Changes of antioxidant enzymes in the kidney after cardiac arrest in the rat model.

Globally, cardiac arrest (CA) is a leading cause of death and disability. Asphyxial CA (ACA)-induced kidney damage is a crucial factor in reducing the survival rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of antioxidant enzymes in histopathological renal damage in an ACA rat model at different time points. A total of 88 rats were divided into five groups and exposed to ACA except for the sham group. To evaluate glomerular function and oxidative stress, serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Crtn) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in renal tissues were measured. To determine histopathological damage, hematoxylin and eosin staining, periodic acid-Schiff staining, and Masson's trichrome staining were performed. Expression levels of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1), superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Survival rate of the experimental rats was reduced to 80% at 6 h, 55% at 12 h, 42.9% at 1 day, and 33% at 2 days after return of spontaneous circulation. Levels of BUN, Crtn, and MDA started to increase significantly in the early period of CA induction. Renal histopathological damage increased markedly from 6 h until two days post-CA. Additionally, expression levels of antioxidant enzymes were significantly decreased at 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, and 2 days after CA. CA-induced oxidative stress and decreased levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD-1, SOD-2, CAT, GPx) from 6 h to two days could be possible mediators of severe renal tissue damage and increased mortality rate.

Changes of antioxidant enzymes in the kidney after cardiac arrest in the rat model

Globally, cardiac arrest (CA) is a leading cause of death and disability. Asphyxial CA (ACA)-induced kidney damage is a crucial factor in reducing the survival rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of antioxidant enzymes in histopathological renal damage in an ACA rat model at different time points. A total of 88 rats were divided into five groups and exposed to ACA except for the sham group. To evaluate glomerular function and oxidative stress, serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Crtn) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in renal tissues were measured. To determine histopathological damage, hematoxylin and eosin staining, periodic acid-Schiff staining, and Masson's trichrome staining were performed. Expression levels of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1), superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Survival rate of the experimental rats was reduced to 80% at 6 h, 55% at 12 h, 42.9% at 1 day, and 33% at 2 days after return of spontaneous circulation. Levels of BUN, Crtn, and MDA started to increase significantly in the early period of CA induction. Renal histopathological damage increased markedly from 6 h until two days post-CA. Additionally, expression levels of antioxidant enzymes were significantly decreased at 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, and 2 days after CA. CA-induced oxidative stress and decreased levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD-1, SOD-2, CAT, GPx) from 6 h to two days could be possible mediators of severe renal tissue damage and increased mortality rate.

Covid-19 in Brazil in an era of necropolitics: resistance in the face of disaster.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a massive disaster in Brazil, causing more than 350,000 deaths as of April 2021. Moreover, President Jair Bolsonaro suggested that already marginalised groups should take what came to them, as if they were an expendable surplus in his necropolitical perspective. However, civil society initiatives are emerging to tackle the impacts of this crisis. This paper adds to current literature on the forms and levels of resistance to disasters, using primary and secondary data pertaining to three key Brazilian groups: domestic workers; the urban poor in favelas; and indigenous Amazonians. The analysis indicates that their historical, political resistance has been a foundation upon which to develop disaster mitigation and their actions have built on and gone beyond previous modes of organising. More specifically, their responses have replaced a 'present-absent' federal government, entailed local, innovative adaptations, led to new public-private sector relations, and may offer the prospect of consolidation.

Signal Transmission in Escherichia coli Cyclic AMP Receptor Protein for Survival in Extreme Acidic Conditions.

