Differential transgene expression profiles in rat brain, using rAAV2/1 vectors with tetracycline-inducible and cytomegalovirus promoters.

The biodistribution of transgene expression in the CNS after localized stereotaxic vector delivery is an important issue for the safety of gene therapy for neurological diseases. The cellular specificity of transgene expression from rAAV2/1 vectors (recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors pseudotyped with viral capsids from serotype 1) using the tetracycline-inducible (TetON) expression cassette in comparison with the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter was investigated in the rat nigrostriatal pathway. After intrastriatal injection, although green fluorescent protein (GFP) was expressed mainly in neurons with both vectors, the relative proportions of DARPP-32-positive projection neurons and parvalbumin-positive interneurons were, respectively, 13:1 and 2:1 for the CMV and TetON vectors. DARP32-positive neurons projecting to the globus pallidus were strongly GFP positive with both vectors, whereas those projecting to the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr) were efficiently labeled by the CMV vector but poorly by the TetON vector. Numerous GFP-positive cells were evidenced in the subventricular zone with both vectors. However, in the olfactory bulb (OB), GFP-positive neurons were observed with the CMV vector but not the TetON vector. We conclude that the absence of significant amounts of transgene product in distant regions (SN and OB) constitutes a safety advantage of the AAV2/1-TetON vector for striatal gene therapy. Midbrain injections resulted in selective GFP expression in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons by the TetON vector whereas with the CMV vector, GFP-positive cells covered a widespread area of the midbrain. The biodistribution of GFP protein corresponded to that of the transcripts and not of the viral genomes. We conclude that the rAAV2/1-TetON vector constitutes an interesting tool for specific transgene expression in midbrain dopaminergic neurons.

Generating vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates in the line-source approximation

We present a numerical method for generating vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates confined in axially symmetric traps. The vortex ring is generated using the line-source approximation for the vorticity, i.e., the curl of the superfluid velocity field is different from zero only on a circumference of a given radius located on a plane perpendicular to the symmetry axis and coaxial with it. The particle density is obtained by solving a modified Gross-Pitaevskii equation that incorporates the effect of the velocity field. We discuss the appearance of density profiles, the vortex core structure, and the vortex nucleation energy, i.e., the energy difference between vortical and ground-state configurations. This is used to present a qualitative description of the vortex dynamics.

Is the Front Line Prepared for the Changing Faces of Patients? Predictors of Cross-Cultural Preparedness Among Clinical Nurses and Resident Physicians in Lausanne, Switzerland.

UNLABELLED: Phenomenon: Assuring quality medical care for all persons requires that healthcare providers understand how sociocultural factors affect a patient's health beliefs/behaviors. Switzerland's changing demographics highlight the importance of provider cross-cultural preparedness for all patients-especially those at risk for social/health precarity. We evaluated healthcare provider cross-cultural preparedness for commonly encountered vulnerable patient profiles. APPROACH: A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed to Lausanne University hospital's "front-line healthcare providers": clinical nurses and resident physicians at our institution. Preparedness items asked "How prepared do you feel to care for ... ?" (referring to example patient profiles) on an ascending 5-point Likert scale. We examined proportions of "4 - well/5 - very well prepared" and the mean composite score for preparedness. We used linear regression to examine the adjusted effect of demographics, work context, cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem awareness, on preparedness. FINDINGS: Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) were returned: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses. Mean preparedness composite was 3.30 (SD = 0.70), with the lowest proportion of healthcare providers feeling prepared for patients "whose religious beliefs affect treatment" (22%). After adjustment, working in a sensitized department (β = 0.21, p = .01), training on the history/culture of a specific group (β = 0.25, p = .03), and awareness regarding (a) a lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (β = 0.25, p = .004) and (b) inadequate cross-cultural training (β = 0.18, p = .04) were associated with higher preparedness. Speaking French as a dominant language and physician role (vs. nurse) were negatively associated with preparedness (β = -0.26, p = .01; β = -0.22, p = .01). Insights: The state of cross-cultural care preparedness among Lausanne's front-line healthcare providers leaves room for improvement. Our study points toward institutional strategies to improve preparedness: notably, making sure departments are sensitized to cross-cultural care resources and increasing provider diversity to reflect the changing Swiss demographic.

