The primary aim of this study was to evaluate metabolically healthy status (MHS) among participants in obesity, overweight, and normal weight groups and characteristics associated with this phenotype ...using baseline data of Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). The secondary aim was to investigate agreement among 4 different MHS criteria. This cross-sectional study included 14,545 participants aged 35 to 74 years with a small majority (54.1%) being women. Of all participants, 22.7% (n = 3298) were obese, 40.8% (n = 5934) were overweight, and 37.5% (n = 5313) were of normal weight.Socio-demographic, behavioral, and anthropometric factors related to MHS were ascertained. Logistic regression models estimated the odds of associations. We used 4 different criteria separately and in combination to define MHS: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATPIII), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and comorbidities, and the agreement between them were evaluated by Cohen-kappa coefficient.MHS was present among 12.0% (n = 396) of obese, 25.5% (n = 1514) of overweight, and 48.6% (n = 2582) of normal weight participants according to the combination of the 4 criteria. The agreement between all the 4 MHS criteria was strong (kappa 0.73 P < 0.001). In final logistic models, MHS was associated with lower age, female sex, lower body mass index (BMI), and weight change from age 20 within all BMI categories.This study showed that, despite differences in prevalence among the 4 criteria, MHS was associated with common characteristics at every BMI category.
Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is generally associated with the porcine circovirosis syndrome, which is considered an important disease of swine and has potentially serious economic impact on the swine ...industry worldwide. This article describes the construction of a recombinant plasmid expressing the PCV2 structural protein and the evaluation of cellular and humoral immune responses produced by this recombinant vaccine in BALB/c mice. The vaccine candidate was obtained and analyzed in vivo, in an effort to determine the ability to induce a specific immune response in mice. DNA was extracted from a Brazilian PCV2 isolate and the gene coding for Cap protein was amplified by PCR and inserted into an expression plasmid. Groups of BALB/c mice were inoculated intra-muscularly and intradermally in a 15-day interval, with 100 µg and 50 µg of the vaccine construct, respectively. Another group was inoculated intramuscularly with 100 µg of empty plasmid, corresponding to the control group. Seroconversion and cellular response in BALB/c mice were compared and used for vaccine evaluation. Seroconversion was analyzed by ELISA. After a series of 3 immunizations the spleen cells of the immunized animals were used to perform lymphocyte proliferation assays. Seroconversion to PCV2 was detected by ELISA in the animals inoculated with the vaccine construct when compared with control groups. Lymphocyte proliferation assays showed a stronger cell proliferation in the inoculated animals compared with the control group. Thus, the vaccine candidate construct demonstrated to be able to induce both humoral and cellular responses in inoculated mice.
A cohort study has been designed to identify predictors of adverse health events in the elderly. The methodology of the study and preliminary descriptive results are presented.
The study population ...comprises all residents of Bambuí (Minas Gerais, Brazil), aged 60 or more years (n=1.742). From these, 92.2% were interviewed and 85.9% underwent clinical examination, consisting of haematological and biochemical tests, serology for Trypanosoma cruzi, anthropometric and blood pressure measures and electrocardiogram. Aliquots of serum, plasma and DNA were stored for future investigations. The baseline interview included sociodemographic characteristics, self-referred health condition and history of selected diseases, medication use, health service use, source of medical care, physical activities, smoking, drinking and eating habits, reproductive history, physical functioning, life events, social support and mental health. Individuals are being followed up annually.
The following characteristics predominated among participants: women (60,0%), married (48.9%) or widowed (35.4%), people living in households with up to 2 residents (73.8%), heads of family (76.7%), people with monthly income between 1.00 and 2.99 Brazilian minimum wages (62.0%) and people with up to 4 years of schooling (89.1%). The median age was 68 years. Among the cohort members, only 1.7% were lost in the first follow-up.
In general, the characteristics of the study population were very similar to those from other epidemiological studies of the elderly based on large Brazilian cities. The small number of losses to follow-up indicates that the choice of Bambuí was adequate, assuring the feasibility of a long term cohort study.
