Are dairy cows with a more reactive temperament less efficient in energetic metabolism and do they produce more enteric methane?

It remains unknown whether dairy cows with more reactive temperament produce more enteric methane (CH4) and are less bioenergetically efficient than the calmer ones. The objectives of this study were (a) to evaluate the relationship between cattle temperament assessed by traditionally used tests with energetic metabolism and enteric CH4 emissions by crossbred dairy cows; (b) to assess how cows' restlessness in respiration chambers affects energetic metabolism and enteric CH4 emissions. Temperament indicators were evaluated for 28 primiparous F1 Holstein-Gyr cows tested singly in the handling corral (entrance time, crush score, flight speed, and flight distance) and during milking (steps, kicks, defecation, rumination, and kick the milking cluster off). Cows' behaviors within respiration chambers were also recorded for each individual kept singly. Digestibility and calorimetry trials were performed to obtain energy partitioning and CH4 measures. Cows with more reactive temperament in milking (the ones that kicked the milking cluster off more frequently) spent 25.24% less net energy on lactation (P = 0.04) and emitted 36.77% more enteric CH4/kg of milk (P = 0.03). Furthermore, cows that showed a higher frequency of rumination at milking parlor allocated 57.93% more net energy for milk production (P < 0.01), spent 50.00% more metabolizable energy for milk production (P < 0.01) and 37.10% less CH4/kg of milk (P = 0.04). Regarding the handling temperament, most reactive cows according to flight speed, lost 29.16% less energy as urine (P = 0.05) and tended to have 14.30% more enteric CH4 production (P = 0.08), as well as cows with a lower entrance time (most reactive) that also lost 13.29% more energy as enteric CH4 (P = 0.04). Temperament and restless behavior of Holstein-Gyr cows were related to metabolic efficiency and enteric CH4 emissions. Cows' reactivity and rumination in the milking parlor, in addition to flight speed and entrance time in the squeeze chute during handling in the corral, could be useful measures to predict animals more prone to metabolic inefficiency, which could negatively affect the sustainability of dairy systems.

A new species of Enderleina Jewett (Plecoptera, Perlidae) from Amazonas State, Brazil.

Enderleina Jewett, 1960 is one of the least-known Perlidae genera in northern South America, including six species. During an aquatic insect survey of the northern portion of Amazonas State, Brazil, we collected a male Enderleina with a distinct pronotum pattern and genitalic morphology. The objectives of this study are to describe a new species of Enderleina based on male morphology. The new species can be distinguished from all other Enderleina species in the male by the presence of a paired thin dark band on the mesal region of pronotum and by the structure of the penial armature.

Strong association of HLA class II sequences in Mexicans with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada's disease.

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada's syndrome (VKH) is an autoimmune disease prevalent in Mongoloids with evident participation of HLA. The aim of this study was to identify the class II DNA sequences involved in the etiopathogenesis of VKH in Mexican Mestizos. This study included 46 VKH patients and 170 controls. 75% were females (mean age at onset of 33.5 years). The disease evolved to chronicity (68%) and 25% of the patients were unresponsive to corticotherapy. DNA typing of HLA-DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 was done following the 12th International Histocompatibility protocols. VKH was strongly dependent of DRB1 gene; DRB1*04 was found in 78.2% of the patients vs. 50.6% of the controls (p = 0.001). No particular DRB*04 subtype was significantly increased, suggesting that residues E-9 V-11; H-13; H-33 and Y-37 shared by all DR4s are implicated in susceptibility to VKH. However DRB1*0101 (p = 0.009, OR = 4.2) was clearly associated. This allele shares the motif LLEQRRAAG located at position 67-74 and 86 of DRB1 with *0405 associated in Japanese. Two HLA associated mechanisms may be triggering the autoimmune phenomena. One involving critical polymorphic residues expressed in different alleles. Secondly, some peptides may anchor to the conserved residues leaving other sequences to bind to the T cell receptor.

Aging on the input versus output side: theoretical implications of age-linked asymmetries between detecting versus retrieving orthographic information.

This experiment tested for age-linked asymmetries predicted under Node Structure theory (NST; D. G. MacKay & D. M. Burke, 1990) between detecting versus retrieving orthographic information. Older adults detected that briefly presented words were correctly spelled (e.g., endeavor) or misspelled (e.g., endeavuor) as readily as did young adults. However, they were less able than young adults to retrieve the correctly and incorrectly spelled words that they had seen. These age-linked asymmetries were not due to educational factors, stimulus characteristics, sensory-level factors, task complexity, floor or ceiling effects, general slowing, or cohort-related activities, but they were consistent with NST predictions and with similar asymmetries in a wide range of other studies. By contrast, repetition deficits in detecting and retrieving repeated- versus unrepeated-letter misspellings (e.g., elderdly vs. elderkly) were symmetrical or equivalent in magnitude for young and older adults. Implications for a wide range of theories of cognitive aging and of repetition deficits are discussed.

[Operationalizing the categories access and decentralization in health systems analysis]. / Operacionalizando as categorias acesso e descentralização na análise de sistemas de saúde.

This paper presents a proposal for operationalization of access and decentralization in a health systems analytical model. It supports the hypothesis that decentralization of health systems fosters better access by users. This proposal is intended to contribute to a closer link between these categories and observed reality.

[Challenges for developing a comparative analytical model for health services]. / Desafios na construção de um modelo para naálise comparada da organização de serviços de saúde.

This paper presents different models that describe health determinants, services, and systems. It highlights the important model developed by Contandriopoulos, proposing a separation between the health status and health care circuits. The article is intended as a contribution to the field of comparative analysis with a new theoretical, methodological, and evaluative approach. Problems were identified in the development of a new model. Decentralization and access are introduced as categories, suggesting that they may take part in such new model.

