Meta-analysis of the INSIG2 association with obesity including 74,345 individuals: does heterogeneity of estimates relate to study design?

The INSIG2 rs7566605 polymorphism was identified for obesity (BMI> or =30 kg/m(2)) in one of the first genome-wide association studies, but replications were inconsistent. We collected statistics from 34 studies (n = 74,345), including general population (GP) studies, population-based studies with subjects selected for conditions related to a better health status ('healthy population', HP), and obesity studies (OB). We tested five hypotheses to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. The meta-analysis of 27 studies on Caucasian adults (n = 66,213) combining the different study designs did not support overall association of the CC-genotype with obesity, yielding an odds ratio (OR) of 1.05 (p-value = 0.27). The I(2) measure of 41% (p-value = 0.015) indicated between-study heterogeneity. Restricting to GP studies resulted in a declined I(2) measure of 11% (p-value = 0.33) and an OR of 1.10 (p-value = 0.015). Regarding the five hypotheses, our data showed (a) some difference between GP and HP studies (p-value = 0.012) and (b) an association in extreme comparisons (BMI> or =32.5, 35.0, 37.5, 40.0 kg/m(2) versus BMI<25 kg/m(2)) yielding ORs of 1.16, 1.18, 1.22, or 1.27 (p-values 0.001 to 0.003), which was also underscored by significantly increased CC-genotype frequencies across BMI categories (10.4% to 12.5%, p-value for trend = 0.0002). We did not find evidence for differential ORs (c) among studies with higher than average obesity prevalence compared to lower, (d) among studies with BMI assessment after the year 2000 compared to those before, or (e) among studies from older populations compared to younger. Analysis of non-Caucasian adults (n = 4889) or children (n = 3243) yielded ORs of 1.01 (p-value = 0.94) or 1.15 (p-value = 0.22), respectively. There was no evidence for overall association of the rs7566605 polymorphism with obesity. Our data suggested an association with extreme degrees of obesity, and consequently heterogeneous effects from different study designs may mask an underlying association when unaccounted for. The importance of study design might be under-recognized in gene discovery and association replication so far.

Attitudes towards the minority variety Caló in the south of Spain : a sociolinguistic study

Caló is a variety spoken by the Spanish Calé (i.e. the Roma). It belongs to a group of languages referred to as “Para-Romani”, characterized by Romani vocabulary, but largely non-Romani morphology, phonology and syntax, in the case of Caló deriving from Spanish. According to previous research carried out – with focus on the vocabulary and the grammar of this variety – Caló is on its way to extinction. However, there is an expressed interest in reintroducing a form called “Romanó-Caló”. Attitudes play an important role in minority language maintenance as well as in order for a revitalization project to be successful. The aim of this study is to measure the attitudes that both Calé and non-Calé have towards Caló and Caló speakers, a type of study never carried out in the past. The methods applied are both direct and indirect. In total, 231 informants listened to different recordings of voices acting as either a “Spanish speaking person” or a “Caló speaking person”, a technique referred to as ‘matched guise’, answering questions related to the voices on attitude scales. Furthermore, 182 of the informants rated their agreement or disagreement to positive and negative items towards Caló and its speakers on a Likert scale. The results of the analysis indicate that the attitudes differ towards Caló and Caló speakers, depending on the informant’s (a) ethnicity (b) contact with Caló as well as with Caló speakers, and (c) gender. It is those who – in their own opinion – belong to the ethnic group Calé, as well as those who claim that they have some contact with the variety and its speakers, who show positive attitudes in both parts of the study. The women also show more positive attitudes than the men. It is also possible to note positive attitudes towards the variety and its speakers among the subjects with a high level of knowledge of Caló words, as well as among those with the highest willingness to use Caló. These observations suggest that a revitalization project of the variety Caló has a clear chance of being successful.

