Procedimento Blupis e seleção massal em cana-de-açúcar.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar a seleção via procedimento BLUP individual simulado (BLUPIS) versus seleção massal em famílias de irmãos-completos de cana-de-açúcar. Foram utilizadas 80 famílias originadas de cruzamentos biparentais da série RB03. O experimento foi desenvolvido em área experimental, localizado no Município de São Tomé, Paraná. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos incompletos, com cinco repetições por família. Para seleção considerou-se a variável tonelada de sólidos solúveis por hectare (TSH). Utilizou-se o modelo 35 do programa computacional Selegen REML/BLUP, via procedimento BLUPIS para a indicação do número de clones potenciais a serem selecionados. Estes resultados foram correlacionados com o número de clones selecionados via seleção massal dentro das famílias. A seleção clonal via procedimento BLUPIS indica maior número de clones promissores para caracteres quantitativos dentro de famílias com elevados efeitos genotípicos

Effects of degree and timing of social housing on reversal learning and response to novel objects in dairy calves

Rodents and primates deprived of early social contact exhibit deficits in learning and behavioural flexibility. They often also exhibit apparent signs of elevated anxiety, although the relationship between these effects has not been studied. To investigate whether dairy calves are similarly affected, we first compared calves housed in standard individual pens (n = 7) to those housed in a dynamic group with access to their mothers (n = 8). All calves learned to approach the correct stimulus in a visual discrimination task. Only one individually housed calf was able to re-learn the task when the stimuli were reversed, compared to all but one calf from the group. A second experiment investigated whether this effect might be explained by anxiety in individually housed animals interfering with their learning, and tested varying degrees of social contact in addition to the complex group: pair housing beginning early (approximately 6 days old) and late (6 weeks old). Again, fewer individually reared calves learned the reversal task (2 of 10 or 20%) compared to early paired and grouped calves (16 of 21 or 76% of calves). Late paired calves had intermediate success. Individually housed calves were slower to touch novel objects, but the magnitude of the fear response did not correlate with reversal performance. We conclude that individually housed calves have learning deficits, but these deficits were not likely associated with increased anxiety

Production of Saffron Apocarotenoids in Nicotiana benthamiana Plants Genome-Edited to Accumulate Zeaxanthin Precursor

Crocins are glycosylated apocarotenoids with strong coloring power and anti-oxidant, anticancer, and neuro-protective properties. We previously dissected the saffron crocin biosynthesis pathway, and demonstrated that the CsCCD2 enzyme, catalyzing the carotenoid cleavage step, shows a strong preference for the xanthophyll zeaxanthin in vitro and in bacterio. In order to investigate substrate specificity in planta and to establish a plant-based bio-factory system for crocin production, we compared wild-type Nicotiana benthamiana plants, accumulating various xanthophylls together with α- and β-carotene, with genome-edited lines, in which all the xanthophylls normally accumulated in leaves were replaced by a single xanthophyll, zeaxanthin. These plants were used as chassis for the production in leaves of saffron apocarotenoids (crocins, picrocrocin) using two transient expression methods to overexpress CsCCD2: agroinfiltration and inoculation with a viral vector derived from tobacco etch virus (TEV). The results indicated the superior performance of the zeaxanthin-accumulating line and of the use of the viral vector to express CsCCD2. The results also suggested a relaxed substrate specificity of CsCCD2 in planta, cleaving additional carotenoid substrates

Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).

Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)

Cerámica y Vidrio Porcelain tiles by the dry route

In Brazil, the second largest tile producer of the world, at present, 70% of the tiles are produced by the dry route. One of the main reasons that lead to this development is the fact that the dry route uses approximately 30% less thermal energy them the traditional wet route. The increasing world concern with the environment and the recognition of the central role played by the water also has pointed towards privileging dry processes. In this context the objective of the present work is to study the feasibility of producing high quality porcelain tiles by the dry route. A brief comparison of the dry and wet route, in standard conditions industrially used today to produce tiles that are not porcelain tiles, shows that there are two major differences: the particle sizes obtained by the wet route are usually considerably finer and the capability of mixing the different minerals, the intimacy of the mixture, is also usually better in the wet route. The present work studied the relative importance of these differences and looked for raw materials and operational conditions that would result in better performance and glazed porcelain tiles of good quality. Keywords: porcelain tiles, dry route, granulometry and fusibility. Revestimientos porcelánicos obtenidos por vía seca En Brasil, en este momento segundo productor mundial, el 70% de los pavimentos cerámicos se obtiene por vía seca. Una de las razones fundamentales se debe a que esta vía supone un consumo energético inferior, en un 30%, a la via húmeda tradicional. La creciente preocupación mundial sobre los problemas medioambientales y el reconocimiento de l papel central que juega el agua en este proceso han favorecido el desarrollo de la vía seca. En este contexto, el objetivo del presente trabajo es estudiar la viabilidad de la producción de pavimentos porcelánicos de alta calidad por vía seca. Una breve comparación entre ambas vías, en las condiciones standard de producción vigentes para producciones que no son de porcelánico, indican que existen dos diferencias substanciales; el tamaño de partícula, utilizado en la vía húmeda es considerablemente mas fino,y la capacidad de mezclado entre los diferentes minerales que integran la composición es normalmente tambien mejor en la vía húmeda. El trabajos analiza la importancia relativa de ambos factores y estudia las materias primas y condiciones de proceso que podrían conducir a la obtención de pavimentos esmaltados de buena calidad Palabras clave : revestimientos porcelánicos, vía húmeda, vía seca, granulometría, fusibilida

