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Birds, cartilaginous and teleost fish, reptiles, and some amphibians have intrascleral cartilage and/or bone; however, these are rarely reported in therian mammals. This study aimed to investigate and characterize a nonpathological formation of cartilage in the posterior sclera of sheep macroscopically, histologically, and by immunohistochemical exam (IHC). Ninety eyes from 45 domestic sheep were collected, underwent gross examination, fixed in formalin, and embedded in paraffin for the microscopical assessment. Sections with histological shreds of cartilage were selected to perform IHC to confirm the presence of cartilage. Intrascleral cartilage was detected in 60 eyeballs (66.66%) from 37 sheep (82.22%). A slight whitish thickening was grossly seen in the posterior sclera. The histologic exam revealed a few scattered, isolated chondrocytes to larger aggregates of cartilaginous islands in the posterior sclera. Eighteen (30%) of 60 eyeballs revealed marked anti-collagen type II immunolabeling. The development of cartilaginous structures in the eyes is considered rare in mammalian animals. The high occurrence of intrascleral cartilage in the examined sheep eyes suggests that this finding corresponds to an anatomical component of sheep sclera, despite the age, breed, or body condition. RESUMO: Aves, peixes cartilaginosos e teleósteos e répteis, bem como alguns anfíbios possuem cartilagem e/ou osso intraescleral, contudo, isso é raramente descrito em marsupiais. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar e caracterizar a formação não patológica de cartilagem hialina na esclera posterior de ovinos, por exame macroscópico, histológico e imuno-histoquímico. Olhos de 45 ovinos foram coletados, submetidos a exame macroscópico, fixados em formalina a 10% tamponada e incluídos em parafina para o exame histológico. Amostras com evidência de formação cartilaginosa ao exame histológico foram selecionadas para a realização da técnica de imuno-histoquímica para confirmação. Cartilagem intraescleral foi detectada em 60 amostras oculares (66,66%) de 37 ovinos (82,22%), caracterizada na avaliação macroscópica como discretos espessamentos esbranquiçados na esclera posterior. O exame histológico revelou formações que variaram de condrócitos isolados e dispersos a grandes agregados, formando ilhas cartilaginosas na esclera. Dezoito (30%) de 60 bulbos oculares mostraram imunomarcação anti-colágeno tipo II. O desenvolvimento de estruturas cartilaginosas nos bulbos oculares é considerado raro em mamíferos. A identificação de cartilagem intraescleral em 66% dos olhos ovinos avaliados no estudo indica que a formação de cartilagem corresponde a um componente anatômico normal na esclera de ovinos, independente de idade, raça ou condição corporal.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of two technology-enhanced interventions for diabetes prevention among adults at risk for developing diabetes in a primary care setting.MethodsThe DiaBEAT-it study employed a hybrid 2-group preference (Choice) and 3-group randomized controlled (RCT) design. This paper presents weight related primary outcomes of the RCT arm. Patients from Southwest Virginia were identified through the Carilion Clinic electronic health records. Eligible participants (18 and older, BMI ≥ 25, no Type 2 Diabetes) were randomized to either Choice (n = 264) or RCT (n = 334). RCT individuals were further randomized to one of three groups: (1) a 2-h small group class to help patients develop a personal action plan to prevent diabetes (SC, n = 117); (2) a 2-h small group class plus automated telephone calls using an interactive voice response system (IVR) to help participants initiate weight loss through a healthful diet and regular physical activity (Class/IVR, n = 110); or (3) a DVD with same content as the class plus the same IVR calls over a period of 12 months (DVD/IVR, n = 107).ResultsOf the 334 participants that were randomized, 232 (69%) had study measured weights at 6 months, 221 (66%) at 12 months, and 208 (62%) at 18 months. Class/IVR participants were less likely to complete weight measures than SC or DVD/IVR. Intention to treat analyses, controlling for gender, race, age and baseline BMI, showed that DVD/IVR and Class/IVR led to reductions in BMI at 6 (DVD/IVR −0.94, p < 0.001; Class/IVR −0.70, p < 0.01), 12 (DVD/IVR −0.88, p < 0.001; Class/IVR-0.82, p < 0.001) and 18 (DVD/IVR −0.78, p < 0.001; Class/IVR −0.58, p < 0.01) months. All three groups showed a significant number of participants losing at least 5% of their body weight at 12 months (DVD/IVR 26.87%; Class/IVR 21.62%; SC 16.85%). When comparing groups, DVD/IVR were significantly more likely to decrease BMI at 6 months (p < 0.05) and maintain the reduction at 18 months (p < 0.05) when compared to SC. There were no differences between the other groups.ConclusionsThe DiaBEAT-it interventions show promise in responding to the need for scalable, effective methods to manage obesity and prevent diabetes in primary care settings that do not over burden primary care clinics and providers.Registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02162901, identifier: NCT02162901.

