Does celiac disease occur in Afro-derived Brazilian populations?

Background: Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that occurs in genetically susceptible individuals in whom the ingestion of dietary gluten induces intestinal mucosa inflammation. Previous studies suggest that celiac disease may either be very rare or underdiagnosed in African and/or African-derived population. Aim: Determine the prevalence of celiac disease in Sub-Saharan African-derived Brazilian communities using serological screening. Subjects and methods: Inhabitants from 10 African-derived communities from Northeastern of Brazil were screened for celiac disease. All sera were tested for endomysial class IgA antibody using indirect immunofluorescence. Results: No positive test for IgA-endomysial was observed in the 860 individuals tested. Conclusion: Our data suggests a low prevalence of celiac disease in African-derived Brazilian populations. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2012. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The impact of structured teaching methods on the quality of education in Brazil

This paper estimates the impact of the use of structured methods on the quality of education for students in primary public school in Brazil. Structured methods encompass a range of pedagogical and managerial instruments applied in the educational system. In recent years, several municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo have contracted out private educational providers to implement these structured methods in their schooling systems. Their pedagogical proposal involves structuring of curriculum content, development of teacher and student textbooks, and the training and supervision of teachers anti instructors. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we find that the 4th- and 8th-grade students in the municipalities with structured methods performed better in Portuguese and mathematics than did students in municipalities not exposed to these methods. We find no differences in passing rates. A robustness test supports the assumption that there is no unobserved municipal characteristics associated with proficiency changes over time that may affect the results. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemopreventive effects of the dietary histone deacetylase inhibitor tributyrin alone or in combination with vitamin A during the promotion phase of rat hepatocarcinogenesis

The chemopreventive effects of tributyrin (TB) and vitamin A (VA), alone or in combination, were investigated during the promotion phase of rat hepatocarcinogenesis. Compared to diethylnitrosamine control rats. TB and TB+VA-treated rats, but not VA-treated rats, presented a lower incidence and mean number of hepatocyte nodules and a smaller size of persistent preneoplastic lesions (pPNLs). In addition, TB and TB+VA-treated rats exhibited a higher apoptotic body index in pPNL and remodeling PNL, whereas VA-treated rats presented only a higher apoptotic body index in remodeling PNL. None of the treatments inhibited cell proliferation in PNL TB and TB+VA-treated rats, but not VA-treated rats, exhibited higher levels of H3K9 acetylation and p21 protein expression. TB and VA-treated rats exhibited increased hepatic concentrations of butyric acid and retinoids, respectively. Compared to normal rats, diethylnitrosamine control animals exhibited lower retinyl palmitate hepatic concentrations. All groups had similar expression levels and exhibited similar unmethylated CRBP-I promoter region in microdissected pPNL, indicating that epigenetic silencing of this gene was not involved in alteration of retinol metabolism in early hepatocarcinogenesis. Data support the effectiveness of TB as a dietary histone deacetylase inhibitor during the promotion phase of hepatocarcinogenesis, which should be considered for chemoprevention combination strategies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cediranib Plus FOLFOX/CAPOX Versus Placebo Plus FOLFOX/CAPOX in Patients With Previously Untreated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III Study (HORIZON II)

Purpose Cediranib is a highly potent inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling with activity against all three VEGF receptors. HORIZON II [Cediranib (AZD2171, RECENTIN) in Addition to Chemotherapy Versus Placebo Plus Chemotherapy in Patients With Untreated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer] assessed infusional fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin/capecitabine and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX/CAPOX) with or without cediranib in patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Patients and Methods Eligible patients were initially randomly assigned 1:1:1 to receive cediranib (20 or 30 mg per day) or placebo plus FOLFOX/CAPOX. In an early analysis of this and two other cediranib studies (HORIZON I [Cediranib Plus FOLFOX6 Versus Bevacizumab Plus FOLFOX6 in Patients With Previously Treated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer] and HORIZON III [Cediranib Plus FOLFOX6 Versus Bevacizumab Plus FOLFOX6 in Patients With Untreated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer]), the 20-mg dose met the predefined criteria for continuation. Subsequent patients were randomly assigned 2: 1 to the cediranib 20 mg or placebo arms. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were coprimary end points. Results In all, 860 patients received cediranib 20 mg (n = 502) or placebo (n = 358). The addition of cediranib to FOLFOX/CAPOX resulted in PFS prolongation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.98; P = .0121; median PFS, 8.6 months for cediranib v 8.3 months for placebo) but had no impact on OS (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.12; P = .5707; median OS, 19.7 months for cediranib v 18.9 months for placebo). There were no significant differences in the secondary end points of objective response rate, duration of response, or liver resection rate. Median chemotherapy dose-intensity was decreased by approximately 10% in patients treated with cediranib. Adverse events (AEs) associated with cediranib were manageable. Conclusion Addition of cediranib 20 mg to FOLFOX/CAPOX resulted in a modest PFS prolongation, but no significant difference in OS. The cediranib AE profile was consistent with those from previous studies. Because of the lack of improvement in OS, cediranib plus an oxaliplatin-based regimen cannot be recommended as a treatment for patients with mCRC. J Clin Oncol 30:3596-3603. (C) 2012 by American Society of Clinical Oncology

