RESUMO
Background: Children with achondroplasia (ACH) appear to lack a pubertal growth spurt in height.Aim To explore the growth spurt in height and its segments sitting height and leg length, in a large sample of ACH cases using growth curve modelling.Subjects and methods: Height and sitting height were measured longitudinally in ACH children, and the data were analysed using the SITAR (SuperImposition by Translation and Rotation) growth model, which estimates a mean growth curve and random effects for individuals defining differences in size, pubertal timing and intensity.Results: Out of 402 ACH children, 85 boys and 75 girls aged 7-20 years had respectively 529 and 454 measurements of height and sitting height, with leg length calculated by difference. SITAR analysis identified peaks in mean height velocity at 13.3 and 11.3 years in boys and girls, with peak velocities of 4.3 and 4.4 cm/year. Mean peak velocity for sitting height was 3.0 cm/year, but leg length showed no peak. The SITAR models explained 92% to 99% of the cross-sectional variance.Conclusion: ACH children do experience a growth spurt in puberty, but only half that of control children. The spurt is due entirely to sitting height, with no leg length spurt.
Assuntos
Acondroplasia/fisiopatologia , Estatura/fisiologia , Crescimento , Perna (Membro)/fisiologia , Puberdade , Postura Sentada , Adolescente , Argentina , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Stress coping is highly relevant during childhood. This study analyses how the participation in a behavioral intervention involving mindfulness-based practices and empathic collaboration activities impact on diurnal cortisol rhythm and social integration in children. In both experimental and waitlist groups, we evaluated before and after the intervention: daily stress, by sampling salivary cortisol at three measurement time-points, and social integration, assessed by a social preference index. Daily average cortisol (DAC) and the area under the curve (AUC) differed when comparing pre-post intervention values in both groups: in the experimental group these measures decreased while in the waitlist group DAC and AUC increased. At the end of the intervention, the experimental group showed an enhancement in the social preference index whereas this parameter diminished in the waitlist group. This kind of behavioral intervention seems to be effective at reducing daily stress and improving social integration in Primary School children.
Assuntos
Atenção Plena , Saliva , Criança , Humanos , Hidrocortisona , Instituições Acadêmicas , Integração Social , Estresse Psicológico/terapiaRESUMO
In this study, we explore how an invasive social wasp, Vespula germanica (F.), deals with contextual changes while searching for a food source that is no longer available. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of different degrees of context modification on wasp behavior. Learning sessions consisted of a variable number of feeding trials during which an individual wasp fed from a landmark array made up of a feeder surrounded by four cylinders of the same color. The food and cylinders were subsequently removed from the training site, and this learned landmark array was modified in such a way that information relating to color and/or location of the resulting feeding arrays varied from that previously learned. The results indicate that the color most recently associated with food is prioritized over a formerly learned color, and this pattern is also maintained when wasps have learned the alternative color during a higher number of feeding experiences. This highlights the high plasticity with which V. germanica responds to unpredictable contextual changes while foraging.
Assuntos
Comportamento Apetitivo , Sinais (Psicologia) , Comportamento Alimentar , Vespas , Animais , BovinosRESUMO
UNLABELLED: In the last decade, most investigators found that growth measured on a daily or weekly basis is a non-linear process, but its precise pattern has not yet been fully determined. Data are particularly scarce during puberty. On this basis we evaluated the daily growth in 10 healthy girls during their adolescent growth spurt with replicated height measurements over a period of 128-150 days. The technical error of measurement in each girl varied between 0.08 and 0.12 cm. A jump-preserving smoothing technique based on the technical error with a hard rejection criterion was used. Growth was defined as any increment between two consecutive smoothed values greater than 6 times the standard deviation of the difference of two consecutive smoothed values under the non-growth (stasis) assumption. Steep changes in height were conventionally defined as any 1-day increment greater than 0.3 cm. RESULTS: All girls showed stasis periods, steep changes and days with a continuous growth with a wide range of daily increments in height. The number of stasis periods in each girl varied between three and seven, lasting between 7 and 22 consecutive days. The number of steep changes in each girl ranged between one and four with a mean amplitude between 0.37 and 0.52 cm. The sum of these steep changes calculated in each girl as a percentage of total growth during the study period ranged from 15.3 to 42.9%; the remaining growth was due to continuous growth. Rhythms or cycles were not found. CONCLUSION: Short-term growth during the pubertal growth spurt in these healthy girls is an irregular and discontinuous process, composed of three types of events: stasis, steep changes and continuous growth periods with a wide individual range of daily height increments.
