Adaptations in humans for assessing physical strength from the voice

Recent research has shown that humans, like many other animals, have a specialization for assessing fighting ability from visual cues. Because it is probable that the voice contains cues of strength and formidability that are not available visually, we predicted that selection has also equipped humans with the ability to estimate physical strength from the voice. We found that subjects accurately assessed upper-body strength in voices taken from eight samples across four distinct populations and language groups: the Tsimane of Bolivia, Andean herder-horticulturalists and United States and Romanian college students. Regardless of whether raters were told to assess height, weight, strength or fighting ability, they produced similar ratings that tracked upper-body strength independent of height and weight. Male voices were more accurately assessed than female voices, which is consistent with ethnographic data showing a greater tendency among males to engage in violent aggression. Raters extracted information about strength from the voice that was not supplied from visual cues, and were accurate with both familiar and unfamiliar languages. These results provide, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence that both men and women can accurately assess men''s physical strength from the voice, and suggest that estimates of strength are used to assess fighting ability.     

Unique case of caecum plasmablastic lymphoma CD138(+) in patient with late diagnosed colon neuroendocrine carcinoma

Neuroendocrine tumors are frequently associated with other primary malignancies. Plasmablastic lymphoma is a rare, aggressive neoplasm, derived from large B-cell, associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Plasmablastic lymphoma cells share many cytomorphologic and immunophenotypic features with plasmablastic cells, causing some diagnostic problems. We present a unique case of coexisting two very uncommon neoplasms: plasmablastic lymphoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma in 54-years-old men. This is the first report of caecum localization of plasmablastic lymphoma. Presented case images diagnostic problems in rare neoplasms.     

Environmental Profile of Brazilian Green Coffee (6 pp)

Goal, Scope and Background

Brazil is the world's biggest producer of coffee beans with approx. a 30% market share. Depending on climate conditions, approx. 30 million bags of coffee beans are exported annually from Brazil, while domestic consumption is around 10 million bags, which makes Brazil the world's third largest coffee-consuming country. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to present the LCA of green coffee produced in Brazil for the reference crops 2001/02 and 2002/03 in order to generate detailed production inventory data as well as to identify the potential environmental impacts of its tillage in order to realize how to reduce those impacts and increase the environmental sustainability of this product. Only the inputs and outputs relative to the coffee tillage were considered. The production of fertilizers, correctives and pesticides were not included in the boundary, but only their amounts. The functional unit selected for this study was 1,000 kg of green coffee destined for exportation.

Methods

The LCI was performed according to the ISO 14040 standard series. All information considered in this study (use of water, fossil based energy, fertilizers and chemicals) were taken up in in-depth data collection and evaluation by questionnaires applied on a farm level and/or received by mail. Four Brazilian coffee producer regions were evaluated: Cerrado Mineiro, South of Minas Gerais State, the Marília and Alta Mogiana regions in São Paulo State. These regions have the following geographic coordinates: 44 to 50° W longitude and 18 to 24° S latitude. The data refer to a production of 420,000 coffee bean bags and a productive area of approx. 14,300 ha. The varieties of coffee beans considered in this study were Mundo Novo, Catuaí (yellow and red), Icatu (yellow and red), Catucaí (yellow and red) and Obatã. Farm specific data along with agricultural production data have been combined to elaborate a coffee cultivation inventory, which will be applied in an emissions estimation.

Results and Conclusion

The production of 1,000 kg of green coffee in Brazil requires approx. 11,400 kg of water, 94 kg of diesel, 270 kg of fertilizers as NPK, 900 kg of total fertilizers, 620 kg of correctives, 10 kg of pesticides and 0.05 hectare of annual land use. Outputs related to these functional units are approx. 3,000 kg of waste water from coffee washing, 8,500 kg of waste water from the wet method and 750 kg of organic residue that is reincorporated to the tillage as fertilizer. The publication of an LCI of agricultural products is a fundamental step for understanding the potential environmental impacts of each tillage and then establishes the basis for product sustainability. In this way, this work is the first Brazilian initiative for applying LCA to coffee cultivation.

Recommendation and Perspective

Different agricultural practices demonstrate different environmental profiles. The amount of agricultural pesticide is directly related to agricultural practices as tillage rotation, density of plants, etc. This study supplied important results for a better correlation of the agricultural practices and potential environmental impacts of coffee. Future updates of this study will show the evolution of the natural resource management such as land use, new agricultural practices, lower fertilizers and chemicals use.     

