The opposed forces of differentiation and admixture across glacial cycles in the butterfly Aglais urticae.

Glacial cycles lead to periodic population interbreeding and isolation in warm-adapted species, which impact genetic structure and evolution. However, the effects of these processes on highly mobile and more cold-tolerant species are not well understood. This study aims to shed light on the phylogeographic history of Aglais urticae, a butterfly species with considerable dispersal ability, and a wide Palearctic distribution reaching the Arctic. Through the analysis of genomic data, four main genetic lineages are identified: European, Sierra Nevada, Sicily/Calabria/Peloponnese, and Eastern. The results indicate that the Sardo-Corsican endemic taxon ichnusa is a distinct species. The split between the relict lineages in southern Europe and the main European lineage is estimated to have happened 400-450 thousand years ago, with admixture observed during the Quaternary glacial cycles, and still ongoing, albeit to a much smaller extent. These results suggest that these lineages may be better treated as subspecific parapatric taxa. Ecological niche modelling supported the existence of both Mediterranean and extra-Mediterranean refugia during the glacial periods, with the main one located on the Atlantic coast. Nevertheless, gene flow between populations was possible, indicating that both differentiation and admixture have acted continuously across glacial cycles in this cold-tolerant butterfly, generally balancing each other but producing differentiated lineages in the southern peninsulas. We conclude that the population dynamics and the processes shaping the population genetic structure of cold-adapted species during the Quaternary ice ages may be different than those classically accepted for warm-adapted species.

Colonization routes uncovered in a widely introduced Mediterranean gecko, Tarentola mauritanica.

In this study, we aimed to understand the contemporary and ancient colonization routes of the Moorish gecko, Tarentola mauritanica, using simple sequence repeats. By analyzing the genetic diversity of populations in different regions, we found that Morocco is the genetic diversity hotspot for the species, followed by the Iberian Peninsula. However, historical gene flow estimates identified the Iberian Peninsula, not Morocco, as the primary contributor of colonizing individuals, along with continental Italy to a lesser extent. Currently, mainland Italy is the main source of introduced individuals, likely due to the plant nursery trade. The study suggests that human-facilitated introductions from various geographical origins, with numerous regions colonized through continental Italy during two distinct periods, are responsible for the recurrent entry of individuals belonging to the European lineage of T. mauritanica into the Mediterranean and Macaronesia. These findings can inform better monitoring surveys and conservation programs by identifying putative current colonization routes of alien species.

The genome sequence of the Mazarine Blue, Cyaniris semiargus (Rottemburg, 1775).

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Cyaniris semiargus (the Mazarine Blue; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Lycaenidae). The genome sequence is 441.5 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 24 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the assembled Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.4 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 16,408 protein coding genes.

Collaboration in implicit memory: evidence from word-fragment completion and category exemplar generation.

Recent studies have begun to investigate the effects of collaboration on explicit tests such as free recall, cued recall, and recognition. In contrast, little is known about the impact of this variable on implicit memory. To bridge this gap, the present study compared the performance of nominal and collaborative groups in two implicit memory tasks-word-fragment completion (WFCT) and category exemplar generation (CEGT). Both the disruption-of-individual-retrieval-strategies and the retrieval blocking hypotheses predicted no significant negative effects of collaboration on repetition priming; in contrast, the retrieval inhibition hypothesis predicted lower priming in collaborative than in nominal groups in both tasks. The results supported the former hypotheses, because priming scores in the WFCT and the CEGT did not differ between collaborative and individual groups. Interestingly; however, a significant collaborative inhibition was obtained in the CEGT (but not in the WFCT) when considering the raw proportions of studied and unstudied exemplars generated. The latter finding might indicate that the performance of collaborative groups can be significantly impaired by the disruption of within-category order resulting from the exposure to the exemplars generated by other group members, even when participants do not explicitly attempt to retrieve the stimuli presented at encoding.

Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with integrative speech therapy in a child with cerebral palsy: A case report.

The aim of this study was to describe the results of the first case combining integrative speech therapy with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over Broca's area in a child with cerebral palsy. The ABFW phonology test was used to analyze speech based on the Percentage of Correct Consonants (PCC) and Percentage of Correct Consonants - Revised (PCC-R). After treatment, increases were found in both PCC (Imitation: 53.63%-78.10%; Nomination: 53.19%-70.21%) and PPC-R (Imitation: 64.54%-83.63%; Nomination: 61.70%-77.65%). Moreover, reductions occurred in distortions, substitutions and improvement was found in oral performance, especially tongue mobility (AMIOFE-mobility before = 4 after = 7). The child demonstrated a clinically important improvement in speech fluency as shown in results of imitation number of correct consonants and phonemes acquire. Based on these promising findings, continuing research in this field should be conducted with controlled clinical trials.

