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Primary cilia (PC) are conserved structures in the adult thyroid gland of different mammals. It was recently described that in humans, PC are usually present as a single copy per follicular cell emerging from the follicular cell apex into the follicular lumen.To understand the role developed by PC in thyroid hormonogenesis better, their changes in different human functional thyroid diseases (diffuse toxic hyperplasia/Graves' disease [GD] and nodular hyperplasia [NH]/nodular goiter), in comparison to normal thyroid tissue, were investigated using immunofluorescence, morphometry, and electron microscopy analyses.Significantly decreased ciliary frequencies were found in both NH (51.16 ± 11.69%) and GD (44.43 ± 23.70%) compared to normal thyroid tissue (76.09 ± 7.31%). Similarly, PC lengths were also significantly decreased in both NH (2.02 ± 0.35 μm) and GD (2.4 ± 0.48 μm) compared to normal glands (3.93 ± 0.90 μm). Moreover, in GD patients, hyperactive-follicle foci always showed diminished ciliary frequency and length compared to any other thyroid follicle pattern, independent of their thyroid status. Finally, in GD, the percentage of thyrocytes exhibiting PC in the "normal-appearance areas" was significantly lower in correspondence with the subsistence of signs of thyroid biosynthetic hyperactivity after long-term antithyroid drug treatment.The results suggest a direct relationship between ciliogenesis and both follicle activity and tissue heterogeneity in the functional pathology of the thyroid gland.

The production of early budbreak Vitis vinifera L. cultivars in southern Brazilian highlands has been limited by the occurrence of late spring frosts. This study aimed to evaluate the abscisic acid (ABA) application on different dates to delay 'Chardonnay' vines budbreak, avoiding periods of greatest probability of frost occurrence. Experiments were carried out in a commercial vineyard, in Sao Joaquim, Santa Catarina, Brazil, at 1,270 m a.s.l., 1,270 m altitude, 28°14'51”S, 49°57'42”W, in two cycles. Five ABA concentrations were adopted on each cycle, ranging from 0 to 2000 mg L-1 and applications were made on the traditional date of pruning, which in this area represents the time when budbreak starts on shoots' apical buds, and two anticipated dates up to thirty days from this last. ABA was incorporated into lanolin and the resulting ointment was applied on the top of pruned shoots. On 2012/2013 cycle, vines treated 22 days before traditional date of pruning (DBP) sprouted in 29 days after treatment (DAT), while those treated on traditional pruning date sprouted in 18 DAT. The maximum delay observed with ABA comparing to control was four days. Treatments applied 30 DBP on 2013/2014 cycle resulted in sprouting in 37 DAT, while treatments applied on traditional pruning date, in 15 DAT. Control vines sprouted in 25 DAT and those treated with 2000 mg L-1 ABA in 28 DAT, delaying budbreak by three days. The latest pruning date and the highest ABA concentration (2000 mg L-1) presented better effect on vine budbreak delay. Changes were in general more expressively caused by the change in application dates. There were no problems with non-broken buds and the production was only slightly changed by ABA treatments. ABA application through this methodology was little effective on delaying grapevines budbreak and is not recommended for commercial use.

Resumen El carcinoma gastrico tipo linfoepitelioma es una entidad poco frecuente y mal caracterizada. Historicamente no se ha considerado una entidad como tal y frecuentemente se ha utilizado como sinonimo del carcinoma medular y del carcinoma gastrico convencional con estroma linfoide. Diferenciar esta entidad tiene mucha relevancia tanto clinica como pronostica. Se describe un caso de un hombre de 77 anos con una lesion ulcerada en fundus. El examen histologico revelo unas estructuras neoplasicas glandulares acompanadas de un marcado estroma linfoide. Dicha lesion presento intensa expresion del virus de Epstein-Barr, expresion de las proteinas reparadoras del ADN y una distribucion caracteristica de las poblaciones linfoides. El objetivo de este estudio es definir criterios utiles que permitan distinguir esta inusual lesion y estudiar el inmunofenotipo de las poblaciones linfoides.

Resumen Los carcinomas gastricos con estroma linfoide son un grupo heterogeneo de neoplasias mal caracterizadas que historicamente no se han clasificado en entidades clinico-patologicas distintas. Conocer los criterios diagnosticos e identificarlos tiene una importancia relevante tanto clinica como pronostica. Analizamos 13 casos de pacientes con carcinomas gastricos con estroma linfoide. Con criterios histopatologicos, inmunofenotipicos y moleculares, se definieron 3 subtipos (patron 1, 2 y 3). Realizamos inmunohistoquimica para caracterizar las poblaciones linfoides (CD3, CD4, CD8 y CD20), para analizar la expresion de virus de Epstein-Barr (VEB) y la expresion de proteinas reparadoras del ADN. El objetivo de este estudio es definir criterios utiles que permitan distinguir estas inusuales lesiones y estudiar el inmunofenotipo de las poblaciones linfoides.

