Genomic selection combined with in vitro embryo production (IVEP) with oocytes from heifer calves provides a powerful technology platform to reduce generation interval and significantly increase the ...rate of genetic gain in cattle. The ability to obtain oocytes with developmental competence from calves has been recognised for more than 60years. There is renewed interest in the potential of this reproductive technology as the beef and dairy industries seek to identify and multiply animals that satisfy consumer demand for efficient utilisation of natural resources, with minimal environmental impact and high product quality. Heifer calves show a good follicular response to FSH stimulation and oocytes can be recovered by ovum pick-up (OPU). However, the efficiency of OPU/IVEP remains lower for calves compared with peripubertal heifers and cows, in both indicus (Zebu, Bos indicus ) and taurus (Bos taurus ) breeds. Indicus cattle generally have more follicles, yield a greater number of oocytes, and have a better IVEP outcome, compared with taurus cattle. The treatment of prepubertal heifers with bovine somatotrophin (bST) and propylene glycol before OPU/IVEP has yet to show a major improvement in embryo production. Holstein (taurus) dairy heifers derived from different reproductive technologies (AI, MOET, OPU/IVEP) showed a similar age at puberty and first-lactation milk production. OPU/IVEP Holstein embryos transferred to beef or dairy cows likewise yielded heifers with the same performance. The gains in productivity that can be achieved with strategic use of OPU/IVEP in heifer calves make this a relevant and highly important reproductive technology in cattle breeding. Ongoing optimisation of the technology is needed for the potential of OPU/IVEP in young donors to be fully realised.
OBJECTIVE:We assessed mortality, treatment response, and relapse among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women with cervical cancer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
DESIGN:Cohort study of 87 HIV-infected and ...336 HIV-uninfected women with cervical cancer.
METHODS:Patients at the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer (2001–2013) were matched on age, calendar year of diagnosis, clinical stage, and tumor histology. Staging and treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy followed international guidelines. We used a Markov model to assess responses to initial therapy, and Cox models for mortality and relapse after complete response (CR).
RESULTS:Among 234 deaths, most were from cancer (82% in HIV-infected vs. 93% in HIV-uninfected women); only 9% of HIV-infected women died from AIDS. HIV was not associated with mortality during initial follow-up but was associated more than 1–2 years after diagnosis overall mortalitystage-adjusted hazard ratio 2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27–3.22; cancer-specific mortality4.35, 1.86–10.2. Among 222 patients treated with radiotherapy, HIV-infected had similar response rates to initial cancer therapy as HIV-uninfected women (hazard ratio 0.98, 95% CI 0.58–1.66). However, among women who were treated and had a CR, HIV was associated with elevated risk of subsequent relapse (hazard ratio 3.60, 95% CI 1.86–6.98, adjusted for clinical stage).
CONCLUSION:Among women with cervical cancer, HIV infection was not associated with initial treatment response or early mortality, but relapse after attaining a CR and late mortality were increased in those with HIV. These results point to a role for an intact immune system in control of residual tumor burden among treated cervical cancer patients.
UV spectrophotometric measurement is a widely accepted and standardized routine analysis for quantitation of highly purified proteins; however, the reliability of the results strictly depends on the ...accuracy of the employed extinction coefficients. In this work, an experimental estimation of the differential refractive index (dn/dc), based on dry weight measurements, was performed in order to determine accurate extinction coefficients for four biotherapeutic proteins and one synthetic copolymer after separation in a size-exclusion ultra-performance liquid chromatograph coupled to an ultraviolet, multiangle light scattering and refractive index (SE-UPLC-UV-MALS-RI) multidetection system. The results showed small deviations with respect to theoretical values, calculated from the specific amino acid sequences, for all the studied immunoglobulins. Nevertheless, for proteins like etanercept and glatiramer acetate, several considerations, such as glycan content, partial specific volume, polarizability, and higher order structure, should be considered to properly calculate theoretical extinction coefficient values. Herein, these values were assessed with simple approximations. The precision of the experimentally obtained extinction coefficients, and its convergence towards the theoretical values, makes them useful for characterization and comparability exercises. Also, these values provide insight into the absorbance and scattering properties of the evaluated proteins. Overall, this methodology is capable of providing accurate extinction coefficients useful for development studies.
