Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with insulin resistance (IR). Due to an excess in storage of white adipose tissue, IR has an inflammatory process that overlaps with RA. This is ...performed by the activation/migration of monocytes carried out by the CCR2/CCL2 and CMKLR1/RvE1 chemokines systems. Furthermore, these can potentiate chronic inflammation which is the central axis in the immunopathogenesis of RA. We evaluated the association between the relative expression of CCR2 and CMKLR1 and the serum levels of their ligands CCL2 and RvE1, in the context of adiposity status with IR as a comorbidity in RA. We studied 138 controls and 138 RA-patients classified with and without IR. We evaluated adiposity, RA activity, IR status and immunometabolic profiles by routine methods. Insulin, CCL2 and RvE1 serum levels were determined by ELISA. Relative expression of CCR2, CMKLR1 and RPS28 as constitutive gene by SYBR green RT-qPCR and 2-ΔΔCT method. Increased measurements were observed of body adiposity and metabolic status as follows: RA with IR>control group with IR>RA without IR> control group without IR. CCR2 and CMKLR1 relative expression was increased in RA without IR versus control without IR. CCR2: 2.3- and 1.3-fold increase and CMKLR1: 3.5- and 2.7-fold increase, respectively. Whereas, CCR2 expression correlates with CMKLR1 expression (rho = 0.331) and IR status (rho = 0.497 to 0.548). CMKLR1 expression correlates with inflammation markers (rho = 0.224 to 0.418). CCL2 levels were increased in the RA groups but levels of RvE1 were increased in RA without IR. We conclude that in RA with IR, the chemokine receptors expression pattern showed a parallel increase with their respective ligands. RA and IR in conjunction with the pathological distribution of body fat mass might exacerbate chronic inflammation. These results suggest that high CCL2 levels and compensatory RvE1 levels might not be enough to resolve the inflammation by themselves.
The heat treatment of a metal is a set of heating and cooling cycles that a metal undergoes to change its microstructure and, therefore, its properties. Temperature-time-transformation (TTT) diagrams ...are an essential tool for interpreting the resulting microstructures after heat treatments. The present work describes a novel proposal to predict TTT diagrams of the γ' phase for the Ni-Al alloy using artificial neural networks (ANNs). The proposed methodology is composed of five stages: (1) database creation, (2) experimental design, (3) ANNs training, (4) ANNs validation, and (5) proposed models analysis. Two approaches were addressed, the first to predict only the nose point of the TTT diagrams and the second to predict the complete curve. Finally, the best models for each approach were merged to compose a more accurate hybrid model. The results show that the multilayer perceptron architecture is the most efficient and accurate compared to the simulated TTT diagrams. The prediction of the nose point and the complete curve showed an accuracy of 98.07% and 86.41%, respectively. The proposed final hybrid model achieves an accuracy of 96.59%.
Several new examples of meso-(het)arylBODIPY were prepared via the Liebeskind–Srogl (L–S) cross-coupling reaction of the Biellmann BODIPYs (1a,b) and aryl- and heteroarylboronic acids in good to ...excellent yield. It was shown that this reaction could be carried out under microwave heating to shorten reaction times and/or increase the yield. It was illustrated that organostannanes also participate in the L–S reaction to give the corresponding BODIPY analogues in short reaction times and also with good to excellent yields. We analyze the role of the substituent at the sensitive meso position in the photophysical signatures of these compounds. In particular, the rotational motion of the aryl ring and the electron donor ability of the anchored moieties rule the nonradiative pathways and, hence, have a deep impact in the fluorescence efficiency.
AIM: The aim of this study was to test the link between climatic niche dynamics and species diversification in Anolis on islands and on the mainland. We tested the hypotheses that lineages in warmer ...climates and with narrow climate niches diversified more than lineages in cold climates and with broad climate niches. We also tested the hypothesis that species‐rich clades exhibit greater niche diversity than species‐poor clades. LOCATION: Neotropics. METHODS: We collated occurrence records for 328 Anolis species to estimate niche breadth, niche position and occupied niche space (as a proxy for niche diversity). We compared niche breadth between insular and mainland Anolis species and among Anolis clades, controlling for the potential confounding effect of range size. Using two approaches (clade‐based and QuaSSE) we explored the association between niche metrics and diversification rates in Anolis lizards. RESULTS: We found that Caribbean Anolis had a narrower niche breadth and niche space occupation compared to mainland anoles after controlling for range size differences. There was a significant association between niche traits (mean niche position and niche breadth) and diversification in anoles. Anole lineages with narrow niche breadths and that occupy warmer areas exhibited higher speciation rates than those with broader niche breadths and that occupy cold areas. Similarly, clades with higher total diversification exhibit more niche diversity than clades with lower total diversification. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Climatic niche attributes play a role in anole diversification with some differences between mainland and insular anole lineages. Climatic niche differences between regions and clades likely are related to differences in niche evolutionary rates. This also suggests that climate plays a strong role in shaping species richness between and within mainland and islands.
