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En el ensayo definitivo adelantado en el Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario - Palmira, se evaluaron concentraciones de 150 y 250 ppm de ácido indolbutírico, tiempos de inmersión de 30 y 45 min., estacas con y sin disminución del área foliar, dos sustratos (cascarilla de arroz y una mezcla de suelo más arena), así como también la supresión de las tradicionales tapas de lienzo a las cámaras de propagación del sustrato suelo más arena. El porcentaje de formación de callo por el tipo de estímulo utilizado, fue similar en los dos sustratos. Los mejores resultados se obtuvieron con el tipo de estaca con hojas. La respuesta a las diferentes concentraciones de AIB fue relativamente similar. El tiempo de inmersión afectó en forma significativa el número de raíces, con promedio de seis raíces por estaca cuando se sometió a 45 mino de inmersión.At Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario - Palmira was made the present study. In the final essay was evaluated concentrations of 150 and 250 ppm of indolbutiric acid, inmersion times of 30 and 45 min., sticks with and without decreasing of leaf area, two substratum (rice's hust and a mix of soil plus sand), so also non- put covers of tinen cloth over propagation chambers of substratum soil plus sand. The percentage of caIlous formation by the kind of stimulus used, it was similar in both substratums. The best results were found in kind of stick with leaf. The answer of concentrations were similar. Time of inmersion affected in significant way the number of roots, getting six roots in average, when it's used 45 min. of inmersion.

En el trabajo realizado en el Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario en Palmira, Valle del Cauca, se emplearon 12 árboles cítricos de nueve años, injertados sobre mandarina Cleopatra y pertenecientes a dos variedades de naranja: (Nativa del Chocó y Pera del Río) y dos de mandarina (Dancy y Wamurco). Se evaluó el desarrollo floral, tomando dos árboles por variedad, la época e intensidad de la floración y fructificación, el porcentaje de cuajamiento, el desarrollo del fruto y el porcentaje de frutos caídos. Se realizó además un estudio de maduración y calidad del fruto. Los períodos de máxima floración ocurrieron a intervalos de 15 - 30 días después de lluvias intensas. El porcentaje de cuajamiento presenta diferencias entre variedades y entre árboles de una misma variedad, lo mismo que el desarrollo y caída de frutos. El punto de madurez fisiológica medido por la relación de sólidos solubles/acidez, muestra la precocidad de la naranja sobre la mandarina. El potencial productivo, dado por la relación entre la fructificación y la cosecha, presenta diferencias acentuadas entre variedades y fluctua entre 9.2 y 44.6%.This work was made at the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, Palmira in the Cauca Valley. Twelve citric trees nine years old were used grafted with Cleopatra tangerine belonging to two oranges varieties: Nativa del Chocó and Pera del Río and two tangerine varieties: Dancy and Wamurco. Flowering development was evaluated taking two trees per variety, epoch and intensity of flowering and fruitation, thicken percentage, fruit's development, fruits falled percentage. In addition, maduration and quality studies was made. Definite periods of highest flowering occurs in intervals of 15 to 30 days after intensity rainy day epoch. The thicken percentage of flowers and fruits, fruit's falled and fruit's development show differences among varieties and among trees of a single variety. The physiological maturity point measured by rate soluble solids/acidity, shows precocity of orange's varieties. About productive potential given by rate between fructifying and harvest are shown differences among varieties, fluctuantig between 9.2 and 44/6%.

