CARACTERIZAÇÃO DE FRUTOS E PROPAGAÇÃO DE PORTA-ENXERTOS HÍBRIDOS DE CITROS EM AMBIENTE PROTEGIDO

A diversificação de uso de porta-enxertos de citros é importante no Brasil devido à presença de diversos estresses abióticos e bióticos, além da busca por atributos horticulturais desejáveis como nanismo, alta eficiência de produção e indução de boa qualidade aos frutos. Para a seleção de um genótipo com potencial de uso como porta-enxerto, porém, o desempenho na fase de propagação também é relevante. Assim, caracterizaram-se os frutos e avaliou-se a propagação em ambiente protegido de porta-enxertos híbridos de citros obtidos ou selecionados pelo Programa de Melhoramento Genético de Citros da Embrapa: citrandarins ‘Indio’, ‘Riverside’ e ‘San Diego’, híbridos HTR-051, TSKC x (LCR x TR)-040 e 059, LVK x LCR-010 e 038, TSKC x CTTR-002, TSKC x CTSW-041 e LCR x TR-001, além das variedades comerciais citrumelo ‘Swingle 4475’, trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’, limoeiro ‘Cravo Santa Cruz’ e tangerineira ‘Sunki Tropical’. Foram avaliados variáveis biométricas, fisiológicas e coeficientes técnicos. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições e 50 plantas na parcela ou 20 frutos por genótipo, conforme a avaliação. Citrumelo ‘Swingle’ e LVK x LCR-010 apresentaram alta produção de sementes por fruto, enquanto HTR-051 e LCR x TR-001 produziram as menores quantidades. A poliembrionia foi superior para TSKC x CTTR-002, TSKC x (LCR x TR)–040, LCR x TR-001, citrandarins ‘Indio’, ‘Riverside’ e ‘San Diego’ e tangerineira ‘Sunki Tropical’, tendo trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’ e LVK x LCR-010 apenas 45% de poliembrionia média. A emergência de citrandarin ‘Riverside’ foi mais rápida e uniforme em relação aos demais genótipos. O crescimento vegetativo da parte aérea e do sistema radicular foi superior para citrandarin ‘Riverside’, TSKC x (LCR x TR)-059, tangerineira ‘Sunki Tropical’, citrumelo ‘Swingle’ e limoeiro ‘Cravo’ e seus híbridos. Todos os híbridos de citros avaliados apresentam potencial de uso como porta-enxertos.

PRODUÇÃO DE MUDAS DE CITROS COM DIFERENTES COMBINAÇÕES COPA E PORTA-ENXERTO EM VIVEIRO PROTEGIDO

RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a produção de mudas de laranjeiras doces ‘Pera’ e ‘Westin’, tangerineira-tangor ‘Piemonte’ e limeira-ácida ‘Tahiti’ enxertadas em 14 porta-enxertos de citros em viveiro protegido. As mudas de laranjeiras-doces ‘Pera D-6’ e ‘Westin’, tangerineira-tangor ‘Piemonte’ e limeira-ácida ‘Tahiti CNPMF-02’ foram avaliadas em viveiro protegido após a enxertia, em 11 porta-enxertos híbridos: citrandarins ‘Indio’, ‘Riverside’ e ‘San Diego’, citrumelo ‘Swingle 4475’, HTR-051, TSKC x (LCR x TR)-040 e 059, LVK x LCR-010 e 038, TSKC x CTTR-002 e TSKC x CTSW-041, além de trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’, limoeiro ‘Cravo Santa Cruz’ e tangerineira ‘Sunki Tropical’. Coletaram-se variáveis biométricas e fisiológicas, sendo o delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso, em parcelas subdivididas, com 56 tratamentos, três repetições e dez plantas na parcela. Independentemente do porta-enxerto, a limeira-ácida ‘Tahiti CNPMF-02’ foi a copa mais vigorosa em viveiro, seguida da tangerineira-tangor ‘Piemonte’ e, por fim, pelas laranjeiras ‘Pera-D6’ e ‘Westin’. A tangerineira ‘Sunki Tropical’ induziu maior crescimento vegetativo e de sistema radicular em combinação com todas as copas estudadas. O trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’ e o híbrido HTR-051 necessitam de maior período para a formação das mudas em função do menor vigor desses genótipos, em combinação com todas as variedades copas avaliadas. Não se observaram quaisquer sintomas de incompatibilidade entre as variedades no viveiro.

