Genes, peoples, and languages

The genetic history of a group of populations is usually analyzed by reconstructing a tree of their origins. Reliability of the reconstruction depends on the validity of the hypothesis that genetic differentiation of the populations is mostly due to population fissions followed by independent evolution. If necessary, adjustment for major population admixtures can be made. Dating the fissions requires comparisons with paleoanthropological and paleontological dates, which are few and uncertain. A method of absolute genetic dating recently introduced uses mutation rates as molecular clocks; it was applied to human evolution using microsatellites, which have a sufficiently high mutation rate. Results are comparable with those of other methods and agree with a recent expansion of modern humans from Africa. An alternative method of analysis, useful when there is adequate geographic coverage of regions, is the geographic study of frequencies of alleles or haplotypes. As in the case of trees, it is necessary to summarize data from many loci for conclusions to be acceptable. Results must be independent from the loci used. Multivariate analyses like principal components or multidimensional scaling reveal a number of hidden patterns and evaluate their relative importance. Most patterns found in the analysis of human living populations are likely to be consequences of demographic expansions, determined by technological developments affecting food availability, transportation, or military power. During such expansions, both genes and languages are spread to potentially vast areas. In principle, this tends to create a correlation between the respective evolutionary trees. The correlation is usually positive and often remarkably high. It can be decreased or hidden by phenomena of language replacement and also of gene replacement, usually partial, due to gene flow.

Progression of human breast cancers to the metastatic state is linked to hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage.

Hydroxyl radical damage in metastatic tumor DNA was elucidated in women with breast cancer, and a comparison was made with nonmetastatic tumor DNA. The damage was identified by using statistical models of modified base and Fourier transform-infrared spectral data. The modified base models revealed a greater than 2-fold increase in hydroxyl radical damage in the metastatic tumor DNA compared with the nonmetastatic tumor DNA. The metastatic tumor DNA also exhibited substantially greater base diversity than the nonmetastatic DNA, and a progression of radical-induced base damage was found to be associated with the growth of metastatic tumors. A three-dimensional plot of principal components from factor analysis, derived from infrared spectral data, also showed that the metastatic tumor DNA was substantially more diverse than the tightly grouped nonmetastatic tumor DNA. These cohesive, independently derived findings suggest that the hydroxyl radical generates DNA phenotypes with various metastatic potentials that likely contribute to the diverse physiological properties and heterogeneity characteristic of metastatic cell populations.

Zebrafish como organismo-modelo para análises de efeitos comportamentais e toxicológicas da cetamina empregando cromatografia em fase gasosa e estatística multivariada

