Phototrophic microendoliths bloom during coral "white syndrome"

Following rapid lesion progression of white syndrome in tabular Acropora spp., the white bare skeleton gradually changes to green, a result of endolithic algae blooms (primarily Ostreobium spp.). Endolithic algal biomass and chlorophyll concentration were found to be an order of magnitude higher in the green zone compared with healthy appearing parts of each colony. Chl b to Chl a ratio increased from 1:1.6 in the healthy area to 1:2 and 1:3.5 in the white exposed skeleton and green zones, respectively. These observations together with pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry suggest photoacclimation of the endoliths in the green zone. Histopathological microscopy revealed that the endolithic algal filaments penetrate the coral tissue. This study highlights the interaction of endolithic algae with both the skeleton and host tissue. This may have a critical role in the processes that accompany the post-disease state in reef-building corals.

O SILÊNCIO DAS GERAIS: O nascimento tardio e a lenta consolidação dos jornais mineiros

Este trabalho analisou os fatores responsáveis pelo atraso no surgimento e no desenvolvimento dos jornais mineiros em suas principais fases: imprensa publicista, informativa e grande imprensa. As Minas, apesar de possuírem importância política e econômica, nos séculos XVIII e XIX, viram sua imprensa sempre assumir um papel secundário no país. Ela foi a sexta província a ter jornais, ficando atrás do Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, Pará e Maranhão. Para entender o que deixou as Gerais nessa situação, foi necessário conhecer profundamente suas particularidades. A pesquisa demonstrou que a repressão a Inconfidência Mineira, os fluxos migratórios e as mudanças econômicas e sociais, que a província viveu no século XIX, foram responsáveis pelo atraso dos jornais mineiros. O próprio modo de ser do mineiro, a chamada mineiridade , também contribuiu para que isso ocorresse.(AU)

DOS MUROS DA ESCOLA À ABERTURA PARA A CIDADE

A prática educativa na escola está carregada de uma postura tradicional e bancária , conforme aparece em várias obras de Freire, ainda que novas tecnologias sejam introduzidas em seu cotidiano pedagógico. A ênfase à informação em detrimento da construção do conhecimento e saberes, na verdade, afasta o aluno, particularmente nas escolas públicas, de apropriar-se dos instrumentos significativos de sua elaboração. Nesse sentido, dentro da linha de Políticas e Gestões Educacionais, esse trabalho se propõe à reflexão do espaço da escola no diálogo com a cidade, isto é, à possibilidade de protagonismo social no desenvolvimento do aluno. O procedimento da pesquisa fundamenta-se no estudo dos projetos de educação ambiental desenvolvidos na rede municipal de Mauá através dos registros e relatos descritivos das avaliações das escolas dessas atividades, de seus Projetos Políticos Pedagógicos e do Programa de Educação Ambiental de Mauá da Secretaria Municipal de Educação. O trabalho Dos muros da escola à abertura para a cidade foi desenvolvido de forma a entendermos o espaço geográfico, considerando sua territorialização e o conceito de espaço simbólico. Dessa forma, podemos compreender como a relação escola/espaço território e o Programa de Educação Ambiental desenvolvido em escolas da rede pública da cidade de Mauá aparece na atuação de um em relação ao outro. A metodologia de trabalho usada foi exploratória, de natureza bibliográfica e documental. A pesquisa buscou perceber a abordagem dialógica que se estabelece com a cidade a partir da conceituação do espaço simbólico da escola no processo ensino-aprendizagem. O Programa de Educação Ambiental e as escolas, de acordo com seus Projetos Políticos Pedagógicos se propõem, ainda que empiricamente, a trabalhar nessa direção. A prática pedagógica, como demonstraram algumas atividades, mesmo tratando do tema de forma sem a consciência diferenciada , aponta um avanço nesse sentido. Os textos coletivos, a participação solidária, são elementos que nos permitem concluir dessa forma. As respostas das crianças foram significativas, embora tenhamos apontado as dificuldades na execução dos procedimentos pedagógicos. Por tratar-se de algo novo, não só como proposta, o Programa de Educação Ambiental exigiu a capacidade de lidar com ações integrada e integradora, ou seja, mudança de subjetividade dos distintos atores envolvidos no processo. O tema poderia se tornar por demais abrangente e, dessa forma, perder-se em generalidades. Assim, alguns aspectos relevantes foram apontados sem, no entanto, partir para um maior aprofundamento a fim de garantir a objetividade do trabalho. A instituição escolar está presente de corpo e alma na cidade e, ainda que, a temática ambiental esteja presente em seu cotidiano ela se faz de maneira formal e informativa. Todos falam em meio ambiente, entretanto poucos internalizam os valores de um ambiente saudável e próprio para o desenvolvimento humano da maioria que produz a riqueza das nações. Consideradas as observações apontadas, o trabalho apresentou elementos que devem ser analisados com maior propriedade, isto é, com maior extensão, como proposta de continuidade da pesquisa.