A systematic review of the effects of prolonged cow-calf contact on behavior, welfare, and productivity

Separation of calves from cows within hours or days of birth is common on dairy farms. Stakeholders have conflicting perspectives on whether this is harmful or beneficial for the animals’ welfare and production. Our objective was to critically evaluate the scientific evidence for both acute and long-term effects of early separation versus an extended period of cow-calf contact. The outcomes investigated were the behavior, welfare (excluding physical health) and performance (milk yield and growth, respectively) of dairy cows and calves. Primary research papers were found through targeted Web of Science searches, the reference lists of recent reviews for each topic, and the reference lists of papers identified from these sources. Studies were included if they were published in English, the full text was accessible, and they compared treatments with and without contact between dairy cows and calves for a specified period. Early separation (within 24 h post-partum) was found to reduce acute distress responses of cows and calves. However, longer cow-calf contact typically had positive longer-term effects on calves, promoting more normal social behavior, reducing abnormal behavior and sometimes reducing responses to stressors. In terms of productivity, allowing cows to nurse calves generally decreased the volume of milk available for sale during the nursing period, but there was no consistent evidence of reduced milk production over a longer period. Allowing a prolonged period of nursing increased calf weight gains during the milk-feeding period. In summary, extended cow-calf contact aggravates the acute distress responses and reduces the amount of saleable milk while the calves are suckling, but can have positive effects on behaviors relevant to welfare in the longer term and benefit calf growth. The strength of these conclusions is limited, however, given that relatively few studies address most of these effects and that experimental design including timing of contact and observations are often inconsistent across studies. Few studies presented indicators of long-term welfare effects other than abnormal and social behavior of the calves

Quality control of B-lines analysis in stress Echo 2020

Background The effectiveness trial “Stress echo (SE) 2020” evaluates novel applications of SE in and beyond coronary artery disease. The core protocol also includes 4-site simplified scan of B-lines by lung ultrasound, useful to assess pulmonary congestion. Purpose To provide web-based upstream quality control and harmonization of B-lines reading criteria. Methods 60 readers (all previously accredited for regional wall motion, 53 B-lines naive) from 52 centers of 16 countries of SE 2020 network read a set of 20 lung ultrasound video-clips selected by the Pisa lab serving as reference standard, after taking an obligatory web-based learning 2-h module ( http://se2020.altervista.org ). Each test clip was scored for B-lines from 0 (black lung, A-lines, no B-lines) to 10 (white lung, coalescing B-lines). The diagnostic gold standard was the concordant assessment of two experienced readers of the Pisa lab. The answer of the reader was considered correct if concordant with reference standard reading ±1 (for instance, reference standard reading of 5 B-lines; correct answer 4, 5, or 6). The a priori determined pass threshold was 18/20 (≥ 90%) with R value (intra-class correlation coefficient) between reference standard and recruiting center) > 0.90. Inter-observer agreement was assessed with intra-class correlation coefficient statistics. Results All 60 readers were successfully accredited: 26 (43%) on first, 24 (40%) on second, and 10 (17%) on third attempt. The average diagnostic accuracy of the 60 accredited readers was 95%, with R value of 0.95 compared to reference standard reading. The 53 B-lines naive scored similarly to the 7 B-lines expert on first attempt (90 versus 95%, p = NS). Compared to the step-1 of quality control for regional wall motion abnormalities, the mean reading time per attempt was shorter (17 ± 3 vs 29 ± 12 min, p < .01), the first attempt success rate was higher (43 vs 28%, p < 0.01), and the drop-out of readers smaller (0 vs 28%, p < .01). Conclusions Web-based learning is highly effective for teaching and harmonizing B-lines reading. Echocardiographers without previous experience with B-lines learn quickly.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribution of the nursery areas to the major fishing grounds of the Brazilian sardine (sardinella Brasiliensis) in southeastern Brazilian bight inferred from otolith fingerprints

This study was partially supported by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO) and the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2019 through national funds provided by FCT and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the program PT2020