En el Centro Nacional de Investigaciones del ICA, Palmira, se estudió el sistema de raíces de 12 patrones injertados con naranja Frost Valencia, de 14 años de edad, sembrados en un suelo Franco-Arcilloso. Se tomaron muestras a 1.0, 1,5, 2.0 y 3.0 m de distancia de la base del árbol y a profundidades de 0-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80 Y 80-100 cm, considerando cada distancia. Los patrones que mostraron la mayor densidad de raíces fueron: Amblycarpa, Citrange Carrizo y Mandarina Cleopatra. Se encontró correlación directa y altamente significativa entre el sistema de raíces menores de 2 mm de diámetro con la altura y diámetro del árbol, lo mismo que con el volumen de la copa. Estos aspectos son de especial importancia para evaluar el grado de adaptación a diferentes condiciones de suelo, al momento de plantar un huerto.At the ICA National Research Center in Palmira a study of the root system of 12 rootstocks grafted with "Frost Valencia" orange 14 years old grown on clay-loam soil was conducted. Root samples were taken at distances of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 m from stem and a depth of 0-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80 and 80-100 cm in each distances. The rootstocks Amblycarpa, Citrange Carrizo and Cleopatra Mandarin presented the greater root densities. The height, diameter and the foliage tree volume showed positive correlation whit a diameter lesser than two millimeter. That's special importance for the adaptation several soil's conditions.

En el trabajo, realizado en el Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario en Palmira, Valle del Cauca, se consideraron 20 árboles cítricos injertados sobre Citrumelo 4475, Citrus amblycarpa, Citrange yuma, Trifoliado por Ruby Or y Mandarina Cleopatra. Se evaluaron los parámetros desarrollo floral, época e intensidad de la floración, porcentaje de cuajamiento, desarrollo del fruto, proceso de maduración y número y peso de frutos cosechados. La floración de la naranja ocurrió 15-30 días después de una lluvia; la máxima producción de frutos se presentó entre cinco y seis meses después de la máxima precipitación. Los porta-injertos mostraron diferenciase significativas en período de maduración y producción de frutos; no obstante, su potencial productivo fue relativamente similar (17-20%).The work was made at Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, Palmira in the Cauca Valley. It was considered under observation twenty citric trees over five rootstocks: Citrumelo 4475, Citrus amblycarpa, Citrange yuma, Trifoliado por Ruby Or and Mandarina Cleopatra. Flower development, intensity of flower and fruit production, thicken percentage, fruit's development, fruits falled percentage, maduration process and number and weight at harvested fruits was evaluated. Flowering is induced between 15-30 days after any rain. The maximum fruit production was between five and six months after maximum precipitation. The rootstocks are different in maturity epoch, fruit's production; however there were not great differences in potential production (17-20%).

Aunque la flor es hermafrodita presenta protoginia y existe un período de 36 a 48 horas durante el cual pueden encontrarse maduros ambos órganos sexuales, la disposición apretada del cuerpo de estambres, aún estando dehiscentes, no permite disponibilidad de polen. Los insectos asociados con las flores no tienen influencia en el proceso de polinización. Se presume que los frutos se forman a partir de autopolinización (autogamia) que ocurre al retener los estambres desprendidos algunos pétalos interiores. En razón a que esta forma es esporádica ya que el tiempo desde la polinización de los estigmas hasta su desprendimiento en muchos casos puede no ser suficiente para que ocurra la fecundación, se presenta bajo prendimiento o cuajamiento de las flores. La polinización manual de las flores aumenta la producción. El tamaño y la velocidad del crecimiento de los frutos están en relación directa con el número de pistilos fecundados.A field study was conducted on floral biology and artificial pollination in soursop (Annona muricata L.). Although flowers are apparently adapted to cross pollination despite being anatomically hermaphrodite, the bunched arrangement of stamens does not results in available fertil pollen. There is a period from 36 to 48 hours in which both sexual organs are simultaneusly, however guanabana flowers functions as physiologically protogineous. None insect genera has any influency on poIlination. It is assumed that generally fruits are formed by autogamy after stigmas get in contact with stamens retained by lower petals. Because this way of pollination is rather sporadic and sometimes stigmas shed after pollination but before fertilization, only a low number of fruit setting is observed as many flowers fall out due to the low number that get fertilized. Manual poIlination resulted in an effective way to increase production. The size and growth rate of these fruits are correlated with the number of pistiIs get fertilized.

Sin resumen

Se hace una revisión sobre 133 casos de colostomías hechas en pacientes del Hospital San Juan de Dios de Bogotá en un período de cinco años; el 43.7 por ciento de los casos eran heridas por arma de fuego. La mortalidad global fue de 16.5 por ciento. La colostomía derivativa, en ASA, ha bajado la mortalidad en las heridas de colon en dicho hospital.