The role of CXCR2 activity in the contact hypersensitivity response in mice

The recruitment of polymorphonuclear neutrophil leukocytes (PMN) into a challenge site, and their subsequent activation, are thought to play a role in the elicitation of the contact hypersensitivity (CHS) response. The present study investigated the role played by CXCR2 activity in tissue PMN infiltration and subsequent triggering of CHS. Our results show that the cutaneous infiltration by PMN, induced by hapten challenge was dramatically inhibited in sensitized, CXCR2-deficient (CXCR2(-/-)) mice. Inhibition of PMN recruitment into the hapten-challenged ears of CXCR2(-/-) mice was associated with a consistent reduction of the CHS response (ear swelling) in CXCR2(-/-) mice as compared with that observed in neutropenic, wild-type (CXCR2(+/+)) mice. Prevention of skin PMN infiltration and the ear swelling response by the absence of functional CXCR2 was observed regardless of the hapten used. These data clearly suggest that CXCR2 activity plays an essential role in mediating cutaneous recruitment and activation of PMN, and thus indirectly regulates recruitment of hapten-primed T cells into challenge sites, with the subsequent elicitation of the CHS response. The role played by CXCR2 activity in the CHS response provides the rationale for testing CXCR2 inhibitors as a new therapeutic approach to skin diseases.     

Survival of gfp-tagged antagonistic bacteria in the rhizosphere of tomato plants and their effects on the indigenous bacterial community

The survival and colonization patterns of Pseudomonas putida PRD16 and Enterobacter cowanii PRF116 in the rhizosphere of greenhouse-grown tomato plants and the effects of their inoculation on the indigenous bacterial community were followed by selective plating, molecular fingerprinting, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) over 3 weeks. Both strains, which showed in vitro antagonistic activity against Ralstonia solanacearum, were previously tagged with gfp. Seed and root inoculation were compared. Although plate counts decreased for both gfp-tagged antagonists, PRD16 showed a better survival in the rhizosphere of tomato roots independent of the inoculation method. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from total community DNA by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and CLSM confirmed the decrease in the relative abundance of the inoculant strains. Pronounced differences in the Pseudomonas community patterns for plants inoculated with PRD16 compared to the control were detected 3 weeks after root inoculation, indicating a longer-lasting effect. Analysis by CLSM showed rather heterogeneous colonization patterns for both inoculant strains. In comparison with seed inoculation, root inoculation led to a much better colonization as evidenced by all three methods. The colonization patterns observed by CLSM provide important information on the sampling strategy required for monitoring inoculant strains in the rhizosphere.     

The characterization of the exposure to immune mediated apoptosis and the regulation of immune cytotoxic activity in the environment of a neoplasm and in decidua

Acquiring the immune-mediated apoptosis and the ability to regulate the cytotoxic immune response are the main phenomena playing fundamental roles in such situations as neoplasm survival and creation of immune tolerance during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate these phenomena through the evaluation of metallothionein and RCAS1 proteins in neoplasm and its healthy environment (clear surgical margin), physiological conditions in placenta and its environment (decidua) and the comparison to non-neoplasmatic lesions originating from the environment (nasal polyps, endometriosis). We have shown that the growth of RCAS1 expression was simultaneous to the infiltration of activated immunological cells of tumor environment as well as decidua. The activity of immunological cells was in our study selectively suppressed. Metallothionein expression growth was also observed in healthy tumors stroma and in decidua probably in response to the growing cytotoxic activity and tumor spread. Alterations in RCAS1 and Metallothionein expression seem to be associated with local immune dysfunction in nasal polyps and endometriosis. In conclusion, the ability to compensate the growing cytotoxic immune response is physiologically observed in decidua, the lost of this ability in tumor environment might participate in the development of tumor spread.     

The expression of nifB gene from Herbaspirillum seropedicae is dependent upon the NifA and RpoN proteins

The putative nifB promoter region of Herbaspirillum seropedicae contained two sequences homologous to NifA-binding site and a -24/-12 type promoter. A nifB::lacZ fusion was assayed in the backgrounds of both Escherichia coli and H. seropedicae. In E. coli, the expression of nifB::lacZ occurred only in the presence of functional rpoN and Klebsiella pneumoniae nifA genes. In addition, the integration host factor (IHF) stimulated the expression of the nifB::lacZ fusion in this background. In H. seropedicae, nifB expression occurred only in the absence of ammonium and under low levels of oxygen, and it was shown to be strictly dependent on NifA. DNA band shift experiments showed that purified K. pneumoniae RpoN and E. coli IHF proteins were capable of binding to the nifB promoter region, and in vivo dimethylsulfate footprinting showed that NifA binds to both NifA-binding sites. These results strongly suggest that the expression of the nifB promoter of H. seropedicae is dependent on the NifA and RpoN proteins and that the IHF protein stimulates NifA activation of nifB promoter.