Assuntos
Estatura , Crescimento , Criança , Feminino , HumanosRESUMO
The socialwasp Vespula germanica (F.) is a serious pest in many regions it has invaded. Control programs to reduce its populations are commonly based on the use of poison baits. These baits also attract nonpestiferous invertebrates and vertebrates. In this work we studied the attraction of V. germanica foragers by conspecific worker squashes, comparing the effect of head and abdomen squashes in wasps behavior. We found that head squashes attract V. germanica foragers, elicit landing and transportation to nests. Furthermore, the addition of squashed heads to a protein bait increased attraction. This could be an alternative to improve baiting programs.
Assuntos
Comportamento Animal , Feromônios , Vespas/fisiologia , Animais , CabeçaRESUMO
Two monoclonal antibodies (MnAb) directed against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis were produced for use in indirect immunofluorescence (IFI). The specificity of the antibodies was determined by Dot-blot, Immunoblotting (IB) and IFI onto culture cells infected with C. trachomatis and IFI onto commercial swabs (MRL). The MnAb 2D3 and 3C2 detected LPS and MOMP of C. trachomatis, respectively, by different methods. Neither MnAb showed cross-reactions when other gram-negative bacteria were used as antigens.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Antibacterianos/imunologia , Anticorpos Monoclonais/imunologia , Antígenos de Bactérias/imunologia , Chlamydia trachomatis/imunologia , Lipopolissacarídeos/imunologia , Porinas/imunologia , Animais , Anticorpos Antibacterianos/isolamento & purificação , Anticorpos Monoclonais/isolamento & purificação , Especificidade de Anticorpos , Linhagem Celular , Reações Cruzadas , Feminino , Técnica Indireta de Fluorescência para Anticorpo , Bactérias Gram-Negativas/imunologia , Humanos , Hibridomas/imunologia , Immunoblotting/métodos , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB CRESUMO
Two monoclonal antibodies (MnAb) directed against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis were produced for use in indirect immunofluorescence (IFI). The specificity of the antibodies was determined by Dot-blot, Immunoblotting (IB) and IFI onto culture cells infected with C. trachomatis and IFI onto commercial swabs (MRL). The MnAb 2D3 and 3C2 detected LPS and MOMP of C. trachomatis, respectively, by different methods. Neither MnAb showed cross-reactions when other gram-negative bacteria were used as antigens.
RESUMO
Two monoclonal antibodies (MnAb) directed against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis were produced for use in indirect immunofluorescence (IFI). The specificity of the antibodies was determined by Dot-blot, Immunoblotting (IB) and IFI onto culture cells infected with C. trachomatis and IFI onto commercial swabs (MRL). The MnAb 2D3 and 3C2 detected LPS and MOMP of C. trachomatis, respectively, by different methods. Neither MnAb showed cross-reactions when other gram-negative bacteria were used as antigens.
RESUMO
Differences between reported and properly measured parental height were evaluated in 82 mothers and 62 fathers attending either of two growth clinics in Buenos Aires city. Measured height was adjusted to its physiological decline with age. A significant trend towards overestimation of mother's and father's self stature and of mothers' report of their husband's stature was found in the private clinic (PRC). Variances of differences between reported and measured height were significantly greater in mothers attending the clinic of the public hospital (PUC), thus suggesting more inaccurate estimations in lower-class families. Ranges of differences were 5.0/-4.8 and 5.6/-5.8 cm for mothers' and fathers' self-estimations in the PRC. Figures for the PUC were 12.2/-6.7 and 5.0/-5.9 cm respectively. Ranges of differences in mothers' report of their husbands' heights were 5.1/-1.7 (PRC) and 9.4/-14.6 cm (PUC). Partial regression and correlation coefficients showed a significant trend of taller parents to be more inaccurate in their reporting. There were neither age nor sex influences on the accuracy or parental estimations. Individual variations in the errors found show the importance of measuring actual parental height for growth assessment in a clinical setting.