In this paper, the Hamiltonian structure of the bosonized chiral Schwinger model (BCSM) is analyzed. From the consistency condition of the constraints obtained from the Dirac method, we can observe that this model presents, for certain values of the $\alpha$ parameter, two second-class constraints, which means that this system does not possess gauge invariance. However, we know that it is possible to disclose gauge symmetries in such a system by converting the original second-class system into a first-class one. This procedure can be done through the gauge unfixing (GU) formalism by acting with a projection operator directly on the original second-class Hamiltonian, without adding any extra degrees of freedom in the phase space. One of the constraints becomes the gauge symmetry generator of the theory and the other one is disregarded. At the end, we have a first-class Hamiltonian satisfying a first-class algebra. Here, our goal is to apply a new scheme of embedding second-class constrained systems based on the GU formalism, named improved GU formalism, in the BCSM. The original second-class variables are directly converted into gauge invariant variables, called GU variables. We have verified that the Poisson brackets involving the GU variables are equal to the Dirac brackets between the original second-class variables. Finally, we have found that our improved GU variables coincide with those obtained from an improved BFT method after a particular choice for the Wess-Zumino terms., Comment: 13 pages

Evaluating the epigenetic landscape in the stem cell compartment at the single-cell level is essential to assess the cells’ heterogeneity and predict their fate. Here, using a genome-wide transcriptomics approach in vivo, we evaluated the allelic expression imbalance in the progeny of single hematopoietic cells (HSCs) as a read-out of epigenetic marking. After 4 months of extensive proliferation and differentiation, we found that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is tightly maintained in all single-HSC derived hematopoietic cells. In contrast, the vast majority of the autosomal genes did not show clonal patterns of random monoallelic expression (RME). However, a persistent allele-specific autosomal transcription in HSCs and their progeny was found in a rare number of cases, none of which has been previously reported. These data show that: 1) XCI and RME in the autosomal chromosomes are driven by different mechanisms; 2) the previously reported high frequency of genes under RME in clones expanded in vitro (up to 15%) is not found in clones undergoing multiple differentiation steps in vivo; 3) prior to differentiation, HSCs have stable patterns of autosomal RME. We propose that most RME patterns in autosomal chromosomes are erased and established de novo during cell lineage differentiation.

C. Codella et al., The ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) interferometer, with its unprecedented combination of high sensitivity and high angular resolution, allows for (sub-)mm wavelength mapping of protostellar systems at Solar system scales. Astrochemistry has benefitted from imaging interstellar complex organic molecules in these jet–disc systems. Here, we report the first detection of methanol (CH3OH) and methyl formate (HCOOCH3) emission towards the triple protostellar system VLA1623−2417 A1+A2+B, obtained in the context of the ALMA Large Programme FAUST (Fifty AU STudy of the chemistry in the disc/envelope system of solar-like protostars). Compact methanol emission is detected in lines from Eu = 45 K up to 61 K and 537 K towards components A1 and B, respectively. Large velocity gradient analysis of the CH3OH lines towards VLA1623−2417 B indicates a size of 0.11–0.34 arcsec (14–45 au), a column density NCH3OH = 1016–1017 cm−2, kinetic temperature ≥ 170 K, and volume density ≥ 108 cm−3. A local thermodynamic equilibrium approach is used for VLA1623−2417 A1, given the limited Eu range, and yields Trot ≤ 135 K. The methanol emission around both VLA1623−2417 A1 and B shows velocity gradients along the main axis of each disc. Although the axial geometry of the two discs is similar, the observed velocity gradients are reversed. The CH3OH spectra from B show two broad (4–5 km s−1) peaks, which are red- and blueshifted by ∼ 6–7 km s−1 from the systemic velocity. Assuming a chemically enriched ring within the accretion disc, close to the centrifugal barrier, its radius is calculated to be 33 au. The methanol spectra towards A1 are somewhat narrower (∼ 4 km s−1), implying a radius of 12–24 au., This project has received funding from: (1) the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, for the Project ‘The Dawn of Organic Chemistry’ (DOC), grant agreement no. 741002; (2) the PRIN-INAF 2016 The Cradle of Life – GENESIS-SKA (General Conditions in Early Planetary Systems for the rise of life with SKA); (3) a Grant-in-Aid from Japan Society for the Promotion of Sci- ence (KAKENHI: Nos. 18H05222, 20H05844, 20H05845); (4) the Spanish FEDER under project number ESP2017-86582-C4-1-R; (5) DGAPA, UNAM grants IN112417 and IN112820, and CONACyT, Mexico; (6) ANR of France under contract number ANR-16-CE31- 0013; (7) the French National Research Agency in the framework of the Investissements d’Avenir programme (ANR-15-IDEX-02), through the funding of the ‘Origin of Life’ project of the Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, (8) the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes under projects ‘Astro-Chemistry Ori- gins’ (ACO), Grant No. 811312; (9) the National Research Council Canada and an NSERC Dico v ery Grant to DJ. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2018.1.01205.L. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Obser- vatory is operated by ESO, A UI/NRA O, and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

