Classification of handwriting patterns in patients with Parkinson´s disease, using a biometric sensor

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

Gonadal Maturation in the Cobia Rachycentron canadum from the Northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Gonadal maturation of cobia, Rachycentron canadum, was evaluated by examining 508 specimens from its recreational fishery. Specimens were collected off southeast Louisiana to northwest Florida by hook-and-line during February through October 1987-1991. Fork lengths (FL) of these fish ranged from 580-1,530 mm, with corresponding weights of 2.0-43.5 kg. The female:male ratio was 1:0.37. Using a combination of oocyte size frequency and histological assessment of many of the fish, we determined that females were ripe from May through September, with atretic oocytes occurring in some fish from July through October. Degenerating hydrated oocytes in July and October and the presence of resting ovaries in July suggest two major spawning periods; however, monthly gonosomatic indices peaking in May, followed by a steady decline, do not support that finding. Ovaries were placed into undeveloped, early developing, mid-developing, or late developing categories based upon oocyte size-frequency distributions. Developing ovaries had two or three modes of oocytes larger than 30 μm. Batch fecundity was estimated to be 2.6×106 - 1.91×108 oocytes, depending on the size of fish/ovaries. The smallest female with oocytes exhibiting vitellogenesis was 834 mm FL. This fish was 2 years old based its otolith evaluation. The smallest male with an abundance of spermatozoa in its testes was 640 mm FL and 1 year old based on otolith evaluation; smaller males were not examined. Females larger than 840 mm FL had vitellogenic oocytes in March and April. A few fish still had vitellogenic oocytes in early October, but none did by late October. When Gilson’s fluid was used to assess ovarian tissue, the fresh weight of the tissue was reduced by 20% after being stored for 3 months. The diameter of oocytes shrunk about 25% in Gilson’s fluid which was 11% less than those fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin, and sectioned. Tissue sections from specific individuals, each demonstrating a variety of different developmental stages, were similar regardless of whether they were obtained from the anterior, middle, or posterior portion of either ovary.

The Pentastomid Sebekia mississippiensis sp. n. in the American Alligator and Other Hosts

Sebekia mississippiensis sp. n. is described from Alligator mississippiensis in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. Closely related to S. oxycephala in South American crocodilians, it differs by having a smaller and less spinous hook shield, a broader base for the posterior extensions of the oral cadre. and a thinner and more delicate tegument. The male reproductive system differs somewhat from that described for other pentastomids. Nymphs parasitize several fishes as well as turtles, snakes, and mammals.

An Investigation of Wild Bee Diversity and Abundance in Plots Managed by The Nature Conservancy in South-Central Nebraska and of Beneficial Arthropods Associated with Native Nebraska Flora

Insect pollination is an essential ecosystem service, and bees are the principal pollinators of wild and cultivated plants. Habitat management and enhancement are a proven way to encourage wild bee populations, providing them with food and nesting resources. I examined bee diversity and abundance in plots managed by The Nature Conservancy near Wood River, NE. The plots were seeded with 2 seed mixes at 2 seeding rates: high diversity mix at the recommended rate, high diversity mix double the recommended rate, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation planting (CP) 25 mix at one-half the recommended rate, and NRCS CP25 mix at the recommended rate. I measured wild bee abundance and diversity, and established a database of wild bees associated with the plots. I also compared genus richness and abundance among the plots using and aerial net and blue vane traps to collect bees. Significant differences were not observed in genus richness and diversity among the plots; however, plot size and the ability of blue vane traps to draw bees from a long distance may have influenced my results. In 2008, 15 genera and 95 individual bees were collected using an aerial net and in 2009, 32 genera and 6,103 individual bees were collected using blue vane traps. I also studied the beneficial insects associated with native Nebraska flora. Seventeen species of native, perennial flora were established in 3 separate plots located in eastern Nebraska. I transplanted four plants of each species in randomized 0.61 m x 0.61 m squares of a 3.05 m x 9.14 m plot. Arthropods were sampled using a modified leaf blower/vacuum. Insects and other arthropods were identified to family and organized into groups of predators, parasites, pollinators, herbivores, and miscellaneous. Associations between plant species and families of beneficial arthropods (predators, parasites, and pollinators) were made. Pycnanthemum flexuosum Walter attracted significantly more beneficial arthropod families than 7 other species of plants tested. Dalea purpurea Vent and Liatris punctata Hook also attracted significantly fewer beneficial arthropod families than 4 other species of plants tested. In total, 31 predator, 11 parasitic, 4 pollinator, 31 herbivore, and 10 miscellaneous families of arthropods were recorded.

