Coastal zone use and migratory behaviour of the southern population of Mugil liza in Brazil

We analysed the ratios Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca in the otoliths of 55 adults of the southern population of Mugil liza in Brazil (Paraná to Rio Grande do Sul) to investigate its coastal zone use and migratory behaviour. All individual M. liza analysed had Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca values indicating that their birth was in the marine environment, which is consistent with the southern population migration to spawn in the ocean,. Juveniles exhibited at least three coastal use and recruitment strategies (contingents): the majority (89%) of M. liza juveniles migrated toward brackish water. They entered the estuary before completing the first year of life (64%) or after (25%) their first year of life. The remaining 11% did not appear to enter brackish or freshwater water as a nursery or at any point in their life cycle. Some adults returned to the estuary after spawning in the ocean but others (of both sexes) never returned to the estuary after spawning, remaining in the marine environment. The pattern of juvenile habitat use in the Brazilian southern population of M. liza seems to be recurrent throughout the extent of its distribution as a consequence of the reproductive spawning aggregation behaviour, which mixes all contingents (with marine or estuarine preferences).     

Length–weight relationships of four freshwater fish species from two Atlantic coastal drainage areas in Brazil

Length–weight relationships (LWRs) were determined for four fish species from two drainage areas, those of the Itapemirim and Jucu River, in the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Fishes were collected between May 2015 and November 2016, with gill nets, casting net, dip net, and sieve. Herein are presented LWRs for Astyanax lacustris, Astyanax taeniatus, Hyphessobrycon bifasciatus and Oligosarcus acutirostris.     

In Vitro Interactions of Amphotericin B Combined with Non-antifungal Agents Against Rhodotorula mucilaginosa Strains

Rhodotorula species are emerging as opportunistic pathogens, causing catheter-associated fungemia in patients with compromised immunity. R. mucilaginosa is considered the most common species involved in human infections. Correct identification and susceptibility testing of Rhodotorula isolates recovered from the blood stream or central nervous system are essential to determine the best management of this unusual infection. The antifungal susceptibility tests showed that Rhodotorula was susceptible to low concentrations of amphotericin B (AMB) but was less susceptible to voriconazole. Combinations of AMB plus several non-antifungal medications were evaluated against 35 susceptible (Rm AMB-S) and resistant (Rm AMB-R) clinical Rhodotorula isolates using the broth microdilution checkerboard technique. We showed that in vitro exposure to increasing concentrations of AMB changed the susceptibility profile to these strains, which were named the Rm AMB-R group. The most synergistic interactions were AMB?+?simvastatin, followed by AMB?+?amlodipine and AMB?+?warfarin. Synergism and antagonism were observed in both groups for the combination AMB?+?cyclosporine A. AMB combined with a fluoroquinolone (AMB?+?levofloxacin) also demonstrated antagonism for the Rm AMB-S strains, but a high percentage of synergistic interactions was observed for the Rm AMB-R group. A combination drug approach can provide a different strategy to treat infections caused by AMB-resistant R. mucilaginosa.

     

Studies of mitochondrial respiration in muscle cells in situ: Use and misuse of experimental evidence in mathematical modelling

Applications of permeabilized cell and skinned fiber techniques in combination with methods of mathematical modelling for studies of mitochondrial function in the cell are critically evaluated. Mathematical models may be useful tools for explaining biological phenomena, but only if they are selected by fitting the computing results with real experimental data. Confocal microscopy has been used in experiments with permeabilized cardiomyocytes and myocardial fibers to determine the maximal diffusion distance from medium to the core of cells, which is shown not to exceed 8-10 microm. This is a principal index for correctly explaining high apparent Km for exogenous ADP (200-300 microM) in regulation of mitochondrial respiration in oxidative muscle cells in situ. The best fitting of the results of in silico studies may be achieved by using of the compartmentalized energy transfer model. From these results, it may be concluded that in cardiac muscle cells the mitochondria and ATPases are organized into intracellular energetic units (ICEUs) separated from the bulk phase of cytoplasm by some barriers which limit the diffusion of adenine nucleotides. In contrast, alternative models based on the concept of the cell as homogenous system do not explain the observed experimental phenomena and have led to misleading conclusions. The various sources of experimental and conceptual errors are analyzed.     