Purpose/objectives: The onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic increased the demand for inpatient services and led to widespread staffing shortages in the acute and post-acute setting, contributing to delayed inpatient throughput and leading to capacity crises. Novel strategies are needed to facilitate the efficient progression of hospitalized patients when medically ready for lower levels of care. The authors have developed a foundational strategic framework for patient progression to ensure capture of patient progression data, enhance efficiency, and optimal utilization of post-acute resources in increasingly complex and resource-constrained acute and post-acute environments., Primary Practice Settings: Interventions were implemented, and metrics of success tracked as part of an overarching framework to test new models of care or optimize existing assets related to barriers to patient progression. Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital (BWFH) comprise an academic medical center and a community hospital, respectively, that are affiliated with Massachusetts General Brigham (MGB), a nonprofit health care system in Massachusetts. Key interventions include (1) screening to prioritize patients needing case management services through a modified early screening for discharge planning tool and process; (2) communicating, documenting, identifying patient progression status, barriers to discharge and post-acute needs through interdisciplinary care optimization rounds, a novel tool in the electronic health record, and an associated dashboard; (3) managing active high-risk patients through a novel complex care team and post-acute strategy development; (4) developing novel transportation and hospice pathways; and (5) establishing community hospital repatriation and a physical therapy "Why Not Home" campaign., Findings: Key metrics of success were (1) modified discharge planning tool resulting in screening out low-risk patients (53%) and impacting length of stay (0.55-day reduction, p = .083) during a 3-month intervention versus control study; (2) documentation adherence in more than 98% of patients 10 months postimplementation; (3) complex care team achieving a 2.5% reduction in Case Mix Index-adjusted length of stay 6 months postimplementation; (4) use of care van offsetting ambulance/chair car in 10% of cases, and earlier discharge time/length of stay in 21% of cases 3 months postimplementation; and (5) implementation of community repatriation impacting delay days to discharge (10-month pilot, 40 patients accounting for 1,000 delay days)., Conclusions: Implementation of a novel comprehensive framework focusing on optimizing patient progression resulted in increased operational efficiency and positively impacted length of stay at our academic and community hospitals. Additional study is actively ongoing to understand long-term benefit of the innovations that the authors have developed. Further interventions are needed to wholly mitigate evolving capacity challenges in the acute and post-acute settings., Implications for Case Management Practice: The authors' implementation of the Brigham framework for progression demonstrates that innovative approaches to case management can help address the evolving challenges in care transitions planning. Notable opportunities include approaches that empower case managers as multidisciplinary team leaders, improve workflow, utilize patient progression data, prioritize patients with complex care needs support key patient populations, and promote post-acute collaboration., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: Dr. Laura Smith serves on the advisory board for New England Life Care, not relevant to the contents of this article. For the remaining authors none are declared. The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Central American Ancestry (MPRCA) individuals represent 82% of US Latinos. An intergenerational group of MPRCA women and allies met to discuss persistent underrepresentation of MPRCA women in STEM, identifying multi-level challenges and solutions. Implementation of these solutions is important and will benefit MPRCA women and the entire academic community., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Predicting H3.1, TP53, and ACVR1 mutations in DIPG could aid in the selection of therapeutic options. The contribution of clinical data and multi-modal MRI were studied for these three predictive tasks. To keep the maximum number of subjects, which is essential for a rare disease, missing data were considered. A multi-modal model was proposed, collecting all available data for each patient, without performing any imputation., Methods: A retrospective cohort of 80 patients with confirmed DIPG and at least one of the four MR modalities (T1w, T1c, T2w, and FLAIR), acquired with two different MR scanners was built. A pipeline including standardization of MR data and extraction of radiomic features within the tumor was applied. The values of radiomic features between the two MR scanners were realigned using the ComBat method. For each prediction task, the most robust features were selected based on a recursive feature elimination with cross-validation. Five different models, one based on clinical data and one per MR modality, were developed using logistic regression classifiers. The prediction of the multi-modal model was defined as the average of all possible prediction results among five for each patient. The performances of the models were compared using a leave-one-out approach., Results: The percentage of missing modalities ranged from 6 to 11% across modalities and tasks. The performance of each individual model was dependent on each specific task, with an AUC of the ROC curve ranging from 0.63 to 0.80. The multi-modal model outperformed the clinical model for each prediction tasks, thus demonstrating the added value of MRI. Furthermore, regardless of performance criteria, the multi-modal model came in the first place or second place (very close to first). In the leave-one-out approach, the prediction of H3.1 (resp. ACVR1 and TP53) mutations achieved a balanced accuracy of 87.8% (resp. 82.1 and 78.3%)., Conclusion: Compared with a single modality approach, the multi-modal model combining multiple MRI modalities and clinical features was the most powerful to predict H3.1, ACVR1, and TP53 mutations and provided prediction, even in the case of missing modality. It could be proposed in the absence of a conclusive biopsy., Competing Interests: TE was employed by DOSIsoft SA. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Khalid, Goya-Outi, Escobar, Dangouloff-Ros, Grigis, Philippe, Boddaert, Grill, Frouin and Frouin.)