In this article we study random tower maps driven by an ergodic automorphism. We prove quenched exponential correlations decay for tower maps admitting exponential tails. Our technique is based on constructing suitable cones of functions, defined on the random towers, which contract with respect to the Hilbert metric under the action of appropriate transfer operators. We apply our results to obtain quenched exponential correlations decay for several non-iid random dynamical systems including small random perturbations of Lorenz maps and Axiom A attractors., Revised version. To appear in Nonlinearity

This paper examines which business choices are more likely to increase the profitability and distance to distress of banks, and whether changing business model pays off. We find that the profitability and distance to distress increase with the use of customer deposits and equity, and decrease with size; also, the top performers tend to have a high relationship banking orientation and/or operate a retail focused business model. Furthermore, we document that income diversification only bears a positive impact on the distance to distress of banks highly focused on relationship banking, and size only bears a negative effect on the profitability of these banks as well; additionally, only banks with a low relationship banking orientation significantly benefit from customer deposits. With respect to the effects of business model changes, we find that shifts from the retail diversified funding model to either the retail focused or the large diversified models improve profitability in the medium term. Finally, we find evidence that large diversified banks benefited from internal capital markets during the twin financial crisis by tapping into low-cost funding from subsidiaries. Our results are robust to changes to our baseline model that account for endogeneity and persistency issues.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-29T08:37:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2022-02-01 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world, and most of that beef derives from Nellore cattle. Although considered a zebu breed (Bos indicus), the history of Nellore cattle in Brazil is marked by the importation of bulls from India, the use of a Creole taurine (Bos taurus) maternal lineage to quickly expand the herds and backcrossing to Nellore bulls to recover zebu ancestry. As a consequence, the current Brazilian Nellore population carries an average taurine ancestry of approximately 1%. Although that percentage seems small, some taurine variants deviate substantially from that average, with the better-known cases being the PLAG1-Q haplotype involved with body size variation and the Guarani (PG) polled variant producing hornless animals. Here, we report taurine haplotypes in 9074 Nellore animals genotyped for 539 657 imputed SNP markers. Apart from PLAG1-Q and PG, our analysis further revealed common taurine haplotypes (>3%) spanning genes related to immunity, growth, reproduction and hair and skin phenotypes. Using data from 22 economically important traits, we showed that many of the major QTL previously reported in the breed are at least partially driven by taurine haplotypes. As B. taurus and B. indicus haplotypes are highly divergent, presenting widely different sets of functional variants, our results provide promising targets for future scrutiny in Nellore cattle. Department of Production and Animal Health School of Veterinary Medicine of Araçatuba São Paulo State University, 16050-680 R. Clovis Pestana 793 – Dona Amelia, SP International Atomic Energy Agency Collaborating Centre on Animal Genomics and Bioinformatics, 16050-680 R. Clovis Pestana 793 – Dona Amelia, SP AgroPartners Consulting. R. Floriano Peixoto, 120 – Sala 43A – Centro, SP Personal-PEC. R. Sebastião Lima, 1336 – Centro, MS Department for Innovation in Biological Agro-Food and Forest Systems Università Della Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc Acceligen Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Reproduction School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences São Paulo State University, 14884-900 Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane s/n, SP Department of Production and Animal Health School of Veterinary Medicine of Araçatuba São Paulo State University, 16050-680 R. Clovis Pestana 793 – Dona Amelia, SP Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Reproduction School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences São Paulo State University, 14884-900 Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane s/n, SP CAPES: 001 FAPESP: 2010/52030-2 CNPq: 483590/2010-0 CNPq: 560922/2010-8

