Chronic Diseases: Chronic Diseases and Development 2 Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern as the pattern of food consumption is a mayor modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases Although agri food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities policy, and analysis with neither side considering the complex inter relation between agri trade patterns of food consumption health, and development We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the effect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production trade the economy and livelihoods, with a computable general equilibrium approach on the basis of case studies from the UK and Brazil we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production trade and other economic factors

A complex structure in the (beta+gamma(0)) region of the Cu-Al alloys

The identification, characterization and stability range of the phases present in a series of Cu-Al alloys, with Al content from 11.0 to 15.0 wt.%, were studied by Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). In some alloys and in a temperature range from 790 degrees C to 850 degrees C the presence of black spots exhibiting regular shapes and an homogeneous distribution was noticed through metallographic microscopy. Data from TEM and AES indicate that these spots are made of two monocrystalline phases having different Al contents and a crystallographic orientation relationship. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. S.A. All rights reserved.

The complex sine-Gordon equation as a symmetry flow of the AKNS hierarchy

It is shown how the complex sine-Gordon equation arises as a symmetry flow of the AKNS hierarchy. The AKNS hierarchy is extended by the 'negative' symmetry flows forming the Borel loop algebra. The complex sine-Gordon and the vector nonlinear Schrodinger equations appear as lowest-negative and second-positive flows within the extended hierarchy. This is fully analogous to the well known connection between the sine-Gordon and mKdV equations within the extended mKdV hierarchy. A general formalism for a Toda-like symmetry occupying the 'negative' sector of the sl(N) constrained KP hierarchy and giving rise to the negative Borel sl(N) loop algebra is indicated.

Dehydromonocrotaline inhibits mitochondrial complex 1. A potential mechanism accounting for hepatotoxicity of monocrotaline

Monocrotaline is a pyrrolizidine alkaloid present in plants of the Crotalaria species, which causes cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, including hepatotoxicity in animals and humans. It is metabolized by cytochrome P-450 in the liver to the alkylating agent dehydromonocrotaline. We evaluated the effects of monocrotaline and its metabolite on respiration, membrane potential and ATP levels in isolated rat liver mitochondria, and on respiratory chain complex I NADH oxidase activity in submitochondrial particles. Dehydromonocrotaline, but not the parent compound, showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of glutamate/malate-supported state 3 respiration (respiratory chain complex 1), but did not affect succinate-supported respiration (complex II). Only dehydromonocrotaline dissipated mitochondrial membrane potential, depleted ATP, and inhibited complex I NADH oxidase activity (IC50 = 62.06 mu M) through a non-competitive type of inhibition (K-I = 8.1 mu M). Therefore, dehydromonocrotaline is an inhibitor of the activity of respiratory chain complex I NADH oxidase, an action potentially accounting for the well-documented monocrotaline's hepatotoxicity to animals and humans. The mechanism probably involves change of the complex I conformation resulting from modification of cysteine thiol groups by the metabolite. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of polyaniline and a ruthenium complex, mer-[RuCl3(dppb)(py)], in the form of Langmuir-Blodgett films

Langmuir monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films have been produced from polyaniline and a biphosphinic ruthenium complex, referred to as Rupy. Strong, repulsive interaction between the two components led to a nonlinear change in area per molecule and surface potential with the concentration of Rupy in the mixed film. Molecular interaction was also denoted in the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of the Y-type LB transferred films. The Raman spectra of mixed PANI-Rupy films indicated that the degree of oxidation of PANI increased linearly with the concentration of Ropy. With PANI being increasingly oxidized by presence of Rupy, the electroactivity of the mixed films decreased with the amount of Rupy, to become undetectable when the mixed LB film is 501 mol in Rupy. The presence of Rupy caused the electrical properties of the mixed LB films to be less sensitive to environmental changes. The electrical capacitance of a mixed film changed only by 15% when the sample was taken from vacuum to air, whereas the change was 215% for a pure PANI LB film.