A cetamina é uma droga amplamente utilizada e o seu uso inadequado tem sido associado à graves consequências para a saúde humana. Embora as propriedades farmacológicas deste agente em doses terapêuticas sejam bem conhecidas, existem poucos estudos sobre os efeitos secundários induzidos por doses não-terapêuticas, incluindo os efeitos nos estados de ansiedade e agressividade. Neste contexto, os modelos animais são uma etapa importante na investigação e elucidação do mecanismo de ação a nível comportamental. O zebrafish (Danio rerio) é um novo organismo-modelo, interessante e promissor, uma vez que apresenta alta similaridade fisiológica, genética e neuroquímica com seres humanos, respostas comportamentais bem definidas e rápida absorção de compostos de interesse em meio aquoso além de apresentar uma série de vantagens em relação aos modelos mamíferos tais como manutenção de baixo custo, prática e executável em espaços reduzidos. Nesse sentido, faz-se necessário a execução de ensaios comportamentais em conjunto com análises estatísticas robustas e rápidas tais como ANOVA e Métodos Multivariados; e também o desenvolvimento de métodos analíticos sensíveis, precisos e rápidos para determinação de compostos de interesse em matrizes biológicas provenientes do animal. Os objetivos do presente trabalho foram a investigação dos efeitos da cetamina sobre a ansiedade e a agressividade em zebrafish adulto empregando Testes de Claro-Escuro e Testes do Espelho e métodos estatísticos univariados (ANOVA) e multivariados (PCA, HCA e SIMCA) assim como o desenvolvimento de método analítico para determinação da cetamina em matriz biológica proveniente do animal, empregando Extração Líquido-Líquido e Cromatografia em Fase Gasosa acoplada ao Detector de Nitrogênio-Fósforo (GC-NPD). Os resultados comportamentais indicaram que a cetamina produziu um efeito significativo dose-dependente em zebrafish adulto na latência à área clara, no número de cruzamentos entre as áreas e no tempo de exploração da área clara. Os resultados das análises SIMCA e PCA mostraram uma maior similaridade entre o grupo controle e os grupos de tratamento expostos às doses mais baixas (5 e 20 mg L-1) e entre os grupos expostos às doses de 40 e 60 mg L-1. Na análise por PCA, dois componentes principais responderam por 88,74% de toda a informação do sistema, sendo que 62,59% da informação cumulativa do sistema foi descrito pela primeira componente principal. As classificações HCA e SIMCA seguiram uma evolução lógica na distribuição das amostras por classes. As doses mais altas de cetamina induziram uma distribuição mais homogênea das amostras enquanto as doses mais baixas e o controle resultaram em distribuições mais dispersas. No Teste do Espelho, a cetamina não induziu efeitos significativos no comportamento dos animais. Estes resultados sugerem que a cetamina é modulador de comportamentos ansiosos, sem efeitos indutores de agressividade. Os resultados da validação do método cromatográfico indicaram uma extração com valores de recuperação entre 33,65% e 70,89%. A curva de calibração foi linear com valor de R2 superior a 0,99. O limite de detecção (LOD) foi de 1 ng e o limite de quantificação (LOQ) foi de 5 ng. A exatidão do método cromatográfico manteve-se entre - 24,83% e - 1,258%, a precisão intra-ensaio entre 2,67 e 14,5% e a precisão inter-ensaio entre 1,93 e 13,9%.

Metabolismo secundário e ligninas de espécies de Piper

O estudo químico das folhas e dos frutos de P. richardiaefolium resultou no isolamento de oito lignanas, sendo duas lignanas furofurânicas (sesamina e kobusina), quatro lignanas dibenzilbutirolactônicas (hinokinina, kusunokinina, arctigenina e haplomirfolina), duas lignanas dibenzilbutirolactólicas (cubebina e 3,4- dimetoxi-3,4-desmetilenodioxicubebina), dois cinamatos de bornila (ferulato de bornila e cumarato de bornila) e na identificação de duas amidas (piplartina e diidropiplartina). Das folhas de P. richardiaefolium foi extraído e analisado o óleo volátil. As estruturas das substâncias isoladas foram identificadas através de métodos espectroscópicos (RMN de 1H e de 13C e espectrometria de massas). O estudo de análise de componentes principais (PCA) das espécies Piper (P. truncatum - k 616, P. richardiaefolium - k 290, P. richardiaefolium - k 350, P. richardiaefolium - k 593, P. truncatum - k 597, P. pseudopotifolium - k 598, P. richardiaefolium - k 854, P. richardiaefolium - k 610, P. truncatum - k 112, P. pseudopotifolium - k 211 e P. cernuum - k 137) permitiu agrupar as espécies em dois grandes grupos e quatro subgrupos em relação à similaridade entre elas. Ligninas do caule de seis espécies de Piper foram extraídas utilizando o método de degradação de Klason e método de Bjorkman, e analisadas por métodos espectroscópicos (IV, RMN de 1H e de 13C). O método de degradação por oxidação por nitrobenzeno foi o escolhido para determinar a relação entre os monolignóis siringila e guaiacila. Os principais metabólitos das espécies estudadas foram comparados com os tipos de ligninas das mesmas espécies e os resultados sugeriram uma independência entre as vias biossintéticas de ligninas e lignanas.

