Cardiopulmonary assessment of patients with systemic sclerosis for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: recommendations from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Autoimmune Diseases Working Party and collaborating partners.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare disabling autoimmune disease with a similar mortality to many cancers. Two randomized controlled trials of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) for SSc have shown significant improvement in organ function, quality of life and long-term survival compared to standard therapy. However, transplant-related mortality (TRM) ranged from 3-10% in patients undergoing HSCT. In SSc, the main cause of non-transplant and TRM is cardiac related. We therefore updated the previously published guidelines for cardiac evaluation, which should be performed in dedicated centers with expertize in HSCT for SSc. The current recommendations are based on pre-transplant cardiopulmonary evaluations combining pulmonary function tests, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and invasive hemodynamic testing, initiated at Northwestern University (Chicago) and subsequently discussed and endorsed within the EBMT ADWP in 2016.

Quantitative assessment of the interplay between DNA elasticity and cooperative binding of ligands.

Binding of ligands to DNA can be studied by measuring the change of the persistence length of the complex formed, in single-molecule assays. We propose a methodology for persistence length data analysis based on a quenched disorder statistical model and describing the binding isotherm by a Hill-type equation. We obtain an expression for the effective persistence length as a function of the total ligand concentration, which we apply to our data of the DNA-cationic ß-cyclodextrin and to the DNA-HU protein data available in the literature, determining the values of the local persistence lengths, the dissociation constant, and the degree of cooperativity for each set of data. In both cases the persistence length behaves nonmonotonically as a function of ligand concentration and based on the results obtained we discuss some physical aspects of the interplay between DNA elasticity and cooperative binding of ligands.

Desempenho, características de carcaça e viabilidade econômica de coelhos sexados abatidos em diferentes idades / Performance, carcass characteristics and economic viability of sexed rabbits slaughtered at different ages

Avaliaram-se o desempenho, as características de carcaça e a viabilidade econômica de coelhos sexados abatidos em diferentes idades. Foram usados 100 coelhos (50 machos e 50 fêmeas), em delineamento de blocos inteiramente ao acaso e arranjo fatorial 2×2 (dois sexos e duas idades ao abate), com quatro tratamentos e cinco repetições. Os coelhos foram desmamados aos 35 e abatidos aos 75 ou 90 dias de idade. Não houve diferença entre sexo (P>0,05) nos parâmetros avaliados. Os animais abatidos aos 90 dias (P<0,001) eram mais pesados e consumiram (diário) mais ração. Os abatidos aos 75 dias (P<0,001) ganharam mais peso (diário) e apresentaram melhor conversão alimentar. Coelhos abatidos aos 90 dias de idade tiveram maiores pesos relativos de carcaça (P<0,04), de coxa (P<0,001), de gordura interna (P<0,001) e de fígado (P<0,01) e, ainda, apresentaram maior peso final e melhores características de carcaça, cuja venda foi mais lucrativa quando realizada aos 75 dias ou quando foram abatidos aos 90 dias de idade.

Performance, carcass characteristics and economic viability of sexed rabbits slaughtered at different ages were evaluated. One-hundred rabbits (50 males and 50 females) were assigned to a completely randomized block design in a factorial arrangement of 2×2 (two sexes and two slaughter ages), with four treatments and five replicates. The rabbits weaned at 35 were slaughtered at 75 and 90 days of age. No effect of sex (P>0.05) on the evaluated parameters was observed. Animals slaughtered at 90 days were heavier(P<0.001), had a higher daily feed intake and a higher carcass weight than animals slaughtered at 75 days which showed higher daily weight gain and better feed: gain ratio. Rabbits slaughtered at 90 days of age had higher carcass weight (P<0.04), thigh (P<0.005), internal fat (P<0.001) and liver (P<0.01). They also showed better carcass characteristics. High rentability was obtained alternatively for animals sold alive at 25 days of age or slaughtered at 90 days of age.

[Work, family, and women's status: considerations on the demand for children]. / Trabalho, familia e condicao feminina: consideracoes sobre a demanda por filhos.

"This paper focuses on the changes in women's [status in Brazil] due to the transition from the regime of colonato to wage labor in Sao Paulo's agriculture. This analysis of the constraints on woman tries to uncover the different capacity of systems of labor organization to accomodate high fertility. It argues that the subordination to a pre-established [structure] makes it very difficult to combine female productive and reproductive roles." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

[Population and labor force: the case of coffee growing in the West Paulista]. / Populacao e forca de trabalho: o caso da cafeicultura no oeste paulista.

PIP: Fertility rates in Brazil have dropped at an increasingly rapid rate since 1940; this has occurred in the absence of an explicit, official policy on population control, and without a notable increase in quality of life. The context for analysis of this change in population dynamics is the colonato, the coffee plantation labor system which was prevalent in the Western portion of the state of Sao Paulo, or Paulista West unitl 1930; work organization here was based on the family as a unit of labor force. This study reconsiders the importance of the family in the labor force under the colonato, and the demographic implications of this organizational pattern. European immigrant colonists contracted with coffee growers to do subsistence farming; in exchange, they were granted land in proportion to the number of coffee trees tended. An increase in the number of family members resulted in an increase in productive capacity of the head of the family. The high fertility rate among these immigrants may have been a natural response to the existing institutional control of the labor system, high mortality rates and abundance of land; however, it may not have been a deliberate, planned response based on economic essentials. Also significant is the fact that the average family size in the Paulista West has changed little in the last 60 years. Immigrant families may have received contracts based on their favorable demographic composition rather than on their size alone. The elimination of contracted, guaranteed land-for-subsistence farming is sufficient to explain the changes in fertility patterns. Additional research is needed and should be based on empirical evidence.^ieng