Genome-Wide Analysis Reveals Selection for Important Traits in Domestic Horse Breeds

Intense selective pressures applied over short evolutionary time have resulted in homogeneity within, but substantial variation among, horse breeds. Utilizing this population structure, 744 individuals from 33 breeds, and a 54,000 SNP genotyping array, breed-specific targets of selection were identified using an FST-based statistic calculated in 500-kb windows across the genome. A 5.5-Mb region of ECA18, in which the myostatin (MSTN) gene was centered, contained the highest signature of selection in both the Paint and Quarter Horse. Gene sequencing and histological analysis of gluteal muscle biopsies showed a promoter variant and intronic SNP of MSTN were each significantly associated with higher Type 2B and lower Type 1 muscle fiber proportions in the Quarter Horse, demonstrating a functional consequence of selection at this locus. Signatures of selection on ECA23 in all gaited breeds in the sample led to the identification of a shared, 186-kb haplotype including two doublesex related mab transcription factor genes (DMRT2 and 3). The recent identification of a DMRT3 mutation within this haplotype, which appears necessary for the ability to perform alternative gaits, provides further evidence for selection at this locus. Finally, putative loci for the determination of size were identified in the draft breeds and the Miniature horse on ECA11, as well as when signatures of selection surrounding candidate genes at other loci were examined. This work provides further evidence of the importance of MSTN in racing breeds, provides strong evidence for selection upon gait and size, and illustrates the potential for population-based techniques to find genomic regions driving important phenotypes in the modern horse. © 2013 Petersen et al.

Role of Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in breast cancer: Study by X-ray fluorescence techniques and immunohistochemical analysis

In recent years, several studies have shown that concentrations of trace elements are altered in neoplastic breast tissues. However, the microenvironment and metabolic changes caused by tumors are complex and still not completely understood. Under this aspect, the combination of different techniques to investigate the role of trace elements in promoting and/or maintaining a tumor is interesting once the combination of information obtained by analytical techniques and immunohistochemical assays, associated with clinicopathological data, may allow a better metabolic understanding of trace elements in breast cancer. In this work, the role of the trace elements Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in neoplastic breast tissues was investigated by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques and immunohistochemical assays. We determined concentrations of Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in normal and neoplastic breast tissues using energy dispersive XRF, and these values were used to set the positive or negative expression of elements in normal and neoplastic tissues. These expressions were correlated with the spatial distributions of trace elements (evaluated by micro-XRF) and with immunoexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), tissue inhibitors of MMPs and vascular endothelial growth factor. The results revealed that the expression of the trace elements Fe, Cu and vascular endothelial growth factor are related, indicating that higher levels of these elements can be associated with the angiogenic process in breast cancer. Also, associations between Ca, Zn and MMPs expression have been observed, possibly because of the fact that both metals are present in these proteins. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A genetic linkage study in Brazil identifies a new locus for persistent developmental stuttering on chromosome 10

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Markovian versus non-Markovian stochastic quantization of a complex-action model

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Bayesian age and growth analysis of the shortfin mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus in the Western South Atlantic Ocean using a flexible model

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análise de ligação e associação no genoma com gagueira desenvolvimental persistente em famílias do Estado de São Paulo-Brasil

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Genética) - IBB

Genome-wide association analysis of feed intake and residual feed intake in Nellore cattle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Analysis of criteria for metabolic syndrome in a population-based study of Japanese-Brazilians

Objective: Criteria for metabolic syndrome (MS) differ particularly regarding the definition of central obesity and consequently, there could be differences in the assessment of cardiovascular risk. We estimated the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, compared the agreement of the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria with the standard and a modified National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) criterion and investigated whether additional factors were associated with the diagnosis of the syndrome in a Japanese descendant population.Methods: In this cross-sectional, population-based survey, 1166 Japanese-Brazilians (533 men, 633 women) aged 57.4 +/- 12.4 years with mean body mass index (BMI) and waist of 25.2 +/- 4.0 kg/m(2) and 84.5 +/- 10.6 cm, respectively, were included. McNemar and kappa statistics were used to assess the concordance between WHO criteria with the standard and a modified NCEP criteria (waist of 90 and 80 cm, for men and women, respectively). in logistic regression analysis, a number of metabolic variables and albumin-to-creatinine ratio were included to test independent associations with metabolic syndrome defined by the modified NCEP criteria.Results: According to WHO, 55.4% (95% Cl 52.5-58.2%) of the subjects had MS and to NCEP 47.4% (95% Cl 44.6-50.0%). WHO criterion detected 48.3% of central obese subjects while NCEP only 14.0%. Kappa statistics showed a good strength of agreement (k = 0.67, p < 0.01) between WHO and NCEP standard definitions of MS. Using the modified NCEP criterion for Asians, more subjects with metabolic syndrome were identified (58%) and agreement with WHO was improved (k = 0.72, p < 0.001). However, similar Framingham risk scores were attributed to the subsets of subjects classified by any of the three criteria. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves, obtained for the modified waist values to diagnose metabolic syndrome according to WHO, were > 0.80 and corresponded, respectively, to sensitivity and specificity of 63 and 83% for men and 77 and 72% for women. In final logistic regression model, age, male sex, BMI and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance but not with albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) were independently associated with the syndrome.Conclusions: High prevalence of MS, independent of the criterion considered, was found in this Japanese-Brazilian population. The replacement of waist cutoff by those proposed by WHO for Asians lead to this diagnosis in a higher number of subjects with elevated cardiovascular risk. Our data did not support that ACR should be included in the classical definition of MS in Japanese descendants as previously suggested by WHO.

