Gluten-free and conventional breads and pastas sold in Southern Brazil: a comparative study on cost, nutritional composition and ingredients.

A gluten-free diet is the only treatment for patients with coeliac disease, who report dissatisfaction with the availability and variety of products, especially bread and pasta. The aim was to compare availability, cost, nutritional composition and ingredients of gluten-free and conventional bread and pasta products. Census of breads and pastas available in online commerce belonging to the third largest supermarket chain in southern Brazil.

Towards a species-level phylogeny for Neotropical Myrtaceae: Notes on topology and resources for future studies.

Premise: Increasingly complete phylogenies underpin studies in systematics, ecology, and evolution. Myrteae (Myrtaceae), with ~2700 species, is a key component of the exceptionally diverse Neotropical flora, but given its complicated taxonomy, automated assembling of molecular supermatrices from public databases often lead to unreliable topologies due to poor species identification.

Methods: Here, we build a taxonomically verified molecular supermatrix of Neotropical Myrteae by assembling 3909 published and 1004 unpublished sequences from two nuclear and seven plastid molecular markers.

Platelet thromboxane inhibition by low-dose aspirin in polycythemia vera: Ex vivo and in vivo measurements and in silico simulation.

Low-dose aspirin is currently recommended for patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a myeloproliferative neoplasm with increased risk of arterial and venous thromboses. Based on aspirin pharmacodynamics in essential thrombocythemia, a twice-daily regimen is recommended for patients with PV deemed at particularly high thrombotic risk. We investigated the effects of low-dose aspirin on platelet cyclooxygenase activity and in vivo platelet activation in 49 patients with PV, as assessed by serum thromboxane (TX) B and urinary TXA /TXB metabolite (TXM) measurements, respectively.

Frequency response in splicing regulation under mRNA auto-depletion control.

Nowadays, there exists a huge literature about stochastic model of transcriptional and translational control in gene networks. However, results related to post-transcriptional regulation via splicing and its connection with transcriptional and translational regulation are almost missing in the current literature and only related to the steady state moments investigation. Nowadays, it is becoming of paramount importance the need for modeling post-transcriptional regulation via splicing especially for DNA viruses or retroviruses.

Physiologically based modelling of the antiplatelet effect of aspirin: A tool to characterize drug responsiveness and inform precision dosing.

A computational approach involving mathematical modeling and in silico experiments was used to characterize the determinants of extent and duration of platelet cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 inhibition by aspirin and design precision dosing in patients with accelerated platelet turnover or reduced drug bioavailability. To this purpose, a recently developed physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) model of low-dose aspirin in regenerating platelets and megakaryocytes, was used to predict the main features and determinants of platelet COX-1 inhibition. The response to different aspirin regimens in healthy subjects and in pathological conditions associated with alterations in aspirin PK (i.

Are Smart Homes Adequate for Older Adults with Dementia?

Smart home technologies can enable older adults, including those with dementia, to live more independently in their homes for a longer time. Activity recognition, in combination with anomaly detection, has shown the potential to recognise users' daily activities and detect deviations. However, activity recognition and anomaly detection are not sufficient, as they lack the capacity to capture the progression of patients' habits across the different stages of dementia.

Phylogenetic Relationships Within the Hyper-Diverse Genus (Myrtaceae: Myrteae) Based on Target Enrichment Sequencing.

is one of the most taxonomically challenging lineages of flowering plants, in which morphological delimitation has changed over the last few years resulting from recent phylogenetic study based on molecular data. Efforts, until now, have been limited to Sanger sequencing of mostly plastid markers. These phylogenetic studies indicate 11 clades formalized as infrageneric groups.

Stochasticity in transcriptional, splicing and translational regulations in time and frequency domains.

Alternative splicing is one of the most important post-transcriptional regulation. Splicing is essential for the expression of most of the human protein coding genes and is associated with several diseases, comprising cancer. It is also strongly used by minor organisms and several viruses.

Role of E6 in Maintaining the Basal Cell Reservoir during Productive Papillomavirus Infection.

Papillomaviruses exclusively infect stratified epithelial tissues and cause chronic infections. To achieve this, infected cells must remain in the epithelial basal layer alongside their uninfected neighbors for years or even decades. To examine how papillomaviruses achieve this, we used the MmuPV1 (Mus musculus papillomavirus 1) model of lesion formation and persistence.

Frequency analysis of splicing regulation.

In the past decades, mathematical modelers developed a huge literature to model and analyze gene networks under both deterministic and stochastic formalisms. Such literature is predominantly focused on modeling transcriptional and translational regulation, while the development of proper mathematical frameworks to model and study post-transcriptional regulation via splicing and its connection with transcriptional and translational regulation are almost missing. Nowadays, it is becoming of paramount importance the need for modeling post-transcriptional regulation via splicing especially for bacteria or viruses.

Modeling Pharmacokinetics of Doxorubicin in Multiple Myeloma Cells.

Doxorubicin (DOXO) is a well-established chemotherapy drug for treatment of different tumors, ranging from breast cancer, melanoma to multiple myeloma (MM). Here, we present a coupled experimental/modeling approach to study DOXO pharmacokinetics in MM cells, investigate its distribution among the extracellular and intracellular compartments during time. Three model candidates are considered and identified.

Mathematical modelling of SigE regulatory network reveals new insights into bistability of mycobacterial stress response.