Background: Translation of predictive and prognostic image-based learning models to clinical applications is challenging due in part to their lack of interpretability. Some deep-learning-based methods provide information about the regions driving the model output. Yet, due to the high-level abstraction of deep features, these methods do not completely solve the interpretation challenge. In addition, low sample size cohorts can lead to instabilities and suboptimal convergence for models involving a large number of parameters such as convolutional neural networks., Purpose: Here, we propose a method for designing radiomic models that combines the interpretability of handcrafted radiomics with a sub-regional analysis., Materials and Methods: Our approach relies on voxel-wise engineered radiomic features with average global aggregation and logistic regression. The method is illustrated using a small dataset of 51 soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients where the task is to predict the risk of lung metastasis occurrence during the follow-up period., Results: Using positron emission tomography/computed tomography and two magnetic resonance imaging sequences separately to build two radiomic models, we show that our approach produces quantitative maps that highlight the signal that contributes to the decision within the tumor region of interest. In our STS example, the analysis of these maps identified two biological patterns that are consistent with STS grading systems and knowledge: necrosis development and glucose metabolism of the tumor., Conclusions: We demonstrate how that method makes it possible to spatially and quantitatively interpret radiomic models amenable to sub-regions identification and biological interpretation for patient stratification., (© 2022 The Authors. Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Background: Seizure relapses are the leading cause of admission to emergency rooms (ER) in people with epilepsy., Objective: To analyze administrative and clinical factors associated with the duration between seizure relapses in people with epilepsy admitted to the Neurological Institute of Colombia (Medellin) between July 2018 and July 2019., Materials and Methods: A retrospective follow-up study of 156 patients over 18 years old, diagnosed with epilepsy, and treated for over a year. The outcome variable was the time between seizure relapses, identified through the record of ER attendances. In addition, difficulties in the prescription filling process (delay, omission, or brand change) and clinical characteristics were analyzed as potential associated influence factors. The statistical analysis was performed using the Prentice, Williams & Peterson-Gap Time survival model for recurrent events. Finally, Adjusted Hazard Ratios (aHR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) are also presented., Results: One hundred fifty-six patients were analyzed. Their average age of diagnosis was 15.5 years (SD = 22.5), the median number of monthly seizures was 3 (SD = 9.3), and 50.6% were women. Moreover, difficulties in the prescription filling process were associated with a time reduction between seizure relapses (aHR = 2.61; 95%CI 1.49-4.57), showing a similar impact as having a history of three or four types of events (aHR = 2.96; 95%CI 1.23-7.12) and neuropsychiatric comorbidity (aHR = 1.89; 95%CI 1.04-3.54)., Conclusion: Neuropsychiatric comorbidity, history of several types of events, and experiencing difficulties with prescription filling are associated with lower benefit from treatment to control seizure relapses., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Visceral leishmaniasis is an endemic zoonotic disease identified especially in developing territories. Brazil's northeast, southeast and midwest have been endemic for several years; currently, the infection is spreading to the south. Dogs are the main reservoirs; however, other mammal species have also been infected. Herein, we have identified the infecting Leishmania species in dogs and horses from the south of Brazil, a new outbreak of the infection. Blood samples were collected in the urban area of Uruguaiana city. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood, kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) fragments were obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. Out of 123 samples, 25 of them (14 dogs and 11 horses) were positive for Leishmania spp. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the kDNA in positive samples was similar to four species previously reported: L. infantum/L. chagasi, L. donovani, L. major. Despite kDNA minicircles regions are very useful due to high sensitivity to Leishmania spp. DNA detection, the sequence polymorphism among minicircles can be an obstacle to interspecific differentiation. Our results suggest that these strains are circulating in Brazil south region cross-border and indicate the susceptibility of new outbreak for visceral leishmaniasis infection in horses domiciled in endemic region for canine and human visceral leishmaniasis., (© 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

