are new to the Northeast region of Brazil and 4 species are new to Pernambuco.Dados morfológicos, ecológicos e de distribuição geográfica são apresentados para 16 espécies de briófitas coletadas no Estado de Pernambuco, Brasil. Notothylas orbicularis (Schwein.) Sull. é registrada pela primeira vez para o Brasil, 11 espécies são novas para a região Nordeste e 4 para o Estado de Pernambuco

Obtenção de padrão de identidade de peito de galinha através de eletroforese SDS-PAGE.

Eletroforese de proteínas; Preparação da amostra de extrato protéico de peito de galinha.bitstream/CTAA-2009-09/8951/1/ct84-2005.pd

Produção de ácidos orgânicos associada à fixação de nitrogênio em mutantes de Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus

O seqüenciamento do genoma de Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, bactéria fixadora de nitrogênio, e caracterização do seu proteoma em condições de excesso ou limitação de N em forma disponível para assimilação, forneceram informações gerais sobre a codificação e expressão de proteínas na estirpe PAL5. Além da fixação de nitrogênio, outra característica interessante desta bactéria é sua capacidade de realizar oxidação incompleta da glicose resultando em ácido glicônico e cetoderivados. A associação de ambos os processos pode ser explorado para aplicação biotecnológica em diversos setores industriais, inclusive na indústria alimentícia e agrária. Entretanto, para garantir a eficiência durante aplicação conjunta desses processos é necessário elucidar os mecanismos relacionados com a expressão e regulação da oxidação incompleta da glicose. A partir de uma biblioteca de mutantes construída pela inserção aleatória de transposon no genoma da estirpe PAL5, foram selecionados em condições específicas aqueles mutantes relacionados com a oxidação de glicose a ácido glicônico e/ou cetoderivados. Dos 24 mutantes obtidos, foram caracterizados aqueles relacionados com enzimas chaves para oxidação da glicose a ácido glicônico, com função da NADH-quinona oxidoredutase e com proteína transmenbrana de função desconhecida em relação à capacidade destes mutantes em fixar nitrogênio e produzir ácido glicônico e/ou cetoderivados. Neste trabalho serão apresentados os resultados preliminares da associação de ambos os processos em organismos geneticamente modificados como ferramentas biotecnológicas para produção de ácido 2,5 diceto-glicônico, precursor do intermediário da vitamina C.bitstream/item/42978/1/BOP-53.pd

Wodel: a domain-specific language for model mutation

This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in SAC '16: Proceedings of the 31st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/10.1145/2851613.2851751Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is a software engineering paradigm that uses models as main assets in all development phases. While many languages for model manipulation exist (e.g., for model transformation or code generation), there is a lack of frameworks to de ne and apply model mutations. A model mutant is a variation of an original model, created by speci c model mutation operations. Model mutation has many applications, for instance, in the areas of model trans- formation testing, model-based testing or education. In this paper, we present a domain-speci c language, called Wodel, for the speci cation and generation of model mu- tants. Wodel is domain-independent, as it can be used to generate mutants of models conforming to arbitrary meta- models. Its development environment is extensible, permit- ting the incorporation of post-processors for di erent appli- cations. As an example, we show an application consisting on the automated generation of exercises for particular do- mains (automata, class diagrams, electronic circuits, etc.).Thanks to Víctor López Rivero for the initial implementation of the Wodel IDE. Work supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (TIN2014-52129-R), the Madrid Region (S2013/ICE-3006), and the EU commission (FP7-ICT-2013-10, #611125)

Identification of a novel mechanism of blood-brain communication during peripheral inflammation via choroid plexus-derived extracellular vesicles

Here, we identified release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) by the choroid plexus epithelium (CPE) as a new mechanism of blood-brain communication. Systemic inflammation induced an increase in EVs and associated pro-inflammatory miRNAs, including miR-146a and miR-155, in the CSF. Interestingly, this was associated with an increase in amount of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) and exosomes per MVB in the CPE cells. Additionally, we could mimic this using LPS-stimulated primary CPE cells and choroid plexus explants. These choroid plexus-derived EVs can enter the brain parenchyma and are taken up by astrocytes and microglia, inducing miRNA target repression and inflammatory gene up-regulation. Interestingly, this could be blocked in vivo by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of an inhibitor of exosome production. Our data show that CPE cells sense and transmit information about the peripheral inflammatory status to the central nervous system (CNS) via the release of EVs into the CSF, which transfer this pro-inflammatory message to recipient brain cells. Additionally, we revealed that blockage of EV secretion decreases brain inflammation, which opens up new avenues to treat systemic inflammatory diseases such as sepsis