Intracellular diffusion of adenosine phosphates is locally restricted in cardiac muscle

Recent studies have revealed the structural and functional interactions between mitochondria, myofibrils and sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac cells. Direct channeling of adenosine phosphates between organelles identified in the experiments indicates that diffusion of adenosine phosphates is limited in cardiac cells due to very specific intracellular structural organization. However, the mode of diffusion restrictions and nature of the intracellular structures in creating the diffusion barriers is still unclear, and, therefore, a subject of active research. The aim of this work is to analyze the possible role of two principally different modes of restriction distribution for adenosine phosphates (a) the uniform diffusion restriction and (b) the localized diffusion limitation in the vicinity of mitochondria, by fitting the experimental data with the mathematical model. The reaction-diffusion model of compartmentalized energy transfer was used to analyze the data obtained from the experiments with the skinned muscle fibers, which described the following processes: mitochondrial respiration rate dependency on exogenous ADP and ATP concentrations; inhibition of endogenous ADP-stimulated respiration by pyruvate kinase (PK) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) system; kinetics of oxygen consumption stabilization after addition of 2 mM MgATP or MgADP; ATPase activity with inhibited mitochondrial respiration; and buildup of MgADP concentration in the medium after addition of MgATP. The analysis revealed that only the second mechanism considered--localization of diffusion restrictions--is able to account for the experimental data. In the case of uniform diffusion restrictions, the model solution was in agreement only with two measurements: the respiration rate as a function of ADP or ATP concentrations and inhibition of respiration by PK + PEP. It was concluded that intracellular diffusion restrictions for adenosine phosphates are not distributed uniformly, but rather are localized in certain compartments of the cardiac cells.     

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells already express specific neural proteins before any differentiation

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent cells. To explain their plasticity, we postulated that undifferentiated MSC may express proteins from other tissues such as neuronal tissues. MSC are obtained by two different approaches: plastic adhesion or negative depletion (RosetteSep and magnetic beads CD45/glycophorin A). MSC are evaluated through FACS analysis using a panel of antibodies (SH2, SH3, CD14, CD33, CD34, CD45, etc.). To confirm the multipotentiality in vitro, we have differentiated MSC into adipocytes, chondrocytes, osteocytes, and neuronal/glial cells using specific induction media. We have evaluated neuronal and glial proteins (Nestin, Tuj-I, betaIII Tubulin, tyrosine hydroxylase [TH], MAP-2, and GFAP) by using flow cytometry, Western blots, and RT-PCR. We found that MSC constituently express native immature neuronal proteins such as Nestin and Tuj-1. After only five passages, MSC can already express more mature neuronal or glial proteins, such as TH, MAP-2, and GFAP, without any specific induction. We noticed an increase in the expression of more mature neuronal/glial proteins (TH, MAP-2, and GFAP) after exposure to neural induction medium, thus confirming the differentiation of MSC into neurons and astrocytes. The constitutive expression of Nestin or Tuj-1 by MSC suggests that these cells are "multidifferentiated" cells and thus can retain the ability for neuronal differentiation, enhancing their potentiality to be employed in the treatment of neurological diseases.     

Application of discriminant analysis and quantitative cytologic examination to gastric lesions

OBJECTIVE: To investigate of the potential value of morphometry and discriminant analysis for the classification of benign and malignant gastric cells and lesions. STUDY DESIGN: The data set consisted of 13,300 cells from 120 cases composed of 30 cases of cancer, 26 cases of gastritis and 64 cases of ulcer according to the final histologic diagnosis. The cytologic diagnosis was divided into 5 categories (gastritis, ulcer, inflammatory dysplasia, cancer and true dysplasia). Classification was attempted at 2 levels: the cell level to classify individual cells and the case level to classify individual cases. For the cellular classification the measured cells from 50% of available cases were selected as a training set to construct a model. The cells from the remaining cases were used as a test set to validate the model. Similarly for case classification, the same 50% of cases that were used for cell classification were used as a training set and the remaining cases as a test set. Images of routinely processed gastric smears stained by the Papanicolaou technique were analyzed by a customized image analysis system. RESULTS: Application of discriminant analysis on the test set gave correct classification of 98.4% of benign cells and 67.1% of malignant cells. On case classification, 100% accuracy was achieved for benign and malignant cases, both for the training and test sets. CONCLUSION: The application of discriminant analysis described in this paper could produce significant classification results at the cellular and individual case level.