During the life cycle of enteric bacterium Escherichia coli, it encounters a wide spectrum of pH changes. The asymmetric dimer of the cAMP receptor protein, CRP, plays a key role in regulating the expressions of genes and the survival of E. coli. To elucidate the pH effects on the mechanism of signal transmission, we present a combination of results derived from ITC, crystallography, and computation. CRP responds to a pH change by inducing a differential effect on the affinity for the binding events to the two cAMP molecules, ensuing in a reversible conversion between positive and negative cooperativity at high and low pH, respectively. The structures of four crystals at pH ranging from 7.8 to 6.5 show that CRP responds by inducing a differential effect on the structures of the two subunits, particularly in the DNA binding domain. Employing the COREX/BEST algorithm, computational analysis shows the change in the stability of residues at each pH. The change in residue stability alters the connectivity between residues including those in cAMP and DNA binding sites. Consequently, the differential impact on the topology of the connectivity surface among residues in adjacent subunits is the main reason for differential change in affinity; that is, the pH-induced differential change in residue stability is the biothermodynamic basis for the change in allosteric behavior. Furthermore, the structural asymmetry of this homodimer amplifies the differential impact of any perturbations. Hence, these results demonstrate that the combination of these approaches can provide insights into the underlying mechanism of an apparent complex allostery signal and transmission in CRP.

High stretch induces endothelial dysfunction accompanied by oxidative stress and actin remodeling in human saphenous vein endothelial cells.

The rate of the remodeling of the arterialized saphenous vein conduit limits the outcomes of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), which may be influenced by endothelial dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that high stretch (HS) induces human saphenous vein endothelial cell (hSVEC) dysfunction and examined candidate underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that in vitro HS reduces NO bioavailability, increases inflammatory adhesion molecule expression (E-selectin and VCAM1) and THP-1 cell adhesion. HS decreases F-actin in hSVECs, but not in human arterial endothelial cells, and is accompanied by G-actin and cofilin's nuclear shuttling and increased reactive oxidative species (ROS). Pre-treatment with the broad-acting antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supported this observation and diminished stretch-induced actin remodeling and inflammatory adhesive molecule expression. Altogether, we provide evidence that increased oxidative stress and actin cytoskeleton remodeling play a role in HS-induced saphenous vein endothelial cell dysfunction, which may contribute to predisposing saphenous vein graft to failure.

Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems.

Fine roots constitute a significant component of the net primary productivity (NPP) of forest ecosystems but are much less studied than aboveground NPP. Comparisons across sites and regions are also hampered by inconsistent methodologies, especially in tropical areas. Here, we present a novel dataset of fine root biomass, productivity, residence time, and allocation in tropical old-growth rainforest sites worldwide, measured using consistent methods, and examine how these variables are related to consistently determined soil and climatic characteristics. Our pantropical dataset spans intensive monitoring plots in lowland (wet, semi-deciduous, and deciduous) and montane tropical forests in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia (n = 47). Large spatial variation in fine root dynamics was observed across montane and lowland forest types. In lowland forests, we found a strong positive linear relationship between fine root productivity and sand content, this relationship was even stronger when we considered the fractional allocation of total NPP to fine roots, demonstrating that understanding allocation adds explanatory power to understanding fine root productivity and total NPP. Fine root residence time was a function of multiple factors: soil sand content, soil pH, and maximum water deficit, with longest residence times in acidic, sandy, and water-stressed soils. In tropical montane forests, on the other hand, a different set of relationships prevailed, highlighting the very different nature of montane and lowland forest biomes. Root productivity was a strong positive linear function of mean annual temperature, root residence time was a strong positive function of soil nitrogen content in montane forests, and lastly decreasing soil P content increased allocation of productivity to fine roots. In contrast to the lowlands, environmental conditions were a better predictor for fine root productivity than for fractional allocation of total NPP to fine roots, suggesting that root productivity is a particularly strong driver of NPP allocation in tropical mountain regions.

Folliculogenesis-related genes are differently expressed in secondary and tertiary ovarian follicles.

The relative mRNA abundance of 10 genes associated with folliculogenesis was compared between late preantral (secondary) and early antral (tertiary) ovarian follicles in goats. In total, 100 follicles in each category were mechanically isolated. The relative transcript abundance of the mRNAs were determined by qPCR. Data were analyzed using unpaired Student's t-test. Of the 10 tested genes, ABLIM mRNA was not detected in either follicle category, six genes (SLIT3, TYMS, GTPBP1, AKR1C4, PIK3R6, and MAOB) were upregulated in secondary follicles compared with tertiary follicles, and three genes (ARHGEF12, CLEC6A, and CYTL1) showed similar mRNA abundances in both secondary and tertiary follicles. In conclusion, SLIT3, GTPBP1, AKR1C4, and PIK3R6 mRNA abundance was upregulated in secondary follicles (preantral phase) compared with in tertiary follicles (antral phase) in goats.

