Developmental and evolutionary assumptions in a study about the impact of premature birth and low income on mother–infant interaction

In order to study the impact of premature birth and low income on mother–infant interaction, four Portuguese samples were gathered: full-term, middle-class (n=99); premature, middle-class (n=63); full-term, low income (n=22); and premature, low income (n=21). Infants were filmed in a free play situation with their mothers, and the results were scored using the CARE Index. By means of multinomial regression analysis, social economic status (SES) was found to be the best predictor of maternal sensitivity and infant cooperative behavior within a set of medical and social factors. Contrary to the expectations of the cumulative risk perspective, two factors of risk (premature birth together with low SES) were as negative for mother–infant interaction as low SES solely. In this study, as previous studies have shown, maternal sensitivity and infant cooperative behavior were highly correlated, as was maternal control with infant compliance. Our results further indicate that, when maternal lack of responsiveness is high, the infant displays passive behavior, whereas when the maternal lack of responsiveness is medium, the infant displays difficult behavior. Indeed, our findings suggest that, in these cases, the link between types of maternal and infant interactive behavior is more dependent on the degree of maternal lack of responsiveness than it is on birth status or SES. The results will be discussed under a developmental and evolutionary reasoning

Radiographic outcomes and evaluation of developmental dysplasia of the hip in children

The Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH), also know as Congenital Dislocation of the Hip, is common in infants and children and may persist into adulthood. The radiographic interpretation is highly conditioned by appropriate patient positioning and image quality criteria. The main goal of this study is to demonstrate the value of radiographic evaluation of DDH. Through the retrospective analysis of 65 radiographs of the hips, only 2 (3.1%) female patients with 1-2 years of age presented radiographic findings of DDH. The inappropriate field size and the improper placement and size of the gonadal shields, were the most common errors observed.

Differences in Mismatch Negativity (MMN) response to Pure-tone and Speech sounds in normal subjects: an additional explanation

The relation of automatic auditory discrimination, measured with MMN, with the type of stimuli has not been well established in the literature, despite its importance as an electrophysiological measure of central sound representation. In this study, MMN response was elicited by pure-tone and speech binaurally passive auditory oddball paradigm in a group of 8 normal young adult subjects at the same intensity level (75 dB SPL). The frequency difference in pure-tone oddball was 100 Hz (standard = 1 000 Hz; deviant = 1 100 Hz; same duration = 100 ms), in speech oddball (standard /ba/; deviant /pa/; same duration = 175 ms) the Portuguese phonemes are both plosive bi-labial in order to maintain a narrow frequency band. Differences were found across electrode location between speech and pure-tone stimuli. Larger MMN amplitude, duration and higher latency to speech were verified compared to pure-tone in Cz and Fz as well as significance differences in latency and amplitude between mastoids. Results suggest that speech may be processed differently than non-speech; also it may occur in a later stage due to overlapping processes since more neural resources are required to speech processing.

Contributo para a validação de uma escala pediátrica, Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-2 (versão portuguesa)

Mestrado em Fisioterapia

Decay of antibody isotypes against early developmental stages of Schistosoma mansoni after treatment of schistosomiasis patients

Antibodies to a number of parasite antigens are found in schistosomiasis patients, and antibodies to early developmental stages were demonstrated to be efficient immunologic markers for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis. In the present study, decay patterns of IgM and IgG antibodies against cercariae and schistosomula were investigated, in comparison to antibodies against worms and eggs in schistosomiasis patients after chemotherapy, for an investigation of seroepidemiologic aspects. Data obtained in the study of 359 serum samples from patients with Schistosoma mansoni infection, noninfected individuals, and patients followed-up for a period of 12 to 15 months after treatment provided the basis to postulate a general pattern for the kinetics of antibody decay. Before treatment, the antibody pattern was represented by a unimodal curve, which shifted to a bimodal curve after treatment, and ended with a unimodal curve similar to that for the noninfected group. Different types of antibodies were classified into four categories according to their decay features, and anti-schistosomulum IgM was classified into the moderate-decay caterogy, whereas other antibodies to early parasite stages were classified into the slow-decay category. The present methodology permits the identification of the most suitable antibodies to be detected in field control programs for schistosomiasis or other parasitoses

Novel Secretion Apparatus Maintains Spore Integrity and Developmental Gene Expression in Bacillus subtilis

Plos Genetics, 5(7): ARTe1000566

SOIL CONTAMINATION IN PUBLIC SQUARES IN BELO HORIZONTE, MINAS GERAIS, BY CANINE PARASITES IN DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES

SUMMARY To evaluate soil contamination by parasites in different developmental stages in public squares used as recreation and leisure areas for children in Belo Horizonte (MG, Brazil), 210 soil samples and 141 canine fecal samples were collected from 42 squares in the city. These samples were analyzed by the Caldwell and Caldwell technique and the Hoffman, Pons, and Janer technique. Of the samples analyzed, 89 (42.4%) soil samples and 104 (73.5%) fecal samples were contaminated with Ancylostoma sp., Toxocara sp., Trichuris sp., or Dipylidium sp. eggs; Giardia sp. cysts; or Isospora sp. oocysts. The commonest parasite was Ancylostoma sp., found in 85% soil and 99% fecal samples, followed by Toxocara sp., found in 43.7% soil and 30.7% fecal samples.