Dietary enrichment with almond (Prunus amygdalis) supplementation: effects on CVD risk biomarkers

Epidemiological evidence suggests that diets rich in fruits, vegetables and pulses reduce the risk of CVD. The Physicians Health Study has demonstrated reduction of CHD death with regular nut consumption1. One major modifiable risk factor for CHD is an unhealthy diet. Thus, an almondenrichment study has been undertaken to examine the benefit of almonds (Prunus amygdalis) in healthy individuals either with or without significant risk of vascular disease. Almonds contain various macronutrients (low SFA content, absence of cholesterol and high MUFA content) and micronutrients, including vitamin E, polyphenols and arginine, which afford vascular benefit. The effects of almond consumption (25 g/d for 4 weeks followed by 50 g/d for 4 weeks) were evaluated in three non-smoking subject groups: healthy male volunteers between the ages of 18 and 35 years (n 15); men at risk of heart disease between the ages of 18 and 35 years (n 12); mature men and women >50 years of age (n 18). A fourth control group (n 14) were followed over 8 weeks without dietary almond enrichment as a treatment control. None of the subjects withdrew from the study and 90% completed the study. The interim results of the study showed that in the three active groups there was little evidence for a change in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol or HDL-cholesterol. In the mature group there was a trend towards increasing HDL-cholesterol. The mature and ‘at-risk’ groups also showed a significant changes in systolic blood pressure (P<0.05) during almond consumption. The healthy group showed a decrease in diastolic blood pressure (P<0.05). The ‘at-risk’ group showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in flowmediated dilation after 8 weeks of almond consumption. Data analysis is ongoing, with completion of the study in November 2007. The beneficial effects of almond consumption on flow-mediated dilation and blood pressure may be attributed to the high content in almonds of arginine, which serves as a precursor to the vasodilatory molecule, NO.

Central neural mechanisms mediating human visceral hypersensitivity

Although visceral hypersensitivity is thought to be important in generating symptoms in functional gastrointestinal disorders, the neural mechanisms involved are poorly understood. We recently showed that central sensitization (hyperexcitability of spinal cord sensory neurones) may play an important role. In this study, we demonstrate that after a 30-min infusion of 0.15 M HCl acid into the healthy human distal esophagus, we see a reduction in the pain threshold to electrical stimulation of the non-acid-exposed proximal esophagus (9.6 ± 2.4 mA) and a concurrent reduction in the latency of the N1 and P2 components of the esophageal evoked potentials (EEP) from this region (10.4 ± 2.3 and 15.8 ± 5.3 ms, respectively). This reduced EEP latency indicates a central increase in afferent pathway velocity and therefore suggests that hyperexcitability within the central visceral pain pathway contributes to the hypersensitivity within the proximal, non-acid-exposed esophagus (secondary hyperalgesia/allodynia). These findings provide the first electrophysiological evidence that central sensitization contributes to human visceral hypersensitivity.