Context. Protostellar jets are an important agent of star formation feedback, tightly connected with the mass-accretion process. The history of jet formation and mass ejection provides constraints on the mass accretion history and on the nature of the driving source. Aims. We characterize the time-variability of the mass-ejection phenomena at work in the class 0 protostellar phase in order to better understand the dynamics of the outflowing gas and bring more constraints on the origin of the jet chemical composition and the mass accretion history. Methods. Using the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) interferometer, we have observed the emission of the CO 2–1 and SO NJ = 54–43 rotational transitions at an angular resolution of 1.0 00 (820 au) and 0.400 (330 au), respectively, toward the intermediate mass class 0 protostellar system Cep E. Results. The CO high-velocity jet emission reveals a central component of ≤400 au diameter associated with high-velocity molecular knots that is also detected in SO, surrounded by a collimated layer of entrained gas. The gas layer appears to be accelerated along the main axis over a length scale δ0 ∼ 700 au, while its diameter gradually increases up to several 1000 au at 2000 au from the protostar. The jet is fragmented into 18 knots of mass ∼10−3 M, unevenly distributed between the northern and southern lobes, with velocity variations up to 15 km s−1 close to the protostar. This is well below the jet terminal velocities in the northern (+65 km s−1) and southern (-125 km s-1)lobes. The knot interval distribution is approximately bimodal on a timescale of ∼50–80 yr, which is close to the jet driving protostar Cep E-A and ∼150−20 yr at larger distances >1200. The mass-loss rates derived from knot masses are steady overall, with values of 2.7 x 10−5 M yr−1 and 8.9 x 10−6 M yr−1 in the northern and southern lobe, respectively. Conclusions. The interaction of the ambient protostellar material with high-velocity knots drives the formation of a molecular layer around the jet. This accounts for the higher mass-loss rate in the northern lobe. The jet dynamics are well accounted for by a simple precession model with a period of 2000 yr and a mass-ejection period of 55 yr. © Authors 2022 741002; National Science Foundation, NSF: AST-2102405; Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, H2020; H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, MSCA: 811312; European Research Council, ERC; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Minobrnauka: FEUZ-2020-0038; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS; Ural Federal University, UrFU interferometer. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany) and IGN (Spain). AS, BL, PR-RO, acknowledge support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 811312 for the project “Astro-Chemical Origins” (ACO) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program for the Project “The Dawn of Organic Chemistry” (DOC) grant agreement No 741002. DSC is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-2102405. A.V. and A.P. are the members of the Max Planck Partner Group at the Ural Federal University. A.P. and A.V. acknowledge the support of the Russian Ministry of Science and Education via the State Assignment Contract no. FEUZ-2020-0038. Based on observations carried out with the IRAM NOEMA interferometer. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany) and IGN (Spain). AS, BL, PR-RO, acknowledge support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 811312 for the project "Astro-Chemical Origins" (ACO) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program for the Project "The Dawn of Organic Chemistry" (DOC) grant agreement No 741002. DSC is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-2102405. A.V. and A.P. are the members of the Max Planck Partner Group at the Ural Federal University. A.P. and A.V. acknowledge the support of the Russian Ministry of Science and Education via the State Assignment Contract no. FEUZ-2020-0038.

