A hepcidina como parâmetro bioquímico na avaliação da anemia por deficiência de ferro

A anemia por deficiência de ferro caracteriza-se como o mais prevalente problema nutricional em todo o mundo. Nesta revisão reuniu-se informações a respeito do metabolismo da hepcidina, avaliando-se seu valor como parâmetro bioquímico na anemia por deficiência de ferro. Realizou-se um levantamento bibliográfico nas bases de dados PUBMED e LILACS, período 2006-2010, referentes à hepcidina como um biomarcador para a regulação do metabolismo do ferro. Foram localizados 35 estudos publicados em revistas internacionais e um estudo sobre o assunto em revista nacional. A produção de hepcidina é regulada homeostaticamente pela anemia e hipóxia. Quando a oferta de oxigênio está inadequada ocorre diminuição do nível de hepcidina. Consequentemente, maior quantidade de ferro proveniente da dieta e dos estoques dos macrófagos e hepatócitos se tornam disponíveis. A hepcidina possui a função de se ligar à ferroportina, regulando a liberação do ferro para o plasma. Quando as concentrações de hepcidina estão baixas, as moléculas de ferroportina são expostas na membrana plasmática e liberam o ferro. Quando os níveis de hepcidina aumentam, a hepcidina liga-se às moléculas de ferroportina induzindo sua internalização e degradação, e o ferro liberado diminui progressivamente. Aparentemente o desenvolvimento do diagnóstico e terapia da anemia baseados no bioindicador hepcidina pode oferecer uma abordagem mais efetiva. Estudos epidemiológicos são necessários para comprovar o valor da hepcidina no diagnóstico diferencial das anemias, incluindo protocolos de amostragem para análise, com padronização similar às utilizadas em outras avaliações bioquímicas, e estabelecimento de pontos de corte para a expressão urinária e plasmática desse peptídeo

Yerba Maté (Ilex paraguariensis) aqueous extract decreases intestinal SGLT1 gene expression but does not affect other biochemical parameters in alloxan-diabetic wistar rats

Yerba mate´ (Ilex paraguariensis) is rich in polyphenols, especially chlorogenic acids. Evidence suggests that dietary polyphenols could play a role in glucose absorption and metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antidiabetic properties of yerba mate´ extract in alloxan-induced diabetic Wistar rats. Animals (n ) 41) were divided in four groups: nondiabetic control (NDC, n=11), and diabetic yerba maté (DY, n = 10). The intervention consisted in the administration of yerba mate´ extract in a 1 g extract/ kg body weight dose for 28 days; controls received saline solution only. There were no significant differences in serum glucose, insulin, and hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activity between the groups that ingested yerba maté extract (NDY and DY) and the controls (NDC and DC). However, the intestinal SGLT1 gene expression was significantly lower in animals that received yerba maté both in upper (p = 0.007) and middle (p < 0.001) small intestine. These results indicate that bioactive compounds present in yerba maté might be capable of interfering in glucose absorption, by decreasing SGLT1 expression

Embryonic, Larval, and Juvenile Development of the Sea Biscuit Clypeaster subdepressus (Echinodermata: Clypeasteroida)

Sea biscuits and sand dollars diverged from other irregular echinoids approximately 55 million years ago and rapidly dispersed to oceans worldwide. A series of morphological changes were associated with the occupation of sand beds such as flattening of the body, shortening of primary spines, multiplication of podia, and retention of the lantern of Aristotle into adulthood. To investigate the developmental basis of such morphological changes we documented the ontogeny of Clypeaster subdepressus. We obtained gametes from adult specimens by KCl injection and raised the embryos at 26 degrees C. Ciliated blastulae hatched 7.5 h after sperm entry. During gastrulation the archenteron elongated continuously while ectodermal red-pigmented cells migrated synchronously to the apical plate. Pluteus larvae began to feed in 3 d and were similar to 20 d old at metamorphosis; starved larvae died 17 d after fertilization. Postlarval juveniles had neither mouth nor anus nor plates on the aboral side, except for the remnants of larval spicules, but their bilateral symmetry became evident after the resorption of larval tissues. Ossicles of the lantern were present and organized in 5 groups. Each group had 1 tooth, 2 demipyramids, and 2 epiphyses with a rotula in between. Early appendages consisted of 15 spines, 15 podia (2 types), and 5 sphaeridia. Podial types were distributed in accordance to Loven's rule and the first podium of each ambulacrum was not encircled by the skeleton. Seven days after metamorphosis juveniles began to feed by rasping sand grains with the lantern. Juveniles survived in laboratory cultures for similar to 9 months and died with <500 mu m wide, a single open sphaeridium per ambulacrum, aboral anus, and no differentiated food grooves or petaloids. Tracking the morphogenesis of early juveniles is a necessary step to elucidate the developmental mechanisms of echinoid growth and important groundwork to clarify homologies between irregular urchins.