Urinary proteomic biomarkers in coronary artery disease

Urinary proteomics is emerging as a powerful non-invasive tool for diagnosis and monitoring of variety of human diseases. We tested whether signatures of urinary polypeptides can contribute to the existing biomarkers for coronary artery disease (CAD). We examined a total of 359 urine samples from 88 patients with severe CAD and 282 controls. Spot urine was analyzed using capillary electrophoresis on-line coupled to ESI-TOF-MS enabling characterization of more than 1000 polypeptides per sample. In a first step a "training set" for biomarker definition was created. Multiple biomarker patterns clearly distinguished healthy controls from CAD patients, and we extracted 15 peptides that define a characteristic CAD signature panel. In a second step, the ability of the CAD-specific panel to predict the presence of CAD was evaluated in a blinded study using a "test set." The signature panel showed sensitivity of 98% (95% confidence interval, 88.7-99.6) and 83% specificity (95% confidence interval, 51.6-97.4). Furthermore the peptide pattern significantly changed toward the healthy signature correlating with the level of physical activity after therapeutic intervention. Our results show that urinary proteomics can identify CAD patients with high confidence and might also play a role in monitoring the effects of therapeutic interventions. The workflow is amenable to clinical routine testing suggesting that non-invasive proteomics analysis can become a valuable addition to other biomarkers used in cardiovascular risk assessment.

Facial emotion recognition and alexithymia in adults with somatoform disorders

The primary aim of this study was to investigate facial emotion recognition (FER) in patients with somatoform disorders (SFD). Also of interest was the extent to which concurrent alexithymia contributed to any changes in emotion recognition accuracy. Twenty patients with SFD and 20 healthy, age, sex and education matched, controls were assessed with the Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling Test of FER and the 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Patients withSFD exhibited elevated alexithymia symptoms relative to healthy controls.Patients with SFD also recognized significantly fewer emotional expressions than did the healthy controls. However, the group difference in emotion recognition accuracy became nonsignificant once the influence of alexithymia was controlled for statistically. This suggests that the deficit in FER observed in the patients with SFD was most likely a consequence of concurrent alexithymia. It should be noted that neither depression nor anxiety was significantly related to emotion recognition accuracy, suggesting that these variables did not contribute the emotion recognition deficit. Impaired FER observed in the patients with SFD could plausibly have a negative influence on these individuals’ social functioning.

Inhibitory effects of persistent apoptotic cells on monoclonal antibody production in vitro:simple removal of non-viable cells improves antibody productivity by hybridoma cells in culture

Cells undergoing apoptosis in vivo are rapidly detected and cleared by phagocytes. Swift recognition and removal of apoptotic cells is important for normal tissue homeostasis and failure in the underlying clearance mechanisms has pathological consequences associated with inflammatory and auto-immune diseases. Cell cultures in vitro usually lack the capacity for removal of non-viable cells because of the absence of phagocytes and, as such, fail to emulate the healthy in vivo micro-environment from which dead cells are absent. While a key objective in cell culture is to maintain viability at maximal levels, cell death is unavoidable and non-viable cells frequently contaminate cultures in significant numbers. Here we show that the presence of apoptotic cells in monoclonal antibody-producing hybridoma cultures has markedly detrimental effects on antibody productivity. Removal of apoptotic hybridoma cells by macrophages at the time of seeding resulted in 100% improved antibody productivity that was, surprisingly to us, most pronounced late on in the cultures. Furthermore, we were able to recapitulate this effect using novel super-paramagnetic Dead-Cert Nanoparticles to remove non-viable cells simply and effectively at culture seeding. These results (1) provide direct evidence that apoptotic cells have a profound influence on their non-phagocytic neighbors in culture and (2) demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple dead-cell removal strategy for improving antibody manufacture in vitro.