Responding to Young People's Health Risks in Primary Care: A Cluster Randomised Trial of Training Clinicians in Screening and Motivational Interviewing.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention implementing best practice guidelines recommending clinicians screen and counsel young people across multiple psychosocial risk factors, on clinicians' detection of health risks and patients' risk taking behaviour, compared to a didactic seminar on young people's health. DESIGN: Pragmatic cluster randomised trial where volunteer general practices were stratified by postcode advantage or disadvantage score and billing type (private, free national health, community health centre), then randomised into either intervention or comparison arms using a computer generated random sequence. Three months post-intervention, patients were recruited from all practices post-consultation for a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview and followed up three and 12 months later. Researchers recruiting, consenting and interviewing patients and patients themselves were masked to allocation status; clinicians were not. SETTING: General practices in metropolitan and rural Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: General practices with at least one interested clinician (general practitioner or nurse) and their 14-24 year old patients. INTERVENTION: This complex intervention was designed using evidence based practice in learning and change in clinician behaviour and general practice systems, and included best practice approaches to motivating change in adolescent risk taking behaviours. The intervention involved training clinicians (nine hours) in health risk screening, use of a screening tool and motivational interviewing; training all practice staff (receptionists and clinicians) in engaging youth; provision of feedback to clinicians of patients' risk data; and two practice visits to support new screening and referral resources. Comparison clinicians received one didactic educational seminar (three hours) on engaging youth and health risk screening. OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes were patient report of (1) clinician detection of at least one of six health risk behaviours (tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, risks for sexually transmitted infection, STI, unplanned pregnancy, and road risks); and (2) change in one or more of the six health risk behaviours, at three months or at 12 months. Secondary outcomes were likelihood of future visits, trust in the clinician after exit interview, clinician detection of emotional distress and fear and abuse in relationships, and emotional distress at three and 12 months. Patient acceptability of the screening tool was also described for the intervention arm. Analyses were adjusted for practice location and billing type, patients' sex, age, and recruitment method, and past health risks, where appropriate. An intention to treat analysis approach was used, which included multilevel multiple imputation for missing outcome data. RESULTS: 42 practices were randomly allocated to intervention or comparison arms. Two intervention practices withdrew post allocation, prior to training, leaving 19 intervention (53 clinicians, 377 patients) and 21 comparison (79 clinicians, 524 patients) practices. 69% of patients in both intervention (260) and comparison (360) arms completed the 12 month follow-up. Intervention clinicians discussed more health risks per patient (59.7%) than comparison clinicians (52.7%) and thus were more likely to detect a higher proportion of young people with at least one of the six health risk behaviours (38.4% vs 26.7%, risk difference [RD] 11.6%, Confidence Interval [CI] 2.93% to 20.3%; adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.7, CI 1.1 to 2.5). Patients reported less illicit drug use (RD -6.0, CI -11 to -1.2; OR 0·52, CI 0·28 to 0·96), and less risk for STI (RD -5.4, CI -11 to 0.2; OR 0·66, CI 0·46 to 0·96) at three months in the intervention relative to the comparison arm, and for unplanned pregnancy at 12 months (RD -4.4; CI -8.7 to -0.1; OR 0·40, CI 0·20 to 0·80). No differences were detected between arms on other health risks. There were no differences on secondary outcomes, apart from a greater detection of abuse (OR 13.8, CI 1.71 to 111). There were no reports of harmful events and intervention arm youth had high acceptance of the screening tool. CONCLUSIONS: A complex intervention, compared to a simple educational seminar for practices, improved detection of health risk behaviours in young people. Impact on health outcomes was inconclusive. Technology enabling more efficient, systematic health-risk screening may allow providers to target counselling toward higher risk individuals. Further trials require more power to confirm health benefits. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN.com ISRCTN16059206.

Reversal of a full-length mutant huntingtin neuronal cell phenotypeby chemical inhibitors of polyglutamine-mediated aggregation