Direct-detection on-off keying (DD-OOK) weakly-coupled multicore fiber (WC-MCF) systems impaired by intercore crosstalk (ICXT) and laser phase noise are investigated numerically and experimentally. This is performed for systems with a product between the bit rate and the absolute value of the skew between cores much larger than one. It is shown that the phase noise increases the instantaneous ICXT power fluctuations. The standard deviation of the short-term average ICXT (STAXT) power induced by the phase noise depends on the product between the laser linewidth and the absolute value of the skew between cores (linewidth ×| skew|). When linewidth ×| skew|\gg1, typical of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers (linewidth in the few MHz range) and MCFs with skew in the \mus range, the decrease of the standard deviation of the STAXT power induced by the phase noise is 5 dB per decade of linewidth ×| skew| increase. For linewidth ×| skew|\ll1, typical of external cavity lasers (ECLs) and DFB lasers, and MCFs with skew of a few ns, the standard deviation of the STAXT power remains almost unaffected by the phase noise. Experimental results show that, compared with low linewidth ECLs, 10 Gb/s DD-OOK WC-MCF systems using DFB lasers as optical sources in the interfering cores and skew in the range between 2.4 ns and 5.4 ns, may require an additional ICXT margin up to 8 dB for a given outage probability. The additional ICXT margin and the lower amplitude of the STAXT power fluctuations observed experimentally for DFB lasers suggest that the level of the fluctuations of the STAXT power may be an inadequate system performance indicator. The dependence of the outage probability on the interfering core count is also investigated experimentally. It is shown that, for systems with bit rate ×| skew|\gg1, the outage probability only depends on the total ICXT power and not on the interfering core count. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Cyber-Physical Production Systems require scalable simulations to make decisions in close to real-time when facing highly dynamic environments. When the environment changes, new simulations assist the production planning by running scheduling algorithms. We studied the impact of technological implementation decisions on the execution performance of a heuristic-based Flexible Job-Shop scheduling simulator. We developed a simulation application that implements a heuristic-based scheduling algorithm and explored two approaches: the use of secondary storage for storing auxiliary calculations and using parallel processing to improve execution performance. The results show that the overhead of accessing secondary storage is high when compared to a main-memory only solution. A parallel processing approach based on distributed memory was implemented and compared to the sequential version. The results show that while it is accessible to implement a parallel solution, an adequate communication pattern is necessary to improve the execution time of the parallel algorithm., This work was supported by national funds through the FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia eTecnologia through theR&DUnits Project Scopes: UIDB/00319/2020, and EXPL/EME-SIS/1224/2021.

C. Vastel et al., [Aims] Methanol is a ubiquitous species commonly found in the molecular interstellar medium. It is also a crucial seed species for the build-up of chemical complexity in star forming regions. Thus, understanding how its abundance evolves during the star formation process and whether it enriches the emerging planetary system is of paramount importance., [Methods] We used new data from the ALMA Large Program FAUST (Fifty AU STudy of the chemistry in the disc/envelope system of solar protostars) to study the methanol line emission towards the [BHB2007] 11 protobinary system (sources A and B), where a complex structure of filaments connecting the two sources with a larger circumbinary disc has previously been detected., [Results] Twelve methanol lines have been detected with upper energies in the [45–537] K range along with one 13CH3OH transition and one methyl formate (CH3OCHO) line blended with one of the methanol transitions. The methanol emission is compact (FWHM ~ 0.5″) and encompasses both protostars, which are separated by only 0.2″ (28 au). In addition, the overall methanol line emission presents three velocity components, which are not spatially resolved by our observations. Nonetheless, a detailed analysis of the spatial origin of these three components suggests that they are associated with three different spatial regions, with two of them close to 11B and the third one associated with 11A. A radiative transfer analysis of the methanol lines gives a kinetic temperature of [100–140] K, an H2 volume density of 106–107 cm−3 and column density of a few 1018 cm−2 in all three components with a source size of ~0.15″. Thus, this hot and dense gas is highly enriched in methanol with an abundance as high as 10−5. Using previous continuum data, we show that dust opacity can potentially completely absorb the methanol line emission from the two binary objects., [Conclusions] Although we cannot firmly exclude other possibilities, we suggest that the detected hot methanol is resulting from the shocked gas from the incoming filaments streaming towards [BHB2007] 11A and B, respectively. Higher spatial resolution observations are necessary to confirm this hypothesis., This project has received funding within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program from the European Research Council (ERC) for the project The Dawn of Organic Chemistry (DOC), grant agreement no. 741002, and from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie for the project Astro-Chemical Origins (ACO), grant agreement no. 811312. I.J.-S. has received partial support from the Spanish State Research Agency (project number PID2019-105552RB-C41). D.J. is supported by NRC Canada and by an NSERC Discovery Grant. S.Y. thanks the support by Grant-in-Aids from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technologies of Japan (18H05222). This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2018.1.01205.L. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Mass spectrometry (MS) has found numerous applications in medicine and has been widely used in the detection and characterization of biomolecules associated with viral infections such as COVID-19. COVID-19 is a multisystem disease and, therefore, the need arises to carry out a careful and conclusive assessment of the pathophysiological parameters involved in the infection, to develop an effective therapeutic approach, assess the prognosis of the disease, and especially the early diagnosis of the infected population. Thus, the urgent need for highly accurate methods of diagnosis and prognosis of this infection presents new challenges for the development of laboratory medicine, whose methods require sensitivity, speed, and accuracy of the techniques for analyzing the biological markers involved in the infection. In this context, MS stands out as a robust analytical tool, with high sensitivity and selectivity, accuracy, low turnaround time, and versatility for the analysis of biological samples. However, it has not yet been adopted as a frontline clinical laboratory technique. Therefore, this review explores the potential and trends of current MS methods and their contribution to the development of new strategies to COVID-19 diagnosis and prognosis and how this tool can assist in the discovery of new therapeutic targets, in addition, to comment what could be the future of MS in medicine., Graphical abstract Image 1

