Evaluation of serum trace element, biochemical and hematological data of a healthy elderly group residing in So Paulo city, Brazil

In this study, blood serum trace elements, biochemical and hematological parameters were obtained to assess the health status of an elderly population residing in So Paulo city, SP, Brazil. Results obtained showed that more than 93% of the studied individuals presented most of the serum trace element concentrations and of the hematological and biochemical data within the reference values used in clinical laboratories. However, the percentage of elderly presenting recommended low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations was low (70%). The study indicated positive correlation between the concentrations of Zn and LDL-cholesterol (p < 0.06).

Analyzing the connectivity between regions of interest: An approach based on cluster Granger causality for NRI data analysis

The identification, modeling, and analysis of interactions between nodes of neural systems in the human brain have become the aim of interest of many studies in neuroscience. The complex neural network structure and its correlations with brain functions have played a role in all areas of neuroscience, including the comprehension of cognitive and emotional processing. Indeed, understanding how information is stored, retrieved, processed, and transmitted is one of the ultimate challenges in brain research. In this context, in functional neuroimaging, connectivity analysis is a major tool for the exploration and characterization of the information flow between specialized brain regions. In most functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, connectivity analysis is carried out by first selecting regions of interest (ROI) and then calculating an average BOLD time series (across the voxels in each cluster). Some studies have shown that the average may not be a good choice and have suggested, as an alternative, the use of principal component analysis (PCA) to extract the principal eigen-time series from the ROI(s). In this paper, we introduce a novel approach called cluster Granger analysis (CGA) to study connectivity between ROIs. The main aim of this method was to employ multiple eigen-time series in each ROI to avoid temporal information loss during identification of Granger causality. Such information loss is inherent in averaging (e.g., to yield a single ""representative"" time series per ROI). This, in turn, may lead to a lack of power in detecting connections. The proposed approach is based on multivariate statistical analysis and integrates PCA and partial canonical correlation in a framework of Granger causality for clusters (sets) of time series. We also describe an algorithm for statistical significance testing based on bootstrapping. By using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the proposed approach outperforms conventional Granger causality analysis (i.e., using representative time series extracted by signal averaging or first principal components estimation from ROIs). The usefulness of the CGA approach in real fMRI data is illustrated in an experiment using human faces expressing emotions. With this data set, the proposed approach suggested the presence of significantly more connections between the ROIs than were detected using a single representative time series in each ROI. (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The gene for albicidin detoxification from Pantoea dispersa encodes an esterase and attenuates pathogenicity of Xanthomonas albilineans to sugarcane

Albicidin phytotoxins are pathogenicity factors in a devastating disease of sugarcane known as leaf scald, caused by Xanthomonas albilineans. A gene (albD) from Pantoea dispersa has been cloned and sequenced and been shown to code for a peptide of 235 amino acids that detoxifies albicidin, The gene shows no significant homology at the DNA or protein level to any known sequence, but the gene product contains a GxSxG motif that is conserved in serine hydrolases, The AlbD protein, purified to homogeneity by means of a glutathione S-transferase gene fusion system, showed strong esterase activity on p-nitrophenyl butyrate and released hydrophilic products during detoxification of albicidins. AlbD hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate and detoxification of albicidins required no complex cofactors, Both processes were strongly inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, a serine enzyme inhibitor, These data strongly suggest that AlbD is an albicidin hydrolase, The enzyme detoxifies albicidins efficiently over a pH range from 5.8 to 8.0, with a broad temperature optimum from 15 to 35 degrees C, Expression of albD in transformed X. albilineans strains abolished the capacity to release albicidin toxins and to incite disease symptoms in sugarcane, The gene is a promising candidate for transfer into sugarcane to confer a form of disease resistance.