CAPTURE FISHERY IN NORTHERN TODOS OS SANTOS BAY, TROPICAL SOUTHWESTERN ATLANTIC, BRAZIL

Information on marine and estuarine capture fishery activity in northern Todos os Santos Bay, northeastern Brazil, based on daily data collected between September 2003 and June 2005 is presented. Small-scale artisanal fishery in this area includes the use of traditional vessels both non-motorized and motorized for locomotion, being carried out mainly by canoe or on foot, and involves many different kinds of gear, including gillnet, hook and line, seine nets, and traps. A total of 113 taxa were grouped into 77 resources, including 88 fish, 10 crustaceans, and 15 mollusks. Data on nominal catches of fish, crustaceans and mollusks are presented by month and location. A total of 345.2 tonnes of fishery resources were produced (285.4 tonnes of fish, 39.2 tonnes of fresh invertebrates, and 20.6 tonnes of processed invertebrates). Temporal variation in the fish catch was associated with the life cycle of the species or with the hydrographic conditions. The first-sale value of this catch amounted to around US$ 615,000.00, fishes representing 71.3% of it. A table of the average price of each fishery resource is presented. The results produced in this study may be considered a reference for future monitoring programs of fishery resources in the area.

Mutations in SRCAP, Encoding SNF2-Related CREBBP Activator Protein, Cause Floating-Harbor Syndrome

Floating-Harbor syndrome (FHS) is a rare condition characterized by short stature, delayed osseous maturation, expressive-language deficits, and a distinctive facial appearance. Occurrence is generally sporadic, although parent-to-child transmission has been reported on occasion. Employing whole-exome sequencing, we identified heterozygous truncating mutations in SRCAP in five unrelated individuals with sporadic MS. Sanger sequencing identified mutations in SRCAP in eight more affected persons. Mutations were de novo in all six instances in which parental DNA was available. SRCAP is an SNF2-related chromatin-remodeling factor that serves as a coactivator for CREB-binding protein (CREBBP, better known as CBP, the major cause of Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome [RTS]). Five SRCAP mutations, two of which are recurrent, were identified; all are tightly clustered within a small (111 codon) region of the final exon. These mutations are predicted to abolish three C-terminal AT-hook DNA-binding motifs while leaving the CBP-binding and ATPase domains intact. Our findings show that SRCAP mutations are the major cause of FHS and offer an explanation for the clinical overlap between FHS and RTS.

q-Hook length formulas for colored labeled forests

The major index has been deeply studied from the early 1900s and recently has been generalized in different directions, such as the case of labeled forests and colored permutations. In this thesis we define new types of labelings for forests in which the labels are colored integers. We extend the definition of the flag-major index for these labelings and we present an analogue of well known major index hook length formulas. Finally, this study (which has just apparently a simple combinatoric nature) allows us to show a notion of duality for two particular families of groups obtained from the product G(r,n)×G(r,m).

Gender Differences in Emotional Responses to Hooking Up

The present research looked to explore the relationship between the emotional responses of college students to different hooking up behaviors. Seven hundred and nine undergraduates participated in a web-based survey that included a demographic questionnaire, SDS, PANAS, AUDIT, and a measure of hooking up. This measure examined the frequency with which they participated in eight different types of hooking up varying by degree of familiarity to their hook partner and whether or not the hook up was coital or non-coital, as well as their emotional responses to the behavior and their perception of the emotional responses of their partner. Results showed that both menand women experienced more positive emotional responses to hooking up behaviors than negative emotional responses. Men experienced significantly more positive emotional responses to hook up behaviors than did women. Women experienced significantly more negative emotional responses for hook ups that were coital with strangers than did men, while men experienced more positive emotional responses for hook ups that were coital with strangers, coital with acquaintances, and coital with partners that were previous romantic partners than did women. Men also experienced more positive emotional responses for hook ups that were non-coital with strangers and non-coital withacquaintances. Men tended to rate their partner’s positive emotional responses higher than what women reported experiencing, particularly for hook ups with less familiar partners. Women’s ratings of their partner’s negative emotional responses were lower than what men actually reported experiencing. The data collected provide several opportunities for future analyses to be conducted and this research will add to the relatively small body of literature on hooking up.