Testing the Identification/Production Hypothesis of Implicit Memory in Schizophrenia: The Role of Response Competition.

OBJECTIVES: Previous evidence indicates that patients with schizophrenia exhibit reduced repetition priming in production tasks (in which each response cue engenders a competition between alternative responses), but not in identification tasks (in which each response cue allows a unique response). However, cross-task comparisons may lead to inappropriate conclusions, because implicit tests vary on several dimensions in addition to the critical dimension of response competition. The present study sought to isolate the role of response competition, by varying the number of solutions in the context of the same implicit tasks. METHODS: Two experiments investigated the performance of patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls in the high-competition and low-competition versions of word-stem completion (Exp.1) and verb generation (Exp.2). RESULTS: Response competition affected both the proportions of stems completed (higher to few-solution than to many-solution stems) and the reaction times of verb generation (slower to nouns having no dominant verb associates than to nouns having one dominant verb associate). Patients with schizophrenia showed significant (non-zero) priming in both experiments: crucially, the magnitude of this facilitation was equivalent to that observed in healthy controls and was not reduced in the high-competition versions of the two tasks. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that implicit memory is spared in schizophrenia, irrespective of the degree of response competition during the retrieval phase; in addition, they add to the ongoing debate regarding the validity of the identification/production hypothesis of repetition priming.

Does pointing facilitate the recall of serial positions in visuospatial working memory?

The present study examined the question of whether pointing enhances the serial recall of visuospatial positions. Thirty-six participants were presented with 40 target arrays varying in length from five to eight items, with each position appearing sequentially in red for 1 s. The task was to reproduce the order of presentation of the positions on a blank matrix. Results showed that, for five-, six-, and seven-item arrays, order memory was significantly better in the passive view than in the pointing condition, and the serial position curves displayed both recency and priority effects. Interestingly, the advantage of the passive-view condition was more pronounced in the early than in the late positions. For eight-item arrays, no significant differences were found between the passive view and the pointing conditions. Overall, the present data provide no evidence in support of the view that pointing facilitates the recall of serial positions.

Pointing towards visuospatial patterns in short-term memory: differential effects on familiarity- and recollection-based judgments.

Previous studies have indicated that pointing toward to-be-remembered visuospatial patterns enhances short-term memory (STM) when the presentation of pointing and no-pointing trials is mixed (Chum et al., 2007; Dodd & Shumborski, 2009; Rossi-Arnaud et al., 2012). By contrast, when presentation is blocked, pointing has inhibitory effects on memory (Dodd & Shumborski, 2009; Rossi-Arnaud et al., 2012). In the present study, we demonstrated that pointing has different effects on short-term recollection- and familiarity-based judgments, depending on the length of the visuospatial patterns (5- vs. 7-item arrays) and the interval between the encoding and test phases (2 vs. 5 s). More specifically, pointing decreased the accuracy of recollection-based judgments for 5-item arrays, but not for 7-item arrays (this negative effect did not interact with interval length). In contrast, pointing facilitated familiarity-based judgments when the interval between the study and test phases was 5 s, but not when it was 2 s (this positive effect did not interact with pattern length). We proposed that the negative effects might be accounted for by the simultaneous recruitment of attention resources in the planning and execution of pointing movements. As a consequence, executive resources are diverted from the primary memory task, resulting in a less efficient use of attention-demanding retrieval strategies, like chunking. By contrast, the positive effects on familiarity judgments might reflect the unitization of the to-be-remembered items into a single shape.

Is conceptual implicit memory impaired in schizophrenia? Evidence from lexical decision and category verification.

INTRODUCTION: Implicit memory tasks differ along two orthogonal dimensions, tapping the relative involvement of perceptual/conceptual and identification/production processes. Previous studies have documented a dissociation between perceptual (spared) and conceptual (impaired) implicit memory, using in the latter case a production task (category exemplar generation), in which there is high response competition during the retrieval phase. The present study sought to determine whether the perceptual/conceptual dissociation held when comparing two identification tasks, in which there is no response competition at retrieval. METHODS: In two experiments, repetition priming was assessed in 44 schizophrenic patients and 46 healthy controls in lexical decision (a test based on perceptual identification processes) and category verification (a test based on conceptual identification processes). RESULTS: Schizophrenic patients achieved a priming as high as that of controls in the lexical decision task. In contrast, only controls exhibited significant priming in the category verification task. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that schizophrenia is associated with a specific deficit in conceptual implicit memory, irrespective of the degree of response competition in the test phase.