Development of a Multicommutated Flow System with Chemiluminometric Detection for Quantification of Gentamicin in Pharmaceuticals

A new flow procedure based on multicommutation with chemiluminometric detection was developed to quantify gentamicin sulphate in pharmaceutical formulations. This approach is based on gentamicin's ability to inhibit the chemiluminometric reaction between luminol and hypochlorite in alkaline medium, causing a decrease in the analytical signal. The inhibition of the analytical signal is proportional to the concentration of gentamicin sulphate, within a linear range of 1 to 4 mu g mL(-1) with a coefficient variation <3%. A sample throughput of 55 samples h(-1) was obtained. The developed method is sensitive, simple, with low reagent consumption, reproducible, and inexpensive, and when applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations (eye drops and injections) it gave results with RSD between 1.10 and 4.40%.

Exercise x BCAA supplementation in young trained rats: what are their effects on body growth?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) supplementation had any beneficial effects on growth and metabolic parameters of young rats submitted to chronic aerobic exercise. Thirty-two young rats (age: 21-d) were randomly assigned to four experimental groups (n = 8): Supplemented Trained (Sup/Ex), Control Trained (Ctrl/Ex), Supplemented Sedentary (Sup/Sed) and Control Sedentary (Ctrl/Sed). The trained groups underwent a five-week swimming protocol and received supplemented (45 mg BCAA/body weight/day) or control ration. Trained animals presented a lower body length and a higher cartilage weight, regardless of supplementation. Physical activity was responsible for a substantial reduction in proteoglycan synthesis in cartilage tissue, and BCAA supplementation was able to attenuate this reduction and also to improve glycogen stores in the liver, although no major differences were found in body growth associated to this supplementation.

ALFABETIZAÇÃO DIGITAL: proposição de parâmetros metodológicos em competência informacional

Much has been discussed about Digital Literacy, but it is quite obscure the identification of the skills required to develop such process. This study was done towards an integration of the Digital Literacy process to the specific informational skills a person may dominate, search, retrieve and use information efficiently, in its professional, academic or personal life. The main objective of this work is to propose methodological parameters for training in informational skills. Otherwise, the specific objectives are associated to the supposition and identification of the desired skills of the Digital Literacy program participants. The methodological procedures applied to the research are of exploratory character, and to do so two tools are used: the literature research and case studies. Besides having the methodology in structured information competence, the study points out to the fact that the country is too far from what is desired concerning development and employment of Digital Literacy programs consistent enough to support the teaching and learning of searching, recovering and using of information by the participants. Therefore, it is essential to create programs that provide not only machinery, but motivate individuals to develop informational skills to help in the learning process.

Development, implementation, and assessment of a distance module in endocrine physiology

Rangel EM, Mendes IA, Carnio EC, Marchi Alves LM, Godoy S, Crispim JA. Development, implementation, and assessment of a distance module in endocrine physiology. Adv Physiol Educ 34: 70-74, 2010; doi: 10.1152/advan.00070.2009.-This study aimed to develop, implement, and assess a distance module in endocrine physiology in TelEduc for undergraduate nursing students from a public university in Brazil, with a sample size of 44 students. Stage 1 consisted of the development of the module, through the process of creating a distance course by means of the Web. Stage 2 was the planning of the module's practical functioning, and stage 3 was the planning of student evaluations. In the experts' assessment, the module complied with pedagogical and technical requirements most of the time. In the practical functioning stage, 10 h were dedicated for on-site activities and 10 h for distance activities. Most students (93.2%) were women between 19 and 23 yr of age (75%). The internet was the most used means to remain updated for 23 students (59.0%), and 30 students (68.2%) accessed it from the teaching institution. A personal computer was used by 23 students (56.1%), and most of them (58.1%) learned to use it alone. Access to a forum was more dispersed (variation coefficient: 86.80%) than access to chat (variation coefficient: 65.14%). Average participation was 30 students in forums and 22 students in the chat. Students' final grades in the module averaged 8.5 (SD: 1.2). TelEduc was shown to be efficient in supporting the teaching- learning process of endocrine physiology.