Co-creation in hospitality industry: a case study on the drivers of traveler-generated content

User-generated content in travel industry is the phenomenon studied in this research, which aims to fill the literature gap on the drivers to write reviews on TripAdvisor. The object of study is relevant from a managerial standpoint since the motivators that drive users to co-create can shape strategies and be turned into external leverages that generate value for brands through content production. From an academic perspective, the goal is to enhance literature on the field, and fill a gap on adherence of local culture to UGC given industry structure specificities. The business’ impact of UGC is supported by the fact that it increases e-commerce conversion rates since research undertaken by Ye, Law, Gu and Chen (2009) states each 10% in traveler review ratings boosts online booking in more than 5%. The literature review builds a theoretical framework on required concepts to support the TripAdvisor case study methodology. Quantitative and qualitative data compound the methodological approach through literature review, desk research, executive interview, and user survey which are analyzed under factor and cluster analysis to group users with similar drivers towards UGC. Additionally, cultural and country-specific aspects impact user behavior. Since hospitality industry in Brazil is concentrated on long tail – 92% of hotels in Brazil are independent ones (Jones Lang LaSalle, 2015, p. 7) – and lesser known hotels take better advantage of reviews – according to Luca (2011) each one Yelp-star increase in rating, increases in 9% independent restaurant revenue whereas in chain restaurants the reviews have no effect – , this dissertation sought to understand UGC in the context of travelers from São Paulo (Brazil) and adopted the case of TripAdvisor to describe what are the incentives that drives user’s co-creation among targeted travelers. It has an outcome of 4 different clusters with different drivers for UGC that enables to design marketing strategies, and it also concludes there’s a big potential to convert current content consumers into producers, the remaining importance of friends and family referrals and the role played by incentives. Among the conclusions, this study lead us to an exploration of positive feedback and network effect concepts, a reinforcement of the UGC relevance for long tail hotels, the interdependence across content production, consumption and participation; and the role played by technology allied with behavioral analysis to take effective decisions. The adherence of UGC to hospitality industry, also outlines the formulation of the concept present in the dissertation title of “Traveler-Generated Content”.

Effects of hypertension on maternal adaptations to pregnancy: experimental study on spontaneously hypertensive rats

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Simultaneous recording of shadowgrams and schlieren images for the study of plasma assisted aerodynamics

This work describes an optical device for the simultaneous recording of shadowgrams and schlieren images, and some results are presented concerning its applications to the study of plasma assisted flow control in airfoil models. This approach offers many advantages in comparison to other methods, specially because the use of tracer particles (like smoke in wind tunnels) is not required for the experiments, thus avoiding contaminations in the electric discharges or air flows. Besides, while schlieren images reveal the refractive index gradients in the area of study, shadowgrams detect the second order spatial derivatives of the refractive indexes. Therefore, the simultaneous recording of these different images may give interesting information about the phenomena under study. In this paper, these images were used to confirm the existence of vortex structures in the flow induced by corona discharges on airfoil models. These structures are a possible explanation for the effects of drag reduction and lift force increasing, which have been reported in experiments of plasma assisted Aerodynamics.

Simultaneous Recording of Shadowgrams and Schlieren Images for the Study of Plasma Assisted Aerodynamics

This work describes an optical device for the simultaneous recording of shadowgrams and schlieren images, and some results are presented concerning its application to the study of plasma assisted flow control in airfoil models. This approach offers many advantages in comparison to other methods, specially because the use of tracer particles (like smoke in wind tunnels) is not required for the experiments, thus avoiding contaminations in the electric discharges or air flows. Besides, while schlieren images reveal the refractive index gradients in the area of study, shadowgrams detect the second order spatial derivatives of the refractive indexes. Therefore, the simultaneous recording of these different images may give interesting information about the phenomena under study.