Limitações do uso de órteses tornozelo-pé na doença de Charcot-Marie-Tooth: estudo de caso / Limitations of ankle-foot-orthosis use in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease: a case study

A paresia distal crural, muito marcante nos pacientes com doença de Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), provoca inúmeras alterações nos padrõesda marcha. Vários recursos de reabilitação têm sido propostos para gerenciar os problemas de deambulação, entre eles a utilização de órteses tornozelo-pé (OTP). O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar efeitos imediatos do uso de OTP na cinemática da marcha e nos parâmetros estabilométricos em paciente com CMT. Buscou-se avaliar: o equilíbrio e a marcha, por meio da Escala de Avaliação da Mobilidade Orientada pelo Desempenho (POMA); a cinemática da marcha, com o sistema Qualisys Track Manager (QTM); e a estabilometria, utilizando a plataforma de força. As avaliações foram realizadas antes e durante o uso de OTP. Observou-se declínio na escala POMA durante o uso da OTP de 11%. Na cinemática da marcha, verificou-se decréscimo na velocidade e comprimento da passada, assim comoaumento na duração dela. Na estabilometria, observou-se aumento na velocidade médio-lateral e na velocidade média na condição sem restrição visual, e aumento em todos os parâmetros de velocidade e deslocamento na condição com restrição visual durante o uso da OTP. O paciente avaliado não apresentou melhoras imediatas com aplicação de OTP, fato justificado pela presença de contraturas e tempo de evolução da doença. A prescrição de órteses na CMT deve respeitar as particularidades do paciente e a forma de apresentação da patologia.

The distal crural weakness, very striking in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), causes gait impairment. Several rehabilitationapproaches have been proposed to manage the ambulation problems, among them, the use of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO). The objective of this study is to analyze the immediate effects of using AFO in the gait kinematic and stabilometric parameters in a patient with CMT. We evaluated the balance and the gait using Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) Scale, gait kinematics using the Qualisys Track Manager (QTM) system and stabilometry, using a force platform. The evaluations were performed before and during the use of AFO. A decreasing of POMA scores was observed when the patient used AFO (11%). In the gait kinematic a decrease was verified in the speed gait and step length, as an increase in the time. In the stabilometry was observed an increase in the mediolateral velocity and average velocity in the condition without visual restrictionand an increase in all parameters of velocity and displacement in thecondition with visual restriction during the use of the AFO. The assessedpatient didn?t present immediate improvement with the AFO due to contractures presented and the time of the disease course. Prescription of orthosis in the CMT should respect the patient?s particularities and the clinical manifestations, and the way the pathology is presented.

The attentional boost effect in schizophrenia.

The present study reports 2 experiments examining the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) in schizophrenic patients and matched healthy controls, using visual and verbal materials. The ABE refers to the surprising finding that, in a divided attention condition, images and words encoded with targets are remembered better than images and words encoded with distractors. Unlike controls (who showed the typical ABE), schizophrenic patients reported no memory advantage for stimuli presented together with targets in the divided attention condition. On the other hand, the interference effect on the recognition of stimuli presented with distractors was not exacerbated in patients (as compared with controls). In line with the dual-task interaction model proposed by Swallow and Jiang (2013), the absence of a significant facilitation indicates that schizophrenic patients have a deficit in the process of attentional enhancement triggered by target detection. A number of neural mechanisms potentially underlying this impairment are discussed, as well as implications for the characterization of the attentional deficits involved in schizophrenia.

