Relationship between diet and anticoagulant response to warfarin - A factor analysis

Background Diet composition is one of the factors that may contribute to intraindividual variability in the anticoagulant response to warfarin. Aim of the study To determine the associations between food pattern and anticoagulant response to warfarin in a group of Brazilian patients with vascular disease. Methods Recent and usual food intakes were assessed in 115 patients receiving warfarin; and corresponding plasma phylloquinone (vitamin K-1), serum triglyceride concentrations, prothrombin time (PT), and International Normalized Ratio (INR) were determined. A factor analysis was used to examine the association of specific foods and biochemical variables with anticoagulant data. Results Mean age was 59 +/- 15 years. Inadequate anticoagulation, defined as values of INR 2 or 3, was found in 48% of the patients. Soybean oil and kidney beans were the primary food sources of phylloquinone intake. Factor analysis yielded four separate factors, explaining 56.4% of the total variance in the data set. The factor analysis revealed that intakes of kidney beans and soybean oil, 24-h recall of phylloquinone intake, PT and INR loaded significantly on factor 1. Triglycerides, PT, INR, plasma phylloquinone, and duration of anticoagulation therapy loaded on factor 3. Conclusion Fluctuations in phylloquinone intake, particularly from kidney beans, and plasma phylloquinone concentrations were associated with variation in measures of anticoagulation (PT and INR) in a Brazilian group of patients with vascular disease.

Chemical composition of flavonoids and styrylpyrones and the genetic variability of isozymes in natural populations of Cryptocarya mandioccana Meisner (Lauraceae)

The chemical composition of leaves of 57 trees of Cryptocarya mandioccana from three populations of southeastern Brazil was investigated through HPLC, assaying six flavonoids, seven styrylpyrones, and seven unidentified compounds. From 51 of the former trees, genotypes were obtained from 40 polymorphic loci of 19 isozymes. Cluster analyses of the phytochemical and genetical variation revealed that trees exhibited four chemotypes and five clusters from isozymes, respectively. Discriminant analyses from selected variables of the isozymic and chemical data sets were performed, respectively, in relation to the four chemotypes and the five isozyme clusters. The classification of individuals presented respective error estimates of 9.16% and 13.57%, indicating that the genetic data could explain the clusters from chernotypes and vice versa at acceptable error levels. Linear regressions with Dummy variable showed significant association of locus Skdh-2 with quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and cryptofolione, indicating that its alleles would be responsible for the chemotype variation between individuals. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GEOGRAPHIC-VARIATION IN APIS-CERANA-INDICA F - A SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION ANALYSIS OF MORPHOMETRIC PATTERNS

Spatial patterns of morphometric variation in Apis cerana indica were analysed. Factor and spatial autocorrelation analyses were applied to 29 characters, measured in 17 populations in India. Correlograms showed that 15 characters are patterned geographically, and 13 of them are related to overall size. These characters are distributed as a north-south cline, probably reflecting adaptations to environmental conditions. However, the great number of characteristics without geographical pattern suggests that part of the morphometric variability is due to local stochastic divergences.

Effects of displacement and trajectory length on the variability pattern of reaching movements

The design of the present study enabled the authors to distinguish between the possible effects of movement displacement and trajectory length on the pattern of final positions of planar reaching movements. With their eyes closed, 9 subjects performed series of fast and accurate movements from different initial positions to the same target. For some series, the movements were unconstrained and were therefore performed along an approximately straight vertical line. For other series, an obstacle was positioned so that trajectory length was increased because of an increase in movement curvature. Ellipses of variability obtained by means of principal component analysis applied to the scatter of movement final positions enabled the authors to assess the pattern of movement variable errors. The results showed that the orientation of the ellipses was not affected by movement displacement or by trajectory length, whereas variable errors increased with move ment displacement. An increase in trajectory length as a consequence of increased curvature caused no change in variable error. From the perspective of current motor control theory, that finding was quite unexpected. Further studies are required so that one can distinguish among the possible effects of various kinematics, kinetics, and other variables that could affect the pattern of variable errors of reaching movements.