Human Motion Analysis Based on Sequential Modeling of Radar Signal and Stereo Image Features

Falls are one of the greatest threats to elderly health in their daily living routines and activities. Therefore, it is very important to detect falls of an elderly in a timely and accurate manner, so that immediate response and proper care can be provided, by sending fall alarms to caregivers. Radar is an effective non-intrusive sensing modality which is well suited for this purpose, which can detect human motions in all types of environments, penetrate walls and fabrics, preserve privacy, and is insensitive to lighting conditions. Micro-Doppler features are utilized in radar signal corresponding to human body motions and gait to detect falls using a narrowband pulse-Doppler radar. Human motions cause time-varying Doppler signatures, which are analyzed using time-frequency representations and matching pursuit decomposition (MPD) for feature extraction and fall detection. The extracted features include MPD features and the principal components of the time-frequency signal representations. To analyze the sequential characteristics of typical falls, the extracted features are used for training and testing hidden Markov models (HMM) in different falling scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm and method achieve fast and accurate fall detections. The risk of falls increases sharply when the elderly or patients try to exit beds. Thus, if a bed exit can be detected at an early stage of this motion, the related injuries can be prevented with a high probability. To detect bed exit for fall prevention, the trajectory of head movements is used for recognize such human motion. A head detector is trained using the histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features of the head and shoulder areas from recorded bed exit images. A data association algorithm is applied on the head detection results to eliminate head detection false alarms. Then the three dimensional (3D) head trajectories are constructed by matching scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) keypoints in the detected head areas from both the left and right stereo images. The extracted 3D head trajectories are used for training and testing an HMM based classifier for recognizing bed exit activities. The results of the classifier are presented and discussed in the thesis, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed stereo vision based bed exit detection approach.

Temperamento divergente em bovinos está associado à alteração no amaciamento de carne e atividade inibitória de calpastatina

Embora muitos avanços tenham ocorrido no entendimento dos fatores que afetam a maciez, a incidência de carne dura ainda é significativa. Animais mais reativos apresentam carnes mais duras, porém o mecanismo que determina este efeito ainda não foi estabelecido. Presume-se que o maior estresse nos animais reativos aumente a atividade de calpastatina afetando o amaciamento post mortem. Com objetivo de testar esta hipótese, foram avaliadas correlações da força de cisalhamento (FC), temperamento e temperatura corporal obtida de noventa e seis novilhos Nelore castrados, com cerca de 20 meses de idade. O temperamento foi baseado nas variáveis velocidade de fuga (VF) e escore de tronco (ET) avaliadas 3 - 4 semanas antes do abate (Manejo 1) e 2 dias pré-abate (Manejo 2). A análise de componentes principais com as variáveis de temperamento obtidas em ambos os manejos resultou em dois índices: índice de temperamento (IT) e índice de habituação (IH). Estes índices apresentaram maior correlação com a FC do que a VF. O IH apresentou correlação negativa e positiva com FC e pH (P < 0,05), respectivamente. A temperatura retal foi positivamente correlacionada com IT e negativamente com FC. A termografia infravermelho de várias regiões corporais apresentou correlações baixas com IT ou FC. Dois grupos divergentes quanto à FC (extremos da população para FC), cada qual com 6 novilhos, foram comparados para variáveis de temperamento, expressão dos genes CAPN1, CAST, CAST1 e CAST2, e características de carne. O grupo de alta FC (AFC) apresentou maior (P< 0,05) VF, ET, IT e índice de temperamento com base na média da VF e ET (ITM). Os grupos de AFC e baixa FC (BFC) não diferiram (P > 0,05) para comprimento de sarcômero e pH final, mas tiveram diferenças no amaciamento post mortem, com diferenças em maciez que persistiram em todos os tempos de maturação (2, 16 e 30 dias post mortem; P < 0,05). O grupo AFC apresentou maior atividade inibitória de calpastatina total 48 h post mortem medida no M. triceps brachii (P < 0,05), embora diferenças não tenham sido observadas no M. longissimus lumborum (P > 0,05). No entanto, o grupo AFC teve no M. longissimus maior expressão de CAST do que o grupo de BFC (P < 0,05). Em conclusão, temperamentos divergentes têm impacto na atividade de calpastatina que influência o amaciamento post mortem.