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder triggered by an expanded polyglutamine tract in huntingtin that is thought to confer a new conformational property on this large protein. The propensity of small amino-terminal fragments with mutant, but not wild-type, glutamine tracts to self-aggregate is consistent with an altered conformation but such fragments occur relatively late in the disease process in human patients and mouse models expressing full-length mutant protein. This suggests that the altered conformational property may act within the full-length mutant huntingtin to initially trigger pathogenesis. Indeed, genotypephenotype studies in HD have defined genetic criteria for the disease initiating mechanism, and these are all fulfilled by phenotypes associated with expression of full-length mutant huntingtin, but not amino-terminal fragment, in mouse models. As the in vitro aggregation of amino-terminal mutant huntingtin fragment offers a ready assay to identify small compounds that interfere with the conformation of the polyglutamine tract, we have identified a number of aggregation inhibitors, and tested whether these are also capable of reversing a phenotype caused by endogenous expressionof mutant huntingtin in a striatal cell line from the HdhQ111/Q111 knock-in mouse. Results: We screened the NINDS Custom Collection of 1,040 FDA approved drugs and bioactive compounds for their ability to prevent in vitro aggregation of Q58-htn 1¿171 amino terminal fragment. Ten compounds were identified that inhibited aggregation with IC50 < 15 ¿M, including gossypol, gambogic acid, juglone, celastrol, sanguinarine and anthralin. Of these, both juglone and celastrol were effective in reversing the abnormal cellular localization of full-length mutant huntingtin observed in mutant HdhQ111/Q111 striatal cells. Conclusions: At least some compounds identified as aggregation inhibitors also prevent a neuronal cellular phenotype caused by full-length mutant huntingtin, suggesting that in vitro fragment aggregation can act as a proxy for monitoring the disease-producing conformational property in HD. Thus, identification and testing of compounds that alter in vitro aggregation is a viable approach for defining potential therapeutic compounds that may act on the deleterious conformational property of full-length mutant huntingtin.

High Prevalence of Signs of Renal Damage Despite Normal Renal Function in a Cohort of HIV-Infected Patients: Evaluation of Associated Factors

Renal disorders are an emerging problem in HIV-infected patients. We performed a cross-sectional study of the first 1000 HIV-infected patients attended at our HIV unit who agreed to participate. We determined the frequency of renal alterations and its related risk factors. Summary statistics and logistic regression were applied. The study sample comprised 970 patients with complete data. Most were white (94%) and men (76%). Median (IQR) age was 48 (42–53) years. Hypertension was diagnosed in 19%, dyslipidemia in 27%, and diabetes mellitus in 3%. According to the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD EPI) equation, 29 patients (3%) had an eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73m2; 18 of them (62%) presented altered albumin/creatinine and protein/creatinine (UPC or UAC) ratios. Of the patients with eGFR> 60mL/min, it was present in 293 (30%), 38 of whom (7.1%) had UPC> 300mg/g. Increased risk of renal abnormalities was correlated with hypertension (OR, 1.821 [95%CI, 1.292;2.564]; p = 0.001), age (OR, 1.015 [95%CI, 1.001;1.030], per one year; p = 0.040), and use of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) plus protease inhibitor (PI), (OR, 1.401 [95%CI, 1.078;1.821]; p = 0.012). Current CD4 cell count was a protective factor (OR, 0.9995 [95%CI, 0.9991;0.9999], per one cell; p = 0.035). A considerable proportion of patients presented altered UPC or UAC ratios, despite having an eGFR > 60mL/min. CD4 cell count was a protective factor; age, hypertension, and use of TDF plus PIs were risk factors for renal abnormalities. Based on our results, screen of renal abnormalities should be considered in all HIV-infected patients to detect these alterations early.

Effects of oral supplementation of iron on hepcidin blood concentrations among non-anaemic female blood donors: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hepcidin is the main hormone that regulates iron balance. Its lowering favours digestive iron absorption in cases of iron deficiency or enhanced erythropoiesis. The careful dosage of this small peptide promises new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Its measurement is progressively being validated and now its clinical value must be explored in different physiological situations. Here, we evaluate hepcidin levels among premenopausal female donors with iron deficiency without anaemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a preceding study, a 4-week oral iron treatment (80 mg/day) was administered in a randomized controlled trial (n = 145), in cases of iron deficiency without anaemia after a blood donation. We subsequently measured hepcidin at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment, using mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Iron supplementation had a significant effect on plasma hepcidin compared to the placebo arm at 4 weeks [+0·29 nm [95% CI: 0·18 to 0·40]). There was a significant correlation between hepcidin and ferritin at baseline (R(2) = 0·121, P < 0·001) and after treatment (R(2) = 0·436, P < 0·001). Hepcidin levels at baseline were not predictive of concentration changes for ferritin or haemoglobin. However, hepcidin levels at 4 weeks were significantly higher (0·79 nm [95% CI: 0·53 to 1·05]) among ferritin responders. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a 4-week oral treatment of iron increased hepcidin blood concentrations in female blood donors with an initial ferritin concentration of less than 30 ng/ml. Apparently, hepcidin cannot serve as a predictor of response to iron treatment but might serve as a marker of the iron repletion needed for erythropoiesis.

Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Alcohol-Dependent Individuals: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol dependence (AD) carries a high mortality burden, which may be mitigated by reduced alcohol consumption. We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis investigating the risk of all-cause mortality in alcohol-dependent subjects. METHODS: MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, Embase and PsycINFO were searched from database conception through 26th June 2014. Eligible studies reported all-cause mortality in both alcohol-dependent subjects and a comparator population of interest. Two individuals independently reviewed studies. Of 4540 records identified, 39 observational studies were included in meta-analyses. FINDINGS: We identified a significant increase in mortality for alcohol-dependent subjects compared with the general population (27 studies; relative risk [RR] = 3.45; 95% CI [2.96, 4.02]; p < 0.0001). The mortality increase was also significant compared to subjects qualifying for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or subjects without alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Alcohol-dependent subjects continuing to drink heavily had significantly greater mortality than alcohol-dependent subjects who reduced alcohol intake, even if abstainers were excluded (p < 0.05). INTERPRETATION: AD was found to significantly increase an individual's risk of all-cause mortality. While abstinence in alcohol-dependent subjects led to greater mortality reduction than non-abstinence, this study suggests that alcohol-dependent subjects can significantly reduce their mortality risk by reducing alcohol consumption.

Robust DNA Methylation in the Clonal Raider Ant Brain.

Social insects are promising model systems for epigenetics due to their immense morphological and behavioral plasticity. Reports that DNA methylation differs between the queen and worker castes in social insects [1-4] have implied a role for DNA methylation in regulating division of labor. To better understand the function of DNA methylation in social insects, we performed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing on brains of the clonal raider ant Cerapachys biroi, whose colonies alternate between reproductive (queen-like) and brood care (worker-like) phases [5]. Many cytosines were methylated in all replicates (on average 29.5% of the methylated cytosines in a given replicate), indicating that a large proportion of the C. biroi brain methylome is robust. Robust DNA methylation occurred preferentially in exonic CpGs of highly and stably expressed genes involved in core functions. Our analyses did not detect any differences in DNA methylation between the queen-like and worker-like phases, suggesting that DNA methylation is not associated with changes in reproduction and behavior in C. biroi. Finally, many cytosines were methylated in one sample only, due to either biological or experimental variation. By applying the statistical methods used in previous studies [1-4, 6] to our data, we show that such sample-specific DNA methylation may underlie the previous findings of queen- and worker-specific methylation. We argue that there is currently no evidence that genome-wide variation in DNA methylation is associated with the queen and worker castes in social insects, and we call for a more careful interpretation of the available data.

Bidirectional relationship between the Body Mass Index and Substance Use in Young Men

BACKGROUND: Obesity and substance use are major concern in young people. This study explored the bidirectional longitudinal relationships between the body mass index (BMI) of young men and their use of: 1) four classes of non-medical prescription drugs; 2) alcohol; 3) tobacco; and 4) cannabis. METHODS: Baseline and follow-up data from the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors were used (n=5,007). A cross-lagged panel model, complemented by probit models as sensitivity analysis, was run to determine the bidirectional relationships between BMI and substance use. Alcohol was assessed using risky single-occasion drinking (RSOD); tobacco, using daily smoking; and cannabis, using hazardous cannabis use (defined as twice-weekly or more cannabis use). Non-medical prescription drugs use (NMPDU) included opioid analgesics, sedatives/sleeping pills, anxiolytics and stimulants. RESULTS: Different associations were found between BMI and substance use. Only RSOD (β= -.053, p=.005) and NMPDU of anxiolytics (β=.040, p=.020) at baseline significantly predicted BMI at follow-up. Baseline RSOD predicted a lower BMI at follow-up while baseline NMPDU of anxiolytics predicted higher BMI at follow-up. Furthermore, BMI at baseline significantly predicted daily smoking (β=.050, p=.007) and hazardous cannabis use (β=.058, p=.030). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest different associations between BMI and the use of various substances by young men. However, only RSOD and NMPDU of anxiolytics predicted BMI, whereas BMI predicted daily smoking and hazardous cannabis use.

Barn owl feathers as biomonitors of mercury: sources of variation in sampling procedures.