Mineral and geochemical characterization of a leptic aluandic soil and a thapto aluandic-ferralsol developed on trachytes in Mount Bambouto (Cameroon volcanic line)

Mineral and geochemical investigations were carried out on soil samples and fresh rock (trachytes) from two selected soil profiles (TM profile on leptic aluandic soils and TL profile on thapto aluandic-ferralsols) from Mount Bambouto to better understand geochemical processes and mineral paragenesis involved in the development of soils in this environment. In TM profile, the hydrated halloysites and goethite occur in the weathered saprolite boulders of BC horizon while dehydrated halloysite, gibbsite and goethite dominate the soils matrices of BC and A horizons. In TL profile, the dehydrated halloysites and goethite are the most abundant secondary minerals in the weathered saprolites of C and BC horizons while gibbsite, hematite and kaolinite occur in the soil matrices of BC, B and A horizons. The highest gibbsite content is in the platy nodules of B horizon. In both soil profiles, organo-metal complexes (most likely of AI and Fe) are present in the surface A horizon. Geochemically, between the fresh rock and the weathered saprolites in both soils, SiO2, K2O, CaO, Na2O and MgO contents decrease strongly while Fe2O3 and Al2O3 tend to accumulate. The molar ratio of SiO2/Al2O3 (Ki) and the sum of Ca, Mg, K and Na ions (TRB) also decreases abruptly between fresh rocks and the weathered saprolites, but increases significantly at the soil surface. The TM profile shows intense Al enrichment whereas the TL profile highlights enrichment in both AI and Fe as the weathering progresses upwards. Both soil profiles are enriched in Ni, Cu, Ba and Co and depleted in U, Th, Ta, Hf, Y, Sr, Pb, Zr and Zn relative to fresh rock. They also show a relatively low fractionation of the rare earth elements (REE: La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb and Lu), except for Ce which tends to be enriched in soils compared to CI chondrite. All these results give evidence of intense hydrolysis at soil deep in Mount Bambouto resulting in the formation of halloysite which progressively transforms into gibbsite and/or dehydrated halloysite. At the soil surface, the prominent pedogenetic process refers to andosolization with formation of organo-metal complexes. In TL profile, the presence of kaolinite in soil matrices BC and B horizons is consistent with ferralitization at soil deep. In conclusion, soil forming processes in Mount Bambouto are strongly influenced by local climate: (i) in the upper mountain (>2000 m), the fresh, misty and humid climate favors andosolization; whereas (ii) in the middle lands (1700-2000 m) with a relatively dry climate, both andosolization at the soil surface and ferralitization at soil deep act together. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A GCSS model intercomparison for a tropical squall line observed during toga-coare. II: Intercomparison of single-column models and a cloud-resolving model

This paper presents single-column model (SCM) simulations of a tropical squall-line case observed during the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment of the Tropical Ocean/Global Atmosphere Programme. This case-study was part of an international model intercomparison project organized by Working Group 4 ‘Precipitating Convective Cloud Systems’ of the GEWEX (Global Energy and Water-cycle Experiment) Cloud System Study. Eight SCM groups using different deep-convection parametrizations participated in this project. The SCMs were forced by temperature and moisture tendencies that had been computed from a reference cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulation using open boundary conditions. The comparison of the SCM results with the reference CRM simulation provided insight into the ability of current convection and cloud schemes to represent organized convection. The CRM results enabled a detailed evaluation of the SCMs in terms of the thermodynamic structure and the convective mass flux of the system, the latter being closely related to the surface convective precipitation. It is shown that the SCMs could reproduce reasonably well the time evolution of the surface convective and stratiform precipitation, the convective mass flux, and the thermodynamic structure of the squall-line system. The thermodynamic structure simulated by the SCMs depended on how the models partitioned the precipitation between convective and stratiform. However, structural differences persisted in the thermodynamic profiles simulated by the SCMs and the CRM. These differences could be attributed to the fact that the total mass flux used to compute the SCM forcing differed from the convective mass flux. The SCMs could not adequately represent these organized mesoscale circulations and the microphysicallradiative forcing associated with the stratiform region. This issue is generally known as the ‘scale-interaction’ problem that can only be properly addressed in fully three-dimensional simulations. Sensitivity simulations run by several groups showed that the time evolution of the surface convective precipitation was considerably smoothed when the convective closure was based on convective available potential energy instead of moisture convergence. Finally, additional SCM simulations without using a convection parametrization indicated that the impact of a convection parametrization in forced SCM runs was more visible in the moisture profiles than in the temperature profiles because convective transport was particularly important in the moisture budget.