Fiabilidad y validez de la versión española de una escala de autoeficacia en la lactancia materna

Objetivo: El objetivo de este trabajo es validar lingüísticamente la Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (BSES-SF) al español y determinar sus características psicométricas. Personas y método: Estudio instrumental que se llevó a cabo en dos hospitales de la provincia de Alicante. Tras los procedimientos de traducción y retrotraducción, una muestra accidental de 150 madres lactantes cumplimentaron, a las 48 horas del parto y aún hospitalizadas, la versión española de la BSES-SF y un cuestionario con variables sociodemográficas, obstétricas y sobre el estatus de lactancia materna (LM) al alta. A las 6 semanas posparto se obtuvieron, nuevamente, datos sobre el estatus de LM mediante una encuesta telefónica. Resultados: El coeficiente alfa de Cronbach fue de 0,79. Las mujeres con experiencia previa y con experiencia previa muy positiva en LM, con puntuaciones más altas en el ítem global de autoeficacia y con más hijos, tuvieron mayores puntuaciones en la versión española de la BSES-SF. Dos de los ítems (9 y 10) de la versión española presentaron correlaciones ítems-test corregidas <0,30, y saturaron por debajo de 0,30 al forzar la extracción a un factor en el análisis de componentes principales. Las puntuaciones de la escala al alta hospitalaria no guardaron relación con el estatus de LM a las 6 semanas posparto. Conclusiones: El instrumento muestra aceptables evidencias de fiabilidad y validez, aunque dos de los ítems deberían ser revisados.

Global color estimation of special-effect coatings from measurements by commercially available portable multiangle spectrophotometers

Colors of special-effect coatings have strong dependence on illumination/viewing geometry and an appealing appearance. An open question is to ask about the minimum number of measurement geometries required to completely characterize their observed color shift. A recently published principal components analysis (PCA)-based procedure to estimate the color of special-effect coatings at any geometry from measurements at a reduced set of geometries was tested in this work by using the measurement geometries of commercial portable multiangle spectrophotometers X-Rite MA98, Datacolor FX10, and BYK-mac as reduced sets. The performance of the proposed PCA procedure for the color-shift estimation for these commercial geometries has been examined for 15 special-effect coatings. Our results suggest that for rendering the color appearance of 3D objects covered with special-effect coatings, the color accuracy obtained with this procedure may be sufficient. This is the case especially if geometries of X-Rite MA98 or Datacolor FX10 are used.

Validación del Cuestionario de evaluación de la calidad de cursos virtuales adaptado a MOOC

Los Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) son una modalidad de formación virtual que está ya presente en el panorama educativo actual y que responde a una concepción determinada de e-learning. Las universidades están integrando como parte de su oferta formativa este tipo de formación o, al menos, se está debatiendo si se integra o no. Ante esto, se hace necesario calibrar cuáles deben ser sus características con el fin de configurar un tipo de formación virtual de calidad. Se considera que son necesarios instrumentos que avalen la calidad de los MOOC desde diferentes perspectivas, en este caso la pedagógica, ya que de ello dependerá el éxito y la consolidación de este tipo de e-learning. El objetivo del presente estudio ha sido, pues, validar un cuestionario para la evaluación pedagógica de los MOOC adaptando el cuestionario de evaluación de cursos virtuales (Arias, 2007). Se ha analizado la validez y fiabilidad de dicho cuestionario a través de un análisis factorial de componentes principales con rotación Varimax. Se concluye que bastaría con introducir adaptaciones en la relación de dimensiones propuestas en este cuestionario que tuviera en cuenta las especificidades de los MOOC, ya que estos no pueden analizarse única y exclusivamente desde la óptica general del e-learning anterior a los MOOC. Así, las dimensiones en las cuales se basa dicho cuestionario son: 1) la calidad de la comunicación y los elementos multimedia de los cursos masivos en línea; 2) la coherencia curricular de los cursos y el grado de adaptación al usuario y 3) la calidad de su planificación didáctica.

