Paracetamol (PCM) is among the most consumed analgesic and antipyretic drugs worldwide. Due to its high consumption, this drug has been reported ubiquitously on different water bodies, posing a real ...threat to aquatic organisms. Until now, several studies have pointed out that PCM may induce oxidative stress, histological damage and developmental disorders on different aquatic species. Nonetheless, there is still a huge knowledge gap about the toxic effects that PCM may induce in species of commercial interest such as the common carp Cyprinus carpio. The aim of this study was to evaluate survival and malformation rates induced by PCM (0.5 μg/L – 3.5 μg/L) in early life stages of common carp. Furthermore, oxidative stress biomarkers were evaluated at 72 and 96 h post fecundation. PCM reduced the survival rate of the embryos of up to 90%, as concentration increased. LC50 and EC50m were 1.29 μg/L and 2.84 μg/L, respectively. Biomarkers of cellular oxidation and antioxidant enzymes were modified in a concentration-dependent way with respect to the control group (p < 0.05). The main developmental alterations observed were lordosis, scoliosis, craniofacial malformations, hypopigmentation, growth retardation, pericardial edema and rachyschisis. These data indicate that environmentally realistic concentrations of PCM could be hazardous and affects the development in early stages of C. carpio. Moreover, our findings also indicate that C. carpio embryos may be a useful in vivo model to evaluate embryonic and teratogenic effects of drugs such as PCM.
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•Survival and malformation rates induced by paracetamol was evaluated in Cyprinus carpio.•Oxidative stress status was evaluated at 72 and 96 hpf in embryos of Cyprinus carpio.•Paracetamol reduced the survival rate of the embryos of up to 90%.•At concentrations of 2.0–3.5 μg/L of paracetamol the most severe malformations occurred.•Paracetamol alters embryonic development and oxidative status in Cyprinus carpio.
Butyrate is a promising candidate for an antitumoral drug, as it promotes cancer cell apoptosis and reduces hormone receptor activity, while promoting differentiation and proliferation in normal ...cells. However, the effects of low-dose butyrate on breast cancer cell cultures are unclear. We explored the impact of sub-therapeutic doses of butyrate on estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) transcriptional activity in MCF-7 cells, using RT-qPCR, Western blot, wound-healing assays, and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Our results showed that sub-therapeutic doses of sodium butyrate (0.1 - 0.2 mM) increased the transcription of ESR1, TFF1, and CSTD genes, but did not affect ERα protein levels. Moreover, we observed an increase in cell migration in wound-healing assays. ChIP assays revealed that treatment with 0.1 mM of sodium butyrate resulted in estrogen-independent recruitment of ERα at the pS2 promoter and loss of NCoR. Appropriate therapeutic dosage of butyrate is essential to avoid potential adverse effects on patients' health, especially in the case of estrogen receptor-positive breast tumors. Sub-therapeutic doses of butyrate may induce undesirable cell processes, such as migration due to low-dose butyrate-mediated ERα activation. These findings shed light on the complex effects of butyrate in breast cancer and provide insights for research in the development of antitumoral drugs.
The association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and thyroid disease has been poorly studied. Therefore, we sought to determine the association between T. gondii seropositivity and thyroid ...dysfunction. Our results suggest that thyroid dysfunction is not associated with seropositivity to T. gondii in general; however, in young (50 years or less) patients, a negative association between infection and thyroid dysfunction and hypothyroidism was found. Further research to confirm this negative association is needed.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Ecoacoustics, the study of environmental sound, is a growing field with great potential for biodiversity monitoring. Audio recordings could provide a rapid, cost‐effective monitoring tool offering ...novel insights into ecosystem dynamics. More than 60 acoustic indices have been developed to date, which reflect distinct attributes of the soundscape, (i.e. the total acoustic energy at a given location, including noise produced by animals, machinery, wind and rain). However, reported patterns in acoustic indices have been contradictory, possibly because there is no accepted best practice for the collection and analysis of audio recordings.
Here, we propose: (a) guidelines for designing studies using audio recordings for the rapid assessment of multiple sites; and (b) a workflow for comparing recordings with seven of the most commonly used indices, permitting discrimination among habitat‐specific soundscapes. We collected and analysed over 26,000 hr of recordings from 117 sites across a range of habitats in a human‐modified tropical landscape in central Panama; an order of magnitude more recordings than used in previously published studies.
We demonstrate that: (a) Standard error variance of indices stabilizes within 120 hr of recordings from a single location. (b) Continuous recording should be used rather than subsample recording on a schedule; sub sampling is a common practice but delays capture of site variability and maximizing total duration of recording should be prioritized. (c) Use of multiple indices to describe soundscape patterns reveals distinct diel and seasonal soundscape patterns among habitats.
We advocate collecting at least 120 hr of continuous recordings per site, and using a range of acoustic indices to categorize the soundscape, including the Acoustic Complexity Index, Acoustic Evenness Index, Acoustic Entropy Index and the Normalized Difference Soundscape Index. Differences among habitat types can be captured if multiple indices are used, and magnitude of variance is often more important than mean values. The workflow we provide will enable successful use of ecoacoustic techniques for environmental monitoring.
Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has the potential to greatly improve our ability to monitor cryptic yet vocal animals. Advances in automated signal detection have increased the scope of PAM, but ...distinguishing between individuals—which is necessary for density estimation—remains a major challenge. When individual identity is known, supervised classification techniques can be used to distinguish between individuals. Supervised methods require labelled training data, whereas unsupervised techniques do not. If the acoustic signals of individuals are sufficiently different, the number of clusters might represent the number of individuals sampled. The majority of applications of unsupervised techniques in animal vocalizations have focused on quantifying species‐specific call repertoires. However, with increased interest in PAM applications, unsupervised methods that can distinguish between individuals are needed.
Here we use an existing dataset of Bornean gibbon female calls with known identity from five sites on Malaysian Borneo to test the ability of three different unsupervised clustering algorithms (affinity propagation, K‐medoids and Gaussian mixture model‐based clustering) to distinguish between individuals. Calls from different gibbon females are readily distinguishable using supervised techniques. For internal validation of unsupervised cluster solutions, we calculated silhouette coefficients. For external validation, we compared clustering results with female identity labels using a standard metric: normalized mutual information. We also calculated classification accuracy by assigning unsupervised cluster solutions to females based on which cluster had the highest number of calls from a particular female.
We found that affinity propagation clustering consistently outperformed the other algorithms for all metrics used. In particular, classification accuracy of affinity propagation clustering was more consistent as the number of females increased, and when we randomly sampled females across sites.
We conclude that unsupervised techniques may be useful for providing additional information regarding individual identity for PAM applications. We stress that although we use gibbons as a case study, these methods will be applicable for any individually distinct vocal animal.
The dark long-tongued bat (Lichonycteris obscuraThomas, 1895) is a small-sized phyllostomid with a broad distribution from southern Mexico to both, the Pacific and Atlantic lowlands of South America. ...It is easily distinguished from other Glossophaginae because of its tricolored dorsal pelage with a dark basal band, well-furred elbow, lack of lower incisors, and wing membrane attached to the foot at about mid-length of the metatarsals. L. obscura is a foliage-roosting species, and primarily feeds on nectar and pollen. The species is rare because locally it occurs in low numbers. Despite the lack of information and low abundance, L. obscura is listed as a species of “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Sub-micrometric β-CoMoO
4
rods have been obtained after thermal treatment of CoMoO
4
·H
2
O previously prepared by the precipitation method. The color of the sub-micrometric particles has been ...investigated through diffuse reflectance in the VIS-IR range and the spectra have been compared with those corresponding to samples with larger isotropic particles. The O
2−
→Mo
6+
charge transfer band shifts to the UV region with decreasing the particle size, revealing a more covalent bond. This can be justified under the consideration of a higher proportion of surface-atoms in sub-micrometric particles that present lower coordination number. The piezochromic behavior of the sub-micrometric β-CoMoO
4
rods has been investigated. As the sub-micrometric size of the particles stabilizes the low-coordination phase (β-phase), the transition pressure to the α-phase is higher in comparison with that corresponding to larger particles. In addition, it was not possible to obtain a 100% transformation of the β-phase in the sample with sub-micrometric particles. A similar temperature influence on the transition pressure regardless of particle size has also been observed.
Different optical properties and piezochromic behavior in β-CoMoO
4
sub-micrometric rods.
International organizations advocate for the elimination of dog-mediated rabies, but there is only limited guidance on interpreting surveillance data for managing elimination programmes. With the ...regional programme in Latin America approaching elimination of dog-mediated rabies, we aimed to develop a tool to evaluate the programme's performance and generate locally-tailored rabies control programme management guidance to overcome remaining obstacles.
We developed and validated a robust algorithm to classify progress towards rabies elimination within sub-national administrative units, which we applied to surveillance data from Brazil and Mexico. The method combines criteria that are easy to understand, including logistic regression analysis of case detection time series, assessment of rabies virus variants, and of incursion risk. Subjecting the algorithm to robustness testing, we further employed simulated data sub-sampled at differing levels of case detection to assess the algorithm's performance and sensitivity to surveillance quality.
Our tool demonstrated clear epidemiological transitions in Mexico and Brazil: most states progressed rapidly towards elimination, but a few regressed due to incursions and control lapses. In 2015, dog-mediated rabies continued to circulate in the poorest states, with foci remaining in only 1 of 32 states in Mexico, and 2 of 27 in Brazil, posing incursion risks to the wider region. The classification tool was robust in determining epidemiological status irrespective of most levels of surveillance quality. In endemic settings, surveillance would need to detect less than 2.5% of all circulating cases to result in misclassification, whereas in settings where incursions become the main source of cases the threshold detection level for correct classification should not be less than 5%.
Our tool provides guidance on how to progress effectively towards elimination targets and tailor strategies to local epidemiological situations, while revealing insights into rabies dynamics. Post-campaign assessments of dog vaccination coverage in endemic states, and enhanced surveillance to verify and maintain freedom in states threatened by incursions were identified as priorities to catalyze progress towards elimination. Our finding suggests genomic surveillance should become increasingly valuable during the endgame for discriminating circulating variants and pinpointing sources of incursions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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