Search

Trichothecenes are toxins produced by certain species from several fungal genera, including Aspergillus, Fusarium, Isaria, Paramyrothecium, Stachybotrys, Trichoderma, and Trichothecium. These toxins are of interest because they contribute to the toxigenicity, plant pathogenicity, and/or biological control activities of some fungi. All trichothecenes have the same core (12,13-epoxytrichothec-9-ene or EPT) structure but can differ from one another by the presence or absence of a macrocyclic ring formed from polyketide and isoprenoid substituents esterified to carbon atoms 4 and 15 of EPT, respectively. Genes required for formation and some modifications of EPT have been elucidated, but almost nothing is known about genes specific to the formation of the macrocyclic ring. Therefore, we used genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and gene deletion analyses to identify genes that are required specifically for the formation of the macrocyclic ring. These analyses identified one gene, TRI24, that is predicted to encode an acyltransferase and that is required for macrocyclic ring formation during biosynthesis of macrocyclic trichothecenes by the fungus Paramyrothecium roridum. In addition, a TRI24 deletion mutant of P. roridum caused less severe disease symptoms on common bean and had less antifungal activity than its wild-type progenitor strain. We propose that the reduced aggressiveness and antifungal activity of the mutant resulted from its inability to produce trichothecenes with a macrocyclic ring. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a gene required specifically for the formation of the macrocyclic ring of trichothecenes and that loss of the macrocyclic ring of trichothecenes can alter the biological activities of a fungus. Key points: • TRI24 gene is found in all known macrocyclic trichothecene-producing fungi. • A tri24-deletion mutant exhibits a reduction in antifungal and plant disease activities. • TRI24 is the first described gene specific to macrocyclic trichothecene biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug-induced gene expression profiles can identify potential mechanisms of toxicity. We focus on obtaining signatures for cardiotoxicity of FDA-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in human induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes, using bulk transcriptomic profiles. We use singular value decomposition to identify drug-selective patterns across cell lines obtained from multiple healthy human subjects. Cellular pathways affected by cardiotoxic TKIs include energy metabolism, contractile, and extracellular matrix dynamics. Projecting these pathways to published single cell expression profiles indicates that TKI responses can be evoked in both cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts. Integration of transcriptomic outlier analysis with whole genomic sequencing of our six cell lines enables us to correctly reidentify a genomic variant causally linked to anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity and predict genomic variants potentially associated with TKI-induced cardiotoxicity. We conclude that mRNA expression profiles when integrated with publicly available genomic, pathway, and single cell transcriptomic datasets, provide multiscale signatures for cardiotoxicity that could be used for drug development and patient stratification. Using a new computational pipeline for identification of drug-selective transcriptomic responses and FAERS data, the authors identified potential pathways and genomic variants indicative of cancer drug cardiotoxicity in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mine Water & the Environment is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Trichothecenes are a structurally diverse family of toxic secondary metabolites produced by certain species of multiple fungal genera. All trichothecene analogs share a core 12,13-epoxytrichothec-9-ene (EPT) structure but differ in presence, absence and types of substituents attached to various positions of EPT. Formation of some of the structural diversity begins early in the biosynthetic pathway such that some producing species have few trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates in common. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) play critical roles in formation of trichothecene structural diversity. Within some species, relaxed substrate specificities of P450s allow individual orthologs of the enzymes to modify multiple trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates. It is not clear, however, whether the relaxed specificity extends to biosynthetic intermediates that are not produced by the species in which the orthologs originate. To address this knowledge gap, we used a mutant complementation-heterologous expression analysis to assess whether orthologs of three trichothecene biosynthetic P450s (TRI11, TRI13 and TRI22) from Fusarium sporotrichioides, Trichoderma arundinaceum, and Paramyrothecium roridum can modify trichothecene biosynthetic intermediates that they do not encounter in the organism in which they originated. The results indicate that TRI13 and TRI22 could not modify the intermediates that they do not normally encounter, whereas TRI11 could modify an intermediate that it does not normally encounter. These findings indicate that substrate promiscuity varies among trichothecene biosynthetic P450s. One structural feature that likely impacts the ability of the P450s to use biosynthetic intermediates as substrates is the presence and absence of an oxygen atom attached to carbon atom 3 of EPT. Key points: • Trichothecene cytochrome P450 monooxygenases differ in substrate specificity. • Trichothecene 15-hydroxylase (TRI11) has promiscuous substrate specificity. • Fusarium TRI11 modifies evolutionarily divergent biosynthetic intermediates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic losses due to earthquakes have been shown to have significant economic, social and environmental consequences. Over recent years, research to predict potential economic and social impact due to seismic risk has been increasing. Recognizing that the traditional philosophy of life safety design can lead to extensive damage and demolition which has a large environmental cost, incorporating environmental impacts associated with the expected seismic damage over a building's life is a key step as the building industry moves towards both sustainable and seismically resilient design. This paper introduces a framework that uses environmental indicators quantifying losses from seismic response that can then be used to advocate for a change in seismic performance objectives. First, existing literature and previously developed approaches for quantifying potential environmental impact due to seismic damage are summarized. Next, performance based earthquake engineering concepts are used to demonstrate a probabilistic approach to quantify potential environmental impacts using a range of environmental and resource use indicators over the life span of a case study building. In addition, a case study is presented to compare different environmental indicators between a Code Minimum building and the same building redesigned for a higher seismic performance. The majority of the composition of the environmental indicator values are from the inclusion of the non-repairable scenario, and from the repair activities, the majority of the impacts are from damage to drift sensitive components including curtains walls, partitions and elevators. For the Code Minimum building the non-repairable scenario contributes to between 8 to 11% the total seismic cost. For the Stronger Stiffer building, the non-repairable scenario contributes around 3% of the initial impact. Neglecting non-repairable scenarios does significantly reduce the potential environmental impacts when analyzing buildings designed for current code minimum structural standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that as people age, visual working memory (VWM) declines. One potential explanation for this decline is that older adults are less able to ignore irrelevant information, which contributes to VWM filtering deficits. Most research examining age differences in filtering ability has used positive cues (indicating which items to pay attention to), but negative cues (indicating which items to ignore) may be even harder for older adults to implement as some work suggests that negatively cued items are first paid attention to before they are suppressed. The current study aimed to test whether older adults can use negative cues to filter irrelevant information from VWM. Across two experiments, young and older adults were presented with two (Experiment 1) or four (Experiment 2) display items, preceded by a neutral, negative, or positive cue. After a delay, participants reported the target's orientation in a continuous-response task. Results show that both groups benefitted from being provided with a cue (positive or negative) compared to no cue (i.e., neutral condition), but the benefit was smaller for negative cues. Thus, although negative cues aid in filtering of VWM, they are less effective than positive cues, possibly due to residual attention being directed towards distractor items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purkinje cell (PC) loss occurs at an early age in patients and animal models of Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC), a lysosomal storage disease caused by mutations in the Npc1 or Npc2 genes. Although degeneration of PCs occurs early in NPC, little is known about how NPC1 deficiency affects the postnatal development of PCs. Using the Npc1nmf164 mouse model, we found that NPC1 deficiency significantly affected the postnatal development of PC dendrites and synapses. The developing dendrites of Npc1nmf164 PCs were significantly deficient in mitochondria and lysosomes. Furthermore, anabolic (mTORC1) and catabolic (TFEB) signaling pathways were not only perturbed but simultaneously activated in NPC1-deficient PCs, suggesting a loss of metabolic balance. We also found that mice with conditional heterozygous deletion of the Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog Deleted on Chromosome 10 gene (Pten-cHet), an inhibitor of mTORC1, showed similar early dendritic alterations in PCs to those found in Npc1-deficient mice. However, in contrast to Npc1nmf164 mice, Pten-cHet mice exhibited the overactivation of the mTORC1 pathway but with a strong inhibition of TFEB signaling, along with no dendritic mitochondrial reductions by the end of their postnatal development. Our data suggest that disruption of the lysosomal-metabolic signaling in PCs causes dendritic and synaptic developmental deficits that precede and promote their early degeneration in NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clustering techniques for multivariate data are useful tools in Statistics that have been fully studied in the literature. However, there is limited literature on clustering methodologies for functional data. Our proposal consists of a clustering procedure for functional data using techniques for clustering multivariate data. The idea is to reduce a functional data problem into a multivariate one by applying the epigraph and hypograph indexes to the original curves and to their first and/or second derivatives. All the information given by the functional data is therefore transformed to the multivariate context, being informative enough for the usual multivariate clustering techniques to be efficient. The performance of this new methodology is evaluated through a simulation study and is also illustrated through real data sets. The results are compared to some other clustering procedures for functional data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abundance of pelagic Sargassum has increased in the Atlantic Ocean since 2011. Massive beaching of these algae causes environmental, socioeconomic, and human health problems in several countries in the Greater Caribbean and western Africa. Sargassum cleanup is expensive. Its valorization could reduce costs and impacts. The periodicity in landings, its high biomass, and the many bioactive compounds and minerals contained in these algae represent an opportunity for its use in animal feeding. A review of the existing literature regarding the chemical characteristics of Sargassum and the concentration of compounds to determine its potential use for animals used for human consumption is presented. The main findings are that these pelagic species have high amounts of fiber, salts, complex carbohydrates, and potentially toxic elements that limit their use in high quantities in animal nutrition. However, Sargassum also has minerals, trace elements, amino acids, fatty acids, and bioactive compounds that could benefit animal health if added as an ingredient at a concentration below 5%. Information gaps and recommendations for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Group Linear Algorithm with Sparse Principal decomposition, an algorithm for supervised variable selection and clustering. Our approach extends the Sparse Group Lasso regularization to calculate clusters as part of the model fit. Therefore, unlike Sparse Group Lasso, our idea does not require prior specification of clusters between variables. To determine the clusters, we solve a particular case of sparse Singular Value Decomposition, with a regularization term that follows naturally from the Group Lasso penalty. Moreover, this paper proposes a unified implementation to deal with, but not limited to, linear regression, logistic regression, and proportional hazards models with right-censoring. Our methodology is evaluated using both biological and simulated data, and details of the implementation in R and hyperparameter search are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symptoms-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection is not a substitute for precise diagnostic tests but can provide insight into the likely level of infection in a given population. This study uses symptoms data collected in the Global COVID-19 Trends and Impact Surveys (UMD Global CTIS), and data on variants sequencing from GISAID. This work, conducted in January of 2022 during the emergence of the Omicron variant (subvariant BA.1), aims to improve the quality of infection detection from the available symptoms and to use the resulting estimates of infection levels to assess the changes in vaccine efficacy during a change of dominant variant; from the Delta dominant to the Omicron dominant period. Our approach produced a new symptoms-based classifier, Random Forest, that was compared to a ground-truth subset of cases with known diagnostic test status. This classifier was compared with other competing classifiers and shown to exhibit an increased performance with respect to the ground-truth data. Using the Random Forest classifier, and knowing the vaccination status of the subjects, we then proceeded to analyse the evolution of vaccine efficacy towards infection during different periods, geographies and dominant variants. In South Africa, where the first significant wave of Omicron occurred, a significant reduction of vaccine efficacy is observed from August-September 2021 to December 2021. For instance, the efficacy drops from 0.81 to 0.30 for those vaccinated with 2 doses (of Pfizer/BioNTech), and from 0.51 to 0.09 for those vaccinated with one dose (of Pfizer/BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson). We also extended the study to other countries in which Omicron has been detected, comparing the situation in October 2021 (before Omicron) with that of December 2021. While the reduction measured is smaller than in South Africa, we still found, for instance, an average drop in vaccine efficacy from 0.53 to 0.45 among those vaccinated with two doses. Moreover, we found a significant negative (Pearson) correlation of around − 0.6 between the measured prevalence of Omicron in several countries and the vaccine efficacy