Menopausa, ninho vazio e subjetividade feminina: relato de um atendimento numa enfermaria / Menopause, empty nest and female subjectivity: an attendance report in a ward

Este artigo é o relato de um atendimento de psicologia hospitalar durante a internação de uma paciente com Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico, no Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho da UFRJ. Além da doença, a paciente passava por dois acontecimentos, que para ela significavam perdas importantes: a saída de casa do filho único e a cessação da menstruação com a chegada da menopausa. Em sua narrativa ficou marcado o sofrimento face àqueles acontecimentos, que a faziam reviver uma perda antiga, ou seja, atualizavam o abandono do ex-marido, realidade que ela nunca aceitara. Desde que se separou, ocupava-se apenas da maternidade e do trabalho. Assim, naquele atendimento, ela refletiu sua dificuldade em se desprender de antigos vínculos e dos papéis femininos de esposa e mãe, e pôde construir novos projetos de vida, se permitindo viver outras experiências(AU)

This article reports an attendance of health psychology with a patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) during her hospitalization at the University Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho in Rio de Janeiro. Besides the disease, the patient went through two tough losses to herself: the growth of her only son with 22 years old, who was leaving home, and the cessation of her menstruation with the arrival of her menopause. These losses have updated an old loss in the patient: the abandonment of ex-husband, which she still did not accept. As she was making motherhood the only option for her life, she was suffering those losses. In the attendance of psychology, the patient reflected the difficulty of separating from her marriage and family ties, and lively, and with expectations, she built a new life project, which was mainly her conquest of a new network of relations(AU)

Memory for symmetry and perceptual binding in patients with schizophrenia.

The present study investigated the use of perceptual binding processes in schizophrenic (SC) patients and matched healthy controls, by examining their performance on the recall of symmetrical (vertical, horizontal and diagonal) and asymmetrical patterns varying in length between 2 and 9 items. The results showed that, although SC patients were less accurate than controls in all conditions, both groups recalled symmetrical patterns better than asymmetrical ones. The impairment of SC patients was magnified with supra-span symmetrical arrays, and they were more likely to reproduce symmetrical patterns as asymmetrical, particularly at medium and high length levels. Hierarchical regression analyses further indicated that the between-group differences in the recall of supra-span vertical and horizontal arrays, which require a greater involvement of visual pattern processes, remained significant after removing the variance associated with performance on asymmetrical patterns, which primarily reflects intrafigural spatial processes. It is proposed that schizophrenia may be associated with a specific deficit in the formation and retrieval of the global visual images of studied patterns and in the use of the on-line information about the type of symmetry being tested to guide retrieval processes.

Genetic characterization of the blood-sucking nematodes Libyostrongylus dentatus and Libyostrongylus douglassii supports their different evolutionary history.

Libyostrongylus sp. are nematodes that infect ostriches. Libyostrongylus douglassii was first described in ostriches from several countries in the world. Later Libyostrongylus dentatus was morphologically identified in ostriches in the USA and Brazil, and mixed infection is common in the latter country. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA gene is used for genetic variability assessment and phylogenetic reconstruction for many organisms. Through genetic analysis the status of different species morphologically defined was confirmed and a molecular method was developed to differentiate both species. ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2 regions of L. douglassii and L. dentatus were characterized. Regarding complete ITS region, the K2-p genetic distance between the species was 0.060 (SE 0.008) and the intra-specific distance was 0.002 (SE 0.001) for L. dentatus and 0.006 (SE 0.002) for L. douglassii. NJ and MP phylogenetic analysis of ITS1 and ITS2 regions indicated that both species belong to the Trichostrongylidae family, and are evolutionarily different, suported by high bootstrap value. Based on ITS DNA polymorphisms, a molecular approach was designed to detect both species. These results are the first molecular characterization of L. douglassii and L. dentatus, and provide new tools for the identification of these parasites of veterinary importance.

Induction of ß-1,3-glucanase in seeds of maize defective-kernel mutant (827Kpro1).

ß-1,3-glucanases are found in organisms as diverse as plants, animals, bacteria and fungi. In plants, such enzymes are not only associated with defense mechanisms against pathogens, but also play critical roles in physiological and developmental processes. Here we identified a new ß-1,3-glucanase in maize seeds, and named it ZmGlucA. Sequence analysis revealed that ZmGlucA belongs to the class A of ß-1,3-glucanase, a class related to defense and physiological processes in plants. mRNA and protein assays showed that zmGlucA is expressed exclusively in seeds, and it is differentially regulated during seed development. Additionally, zmGlucA expression is strongly induced in seeds of the mutant dek 827Kpro1, which is defective for embryo and endosperm development. Our data support the idea that ZmGlucA protein is relevant to seed development.

