Over the past decade, there have been an increasing number of studies on the association between vitamin D deficiency and anthropometric state. However, we did not identify any meta‐analyses of the ...relationship between obesity and vitamin D deficiency in different age groups. Thus, we evaluated the association between obesity and vitamin D deficiency. We searched for observational studies published up to April 2014 in PubMed/Medline, Web of Science and Scopus databases. We performed a meta‐analysis in accordance with the random‐effects model to obtain the summary measurement (prevalence ratio, PR). Among the 29,882 articles identified, 23 met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 35% higher in obese subjects compared to the eutrophic group (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.21–1.50) and 24% higher than in the overweight group (PR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.14–1.34). These results indicate that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was more elevated in obese subjects. The vitamin D deficiency was associated with obesity irrespective of age, latitude, cut‐offs to define vitamin D deficiency and the Human Development Index of the study location.
This study was carried out with the purpose of evaluating the effect of supplementing hens’ diets with trace minerals from inorganic or organic sources on the productive performance, eggshell ...quality, and eggshell ultrastructure of laying hens. Three hundred sixty Hy-Line W36 laying hens between 47 to 62 wk of age were used and distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with 9 treatments, 5 replicates, and 8 birds for each experimental unit. The treatments consisted of a control diet without supplementation of the trace minerals Mn, Zn, and Cu; 4 supplementation levels of these trace minerals from an inorganic source; and the same levels of supplementation from an organic source (proteinates). The supplementation levels in milligrams per kilogram for Mn, Zn, and Cu, were, respectively, 35-30-05, 65-60-10, 95-90-15, and 125-120-20. There was no effect of supplementation of trace minerals on the rate of posture, feed intake, feed conversion, specific weight, and Haugh unit of eggs. However, there was a quadratic effect (P < 0.05) of the levels of trace mineral supplementation on average egg weight and egg mass; the results did not differ regarding the source used. The increase in the levels of supplementation of Mn, Zn, and Cu provided a linear increase (P < 0.05) in the breaking strength and the percentage of eggshell. There was a linear decrease (P < 0.05) in the egg loss and the number of mammillary buttons in the shell. The best results were obtained using diets supplemented with trace minerals from an organic source because these diets provided lower egg loss, higher thickness, and increased strength of the shell. Structurally, organic Mn, Zn, and Cu provided higher thickness of the palisade layer and lower mammillary density. The trace mineral supplementation improved the structural characteristics and the quality of the eggshells.
The alginate or alginate‐chitosan particles were produced by the external ionic gelation technique to improve the survival of the S. boulardii strain during in vitro gastrointestinal simulation and ...storage.
Summary
External ionic gelation is a technique with a great potential for the protection of probiotics for use in food and pharmaceutic products. In this study, particles containing Saccharomyces boulardii produced using sodium alginate and a chitosan coating were evaluated. The physical–chemical parameters (moisture/water activity/hygroscopicity) of the dried particles, stability during 120 days of storage and yeast resistance to simulated gastrointestinal conditions were analysed. During storage (30 °C), greater yeast protection in the alginate–chitosan particles was observed, with a reduction of 1.05 log. Although the free cells presented low resistance, the encapsulated yeast was resistant to the simulated gastrointestinal conditions. At the end of the gastrointestinal simulation, the concentration ranged around 9.15–8.01 and 9.25–8.82 logCFU g−1 in alginate and alginate–chitosan particles, respectively. The S. boulardii particles showed greater resistance to environmental factors, allowing the delivery of an ingredient that could be used to add value to food products.
Background and purpose
Dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is common and disabling. Identification of modifiable risk factors for it is essential. Vascular risk factors (VRFs) may be associated with ...cognitive decline in early PD. Biomarkers that serve as surrogates of the long‐term effect of VRFs on PD are needed. To that end, we aimed to quantitate white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in early PD, measure associations with VRFs and examine relationships between WMH and longitudinal cognition.
Methods
Participants in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative study (141 patients with PD, 63 healthy controls) with adequate baseline structural brain magnetic resonance imaging data were included. Hypertension and diabetes history, and body mass index were combined to create a vascular risk score. WMH were quantitated via automated methods. Cognition was assessed annually with a comprehensive test battery.
Results
In the PD group, vascular risk score was associated with WMH for total brain (β = 0.210; P = 0.021), total white matter (β = 0.214; P = 0.013), frontal (β = 0.220; P = 0.002) and temporal (β = 0.212; P = 0.002) regions. Annual rate of change in global cognition was greater in those with higher vascular risk score (β = −0.040; P = 0.007) and greater WMH (β = −0.029; P = 0.049). Higher temporal WMH burden was associated with great decline over time in verbal memory (β = −0.034; P = 0.031).
Conclusions
In early PD, modifiable VRFs are associated with WMH on brain magnetic resonance imaging. Temporal WMH burden predicts decline in verbal memory. WMH may serve as a surrogate marker for the effect of VRFs on cognitive abilities in PD.