Morphological diversification through the evolution of developmental hierarchies

Changes in development impact the final form of organisms and compose the natural variation that is the raw material for evolution. Development is hierarchically structured in progressive series of cell fate determination and differentiation. How does variation in different stages of development contribute to morphological diversification?

Managing talent through developmental job experiences (DJE): The mediating role of DJE between HPWS and employees' outcomes

In the competitive landscape of the 21st century, effectively managing human capital in firms is considered to be a potential source of sustainable performance. Therefore, in this study, we tested the influence of high-performance work systems, as a talent management tool, on employees’ experience of developmental jobs. Then, we tested the mediating effect of such experiences on employees’ engagement, exhaustion, performance and turnover intention. With a sample of 254 employees of a diversity of companies and sectors of activity, our findings demonstrated that high-performance practices increase engagement, via the promotion of developmental experiences of fit, which improves performance and decreases turnover intention. Besides, those practices do not control for the pressure dimension of the developmental job experiences that increases exhaustion and turnover intention despite not worsening performance.

Developmental and paleontological insights into skull bone homology and evolution

The Gallus gallus (chicken) embryo is a central model organism in evolutionary developmental biology. Its anatomy and developmental genetics have been extensively studied and many relevant evolutionary implications have been made so far. However, important questions regarding the developmental origin of the chicken skull bones are still unresolved such that no solid homology can be established across organisms. This precludes evolutionary comparisons between this and other avian model systems in which skull anatomy has evolved significantly over the last millions of years.(...)

Developmental morphology of mouthparts and foregut of the larvae and postlarvae of Lepidophthalmus siriboia Felder & Rodrigues, 1993 (Decapoda: Callianassidae)

In this study, the gross morphology of the mouthparts and foregut of the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus siriboia were investigated from larvae and postlarvae reared in the laboratory. The mouthparts (maxillae and maxillipeds) of the zoeae have a reduced number of setae and spines (or is absent in some individuals), and the foregut, under developed, have few minute setae in the cardiac and pyloric chambers. In contrast, after the metamorphosis into megalopa stage, all feeding appendages have many setae and, the foregut shows a well-developed gastric mill with strong lateral teeth. In the juvenile stage occurs an increase of setae and spines in the mouthparts and the foregut becomes more specialized. These observations strongly suggest that a lecithotrophic development occurs during all zoeal stages but the megalopa and juvenile stages are feeding animals. The functional morphology of the feeding structures of L. siriboia and other decapods will be briefly discussed.

Effects of light and temperature on isoprene emission at different leaf developmental stages of eschweilera coriacea in central Amazon

Isoprene emission from plants accounts for about one third of annual global volatile organic compound emissions. The largest source of isoprene for the global atmosphere is the Amazon Basin. This study aimed to identify and quantify the isoprene emission and photosynthesis at different levels of light intensity and leaf temperature, in three phenological phases (young mature leaf, old mature leaf and senescent leaf) of Eschweilera coriacea (Matamatá verdadeira), the species with the widest distribution in the central Amazon. In situ photosynthesis and isoprene emission measurements showed that young mature leaf had the highest rates at all light intensities and leaf temperatures. Additionally, it was observed that isoprene emission capacity (Es) changed considerably over different leaf ages. This suggests that aging leads to a reduction of both leaf photosynthetic activity and isoprene production and emission. The algorithm of Guenther et al. (1999) provided good fits to the data when incident light was varied, however differences among E S of all leaf ages influenced on quantic yield predicted by model. When leaf temperature was varied, algorithm prediction was not satisfactory for temperature higher than ~40 °C; this could be because our data did not show isoprene temperature optimum up to 45 °C. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of the isoprene functional role in protecting plants from high temperatures and highlight the need to include leaf phenology effects in isoprene emission models.

A skin-picking disorder case report: a psychopathological explanation

We describe the case of a 44-year-old woman, without known previous psychiatric history, hospitalized after a significant hemorrhage caused by self-inflicted deep facial dermal lesions (with muscle exposition). Psychopathological possible explanations of this case, as in similar reviewed ones, are related to frustration, aggression, and impulsivity.