The farmed red-bellied pacu
Piaractus brachypomus
is a valuative commercial fish widely exploited in fish farming. Histopathologic alterations in small intestine of this fish were associated with ...heavy roundworms infection. Of a total of thirty-five fish examined, all were parasitized with a prevalence of 100%, intensity of 290–6403, and mean intensity of infection of 4467.5 parasites per fish. According to the morphological features of whole nematodes examined using light and electronic microscopy, the parasite was identified as
Rondonia rondoni
Travassos. Rev Vet e Zoot 10, 59–70;
1920
. The fish intestinal tissue alterations include fusion of villi, edema, disorganization of epithelial cells, epithelial abrasion, and flaking of the villus at mucosa layer level and submucosa layer with some regions of necrosis and lymphocyte infiltrate. This is the first report of histopathological alterations caused by infection of the atractid nematode
R. rondoni
in a farmed population of
P. brachypomus
in the Peruvian Amazon. The study points out the need of improving the strategies of parasitic prevention and control in order to better prevent future disease outbreaks.
Se analizan vínculos sociales y su relación con la adopción de buenas prácticas agrícolas en café desde el enfoque de las redes sociales. Se aplicaron entrevistas semiestructuradas sobre aspectos ...socioeconómicos, adopción de buenas prácticas de producción y relaciones sociales a 67 cafeticultores. Los productores de café tienen superficies y rendimientos promedio de 2.4 ha y 1.9 t/ha-1 respectivamente. Las prácticas adoptadas están relacionadas con el manejo del cultivo, control de plagas y uso de nuevas variedades. Existe una baja densidad de vínculos que indican escasa conectividad entre productores, nodos de investigación y proveedores. La estructura de relaciones bajo el escenario actual dificulta el proceso de adopción de buenas prácticas agrícolas por la baja vinculación a fuentes externas de información.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in humans. After successful cardioversion, there is a recurrence of 60% due to atrial remodeling, and it has been shown that the global peak ...atrial longitudinal strain (GPALS) is decreased in these subjects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of GPALS for AF recurrence. A prospective cohort of patients with persistent (PnVAF) and long standing persistent non-valvular AF (LSPnVAF) which underwent electrical cardioversion was evaluated with standard echocardiographic variables and GPALS quantification. The primary endpoint was AF recurrence at 6 months. We included PnVAF (n = 50, aged 68.4 ± 10.2 years, female 46%, lasted AF 6 months) and LSPnVAF (n = 81, aged 66.5 ± 13.1 years, female 36%, lasted AF 18 months). At 6 months there were a 68% of recurrence of AF in PnVAF and 53% in LSPnVAF group. GPALS was lower in recurrence 7.8 ± 2.0% versus 21.2 ± 8.9% (p < 0.001) for PnVAF and 7.3 ± 2.7% versus 20.7 ± 7.6% (p < 0.001) in LSPnVAF. GPALS ≤ 10.75% discriminates recurrence at 6 months with a sensitivity of 85%, specificity 99%, PPV 85%, NPV 90%, LR + 8.5 and LR- 0.17. The independent predictors of recurrence in PnVAF were GPALS ≤ 10.75% HR 8.89 (2.2–35.7), p < 0.01 meanwhile in LSPnVAF were age HR 1.039 (1.007-1.071), p = 0.01, and GPALS ≤ 10.75% HR 28.1 (7.2–109.1), p < 0.001. In subjects with PnVAF and LSPnVAF with successful electrical cardioversion, GPALS ≤ 10.75% predicts arrhythmia recurrence at 6-month follow-up.
We introduce a higher-order version of the tangent map of a morphism and find a matrix representation. We then apply this matrix to solve a conjecture by Yasuda regarding the semigroup of the higher ...Nash blowup of formal curves. We first show that the conjecture is true for toric curves. We conclude by exhibiting a family of non-monomial curves where the conjecture fails.
This document presents the development of a prototype of a Cartesian robot with a 5 degrees-of-freedom articulated robot arm for possible applications in a wet spinning process at the ...laboratory-level. The mechatronic system was developed using various modular electronics elements compatible with an ArduinoTM Mega 2560 microcontroller. The control algorithm recognizes the position of the servomotors and the speed of the motors so that the prototype performs a complete cycle of displacement in 67 s, which includes the transport of a polymeric filament immersed in a coagulation bath for 10 s. A structural analysis indicates that there will be no tension failures because the maximum and axial stress of the Cartesian robot was 2.89 MPa while the von Mises tension of the robotic arm was 468 MPa, both tensions below their upper limits. The pulse signals, in the order of 4000 +25 ms, of the servomotors were consistent in 96-98% repeatability and 3-19% reproducibility. Forty percent of the extrusion tests performed were satisfactory, since the transport of a polymeric filament within a coagulant solution was achieved.
Central nervous system infections caused by Cryptococcus neoformans remain to be opportunistic infections with high mortality in severely immunocompromised patients such as patients with AIDS. ...Amphotericin B deoxycholate and fluconazole remain to be the drugs of choice; however, in consideration of the intolerance to amphotericin B deoxycholate and the possible resistance to fluconazole, it is necessary to evaluate other azoles, such as posaconazole, that have demonstrated lower adverse events. The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and clinical and microbiological response of the use of posaconazole in patients with CNS infections caused by C. neoformans.
We designed a case study that included eight patients diagnosed with AIDS and cryptococcal meningitis. Seven patients were treated with 800 mg of posaconazole orally for 28 days.
During the second week of treatment, a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture was performed and was negative for the development of C. neoformans. The patients showed an improvement in signs and symptoms of impairment of the CNS such as reduction of cephalea, fever, visual disturbances such as double vision, meningism and papilledema, and improved alertness and environmental awareness.
CNS fungal infections usually occur in immunocompromised patients. The use of systemic antifungal agents contributes to the development of fungal resistance. The results of this study suggest that posaconazole is a good alternative in the treatment of fungal CNS infection due to C. neoformans.
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