Summary Background Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a highly effective approach for refractory and recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Despite its excellent efficacy, FMT is not yet a routine procedure in most centres. There is very little experience with FMT based on lyophilized capsules, and data from European institutions are lacking. This article describes our experience with FMT to treat recurrent CDI using lyophilized oral capsules. Methods A prospectively recorded single-centre case series of patients with recurrent CDI who underwent FMT between January 2018 and May 2019 were analysed. The primary outcome was defined as resolution of CDI without recurrences over a two-month period. Overall resolution was defined as resolution of diarrhoea without recurrence of CDI within two months after a further cycle of FMT. The FMT process involved oral ingestion of four or five lyophilized capsules in a single dose. All stool donors were rigorously screened. Findings FMT was performed in 32 patients. Primary cure was achieved in 81.3% of patients, and the overall cure rate was 87.5%. FMT via lyophilized capsules was well tolerated. No FMT procedure-related adverse events and no further complications were observed for lyophilized-capsule FMT. Conclusions This initial clinical experience suggests that FMT based on oral lyophilized preparations is a safe, well-tolerated, and highly effective treatment for recurrent CDI. Administration of oral lyophilized capsules seems feasible in hospital routine and will enable FMT to be more widely used.

Clostridioides difficile infection has traditionally been considered to be transmitted predominantly within health-care settings. It is not recognized as a pathogen that presents a risk of laboratory acquisition. Data on laboratory contamination and acquisition by laboratory personnel are lacking. Our objective was to assess environmental contamination by C. difficile and its potential for transmission in a clinical microbiology laboratory.Laboratory surfaces were screened for C. difficile. Samples were taken in areas that handle C. difficile isolates (high-exposure (HE) areas), areas adjacent to HE areas or those processing faecal samples (medium-exposure (ME) areas), and areas that do not process faecal samples or C. difficile isolates (low-exposure (LE) areas). We examined C. difficile carriage (hands/rectal samples) of laboratory workers.A total of 140 environmental samples were collected from two HE areas (n = 56), two ME areas (n = 56) and two LE areas (n = 28). Overall, 37.8% (37/98) of surfaces were contaminated with C. difficile, and 17.3% (17/98) with toxigenic C. difficile (TCD). HE areas were significantly more contaminated with TCD than LE areas (38.1% (16/42) versus 0.0% (0/14), p 0.005) and ME areas (38.1% (16/42) versus 2.4% (1/42), p0.001). Hands were colonized with TCD in 11.8% (4/34) of cases. We found no rectal carriage of C. difficile.We found a significant proportion of laboratory surfaces to be contaminated with toxigenic C. difficile, as well as hand colonization of laboratory personnel. We recommend specific control measures for high-risk areas and laboratory personnel working in these areas.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) was traditionally considered to be transmitted within healthcare environment, from other patients or healthcare workers (HCW). Recently, this idea has been challenged. Our objective was to determine the extent of C. difficile contamination in hospital environment with a simplified method for C. difficile recovery. Environmental samples were taken from rooms of patients positive for CDI (Case) and negative for toxigenic C. difficile (Control). Environmental sampling was performed at the time a fecal sample was taken for CDI diagnosis, 48 h after, and 10 days after. HCW hands were also sampled. A total of 476 environmental samples were collected, 246 samples from “Case” rooms and 230 from “Control”. Overall, 15.34% of environmental samples were positive for toxigenic C. difficile (TCD), 20.72% of “Case” rooms samples and 9.57% of the samples from “Control” rooms (p = 0.001). When samples from “Case” rooms were analyzed by sampling time, at diagnosis 52.94% were positive, 38.46% were positive at 48 h after symptom resolution and 23.07% were positive after course of treatment. Overall, the most contaminated site corresponded to the bathroom tap, followed by the toilet. We recovered TCD from alcohol-based dispensers and from 4.2% of HCW hands. We found a high proportion of surfaces contaminated with TCD, as well as hand colonization. Notably, even after isolation measures were terminated, there was still TCD contamination.

It was hypothesised that the inclusion of nitrate (NO3–) or cysteamine hydrochloride (CSH) in a protein deficient diet (4.8% crude protein; CP) would improve the productivity of sheep while reducing enteric methane (CH4) emissions. A complete randomised designed experiment was conducted with yearling Merino sheep (n = 24) consuming a protein-deficient wheaten chaff control diet (CON) alone or supplemented with 1.8% nitrate (NO3–; DM basis), 0.098% urea (Ur, DM basis) or 80 mg cysteamine hydrochloride/kg liveweight (CSH). Feed intake, CH4 emissions, volatile fatty acids (VFA), digesta kinetics and NO3–, nitrite (NO2–) and urea concentrations in plasma, saliva and urine samples were measured. There was no dietary effect on animal performance or digesta kinetics (P > 0.05), but adding NO3– to the CON diet reduced methane yield (MY) by 26% (P = 0.01). Nitrate supplementation increased blood MetHb, plasma NO3– and NO2– concentrations (P < 0.05), but there was no indication of NO2– toxicity. Overall, salivary NO3– concentration was greater than plasma NO3– (P < 0.05), indicating that NO3– was concentrated into saliva. Our results confirm the role of NO3– as an effective additive to reduce CH4 emissions, even in a highly protein-deficient diet and as a source of additional nitrogen (N) for microbial protein synthesis via N-recycling into saliva and the gut. The role of CSH as an additive in low quality diets for improving animal performance and reducing CH4 emissions is still unclear.