Examining Neanderthal and carnivore occupations of Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain) using archaeostratigraphic and intra-site spatial analysis.

Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain) is a reference site for Middle Palaeolithic studies of the Iberian Peninsula. The cave preserves an extensive stratigraphic sequence made up of eight units, which is presented in depth in this work. The main goal of this study is to undertake an initial spatial examination of Unit III, formed during Marine Isotope Stage 3, with the aim of understanding spatial organization and past activities developed by Neanderthals and carnivores (bears, hyenas and smaller carnivores). The total sample analysed includes 38,244 archaeological items and 5888 limestone blocks. The application of GIS tools allows us to clearly distinguish three geologically-defined stratigraphic subunits. Unit III has been previously interpreted as a palimpsest resulting from alternating occupation of the cave by human groups and carnivores. The distribution study shows that faunal specimens, lithic artefacts, hearths and charcoal fragments are significantly concentrated at the entrance of the cave where, it is inferred, hominins carried out different activities, while carnivores preferred the sheltered zones in the inner areas of the cave. The results obtained reveal a spatial pattern characterized by fire use related zones, and show that the site was occupied by Neanderthals in a similar and consistent way throughout the ˃ 7000 years range covered by the analysed subunits. This spatial pattern is interpreted as resulting from repeated short-term human occupations.

Prioritizing COVID-19 tests based on participatory surveillance and spatial scanning.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify, describe and analyze priority areas for COVID-19 testing combining participatory surveillance and traditional surveillance. DESIGN: It was carried out a descriptive transversal study in the city of Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil, within the period of 20/02/2020 to 05/05/2020. Data included all official reports for influenza-like illness notified by the municipality health department and the self-reports collected through the participatory surveillance platform Brasil Sem Corona. METHODS: We used linear regression and loess regression to verify a correlation between Participatory Surveillance (PS) and Traditional Surveillance (TS). Also a spatial scanning approach was deployed in order to identify risk clusters for COVID-19. RESULTS: In Caruaru, the PS had 861 active users, presenting an average of 1.2 reports per user per week. The platform Brasil Sem Corona started on March 20th and since then, has been officially used by the Caruaru health authority to improve the quality of information from the traditional surveillance system. Regarding the respiratory syndrome cases from TS, 1588 individuals were positive for this clinical outcome. The spatial scanning analysis detected 18 clusters and 6 of them presented statistical significance (p-value < 0.1). Clusters 3 and 4 presented an overlapping area that was chosen by the local authority to deploy the COVID-19 serology, where 50 individuals were tested. From there, 32 % (n = 16) presented reagent results for antibodies related to COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Participatory surveillance is an effective epidemiological method to complement the traditional surveillance system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by adding real-time spatial data to detect priority areas for COVID-19 testing.

Competition influences tree growth, but not mortality, across environmental gradients in Amazonia and tropical Africa.