Production and on-line comprehension of definite articles and clitic pronouns by Greek sequential bilingual children and monolingual children with specific language impairment

The present study compared production and on-line comprehension of definite articles and third person direct object clitic pronouns in Greek-speaking typically developing, sequential bilingual (L2-TD) children and monolingual children with specific language impairment (L1-SLI). Twenty Turkish Greek L2-TD children, 16 Greek L1-SLI children, and 31 L1-TD Greek children participated in a production task examining definite articles and clitic pronouns and, in an on-line comprehension task, involving grammatical sentences with definite articles and clitics and sentences with grammatical violations induced by omitted articles and clitics. The results showed that the L2-TD children were sensitive to the grammatical violations despite low production. In contrast, the children with SLI were not sensitive to clitic omission in the on-line task, despite high production. These results support a dissociation between production and on-line comprehension in L2 children and for impaired grammatical representations and lack of automaticity in children with SLI. They also suggest that on-line comprehension tasks may complement production tasks by differentiating between the language profiles of L2-TD children and children with SLI.

Analysis of dietary pattern impact on weight status for personalised nutrition through on-line advice: the Food4Me Spanish cohort

Obesity prevalence is increasing. The management of this condition requires a detailed analysis of the global risk factors in order to develop personalised advice. This study is aimed to identify current dietary patterns and habits in Spanish population interested in personalised nutrition and investigate associations with weight status. Self-reported dietary and anthropometrical data from the Spanish participants in the Food4Me study, were used in a multidimensional exploratory analysis to define specific dietary profiles. Two opposing factors were obtained according to food groups’ intake: Factor 1 characterised by a more frequent consumption of traditionally considered unhealthy foods; and Factor 2, where the consumption of “Mediterranean diet” foods was prevalent. Factor 1 showed a direct relationship with BMI (β = 0.226; r2 = 0.259; p < 0.001), while the association with Factor 2 was inverse (β = −0.037; r2 = 0.230; p = 0.348). A total of four categories were defined (Prudent, Healthy, Western, and Compensatory) through classification of the sample in higher or lower adherence to each factor and combining the possibilities. Western and Compensatory dietary patterns, which were characterized by high-density foods consumption, showed positive associations with overweight prevalence. Further analysis showed that prevention of overweight must focus on limiting the intake of known deleterious foods rather than exclusively enhance healthy products.

Transport control in fusion plasmas by changing electric and magnetic field spatial profiles

For magnetically confined plasmas in tokamaks, we have numerically investigated how Lagrangian chaos at the plasma edge affects the plasma confinement. Initially, we have considered the chaotic motion of particles in an equilibrium electric field with a monotonic radial profile perturbed by drift waves. We have showed that an effective transport barrier may be created at the plasma edge by modifying the electric field radial profile. In the second place, we have obtained escape patterns and magnetic footprints of chaotic magnetic field lines in the region near a tokamak wall with resonant modes due to the action of an ergodic magnetic limiter. For monotonic plasma current density profiles we have obtained distributions of field line connections to the wall and line escape channels with the same spatial pattern as the magnetic footprints on the tokamak walls. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In vitro evaluation of Cu and Fe bioavailability in cashew nuts by off-line coupled SEC-UV and SIMAAS

In this work Cu and Fe bioavailability in cashew nuts was evaluated using in vitro method. Extractions with simulated gastric and intestinal fluids and dialysis procedures were applied for this purpose. The proteins separation and quantification were performed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled on-line to ultra-violet (UV) and off-line to simultaneous multielement atomic absorption spectrometry (SIMAAS). The SEC-UV and SIMAAS profiles of the protein fractions obtained by alkaline extraction (NaOH) and precipitation with HCl indicated the presence of high and low molecular weight species in the range between >75 kDa and 9.3 kDa. Almost 83% of Cu and 78% of Fe were extracted during cashew nut digestion and 90% of both elements were dialyzed. With these results it is possible to assume that 75% of Cu and 70% of Fe present in cashew nut could be bioavailable. The SEC-UV and SIMAAS chromatographic profiles obtained after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion reveal that Cu and Fe not dialyzed can be associated to a compound of 9.2 kDa. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genomic and phenotypic profiles of two Brazilian breast cancer cell lines derived from primary human tumors