The changing landscape of financial markets in Europe, the United States and Japan. Bruegel Working Paper 2013/02, 18 March 2013

We compare the structure of the financial sectors of the EU27, Japan and the United States, looking at a set of 23 indicators. We find a large variation within the European Union in the structure of the financial sector. Using principal components analysis, we identify robust groups of EU countries. One group consists of the eastern European members that entered the EU more recently.These have substantially smaller financial sectors than the old member states. A second group can be classified as market-based (MBEU) and the third group is more bank-based (BBEU). We compare US, MBEU, BBEU, Eastern EU and Japan with the following main results. First, the groups within Europe are geographically related. Second, in many indicators, MBEU countries are closer to the (market-based) US, while BBEU countries more closely resemble Japan. Paradoxically, however, market-based EU countries also have large banking sectors. Banks in market-based countries have larger cross-border assets and liabilities, and derive a larger fraction of their income from fees, rather than interest income, than banks in bank-based countries. Finally, for most indicators, the ordering of groups of countries is quite stable over time, but while the crisis has had no impact on the relative ordering of the groups, it has slightly widened the gap between the US and all EU regions insome respects. We also find that during the crisis, substitution between market-based and bank-based sources of finance occurred in the US, and to a lesser extent in MBEU and BBEU countries.

The Portuguese Version of the Placental Paradigm Questionnaire at the Third Trimester of Pregnancy

The purpose of this article is to present the adaptation and factorial validation of the Placental Paradigm Questionnaire (PPQ) for the Portuguese population. Method: The original PPQ was translated into Portuguese (designated as ‘Questionário do Paradigma Placentário’, QPP) and then back-translated into English; the Portuguese and the back-translated versions were evaluated by a panel of experts. The participants were 189 pregnant Portuguese women, interviewed twice while waiting for sonogram examinations. At first, between 20 and 24 weeks of gestation, an Informed Consent was obtained as well as sociodemographic information. Between 28 and 36 weeks of gestation, participants answered the QPP. Results: The principal components analysis showed items to load mainly on two factors: in factor one, loads ranged between .778 and .522, while in factor 2, loads ranged between .658 and .421. Accordingly, two subscales of prenatal maternal orientation to motherhood were considered: (1) Facilitator Factor (α = .815) and Regulator Factor (α = .770). Conclusion: Overall, these data suggest that the Portuguese version of the QPP is a reliable and valid measure for the assessment of prenatal orientation for motherhood. In the future, QPP measurements will allow to relate maternal orientation to motherhood with other variables of psychic organisation in pregnancy and after birth.

ECB Policy and Eurozone Fragility: Was De Grauwe Right? CEPS Working Document No. 397, June 2014

Paul De Grauwe’s fragility hypothesis states that member countries of a monetary union such as the eurozone are highly vulnerable to a self-fulfilling mechanism by which the efforts of investors to avoid losses from default can end up triggering the very default they fear. The authors test this hypothesis by applying an eclectic methodology to a time window around Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes” (to keep the eurozone on firm footing) pledge on 26 July 2012. This pledge was soon followed by the announcement of the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme (the prospective and conditional purchase by the European Central Bank of sovereign bonds of eurozone countries having difficulty issuing debt). The principal components of eurozone credit default swap spreads validate this choice of time frame. An event study reveals significant pre announcement contagion emanating from Spain to Italy, Belgium, France and Austria. Furthermore, time-series regression confirms frequent clusters of large shocks affecting the credit default swap spreads of the four eurozone countries but solely during the pre-announcement period. The findings of this report support the fragility hypothesis for the eurozone and endorse the Outright Monetary Transactions programme.

(Table 1) Porosity, particle diameter, ATP content and carbon and nitrogen composition of ODP Site 164-994 sediments

Sediment samples were obtained for detailed Adenosine 5'-Triphosphate (ATP) analysis down to 57.8 m below the seafloor (mbsf). The samples were also analyzed for particle-size distribution, calcium carbonate (CaCO3), organic carbon, and total nitrogen. The concentrations of ATP ranged between 360 and 7050 pg/g (dry weight sediment), which agree well with a limited number of direct bacteria counts. Principal component analyses show that 63% of the total variance can be accounted for by the first two principal components. The concentration of ATP (bacterial numbers by inference) is virtually independent of the concentration of sedimentary organic carbon, but correlates with CaCO3 and coarse particles.