Competition among trees is an important driver of community structure and dynamics in tropical forests. Neighboring trees may impact an individual tree's growth rate and probability of mortality, but large-scale geographic and environmental variation in these competitive effects has yet to be evaluated across the tropical forest biome. We quantified effects of competition on tree-level basal area growth and mortality for trees ≥10-cm diameter across 151 ~1-ha plots in mature tropical forests in Amazonia and tropical Africa by developing nonlinear models that accounted for wood density, tree size, and neighborhood crowding. Using these models, we assessed how water availability (i.e., climatic water deficit) and soil fertility influenced the predicted plot-level strength of competition (i.e., the extent to which growth is reduced, or mortality is increased, by competition across all individual trees). On both continents, tree basal area growth decreased with wood density and increased with tree size. Growth decreased with neighborhood crowding, which suggests that competition is important. Tree mortality decreased with wood density and generally increased with tree size, but was apparently unaffected by neighborhood crowding. Across plots, variation in the plot-level strength of competition was most strongly related to plot basal area (i.e., the sum of the basal area of all trees in a plot), with greater reductions in growth occurring in forests with high basal area, but in Amazonia, the strength of competition also varied with plot-level wood density. In Amazonia, the strength of competition increased with water availability because of the greater basal area of wetter forests, but was only weakly related to soil fertility. In Africa, competition was weakly related to soil fertility and invariant across the shorter water availability gradient. Overall, our results suggest that competition influences the structure and dynamics of tropical forests primarily through effects on individual tree growth rather than mortality and that the strength of competition largely depends on environment-mediated variation in basal area.

Asynchronous carbon sink saturation in African and Amazonian tropical forests.

Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 per cent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions1-3. Climate-driven vegetation models typically predict that this tropical forest 'carbon sink' will continue for decades4,5. Here we assess trends in the carbon sink using 244 structurally intact African tropical forests spanning 11 countries, compare them with 321 published plots from Amazonia and investigate the underlying drivers of the trends. The carbon sink in live aboveground biomass in intact African tropical forests has been stable for the three decades to 2015, at 0.66 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year (95 per cent confidence interval 0.53-0.79), in contrast to the long-term decline in Amazonian forests6. Therefore the carbon sink responses of Earth's two largest expanses of tropical forest have diverged. The difference is largely driven by carbon losses from tree mortality, with no detectable multi-decadal trend in Africa and a long-term increase in Amazonia. Both continents show increasing tree growth, consistent with the expected net effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and air temperature7-9. Despite the past stability of the African carbon sink, our most intensively monitored plots suggest a post-2010 increase in carbon losses, delayed compared to Amazonia, indicating asynchronous carbon sink saturation on the two continents. A statistical model including carbon dioxide, temperature, drought and forest dynamics accounts for the observed trends and indicates a long-term future decline in the African sink, whereas the Amazonian sink continues to weaken rapidly. Overall, the uptake of carbon into Earth's intact tropical forests peaked in the 1990s. Given that the global terrestrial carbon sink is increasing in size, independent observations indicating greater recent carbon uptake into the Northern Hemisphere landmass10 reinforce our conclusion that the intact tropical forest carbon sink has already peaked. This saturation and ongoing decline of the tropical forest carbon sink has consequences for policies intended to stabilize Earth's climate.

ENSO Drives interannual variation of forest woody growth across the tropics.

Meteorological extreme events such as El Niño events are expected to affect tropical forest net primary production (NPP) and woody growth, but there has been no large-scale empirical validation of this expectation. We collected a large high-temporal resolution dataset (for 1-13 years depending upon location) of more than 172 000 stem growth measurements using dendrometer bands from across 14 regions spanning Amazonia, Africa and Borneo in order to test how much month-to-month variation in stand-level woody growth of adult tree stems (NPPstem) can be explained by seasonal variation and interannual meteorological anomalies. A key finding is that woody growth responds differently to meteorological variation between tropical forests with a dry season (where monthly rainfall is less than 100 mm), and aseasonal wet forests lacking a consistent dry season. In seasonal tropical forests, a high degree of variation in woody growth can be predicted from seasonal variation in temperature, vapour pressure deficit, in addition to anomalies of soil water deficit and shortwave radiation. The variation of aseasonal wet forest woody growth is best predicted by the anomalies of vapour pressure deficit, water deficit and shortwave radiation. In total, we predict the total live woody production of the global tropical forest biome to be 2.16 Pg C yr-1, with an interannual range 1.96-2.26 Pg C yr-1 between 1996-2016, and with the sharpest declines during the strong El Niño events of 1997/8 and 2015/6. There is high geographical variation in hotspots of El Niño-associated impacts, with weak impacts in Africa, and strongly negative impacts in parts of Southeast Asia and extensive regions across central and eastern Amazonia. Overall, there is high correlation (r = -0.75) between the annual anomaly of tropical forest woody growth and the annual mean of the El Niño 3.4 index, driven mainly by strong correlations with anomalies of soil water deficit, vapour pressure deficit and shortwave radiation.This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'.