The Interleukin (IL)-33 is important in several inflammatory diseases and its cellular receptor is the Interleukin 1 receptor-like 1 (IL1RL1), also called suppression of tumorigenicity 2 ligand ...(ST2L). This study investigated associations between single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the IL33 gene and in the IL1RL1 (ST2) gene with periodontitis. Additionally, aimed to determine the role of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) relative amount in the subgingival biofilm in these associations. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 506 individuals that answered a structured questionnaire used to collect their health status, socioeconomic-demographic, and behavioral characteristics. Periodontal examination was performed to determine the presence and severity of periodontitis, and subgingival biofilm samples were collected to quantify the relative amount of Aa by real time polymerase chain reaction. Human genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood cells and SNV genotyping was performed. Logistic regression estimated the association measurements, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (95%CI), between the IL33 and ST2 genes with periodontitis, and subgroup analyses assessed the relative amount of Aa in these associations. 23% of individuals had periodontitis. Adjusted measurements showed a statistically significant inverse association between two SNVs of the ST2; rs148548829 (C allele) and rs10206753 (G allele). These two alleles together with a third SNV, the rs11693204 (A allele), were inversely associated with moderate periodontitis. One SNV of the IL33 gene also showed a statistically significant inverse association with moderate periodontitis. Nine SNVs of the ST2 gene were inversely associated with the relative amount of Aa. In the high Aa subgroup, there was a direct association between 11 SNVs of the ST2 gene and moderate periodontitis and two SNVs of the ST2 gene and severe periodontitis, and eight SNVs of the ST2 gene and periodontitis. These exploratory findings of genetic variants in IL-33/ST2 axis support the concept that the different tissue responses among individuals with periodontitis may be modulated by the host's genetics, influencing the physiopathology of the disease.
John Endler's sensory drive hypothesis posits that physical properties of the environment may shape signalling traits by determining how effective they are in communicating. Evidence abounds of ...signalling environment driving selection on colours and vocalizations, yet little is known about its influence on visual signals produced via body movements (i.e., gestural displays).
Here, we aimed to perform the most taxonomically comprehensive assessment of sensory drive by testing the hypothesis that habitat structure drives the evolution of aerial sexual displays in passerine birds (order Passeriformes). We base this hypothesis on physical properties of habitats that should allow aerial displays to transmit more broadly in open habitats.
To test the hypothesis, we performed Bayesian phylogenetic comparative analyses using species‐level phylogenetic trees and a dataset of 469 species from across the Americas.
We found that evolutionary gain of aerial displays is on average six times more frequent in open‐habitat passerines than in forest ones.
The influence of habitat structure on the evolution of aerial sexual displays attests to the importance of sensory drive as a deterministic evolutionary force within sexual selection, as opposed to models that assume a purely arbitrary direction of sexual trait evolution.
Translated
Resumo
A hipótese da condução sensorial de John Endler postula que propriedades físicas do ambiente podem influenciar traços de sinalização ao determinar quão efetivos eles são em comunicar. Enquanto há bastante evidência do ambiente influenciando cores e vocalizações, pouco se sabe de sua influência sobre sinais visuais produzidos por movimentos corporais (i.e., gestos).
Nesse estudo, realizamos a avaliação mais taxonomicamente abrangente da condução sensorial ao testar a hipótese de que a estrutura do hábitat influencia a evolução de exibições sexuais aéreas em aves da ordem Passeriformes. Baseamos essa hipótese em propriedades físicas dos hábitats que deveriam permitir uma transmissão mais ampla de exibições aéreas em áreas abertas.
Para testar a hipótese, realizamos análises comparativas filogenéticas Bayesianas utilizando árvores filogenéticas ao nível de espécie e um banco de dados de 469 espécies que ocorrem ao longo do continente americano.
Encontramos que o ganho evolutivo de exibições aéreas é, em média, seis vezes mais frequente em Passeriformes de áreas abertas do que em florestais.
A influência da estrutura do hábitat sobre a evolução de exibições sexuais aéreas evidencia a importância da condução sensorial como uma força evolutiva determinística dentro da seleção sexual, contrastando com modelos que predizem uma direção puramente arbitrária na evolução de traços sexuais.
Habitat is expected to shape traits used for communication, in a process known as sensory drive. Using an understudied type of signal – gestural displays – the authors provide the most taxonomically comprehensive evidence of sensory drive to date, showing that flight‐based displays evolve six times more frequently in open‐habitat passerine birds than forest ones.
The ventricular-subventricular zone harbors neural stem cells (NSCs) that can differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. This process requires loss of stem cell properties and gain ...of characteristics associated with differentiated cells. miRNAs function as important drivers of this transition; miR-124, -128, and -137 are among the most relevant ones and have been shown to share commonalities and act as proneurogenic regulators. We conducted biological and genomic analyses to dissect their target repertoire during neurogenesis and tested the hypothesis that they act cooperatively to promote differentiation. To map their target genes, we transfected NSCs with antagomiRs and analyzed differences in their mRNA profile throughout differentiation with respect to controls. This strategy led to the identification of 910 targets for miR-124, 216 for miR-128, and 652 for miR-137. The target sets show extensive overlap. Inspection by gene ontology and network analysis indicated that transcription factors are a major component of these miRNAs target sets. Moreover, several of these transcription factors form a highly interconnected network. Sp1 was determined to be the main node of this network and was further investigated. Our data suggest that miR-124, -128, and -137 act synergistically to regulate Sp1 expression. Sp1 levels are dramatically reduced as cells differentiate and silencing of its expression reduced neuronal production and affected NSC viability and proliferation. In summary, our results show that miRNAs can act cooperatively and synergistically to regulate complex biological processes like neurogenesis and that transcription factors are heavily targeted to branch out their regulatory effect.