in those same countries. This prediction, in January of 2022, of the decreased vaccine efficacy towards Omicron is in line with the subsequent increase of Omicron infections in the first half of 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungus Trichoderma arundinaceum exhibits biological control activity against crop diseases caused by other fungi. Two mechanisms that likely contribute to this activity are upregulation of plant defenses and production of two types of antifungal secondary metabolites: the sesquiterpenoid harzianum A (HA) and the polyketide-derived aspinolides. The goal of the current study was to identify aspinolide biosynthetic genes as part of an effort to understand how these metabolites contribute to the biological control activity of T. arundinaceum. Comparative genomics identified two polyketide synthase genes (asp1 and asp2) that occur in T. arundinaceum and Aspergillus ochraceus, which also produces aspinolides. Gene deletion and biochemical analyses in T. arundinaceum indicated that both genes are required for aspinolide production: asp2 for formation of a 10-member lactone ring and asp1 for formation of a butenoyl subsituent at position 8 of the lactone ring. Gene expression and comparative genomics analyses indicated that asp1 and asp2 are located within a gene cluster that occurs in both T. arundinaceum and A. ochraceus. A survey of genome sequences representing 35 phylogenetically diverse Trichoderma species revealed that intact homologs of the cluster occurred in only two other species, which also produced aspinolides. An asp2 mutant inhibited fungal growth more than the wild type, but an asp1 mutant did not, and the greater inhibition by the asp2 mutant coincided with increased HA production. These findings indicate that asp1 and asp2 are aspinolide biosynthetic genes and that loss of either aspinolide or HA production in T. arundinaceum can be accompanied by increased production of the other metabolite(s). Key points: • Two polyketide synthase genes are required for aspinolide biosynthesis. • Blocking aspinolide production increases production of the terpenoid harzianum A. • Aspinolides and harzianum A act redundantly in antibiosis of T. arundinaceum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate intake, animal performance and carcass traits with the inclusion of corn dried distiller grains (DDGs) replacing cornmeal (Zea mays L.) in non-forage-based diets for finishing feedlot Nellore cattle. Sixty-four uncastrated Nellore cattle weighing 267.22 ± 20.4 kg and 18 ± 3 months old were distributed in 16 pens. Experimental diets were based on cornmeal, cottonseed cake, a mineral mixture and increased levels of DDG replacing cornmeal (0, 10, 20 and 30% on a dry matter basis). The study lasted 135 days, and the intake of nutrients and body weight gain were monitored. At the end of the study, the animals were slaughtered to measure their carcass traits. During the first 34 days of the study, the DDG levels linearly increased dry matter intake and intake of all nutrients. In other phases of the feedlot, the DDG levels did not have any effect on DMI or ADG but caused a quadratic effect on hot carcass weight. Thus, DDG can replace cornmeal in non-forage diets fed to feedlot Nellore cattle without any negative effect on intake or animal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mucormycosis is a fungal infection caused by Mucorales, with a high mortality rate. However, only a few virulence factors have been described in these organisms. This study showed that deletion of rfs, which encodes the enzyme for the biosynthesis of rhizoferrin, a siderophore, in Mucor lusitanicus, led to a lower virulence in diabetic mice and nematodes. Upregulation of rfs correlated with the increased toxicity of the cell-free supernatants of the culture broth (SS) obtained under growing conditions that favor oxidative metabolism, such as low glucose levels or the presence of H2O2 in the culture, suggesting that oxidative metabolism enhances virulence through rhizoferrin production. Meanwhile, growing M. lusitanicus in the presence of potassium cyanide, N-acetylcysteine, a higher concentration of glucose, or exogenous cAMP, or the deletion of the gene encoding the regulatory subunit of PKA (pkaR1), correlated with a decrease in the toxicity of SS, downregulation of rfs, and reduction in rhizoferrin production. These observations indicate the involvement of the cAMP-PKA pathway in the regulation of rhizoferrin production and virulence in M. lusitanicus. Moreover, rfs upregulation was observed upon macrophage interaction or during infection with spores in mice, suggesting a pivotal role of rfs in M. lusitanicus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intra- and inter-layer integrity of components fabricated with advanced manufacturing techniques, such as laser powder bed fusion, is dependent upon rapid heating, melting, and solidification processes. There is a need for new techniques to provide in situ feedback of these processes. Here a laser-based ultrasonic technique to probe thermal effects induced by a high-power continuous wave laser in titanium samples is described. Numerical simulations were performed to show that, for a spatially uniform heating beam, laser-induced surface acoustic waves are strongly influenced by surface heating conditions, are dispersive in the case of rapid heating, and that an abrupt velocity reduction happens upon the onset of surface melting. Furthermore, laser-based ultrasound experimental results which monitor the transient change of surface wave travel time associated with high power laser surface heating are provided. A pulsed laser is used to generate high frequency surface acoustic waves that propagate through the laser-heated region and are detected using a photorefractive crystal-based interferometer. Qualitative agreement is observed between theory and experiment with both showing a rapid reduction in the surface wave velocity at the onset of illumination and further decrease in surface wave velocity associated with melting. It is demonstrated that changes in the surface wave velocity can be used to track local heating and detect the onset of surface melting in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the consequences of fat supplementation (free oil and rumen-protected oil) on the nutrient intake and digestion of beef cattle at pasture. Five rumen-cannulated Nelore bulls, with a median body weight (BW) of 467.8 ± 32.8 kg and an age of 26 months, were distributed in a Latin square design (5 × 5). The treatments were as follows: WF, no additional fat; PA, rumen-protected palm oil; PS, rumen-protected soybean oil; SO, soybean-free oil and CO, free corn oil. Nutrient intake and digestibility, ruminal pH and ammonia (NH3-N), serum urea and nitrogen balance were analysed. The supplements with different oil sources did not alter (P > 0.05) the intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM), forage DM intake (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), neutral detergent fibre-corrected ash and protein (apNDF), nonfibre carbohydrates (NFC) or total digestible nutrients (TDN) compared to WF. An increase (P < 0.05) in the intake and digestibility of EE was observed with the inclusion of fat, independent of the source. No differences were observed between WF and other supplements with regard to ruminal parameters (pH and NH3-N) (P > 0.05) and serum urea (P > 0.05). The nitrogen balance was not affected by the fat source (P > 0.05). Supplementation of grazing beef cattle (2 g/kg BW) with free oil (130 g/kg DM supplement) or rumen-protected oil (160 g/kg DM supplement) did not interfere with nutrient intake and digestibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining the high-resolution structures of proteins and their complexes is a crucial aspect of understanding the mechanisms of life. Experimental structure determination methods are time-consuming, expensive and cannot keep pace with the growing number of protein