Genome-wide association study of Stayability and Heifer Pregnancy in Red Angus cattle.

Reproductive performance is the most important component of cattle production from the standpoint of economic sustainability of commercial beef enterprises. Heifer Pregnancy (HPG) and Stayability (STAY) genetic predictions are 2 selection tools published by the Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) to assist with improvements in reproductive performance. Given the importance of HPG and STAY to the profitability of commercial beef enterprises, the objective of this study was to identify QTL associated with both HPG and STAY in Red Angus cattle. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed using deregressed HPG and STAY EBV, calculated using a single-trait animal model and a 3-generation pedigree with data from the Spring 2015 RAAA National Cattle Evaluation. Each individual animal possessed 74,659 SNP genotypes. Individual animals with a deregressed EBV reliability > 0.05 were merged with the genotype file and marker quality control was performed. Criteria for sifting genotypes consisted of removing those markers where any of the following were found: average call rate less than 0.85, minor allele frequency < 0.01, lack of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.0001), or extreme linkage disequilibrium (r2 > 0.99). These criteria resulted in 2,664 animals with 62,807 SNP available for GWAS. Association studies were performed using a Bayes Cπ model in the BOLT software package. Marker significance was calculated as the posterior probability of inclusion (PPI), or the number of instances a specific marker was sampled divided by the total number of samples retained from the Markov chain Monte Carlo chains. Nine markers, with a PPI ≥ 3% were identified as QTL associated with HPG on BTA 1, 11, 13, 23, and 29. Twelve markers, with a PPI ≥ 75% were identified as QTL associated with STAY on BTA 6, 8, 9, 12, 15, 18, 22, and 23.

Ecological assessment of the marine ecosystems of Barbuda, West Indies: Using rapid scientific assessment to inform ocean zoning and fisheries management.

To inform a community-based ocean zoning initiative, we conducted an intensive ecological assessment of the marine ecosystems of Barbuda, West Indies. We conducted 116 fish and 108 benthic surveys around the island, and measured the abundance and size structure of lobsters and conch at 52 and 35 sites, respectively. We found that both coral cover and fish biomass were similar to or lower than levels observed across the greater Caribbean; live coral cover and abundance of fishery target species, such as large snappers and groupers, was generally low. However, Barbuda lacks many of the high-relief forereef areas where similar work has been conducted in other Caribbean locations. The distribution of lobsters was patchy, making it difficult to quantify density at the island scale. However, the maximum size of lobsters was generally larger than in other locations in the Caribbean and similar to the maximum size reported 40 years ago. While the lobster population has clearly been heavily exploited, our data suggest that it is not as overexploited as in much of the rest of the Caribbean. Surveys of Barbuda's Codrington Lagoon revealed many juvenile lobsters, but none of legal size (95 mm carapace length), suggesting that the lagoon functions primarily as nursery habitat. Conch abundance and size on Barbuda were similar to that of other Caribbean islands. Our data suggest that many of the regional threats observed on other Caribbean islands are present on Barbuda, but some resources-particularly lobster and conch-may be less overexploited than on other Caribbean islands. Local management has the potential to provide sustainability for at least some of the island's marine resources. We show that a rapid, thorough ecological assessment can reveal clear conservation opportunities and facilitate rapid conservation action by providing the foundation for a community-driven policymaking process at the island scale.

Adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy in patients with microscopic residual tumor after curative resection for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: We investigated the role of adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) in patients with a microscopically positive resection margin (R1) after curative resection for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC). METHODS/PATIENTS: A total of 84 patients treated with curative resection for EHCC were included. Fifty-two patients with negative resection margins did not receive any adjuvant treatments (R0 + S group). The remaining 32 patients with microscopically positive resection margins received either adjuvant CCRT (R1 + CCRT group, n = 19) or adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) alone (R1 + RT group, n = 13). RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 26 months, the 2-year locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival rates (OS) were: 81.8, 62.6, and 61.5% for R0 + S group; 71.8, 57.8, and 57.9% for R1 + CCRT group; and 16.8, 9.6, and 15.4% for R1 + RT group, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that the R1 + CCRT group did not show any significant difference in survival rates compared with the R0 + S group. The R1 + RT group had lower LRRFS [hazard ratio (HR) 3.008; p = 0.044], DFS (HR 2.364; p = 0.022), and OS (HR 2.417; p = 0.011) when compared with the R0 + S and R1 + CCRT group. CONCLUSIONS: A lack of significant survival difference between R0 + S group and R1 + CCRT group suggests that adjuvant CCRT ameliorates the negative effect of microscopic positive resection margin. In contrast, adjuvant RT alone is appeared to be inadequate for controlling microscopically residual tumor.

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis in Perilla frutescens from Northern areas of China based on simple sequence repeats.

In this study, 21 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure among 77 Perilla accessions from high-latitude and middle-latitude areas of China. Ninety-five alleles were identified with an average of 4.52 alleles per locus. The average polymorphic information content (PIC) and genetic diversity values were 0.346 and 0.372, respectively. The level of genetic diversity and PIC value for cultivated accessions of Perilla frutescens var. frutescens from middle-latitude areas were higher than accessions from high-latitude areas. Based on the dendrogram of unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), all accessions were classified into four major groups with a genetic similarity of 46%. All accessions of the cultivated var. frutescens were discriminated from the cultivated P. frutescens var. crispa. Furthermore, most accessions of the cultivated var. frutescens collected in high-latitude and middle-latitude areas were distinguished depending on their geographical location. However, the geographical locations of several accessions of the cultivated var. frutescens have no relation with their positions in the UPGMA dendrogram and population structure. This result implies that the diffusion of accessions of the cultivated Perilla crop in the northern areas of China might be through multiple routes. On the population structure analysis, 77 Perilla accessions were divided into Group I, Group II, and an admixed group based on a membership probability threshold of 0.8. Finally, the findings in this study can provide useful theoretical knowledge for further study on the population structure and genetic diversity of Perilla and benefit for Perilla crop breeding and germplasm conservation.

Generic relationships among Molluginaceae inferred from a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the matK gene.

The family Molluginaceae (order Caryophyllales) is considered polyphyletic based on the photosynthetic pathway, C4 evolution, and phylogeny of the family. This inference was made based on photosynthetic, anatomical, and molecular datasets. The generic circumscription of this family has greatly been changed owing to the placement of several of its genera into the Caryophyllaceae, Microteaceae, Lophiocarpaceae, and Limeaceae families. However, the generic relationships are largely unknown. By virtue of high substitution rates within the species and the ability to resolve the phylogenetic position of morphologically very closely related species and species complexes, the matK gene has emerged as one of the potential chloroplast DNA molecular markers in plant molecular phylogenetics and DNA barcoding studies. We herein used molecular phylogenetic analyses of matK gene sequences using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses to infer the generic relationships among currently recognized genera circumscribed under the family Molluginaceae. The resulting phylogenetic tree confirmed the polyphyly of the family Molluginaceae. The genus Hypertelis was found at the base of the Molluginaceae clade. The genus Glinus was close to Glischrothamnus and Mollugo, Suessenguthiella was close to Coelanthum and Pharnaceum, whereas Polpoda grouped with Adenogramma and Psammotropha. The present study constitutes a robust investigation of the molecular phylogenetic relationships among members of the family Molluginaceae. Future study should combine by combined analyses of morphological characters and multiple nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences with a more comprehensive taxon sampling of the family Molluginaceae.

Association of the Familial Coexistence of Child Stunting and Maternal Overweight with Indigenous Women in Guatemala.