A rapid, sensitive, specific, and reliable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is proposed for determination of the levels of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi IgM in acute chagasic sera (ACD). The ...efficiency of this ELISA as a diagnostic method was compared with that of parasite DNA detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and that of indirect immunofluorescence (iIF) anti-T. cruzi IgM detection. We tested whether this ELISA using fixed epimastigotes (epi) could detect anti-T. cruzi IgM in serum samples from two groups of children with acute Chagas' disease from a hyperendemic area in Bolivia. In a comparison of the ELISA method with other techniques, 95% and 71% of the results correlated with PCR and iIF findings, respectively. At the serum dilution applied (1:250), rheumatoid factor (RF) did not influence the results, and samples from patients carrying leishmaniasis or mixed Leishmania and T. cruzi infection could also be excluded from ACD. Highly specific and reliable results were obtained, a great number of the sera could be tested in only one assay, and a quantitative index of reactivity (IR) could be calculated without serial titration. Using test samples in triplicate, the method provides a useful tool for the detection of early acute-phase T. cruzi infection in humans.
Two fosmid libraries, totaling 13,200 clones, were obtained from bioreactor sludge of petroleum refinery wastewater treatment system. The library screening based on PCR and biological activity assays ...revealed more than 400 positive clones for phenol degradation. From these, 100 clones were randomly selected for pyrosequencing in order to evaluate the genetic potential of the microorganisms present in wastewater treatment plant for biodegradation, focusing mainly on novel genes and pathways of phenol and aromatic compound degradation. The sequence analysis of selected clones yielded 129,635 reads at an estimated 17-fold coverage. The phylogenetic analysis showed Burkholderiales and Rhodocyclales as the most abundant orders among the selected fosmid clones. The MG-RAST analysis revealed a broad metabolic profile with important functions for wastewater treatment, including metabolism of aromatic compounds, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus. The predicted 2,276 proteins included phenol hydroxylases and cathecol 2,3- dioxygenases, involved in the catabolism of aromatic compounds, such as phenol, byphenol, benzoate and phenylpropanoid. The sequencing of one fosmid insert of 33 kb unraveled the gene that permitted the host, Escherichia coli EPI300, to grow in the presence of aromatic compounds. Additionally, the comparison of the whole fosmid sequence against bacterial genomes deposited in GenBank showed that about 90% of sequence showed no identity to known sequences of Proteobacteria deposited in the NCBI database. This study surveyed the functional potential of fosmid clones for aromatic compound degradation and contributed to our knowledge of the biodegradative capacity and pathways of microbial assemblages present in refinery wastewater treatment system.
The Andean common bean AND 277 has the Co-1 ^sup 4^ and the Phg-1 alleles that confer resistance to 21 and eight races, respectively, of the anthracnose (ANT) and angular leaf spot (ALS) pathogens. ...Because of its broad resistance spectrum, Co-1 ^sup 4^ is one of the main genes used in ANT resistance breeding. Additionally, Phg-1 is used for resistance to ALS. In this study, we elucidate the inheritance of the resistance of AND 277 to both pathogens using F^sub 2^ populations from the AND 277 × Rudá and AND 277 × Ouro Negro crosses and F^sub 2:3^ families from the AND 277 × Ouro Negro cross. Rudá and Ouro Negro are susceptible to all of the above races of both pathogens. Co-segregation analysis revealed that a single dominant gene in AND 277 confers resistance to races 65, 73, and 2047 of the ANT and to race 63-23 of the ALS pathogens. Co-1 ^sup 4^ and Phg-1 are tightly linked (0.0 cM) on linkage group Pv01. Through synteny mapping between common bean and soybean we also identified two new molecular markers, CV542014^sup 450^ and TGA1.1^sup 570^, tagging the Co-1 ^sup 4^ and Phg-1 loci. These markers are linked at 0.7 and 1.3 cM, respectively, from the Co-1 ^sup 4^ /Phg-1 locus in coupling phase. The analysis of allele segregation in the BAT 93/Jalo EEP558 and California Dark Red Kidney/Yolano recombinant populations revealed that CV542014^sup 450^ and TGA1.1^sup 570^ segregated in the expected 1:1 ratio. Due to the physical linkage in cis configuration, Co-1 ^sup 4^ and Phg-1 are inherited together and can be monitored indirectly with the CV542014^sup 450^ and TGA1.1^sup 570^ markers. These results illustrate the rapid discovery of new markers through synteny mapping. These markers will reduce the time and costs associated with the pyramiding of these two disease resistance genes.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
A population-based prospective study was analysed to: a) determine the prevalence of hypertension; b) investigate the clustering of other cardiovascular risk factors and c) verify whether older ...differed from younger adults in the pattern of clustering.