sequences available through genomic DNA sequencing. Thus, the ability to accurately predict the structure of proteins from their sequence is a holy grail of structural and computational biology that would remove a bottleneck in our efforts to understand as well as rationally engineer living systems. Recent advances in protein structure prediction, in particular the breakthrough with the AI-based tool AlphaFold2 (AF2), hold promise for achieving this goal, but the practical utility of AF2 remains to be explored. Focusing on proteins with essential roles in centrosome and centriole biogenesis, we demonstrate the quality and usability of the AF2 prediction models and we show that they can provide important insights into the modular organization of two key players in this process, CEP192 and CEP44. Furthermore, we used the AF2 algorithm to elucidate and then experimentally validate previously unknown prime features in the structure of TTBK2 bound to CEP164, as well as the Chibby1-FAM92A complex for which no structural information was available to date. These findings have important implications in understanding the regulation and function of these complexes. Finally, we also discuss some practical limitations of AF2 and anticipate the implications for future research approaches in the centriole/centrosome field. Using experimental data, the authors assess the quality and discuss the limitations of AlphaFold2 predictions of protein structures and protein-protein interactions essential for centrosome and centriole biogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key relationship between Sampson's theory and the presence of mesenchymal stem cells in the menstrual flow (MenSCs), as well as the changes in post-transcriptional regulatory processes as actors in the etiopathogenesis of endometriosis, are poorly understood. No study to date has investigated the imbalance of miRNAs in MenSCs related to the disease. Thus, through literature and in silico analyses, we selected four predicted miRNAs as regulators of EGR1, SNAI1, NR4A1, NR4A2, ID1, LAMC3, and FOSB involved in pathways of apoptosis, angiogenesis, response to steroid hormones, migration, differentiation, and cell proliferation. These genes are frequently overexpressed in the endometriosis condition in our group studies. They were the trigger for the miRNAs search. Therefore, a case–control study was conducted with MenSCs of women with and without endometriosis (ten samples per group). Crossing information obtained from the STRING, PubMed, miRPathDB, miRWalk, and DIANA TOOLS databases, we chose to explore the expression of miR-21-5p, miR-100-5p, miR-143-3p, and miR-200b-3p by RT-qPCR. We found an upregulation of the miR-200b-3p in endometriosis MenSCs (P = 0.0207), with a 7.93-fold change (ratio of geometric means) compared to control. Overexpression of miR-200b has been associated with increased cell proliferation, stemness, and accentuated mesenchymal-epithelial transition process in eutopic endometrium of endometriosis. We believe that dysregulated miR-200b-3p may establish primary changes in the MenSCs, thus favoring tissue implantation at the ectopic site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language processing is cognitively demanding, requiring attentional resources to efficiently select and extract linguistic information as utterances unfold. Previous research has associated changes in pupil size with increased attentional effort. However, it is unknown whether the behavioral ecology of speakers may differentially affect engagement of attentional resources involved in conversation. For bilinguals, such an act potentially involves competing signals in more than one language and how this competition arises may differ across communicative contexts. We examined changes in pupil size during the comprehension of unilingual and codeswitched speech in a richly-characterized bilingual sample. In a visual-world task, participants saw pairs of objects as they heard instructions to select a target image. Instructions were either unilingual or codeswitched from one language to the other. We found that only bilinguals who use each of their languages in separate communicative contexts and who have high attention ability, show differential attention to unilingual and codeswitched speech. Bilinguals for whom codeswitching is common practice process unilingual and codeswitched speech similarly, regardless of attentional skill. Taken together, these results suggest that bilinguals recruit different language control strategies for distinct communicative purposes. The interactional context of language use critically determines attentional control engagement during language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for healthy food leads to demand for functional foods that do not harm the health of the consumers. The objective was to evaluate the impact of the supply of cottonseed and crude glycerin as modulators of the lipid profile of the beef produced on pasture. The concentrated supplement was formulated with two levels of cottonseed (0 and 25%) and/or two levels of crude glycerin (0 and 15%), totaling four experimental groups. Two experiments were conducted; the first experiment was outlined in a 5 × 5 Latin square design, contrasting the protein-energy supplementation with the mineral supplementation. The concentrate supplementation allowed the increase in intake and digestibility of the dry matter (P = 0.03), ether extract, crude protein, and non-fibrous carbohydrate (P < 0.01). However, the results showed no effect of crude glycerin or cottonseed inclusion on intake or nutrients digestibility. The second experiment evaluated the protein-energy supplementation and its impact on the lipid profile of meat produced, carcass characteristics, and animal performance. There was no influence of cottonseed or crude glycerin in performance or carcass characteristics. However, the use of the cottonseed reduced the content of short-chain fatty acids, omega 3 linolenic acid, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) C18: 2 cis 9 trans 11 (P < 0.01), and the inclusion of crude glycerin led to increased conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) C18: 2 cis 9 trans 11 (P = 0.04). An important result is given by illustrating the impact of these fatty acids in the nutritional quality of the meat. Thus, it is possible to manipulate the lipid profile of meat produced by cottonseed or crude glycerin supplementation, without affecting the animal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hydrogeology Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A collection of robust Mahalanobis distances for multivariate outlier detection is proposed, based on the notion of shrinkage. Robust intensity and scaling factors are optimally estimated to define the shrinkage. Some properties are investigated, such as affine equivariance and breakdown value. The performance of the proposal is illustrated through the comparison to other techniques from the literature, in a simulation study and with a real dataset. The behavior when the underlying distribution is heavy-tailed or skewed, shows the appropriateness of the method when we deviate from the common assumption of normality. The resulting high true positive rates and low false positive rates in the vast majority of cases, as well as the significantly smaller computation time show the advantages of our proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometriosis is a gynecological disease caused by the growth of endometrial cells outside the uterus leading to inflammation, pelvic pain, and infertility. The relationship between the amount of ectopic uterine tissue growth and the severity of symptoms is still unclear. The presence or degree of pain and infertility does not correlate with the stage of disease as currently defined. Here, we report a clear dose–response relationship between the amount of ectopic tissue transplanted and the reproductive outcomes in a murine model of endometriosis. Endometriosis