The eggshell membrane (ESM) is an abundant resource with innate complex structure and composition provided by nature. With at least 60 million tonnes of hen eggs produced globally per annum, utilisation of this waste resource is highly attractive in positively impacting sustainability worldwide. Given the morphology and mechanical properties of this membrane, it has great potential as a biomaterials for wound dressing. However, to date, no studies have demonstrated nor reported this application. As such, the objective of this investigation was to identify and optimise a reproducible extraction protocol of the ESM and to assess the physical, chemical, mechanical and biological properties of the substrate with a view to use as a wound dressing. ESM samples were isolated by either manual peeling (ESM-strip) or via extraction using acetic acid [ESM-A0.5] or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA [ESM-E0.9]. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed that there were no traces of calcium residues from the extraction process. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed that the extraction method (acetic acid and EDTA) did not alter the chemical structures of the ESM and also clarified the composition of the fibrous proteins of the ESM. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses revealed a three-layer composite structure of the ESM: an inner layer as continuous, dense and non-fibrous (limiting membrane), a middle layer with a network of fibres (inner shell membrane) and the outer layer (outer shell membrane) of larger fibres. Material properties including optical transparency, porosity, fluid absorption/uptake, thermal stability, mechanical profiling of the ESM samples were performed and demonstrated suitable profiles for translational applications. Biological in vitro studies using SV40 immortalised corneal epithelial cells (ihCEC) and corneal mesenchymal stromal cells (C-MSC) demonstrated excellent biocompatibility. Taken together, these results document the development of a novel sustainable biomaterial that may be used for ophthalmic wounds and/or other biomedical therapies.

Funding: The work of NK and VMB was funded by iNOVA4Health – UIDB/Multi/04462/2020 and UIDP/Multi/04462/2020, a program financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)/Ministério da Educação e Ciência through national funds, and the FCT grant PTDC/BEX-BCM/5900/2014. CFA-P has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 752806. A-VG was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through an assistant research contract (CEECIND/02085/2018) and the project grant PTDC/MEDOUT/4301/2020 IC&DT. X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) and random monoallelic expression of autosomal genes (RMAE) are two paradigms of gene expression regulation where, at the single cell level, genes can be expressed from either the maternal or paternal alleles. X-chromosome inactivation takes place in female marsupial and placental mammals, while RMAE has been described in mammals and also other species. Although the outcome of both processes results in random monoallelic expression and mosaicism at the cellular level, there are many important differences. We provide here a brief sketch of the history behind the discovery of XCI and RMAE. Moreover, we review some of the distinctive features of these two phenomena, with respect to when in development they are established, their roles in dosage compensation and cellular phenotypic diversity, and the molecular mechanisms underlying their initiation and stability. publishersversion published

Rough surfaces are common in engineering applications, where a priori estimations of drag for a given flow are needed based on knowledge of the surface topography. It is likely that length-scale information is required, in addition to standard statistical quantities such as solidity or effective slope, root-mean-square height and skewness. In this work we consider a set of rough surfaces that are derived from a physical scan of a grid-blasted rough surface. Different surfaces are generated by applying Fourier band-pass filters to the surface scan, including complementary cases, for example where a mid-range of wave-numbers are included or excluded. This enables comparisons as to how the roughness spectral content affects the mean flow and turbulence properties. In total, turbulent flow over five surfaces with different wave-number spectra is investigated by direct numerical simulation, with resulting variations in the roughness function of over a factor of \ud 3\ud . It is found that, except for the low-pass filtered surface which has very small effective slope, the roughness function scaled by the viscous proportion of total drag remains remarkably constant, while the pressure counterpart is largest for high-pass filtered surfaces. Existing correlations for the roughness function are found, at best, to reproduce only the qualitative effects, suggesting that the correlations would benefit from introducing additional parameters to account for the wave-number spectrum of the rough surfaces. Besides the friction effect, it is also of interest to determine the extent to which the turbulence in the roughness layer is influenced by the spectral characteristics of the surface. The location of the peak stream-wise velocity fluctuations moves outwards in wall units as the roughness function increases, whereas wall-normal and span-wise velocity fluctuations are found to be insensitive to the surface filtering, down to a region below the maximum roughness height. A trend towards span-wise organisation of the mean flow is observed for low-pass filtered surfaces, but otherwise the effect of the roughness wave-number spectrum appears to vanish rapidly above the maximum roughness elevation. Instead, significant differences are found in the profiles of the various dispersive stresses which are highly dependent on (local) topographical features of the roughness; for some quantities differences between surfaces persist well into the log layer.