The data comprised a representative sample of the population of Bambuí, Brazil. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the independent association between hypertension and selected factors.
A total of 820 younger adults (82.5%) and 1494 older adults (85.9%) participated in this study. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 24.8% (SE=1.4 %), being higher in women (26.9+/-1.5%) than in men (22.0+/- 1.7%) (p=0.033). Hypertension was positively and significantly associated with physical inactivity, overweight, hypercholesterolemia hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia. The coexistence of hypertension with 4 or more of these risk factors occurred 6 times more than expected by chance, after adjusting for age and sex (OR=6.3; 95%CI: 3.4-11.9). The pattern of risk factor clustering in hypertensive individuals differed with age.
Our results reinforce the need to increase detection and treatment of hypertension and to approach patients' global risk profiles.
Isoenzyme electrophoresis was used as a method to determine genetic diversity in various M. esculenta cultivars collected in the Southwestern (SW) and Northwestern (NW) regions of the State of ...Parana, in the South region of Brazil, and in cultivars produced at the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC), São Paulo State, Southeastern region of Brazil. The cultivars have been maintained by vegetative propagation for 5 years and are useful in production programs. A total of 28 loci in the acid phosphatase (ACP; EC 3.1.3.2), esterases (EST; EC 3.1.1.1), malate dehydrogenase (MDH; EC 1.1.1.37), and shikimate dehydrogenase (SKDH; EC 1.1.1.15) isozymes was analyzed. The proportion of polymorphic loci for NW, SW, and IAC cultivars was 57.14, 50.0, and 53.6% respectively. Genetic diversity calculated by Nei's genetic identity (I) showed high I values for the three M. esculenta subpopulations. The high degree of polymorphism expressed by cassava cultivars is highly relevant to stimulate breeding programs with M. esculenta species.
The effect of harvest period on the quality of storage roots and leaves of cassava cultivars was determined in an experiment carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications ...in a split plot scheme, with five cultivars in the plots and ten harvest times in the subplots. The IAC 13 cultivar had the highest rate of dry matter accumulation in the storage roots and the Mico cultivar the lowest. The period of least dry matter content in the storage roots occurred later for the Fécula Branca, Mico and IAC 14 cultivars, and the minimum starch content in the storage roots occurred later for the Fécula Branca and Mico cultivars. In general, the IAC 13, IAC 14 and Fécula Branca cultivars had higher dry matter content in the storage roots, while higher starch content in the dry and fresh matter were obtained in the Fécula Branca cultivar. The crude protein content in the leaves decreased as the plant aged.
Com o objetivo de determinar o efeito de épocas de colheita na qualidade das raízes tuberosas e parte aérea de cultivares de mandioca, instalou-se um experimento delineado em blocos completos casualizados, em parcelas subdivididas, com quatro repetições, estando nas parcelas, cinco cultivares e, nas subparcelas, dez épocas de colheita. A cultivar IAC 13 apresentou maior taxa de acúmulo de massa seca nas raízes tuberosas, enquanto a Mico, a menor taxa. O período de menores teores de massa seca nas raízes tuberosas ocorreu mais tardiamente para Fécula Branca, Mico e IAC 14, sendo que os teores mínimos de amido na massa fresca das raízes tuberosas, foram mais tardios para Fécula Branca e Mico. Em geral, IAC 14, IAC 13 e Fécula Branca apresentaram maiores teores de massa seca nas raízes tuberosas, enquanto que maiores teores de amido na massa seca e na massa fresca foram obtidos por Fécula Branca. O teor de proteína bruta nas folhas decresceu com a idade das plantas.
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