Analysis of human tremor in patients with Parkinson disease using entropy measures of signal complexity.

Tremor in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a fundamental feature used in the determination of disease onset and progression. Traditionally, tremor has been evaluated using frequency domain analysis. However, in many cases, this analysis did not show significant differences comparing healthy elders and individuals with PD. Given its complex nature, recently the interest in nonlinear dynamical analysis for better understanding of tremor has grown. In this paper, we examine the effect of PD on the complexity of the tremor time series of PD patients using the approximate entropy method (ApEn). Tremor was also evaluated in the frequency domain. This study involved 11 healthy and 11 PD patients. The peak frequency was similar in both groups, while the amplitude and power in the peak frequency and the total power were significantly higher in PD patients (p < 0.0001). A significant reduction (p < 0.001) in ApEn was observed in PD. ROC analysis showed that ApEn differentiated physiological tremor from tremor in PD patients with high accuracy. These results are in close agreement with pathophysiological fundamentals, and provide evidence that in PD patients the tremor pattern becomes less complex. Furthermore, our findings also suggest that ApEn has a high clinical potential in assessing PD patients.

Cysticercosis in experimentally and naturally infected pigs: parasitological and immunological diagnosis / Cisticercose em suínos infectados experimentalmente e naturalmente: diagnósticos parasitológico e imunológico

Our objective was to evaluate the diagnosis of swine cysticercosis by examining "ante mortem" (inspection of the tongue), "post mortem" (inspection and detailed necropsy) and ELISA for research in serum of antibodies (Ab-ELISA) and antigens (Ag-ELISA). Seven (7) pigs were experimentally infected orally with eggs of Taenia solium and another 10 were naturally infected. In the pigs experimentally infected, inspection of the tongue was negative in all animals, in the routine inspection detailed necropsy and cysticercis were identified in all of them. In pigs with heavy natural infection, inspection of the tongue identified cysticerci in two (20%), while at inspection with necropsy the parasites were identified in large quantities in all animals. In ELISA for antibody search (Ab-ELISA) TS-14 recombinant protein was used, and in search for antigen (Ag-ELISA) a monoclonal antibody against this protein. In animals experimentally infected, blood was collected weekly for 140 days. The Ab-ELISA identified an increase in titers of antibody to cysticerci 21 days after infection, and at the end of the experimental period six animals (86%) were positive to the test. The search for circulating antigens (Ag-ELISA) was positive in two pigs 28 to 91 days after infection. All naturally infected pigs were positive for Ag-ELISA and Ab-ELISA. The search for antibodies and antigens by ELISA in serum from 30 pigs of a local farm and without history of cysticercosis was negative. Thus, the use of TS-14 antigen in ELISA test (Ab-ELISA) can be useful for the diagnosis of cysticercosis in pigs with low infection.

Nosso objetivo foi avaliar o diagnóstico de cisticercose suína através do exame "ante mortem" (inspeção da língua), "post mortem" (inspeção e necropsia detalhada) e teste de ELISA para a pesquisa no soro de anticorpos (Ab-ELISA) e antígenos (Ag -ELISA). Sete (7) suínos foram infectados experimentalmente por via oral com ovos de Taenia solium e outros 10 eram portadores de infecção natural generalizada. Nos suínos experimentalmente infectados, a inspeção da língua foi negativa em todos os animais, na inspeção 4 (57%) estavam infectados, a necropsia detalhada identificou cisticercos em todos os animais. Nos animais com infecção natural generalizada, a inspeção da língua identificou cisticercos em 2 (20%), enquanto que a inspeção e a necropsia os parasitas foram identificados em grande quantidade em todos os animais. No teste de ELISA para a pesquisa de anticorpos (Ab-ELISA) foi utilizada a proteína recombinante TS-14 e para a pesquisa de antígenos (Ag-ELISA) um anticorpo monoclonal produzido contra esta proteína. Nos animais experimentalmente infectados o sangue foi coletado semanalmente por um período de 140 dias. O Ab-ELISA identificou um aumento nos títulos de anticorpos para cisticercos 21 dias após a infecção, sendo que no final do período experimental 6 animais (86%) foram positivos ao teste. A pesquisa de antígenos circulantes (Ag-ELISA), foi positiva em 2 animais, entre os dias 21 e 91 após a infecção . Todos os suínos com infecção natural generalizada foram positivos para Ag-ELISA e Ab-ELISA.A pesquisa de anticorpos e antígenos pelo ELISA realizada no soro de 30 suínos procedentes de uma criação local sem historia de cisticercose foi negativa. Assim o uso do antígeno TS-14 (Ac-ELISA), pode ser útil para o diagnóstico da cisticercose em suínos com baixa infecção.

Evaluation of monocot and eudicot divergence using the sugarcane transcriptome.

Over 40,000 sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) consensus sequences assembled from 237,954 expressed sequence tags were compared with the protein and DNA sequences from other angiosperms, including the genomes of Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa). Approximately two-thirds of the sugarcane transcriptome have similar sequences in Arabidopsis. These sequences may represent a core set of proteins or protein domains that are conserved among monocots and eudicots and probably encode for essential angiosperm functions. The remaining sequences represent putative monocot-specific genetic material, one-half of which were found only in sugarcane. These monocot-specific cDNAs represent either novelties or, in many cases, fast-evolving sequences that diverged substantially from their eudicot homologs. The wide comparative genome analysis presented here provides information on the evolutionary changes that underlie the divergence of monocots and eudicots. Our comparative analysis also led to the identification of several not yet annotated putative genes and possible gene loss events in Arabidopsis.

Composiçäo primária dos polissacarídeos de Microcystis aeruginosa kutz: emend; Elenkin (Cyanophyceae) / Primary composition of the polysaccharides of Microcystis aeruginosa kutz: emend; Elenkin (Cyanophyceae)

A Microcystis aeruginosa é uma cianofícea característica de ambientes continentais eutrofizados, onde frequentemente constitui floraçöes responsáveis pela liberaçäo de endotoxinas que podem ser nocivas para o homem e para organismos aquáticos. Os polissacarídeos produzidos por essa alga, cuja composiçäo primária, determinada através de cromatografia gasosa, revela a presença de monômetros facilmente metabolizáveis por açäo bacteriana, juntamente com dados sobre a composiçäo química das células, em termos de conteúdo proteico e de carboidratos, sugerem que a cianofícea em questäo possa ser utilizada como fonte indireta de energia pelas espécies zooplanctônicas resistentes à toxicidade algal