Background To develop a clinical prediction model to identify children at risk for revisits with serious illness to the emergency department. Methods and findings A secondary analysis of a prospective multicentre observational study in five European EDs (the TRIAGE study), including consecutive children aged = 3%, which was useful for ruling in a revisit with serious illness, with positive likelihood ratio 4.41 (95% CI 3.87–5.01) and specificity 0.96 (95% CI 0.95–0.96). 37,546 (39%) had a risk Conclusion We developed a prediction model and a digital calculator which can aid physicians identifying those children at highest and lowest risks for developing a serious illness after initial discharge from the ED, allowing for more targeted safety netting advice and follow-up.

Forecasting COVID-19 disease severity is key to supporting clinical decision making and assisting resource allocation, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs). Here, we investigated the utility of time- and frequency-related features of the backscattered signal of serum patient samples to predict COVID-19 disease severity immediately after diagnosis. ICU admission was the primary outcome used to define disease severity. We developed a stacking ensemble machine learning model including the backscattered signal features (optical fingerprint), patient comorbidities, and age (AUROC = 0.80), which significantly outperformed the predictive value of clinical and laboratory variables available at hospital admission (AUROC = 0.71). The information derived from patient optical fingerprints was not strongly correlated with any clinical/laboratory variable, suggesting that optical fingerprinting brings unique information for COVID-19 severity risk assessment. Optical fingerprinting is a label-free, real-time, and low-cost technology that can be easily integrated as a front-line tool to facilitate the triage and clinical management of COVID-19 patients. This work has received funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, through the Research4COVID19 project 156_596835053; and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme through the INNO4COV-19 project (Grant Agreement No 101016203). This study is part of an activity that has received funding from EIT Health. EIT Health is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union and receives support from the European Union´s Horizon Europe Research and innovation programme. D.A.C was funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Programme, Oxford.