ABSTRACT Hot dust-obscured galaxies (hot DOGs), selected from Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer's all-sky infrared survey, host some of the most powerful active galactic nuclei known and may ...represent an important stage in the evolution of galaxies. Most known hot DOGs are located at , due in part to a strong bias against identifying them at lower redshift related to the selection criteria. We present a new selection method that identifies 153 hot DOG candidates at , where they are significantly brighter and easier to study. We validate this approach by measuring a redshift z = 1.009 and finding a spectral energy distribution similar to that of higher-redshift hot DOGs for one of these objects, WISE J1036+0449 ( ). We find evidence of a broadened component in Mg ii, which would imply a black hole mass of and an Eddington ratio of . WISE J1036+0449 is the first hot DOG detected by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, and observations show that the source is heavily obscured, with a column density of . The source has an intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity of , a value significantly lower than that expected from the mid-infrared/X-ray correlation. We also find that other hot DOGs observed by X-ray facilities show a similar deficiency of X-ray flux. We discuss the origin of the X-ray weakness and the absorption properties of hot DOGs. Hot DOGs at could be excellent laboratories to probe the characteristics of the accretion flow and of the X-ray emitting plasma at extreme values of the Eddington ratio.
Quorum sensing (QS) regulates bacterial gene expression and studies suggest quercetin, a flavonol found in onion, as a QS inhibitor. There are no studies showing the anti-QS activity of plants ...containing quercetin in its native glycosylated forms. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial and anti-QS potential of organic extracts of onion varieties and its representative phenolic compounds quercetin aglycone and quercetin 3-β-D-glucoside in the QS model bacteria
ATCC 12472,
PAO1, and
MG1. Three phenolic extracts were obtained: red onion extract in methanol acidified with 2.5% acetic acid (RO-1), white onion extract in methanol (WO-1) and white onion extract in methanol ammonium (WO-2). Quercetin 4-
-glucoside and quercetin 3,4-
-diglucoside were identified as the predominant compounds in both onion varieties using HPLC-DAD and LC-ESI-MS/MS. However, quercetin aglycone, cyanidin 3-
-glucoside and quercetin glycoside were identified only in RO-1. The three extracts showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values equal to or above 125 μg/ml of dried extract. Violacein production was significantly reduced by RO-1 and quercetin aglycone, but not by quercetin 3-β-D-glucoside. Motility in
PAO1 was inhibited by RO-1, while WO-2 inhibited
MG1 motility only in high concentration. Quercetin aglycone and quercetin 3-β-D-glucoside were effective at inhibiting motility in
PAO1 and
MG1. Surprisingly, biofilm formation was not affected by any extracts or the quercetins tested at sub-MIC concentrations.
studies suggested a better interaction and placement of quercetin aglycone in the structures of the CviR protein of
ATCC 12472 than the glycosylated compound which corroborates the better inhibitory effect of the former over violacein production. On the other hand, the two quercetins were well placed in the AHLs binding pockets of the LasR protein of
PAO1. Overall onion extracts and quercetin presented antimicrobial activity, and interference on QS regulated production of violacein and swarming motility.
Aquatic macrophyte is a generic denomination for macro-algae with active photosynthetic parts that remain totally or partially submerged in fresh or salty water, in rivers and lakes. Currently, algae ...monitoring is carried out manually by collecting samples to send for laboratory analysis. In most cases, harmful algal blooms are already widespread when the results are disclosed. This paper proposes the application of a team of heterogeneous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that cooperate to increase the system’s overall observation range and reduce the reaction time. Leader UAV, featured with a deep-learning-based vision system, covers a pre-determined region and determines high-interest inspection areas in real-time. Through a multi-robot Informative Path Planning (MIPP) approach, the leader UAV coordinates a team of customized quadcopter (named ART2) to reach points of interest, managing their route dynamically. ART2s are able to land on water, and collect and test samples in situ by applying phosphorescence sensors. While path planning, task assignment, and route management are centralized operations, each UAV is conducted by a decentralized trajectory tracking control. Simulations performed in a realistic environment implemented on the Unity platform and experimental proof of concepts demonstrated the reliability of the proposed approach. The presented multi-UAV framework with heterogeneous agents also enables the reconfiguration and expansion of specific objectives, in addition to minimizing the task completion time by executing different processes in parallel. This preventive monitoring enables a plague control action in advance, solving it faster, cheaper, and more effectively.
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