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Research shows that exposure to the outdoors is beneficial to children and can improve the learning experience for students. The Kids in the Woods program in Gainesville, Florida provides 6th grade students with opportunities to learn science through a series of outdoor activities during their regular science classes. The article reports on an evaluation of the Kids in the Woods program. We surveyed parents/guardians of students participating in the program to examine the impacts of the program and to better understand parent/guardian perceptions of the program and of outdoor learning in general. Results indicate that parents/guardians observed positive changes in their children and had largely positive perceptions of outdoor learning and the Kids in the Woods program. Lessons learned and recommendations for using parent surveys as a tool in program evaluation are discussed.

As part of the outcome of a research paper called associative management between SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in the field of industry and forestry-related activities in the Province of Misiones, this study is carried out. It analyzes the discourses of entrepreneurs of a group of SMEs in the sector of the forest-industry, to verify the existence or not of resilient behaviors and identify the characteristics of these behaviors or styles of fighting adversity by themselves. One describes the contextual hardships which they go through and detect the resilience factors as actions carried out in the different situations.

The production of photosynthetic biofuels using microalgae is a promising strategy to combat the use of non-renewable energy sources. The microalgae residual biomass is a waste by-product of biofuel production; however, it could prove to have utility in the development of sustainable nutraceuticals and functional foods. In this study, a comprehensive characterisation of the under-utilised Phaeodactylum tricornutum microalgae residual biomass is presented. Proximal composition, antioxidant capacity (using three different antioxidant assays; oxygen radical absorbance capacity; radical cation activity, ABTS; and radical scavenging activity, DPPH), and total phenolic content of free and bound polyphenols were determined. Additionally, the physicochemical properties of water activity, pH, water absorption index, water solubility index, and dispersibility were evaluated. Results revealed that P. tricornutum microalgae residual biomass exhibits a relatively high protein and carbohydrate content, with values of 36.67% and 46.78%, respectively; and most carbohydrates were found as total dietary fibre (45.57%), of which insoluble dietary fibre was the most predominant (43.54%). Antioxidant capacity values for total phytochemicals of 106.22, 67.93, 9.54 µM TE g−1 dw were determined by oxygen radical absorbance capacity, ABTS, and DPPH assays, respectively. Total phenolic content was found to be 2.90 mg GAE g−1 dw. Interestingly, antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content were higher in bound than in free phytochemical extracts. The physicochemical analysis showed P. tricornutum microalgae residual biomass to have suitable properties for the generation of a beverage with Aw, pH, water absorption index, water solubility index, and dispersibility values of 0.45, 7.12, 3.40 g gel g−1 dw, 2.5 g solids 100 g−1 dw, and 90%, respectively. Hence, P. tricornutum microalgae residual biomass could be considered a potential source of bioactive compounds suitable for the production of functional food exhibiting antioxidant capacity and high dietary fibre content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper presents a review about the construct of Workplace Incivility .The origin of this construct, its de.nitions, concepts and differences with other counterproductive work behavior constructs are analyzed, as well as the process of its escalation in the form of a spiral that can be transformed into other forms of job con.ict such as mobbing. This article, also examines the personal and organizational characteristics that foment Workplace Incivility, the organizational strategies for preventing it and the instruments and studies related to the topic that have been developed up to the present. Finally, this review describes the impact that this new construct is having on the person’s and the organizational well-being as a new factor of job distress

The article offers suggestions to assists organizations in developing successful partnerships with Cooperative Extension for conducting technology transfer based on the experience of working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The partnership involves joint staffing, and funding for technology transfer and research projects. The article highlights the significance of communication and planning.

The article presents a study on the effect of the natural zeolite from the Tasajeras deposit in Cuba on the control of diarrhea provoked by bacteria Escherichia coli. Recently weaned pigs from the commercial crossbreeding L35 x YL with ages between 45 and 55 d and 35 approximately 8 kg of weight were selected according to a completely randomized design. Findings showed the total efficiency of the treatments with erythromycin and natural zeolite, but not with gentamicyne.