Abstract
Context
Mitchell–Riley syndrome due to RFX6 gene mutations is characterized by neonatal diabetes and protracted diarrhea. The RFX6 gene encodes a transcription factor involved in ...enteroendocrine cell differentiation required for beta-cell maturation. In contrast to the pathway by which RFX6 mutations leads to diabetes, the mechanisms underlying protracted diarrhea are unknown.
Objective
To assess whether glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) was involved in the pathogenesis of Mitchell–Riley syndrome protracted diarrhea.
Methods
Two case report descriptions. in a tertiary pediatric hospital. “Off-label” treatment with liraglutide. We describe 2 children diagnosed with Mitchell–Riley syndrome, presenting neonatal diabetes and protracted diarrhea. Both patients had nearly undetectable GLP-1 plasma levels and absence of GLP-1 immunostaining in distal intestine and rectum. The main outcome was to evaluate whether GLP-1 analogue therapy could improve Mitchell–Riley syndrome protracted diarrhea.
Results
“Off-label” liraglutide treatment, licensed for type 2 diabetes treatment in children, was started as rescue therapy for protracted intractable diarrhea resulting in rapid improvement during the course of 12 months.
Conclusion
Congenital GLP-1 deficiency was identified in patients with Mitchell–Riley syndrome. The favorable response to liraglutide further supports GLP-1 involvement in the pathogenesis of protracted diarrhea and its potential therapeutic use.
Around 1% of waste cooking oil (WCO) is currently recycled to make biodiesel in Brazil, mainly because used oils can acquire physicochemical characteristics that render them unsuitable as raw ...materials. To make biofuel production from waste oils and fats more efficient and economically feasible, it is important to develop simple, rapid, and low-cost methods for testing the quality of WCOs. With the objective of establishing the applicability of stochastic modeling of e-nose profiles in assessing the suitability of WCO for biodiesel production, the synthesized biodiesel samples from 36 pre-used frying oils, obtained from domestic and commercial premises, were analyzed regarding ester content, acidity index, density, viscosity, and iodine index. Olfactory profiles of the WCO sources were obtained using a Cyranose chemical vapor-sensing instrument and interpreted by application of stochastic modeling and quadratic discriminant analysis. The predictive model obtained by stochastic analysis exclusively from the olfactory profiles of the samples of WCO allowed the latter to be classified according to their ability to generate biodiesel that would be compliant with standard specifications and with an overall accuracy greater than 80%. Our results demonstrated that stochastic modeling is a promising tool for predicting the quality of biodiesel based only on the WCO olfactory profiles and its origin, since it allows qualitative assessments of the principal biodiesel properties and eliminates the need for complex and time-consuming laboratory tests.
Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) are a class of anti-hypertensive drugs that act by blocking aldosterone action. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the MRAs spironolactone and ...eplerenone influence adrenal cortical physiology and morphology. Spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR,
= 18) and normotensive rats (WKY,
= 18) were randomly exposed to a daily dose of spironolactone (
= 6), eplerenone (
= 6), or no drug (
= 6) over 28 days. After that, aldosterone, corticosterone, and 11-deoxycorticosterone plasma concentrations were quantified. Adrenal glands were subjected to morphological analysis to assess lipid droplets content, capsular width, cell proliferation, and steroidogenic proteins expression. The adrenal cortex in untreated SHR showed higher lipid droplet content as than in WKY. In SHR, MRA treatment was associated with higher circulating aldosterone levels and Ki-67 expression in aldosterone-secreting cells. In WKY, the only difference observed after MRA spironolactone treatment was a narrower capsule. There was no difference in abundance of steroidogenic enzyme between groups. In conclusion, MRAs modify adrenal gland function and morphology in SHR. The effects observed within the adrenal glomerulosa with aldosterone-secreting cell proliferation and higher circulating aldosterone levels suggests that MRA treatment provokes activation of the renin angiotensin system. The prognostic value of hyperaldosteronism secondary to MRAs blockade requires further investigation.
The iron(III)‐promoted synthesis of densely‐substituted 4H‐chalcogenchromene from organochalcogen propargylamines in the presence of diaryl dichalcogenides is reported. Subsequent ...C2‐functionalization with electrophiles and potassium trifluoroborate salts via Suzuki‐Miyaura coupling reaction are also presented. A plausible mechanism based on HRMS experiments is proposed and discussed.