Expression and variability of molecular chaperones in the sugarcane expressome

Molecular chaperones perform folding assistance in newly synthesized polypeptides preventing aggregation processes, recovering proteins from aggregates, among other important cellular functions. Thus their study presents great biotechnological importance. The present work discusses the mining for chaperone-related sequences within the sugarcane EST genome project database, which resulted in approximately 300 different sequences. Since molecular chaperones are highly conserved in most organisms studied so far, the number of sequences related to these proteins in sugarcane was very similar to the number found in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. The Hsp70 family was the main molecular chaperone system present in the sugarcane expressome. However, many other relevant molecular chaperones systems were also present. A digital RNA blot analysis showed that 5'ESTs from all molecular chaperones were found in every sugarcane library, despite their heterogeneous expression profiles. The results presented here suggest the importance of molecular chaperones to polypeptide metabolism in sugarcane cells, based on their abundance and variability. Finally, these data have being used to guide more in deep analysis, permitting the choice of specific targets to study. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Variability of esterase patterns in adult flies of the saltans species group of Drosophila (subgenus Sophophora)

Esterases are known for their involvement in several physiological processes and high degree of polymorphism, in many organisms. Such polymorphism has been used to characterize species and species groups and to study genetic changes occurred in their evolutionary history. In the present study, the esterase patterns of 19 strains from 10 species representative of the five subgroups of the saltans species group were analyzed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and alpha- and beta- naphthyl acetates as substrates. Fifty-one esterase bands were detected and classified as 31 alpha-esterases, 18 beta-esterases and two alpha/beta-esterases. on the basis of the inhibition patterns using Malathion and eserine sulfate, 34 bands were classified as carboxylesterases, 14 as acethylesterases and three as cholinesterases. Ten gene loci were tentatively established on the basis of data on band position in the gel, substrate preference and inhibition pattern. Twenty bands were species-specific, the remaining being shared by species from the same or different subgroups. Bands detected exclusively in males and bands with a different frequency or degree of expression between sexes were also detected. In the gels prepared for analysis of gene expression in the body parts (head, thorax and abdomen), the degree of expression of the beta-esterases was higher in the thorax, while the alpha-esterases were expressed predominantly in the abdomen and thorax. A global view of the data available at present on the esterases of the species from the saltans group and their degree of polymorphism are presented, as well as the possibility of using some beta-esterases, because of their characteristics in the gels, as markers for species identification.

Bayesian outlier analysis in binary regression

We propose alternative approaches to analyze residuals in binary regression models based on random effect components. Our preferred model does not depend upon any tuning parameter, being completely automatic. Although the focus is mainly on accommodation of outliers, the proposed methodology is also able to detect them. Our approach consists of evaluating the posterior distribution of random effects included in the linear predictor. The evaluation of the posterior distributions of interest involves cumbersome integration, which is easily dealt with through stochastic simulation methods. We also discuss different specifications of prior distributions for the random effects. The potential of these strategies is compared in a real data set. The main finding is that the inclusion of extra variability accommodates the outliers, improving the adjustment of the model substantially, besides correctly indicating the possible outliers.

The use of landforms to predict the variability of soil and orange attributes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Variability on red blood cell transfusion practices among Brazilian neonatal intensive care units

BACKGROUND:Guidelines for red blood cell (RBC) transfusions exist; however, transfusion practices vary among centers. This study aimed to analyze transfusion practices and the impact of patients and institutional characteristics on the indications of RBC transfusions in preterm infants.STUDY DESIGN and METHODS:RBC transfusion practices were investigated in a multicenter prospective cohort of preterm infants with a birth weight of less than 1500 g born at eight public university neonatal intensive care units of the Brazilian Network on Neonatal Research. Variables associated with any RBC transfusions were analyzed by logistic regression analysis.RESULTS:Of 952 very-low-birth-weight infants, 532 (55.9%) received at least one RBC transfusion. The percentages of transfused neonates were 48.9, 54.5, 56.0, 61.2, 56.3, 47.8, 75.4, and 44.7%, respectively, for Centers 1 through 8. The number of transfusions during the first 28 days of life was higher in Center 4 and 7 than in other centers. After 28 days, the number of transfusions decreased, except for Center 7. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed higher likelihood of transfusion in infants with late onset sepsis (odds ratio [OR], 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-4.4), intraventricular hemorrhage (OR, 9.4; 95% CI, 3.3-26.8), intubation at birth (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8), need for umbilical catheter (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.3-4.4), days on mechanical ventilation (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.2), oxygen therapy (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1), parenteral nutrition (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1), and birth center (p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:The need of RBC transfusions in very-low-birth-weight preterm infants was associated with clinical conditions and birth center. The distribution of the number of transfusions during hospital stay may be used as a measure of neonatal care quality.