The Effects of Intervention on Heart Power in Aortic Coarctation

Background In aortic coarctation, current guidelines recommend reducing pressure gradients that exceed given thresholds. From a physiological standpoint this should ideally improve the energy expenditure of the heart and thus prevent long term organ damage. Objectives The aim was to assess the effects of interventional treatment on external and internal heart power (EHP, IHP) in patients with aortic coarctation and to explore the correlation of these parameters to pressure gradients obtained from heart catheterization. Methods In a collective of 52 patients with aortic coarctation 25 patients received stenting and/or balloon angioplasty, and 20 patients underwent MRI before and after an interventional treatment procedure. EHP and IHP were computed based on catheterization and MRI measurements. Along with the power efficiency these were combined in a cardiac energy profile. Results By intervention, the catheter gradient was significantly reduced from 21.8±9.4 to 6.2±6.1mmHg (p<0.001). IHP was significantly reduced after intervention, from 8.03±5.2 to 4.37±2.13W (p < 0.001). EHP was 1.1±0.3 W before and 1.0±0.3W after intervention, p = 0.044. In patients initially presenting with IHP above 5W intervention resulted in a significant reduction in IHP from 10.99±4.74 W to 4.94±2.45W (p<0.001), and a subsequent increase in power efficiency from 14 to 26% (p = 0.005). No significant changes in IHP, EHP or power efficiency were observed in patients initially presenting with IHP < 5W. Conclusion It was demonstrated that interventional treatment of coarctation resulted in a decrease in IHP. Pressure gradients, as the most widespread clinical parameters in coarctation, did not show any correlation to changes in EHP or IHP. This raises the question of whether they should be the main focus in coarctation interventions. Only patients with high IHP of above 5W showed improvement in IHP and power efficiency after the treatment procedure. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT0259194

The clock genes Period 2 and Cryptochrome 2 differentially balance bone formation

Background: Clock genes and their protein products regulate circadian rhythms in mammals but have also been implicated in various physiological processes, including bone formation. Osteoblasts build new mineralized bone whereas osteoclasts degrade it thereby balancing bone formation. To evaluate the contribution of clock components in this process, we investigated mice mutant in clock genes for a bone volume phenotype. Methodology/Principal Findings: We found that Per2Brdm1 mutant mice as well as mice lacking Cry2-/- displayed significantly increased bone volume at 12 weeks of age, when bone turnover is high. Per2Brdm1 mutant mice showed alterations in parameters specific for osteoblasts whereas mice lacking Cry2-/- displayed changes in osteoclast specific parameters. Interestingly, inactivation of both Per2 and Cry2 genes leads to normal bone volume as observed in wild type animals. Importantly, osteoclast parameters affected due to the lack of Cry2, remained at the level seen in the Cry2-/- mutants despite the simultaneous inactivation of Per2. Conclusions/Significance: This indicates that Cry2 and Per2 affect distinct pathways in the regulation of bone volume with Cry2 influencing mostly the osteoclastic cellular component of bone and Per2 acting on osteoblast parameters

Comparison of drug-eluting stents with bare metal stents in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Aims To evaluate safety and effectiveness of early generation drug-eluting stents (DES) compared with bare-metal stents (BMS) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and to determine whether benefits and risks vary over time. Methods and results We performed a meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials enrolling a total of 7867 patients comparing first-generation FDA-approved DES with BMS in patients with STEMI. Random effect models were used to assess differences in outcomes between DES and BMS among different time periods with regard to the pre-specified primary outcomes stent thrombosis (ST) and target vessel revascularization (TVR). The overall risk of definite ST was similar for DES and BMS [risk ratio (RR) = 1.08, 95% CI 0.82-1.43]. However, there were time-dependent effects, with a RR of 0.80 during the first year (95% CI 0.58-1.12) and 2.10 during subsequent years (95% CI 1.20-3.69), with a positive test for interaction between RR of ST and time (P for interaction = 0.009). Results were similar for definite or probable ST (P for interaction = 0.015). In the overall analysis, TVR was performed less frequently in patients with DES when compared with BMS (RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.43-0.61), with a greater benefit in the first year (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.38-0.55) when compared with subsequent years (RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.59-0.94; P for interaction = 0.007). Conclusion An early benefit of early generation DES in primary PCI for STEMI with a reduction in TVR and a trend towards less definite ST is offset in subsequent years by an increased risk of very late S

Methods to convert continuous outcomes into odds ratios of treatment response and numbers needed to treat: meta-epidemiological study

Background Clinicians find standardized mean differences (SMDs) calculated from continuous outcomes difficult to interpret. Our objective was to determine the performance of methods in converting SMDs or means to odds ratios of treatment response and numbers needed to treat (NNTs) as more intuitive measures of treatment effect. Methods Meta-epidemiological study of large-scale trials (≥100 patients per group) comparing active treatment with placebo, sham or non-intervention control. Trials had to use pain or global symptoms as continuous outcomes and report both the percentage of patients with treatment response and mean pain or symptom scores per group. For each trial, we calculated odds ratios of observed treatment response and NNTs and approximated these estimates from SMDs or means using all five currently available conversion methods by Hasselblad and Hedges (HH), Cox and Snell (CS), Furukawa (FU), Suissa (SU) and Kraemer and Kupfer (KK). We compared observed and approximated values within trials by deriving pooled ratios of odds ratios (RORs) and differences in NNTs. ROR <1 and positive differences in NNTs imply that approximations are more conservative than estimates calculated from observed treatment response. As measures of agreement, we calculated intraclass correlation coefficients. Results A total of 29 trials in 13 654 patients were included. Four out of five methods were suitable (HH, CS, FU, SU), with RORs between 0.92 for SU [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.86-0.99] and 0.97 for HH (95% CI, 0.91-1.04) and differences in NNTs between 0.5 (95% CI, −0.1 to −1.6) and 1.3 (95% CI, 0.4-2.1). Intraclass correlation coefficients were ≥0.90 for these four methods, but ≤0.76 for the fifth method by KK (P for differences ≤0.027). Conclusions The methods by HH, CS, FU and SU are suitable to convert summary treatment effects calculated from continuous outcomes into odds ratios of treatment response and NNTs, whereas the method by KK is unsuitabl