Objectives This study investigated the association of the familial coexistence of child stunting and maternal overweight with indigenous women in Guatemala. Methods We selected 2388 child-mother pairs from the data set of the Living Standards Measurement Study conducted in Guatemala in 2000. This study examined the association between maternal and household characteristics and the nutritional status of children aged 6-60 months and mothers aged 18-49 years by using multivariable logistic regression models. Results Compared with non-indigenous households, a significantly higher percentage of indigenous households exhibited stunted child and overweight mother (SCOM) pairs (15.9 vs. 22.2%). Compared with normal-weight mothers, overweight mothers were less likely to have stunted children [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50-0.88]. However, compared with mothers who were not short and overweight, short and overweight mothers were significantly more likely to have stunted children (AOR 1.80, 95% CI 1.19-2.73) and were more likely to be indigenous women living in urban areas (AOR 3.01, 95% CI 1.19-7.60) or rural areas (AOR 3.02, 95% CI 1.28-7.14). The order of observed prevalence of SCOM pairs in different types of households was as follows: urban indigenous (25.0%), rural indigenous (21.2%), rural non-indigenous (19.8%), and urban non-indigenous households (10.7%). Conclusions for Practice Urban indigenous households were more likely to have SCOM pairs. This study provided useful information for identifying the most vulnerable groups and areas with a high prevalence of the familial coexistence of child stunting and maternal overweight.

Integration of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for abdominal lymph node recurrence in gastric cancer.

PURPOSE: Abdominal lymph node (ALN) recurrence in gastric cancer (GC) is rare and usually unresectable. We investigated the effects of integration of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy against ALN recurrence in GC. METHODS: We retrospectively categorized GC patients with ALN recurrence treated between 2005 and 2013 into two groups: those treated with integration of RT and chemotherapy (RCT) and those who received systemic chemotherapy only (CT). The median follow-up period after ALN recurrence for all patients was 20 months. RESULTS: Of 53 patients, 31 and 22 were in the RCT and CT groups, respectively. Isolated distant failure (DF; 35.5%) without local progression (LP) was the dominant pattern of failure (POF) in the RCT group (median DF-free period, 26 months). LP followed by DF (31.8%) was the dominant POF in the CT group; LP (median LP-free period, 8 months) occurred 10 months earlier than DF (median DF-free period, 18 months). RCT patients had significantly longer median progression-free survival (PFS) compared to CT patients (25 vs. 8 months; P = 0.021). On multivariate analysis, treatment (CT vs. RCT) was an independent prognostic factor for PFS (hazard ratio 2.085; 95% confidence interval 1.073-4.050; P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Integration of RT and chemotherapy achieved long-term local control and prolonged PFS in GC patients with ALN recurrence. Local RT is feasible for treating isolated ALN recurrences.

Emergence of CTNNB1 mutation at acquired resistance to KIT inhibitor in metastatic melanoma.

PURPOSE: The KIT inhibitor, imatinib, has shown promising efficacy in patients with KIT-mutated melanoma; however, acquisition of resistance to imatinib occurs rapidly in the majority of patients. The mechanisms of acquired resistance to imatinib in melanoma remain unclear. METHODS: We analyzed biopsy samples from paired baseline and post-treatment tumor lesions in one patient with KIT-mutated melanoma who had had an initial objective tumor regression in response to imatinib treatment followed by disease progression 8 months later. RESULTS: Targeted deep sequencing from post-treatment biopsy samples detected an additional mutation in CTNNB1 (S33C) with original KIT L576P mutation. We examined the functional role of the additional CTNNB1 S33C mutation in resistance to imatinib indirectly using the Ba/F3 cell model. Ba/F3 cell lines transfected with both the L576P KIT mutation and the CTNNB1 S33C mutation demonstrated no growth inhibition despite imatinib treatment, whereas growth inhibition was observed in the Ba/F3 cell line transfected with the L576 KIT mutation alone. CONCLUSIONS: We report the first identification of the emergence of a CTNNB1 mutation that can confer acquired resistance to imatinib. Further investigation into the causes of acquired resistance to imatinib will be essential to improve the prognosis for patients with KIT-mutated melanoma.