Caspases are crucial mediators of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Apoptosis can occur in spermatozoa during spermatogenesis or epididymal transit, as well as in ejaculated spermatozoa. A high proportion of apoptotic sperm would be a poor indicator of the freezability of a raw seminal sample. Alpaca spermatozoa are notoriously difficult to freeze successfully. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to study caspase activation during incubation (37°C) of fresh alpaca spermatozoa, as well as before and after cryopreservation, to gain some insight into the mechanisms behind the vulnerability of alpaca spermatozoa. Eleven sperm samples were incubated for 4 h at 37°C (Study 1), and 23 samples were frozen using an automated system (Study 2). Caspase-3/7 activation was assessed at 0,1,2,3, and 4 h in samples incubated at 37°C (Study 1); and before/after cryopreservation (Study 2) using CellEvent™ Caspase 3/7 Green Detection Reagent and flow cytometry. The proportions of alpaca spermatozoa with caspase-3/7 activated increased (p < 0.05) after 3-4 h of incubation at 37°C; however, caspase activation was similar before and after cryopreservation (36.2 ± 11.2% vs. 36.6 ± 33.7%, p > 0.05). The high standard deviation found after freezing could be explained by the existence of two subpopulations: one subpopulation where caspase-3/7 activation decreased during cryopreservation (from 36.6 ± 9.1% to 1.5 ± 2.2%), and the other subpopulation where caspase-3/7 activation increased after cryopreservation (from 37.7 ± 13.0% to 64.3 ± 16.7%). In conclusion, after 3-4 h of incubation, caspase-3/7 activation increased in fresh alpaca sperm, whereas cryopreservation affects alpaca sperm samples in different ways., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The complexity of intimate partner violence and the impossibility of understanding it from single factors have been studied from different biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 187 men involved in legal proceedings for problems of violence in their intimate partner relationships in the Dominican Republic in order to explore whether insecure attachment represents a risk factor for alexithymia in men with violent behaviors. The attachment style was determinate by the Casullo and Fernández-Liporace Attachment Styles Scale, and alexithymia was assayed using the Latin American Consensual Toronto Alexithymia Scale (LAC TAS-20), a modification of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Chi-square test and multiple binary logistic regression analysis were performed to explore the phenomena of alexithymia and attachment styles in the context of a confinement center for male intimate partner offenders in the Dominican Republic. The results showed that insecure attachment represents a risk factor for alexithymia, being highest for avoidant attachment in the population studied. The results also highlight the influence of other factors such as education and maternal-familial relationships as a factor risk for alexithymia.

Background and Aims: Oxidative stress (OS) induces the production of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Previous data have revealed that FGF21 protects cells from OS injury and death, making it a potential therapeutic option for many diseases with increased OS. However, the association of this growth factor with OS markers in humans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unknown. This study aims to evaluate the association of serum FGF21 with serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and oxidized low-density lipoproteins (OxLDL) in subjects in different stages of kidney disease., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included 382 subjects with different stages of CKD, irrespective of type 2 diabetes (T2D) diagnosis. Associations of serum FGF21 with OxLDL, TAC, sex, age, body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma glucose, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), T2D, and smoking, were evaluated through bivariate and partial correlation analyses. Independent associations of these variables with serum FGF21 were evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis., Results: Serum FGF21 was significantly and positively correlated with age ( r  = 0.236), TAC (lnTAC) ( r  = 0.217), and negatively correlated with eGFR ( r  = -0.429) and male sex ( r  = -0.102). After controlling by age, sex, BMI, T2D, smoking, and eGFR; both TAC and OxLDL were positively correlated with FGF21 ( r  = 0.117 and 0.158 respectively, p  < 0.05). Using multiple linear regression analysis, eGFR, male sex, T2D, OxLDL, and TAC were independently associated with serum FGF21 (STDβ = -0.475, 0.162, -0.153, 0.142 and 0.136 respectively; p  < 0.05 for all) adjusted for age, BMI, smoking, and fasting plasma glucose., Conclusion: A positive association between serum FGF21 and OS has been found independently of renal function in humans. Results from the present study provide novel information for deeper understanding of the role of FGF21 in OS in humans with CKD and T2D; mechanistic studies to explain the association of serum FGF21 with oxidative stress in CKD are needed., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), 2021.)