Latitudinal variation in the planktic foraminifer Contusotruncana contusa in the terminal Cretaceous ocean

The morphological variability (coiling properties, size and shape) of the planktic foraminifer Contusortuncana contusa (Cushman) in the terminal Cretaceous ocean was examined at eight deep-sea sites and two continental sections from low (16°) to middle (42°) paleolatitudes in both hemispheres. The material used in this study includes samples from the South Atlantic (DSDP Sites 356, 527 and 525A), North Atlantic (Sites 384 and 548A), Indian and Pacific Oceans (DSDP Site 465A and ODP Sites 761C and 762C) and Tethyan Ocean (outcrop sections from El-Kef and Caravaca). On average 45 specimens from two samples per location were analysed, from an interval corresponding approximately to the last 60 kyr of the Cretaceous. No differences in coiling direction (dextral proportions were > 90% in all samples), percentage of kummerform specimens (usually > 50%) and number of chambers in the last whorl (4-5) were observed between the sites. Both test size (expressed as spiral outline area and test volume) and total number of chambers increase significantly towards lower latitudes. Similarly, test conicity, examined by shape coordinate and eigenshape methods, and angularity of the spiral outline show a rather continuous, slight increase towards lower latitudes. Kummerform specimens of C. contusa were slightly larger and more conical than normalforms and possessed substantially more chambers (both totally and in the last whorl). A principal components analysis of the sample means of five variables describing size and shape clearly distinguished high-latitude sites (525A, 527, 548A, 761C and 762C) from low-latitude sites (384, 465A, Caravaca and El-Kef). Specimens from Site 356 are transitional with respect to those two groups. The results indicate: (1) considerable morphological variation in C. contusa during the terminal Cretaceous comparable to that known in many Recent planktic foraminiferal species and (2) a geographical distribution of this variation corresponding to previously suggested biogeographic schemes based on quantitative analysis of planktic foraminiferal assemblages. Despite the differences in sample means, the overall morphology of C. contusa overlaps among the sites studied, supporting the classification of all C. contusa morphotypes as a single species. Similarly, no discrete morphologic groups could be distinguished within any of the samples.

Dinoflagellates of multicorer surface sediments

Only very few studies focus on recent calcareous dinoflagellate cyst diversity, geographic distribution and ecology, so that information on the distribution patterns and environmental affinities of individual cyst species is extremely limited. This information is, however, essential if we want to use calcareous dinoflagellate cysts for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Surface sediment samples from the generally oligotrophic western equatorial Atlantic Ocean, offshore northeast Brazil, were therefore quantitatively analysed for their calcareous dinoflagellate cyst content, including the calcareous vegetative coccoid Thoracosphaera heimii. Seven calcareous dinoflagellate cyst species/morphotypes and T. heimii were encountered in high concentrations throughout the area. Substantial differences in the distribution patterns were observed. The highest concentrations of cysts are found in sediments of the more oligotrophic, oceanic regions, beyond the influence of Amazon River discharge waters. Dinoflagellates producing calcareous cysts thus appear to be capable of surviving low nutrient concentrations and produce large numbers of cysts in relatively stable and predictable environments affected by minimal seasonality. To test for the environmental affinities of individual species, distribution patterns in surface sediments were compared with temperature, salinity, density and stratification gradients within the upper water column (0-100 m) over different times of the year, using principal components analysis and redundancy analysis. T. heimii and four of the seven encountered cyst species (Sphaerodinella? albatrosiana, two morphotypes of Sphaerodinella? tuberosa and Scrippsiella regalis) relate to these parameters significantly and the variations in the cyst associations appear to be associated with the different surface water currents characterising the area. The results imply that calcareous dinoflagellate cyst distributions can potentially be used to distinguish between different open oceanic environments and they could, therefore, be useful in tracing water mass movements throughout the late Quaternary.