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide. Research using breast cancer cell lines derived from primary tumors may provide valuable additional knowledge regarding this type of cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic profiles of MACL-1 and MGSO-3, the only Brazilian breast cancer cell lines available for comparative studies. We evaluated the presence of hormone receptors, proliferation, differentiation and stem cell markers, using immunohistochemical staining of the primary tumor, cultured cells and xenografts implanted in immunodeficient mice. We also investigated the ability of the cell lines to form colonies and copy number alterations by array comparative genomic hybridization. Histopathological analysis showed that the invasive primary tumor from which the MACL-1 cell line was derived, was a luminal A subtype carcinoma, while the ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) that gave rise to the MGSO-3 cell line was a HER2 subtype tumor, both showing different proliferation levels. The cell lines and the tumor xenografts in mice preserved their high proliferative potential, but did not maintain the expression of the other markers assessed. This shift in expression may be due to the selection of an 'establishment' phenotype in vitro. Whole-genome DNA evaluation showed a large amount of copy number alterations (CNAs) in the two cell lines. These findings render MACL-1 and MGSO-3 the first characterized Brazilian breast cancer cell lines to be potentially used for comparative research. © 2013 Spandidos Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preferência estética do perfil facial avaliado on-line por brasileiros

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

GPR applied to mapping utilities along the route of the Line 4 (yellow) subway tunnel construction in Sao Paulo City, Brazil

The rapid industrial development and disorganized population growth in huge cities bring about various urban problems due to intense use of physical space on and below the surface. Subsurface problems in metropolitan areas are caused by subway line construction, which often follows the routes of utility networks, such as electric and telephone cables, water and gas pipes, storm sewers, etc. Usually, the main problems are related to damage or destruction of preexisting utilities, often putting human lives at risk. With the purpose of minimizing risks. GPR-profiling with 200 MHz antennae was done at two sites, both located in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objectives of this work were to map utilities or existing infrastructure in the subsurface in order to orient the construction of the Line 4 (yellow) subway tunnel in Sao Paulo. GPR profiles can detect water pipes, utility networks in the subsurface, and concrete foundation columns or pilings in subsoil up to 2 m depth. In addition. the GPR profiles also provided details of the target shapes in the subsurface. GPR interpretations combined with lithological information from boreholes and trenches opened in the study areas were extremely important in mapping of the correct spatial distribution of buried utilities at these two sites in Sao Paulo. This information improves and updates maps of utility placement, serves as a basis for planning of the geotechnical excavation of the Line 4 (yellow) subway tunnel in Sao Paulo, helps minimize problems related to destruction of preexisting utilities in the subsoil, and avoids risk of dangerous accidents. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NMR, Metabonomics and Molecular Profiles: Applications to the Quality Assessment of Foodstuffs

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a branch of spectroscopy that is based on the fact that many atomic nuclei may be oriented by a strong magnetic field and will absorb radiofrequency radiation at characteristic frequencies. The parameters that can be measured on the resulting spectral lines (line positions, intensities, line widths, multiplicities and transients in time-dependent experi-ments) can be interpreted in terms of molecular structure, conformation, molecular motion and other rate processes. In this way, high resolution (HR) NMR allows performing qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples in solution, in order to determine the structure of molecules in solution and not only. In the past, high-field NMR spectroscopy has mainly concerned with the elucidation of chemical structure in solution, but today is emerging as a powerful exploratory tool for probing biochemical and physical processes. It represents a versatile tool for the analysis of foods. In literature many NMR studies have been reported on different type of food such as wine, olive oil, coffee, fruit juices, milk, meat, egg, starch granules, flour, etc using different NMR techniques. Traditionally, univariate analytical methods have been used to ex-plore spectroscopic data. This method is useful to measure or to se-lect a single descriptive variable from the whole spectrum and , at the end, only this variable is analyzed. This univariate methods ap-proach, applied to HR-NMR data, lead to different problems due especially to the complexity of an NMR spectrum. In fact, the lat-ter is composed of different signals belonging to different mole-cules, but it is also true that the same molecules can be represented by different signals, generally strongly correlated. The univariate methods, in this case, takes in account only one or a few variables, causing a loss of information. Thus, when dealing with complex samples like foodstuff, univariate analysis of spectra data results not enough powerful. Spectra need to be considered in their wholeness and, for analysing them, it must be taken in consideration the whole data matrix: chemometric methods are designed to treat such multivariate data. Multivariate data analysis is used for a number of distinct, differ-ent purposes and the aims can be divided into three main groups: • data description (explorative data structure modelling of any ge-neric n-dimensional data matrix, PCA for example); • regression and prediction (PLS); • classification and prediction of class belongings for new samples (LDA and PLS-DA and ECVA). The aim of this PhD thesis was to verify the possibility of identify-ing and classifying plants or foodstuffs, in different classes, based on the concerted variation in metabolite levels, detected by NMR spectra and using the multivariate data analysis as a tool to inter-pret NMR information. It is important to underline that the results obtained are useful to point out the metabolic consequences of a specific modification on foodstuffs, avoiding the use of a targeted analysis for the different metabolites. The data analysis is performed by applying chemomet-ric multivariate techniques to the NMR dataset of spectra acquired. The research work presented in this thesis is the result of a three years PhD study. This thesis reports the main results obtained from these two main activities: A1) Evaluation of a data pre-processing system in order to mini-mize unwanted sources of variations, due to different instrumental set up, manual spectra processing and to sample preparations arte-facts; A2) Application of multivariate chemiometric models in data analy-sis.