Genome-wide association study of reproductive traits in Nellore heifers using Bayesian inference

An important goal of Zebu breeding programs is to improve reproductive performance. A major problem faced with the genetic improvement of reproductive traits is that recording the time for an animal to reach sexual maturity is costly. Another issue is that accurate estimates of breeding values are obtained only a long time after the young bulls have gone through selection. An alternative to overcome these problems is to use traits that are indicators of the reproductive efficiency of the herd and are easier to measure, such as age at first calving. Another problem is that heifers that have conceived once may fail to conceive in the next breeding season, which increases production costs. Thus, increasing heifer's rebreeding rates should improve the economic efficiency of the herd. Response to selection for these traits tends to be slow, since they have a low heritability and phenotypic information is provided only later in the life of the animal. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are useful to investigate the genetic mechanisms that underlie these traits by identifying the genes and metabolic pathways involved. Data from 1853 females belonging to the Agricultural Jacarezinho LTDA were used. Genotyping was performed using the BovineHD BeadChip (777 962 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) according to the protocol of Illumina - Infinium Assay II ® Multi-Sample HiScan with the unit SQ ™ System. After quality control, 305 348 SNPs were used for GWAS. Forty-two and 19 SNPs had a Bayes factor greater than 150 for heifer rebreeding and age at first calving, respectively. All significant SNPs for age at first calving were significant for heifer rebreeding. These 42 SNPs were next or within 35 genes that were distributed over 18 chromosomes and comprised 27 protein-encoding genes, six pseudogenes and two miscellaneous noncoding RNAs. The use of Bayes factor to determine the significance of SNPs allowed us to identify two sets of 42 and 19 significant SNPs for heifer rebreeding and age at first calving, respectively, which explain 11.35 % and 6.42 % of their phenotypic variance, respectively. These SNPs provide relevant information to help elucidate which genes affect these traits.

Estimativas de correlações genéticas entre escores visuais e características de carcaça medidas por ultrassonografia em bovinos Nelore utilizando modelos bayesianos linear-limiar

O objetivo neste estudo foi estimar as correlações genéticas entre escores visuais e características de carcaça medidas por ultrassonografia em bovinos da raça Nelore utilizando a estatística bayesiana por meio da Amostragem de Gibbs, sob modelo animal linear-limiar. Foram estudadas as características categóricas morfológicas de musculosidade, estrutura física, conformação e sacro, avaliadas aos 15 e 22 meses de idade. Para as características de carcaça, foram avaliadas as características área de olho-de-lombo, espessura de gordura subcutânea, espessura de gordura subcutânea na garupa e altura na garupa. Os escores visuais devem ser empregados como critérios de seleção para aumentar o progresso genético para a característica área de olhode-lombo e, consequentemente, melhorar o rendimento de carcaça. As estimativas de correlação genética obtidas para musculosidade com espessura de gordura subcutânea e espessura de gordura subcutânea na garupa indicaram que a seleção para musculosidade pode levar a animais com melhor acabamento de carcaça. A seleção para a estrutura física e conformação aos 15 e 22 meses de idade pode promover resposta correlacionada para o aumento da altura na garupa.