Given their central role in mercury (Hg) excretion and suitability as reservoirs, bird feathers are useful Hg biomonitors. Nevertheless, the interpretation of Hg concentrations is still questioned as a result of a poor knowledge of feather physiology and mechanisms affecting Hg deposition. Given the constraints of feather availability to ecotoxicological studies, we tested the effect of intra-individual differences in Hg concentrations according to feather type (body vs. flight feathers), position in the wing and size (mass and length) in order to understand how these factors could affect Hg estimates. We measured Hg concentration of 154 feathers from 28 un-moulted barn owls (Tyto alba), collected dead on roadsides. Median Hg concentration was 0.45 (0.076-4.5) mg kg(-1) in body feathers, 0.44 (0.040-4.9) mg kg(-1) in primary and 0.60 (0.042-4.7) mg kg(-1) in secondary feathers, and we found a poor effect of feather type on intra-individual Hg levels. We also found a negative effect of wing feather mass on Hg concentration but not of feather length and of its position in the wing. We hypothesize that differences in feather growth rate may be the main driver of between-feather differences in Hg concentrations, which can have implications in the interpretation of Hg concentrations in feathers. Finally, we recommend that, whenever possible, several feathers from the same individual should be analysed. The five innermost primaries have lowest mean deviations to both between-feather and intra-individual mean Hg concentration and thus should be selected under restrictive sampling scenarios.

Different Plasma Markers of Inflammation Are Influenced by Immune Recovery and cART Composition or Intensification in Treated HIV Infected Individuals

Abstract Background HIV-1 infection increases plasma levels of inflammatory markers. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) does not restore inflammatory markers to normal levels. Since intensification of cART with raltegravir reduced CD8 T-cell activation in the Discor-Ral and IntegRal studies, we have evaluated the effect of raltegravir intensification on several soluble inflammation markers in these studies. Methods Longitudinal plasma samples (0–48 weeks) from the IntegRal (n = 67, 22 control and 45 intensified individuals) and the Discor-Ral studies (44 individuals with CD4 T-cell counts<350 cells/µl, 14 control and 30 intensified) were assayed for 25 markers. Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, Spearman test and linear mixed models were used for analysis. Results At baseline, different inflammatory markers were strongly associated with HCV co-infection, lower CD4 counts and with cART regimens (being higher in PI-treated individuals), but poorly correlated with detection of markers of residual viral replication. Although raltegravir intensification reduced inflammation in individuals with lower CD4 T-cell counts, no effect of intensification was observed on plasma markers of inflammation in a global analysis. An association was found, however, between reductions in immune activation and plasma levels of the coagulation marker D-dimer, which exclusively decreased in intensified patients on protease inhibitor (PI)-based cART regimens (P = 0.040). Conclusions The inflammatory profile in treated HIV-infected individuals showed a complex association with HCV co-infection, the levels of CD4 T cells and the cART regimen. Raltegravir intensification specifically reduced D-dimer levels in PI-treated patients, highlighting the link between cART composition and residual viral replication; however, raltegravir had little effect on other inflammatory markers.

OXIDACIÓN ELECTROQUÍMICA DE LAMBDACIALOTRINA SOBRE ELECTRODOS DE PBO2-BI

The electrochemical oxidation of lambdacyhalotrin in a triton X-100 water solution on a PbO2-Bi electrode has been studied. It was discovered that electrocatalytic degradation proceeded through the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism. The Langmuir adsorption equilibrium constant of the organic compound on the PbO2-Bi surface (0.67 (±0.02) mg-1L) and the L-H maximum reaction rate for lambdacyhalotrin oxidation (0.040 (±0.002) mg L-1 min-1) was also determined on the basis of kinetic data. Oxidation/mineralization was tested at electrode potential higher than 2.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl, in this conditions the higher degradation percent of 85 (±4) % has been obtained.

Photoelectrocatalytical degradation of basic blue 41 dye using nanoporous semiconductor of Ti/TiO2

O presente trabalho investiga a degradação fotoeletrocatalítica do corante Azul Básico 41 (AB 41) amplamente utilizado na tintura de fibras sintéticas, utilizando um semicondutor Ti/TiO2 como fotoanodo. 100% de degradação foi obtida após 60 min de tratamento de 8,33x10-5 mol L-1 do corante em 0,1 mol L−1 Na2SO4, pH 2 sob densidade de corrente de 0,40 mA cm−2 e irradiação UV. Ainda foi obtido 80% de remoção de carbono orgânico total, cuja oxidação segue uma reação de pseudo-primeira ordem com constante de velocidade inicial de -0,040 mim-1 e uma eficiência de corrente de 51%. Os resultados são superiores á fotocatálise convencional nas mesmas condições sem a polarização do fotoanodo que leva a 65% de mineralização sob constante de velocidade de -0,024 mim-1.