The impact of functional connectivity changes on support vector machines mapping of fMRI data

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is currently one of the most widely used methods for studying human brain function in vivo. Although many different approaches to fMRI analysis are available, the most widely used methods employ so called ""mass-univariate"" modeling of responses in a voxel-by-voxel fashion to construct activation maps. However, it is well known that many brain processes involve networks of interacting regions and for this reason multivariate analyses might seem to be attractive alternatives to univariate approaches. The current paper focuses on one multivariate application of statistical learning theory: the statistical discrimination maps (SDM) based on support vector machine, and seeks to establish some possible interpretations when the results differ from univariate `approaches. In fact, when there are changes not only on the activation level of two conditions but also on functional connectivity, SDM seems more informative. We addressed this question using both simulations and applications to real data. We have shown that the combined use of univariate approaches and SDM yields significant new insights into brain activations not available using univariate methods alone. In the application to a visual working memory fMRI data, we demonstrated that the interaction among brain regions play a role in SDM`s power to detect discriminative voxels. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimating correlations from epidemiological data in the presence of measurement error

Analysis of a major multi-site epidemiologic study of heart disease has required estimation of the pairwise correlation of several measurements across sub-populations. Because the measurements from each sub-population were subject to sampling variability, the Pearson product moment estimator of these correlations produces biased estimates. This paper proposes a model that takes into account within and between sub-population variation, provides algorithms for obtaining maximum likelihood estimates of these correlations and discusses several approaches for obtaining interval estimates. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Inactivation of a c-Myb/estrogen receptor fusion protein in transformed primary cells leads to granulocyte/macrophage differentiation and down regulation of c-kit but not c-myc or cdc2

Primary murine fetal hemopoietic cells were transformed with a fusion protein consisting of the ligand-binding domain of the estrogen receptor and a carboxyl-terminally truncated c-Myb protein (ERMYB), The ERMYB-transformed hemopoietic cells exhibit an immature myeloid phenotype when grown in the presence of beta-estradiol. Upon removal of beta-estradiol, the ERMYB cells display increased adherence, decreased clonogenicity and differentiate to cells exhibiting granulocyte or macrophage morphology, The expression of the c-myc, c-kit, cdc2 and bcl-2 genes, which are putatively regulated by Myb, was investigated in ERMYB cells grown in the presence or absence of beta-estradiol. Neither c-myc nor cdc2 expression was down-regulated after removal of beta-estradiol demonstrating that differentiation is not a consequence of decreased transactivation of these genes by ERMYB. While bcl-2 expression was reduced by 50% in ERMYB cells grown in the absence of beta-estradiol, there was no increase in DNA laddering, suggesting that Myb was not protecting ERMYB cells from apoptosis, In contrast, a substantial (200-fold) decrease in c-kit mRNA level was observed following differentiation of ERMYB cells, and c-kit mRNA could be partially re-induced by the re-addition of beta-estradiol. Furthermore, a reporter construct containing the c-kit promoter was activated when cotransfected with a Myb expression vector, providing further evidence of a role for Myb in the regulation of c-kit.

The GHEP-EMPOP collaboration on mtDNA population data-A new resource for forensic casework

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) population data for forensic purposes are still scarce for some populations, which may limit the evaluation of forensic evidence especially when the rarity of a haplotype needs to be determined in a database search. In order to improve the collection of mtDNA lineages from the Iberian and South American subcontinents, we here report the results of a collaborative study involving nine laboratories from the Spanish and Portuguese Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (GHEP-ISFG) and EMPOP. The individual laboratories contributed population data that were generated throughout the past 10 years, but in the majority of cases have not been made available to the scientific community. A total of 1019 haplotypes from Iberia (Basque Country, 2 general Spanish populations, 2 North and 1 Central Portugal populations), and Latin America (3 populations from Sao Paulo) were collected, reviewed and harmonized according to defined EMPOP criteria. The majority of data ambiguities that were found during the reviewing process (41 in total) were transcription errors confirming that the documentation process is still the most error-prone stage in reporting mtDNA population data, especially when performed manually. This GHEP-EMPOP collaboration has significantly improved the quality of the individual mtDNA datasets and adds mtDNA population data as valuable resource to the EMPOP database (www.empop.org). (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identification of FAM46D as a novel cancer/testis antigen using EST data and serological analysis