Introduction  Textiloma (Txm) is a nonmedical term that has been given to foreign body-related inflammatory pseudotumor arising from retained nonabsorbable cotton matrix that is either inadvertently or deliberately left behind during surgery, which may trigger an inflammatory reaction. This report describes a case of Txm mimicking a recurrent high-grade astrocytoma. Case Report  We, here, present the case of a 69-year-old female with a 6-month history of progressive left-sided weakness. Neuroimaging studies revealed a large nonenhancing mass in the right frontoparietal lobe. Pathology reported a World Health Organization tumor classification grade II, diffuse astrocytoma. After surgical intervention, external beam radiation was given to the remaining areas of residual tumor. Routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a nodular area of contrast enhancement in the dorsal and inferior margin of the biopsy tract, growing between interval scans, and perfusion-weighted imaging parameters were elevated being clinically asymptomatic. She underwent a complete resection of this area of interest and pathology returned as a Txm with Surgicel fibers. Conclusion  After treatment of a neoplasm, if unexpected clinical or imaging evidence of recurrence is present, a foreign body reaction to hemostatic material used during the initial surgery should be included in the differential diagnosis., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest None.

The function of the CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) in the organization of the genome has become an important area of investigation, but the mechanisms by which CTCF dynamically contributes to genome organization are not clear. We previously discovered that CTCF binds to large numbers of endogenous RNAs, promoting its self-association. In this regard, we now report two independent features that disrupt CTCF association with chromatin: inhibition of transcription and disruption of CTCF-RNA interactions through mutations of 2 of its 11 zinc fingers that are not required for CTCF binding to its cognate DNA site: zinc finger 1 (ZF1) or zinc finger 10 (ZF10). These mutations alter gene expression profiles as CTCF mutants lose their ability to form chromatin loops and thus the ability to insulate chromatin domains and to mediate CTCF long-range genomic interactions. Our results point to the importance of CTCF-mediated RNA interactions as a structural component of genome organization., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Suicide and major depression are prevalent in individuals reporting early-life adversity. Prefrontal cortex volume is reduced by stress acutely and progressively, and changes in neuron and glia density are reported in depressed suicide decedents. We previously found reduced neurotrophic factor brain-derived neurotrophic factor in suicide decedents and with early-life adversity, and we sought to determine whether cortex thickness or neuron or glia density in the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex are associated with early-life adversity or suicide., Methods: A total of 52 brains, constituting 13 quadruplets of nonpsychiatric controls and major depressive disorder suicide decedents with and without early-life adversity, were matched for age, sex, race, and postmortem interval. Brains were collected at autopsy and frozen, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were later dissected, postfixed, and sectioned. Sections were immunostained for neuron-specific nuclear protein (NeuN) to label neurons and counterstained with thionin to stain glial cell nuclei. Cortex thickness, neuron and glial density, and neuron volume were measured by stereology., Results: Cortical thickness was 6% less with early-life adversity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and 12% less in anterior cingulate cortex (P < .05), but not in depressed suicide decedents in either region. Neuron density was not different in early-life adversity or with suicide, but glial density was 17% greater with early-life adversity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and 15% greater in anterior cingulate cortex, but not in suicides. Neuron volume was not different with early-life adversity or suicide., Conclusions: Reported early-life adversity, but not the stress associated with suicide, is associated with thinner prefrontal cortex and greater glia density in adulthood. Early-life adversity may alter normal neurodevelopment and contribute to suicide risk., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.)