Relationships Past and Present: Examining the Impact of One's Relationship with His/her Opposite-sex Parent on His/her Attitudes Toward and Engagement in Hookup Culture

Hooking up has become a common and public practice on university campuses across the country. While much research has determined who is doing it, with whom they are doing it, and what they are hoping to get out of it, little work has been done to determine what personal factors motivate students to participate in the culture. A total of 407 current students were surveyed to assess the impact of one’s relationship with his/her opposite-sex parent on his/her attitudestoward and engagement in hookup culture on campus. Scores were assigned to the participants to divide them into categories of high and low attachment with their parent. It was hypothesizedthat heterosexual students who do not perceive themselves as having a strong, close, positive relationship with their opposite-sex parent would be more likely to engage in or attempt to engage in casual sexual behavior. This pattern was expected to be strongest for women on campus. Men and women differed in their reasons for hooking up, with whom they hook up, to what they attribute the behaviors of their peers, and what they hope to gain from their sexual interactions. Effects of parent-child relationships were significant only for women who reported hooking up because “others are doing it,” men’s agreement with the behavior of their peers, and women’s overall satisfaction with their hookups. Developmental, social, and evolutionary perspectives are employed to explain the results. University status was determined to be most telling of the extent to which a student is engaged in hookup culture.

Training in Mental Health: Evaluation of the Telephone Conference Network

The Telephone Conference Network, sponsored by The Pennsylvania State University's Coordinating Council for Health Care, is designed as a cost-effective format for providing inservice training in geriatric mental health for individuals who serve the elderly. Institutions which subscribe to the Telephone Conference Network are equipped with a conference speaker and telephone hook-up providing a two-way line of communication, and may choose from a variety of inservice programs. Mailed evaluations were completed by participants (N=73) in the "Skills to Manage Moods" program, a series of four 1-hour sessions designed to teach participants the skills needed to help patients cope with depression and to deliver the program to others. The majority of respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with the Telephone Conference Network system and the specific program in which they participated. Although 85 percent reported that they would be able to use the skills learned in the program on the job, 50 percent reported that they would not be interested in teaching these skills to others. The convenience and efficiency of the Telephone Conference Network were the most frequently mentioned strengths of the system, while the physical facilities and the program delivery format adopted by the individual institutions were the most frequently mentioned weaknesses. These data suggested several recommendations for Network subscribers and for professionals offering telephone conference programs, including ensuring optimal class enrollment and adequate physical facilities, and participant involvement in program implementation.

Multicentre evaluation of a new point-of-care test for the determination of NT-proBNP in whole blood

BACKGROUND: The Roche CARDIAC proBNP point-of-care (POC) test is the first test intended for the quantitative determination of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in whole blood as an aid in the diagnosis of suspected congestive heart failure, in the monitoring of patients with compensated left-ventricular dysfunction and in the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndromes. METHODS: A multicentre evaluation was carried out to assess the analytical performance of the POC NT-proBNP test at seven different sites. RESULTS: The majority of all coefficients of variation (CVs) obtained for within-series imprecision using native blood samples was below 10% for both 52 samples measured ten times and for 674 samples measured in duplicate. Using quality control material, the majority of CV values for day-to-day imprecision were below 14% for the low control level and below 13% for the high control level. In method comparisons for four lots of the POC NT-proBNP test with the laboratory reference method (Elecsys proBNP), the slope ranged from 0.93 to 1.10 and the intercept ranged from 1.8 to 6.9. The bias found between venous and arterial blood with the POC NT-proBNP method was < or =5%. All four lots of the POC NT-proBNP test investigated showed excellent agreement, with mean differences of between -5% and +4%. No significant interference was observed with lipaemic blood (triglyceride concentrations up to 6.3 mmol/L), icteric blood (bilirubin concentrations up to 582 micromol/L), haemolytic blood (haemoglobin concentrations up to 62 mg/L), biotin (up to 10 mg/L), rheumatoid factor (up to 42 IU/mL), or with 50 out of 52 standard or cardiological drugs in therapeutic concentrations. With bisoprolol and BNP, somewhat higher bias in the low NT-proBNP concentration range (<175 ng/L) was found. Haematocrit values between 28% and 58% had no influence on the test result. Interference may be caused by human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA) types 1 and 2. No significant influence on the results with POC NT-proBNP was found using volumes of 140-165 muL. High NT-proBNP concentrations above the measuring range of the POC NT-proBNP test did not lead to false low results due to a potential high-dose hook effect. CONCLUSIONS: The POC NT-proBNP test showed good analytical performance and excellent agreement with the laboratory method. The POC NT-proBNP assay is therefore suitable in the POC setting.