Intervention Based Exclusively on Stage- Matched Printed EducationalMaterials Regarding Healthy Eating Does Not Result in Changes to Adolescents' Dietary Behavior

Purpose. To assess the impact of a six-month stage-based intervention on fruit and vegetable intake, regarding perceived benefits and barriers, and self-efficacy among adolescents. Design. Randomized treatment-control, pre-post design. Subjects/ Setting. Schools were randomized between control and experimental groups. 860 adolescents from ten public schools in Bras ' ilia, Federal District, Brazil were evaluated at baseline; 771 (81%) completed the study. Intervention. Experimental group received monthly magazines and newsletters aimed at promotion of healthy eating. Measures. Self-reported fruit and vegetable intake, stages of change, self-efficacy and decisional balance scores were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention in both groups. Analysis. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using the analysis of covariance model (ANCOVA) and repeated measurement analysis by means of weighted least squares. Comparison between the proportions of adolescents who advanced through the stages during the intervention was performed using the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test. Results. After adjusting for sex and age, study variables showed no modifications through the proposed intervention. There was no statistical difference in participant mobility in the intervention and control groups between the stages of change, throughout the study. Conclusion. A nutritional intervention based exclusively on distribution of stage-matched printed educational materials was insufficient to change adolescents' dietary behavior.

The COP9 signalosome counteracts the accumulation of cullin SCF ubiquitin E3 RING ligases during fungal development

Defects in the COP9 signalosome (CSN) impair multicellular development, including embryonic plant or animal death or a block in sexual development of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. CSN deneddylates cullin-RING ligases (CRLs), which are activated by covalent linkage to ubiquitin-like NEDD8. Deneddylation allows CRL disassembly for subsequent reassembly. An attractive hypothesis is a consecutive order of CRLs for development, which demands repeated cycles of neddylation and deneddylation for reassembling CRLs. Interruption of these cycles could explain developmental blocks caused by csn mutations. This predicts an accumulation of neddylated CRLs exhibiting developmental functions when CSN is dysfunctional. We tested this hypothesis in A. nidulans, which tolerates reduced levels of neddylation for growth. We show that only genes for CRL subunits or neddylation are essential, whereas CSN is primarily required for development. We used functional tagged NEDD8, recruiting all three fungal cullins. Cullins are associated with the CSN1/CsnA subunit when deneddylation is defective. Two CRLs were identified which are specifically involved in differentiation and accumulate during the developmental block. This suggests that an active CSN complex is required to counteract the accumulation of specific CRLs during development.

A multi-objective adaptive immune algorithm for multi-application NoC mapping

Current SoC design trends are characterized by the integration of larger amount of IPs targeting a wide range of application fields. Such multi-application systems are constrained by a set of requirements. In such scenario network-on-chips (NoC) are becoming more important as the on-chip communication structure. Designing an optimal NoC for satisfying the requirements of each individual application requires the specification of a large set of configuration parameters leading to a wide solution space. It has been shown that IP mapping is one of the most critical parameters in NoC design, strongly influencing the SoC performance. IP mapping has been solved for single application systems using single and multi-objective optimization algorithms. In this paper we propose the use of a multi-objective adaptive immune algorithm (M(2)AIA), an evolutionary approach to solve the multi-application NoC mapping problem. Latency and power consumption were adopted as the target multi-objective functions. To compare the efficiency of our approach, our results are compared with those of the genetic and branch and bound multi-objective mapping algorithms. We tested 11 well-known benchmarks, including random and real applications, and combines up to 8 applications at the same SoC. The experimental results showed that the M(2)AIA decreases in average the power consumption and the latency 27.3 and 42.1 % compared to the branch and bound approach and 29.3 and 36.1 % over the genetic approach.