Power law distribution in education: Effect of economical, teaching, and study conditions in university entrance examination

We studied the statistical distribution of student's performance, which is measured through their marks, in university entrance examination (Vestibular) of UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) with respect to (i) period of study - day versus night period (ii) teaching conditions - private versus public school (iii) economical conditions - high versus low family income. We observed long ubiquitous power law tails in physical and biological sciences in all cases. The mean value increases with better study conditions followed by better teaching and economical conditions. In humanities, the distribution is close to normal distribution with very small tail. This indicates that these power law tails in science subjects axe due to the nature of the subjects themselves. Further and better study, teaching and economical conditions axe more important for physical and biological sciences in comparison to humanities at this level of study. We explain these statistical distributions through Gradually Truncated Power law distributions. We discuss the possible reason for this peculiar behavior.

The use of surface electromyography for the study of auricular acupuncture

The advancement of knowledge in neurophysiology has demonstrated that acupuncture is a method of peripheral neural stimulation that promotes local and systemic reflexive responses. The purpose of this study was to determine if surface electromyography can be used as a tool to study the action of auricular acupuncture on striated skeletal muscle. The electromyographic amplitudes of the anterior, middle and posterior deltoid muscle and the upper trapezium muscle with 20%, 40% and 60% of maximal voluntary contraction of 15 healthy volunteers, were analyzed after the individuals were submitted to the auricular acupuncture treatment. The non-parametric Friedman test was used to compare Root Mean Square values estimated by using a 200 ms moving window. Significant results were further analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. In this exploratory study, the level of significance of each comparison was set to p < 0.05. It was concluded in this study that a surface electromyography can be used as a tool to investigate possible alterations of electrical activity in muscles after auricular acupuncture. However there is still a lack of adequate methodology for its use in this type of study, being that the method used to record the electromyographic signal can also influence the results. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender, the environment and the sustainability of development

Includes bibliography

Evaluation of transverse changes in the dental arches according to growth pattern: a longitudinal study

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Moral judgment competence of medical students: a transcultural study

The authors conducted a cross-sectional short-term study using Lind's Moral Judgment Test (MJT) to compare moral judgment competence (C-score) among students from a medical school in the Northeast region of Brazil and a medical school in the Northern region of Portugal. This study compares the C-scores of groups in the first and eighth semesters of study within each medical school and groups from corresponding semesters between the two medical schools. This study also evaluates the influence of such factors as age and gender on moral competence. A regression of moral judgment competence among the students in their eighth semester versus the students in the first semester of Brazilian medical school (p < 0.001) and a stagnation of moral competence among students in their eighth semester versus the first semester students in the Portuguese medical school (p = 0.06) were observed. For both the first semester and eighth semester groups, the students in the Portuguese medical school had higher C-scores than the students in the Brazilian medical school. In the analysis of the students' performances in terms of MJT dilemmas, the phenomenon of moral segmentation was observed in all of the groups, and the students performed better on the worker's dilemma than on the doctor's dilemma. Among students in the same semester of study, older students had lower C-scores. There was generally no significant difference between men's and women's C-scores. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Double-Blind clinical study of a multivitamin and polymineral complex associated with Panax ginseng (Gerovital)

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a multivitamin and poly minerals supplemented with Panax ginseng extract (Gerovital®) on patients suffering from common physical or mental stress. The study design was controlled, parallel and double blind. Patients were randomly divided in two groups and underwent a thorough clinical and laboratory examination. Group A received placebo capsules and group B received Gerovital® capsules. In both cases, two capsules were taken daily during meals for eight weeks. Mood as well as physical activity were evaluated through a questionnaire assessing quality of life. From the 126 patients enrolled, 12 patients (8 in group A and 4 in group B) were excluded due to voluntary withdrawal, 55 patients completed the study in group A and 59 in group B. The treatment with Gerovital® significantly increased the quality of life when compared to placebo. After 15 days of study no difference between groups was observed. However, at 30th, 45th and 60th day, group B showed a statistically significant increase in average score from 30.05 to 41.96, 47.01 and finally 50.81 points. No increase in body weight was detected in either group. No difference in blood pressure or heart rate was also observed between treatments. The present study has shown that the daily use of Gerovital® over a 2-month period can be effective in improving quality of life in patients suffering from physical and mental stress among individuals of different ages, ranging from adults to elderly. Moreover, its use has been associated to a lower incidence of flu-like seasonal respiratory illnesses. Finally, the incidence of undesired effects was similar to placebo.