There is growing evidence that greater than homeostatic blood concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFAs) and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) have negative consequences on dairy cow’s fertility, but ...effects on cell homeostasis in the reproductive system is not completely understood. In this study, lipids accumulation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations, abundance of gene transcripts, and immunofluorescence signal of H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 were evaluated in endometrial epithelial cells of cattle cultured with NEFAs (Oleic (OA), Stearic (SA) and Palmitic (PA) acids), BHBA, NEFAs + BHBA or each of the three NEFAs alone. The cellular lipids were in greater concentrations as a result of NEFAs + BHBA, NEFAs, SA or OA supplementation, but not by BHBA or PA. The ROS concentrations were greater when there were treatments with NEFAs + BHBA, NEFAs or BHBA. The relative mRNA abundance for genes involved in the regulation of apoptosis (XIAP), glucose transport (GLUT3), and DNA methylation (DNMT1) were greater when there were NEFAs + BHBA, but not NEFAs, BHBA, OA, SA or PA treatments. The immunofluorescence signal for H3K9me3 was greater when there were NEFAs + BHBA, NEFAs or PA, but not by BHBA, OA or SA treatments. These findings indicate that NEFAs and BHBA have an additive effect on endometrial cells of cattle by altering epigenetic markers and the expression of genes controlling important cellular pathways. Furthermore, there was cellular lipid accumulation and increased H3K9me3 in cultured bovine endometrial cells that was mainly induced by OA and PA treatments, respectively.
•NEFAs and BHBA have an additive impact on the physiology of bovine endometrial cells.•NEFAs + BHBA increased cellular lipids, ROS and H3K9me3 levels in endometrial cells.•NEFAs + BHBA altered the mRNA abundance of XIAP, GLUT3, DNMT1 in endometrial cells.•Oleic and Stearic acids increased cellular lipids in endometrial cells.•Palmitic acid increased H3K9me3 levels in endometrial cells.
The goal of this study is to see how combining physical activity with cell treatment impacts functional recovery in a stroke model. Molecular imaging and multimodal nanoparticles assisted in cell ...tracking and longitudinal monitoring (MNP). The viability of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) was determined using a 3-4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and bioluminescent image (BLI) after lentiviral transduction and MNP labeling. At random, the animals were divided into 5 groups (control-G1, and experimental G2-G5). The photothrombotic stroke induction was confirmed by local blood perfusion reduction and Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC), and MSC in the G3 and G5 groups were implanted after 24 h, with BLI and near-infrared fluorescence image (NIRF) tracking these cells at 28 h, 2, 7, 14, and 28 days. During a 28-day period, the G5 also conducted physical training, whereas the G4 simply did the training. At 0, 7, 14, and 28 days, the animals were functionally tested using a cylinder test and a spontaneous motor activity test. MNP internalization in MSC was confirmed using brightfield and fluorescence microscopy. In relation to G1 group, only 3% of cell viability reduced. The G2-G5 groups showed more than 69% of blood perfusion reduction. The G5 group performed better over time, with a progressive recovery of symmetry and an increase of fast vertical movements. Up to 7 days, BLI and NIRF followed MSC at the damaged site, demonstrating a signal rise that could be connected to cell proliferation at the injury site during the acute phase of stroke. Local MSC therapy mixed with physical activity resulted in better results in alleviating motor dysfunction, particularly during the acute period. When it comes to neurorehabilitation, this alternative therapy could be a suitable fit.
The neotropical fruit plant Eugenia klotzschiana Berg. is endemic from South America and occurs in the Brazilian savannah areas, a biome threatened by intensive agriculture. This species is a plant ...listed on the Brazilian list of Plants for the Future. The E. klotzschiana fruits have great nutritional value and antioxidant activity and are consumed in natura or processed into juice or jelly. However, their harvest is predominantly in native areas and needs further studies for large-scale commercialization. Nuclear genomic data and population genetic tools are still quite scarce for the species. Here, we provide data on the first partially assembled genome of E. klotzschiana (211 Mbp, ∼75.16% genome coverage, N50 = 3,407, and 46.8% BUSCO completeness), the raw Illumina sequencing reads, and two sets of primers for microsatellite (SSRs) high-throughput genotyping-by-sequencing (SSR-Seq) identified in the nuclear genome. These genomic resources are fundamental for this species conservation strategies and the development of a future breeding program.
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