Comparison of extraction and transesterification methods on the determination of the fatty acid contents of three Brazilian seaweed species

Seaweeds are photosynthetic organisms important to their ecosystem and constitute a source of compounds with several different applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and biotechnology industries, such as triacylglycerols, which can be converted to fatty acid methyl esters that make up biodiesel, an alternative source of fuel applied in economic important areas. This study evaluates the fatty acid profiles and concentrations of three Brazilian seaweed species, Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen) J.V. Lamouroux (Rhodophya), Sargassum cymosum C. Agardh (Heterokontophyta), and Ulva lactuca L. (Chlorophyta), comparing three extraction methods (Bligh & Dyer - B&D; AOAC Official Methods - AOM; and extraction with methanol and ultrasound - EMU) and two transesterification methods (7% BF3 in methanol - BF3; and 5% HCl in methanol - HCl). The fatty acid contents of the three species of seaweeds were significantly different when extracted and transesterified by the different methods. Moreover, the best method for one species was not the same for the other species. The best extraction and transesterification methods for H. musciformis, S. cymosum and U. lactuca were, respectively, AOM-HCl, B&D-BF3 and B&D-BF3/B&D-HCl. These results point to a matrix effect and the method used for the analysis of the fatty acid content of different organisms should be selected carefully.

Validação de modelos de predição das concentrações de nitrogênio ureico no leite do rebanho de vacas holandesas

Objetivou-se, no presente trabalho, validar modelos de predição de nitrogênio ureico no leite no intuito de contribuir para avaliação da adequação nutricional de dietas de rebanhos de vacas leiteiras. Foram utilizadas 8.833 observações de vacas da raça Holandesa de um rebanho comercial, registraram-se produção de leite, peso corporal, número de dias em lactação e número de lactações. Dos dados coletados, foram tiradas médias mensais a fim de se estudar o rebanho. O modelo 1 foi desenvolvido por Jonker et al. (1998) e os modelos 2 e 3 por Kauffman & St-Pierre (2001). Para a avaliação dos modelos, foram medidas a acurácia, a precisão e a robustez. Notou-se falta de acurácia para os modelos 1 (viés=2,60mg/dL) e 2 (viés=-1,95mg/dL), enquanto o modelo 3 foi acurado (-0,89mg/dL). Contudo, os modelos 1, 2 e 3 não diferiram entre si quanto à precisão (erro residual=3,72, 2,68 e 2,64mg/dL, respectivamente). Os modelos 1 e 2 não apresentaram robustez para o número de dias em lactação, tampouco o modelo 1 para a concentração de gordura. O modelo 3 foi o melhor avaliado, quando se desejou estimar as concentrações de nitrogênio ureico no leite de um rebanho de vacas Holandesas nas condições de campo estudadas.

Survey of Bancroftian filariasis infection in humans and Culex mosquitoes in the western Brazilian Amazon region: implications for transmission and control

Introduction: The aim of this work was to identify possible lymphatic filariasis foci in the western Brazilian Amazonian that could be established from the reports of Rachou in the 1950s. The study was conducted in three cities of the western Brazilian Amazon region - Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim (State of Rondônia) and Humaitá (State of Amazonas). Methods: For human infection evaluation thick blood smear stained with Giemsa was used to analyze samples collected from 10pm to 1am. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to examine mosquito vectors for the presence of Wuchereria bancrofti DNA. Humans were randomly sampled from night schools students and from inhabitants in neighborhoods lacking sanitation. Mosquitoes were collected from residences only. Results: A total 2,709 night students enrolled in the Program for Education of Young Adults (EJA), and 935 people registered in the residences near the schools were examined, being 641 from Porto Velho, 214 from Guajará-Mirim and 80 from Humaitá. No individual examined was positive for the presence of microfilariae in the blood stream. A total of 7,860 female Culex quinquefasciatus specimens examined were negative by PCR. Conclusions: This survey including human and mosquito examinations indicates that the western Amazon region of Brazil is not a focus of Bancroftian filariasis infection or transmission. Therefore, there is no need to be included in the Brazilian lymphatic filariasis control program.