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate if the inclusion of Bitcoin among the assets available to retail investors in the Brazilian market has an impact on the efficient frontier and, therefore, on the optimal choices of investors. Design/methodology/approach – This study calculates the efficient frontier with and without the inclusion of Bitcoin and estimates optimal portfolios for different criteria and time intervals. The sample period runs from 07/01/2013 to 06/30/2018 and the daily closing values of the selected assets/indices were used. Findings – This study finds evidence that the inclusion of Bitcoin among the investment alternatives would cause a statistically significant positive displacement and an expansion of the efficient frontier of the Brazilian retail market. This would result in a significant increase in the return on the tangency portfolio. In addition to improving the indicators of optimization of the risk-return binomial, the cryptoasset would be included in many optimal portfolios in the 2013Q3-2018Q2 period. Originality/value – The results obtained show that, as reported for more developed markets, Bitcoin has caused an expansion of the efficient frontier of the Brazilian retail market. ResumoObjetivo – O objetivo deste estudo é investigar se a inclusão do Bitcoin entre os ativos elegíveis para investidores de varejo no mercado brasileiro teria impacto na fronteira eficiente e, por conseguinte, nas escolhas ótimas dos investidores. Metodologia – Foram calculadas as fronteiras eficientes com e sem a inclusão do Bitcoin e realizadas simulações para estimar as carteiras ótimas segundo diferentes critérios e intervalos temporais. O período da amostra vai de 01/07/2013 até 30/06/2018 e foram utilizados os valores diários de fechamento dos ativos/índices selecionados. Resultados – Este estudo encontra evidência de que a inclusão do Bitcoin entre as alternativas de investimento provocaria um deslocamento positivo, estatisticamente significativo, e uma expansão da fronteira eficiente no mercado brasileiro de varejo. Isso resultaria em um aumento expressivo do retorno da carteira de tangência. Além de melhorar os indicadores de otimização do binômio risco-retorno, o criptoativo seria incluído em carteiras ótimas em parte significativa do período 2013T3-2018T2. Contribuições – Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que, tal como reportado para mercados mais desenvolvidos, o Bitcoin provocou uma expansão da fronteira eficiente do mercado brasileiro de varejo. Palavras-chave – Bitcoin; moeda digital; seleção de portfólios; alocação de ativos; mercado de capitais brasileiro.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:40:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-06-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) Background: The hematology of turtles of the Amazon, such as the Arrau turtle (Podocnemis expansa), has not been well described in the literature. Referencing how to collect and analyze blood samples is fundamental for the medical practice of these exotic animals. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the hematologic parameters of Arrau turtles of the Amazon to determine the best anticoagulant (EDTA, citrate, or sodium heparin) and cytologic stain (Giemsa, Quick Panoptic, or Rosenfeld) for use with this species. Methods: Blood samples from eight turtles were collected. Three blood smears were made using blood without anticoagulant, and the rest of the sample was distributed in three tubes, containing EDTA, citrate, and sodium heparin, for erythrogram and leukogram analyses. Results: All blood samples anticoagulated with EDTA showed marked hemolysis. Blood collected with citrate showed minimal hemolysis, and blood collected with sodium heparin did not have any hemolysis. Some analyses were not performed on blood containing EDTA because of the intense hemolysis. The erythrocyte variables were obtained and showed better results for blood samples in heparin. Blood smears without anticoagulant were appropriate for differential leukocyte counts with the three stain types, while blood with any of the anticoagulants made it difficult to differentiate leukocytes. Conclusions: Sodium heparin showed the best results and should be the anticoagulant of choice for hematologic studies in P expansa. All cytologic stains were efficient, allowing adequate identification of distinct cell groups. Leukocyte differentiation was assured and had better contrast using blood smears made from blood without an anticoagulant. Mestrado em Sanidade e Produção Animal nos trópicos Curso de Medicina Veterinária Universidade de Uberaba Universidade de Uberaba Escola de Medicina Veterinária Instituto Federal Goiano Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias de Jaboticabal Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias de Jaboticabal Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho

The processing of information in real-time (through the processing of complex events) has become an essential task for the optimal functioning of manufacturing plants. Only in this way can artificial intelligence, data extraction, and even business intelligence techniques be applied, and the data produced daily be used in a beneficent way, enhancing automation processes and improving service delivery. Therefore, professionals and researchers need a wide range of tools to extract, transform, and load data in real-time efficiently. Additionally, the same tool supports or at least facilitates the visualization of this data intuitively and interactively. The review presented in this document aims to provide an up-to-date review of the various tools available to perform these tasks. Of the selected tools, a brief description of how they work, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of their use, will be presented. Furthermore, a critical analysis of overall operation and performance will be presented. Finally, a hybrid architecture that aims to synergize all tools and technologies is presented and discussed., This work is funded by “FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. The grants of R.S., R.M., A.M., and N.L. are supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internalization Programme (COMPETE 2020). [Project n. 039479. Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-039479].

Objective Our aim was to describe variability in resource use and hospitalization in children presenting with shortness of breath to different European Emergency Departments (EDs) and to explore possible explanations for variability. Design The TrIAGE project, a prospective observational study based on electronic health record data. Patients and setting Consecutive paediatric emergency department visits for shortness of breath in five European hospitals in four countries (Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom) during a study period of 9–36 months (2012–2014). Main outcome measures We assessed diversity between EDs regarding resource use (diagnostic tests, therapy) and hospital admission using multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusting for potential confounding variables. Results In total, 13,552 children were included. Of those, 7,379 were categorized as immediate/very urgent, ranging from 13–80% in the participating hospitals. Laboratory tests and X-rays were performed in 8–33% of the cases and 21–61% was treated with inhalation medication. Admission rates varied between 8–47% and PICU admission rates varied between 0.1–9%. Patient characteristics and markers of disease severity (age, sex, comorbidity, urgency, vital signs) could explain part of the observed variability in resource use and hospitalization. However, after adjusting for these characteristics, we still observed substantial variability between settings. Conclusion European EDs differ substantially regarding the resource use and hospitalization in children with shortness of breath, even when adjusting for patient characteristics. Possible explanations for this variability might be unmeasured patient characteristics such as underlying disease, differences in guideline use and adherence or different local practice patterns.