was induced in mice using various amounts of transplanted uterine tissue. Four groups of mice consisted of a sham surgery control or those transplanted with 1, 2, or 4 endometrial segments of 5 mm each. Pregnancy rates were significantly lower in those transplanted with 2 or 4 segments compared to sham or the 1 segment groups. We demonstrate that infertility does correlate with the extent of active disease. Current clinical staging systems do not account for disease activity and may inappropriately weight sequela of disease. Early recognition and treatment in women may help to minimize the effect of endometriosis on fertility. Here, we describe a mouse model of endometriosis and infertility that may be useful to elucidate the mechanisms of infertility in endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been suggested that menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MenMSCs) are associated with the etiopathogenesis of endometriosis and considerable effort has been invested in searching for target genes and deciphering associated molecular pathways. However, reference gene stability for proper reproducible normalization in the analyses of the expression data validation is still unexplored in this experimental context. Therefore, in this exploratory study, we used stringent case and control selection criteria and collected menstrual blood from women with a laparoscopic diagnosis of advanced endometriosis and from fertile women without endometriosis. We tested for the first time the stability of 32 candidate reference genes to achieve increased accuracy and reliable results in the quantification of gene expression and direct future experiments using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in MenMSCs for endometriosis studies. Using the RefFinder web tool, we recommend the EIF2B1 and POP4 reference genes for the normalization of RT-qPCR data in study designs similar to ours. Furthermore, we suggest avoiding the commonly used GAPDH and ACTB reference genes as they are unstable. This high-visibility study is capable of directing different experimental designs as MenMSCs are derived from a minimally invasive tissue source with multifunctional roles in regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of feature selection aiming to improve a flood forecasting model. The proposed model is carried out through a case study that uses 18 different time series of thirty-five years of hydrological data, forecasting the level of the Xingu River, in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. We employ a Genetic Algorithm for the task of feature selection and exploit several different genetic parameters seeking to improve the accuracy of the prediction. The features selected by the Genetic Algorithm are used as input of a Linear Regression model that performs the forecasting. A statistical analysis verifies that the final model can predict the river level with high accuracy, which obtains a coefficient of determination equal to 0.988. Hence, the proposed Genetic Algorithm showed to be successful in selecting the most relevant features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A known kaurenoic acid (1), together with a new kaurane derivative named 3α-isobutyryloxykaurenoic acid (2), was isolated from the roots of Lasianthaea aurea, a plant endemic to Mexico. The compounds were characterized using their physical and spectroscopic data. In order to verify the structure and absolute configuration of 2, the derived methyl ester 3, obtained after diazomethane treatment, was subjected to single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, whose Flack and Hooft parameter calculations evidenced that the new natural product is an ent-kaurane derivative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor solubility is the main drawback of the direct industrial exploitation of chitin, the second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose. Chemical methods are conventional to solubilize chitin from natural sources. Enzymatic hydrolysis of soluble chitinous substrates is a promising approach to obtain value-added by-products, such as N-acetylglucosamine units or low molecular weight chito-oligomers. Protein display on the bacterial membrane remains attractive to produce active enzymes anchored to a biological surface. The Lpp-OmpA system, a gene fusion of the Lpp signal sequence with the OmpA transmembrane region, represents the traditional system for targeting enzymes to the E. coli surface. EhCHT1, the amoebic chitinase, exhibits an efficient endochitinolytic activity and significant biochemical features, such as stability over a wide range of pH values. Using an extended Lpp-OmpA system as a protein carrier, we engineered E. coli to express the catalytic domain of EhCHT1 on the surface and assess the endochitinase activity as a trait. Engineered bacteria showed a consistent hydrolytic rate over a typical substrate, suggesting that the displayed enzyme has operational stability. This study supports the potential of biomembrane-associated biocatalysts as a reliable technology for the hydrolysis of soluble chitinous substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometriosis is responsible for pain symptoms with great impact on the patient's quality of life. Several medication lines have been studied aiming at its definitive treatment. Among them, angiogenesis inhibitor factors may be effective given that angiogenesis has fundamental role in the establishment and growth of endometriotic lesions. In this study, we investigated the influence of bevacizumab, anti-factor drug of endothelial growth (anti-VEGF), used at two different dosages, in experimental endometriosis induced in rats. After the induction of endometriosis lesions in rats, they were divided in 3 groups: control group, no treatment, and two other groups were treated with different dosages of the same medication for 4 weeks. At the end of the treatment, endometriotic lesions were removed and evaluated regarding area of lesions, presence of endometrial tissue in microscopy, positivity for anti-VEGF antibody in immunohistochemistry, and gene expression of Pcna, Mmp9, Tp63, and Vegfa. Bevacizumab acted by reducing the area of lesions in the groups that received medication (p = 0.002) and reducing gene expression to Tp63 in lesions (p = 0.04). There was no significant result in other evaluations. We observed that there was significant reduction of the area of lesions among groups, suggesting that bevacizumab has a positive effect on disease control. The gene expression of Tp63 was significantly lower in the group that received high dose of the drug when compared with the other two groups; therefore, we concluded that bevacizumab acts by reducing cell proliferation and differentiation in lesions, constituting a real option for treating endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the late Miocene, the Andean–Amazonian region experienced drastic climatic and environmental changes, notably due to a major phase in the Andean uplift. The fossil record is virtually undocumented for this period in the Subandean Zone, where very few palaeoenvironmental and palaeontological investigations have been undertaken. Here, we describe plant remains (pollen, spores, and leaves), microfossils, mollusks, and vertebrates from the Ipururo Formation at Shumanza, San Martín, Peru. Twenty-nine plant families are identified from 164 pollen grains and 89 spores, among them Lycophytes, Monilophytes, and angiosperms (5 monocots and 18 eudicots). The pollen sample notably includes Grimsdalea magnaclavata, Palaeosantalaceaepites cingulatus, Echitricolporites spinosus, and Fenestrites longispinosus, pointing to a late Miocene–early Pliocene age for the TAR-27 locality (10.06–3.72 Ma). Leaf impressions, from nearby localities in the same section, document Malvaciphyllum sp. (Malvaceae), three morphs resembling Caryocaraceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, and two unidentified 'Dicotyledonae' angiosperms. The mollusk assemblage is somewhat reminiscent of early–middle Miocene Pebasian faunas and dominated by gastropods (ampullariids, cochliopid, cerithioid, and planorbids). It also includes sphaeriid and unionoid bivalves. Vertebrate recovery is very poor, with a serrasalmine characiform and unidentified actinopterygian teeth. Fossil assemblages and sedimentary facies consistently testify to the dominance of riverine/alluvial forests and the persistence of a steady lowland rainforest close to the Andes less than 10.1 million years ago, without indication of (1) mangrove/marine environments or (2) high-elevation ranges in the close surroundings of Shumanza by that time. By coupling palynostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy, Shumanza fossil assemblages would be further assigned an early late Miocene age (10.1–ca. 8 Ma). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust epidemiological and biological evidence supports a causal link between prenatal Zika Virus (ZIKV) infection and congenital brain abnormalities including microcephaly. However, it remains uncertain if ZIKV infection in pregnancy also increases the risk for other adverse fetal and birth outcomes. In a prospective cohort study we investigated the influence of ZIKV on the prevalence of prematurity, low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age, and fetal death as well as microcephaly (i.e., overall and disproportionate) in the offspring of women attending a high-risk pregnancy clinic during the recent ZIKV outbreak in Brazil. During the recruitment period (01 March 2016–23 August 2017), urine samples were tested for ZIKV by RT-PCR from all women attending the high-risk pregnancy clinic at Jundiaí University Hospital and from the neonates after delivery. Of the 574 women evaluated, 44 (7.7%) were ZIKV RT-PCR positive during pregnancy. Of the 409 neonates tested, 19 (4.6%) were ZIKV RT-PCR positive in the first 10 days of life. In this cohort, maternal ZIKV exposure was not associated with increased risks of prematurity, low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age, or fetal death. However, relative to ZIKV-negative neonates, ZIKV-positive infants had a five-fold increased risk of microcephaly overall (RR 5.1, 95% CI 1.2–22.5) and a ten-fold increased risk of disproportionate microcephaly (RR 10.3, 95% CI 2.0–52.6). Our findings provide new evidence that, in a high-risk pregnancy cohort, ZIKV RT-PCR positivity in the neonate at birth is strongly associated with microcephaly. However, ZIKV infection during pregnancy does not appear to influence the risks of prematurity, low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age or fetal death in women who already have gestational comorbidities. The results suggest disproportion between neonatal head circumference and weight may be a useful screening indicator for the detection of congenital microcephaly associated with ZIKV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of rumen-protected oil (soybean and palm oil) in supplements for beef cattle during the fattening phase in pastures on the intake and digestibility of nutrients, animal performance, and carcass characteristics. Forty-eight noncastrated male Nellore cattle (15 ± 2 months and 389.5 ± 20 kg of body weight) were used in a completely randomized design to evaluate the following treatments: protein-energy supplement (PES) without rumen-protected oil (control: CO), PES containing palm rumen-protected oil (PRPO), PES containing soybean rumen-protected oil (SRPO), and PES containing a mixture of soybean and palm rumen-protected oil (SPRPO). The study lasted 112 days, and there was a decrease in crude protein intake (P < 0.05) and an increase in ether extract intake (P < 0.05) when rumen-protected oil was included in the supplements. In comparison to the palm rumen-protected oil supplement, the soybean rumen-protected oil supplement promoted a lower average daily gain (ADG) (P < 0.05); however, regardless of the rumen-protected oil source, an increase in the fat thickness of the subcutaneous tissue was observed. In addition, there was no difference in carcass gain (P > 0.05) regardless of oil source. Rumen-protected oil is a tool to increase the finishing of pasture-finished young beef cattle in the dry season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of 15 chalcones-bearing substituents at positions 2, 4, and 5 of rings A and B were synthesized using microwave-assisted Claissen–Smichdt condensation and evaluated for their activity against Giardia lamblia and Green monkey kidney cells. Five compounds exhibited activity against G. lamblia at IC50's <5 μM. The chalcone 3m exhibited the highest antigiardial activity (IC50 = 1.03 μM), even more than the positive control (metronidazole, IC50 = 1.4 μM), and selectivity (SI = 38.9). A preliminary SAR study suggested that electrophylicity has not relationship with antigiardiasic activity, and the docking study reveals that synthesized chalcones bind at zone 3 of colchicine site, therefore presumably the action mechanism of the synthesized chalcones does not follow the Michael acceptor mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust estimator is proposed for the parameters that characterize the linear regression problem. It is based on the notion of shrinkages, often used in Finance and previously studied for outlier detection in multivariate data. A thorough simulation study is conducted to investigate: the efficiency with Normal and heavy-tailed errors, the robustness under contamination, the computational time, the affine equivariance and breakdown value of the regression estimator. Two classical data-sets often used in the literature and a real socioeconomic data-set about the Living Environment Deprivation of areas in Liverpool (UK), are studied. The results from the simulations and the real data examples show the advantages of the proposed robust estimator in regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eutopic endometrium appears to be crucial for endometriosis development. Despite of the evident importance, data regarding the cellular microenvironment remain unclear. Our objective was to explore the tissue microenvironment heterogeneity, transcripts, and pathways that are enriched in all phases of the menstrual cycle by analysing publicly deposited data derived from whole transcriptome microarrays of eutopic endometria of women with and without endometriosis. A meta-analysis of the transcriptome microarrays was performed using raw data available from a public database. Eligibility criteria included eutopic endometrium samples from women with endometriosis and healthy controls without any pathological condition reported the presence of an adequately reported normal menstrual phase, and samples containing both glandular and stromal components. Raw data were processed using a robust multiarray average method to provide background correction, normalisation, and summarisation. The batch effect was estimated by principal variant component analysis and removed using an empirical Bayes method. Cellular tissue heterogeneity was inferred using the xCell package. Differentially expressed genes were identified based on a 5% adjusted p value and a 2.0-fold change. Pathways were identified by functional enrichment based on the Molecular Signatures Database, a p value of < 5%, and an FDR q value of ≤ 25%. Genes that were more frequently found in pathways were identified using leading edge analysis. In a manner independent of cycle phase, the subpopulations of activated dendritic cells, CD4 T effector memory phenotype cells, eosinophils, macrophages M1, and natural killer T cells (NKT) were all higher in stage I-II endometriosis compared to those in healthy controls. The subpopulations of M2 macrophages and natural killer T cells were elevated in eutopic endometriums from women with stage III-IV endometriosis, and smooth muscle cells were always more prevalent in healthy eutopic endometriums. Among the differently expressed genes, FOS, FOSB, JUNB, and EGR1 were