Comparative EST transcript profiling of peach fruits under different post-harvest conditions reveals candidate genes associated with peach fruit quality.

BACKGROUND: Cold storage is used to inhibit peach fruit ripening during shipment to distant markets. However, this cold storage can negatively affect the quality of the fruit when it is ripened, resulting in disorders such as wooliness, browning or leathering. In order to understand the individual and combined biological effects that factors such as cold storage and ripening have on the fruit and fruit quality, we have taken a comparative EST transcript profiling approach to identify genes that are differentially expressed in response to these factors. RESULTS: We sequenced 50,625 Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) from peach mesocarp (Prunus persica O'Henry variety) stored at four different postharvest conditions. A total of 10,830 Unigenes (4,169 contigs and 6,661 singletons) were formed by assembling these ESTs. Additionally, a collection of 614 full-length and 1,109 putative full-length cDNA clones within flanking loxP recombination sites was created. Statistically analyzing the EST population, we have identified genes that are differentially expressed during ripening, in response to cold storage or the combined effects of cold storage and ripening. Pair-wise comparisons revealed 197 contigs with at least one significant difference in transcript abundance between at least two conditions. Gene expression profile analyses revealed that the contigs may be classified into 13 different clusters of gene expression patterns. These clusters include groups of contigs that increase or decrease transcript abundance during ripening, in response to cold or ripening plus cold. CONCLUSION: These analyses have enabled us to statistically identify novel genes and gene clusters that are differentially expressed in response to post-harvest factors such as long-term cold storage, ripening or a combination of these two factors. These differentially expressed genes reveal the complex biological processes that are associated with these factors, as well as a large number of putative gene families that may participate differentially in these processes. In particular, these analyzes suggest that woolly fruits lack the increased boost of metabolic processes necessary for ripening. Additionally, these results suggest that the mitochondria and plastids play a major role in these processes. The EST sequences and full-length cDNA clones developed in this work, combined with the large population of differentially expressed genes may serve as useful tools and markers that will enable the scientific community to better define the molecular processes that affect fruit quality in response to post-harvest conditions and the organelles that participate in these processes.

JUICE: a data management system that facilitates the analysis of large volumes of information in an EST project workflow.

BACKGROUND: Expressed sequence tag (EST) analyses provide a rapid and economical means to identify candidate genes that may be involved in a particular biological process. These ESTs are useful in many Functional Genomics studies. However, the large quantity and complexity of the data generated during an EST sequencing project can make the analysis of this information a daunting task. RESULTS: In an attempt to make this task friendlier, we have developed JUICE, an open source data management system (Apache + PHP + MySQL on Linux), which enables the user to easily upload, organize, visualize and search the different types of data generated in an EST project pipeline. In contrast to other systems, the JUICE data management system allows a branched pipeline to be established, modified and expanded, during the course of an EST project. The web interfaces and tools in JUICE enable the users to visualize the information in a graphical, user-friendly manner. The user may browse or search for sequences and/or sequence information within all the branches of the pipeline. The user can search using terms associated with the sequence name, annotation or other characteristics stored in JUICE and associated with sequences or sequence groups. Groups of sequences can be created by the user, stored in a clipboard and/or downloaded for further analyses. Different user profiles restrict the access of each user depending upon their role in the project. The user may have access exclusively to visualize sequence information, access to annotate sequences and sequence information, or administrative access. CONCLUSION: JUICE is an open source data management system that has been developed to aid users in organizing and analyzing the large amount of data generated in an EST Project workflow. JUICE has been used in one of the first functional genomics projects in Chile, entitled "Functional Genomics in nectarines: Platform to potentiate the competitiveness of Chile in fruit exportation". However, due to its ability to organize and visualize data from external pipelines, JUICE is a flexible data management system that should be useful for other EST/Genome projects. The JUICE data management system is released under the Open Source GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). JUICE may be downloaded from http://genoma.unab.cl/juice_system/ or http://www.genomavegetal.cl/juice_system/.

Estudio Analítico de los Factores Asociados al Enterobius Vermicularis en Niños del ciclo Básico de las Escuelas Fiscales de la Comunidad de Mallco Rancho

El Enterobius vermicularis, es un parásito que infecta a los seres humanos, donde las condiciones de salud y de saneamiento ambiental son deficientes. El trabajo se realizó con 225 alumnos, entre las edades de 4 a 15 años del ciclo básico de la Escuela del Cantón de Mallco Rancho, población del Municipio de Sipe-Sipe a 23 Kilómetros de la Ciudad de Cochabamba, con el objetivo de Investigar algúnos rasgos epidemiológicos de las infecciones por Oxiuros y el nivel de conocimiento que tiene este grupo poblacional sobre el parásito. Se utilizó como referencia, la sintomatología y las manifestaciones clínicas de los niños: prurito anal y nasal y para el diagnóstico se utilizó la técnica de Graham. El trabajo se realizó con la ayuda de los alumnos de la Facultad de Bioquímica y Farmacia, APSAR, padres de familia y maestros de la comunidad. De los 225 niños investigados 153 dieron positivos para oxiuros: 79 varones y 74 niñas, el (81%) manifestaron prurito nasal y (97%) manifestaron prurito anal y 65% presentaron ambos síntomas. El hospital de la comunidad solo diagnóstico en los 3 últimos años 5 casos de oxiuriasis; se demostró el alto riesgo por hacinamiento, para infectar o ser infectado. Los escolares no tienen conocimiento absoluto del oxiuros. La falta de planes del Ministerio de Salud para la desparasitación masiva, los lugares no adecuados de eliminación de las heces fecales, la no potabilidad del agua y la mala conservación de los alimentos favorecen la presencia del parásito.

Estudio analitico de los factores asociados al Enterobius Vermicularis en niños del ciclo basico de las Escuelas Fiscales de la Comunidad de Mallco Rancho / sss

El Enterobius Vermicularises un parasito que infecta a los humanos, donde las condiciones de salud son deficientes. El trabajo se realizo con 225 niños comprendidos entre cuatro y quince años en la comunidad de Mallco Rancho, con el objetivo de investigar ragos epidemiologicos de infecciones y el grado de conocimiento de la poblacion. Se utilizo como referencia sintomatologica y manifestaciones clinicas de los niños y la tecnica de Graham para el diagnostico. Se trabajo con 255 alumnos, dando positividad a 74 varones y 69 niñas, dando positivo 90 por ciento la sintomatologia anal y nasal. Se concluye que la falta de politicas de salud, saneamiento y educacion favorecen la presencia del Oxiuro..

La automedicación / The automedication

El presente artículo trata de la automedicación es un proceso por el cual una persona, interviene por cuenta y riesgo, compra y administra medicamentos, sin los requerimientos, ni supervisión de profesionales del ramo de la salud