In this paper we describe a cryptanalysis of a key exchange scheme recently proposed by Alvarez, Tortosa, Vicent and Zamora. The scheme is based on exponentiation of block matrices over a finite field of prime order, and its security is claimed to rely in the hardness of a discrete logarithm problem in a subgroup of GL n ( ? p ) . However, the proposal's design allows for a clean attack strategy which exploits the fact that exponents are at some point added instead of multiplied as in a standard Diffie-Hellman construction. This strategy is moreover successful for a much more general choice of parameters than that put forward by Alvarez et al.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different microirrigation designs on root system distribution in wet bulb region, orange orchard yield and quality of orange fruits. The experiment was installed as random blocks with five treatments and four replicates in an orchard of 'Pêra' orange trees grafted on 'Cleopatra' mandarin rootstock. The treatments consisted of: one drip line (T1), two drip lines (T2), four drip lines (T3) per planting row, microsprinkler irrigation (T4) and without irrigation (T5). Irrigation treatments favored yield and ºBrix. The treatment with a single drip line (T1) showed the greatest quantity of roots in relation to the treatments T2 and T3.O objetivo do presente trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes configurações da irrigação localizada na distribuição do sistema radicular na região do bulbo úmido, na produção e na qualidade dos frutos de laranjeira. O experimento foi instalado em blocos ao acaso, com cinco tratamentos e quatro repetições, em pomar de plantas adultas de laranjeira-Pera enxertada em tangerina-Cleópatra. Os tratamentos consistiram em parcelas com uma linha de tubogotejador (T1), duas linhas de tubogotejadores (T2), quatro linhas de tubogotejadores (T3) por linha de plantio, microaspersão (T4) e sem irrigação (T5). Os tratamentos irrigados favoreceram a produção e o teor de ºBrix. Observou-se maior concentração de raízes na região do bulbo úmido no T1 em relação ao T2 e ao T3.

We provide some guidelines for deriving new projective hash families of cryptographic interest. Our main building blocks are so called group action systems; we explore what properties of this mathematical primitives may lead to the construction of cryptographically useful projective hash families. We point out different directions towards new constructions, deviating from known proposals arising from Cramer and Shoup's seminal work.

RESUMO – O vazamento de gases toxicos pode oferecer risco a saude ou a vida das pessoas e esse risco esta associado a forma como as pessoas podem ser expostas aos poluentes. A concentracao e o tempo de exposicao aos agentes sao fundamentais na determinacao dos poluentes sobre a saude ou a vida das pessoas. O dominio do comportamento das nuvens poluentes tem relevância significativa na gestao da operacao das industrias quimicas e petroquimicas. A utilizacao de modelos matematicos e um instrumento tecnico indispensavel para a gestao ambiental e seguranca das pessoas. Os modelos matematicos sao capazes de: Descrever e interpretar os dados experimentais; Controlar em tempo real e/ou analisar a qualidade do ar; Administrar as liberacoes acidentais e avaliar as areas de risco; Identificar as fontes poluidoras; Avaliar a contribuicao de uma unica fonte a carga poluidora; Administrar e planejar o territorio.

At Crypto’99, Fujisaki and Okamoto [11] presented a generic transformation from weak secure asymmetric and symmetric schemes into an IND-CCA hybrid encryption scheme in the Random Oracle Model, which has been extensively used in several cryptographic scenarios. The work we present here forms part of the careful revision of the provable security techniques initiated by Shoup in [25] insofar as we find some ambiguities in the proof of this generic conversion, which can lead to false claims. Consequently, the original conversion is modified and the class of asymmetric primitives that can be used is shortened. Furthermore, the concept of easily verifiable primitive is formalized, showing its connection with the gap problems introduced in [18]. Using these ideas, a completely new security proof for the modified transformation is given, which is phrased using currently widely accepted techniques. The reduction thereby obtained turns out to be tight, enhancing the concrete security claimed in the original work for the easily verifiable primitives. For the remaining primitives, the concrete security is improved at the cost of stronger assumptions. Finally, the resistance of the new conversion against reject timing attacks is addressed.

Given a square-free integer N , the group of points on an elliptic curve over the ring Z N is defined in the natural way. We prove that computing the order of points on elliptic curves over Z N is as difficult as factoring N , in the sense of randomly polynomial time reduction. Therefore, cryptosystems based on the difficulty of computing the order of points on elliptic curves over the ring Z N will be at least as robust as those based on the difficulty of factoring N .