Reproducibility-repeatability of choroidal thickness calculation using optical coherence tomography

Purpose. To evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT) calculations performed manually using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods. The CT was imaged in vivo at each of two visits on 11 healthy volunteers (mean age, 35.72 ± 13.19 years) using the spectral domain OCT. CT was manually measured after applying ImageJ processing filters on 15 radial subfoveal scans. Each radial scan was spaced 12° from each other and contained 2500 A-scans. The coefficient of variability, coefficient of repeatability (CoR), coefficient of reproducibility, and intraclass correlation coefficient determined the reproducibility and repeatability of the calculation. Axial length (AL) and mean spherical equivalent refractive error were measured with the IOLMaster and an open view autorefractor to study their potential relationship with CT. Results. The within-visit and between-visit coefficient of variability, CoR, coefficient of reproducibility, and intraclass correlation coefficient were 0.80, 2.97% 2.44%, and 99%, respectively. The subfoveal CT correlated significantly with AL (R = -0.60, p = 0.05). Conclusions. The subfoveal CT could be measured manually in vivo using OCT and the readings obtained from the healthy subjects evaluated were repeatable and reproducible. It is proposed that OCT could be a useful instrument to perform in vivo assessment and monitoring of CT changes in retinal disease. The preliminary results suggest a negative correlation between subfoveal CT and AL in such a way that it decreases with increasing AL but not with refractive error.

Biomaterial interactions with compromised tissue surfaces

This thesis is concerned with the nature of biomaterial interactions with compromised host tissue sites. Both ocular and dermal tissues can be wounded, following injury, disease or surgery, and consequently require the use of a biomaterial. Clear analogies exist between the cornea/tear film/contact lens and the dermal wound bed/wound fluid/skin adhesive wound dressing. The work described in this thesis builds upon established biochemistry to examine specific aspects of the interaction of biomaterials with compromised ocular and dermal tissue sites, with a particular focus on the role of vitronectin. Vitronectin is a prominent cell adhesion glycoprotein present in both tear fluid and wound fluid, and has a role in the regulation and upregulation of plasmin. The interaction of contact lenses with the cornea was assessed by a novel on-lens cell-based vitronectin assay technique. Vitronectin mapping showed that vitronectin-mediated cell adhesion to contact lens surfaces was due to the contact lens-corneal mechanical interaction rather than deposition out of the tear film. This deposition is associated predominantly with the peripheral region of the posterior contact lens surface. The locus of vitronectin deposition on the contact lens surface, which is affected by material modulus, is potentially an important factor in the generation of plasmin in the posterior tear film. Use of the vitronectin mapping technique on ex vivo bandage contact lenses revealed greater vitronectin-mediated cell adhesion to the contact lens surfaces in comparison to lenses worn in the healthy eye. The results suggest that vitronectin is more readily deposited from the impaired corneal tissue bed than the intact healthy tissue bed. Significantly, subjects with a deficient tear film were found to deposit high vitronectin-mediated cell adhesion levels to the BCL surface, thus highlighting the influence of the contact lens-tissue interaction upon deposition. Biomimetic principles imply that adhesive materials for wound applications, including hydrogels and hydrocolloids, should closely match the surface energy parameters of skin. The surface properties of hydrocolloid adhesives were found to be easily modified by contact with siliconised plastic release liners. In contrast, paper release liners did not significantly affect the adhesive surface properties. In order to characterise such materials in the actual wound environment, which is an extremely challenging task, preliminary considerations for the design of an artificial wound fluid model from an animal serum base were addressed.