Media activism on and off line by Italian adolescents and young adults

From several researchers it appears that Italian adolescents and young people are grown up with commercial television which is accused to contain too much violence, sex, reality shows, advertising, cartoons which are watched from 1 to 4 hours daily. Adolescents are also great users of mobile phones and spend a lot of time to use it. Their academic results are below the average of Ocse States. However the widespread use of communication technology and social networks display also another side of adolescents who engage in media activism and political movement such as Ammazzateci tutti!, Indymedia, Movimento 5 Stelle, Movimento No Tav. In which way does the world economic crisis -with the specific problems of Italy as the cutting founds for school, academic research and welfare, the corruption of political class, mafia and camorra organisation induce a reaction in our adolescents and young people? Several researches inform us about their use of internet in terms of spending time but, more important, how internet, and the web 2.0, could be an instrument for their reaction? What do they do online? How they do it? Which is the meaning of their presence online? And, has their online activity a continuity offline? The research aims are: 1. Trough a participant observation of Social Network profiles opened by 10 young active citizens, I would seek to understand which kind of social or political activities they engage in online as individuals and which is the meaning of their presence online. 2. To observe and understand if adolescents and young people have a continuity of their socio-political engagement online in offline activities and which kind of experiences it is. 3. Try to comprehend which was (or which were) the significant, learning experiences that convinced them about the potential of the web as tool for their activism.

Retrieval simulations of the vertical profiles of water vapour and other chemical species in the Martian atmosphere using PACS

Water vapour, despite being a minor constituent in the Martian atmosphere with its precipitable amount of less than 70 pr. μm, attracts considerable attention in the scientific community because of its potential importance for past life on Mars. The partial pressure of water vapour is highly variable because of its seasonal condensation onto the polar caps and exchange with a subsurface reservoir. It is also known to drive photochemical processes: photolysis of water produces H, OH, HO2 and some other odd hydrogen compounds, which in turn destroy ozone. Consequently, the abundance of water vapour is anti-correlated with ozone abundance. The Herschel Space Observatory provides for the first time the possibility to retrieve vertical water profiles in the Martian atmosphere. Herschel will contribute to this topic with its guaranteed-time key project called "Water and related chemistry in the solar system". Observations of Mars by Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) and Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) onboard Herschel are planned in the frame of the programme. HIFI with its high spectral resolution enables accurate observations of vertically resolved H2O and temperature profiles in the Martian atmosphere. Unlike HIFI, PACS is not capable of resolving the line-shape of molecular lines. However, our present study of PACS observations for the Martian atmosphere shows that the vertical sensitivity of the PACS observations can be improved by using multiple-line observations with different line opacities. We have investigated the possibility of retrieving vertical profiles of temperature and molecular abundances of minor species including H2O in the Martian atmosphere using PACS. In this paper, we report that PACS is able to provide water vapour vertical profiles for the Martian atmosphere and we present the expected spectra for future PACS observations. We also show that the spectral resolution does not allow the retrieval of several studied minor species, such as H2O2, HCl, NO, SO2, etc.