Improvement in pancreatic cancer treatment represents an urgent medical goal that has been hampered by the lack of predictive biomarkers. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) may be able to overcome this issue by allowing the monitoring of therapeutic response and tumor aggressiveness through ex vivo expansion. The successful expansion of CTCs is challenging, due to their low numbers in blood and the high abundance of blood cells. Here, we explored the utility of pancreatic CTC cultures as a preclinical model for treatment response. CTCs were isolated from ten patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer using the Labyrinth, a biomarker independent, size based, inertial microfluidic separation device. Three patient-derived CTC samples were successfully expanded in adherent and spheroid cultures. Molecular and functional characterization was performed on the expanded CTC lines. CTC lines exhibited KRAS mutations, consistent with pancreatic cancers. Additionally, we evaluated take rate and metastatic potential in vivo and examined the utility of CTC lines for cytotoxicity assays. Patient derived expanded CTCs successfully generated patient derived xenograft (PDX) models with a 100% take rate. Our results demonstrate that CTC cultures are possible and provide a valuable resource for translational pancreatic cancer research, while also providing meaningful insight into the development of distant metastasis, as well as treatment resistance.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus has become one of the most important public health concerns worldwide. Due to its high prevalence and morbidity, there is an avid necessity to find new therapies that slow the progression and promote the regression of the disease. Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that binds to the Abelson tyrosine kinase and related proteins. It enhances β-cell survival in response to toxins and pro-inflammatory cytokine. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of imatinib on fasting plasma glucose in subjects with normal fasting glucose, subjects with impaired fasting glucose and in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus., Methods: We identified 284 subjects diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia or gastrointestinal stromal tumors from the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran database. 106/284 subjects were treated with imatinib. We compared the effect of imatinib on fasting plasma glucose after 1 and 6 months of treatment. We used ANOVA test of repeated samples to determine statistical significance in fasting plasma glucose before imatinib treatment and the follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences v22., Results: We included a total of 106 subjects: 76 with fasting plasma glucose concentrations < 100 mg/dL (normal FG), 19 subjects with fasting plasma glucose concentrations ≥100 mg/dL (impaired fasting glucose), and 11 subjects with ≥126 mg/dL (type 2 diabetes mellitus). We found a significant increase in fasting plasma glucose concentration in the normal fasting glucose group (p = 0.048), and a significant decrease in fasting plasma glucose concentration in the type 2 diabetes mellitus group (p = 0.042). In the impaired fasting glucose group, we also found a tendency towards a decrease in fasting plasma glucose (p = 0.076). We identified 11 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus, of whom, 7 (64%) had a reduction in their fasting plasma glucose concentrations after 6 months. A significant glycosylated hemoglobin reduction (p = 0.04) was observed., Conclusion: Subjects with chronic myeloid leukemia or gastrointestinal stromal tumor with type 2 diabetes mellitus had a significant reduction in fasting plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin at 1 and 6 months while using imatinib.

We present "Labyrinth," a label-free microfluidic device to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using the combination of long loops and sharp corners to focus both CTCs and white blood cells (WBCs) at a high throughput of 2.5 mL/min. The high yield (>90%) and purity (600 WBCs/mL) of Labyrinth enabled us to profile gene expression in CTCs. As proof of principle, we used previously established cancer stem cell gene signatures to profile single cells isolated from the blood of breast cancer patients. We observed heterogeneous subpopulations of CTCs expressing genes for stem cells, epithelial cells, mesenchymal cells, and cells transitioning between epithelial and mesenchymal. Labyrinth offers a cell-surface marker-independent single-cell isolation platform to study heterogeneous CTC subpopulations., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

C. acutus is cataloged in critical danger in Colombia. We studied its population at Bahia Portete, in order to survey the nesting activities and to obtain valuable information for a conservation management program. This study was undertaken with the participation of the Wayuü community using the Agreement Conservation Model, and took place during July 2007, August 2008, June and August 2009, and March to August 2010 and 2011. Sampling surveys were made by the use of transects along the coast, in order to find nests. For each nesting area found, we recorded the nests biometrics, eggs and hatchlings, fertility of the eggs and reproductive events. We explored a total of 55.12 km, and determined four nesting areas. Colonial nesting and the environmental variables were factors that affected the hatchling success. From the total of nests found, 37 % were oriented towards North, and 48 % were built next to Stenocereus griseus. Juyi island substrate was mostly constituted by sand (71.9 %, 71.44 %). The average number of eggs by nest was 28.42 ± 6.63, the largest egg diameter was 71.84 ± 3.54 mm, the average nest weight was 81.54 ± 9.99 g, and the hatchlings presented an average length of 25.47 ± 1.16 cm. For this specific site in Colombia, the reproductive period begins in March and ends in August. The few areas of nesting and the 95 % fertility suggest the performance of a conservation management program for this species at Bahía Portete.