Impact of breed and sex on porcine endocrine transcriptome: a bayesian biometrical analysis

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

An updated analysis on atmospheric neutrinos

We have reanalysed the atmospheric neutrino data including new results from Super-Kamiokande and Soudan-II experiments, under the assumption of two-flavor neutrino oscillation. We present the allowed region of oscillation parameters for the νμ → ντ channel. In performing this re-analysis we also take into account some recent theoretical improvements in the flux calculations.

Invited review Giardia duodenalis: Inter-strain variability of proteins, antigens, proteases, isoenzymes and nucleic acids

Giardia duodenalis isolates from asymptomatic or symptomatic patients and from animals present similarities and differences in the protein composition, antigenic profile, pattern of proteases and isoenzymes, as well as in nucleic acids analysis. In the present overview, these differences and similarities are reviewed with emphasis in the host-parasite interplay and possible mechanisms of virulence of the protozoon.

Variation in mandible shape in Thrichomys apereoides (Mammalia: Rodentia): Geometric analysis of a complex morphological structure

The model of development and evolution of complex morphological structures conceived by Atchley and Hall in 1991 (Biol. Rev. 66:101-157), which establishes that changes at the macroscopic, morphogenetic level can be statistically detected as variation in skeletal units at distinct scales, was applied in combination with the formalism of geometric morphometrics to study variation in mandible shape among populations of the rodent species Thrichomys apereoides. The thin-plate spline technique produced geometric descriptors of shape derived from anatomical landmarks in the mandible, which we used with graphical and inferential approaches to partition the contribution of global and localized components to the observed differentiation in mandible shape. A major pattern of morphological differentiation in T. apereoides is attributable to localized components of shape at smaller geometric scales associated with specific morphogenetic units of the mandible. On the other hand, a clinal trend of variation is associated primarily with localized components of shape at larger geometric scales. Morphogenetic mechanisms assumed to be operating to produce the observed differentiation in the specific units of the mandible include mesenchymal condensation differentiation, muscle hypertrophy, and tooth growth. Perspectives for the application of models of morphological evolution and geometric morphometrics to morphologically based systematic biology are considered.

Analysis of the Priestley-Taylor α parameter for a bean crop

This work deals with the Priestley-Taylor model for evapotranspiration in different grown stages of a bean crop. Priestley and Taylor derived a practical formulation for energy partitioning between the sensible and latent heat fluxes through the α parameter. Bowen ratio energy balance (BREB) was carried out for daily sensible and latent heat flux estimations in three different crop stages. Mean daily values of Priestley-Taylor α parameter were determined for eleven days during the crop cycle. Diurnal variation patterns of α are presented for the growing, flowering and graining periods. The mean values of 1.13 ± 0.33, 1.26 ± 0.74, 1.22 ± 0.55 were obtained for a day in the growing, in the flowering and for graining periods, respectively. Eleven days values of α are shown and gave a mean value of 1.23 ± 0.10 which agree on the reported literature.

Genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships based on RAPD analysis in section Caulorrhizae, genus Arachis (Leguminosae)

Wild Arachis germplasm includes potential forage species, such as the rhizomatous Arachis glabrata and the stoloniferous A. pinto and A. repens. Commercial cultivars of A. pintoi have already been released in Australia and in several Latin American countries, and most of these cultivars were derived from a single accession of A. pintoi (GK 12787). Arachis repens is less productive as a forage plant than is A. pintoi. However, it can be crossed with A. pintoi, and thus has good potential as germplasm for the improvement of A. pintoi. Arachis repens is also used as an ornamental plant and ground cover. Many new accessions of these two stoloniferous species are now available, and they harbor significant genetic variability beyond that available in the few older accessions, previously available. Therefore, these new accessions need to be conserved, documented and considered in terms of their potential for crop improvement and direct commercial use. Sixty-four accessions of this new germplasm were analyzed using RAPD analysis. Most of the accessions of A. repens grouped together into a clearly distinct group. In general, the accessions from the distinct valleys of the Jequitinhonha, Sao Francisco and Parana rivers did not group together, suggesting there is not a tight relation between dispersion by rivers and the geographic distribution of genetic variation in these species.