Cancer/testis Antigens (CTAs) are immunogenic proteins with a restricted expression pattern in normal tissues and aberrant expression in different types of tumors being considered promising candidates for immunotherapy. We used the alignment between EST sequences and the human genome sequence to identify novel CT genes. By examining the EST tissue composition of known CT clusters we defined parameters for the selection of 1184 EST clusters corresponding to putative CT genes. The expression pattern of 70 CT gene candidates was evaluated by RT-PCR in 21 normal tissues, 17 tumor cell lines and 160 primary tumors. We were able to identify 4 CT genes expressed in different types of tumors. The presence of antibodies against the protein encoded by 1 of these 4 CT genes (FAM46D) was exclusively detected in plasma samples from cancer patients. Due to its restricted expression pattern and immunogenicity FAM46D represents a novel target for cancer immunotherapy. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An examination of male and female odds ratios by BMI, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption for cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx in pooled data from 15 case-control studies

Greater tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption and lower body mass index (BMI) increase odds ratios (OR) for oral cavity, oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal, and laryngeal cancers; however, there are no comprehensive sex-specific comparisons of ORs for these factors. We analyzed 2,441 oral cavity (925 women and 1,516 men), 2,297 oropharynx (564 women and 1,733 men), 508 hypopharynx (96 women and 412 men), and 1,740 larynx (237 women and 1,503 men) cases from the INHANCE consortium of 15 head and neck cancer case-control studies. Controls numbered from 7,604 to 13,829 subjects, depending on analysis. Analyses fitted linear-exponential excess ORs models. ORs were increased in underweight (< 18.5 BMI) relative to normal weight (18.5-24.9) and reduced in overweight and obese categories (a parts per thousand yen25 BMI) for all sites and were homogeneous by sex. ORs by smoking and drinking in women compared with men were significantly greater for oropharyngeal cancer (p < 0.01 for both factors), suggestive for hypopharyngeal cancer (p = 0.05 and p = 0.06, respectively), but homogeneous for oral cavity (p = 0.56 and p = 0.64) and laryngeal (p = 0.18 and p = 0.72) cancers. The extent that OR modifications of smoking and drinking by sex for oropharyngeal and, possibly, hypopharyngeal cancers represent true associations, or derive from unmeasured confounders or unobserved sex-related disease subtypes (e.g., human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal cancer) remains to be clarified.

Prevalence of cannabis use in Brazil: Data from the I Brazilian National Alcohol Survey (BNAS)

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of cannabis use in the last 12 months in the Brazilian population and to examine its association with individual and geographic characteristics. Design: Cross-sectional survey with a national probabilistic sample. Participants: 3006 individuals aged 14 to 65 years. Measurements: Questionnaire based on well established instruments, adapted to the Brazilian population. Findings: The 12-month prevalence of cannabis use was 2.1% (95%Cl 1.3-2.9). Male gender, better educational level, unemployment and living in the regions South and Southeast were independently associated with higher 12-month prevalence of cannabis use. Conclusion: While the prevalence of cannabis use in Brazil is lower than in many countries, the profile of those who are more likely to have used it is similar. Educational and prevention policies should be focused on specific population groups. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioral disturbances in Noonan Syndrome: Brazilian preliminary data

Different from other countries Of Europe and North American, studies about the behavioral profile of Noonan syndrome`s patients are inexistent. The objective of this study was to report the profiles of behavioral functions of 10 participants (4 females and 6 males), with mutations in the PTPN11 gene. For this assessment it was used the Inventory of Behaviors of Children and Adolescents from 6 to 18 years (CBCL/6-18) and the Inventory of Auto-Evaluation for Adults from 18 to 59 years (ASR). The main results point that in Adaptive Functioning Scale all the participants were in the normality range. In the Syndrome Scale the adult participants were in normality range and the children were in clinical range to the sub-scales anxious/depressed, somatic complaints and aggressive behavior. In the DSM-Oriented Scale, 25% of the adult patients were in the borderline clinical range and clinical range, respectively, for Avoidant Personality Problems and Antisocial Personality Problems. About the both children in this scale were in the clinical range of Affective Problems and Anxiety Problems. This relatively homogenous sample, regarding the PTPN11 gene, shows a normal adult behavioral profile, on the average. However, the individual children anti adult profiles show diverse internalizing and externalizing behavioral disturbances.