Atlastins are large, membrane-bound GTPases that participate in the fusion of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) tubules to generate the polygonal ER network in eukaryotes. They also regulate lipid droplet size and inhibit bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, though mechanisms remain unclear. Humans have three atlastins (ATL1, ATL2, and ATL3), and ATL1 and ATL3 are mutated in autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia and hereditary sensory neuropathies. Cellular investigations of atlastin orthologs in most yeast, plants, flies and worms are facilitated by the presence of a single or predominant isoform, but loss-of-function studies in mammalian cells are complicated by multiple, broadly-expressed paralogs. We have generated mouse NIH-3T3 cells lacking all three mammalian atlastins (Atl1/2/3) using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout (KO). ER morphology is markedly disrupted in these triple KO cells, with prominent impairment in formation of three-way ER tubule junctions. This phenotype can be rescued by expression of distant orthologs from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sey1p) and Arabidopsis (ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE3) as well as any one of the three human atlastins. Minimal, if any, changes are observed in the morphology of mitochondria and the Golgi apparatus. Alterations in BMP signaling and increased sensitivity to ER stress are also noted, though effects appear more modest. Finally, atlastins appear required for the proper differentiation of NIH-3T3 cells into an adipocyte-like phenotype. These findings have important implications for the pathogenesis of hereditary spastic paraplegias and sensory neuropathies associated with atlastin mutations., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The study of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been made possible by many technological advances in their isolation. Their isolation has seen many fronts, but each technology brings forth a new set of challenges to overcome. Microfluidics has been a key player in the capture of CTCs and their downstream analysis, with the aim of shedding light into their clinical application in cancer and metastasis. Researchers have taken diverging paths to isolate such cells from blood, ranging from affinity-based isolation targeting surface antigens expressed on CTCs, to label-free isolation taking advantage of the size differences between CTCs and other blood cells. For both major groups, many microfluidic technologies have reported high sensitivity and specificity for capturing CTCs. However, the question remains as to the superiority among these two isolation techniques, specifically to identify different CTC populations. This review highlights the key aspects of affinity and label-free microfluidic CTC technologies, and discusses which of these two would be the highest benefactor for the study of CTCs., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Heterotetrameric adaptor protein complexes are important mediators of cargo protein sorting in clathrin-coated vesicles. The cell type-specific expression of alternate μ chains creates distinct forms of AP-1 with altered cargo sorting, but how these subunits confer differential function is unclear. Whereas some studies suggest the μ subunits specify localization to different cellular compartments, others find that the two forms of AP-1 are present in the same vesicle but recognize different cargo. Yeast have two forms of AP-1, which differ only in the μ chain. Here we show that the variant μ chain Apm2 confers distinct cargo-sorting functions. Loss of Apm2, but not of Apm1, increases cell surface levels of the v-SNARE Snc1. However, Apm2 is unable to replace Apm1 in sorting Chs3, which requires a dileucine motif recognized by the γ/σ subunits common to both complexes. Apm2 and Apm1 colocalize at Golgi/early endosomes, suggesting that they do not associate with distinct compartments. We identified a novel, conserved regulatory protein that is required for Apm2-dependent sorting events. Mil1 is a predicted lipase that binds Apm2 but not Apm1 and contributes to its membrane recruitment. Interactions with specific regulatory factors may provide a general mechanism to diversify the functional repertoire of clathrin adaptor complexes., (© 2016 Whitfield et al. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).)

Krukenberg tumor is a malignancy in the ovary from a primary lesion in the gastrointestinal tract and a metastatic signet ring cell adenocarcinoma to the ovary. Stomach is the most common primary site, but other organs can serve as a primary site. The lymphatic system is the most likely route for metastasis. CA 125 levels can be used for screening for early detection of ovarian metastasis as well as for monitoring the course of disease. The prognosis of Krukenberg tumor is poor and no curative treatment is currently available.

Introduction and Objectives: Minimising false positives rates is an important goal of universal newborn hearing screening programmes. An adequate way for reaching that goal could be differentiating between transient conductive hearing losses (false positives) and permanent sensorineural hearing impairments (true positives) by means of a methodology that studies electrophysiological responses obtained using both air- and bone-conduction stimuli. Our objective was to evaluate the efficiency of an automated hearing screening test based on auditory steady state responses obtained using simultaneous air- and bone-conduction stimuli., Methods: A sample of 80 high risk babies lees than 2 months of born were screened using the automatic screening test. A confirmatory clinical and electrophysiological evaluation was used as the gold standard., Results: The estimated diagnostic efficiency of this screening test was equivalent (100% sensitivity and 97.7% specificity) to the efficiency reported for otoacoustic emissions and automated auditory brainstem responses. The introduction of bone conduction in the screening reduced the false positive rate from 13.3% to 2.2%. The test duration was 5.3 (± 1.9)min. In 34% of babies only one repetition of the test was needed to raising the result., Conclusions: The screening test performed quite well in this initial clinical trial, differentiating transient conductive hearing losses from permanent neurosensory impairments and improving the diagnostic efficiency of auditory steady state responses., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.)