Estado del Arte de la Evaluación de Tecnologías en Salud en América Latina / State of the Art of the Evaluation of Health Technologies in Latin America

Resumen El surgimiento y desarrollo de las tecnologías en salud ha hecho que se intensifique el papel de su evaluación en los últimos años, provocando un interés creciente en la Evaluación de Tecnologías en Salud (ETES) en América Latina, a través de intentos por proporcionar información útil al tomador de decisiones. Este artículo presenta una revisión del estado del arte de ETES en Latinoamérica, a partir del análisis de publicaciones en revistas y eventos especializados. Se abordaron tres aspectos: elementos de evaluación, métodos que se aplican y políticas resultantes. Se encontraron los siguientes aspectos de evaluación: seguridad, eficacia, efectividad y eficiencia, económico-financieros, clínicos y técnicos, estos últimos con mayor desarrollo. Con respecto a los métodos, se encontraron propuestas de estrategias empíricas para el análisis de la información y la toma de decisiones. La generación de políticas públicas relacionadas con la ETES en América Latina es incipiente, apenas se están identificando las problemáticas nacionales y las estrategias a seguir para su solución. Por lo tanto, se aprecia una necesidad de seguir trabajando en el desarrollo de políticas, estrategias y métodos de ETES en la región Latinoamericana que permitan responder a las problemáticas en salud de la población de cada país.

Abstract The emergence and development of health technologies have intensified the role of their evaluation in recent years, causing a growing interest in the Evaluation of Health Technologies (ETES) in Latin America, through attempts to provide useful information to the decision-maker. This article presents a review of the state of the art of ETES in Latin America, from the analysis of publications in journals and specific events. Three aspects were addressed: evaluation elements, methods that are applied, and resulting policies. The following evaluation aspects were found: safety, efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency, economic-financial, clinical and technical, the latter with more significant development. Concerning the methods, proposals for empirical strategies for the analysis of information and decision making were found. The generation of public policies related to the HTA in Latin America is under development, national problems are hardly being identified, and the strategies to be followed for their solution. Therefore, there is a need to continue working on the development of policies, and methods of HTA in the Latin American region that allow responding to the health problems of the population of each country.

[Cholangiocarcinoma]. / Colangiocarcinoma.

The cholangiocarcinoma is a low-prevalence neoplasia, but represents a great medical challenge in its diagnosis and treatment because of its insidious clinical manifestations. Its cellular origin has been associated to other hepatic tumors, and to multiple congenital or acquired factors (infections, drugs and other diseases). The most frequent histological type is the adenocarcinoma and the most common localization is the choledochal duct; local metastases are frequently found in autopsies. The usual clinical findings are pruritus, weight loss, anorexia, jaundice and hepatomegaly. The immunohistochemical advances related to oncogenes (ras & C-erb B-1) and tumor markers (Epidermal Growth Factor and Integrin among others) allow to make differential diagnosis with other hepatic cancers and will provide valuable information about its cell biology. The initial approach to patients with this disease is made by ultrasound (US), which can be associate to Doppler; Computed Axial Tomography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance have similar sensitivity and specificity, so they are preferred to US in the elderly with history of weight loss. It's better to perform Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangiography than Endoscopic Retrogrado Pancreatocholangiography when its possible because the first permits a comprehensive visualization of the biliary tree. The treatment includes resection and endoprosthesis placement. The combination of surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy allows to achieve the best survival rates, and opens a door to new strategies related to this malignancy.

[Effect of streptococcal products in the induction of antibodies against cardiac sarcolemma]. / Efecto de productos estreptococcicos en la inducción de anticuerpos contra sarcolema cardíaco.

It has been pointed out in rheumatic fever that the extracellular products of streptococcus (EPS) induce an immune response capable of producing autoimmunity against cardiac structures. In an experimental model in rats, the possibility that EPS facilitates the production of antisarcolemma antibodies was analyzed by injecting the animals with EPS, or simultaneously with EPS and human heart sarcolemma (HHS). The rat sera was analyzed by microdouble immunodiffusion against EPS, HHS or a mixture of both, the rats immunized with HHS or with EPS and HHS produced anti-HHS antibodies. The average of precipitation bands increased with the number of immunizations. Under the experimental conditions used, the humoral immune response against HHS was not modified by EPS and also EPS alone did not induce antibodies against sarcolemma. The synthesis of antibodies to EPS was very low or Null. The antiestreptolysin-O levels were low during the immunization period. A minimal inspecific myocarditis with lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate was induced. The humoral immune response against cardiac sarcolemma and against the extracellular products of streptococcus was similar in the groups of rats studied, independently of sex, weight, age, dose, inoculation method or immunization time in accordance with schemes used in this work.

Cross-language facilitation, semantic blindness, and the relation between language and memory: a reply to Altarriba and Soltano.

This comment corrects some inaccuracies, points to some methodological problems, and makes three substantive observations regarding the Altarriba and Soltano (1996) article. First, token individuation theory does not explain what is new and interesting in the Altarriba and Soltano data, namely cross-language semantic facilitation in lists and a list-sentence effect, that is, a large difference in the effect of semantic repetition when identical translation equivalents occurred in sentences versus lists. Second, Altarriba and Soltano's small and nonsignificant semantic blindness effect for translation equivalents in split-language sentences is attributable to the peculiar nature of their materials, procedures, analyses, and experimental design. These problems nullify their conclusion that semantic blindness does not occur, and we discuss several clear cases where semantic blindness has been demonstrated. Finally, we suggest an explanation for Altarriba and Soltano's unexplained effects (cross-language facilitation and the list-sentence effect) and show why these effects are important for the general issue of relations between language and memory.