An empirical examination of emotional and cognitive responses to threat appeals

Advertising and other forms of communications are often used by government bodies, non-government organisations, and other institutions to try to influence the population to either a) reduce some form of harmful behaviour (e.g. smoking, drunk- driving) or b) increase some more healthy behaviour (e.g. eating healthily). It is common for these messages to be predicated on the chances of some negative event occurring if the individual does not either a) stop the harmful behaviour, or b) start / increase the healthy behaviour. This design of communication is referred to by many names in the relevant literature, but for the purposes of this thesis, will be termed a ‘threat appeal’. Despite their widespread use in the public sphere, and concerted academic interest since the 1950s, the effectiveness of threat appeals in delivering their objective remains unclear in many ways. In a detailed, chronological and thematic examination of the literature, two assumptions are uncovered that have either been upheld despite little evidence to support them, or received limited attention at all, in the literature. Specifically, a) that threat appeal characteristics can be conflated with their intended responses, and b) that a threat appeal always and necessarily evokes a fear response in the subject. A detailed examination of these assumptions underpins this thesis. The intention is to take as a point of departure the equivocality of empirical results, and deliver a novel approach with the objective of reducing the confusion that is evident in existing work. More specifically, the present thesis frames cognitive and emotional responses to threat appeals as part of a decision about future behaviour. To further develop theory, a conceptual framework is presented that outlines the role of anticipated and anticipatory emotions, alongside subjective probabilities, elaboration and immediate visceral emotions, resultant from manipulation of the intrinsic message characteristics of a threat appeal (namely, message direction, message frame and graphic image). In doing so, the spectrum of relevant literature is surveyed, and used to develop a theoretical model which serves to integrate key strands of theory into a coherent model. In particular, the emotional and cognitive responses to the threat appeal manipulations are hypothesised to influence behaviour intentions and expectations pertaining to future behaviour. Using data from a randomised experiment with a sample of 681 participants, the conceptual model was tested using analysis of covariance. The results for the conceptual framework were encouraging overall, and also with regard to the individual hypotheses. In particular, empirical results showed clearly that emotional responses to the intrinsic message characteristics are not restricted to fear, and that different responses to threat appeals were clearly attributed to specific intrinsic message characteristics. In addition, the inclusion of anticipated emotions alongside cognitive appraisals in the framework generated interesting results. Specifically, immediate emotions did not influence key response variables related to future behaviour, in support of questioning the assumption of the prominent role of fear in the response process that is so prevalent in existing literature. The findings, theoretical and practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Neural activity during object perception in schizophrenia patients is associated with illness duration and affective symptoms

Background - Abnormalities in visual processes have been observed in schizophrenia patients and have been associated with alteration of the lateral occipital complex and visual cortex. However, the relationship of these abnormalities with clinical symptomatology is largely unknown. Methods - We investigated the brain activity associated with object perception in schizophrenia. Pictures of common objects were presented to 26 healthy participants (age = 36.9; 11 females) and 20 schizophrenia patients (age = 39.9; 8 females) in an fMRI study. Results - In the healthy sample the presentation of pictures yielded significant activation (pFWE (cluster) < 0.001) of the bilateral fusiform gyrus, bilateral lingual gyrus, and bilateral middle occipital gyrus. In patients, the bilateral fusiform gyrus and bilateral lingual gyrus were significantly activated (pFWE (cluster) < 0.001), but not so the middle occipital gyrus. However, significant bilateral activation of the middle occipital gyrus (pFWE (cluster) < 0.05) was revealed when illness duration was controlled for. Depression was significantly associated with increased activation, and anxiety with decreased activation, of the right middle occipital gyrus and several other brain areas in the patient group. No association with positive or negative symptoms was revealed. Conclusions - Illness duration accounts for the weak activation of the middle occipital gyrus in patients during picture presentation. Affective symptoms, but not positive or negative symptoms, influence the activation of the right middle occipital gyrus and other brain areas.

Flexible fault-tolerant topology for switched reluctance motor drives

Switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives are one competitive technology for traction motor drives. This paper proposes a novel and flexible SRM fault-tolerant topology with fault diagnosis, fault tolerance, and advanced control functions. The converter is composed of a single-phase bridge and a relay network, based on the traditional asymmetrical half-bridge driving topology. When the SRM-driving system is subjected to fault conditions including open-circuit and short-circuit faults, the proposed converter starts its fault-diagnosis procedure to locate the fault. Based on the relay network, the faulty part can be bypassed by the single-phase bridge arm, while the single-phase bridge arm and the healthy part of the converter can form a fault-tolerant topology to sustain the driving operation. A fault-tolerant control strategy is developed to decrease the influence of the fault. Furthermore, the proposed fault-tolerant strategy can be applied to three-phase 12/8 SRM and four-phase 8/6 SRM. Simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink and experiments on a three-phase 12/8 SRM and a four-phase 8/6 SRM validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, which may have significant economic implications in traction drive systems.