Trajectory Sensitivity Method and Master-Slave Synchronization to Estimate Parameters of Nonlinear Systems

A combination of trajectory sensitivity method and master-slave synchronization was proposed to parameter estimation of nonlinear systems. It was shown that master-slave coupling increases the robustness of the trajectory sensitivity algorithm with respect to the initial guess of parameters. Since synchronization is not a guarantee that the estimation process converges to the correct parameters, a conditional test that guarantees that the new combined methodology estimates the true values of parameters was proposed. This conditional test was successfully applied to Lorenz's and Chua's systems, and the proposed parameter estimation algorithm has shown to be very robust with respect to parameter initial guesses and measurement noise for these examples. Copyright (C) 2009 Elmer P. T. Cari et al.

Fully Connected PLL Networks: How Filter Determines the Number of Nodes

Synchronization plays an important role in telecommunication systems, integrated circuits, and automation systems. Formerly, the masterslave synchronization strategy was used in the great majority of cases due to its reliability and simplicity. Recently, with the wireless networks development, and with the increase of the operation frequency of integrated circuits, the decentralized clock distribution strategies are gaining importance. Consequently, fully connected clock distribution systems with nodes composed of phase-locked loops (PLLs) appear as a convenient engineering solution. In this work, the stability of the synchronous state of these networks is studied in two relevant situations: when the node filters are first-order lag-lead low-pass or when the node filters are second-order low-pass. For first-order filters, the synchronous state of the network shows to be stable for any number of nodes. For second-order filter, there is a superior limit for the number of nodes, depending on the PLL parameters. Copyright (C) 2009 Atila Madureira Bueno et al.

Convergence of developmental mutants into a single tomato model system: 'Micro-Tom' as an effective toolkit for plant development research

Background: The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant is both an economically important food crop and an ideal dicot model to investigate various physiological phenomena not possible in Arabidopsis thaliana. Due to the great diversity of tomato cultivars used by the research community, it is often difficult to reliably compare phenotypes. The lack of tomato developmental mutants in a single genetic background prevents the stacking of mutations to facilitate analysis of double and multiple mutants, often required for elucidating developmental pathways. Results: We took advantage of the small size and rapid life cycle of the tomato cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) to create near-isogenic lines (NILs) by introgressing a suite of hormonal and photomorphogenetic mutations (altered sensitivity or endogenous levels of auxin, ethylene, abscisic acid, gibberellin, brassinosteroid, and light response) into this genetic background. To demonstrate the usefulness of this collection, we compared developmental traits between the produced NILs. All expected mutant phenotypes were expressed in the NILs. We also created NILs harboring the wild type alleles for dwarf, self-pruning and uniform fruit, which are mutations characteristic of MT. This amplified both the applications of the mutant collection presented here and of MT as a genetic model system. Conclusions: The community resource presented here is a useful toolkit for plant research, particularly for future studies in plant development, which will require the simultaneous observation of the effect of various hormones, signaling pathways and crosstalk.

SELECTION OF TRICHOGRAMMA PRETIOSUM LINEAGES FOR CONTROL OF GRAPHOLITA MOLESTA IN PEACH

Grapholita molesta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is one of the main pests of peach trees in Brazil, causing fruit losses of 3-5%. Among possible biological control agents, Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) has been found in peach orchards. Our objectives were to study the rearing of T pretiosum in eggs of G. molesta and Anagasta kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and select lineages of this parasitoid that have the potential to control G. molesta. Selection of best lineages was made from 5 populations of T pretiosum collected from organically-cultivated peach orchards. The study was done under controlled temperature (25 +/- 2 degrees C), relative humidity (70 +/- 10%) and 14:10 h (light:dark) photoperiod conditions. Grapholita molesta eggs were found to be adequate hosts for the development of T pretiosum, and the parameters for number of parasitized eggs, percent parasitized eggs, and sex ratio were similar to those for A. kuehniella eggs. The highest rate of parasitism of G. molesta eggs occurred in eggs with up to 48 h of embryonic development. Among the lineages of T pretiosum that were collected, HO8, PO8, PEL, and L3M showed the best biological performance and are therefore indicated for semi-field and field studies for biological control of oriental fruit moth.

DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL SET OF MICROSATELLITE MARKERS FOR CASTOR BEAN, RICINUS COMMUNIS (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Premise of study: Microsatellite primers were developed for castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) to investigate genetic diversity and population structure, and to provide support to germplasm management. Methods and Results: Eleven microsatellite loci were isolated using an enrichment cloning protocol and used to characterize castor bean germplasm from the collection at the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC). In a survey of 76 castor bean accessions, the investigated loci displayed polymorphism ranging from two to five alleles. Conclusions: The information derived from microsatellite markers led to significant gains in conserved allelic richness and provides support to the implementation of several molecular breeding strategies for castor bean.

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROSATELLITE MARKERS FOR AULONEMIA ARISTULATA (POACEAE) AND CROSS-AMPLIFICATION IN OTHER BAMBOO SPECIES

Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed for Aulonemia aristulata, an endangered species of economic interest, to further describe its genetic variability and population structure. We also tested cross-amplification in 18 other bamboo species. Methods and Results: Using an enrichment genomic library, 13 microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized in A. aristulata. Seven of these loci were polymorphic. Twelve markers were cross-amplified in at least ten of the tested bamboo species. Conclusions: These markers will be useful for studies on the genetic diversity and structure of A. aristulata, which are important for future conservation, management and breeding programs of this species.

Estimation and prediction of parameters and breeding values in soybean using REML/BLUP and Least Squares

The aim of this study was to compare REML/BLUP and Least Square procedures in the prediction and estimation of genetic parameters and breeding values in soybean progenies. F(2:3) and F(4:5) progenies were evaluated in the 2005/06 growing season and the F(2:4) and F(4:6) generations derived thereof were evaluated in 2006/07. These progenies were originated from two semi-early, experimental lines that differ in grain yield. The experiments were conducted in a lattice design and plots consisted of a 2 m row, spaced 0.5 m apart. The trait grain yield per plot was evaluated. It was observed that early selection is more efficient for the discrimination of the best lines from the F(4) generation onwards. No practical differences were observed between the least square and REML/BLUP procedures in the case of the models and simplifications for REML/BLUP used here.

MicroRNA transcriptome profiles during swine skeletal muscle development

Background: MicroRNA (miR) are a class of small RNAs that regulate gene expression by inhibiting translation of protein encoding transcripts. To evaluate the role of miR in skeletal muscle of swine, global microRNA abundance was measured at specific developmental stages including proliferating satellite cells, three stages of fetal growth, day-old neonate, and the adult. Results: Twelve potential novel miR were detected that did not match previously reported sequences. In addition, a number of miR previously reported to be expressed in mammalian muscle were detected, having a variety of abundance patterns through muscle development. Muscle-specific miR-206 was nearly absent in proliferating satellite cells in culture, but was the highest abundant miR at other time points evaluated. In addition, miR-1 was moderately abundant throughout developmental stages with highest abundance in the adult. In contrast, miR-133 was moderately abundant in adult muscle and either not detectable or lowly abundant throughout fetal and neonate development. Changes in abundance of ubiquitously expressed miR were also observed. MiR-432 abundance was highest at the earliest stage of fetal development tested (60 day-old fetus) and decreased throughout development to the adult. Conversely, miR-24 and miR-27 exhibited greatest abundance in proliferating satellite cells and the adult, while abundance of miR-368, miR-376, and miR-423-5p was greatest in the neonate. Conclusion: These data present a complete set of transcriptome profiles to evaluate miR abundance at specific stages of skeletal muscle growth in swine. Identification of these miR provides an initial group of miR that may play a vital role in muscle development and growth.