Prevalência sorológica do anti-HCV em pré-doadores de sangue do Hemocentro Regional de Campina Grande-PB / Prevalence of hepatitis C virus in pre-blod-donors

A hepatite C constitui um grave problema de saúde pública em diferentes partes do mundo. Estima-se que 3,9 milhões de pessoas estejam infectadas nos EUA e que 3por cento da população mundial sejam portadores da infecção. No Brasil, dados epidemiológicos são escassos e, em sua maioria, baseados em informações advindas de pré-doadores de sangue, cuja prevalência do anti-HCV é de cerca de 1,2por cento, distribuída de forma semelhante nas diferentes regiões. Objetivos: Determinar a prevalência do Vírus C da hepatite em pré-doadores de sangue do Hemocentro Regional de Campina Grande. Estudo de prevalência, retrospectivo no período de janeiro de 2001 a dezembro de 2003. Foram avaliadas 53.851 fichas de candidatos a doadores de sangue cadastrados no arquivo do Hemocentro Regional e selecionados 9.946 considerados inaptas. Dessas, foram identificados 322 inaptidões por anti-HCV positivo. Dos 322 casos estudados aspectos sociodemográficos como idade, sexo, procedencia, estado civil e tipo de doação (reposição, voluntária e autóloga). Dados clínicos e etiológicos foram excluídos por não constar nas fichas indiviuais dos doadores. Resultados: /a prevalência do anti-HCV em pré-doadores de sangue foi de 0,59por cento, cuja faixa etária mais espressiva variou de 27 a 31 anos (17,08por cento), em sua maioria do sexo masculino (86,34por cento).Na maior parte os doadores eram procedentes de Campina Grande (59,94por cento), casados (53,73por cento) e tiveram como principal motivo da doação a reposição (72,67por cento ). Conclusão : Os dados encontrados corroboram os observados no Canadá e estão abaixo dos percentuais anteriormente verificados na região nordeste. Talvez a população dessa cidade apresente características diferentes daquela previamente avaliada

Avaliaçao da funçao tiroidiana em pacientes portadores de lúpus eritematoso sistêmico / Evaluation of thyroid function in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Objetivo: Detectar possível relaçao entre disfunçao da tiróide e lúpus eritematoso sistêmico. Métodos: Catorze pacientes portadores de lúpus eritematoso sistêmico foram submetidas a avaliaçao, consistindo do estudo citológico e ecográfico da tiróide, além de dosagem de T3 (triiodotironina), T4(tetraidotironina), TSH (tirotrofina) e pesquisa do anticorpo antitiroglobulina e antimicrossomal. Resultados: Níveis séricos diminuídos de T3 e TSH foram encontrados em 42,9 por cento e 28,6 por cento dos pacientes. T4 sérico elevado foi encontrado em uma paciente gestante. A pesquisa de anticorpos antitiroglobulina e antimicrossomal foi negativa e o exame citológico nao mostrou alteraçoes sugestivas de tiroidite em nenhuma das pacientes, mesmo naqueles 25 por cento de pacientes portadores de bócio. O exame ultra-sonográfico mostrou presença de bócio em 38,5 por cento dos pacientes (quatro bócios difusos e dois bócios nodulares). Conclusoes: Nao obstante tenham sido encontradas algumas alteraçoes laboratoriais, nao foi possível caracterizar nenhum acometimento específico da funçao tiroidiana. Em decorrência disso, sugerimos que essas alteraçoes talves sejam devidas ao uso prolongado de corticosteróides no lúpus eritematoso sistêmico, os quais interferem no metabolismo dos hormônios tiroidianos

Projeto arte, cultura e lazer nos hospitais: relatório da fase de sensibilização e envolvimento / Art, culture and leisure at hospitals: sensibility phase and envolvement report

Este documento tem intenção de reunir todas as informações referentes aos processos e resultados obtidos através do trabalho realizado durante a etapa de implantação, denominada FASE DE SENSIBILIZAÇÃO E DENVOLVIMENTO do Projeto Arte, Cultura e Lazer nos Hospitais. Embora ele não contenha um relato pormenorizado dos acontecimentos locais, sua elaboração só foi possível graças à observação, vivência e intercâmbio de experiências em cada hospital envolvido. Sendo assim, as Equipes Locais, constituídas para a condução do PROJETO nos hospitais, são co-autoras e co-responsáveis por este documento. Elas construíram, através de seu engajamento e atuação, o trabalho descrito. Este relatório destina-se a essas equipes; ao Programa Metropolitano de Saúde/Banco Mundial, que financiou a primeira fase do PROJETO; aos profissionais, instituições e entidades que cooperaram com as Equipes da Saúde de São Paulo, que investiu na implantação e ampliação deste trabalho reconhecento sua importância e viabilizando sua execução.