Relationships among dietary intake, dietary patterns, dietary quality and nutrient adequacy and substance use in Latina mother/daughter dyads

This study examined the relationships among dietary intake, substance use, socioeconomic and acculturation-related factors among Latinas in Miami-Dade County. Substance abuse is rising among Latinas. A fuller understanding of this problem is needed given the rise of the Hispanic population and the role of women in Latin society. A better understanding between substance use and dietary intake can guide nutrition interventions to reduce negative substance-related health consequences. A purposeful sample of 320 Latina mother/daughter dyads were recruited and interviewed face-to-face as part of the Latino Women's Study. Dietary intake was collected via a 24-hour recall and examined by (1) nutrient intake, (2) dietary patterns using cluster analysis, (3) quality of diet using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and (4) the Dietary Reference Intakes to determine nutrient adequacy. Substance use was measured with the Drug Use Frequency and the Healthy and Daily Living Form. Acculturation was measured with the Cultural Identity Scale. Three dietary patterns emerged based on the number of servings from the food groups established in MyPyramid. None were associated with substance use. Latinas who reported using cannabis, cocaine, sedatives without prescription and/or more than five alcoholic drinks on an occasion at least once a month during the previous twelve months had significantly lower HEI scores (64 vs. 60; F = 7.8, p = .005) and consumed fewer fruits (F = 16, p < .001) than non-users. Latinas classified as mothers whom reported consuming cannabis at least 1-7 times a week had significantly lower HEI scores (F = 4.23, p = .015, η2 = .027) than daughters with the same frequency of substance use. One dimension of acculturation, greater familiarity with Latin culture, was associated with good dietary quality (β = .142, p = .012) regardless of any type of substance used or income level. There was a high prevalence of inadequacy of folic acid intake (50-75%) regardless of substance use. Substance users consumed significantly more energy (1,798 vs. 1,615; p = .027) than non-users. Although effect sizes were small, associations between dietary intake and substance use among Latinas deserve further exploration while acknowledging the combined association with acculturation. ^

A multi-faceted diagnostic approach to lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis

One in 3,000 people in the US are born with cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder affecting the reproductive system, pancreas, and lungs. Lung disease caused by chronic bacterial and fungal infections is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in CF. Identities of the microbes are traditionally determined by culturing followed by phenotypic and biochemical assays. It was first thought that the bacterial infections were caused by a select handful of bacteria such as S. aureus, H. influenzae, B. cenocepacia, and P. aeruginosa. With the advent of PCR and molecular techniques, the polymicrobial nature of the CF lung became evident. The CF lung contains numerous bacteria and the communities are diverse and unique to each patient. The total complexity of the bacterial infections is still being determined. In addition, only a few members of the fungal communities have been identified. Much of the fungal community composition is still a mystery. This dissertation addresses this gap in knowledge. A snap shot of CF sputa bacterial community was obtained using the length heterogeneity-PCR community profiling technique. The profiles show that south Florida CF patients have a unique, diverse, and dynamic bacterial community which changes over time. The identities of the bacteria and fungi present were determined using the state-of-the-art 454 sequencing. Sequencing results show that the CF lung microbiome contains commonly cultured pathogenic bacteria, organisms considered a part of the healthy core biome, and novel organisms. Understanding the dynamic changes of these identified microbes will ultimately lead to better therapeutical interventions. Early detection is key in reducing the lung damage caused by chronic infections. Thus, there is a need for accurate and sensitive diagnostic tests. This issue was addressed by designing a bacterial diagnostic tool targeted towards CF pathogens using SPR. By identifying the organisms associated with the CF lung and understanding their community interactions, patients can receive better treatment and live longer.