Background: The ability to rapidly adapt to adverse environmental conditions represents the key of success of many pathogens and, in particular, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Upon exposition to heat shock, antibiotics or other sources of stress, appropriate responses in terms of genes transcription and proteins activity are activated leading part of a genetically identical bacterial population to express a different phenotype, namely to develop persistence. When the stress response network is mathematically described by an ordinary differential equations model, development of persistence in the bacterial population is associated with bistability of the model, since different emerging phenotypes are represented by different stable steady states.

Operator Evaluation of Ultrasound Fusion Imaging Usefulness in the Percutaneous Ablation of Hepatic Malignancies: A Prospective Study.

The purpose of the work described here was to evaluate the use of ultrasound fusion imaging (US-FI) in percutaneous ablation of hepatic malignancies with respect to its global usefulness, improvement of conspicuity, confidence increment, needle route changes, and time savings. Thirty-four hepatic tumors (28 hepatocellular carcinomas, 6 metastases) were prospectively ablated in 16 consecutive patients (64 ± 11 y, 75% males), first simulating B-mode-only planning and then synchronizing computed tomography/magnetic resonance images with US and proceeding to needle insertion and tumor ablation under US-FI guidance. Surveys were administered to the operators to evaluate their perception of US-FI advantages.

A nuclear phylogenomic study of the angiosperm order Myrtales, exploring the potential and limitations of the universal Angiosperms353 probe set.

Premise: To further advance the understanding of the species-rich, economically and ecologically important angiosperm order Myrtales in the rosid clade, comprising nine families, approximately 400 genera and almost 14,000 species occurring on all continents (except Antarctica), we tested the Angiosperms353 probe kit.

Methods: We combined high-throughput sequencing and target enrichment with the Angiosperms353 probe kit to evaluate a sample of 485 species across 305 genera (76% of all genera in the order).

Results: Results provide the most comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for the order to date.

A new species of the Dendropsophus decipiens Group (Anura: Hylidae) from Northeastern Brazil.

We describe a new species of the Dendropsophus decipiens Group, morphologically most resembling D. haddadi but genetically more closely related to D. oliveirai and likely endemic from the Atlantic Forest biome, northeastern Brazil.

Phylogenetic relationships of the Boana pulchella Group (Anura: Hylidae).

In this paper we present a phylogenetic analysis of the treefrogs of the Boana pulchella Group with the goals of (1) providing a rigorous test of its monophyly; (2) providing a test of relationships supported in previous studies; and (3) exploring the relationships of the several species not included in previous analyses. The analyses included>300 specimens of 37 of the 38 species currently included in the group, plus 36 outgroups, exemplars of the diversity of Boana and the other genera of the hylid tribe Cophomantini. The dataset included eight mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, CytB, COI, ND1, tRNA, tRNA, and tRNA) and five nuclear genes (RHO, TYR, RAG-1, CXCR4, SIAH1).

Unraveling the species diversity and relationships in the Leptodactylus mystaceus complex (Anura: Leptodactylidae), with the description of three new Brazilian species.

Members of the Leptodactylus mystaceus species complex are widely distributed in forests and open formations of South America east of the Andes. Species of the complex are morphologically similar or indistinguishable among each other, but acoustic data have been the cornerstone for species discrimination across their geographic ranges. In this paper, we re-examine the monophyly, species diversity, and relationships in the L.

A Human Papillomavirus Early Promoter Minimal Model: Viral Population and Stochasticity.

HPV infection starts with the activation of the early promoter (EP) regulatory core and the replication of the viral particles to around 10-100 per cell at the beginning of the infection. For this reason, understanding the deterministic and stochastic role of the population number of viruses inside the cell is of pivotal importance to understand the regulation of the EP and the viral latency.The aim of this study is to extend a recently published minimal model of the EP transcriptional regulation in order to consider the effect of the viral population on gene regulation, to perform the bifurcation analysis and to understand the role of the stochasticity at the beginning of the infection.

A Minimal Stochastic Model of Transcriptional and Splicing Regulation.

In the past decades an extensive mathematical literature was developed to model and analyze gene networks under both deterministic and stochastic formalisms. However, such literature is predominantly focused to deal with the modeling of transcriptional and translational regulation, but results related to post-transcriptional regulation and its connection with transcriptional regulation are poorly investigated. However, it is becoming of paramount importance the need for modeling post-transcriptional regulation via splicing especially for minor organisms or viruses.

Role of diffusion tensor imaging of sciatic nerve in symptomatic patients with inconclusive lumbar MRI.

Objective: To assess fractional anisotropy (FA) of sciatic nerve roots within the pelvis by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients suffering from sciatica with inconclusive lumbar MRI.

Methods: This IRB-approved prospective study included 32 consecutive subjects (11 males and 21 females; mean age 32.2 years) between September 2019 and February 2020.

Human Papillomavirus Early Promoter Regulatory Core as a Bistable Switch.

High risk human papillomavirus (HPV) can induce cervical and oropharyngeal cancerous lesions. Different HPV strains, as well as still unknown mechanisms can be associated to a range of biochemical parameters that can importantly affect the HPV gene expression dynamics. For this reason, it is of pivotal importance to investigate how parameters variation can induce interesting behaviors such as viral latency in place of the normal gene replication activity.

Sensitivity Analysis of a Model of Human Papillomavirus Late Promoter Regulation.

A mathematical model of Human Papillomavirus late promoter regulation was recently developed, able to predict the main features of HPV gene expression during cellular differentiation under productive infection. A sensitivity analysis is performed to characterize the influence of transcriptional, post-transcriptional and translational regulations on the viral species related to E1, E2, E4 and Li genes. Sensitivity analysis indicates strong influence of parameters related to transcriptional and translational regulation.