Background.  A Legionnaires' disease (LD) outbreak at a resort on Cozumel Island in Mexico was investigated by a joint Mexico-United States team in 2010. This is the first reported LD outbreak in Mexico, where LD is not a reportable disease. Methods.  Reports of LD among travelers were solicited from US health departments and the European Working Group for Legionella Infections. Records from the resort and Cozumel Island health facilities were searched for possible LD cases. In April 2010, the resort was searched for possible Legionella exposure sources. The temperature and total chlorine of the water at 38 sites in the resort were measured, and samples from those sites were tested for Legionella . Results.  Nine travelers became ill with laboratory-confirmed LD within 2 weeks of staying at the resort between May 2008 and April 2010. The resort and its potable water system were the only common exposures. No possible LD cases were identified among resort workers. Legionellae were found to have extensively colonized the resort's potable water system. Legionellae matching a case isolate were found in the resort's potable water system. Conclusions.  Medical providers should test for LD when treating community-acquired pneumonia that is severe or affecting patients who traveled in the 2 weeks before the onset of symptoms. When an LD outbreak is detected, the source should be identified and then aggressively remediated. Because LD can occur in tropical and temperate areas, all countries should consider making LD a reportable disease if they have not already done so.

Purpose: The primary objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) covered with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) membrane in the regeneration of 5-mm-diameter defects created in the calvaria of Wistar rats and compare this with the regeneration of defects covered only with the PEG membrane., Materials and Methods: Two 5-mm-diameter parietal defects were created in seven Wistar rats. The control defect in the left parietal bone was covered with an experimental PEG membrane (Straumann MembraGel); the test defect in the right parietal bone was filled with BCP (Straumann BoneCeramic) and covered with the same membrane. After a healing period of 2 months, the animals were sacrificed, and the samples were processed for histologic and histomorphometric analysis., Results: The test defects regenerated with BCP and covered with the PEG membrane had a percentage of new bone formation area of 61.7% ± 14.6%, and the control defects obtained mean new bone area of 57.3% ± 21.8%. The difference between groups was not statistically significant. The BCP did not reveal osteoconductive properties, and few particles were fully incorporated into the newly formed bone. The BCP maintained the space, and there was extremely low particle resorption during the healing period. The PEG membrane remained intact., Conclusion: There were no statistically significant differences between the test and control groups. BCP did not exhibit osteoconductive properties.

Purpose: MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) and STAT3 are implicated in uveitis and pathogenic mechanisms of CNS autoimmune diseases. In our study, we used miR-155(-/-) mice and mice with targeted STAT3 deletion in T cells (CD4-STAT3KO) to investigate roles of miR-155 and STAT3 in the development of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), a mouse model of human uveitis., Methods: We induced EAU in WT, miR-155(-/-), or CD4-STAT3KO mice by immunization with interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein/complete Freund's adjuvant (IRBP/CFA) or adoptive transfer of T cells. EAU was assessed by funduscopy and histology. RNA expression was analyzed by quantitative PCR (qPCR), while cytokine production was assessed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)., Results: We used a combination of genomic and genetic tools to provide the first evidence that STAT3 binds directly to the miR-155 locus and that STAT3 is required for miR-155 expression. Furthermore, STAT3-dependent increase in miR-155 expression in vivo correlated temporally with onset of EAU, and miR-155(-/-) or CD4-STAT3KO mice did not suffer EAU. CD4(+) lymph node cells from IRBP-immunized WT mice transferred EAU to naïve wild-type (WT) and miR-155(-/-) mice, while miR-155(-/-) IRBP-specific T cells did not., Conclusions: Although miR-155 and STAT3 have been implicated in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), uveitis, or rheumatoid arthritis, their exact roles in these diseases are unclear. We show here for the first time to our knowledge that STAT3 regulates miR-155 expression in Th17 cells. We show further that STAT3 and miR-155 form an axis that promotes the expansion of pathogenic Th17 cells that mediate uveitis. Thus, STAT3 and miR-155 may be therapeutic targets for treating uveitis and other Th17-mediated inflammatory disorders.