Statistical analysis of texture in trunk images for biometric identification of tree species

The identification of tree species is a key step for sustainable management plans of forest resources, as well as for several other applications that are based on such surveys. However, the present available techniques are dependent on the presence of tree structures, such as flowers, fruits, and leaves, limiting the identification process to certain periods of the year Therefore, this article introduces a study on the application of statistical parameters for texture classification of tree trunk images. For that, 540 samples from five Brazilian native deciduous species were acquired and measures of entropy, uniformity, smoothness, asymmetry (third moment), mean, and standard deviation were obtained from the presented textures. Using a decision tree, a biometric species identification system was constructed and resulted to a 0.84 average precision rate for species classification with 0.83accuracy and 0.79 agreement. Thus, it can be considered that the use of texture presented in trunk images can represent an important advance in tree identification, since the limitations of the current techniques can be overcome.

Experimental model of intestinal endometriosis: pilot study

Aims: The objective of this study is to create an experimental model of intestinal endometriosis in pigs, which might allow better understanding of deep infiltrating endometriosis and development of new treatment techniques. As secondary objective, we intend to create endometrial implants accessible by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS). Study Design: Surgical experimental study in swine. Place and Duration of Study: This study was performed at the Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa do Hospital Sírio-Libanês, São Paulo, Brazil, between January 2012 and December 2012. Methodology: Two sexually mature female minipigBR pigs underwent two laparotomies (each animal). The first laparotomy was performed to implant two fragments of autologous endometrium in the rectal wall. The second one was performed thirty days later to visualize, measure and obtain tissue of the site of the implants for histopathology study. A TRUS study was performed prior to the second surgery. The Institution’s Animal Utilization Study Committee approved the study. Results: In the first laparotomy a 5-cm segment of right uterine horn was resected. The endometrium was separated from the myometrium through sub-endometrial saline injection. Two endometrial fragments (1.0 x 2.0 cm) were dissected and sutured in the intra peritoneal anterior rectal wall of the animals. Thirty days later, all implants were identified during preoperative TRUS. “En-bloc” resection of the intestinal segment with the implants was performed during the second surgery. The autologous implants of endometrium invaded the muscular layer in one of the two animals. Conclusion: We demonstrated that the creation of an animal model of deep infiltrating endometriosis with intestinal involvement is feasible through a simple surgical technique. We believe that this model can be applied in experimental and clinical studies but further studies are necessary to refine the technique.

Scientometric Study of Doctoral Dissertations in Biochemistry in the University of Kerala, India

Biochemistry is the most fascinating subject as it deals with the chemical language of life. The ultimate goal of biochemistry is to describe the phenomena that distinguish living from non-living in the language of chemistry and physics. Researchers in biochemistry use specific techniques native to biochemistry, but increasingly combine these with techniques and ideas from genetics, molecular biology and biophysics. In India at present around 75,000 students are enrolled in research and nearly 11,000 are awarded PhDs every year, of which 50 percent are from science and technology disciplines. Theses and dissertations reflect the scholarly communication process. Scientometrics and citation characteristics of dissertations like the subject fields of dissertations, the number of citations and their distribution by type of source, years, and by number of authors etc., have been studied with a view to identify the basic features of the scholarly communication process in different fields of study. The purpose of the present study is to determine the bibliometric characteristics of the biochemistry research in the university of Kerala, India including subject distribution, bibliographic forms of cited documents, most cited journals, collaboration in authorship, etc. A total of 168 doctoral dissertations awarded between 1966 and 2007 at the Department of Biochemistry of University of Kerala were used as a source.