the most frequently mapped within the interaction networks, and this was independent of stage and cycle phase. The enriched pathways were directly related to immune surveillance, stem cell self-renewal, and epithelial mesenchymal transition. PI3K AKT mTOR, TGF signalling, and interferon alpha/gamma responses were enriched exclusively in stage III-IV endometriosis. The cellular microenvironments and immune cell profiles were different between eutopic endometriums from women with stage I-II and stage III-IV endometriosis, and these differences were independent of the hormonal milieu. Specifically, a pro-inflammatory profile was predominant in stage I-II endometriosis, and M1-M2 polarization into eutopic endometrium may be crucial for the progression of the disease. The higher prevalence of NKT cells in eutopic endometriums from women with endometriosis that was independent of cycle phase or staging suggested a sustained stress and/or damage to these eutopic endometriums. Based on this, the results of this meta-analysis are important for identifying challenges and opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichothecenes are sesquiterpene toxins produced by diverse fungi, including some species of Trichoderma that are potential plant disease biocontrol agents. Trichoderma arundinaceum produces the trichothecene harzianum A (HA), which consists of the core trichothecene structure (12,13-epoxytrichothec-9-ene, EPT) with a linear polyketide-derived substituent (octa-2,4,6-trienedioyl) esterified to an oxygen at carbon atom 4. The genes required for biosynthesis of EPT and the eight-carbon polyketide precursor of the octa-2,4,6-trienedioyl substituent, as well as for esterification of the substituent to EPT have been described. However, genes required for conversion of the polyketide (octa-2,4,6-trienoic acid) to octa-2,4,6-trienedioyl-CoA, the immediate precursor of the substituent, have not been described. Here, we identified 91 cytochrome P450 monooxygenase genes in the genome sequence of T. arundinaceum, and provided evidence from gene deletion, complementation, cross-culture feeding, and chemical analyses that one of them (tri23) is required for conversion of octa-2,4,6-trienoic acid to octa-2,4,6-trienedioyl-CoA. The gene was detected in other HA-producing Trichoderma species, but not in species of other fungal genera that produce trichothecenes with an octa-2,4,6-trienoic acid-derived substituent. These findings indicate that tri23 is a trichothecene biosynthetic gene unique to Trichoderma species, which in turn suggests that modification of octa-2,4,6-trienoic acid during trichothecene biosynthesis has evolved independently in some fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Qualitative research has received growing attention in the multidisciplinary investigation of patients' perceptions about chronic diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to characterize the usage of qualitative research in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).Methods: We performed a structured search in Web of Science, Pubmed, and EMBASE platforms until June 2019. The search combined the keywords: "pelvic pain", "endometriosis", "dyspareunia", "dysmenorrhea", "vaginismus", "focus groups", "qualitative research", "hermeneutics", "grounded theory", and "women". Qualitative studies on female CPP were included and the main findings combined using thematic synthesis.Results: We found 1211 citations, of which 52 were included in this review. The majority of included studies were based on phenomenological design. The main method for data collection was semi-structured interviews. Endometriosis was the theme of 23 studies, chronic pelvic pain of eight, dysmenorrhea of eight, dyspareunia of four, interstitial cystitis of two, vaginismus of two, vulvodynia of two, and pelvic inflammatory disease of one study. We found a wide variety of contributions. Among them, the impact of the disease on women's lives was the commonest.Conclusion: Qualitative research has the potential to reveal and explain several aspects of CPP in women. The medical community may better accept knowledge gained from these studies if the methods are described more transparently in published articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Endometriosis is characterized by the growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. The prevalence of endometriosis among women experiencing pain, infertility, or both is as high as 35% to 50%. The most common symptoms of endometriosis are dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. Evidence has suggested that endometriosis symptoms result from a local inflammatory peritoneal reaction caused by ectopic endometrial implants that undergo cyclic bleeding. On the other hand, regular physical exercise seems to have protective effects against diseases that involve inflammatory processes such as type 2 diabetes and colon and breast cancer. On this basis, it is possible that the practice of physical exercise may have beneficial effects on endometriosis. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the possible anti-inflammatory effect of physical exercise on endometriosis experimentally induced in rats. Study Design: Seventy female Wistar rats were divided into 7groups of 10 animals each. Animals performed light exercise (swimming once a week), moderate exercise (swimming 3 times a week), and intense exercise (swimming 5 times a week) before or after endometriosis induction. Results: At the end of the experimental protocol, a reduction in the size of endometriotic lesions was observed after physical exercise regardless of its frequency, with a greater reduction in the groups practicing moderate and intense activity; an increase in FAS levels and a decrease in matrix metalloproteinases 9 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)levels was also observed. The immunohistochemistry results did not lead to conclusive results. As expected, oxidative stress was reduced in all groups. These results show that the practice of physical exercise could be beneficial, at least in part, for the treatment of endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurological disorders are a public health problem worldwide for which there is currently no direct treatment of the cause of the disorder. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential in vitro neuroprotective property of plants used in Mayan traditional medicine. Plant ethanolic extracts were prepared and tested on models in which neuronal damage was induced by glutamate, i.e., a human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y) and rat cortical neurons. HPLC profiles from active extracts were also obtained. A total of 51 plant species were identified in the literature as plant species used in Mayan traditional medicine for the treatment of symptoms suggestive of neurological disorders, and we studied 34 of these in our analysis. Six extracts had a neuroprotective effect on SH-SY5Y cells, with the most active extract being that from Schwenckia americana roots (half maximal effective concentration [EC50] 11.3 ± 2.9 μg/mL), and three extracts exhibited a neuroprotective effect in the rat neuron cortical model, with the most active extract being that from Elytraria imbricata aerial parts (EC50 6.8 ± 3.1 μg/mL). These results suggest that the active extracts from such plants have the potential to be a great resource. Future studies should be performed that are more extensive and which isolate the active constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2006 through 2014, we conducted seroepidemiological surveys on non-human primates and sloths to investigate the possible circulation of arboviruses in Bahia Atlantic Forest, Brazil. We collected a total of 196 samples from 103 Leontopithecus chrysomelas, 7 Sapajus xanthosternos, 22 Bradypus torquatus and 7 Bradypus variegatus. Serum samples were tested using neutralization test and hemagglutination inhibition test to detect total antibodies against 26 different arboviruses. The overall prevalence of arboviruses was 36.6% (51/139), with the genus Flavivirus having the highest prevalence (33.1%; 46/139), followed by Phlebovirus (5.0%; 7/139), Orthobunyavirus (4.3%; 6/139) and Alphavirus (0.7%; 1/139). Monotypic reactions suggest that the wild animals were exposed naturally to at least twelve arboviruses. Added results from the neutralization test, animals were exposed to thirteen arboviruses. Most of these viruses are maintained in transmission cycles independent of human hosts, although antibodies against dengue virus serotypes 1, 2 and 3 were found in this study. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting exposure to arboviruses in L. chrysomelas, S. xanthosternos and B. torquatus. Our results also highlight that the Southern Bahia Atlantic Forest has a variety of vertebrate hosts and potential vectors, which may support the emergence or re-emergence of arboviruses, including those pathogenic to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cellular function in endometriosis lesions depends on a highly estrogenic milieu. Lately, it is becoming evident that, besides the circulating levels of estrogens, the balance of synthesis versus inactivation (metabolism) of estrogens by intralesion steroid-metabolizing enzymes also determines the local net estrogen availability. In order to extend the knowledge of the role of estrogen-metabolizing enzymes in endometriosis, we investigated the gene and protein expression of a key uridine diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) for estrogen glucuronidation, UGT1A1, in eutopic endometrial samples obtained from nonaffected and endometriosis-affected women and also from endometriotic lesions. Although UGT1A1 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was detected at similar frequencies in endometriotic lesions and in eutopic endometrial samples, the levels of mRNA expression were greater in deep-infiltrating endometriotic lesions and in non-deep-infiltrating lesions when compared with either control endometrium or eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis. Overall, we observed that protein expression of UGT1A1 was significantly more frequent in samples from endometriotic lesions in comparison with endometria. In addition, expression of UGT1A1 protein was greater in deep-infiltrating than in non-deep-infiltrating endometriotic lesions. We suggest that the finding of increased expression of UGT1A1 in lesions versus endometria might be related to impairment of regulatory mechanisms, in response to a highly estrogenic milieu, and that this enzyme may be a new target for therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sewage treatment may be insufficient for the complete removal of enteric viruses, such as human adenoviruses (HAdV) and group A rotavirus (RVA). The differences in the efficiency of the treatment methodologies used may interfere with the detection of these viruses. The objective of this study was to optimize a skimmed-milk flocculation technique for the recovery of HAdV and RVA in the samples of treated effluent. The treated effluent collected at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was processed via four protocols including modifications in the initial centrifugation step and the final concentration of skimmed-milk. The viral load and recovery rate were determined by quantitative PCR TaqMan® System. The highest recovery rates of HAdV, RVA, and bacteriophage PP7 (internal control process) were obtained when the concentration of skimmed-milk was doubled and no centrifugation step was used for the sample clarification. The optimized protocol was assessed in a field study conducted with 24 treated effluent samples collected bi-monthly during 2015. HAdV and RVA were detected in 50.0% (12/24) and 33.3% (08/24) of the samples tested, respectively, throughout the year, without seasonal variation (p > 0.05). This study corroborates the use of the organic flocculation method for virus recovery in environmental samples with the adaptation of the protocols to different aquatic matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have demonstrated oxidative stress in peritoneal fluid (PF) from women with endometriosis and the importance of enzymatic antioxidant machinery to avoid oocyte oxidative damage. Considering that PF constantly surrounds the ovaries and has direct contact with the oocyte at ovulation, we wonder if PF from women with endometriosis may affect antioxidant enzyme gene expression. Thus, the present study aims to evaluate the PF impact from infertile women with minimal and mild endometriosis and from fertile control women without endometriosis on SOD1, CAT, GSR gene’s expression in experimental bovine oocytes matured in vitro. Samples of PF were obtained from women who underwent videolaparoscopy—7 infertile with EI/II and 7 fertile without endometriosis. Immature bovine oocytes underwent in vitro maturation in the absence of PF and in the presence of three concentrations (1, 5 and 10%) of PF from fertile and from infertile women with EI/II. After 22 to 24 h of IVM, oocytes were denuded and stored for analysis of SOD1, CAT and GSR by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Oocyte SOD1 expression was significantly lower in the 10% endometriosis group (0.67 ± 0.32) when compared with no-peritoneal fluid (1.05 ± 0.24, p < 0.008) and 10% control groups (1.06 ± 0.22, p < 0.006). These findings raise the possibility of a deleterious influence of PF from women with EI/II on the oocyte, not only after ovulation but also during the maturation process, which could contribute to worsening oocyte quality, being one of the mechanisms related to infertility in patients with endometriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplementation of animals in the rainy season is essential to maximise weight gain. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the effects of supplementation with low-, medium- and high-protein levels on nutritional parameters of grazing beef cattle in the rainy season. Eight rumen-cannulated Nellore bulls (437 kg body weight) were used in a 4 × 4 double Latin square design with four supplements and four experimental periods. The treatments were mineral supplement (ad libitum) and supplements with low-protein (LPSU), medium-protein (MPS) and high-protein (HPS) levels, providing 106, 408 and 601 g/day of crude protein (CP), respectively. There was no difference (P > 0.05) between treatments for dry matter and forage intake, ruminal pH, ruminal ammonia nitrogen (RAN) at time 0 (before supplementation) and microbial protein yield. Animals on MPS had a higher (P > 0.05) intake and digestibility of CP, higher RAN levels (3 and 6 h after supplementation), increased nitrogen intake and a better nitrogen balance than animals on LPSU. The HPS provided higher (P > 0.05) RAN at time 6 and a better nitrogen balance when compared with MPS. We therefore infer that the high-protein supplement positively impacts nitrogen metabolism and efficiency in grazing beef cattle during the rainy season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate reduced supplementation frequencies for grazing beef cattle in rainy season. In experiment 1, evaluating the nutritional parameters, four rumen-cannulated Nellore bulls (BW = 410 kg) were used. In experiment 2, evaluating animal performance, 48 Nellore bulls (BW = 358 kg) were used. The treatments were as follows: mineral supplement (MS) alone and MS plus protein-energy supplement provided 3×, 5× and 7×/week. Supplementation frequency did not affect (P > 0.05) intake and digestibility. Average daily gain was greater (P < 0.001) to supplementation compared with MS. The supplementation 5×/week resulted in greater weight gain per hectare (9.24) and higher economic returns during the study period (1.64%) compared to other supplementations. Supplementation 5×/week increased animal performance and positively influenced economic returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]