Chd1- and ISWI-type chromatin remodelers can sense extranucleosomal DNA and preferentially shift nucleosomes toward longer stretches of available DNA. The DNA-binding domains of these chromatin remodelers are believed to be responsible for sensing extranucleosomal DNA and are needed for robust sliding, but it is unclear how these domains contribute to directional movement of nucleosomes. Here, we show that the DNA-binding domain of Chd1 is not essential for nucleosome sliding but is critical for centering mononucleosomes on short DNA fragments. Remarkably, nucleosome centering was achieved by replacing the native DNA-binding domain of Chd1 with foreign DNA-binding domains of Escherichia coli AraC or Drosophila melanogaster engrailed. Introducing target DNA sequences recognized by the foreign domains enabled the remodelers to rapidly shift nucleosomes toward these binding sites, demonstrating that these foreign DNA-binding domains dictated the direction of sliding. Sequence-directed sliding occluded the target DNA sequences on the nucleosome enough to promote release of the remodeler. Target DNA sequences were highly stimulatory at multiple positions flanking the nucleosome and had the strongest influence when separated from the nucleosome by 23 or fewer base pairs. These results suggest that the DNA-binding domain's affinity for extranucleosomal DNA is the key determinant for the direction that Chd1 shifts the nucleosome.

Cell-selective glucocorticoid receptor (GR) binding to distal regulatory elements is associated with cell type-specific regions of locally accessible chromatin. These regions can either pre-exist in chromatin (pre-programmed) or be induced by the receptor (de novo). Mechanisms that create and maintain these sites are not well understood. We observe a global enrichment of CpG density for pre-programmed elements, and implicate their demethylated state in the maintenance of open chromatin in a tissue-specific manner. In contrast, sites that are actively opened by GR (de novo) are characterized by low CpG density, and form a unique class of enhancers devoid of suppressive effect of agglomerated methyl-cytosines. Furthermore, treatment with glucocorticoids induces rapid changes in methylation levels at selected CpGs within de novo sites. Finally, we identify GR-binding elements with CpGs at critical positions, and show that methylation can affect GR-DNA interactions in vitro. The findings present a unique link between tissue-specific chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation and transcription factor binding and show that DNA methylation can be an integral component of gene regulation by nuclear receptors.

The purpose of the present study was to verify the correlation between static balance and functional autonomy in elderly women. The sample was a random selection of 32 sedentary elderly women (mean age=67.47 ± 7.37 years, body mass index=BMI=27.30 ± 5.07 kg/m(2)), who live in the city of Teresina in the state of Piauí, Brazil. Static balance was analyzed by stabilometric assessment using an electronic baropodometer which measured the average of the amplitude of postural oscillations in the right (RLD) and left (LLD) lateral displacements, anterior (AD) and posterior (PD) displacements, and in the elliptical area (EA) formed by the body's center of gravity. Functional autonomy was evaluated by a battery of tests from the LADEG protocol which is composed of: a 10 m walk (10 mW), getting up from a seated position (GSP), getting up from the prone position (GPP), getting up from a chair and movement around the house (GCMH), and putting on and taking off a shirt (PTS). The Spearman's correlation coefficient (r) indicated a positive and significant correlation between GPP and LLD (r=0.382; p=0.031), GPP and PD (r=0.398; p=0.024) and GPP and EA (r=0.368; p=0.038). These results show that sedentary elderly women who spent the greatest amount of time performing the GPP test achieved the largest mean amplitude of displacement leading to greater levels of instability., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)