Minimum ten year results of total hip arthroplasty with the acetabular reinforcement ring in avascular osteonecrosis

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) still carries a higher failure rate in patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head (AVN) than in a similar patient population with THA for other reasons. This is particularly true for the acetabular component. One of the major factors accounting for this is the compromised acetabular bone quality with structural defects subsequent to collapsing of the femoral head in high-grade AVN. In this study we implanted an acetabular reinforcement ring with hook (ARRH), which had been used successfully for other indications with acetabular bone stock deficiency, in 32 consecutive THA's in 29 patients with AVN. Five patients died during the observation period of causes unrelated to the surgery, one patient was lost to follow-up and one patient could not be followed up due to chronic illness, leaving 25 hips (23 patients) with a minimum follow-up of ten years (mean: 11.8; range: 10-15). The mean Merle d'Aubigne score increased significantly from 7.7 preoperatively to 16.6 postoperatively (p < 0.001). One revision was performed for aseptic stem loosening. Of the unrevised hips, one acetabular component was classified as definitively loose. The cumulative 12-year survivorship for THA with ARRH in AVN was 95.2% (confidence interval: 86.1-100%) for both components, 100% for the cup and 95.2% for the stem (86.1-100%).

Acetabular reinforcement ring in primary total hip arthroplasty: a minimum 10-year follow-up

INTRODUCTION: We report the results of a titanium acetabular reinforcement ring with a hook (ARRH) in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA), which was introduced in 1987 and continues to be used routinely in our center. The favorable results of this device in arthroplasty for developmental dysplasia and difficult revisions motivated its use in primary THA. With this implant only minimal acetabular reaming is necessary, anatomic positioning is achieved by placing the hook around the teardrop and a homogenous base for cementing the polyethylene cup is provided. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between April 1987 and December 1991, 241 THAs with insertion of an ARRH were performed in 178 unselected, consecutive patients (average age 58 years; range 30-84 years) with a secondary osteoarthrosis in 41% of the cases. RESULTS: At the time of the latest follow-up, 33 patients (39 hips) had died and 17 cases had been lost to follow-up. The median follow-up was 122 months with a minimum of 10 years. Eight hips had been revised, leaving 177 hips in 120 living patients without revision. Six cups were revised because of aseptic loosening. Two hips were revised for sepsis. The mean Merle d'Aubigné score for the remaining hips was 16 (range 7-18) at the latest follow-up. For aseptic loosening, the probability of survival of the cup was 0.97 (95% confidence interval, 0.94-0.99). However, analysis of radiographs implied loosening in seven other cups without clinical symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The results of primary THA using an acetabular reinforcement ring parallel the excellent results of these implants often observed in difficult primary and revision arthroplasty at a minimum of 10 years. Survivorship is comparable to modern cementless implants. Medial migration that occurs with loosening of the acetabular component seems to be prevented with this implant. Radiographic loosening signs can exist without clinical symptoms.

A Non-Synonymous HMGA2 Variant Decreases Height in Shetland Ponies and Other Small Horses

The identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) such as height and their underlying causative variants is still challenging and often requires large sample sizes. In humans hundreds of loci with small effects control the heritable portion of height variability. In domestic animals, typically only a few loci with comparatively large effects explain a major fraction of the heritability. We investigated height at withers in Shetland ponies and mapped a QTL to ECA 6 by genome-wide association (GWAS) using a small cohort of only 48 animals and the Illumina equine SNP70 BeadChip. Fine-mapping revealed a shared haplotype block of 793 kb in small Shetland ponies. The HMGA2 gene, known to be associated with height in horses and many other species, was located in the associated haplotype. After closing a gap in the equine reference genome we identified a non-synonymous variant in the first exon of HMGA2 in small Shetland ponies. The variant was predicted to affect the functionally important first AT-hook DNA binding domain of the HMGA2 protein (c.83G>A; p.G28E). We assessed the functional impact and found impaired DNA binding of a peptide with the mutant sequence in an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. This suggests that the HMGA2 variant also affects DNA binding in vivo and thus leads to reduced growth and a smaller stature in Shetland ponies. The identified HMGA2 variant also segregates in several other pony breeds but was not found in regular-sized horse breeds. We therefore conclude that we identified a quantitative trait nucleotide for height in horses.