Objective: About 40 % cases of lumbosacral pain has source in intervertebral disc. Degeneration and nucleus pulposus dehydration can produce tears in the annulus that stimulates growth irrigation and nocioceptors formation at this level and this could be the cause of discogenic pain. Intradiscal radiofrecuency (Rf) has 2B± evidence level for the discogenic pain relief. Our goal was to test if addition of intradiscal ozone to intradiscal Rf treatment could improve outcomes. Material and methods: Observational prospective study in which fifty-one patients with discogenic pain were treated. Inclusion criteria: a) Pain's evolution higher than eight months; b) VAS higher than seven; c) non radicular pain characteristics; d) lumbosacral pain with uni-or bilateral buttock irradiation; e) without response to pharmacologic and interventional treatment; f) discal degeneration o presence of a high-intensity zone in RM; g) discography with 30 % ozone: Not evidence of fuga to epidural space with addition of 3-8 ml ozone in nucleus pulposus. Patients were randomized in three groups: A-Just intradiscal ozone (3-8 ml). B-Intradiscal ozone and next RfP (2 Hz, 10 miliseg, 60 V) for 15 minutes (Neurotherm). C-Intradiscal-Pulsed Rf (with same parameters). Pulsed Rf parameters were recorded during the procedure: impedance, temperature, voltage and mA. Patients were evaluated at three and twelve months of the technique. Parameters evaluated were: EVA, improve percentage (no effect/EVA > 2/EVA > 50 %). Chosen statistical program was SPSS 16.0, t-student for average comparison, p-simple binomial for percentage comparison (p < 0.05). Results: More EVA reduction at three and twelve months on the B group (8.1 ± 1.1/3.7 ± 1.9/4 ± 2.2) (p < 0.01). All patients from B group significantly improve at three months and 88.2 % of the patients' improvement continuous for twelve months (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The association of intradiscal ozone with pulsed Rf can improve the results of the ozone's application in discogenic pain.

<p>O conhecimento da diversidade genética das espécies amazônicas é de grande importância para a domesticação e melhoramento das culturas. Uma das grandes dificuldades em espécies não domesticadas como o camu-camu é a falta de informação sobre a sua variabilidade genética. Devido ao potencial econômico do camu-camu por sua alta produção de vitamina C, foi realizado o presente trabalho, o qual tem como objetivo estimar a variabilidade genética de 139 acessos de camu-camu oriundos de 17 populações de diferentes rios da Amazônia brasileira, conservados no banco de germoplasma (BAG) de camu-camu do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazônia INPA na cidade de Manaus, utilizando marcadores EST-SSR. Oito loci de EST-SSR detectaram um total de 102 alelos com uma média de 12,87 alelos por loco. Os resultados mostram altos níveis de diversidade para todos os locicom uma média de heterozigosidade esperada (H_e) de 0,797 e heterozigosidade total (H_t) de 0,502. As populações apresentaram altos valores de endogamia, o que sugere déficit de heterozigotos como observado pelos baixos valores de Heterozigosidade observada (H₀), provavelmente devido ao isolamento das populações e as distâncias entre elas, o que limita o fluxo gênico favorecendo a endogamia. O valor de diferenciação genética (F_ST) foi alto 0,21 indicando uma alta variabilidade entre as populações. As medidas baseadas nas freqüências alélicas, amostraram uma maior variabilidade dentro das populações (80,3%) que entre as populações (19,7%). Através das distâncias genéticas entre as populações foi encontrada uma grande variação entre os acessos provenientes de populações de Rondônia (Jarú) e os provenientes de Amazonas (Pirarucu e Tarumã) e Roraima (Urubu). No ordenamento pelo método UPGMA, observou-se a formação de dois grupos principais e cinco sub-grupos os quais estão relacionados geograficamente. Os resultados revelaram a utilidade dos marcadores EST-SSR nos estudos de diversidade genética entre acessos do camu-camu. Estes resultados serão úteis no planejamento de novas coletas e conservação do BAG, no analise de variabilidade de populações, assim como no direcionamento de cruzamentos através da escolha de genótipos geneticamente divergentes, o que contribuirá às atividades de melhoramento de camu-camu nos paises amazônicos.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Genetic diversity of the INPA germoplasm bank of camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia [H.B.K.] McVaugh) using microsatellites markers (EST-SSR).</strong><strong></strong></p><p>The knowledge of genetic diversity in Amazonian species is of great importance for domestication and breeding purposes. A great difficulty with non-domesticated species such as “camu-camu” is the lack of information about their genetic variability. Due to the economic potential of camu-camu, a fruit with a high level of vitamin C production, the aim of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity using the molecular markers EST-SSR, to study the genetic variability of 139 accessions from 17 “camu-camu” materiales from different rivers in the Brazilian's Amazon region, preserved at the INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Brasilera) Active Germoplasm Bank (BAG) of “camu-camu” in Manaus. Eight of the EST-SSR polimorfic loci used had 102 alleles detected with an average of 12.87 alleles per locus. The results show high levels of diversity for all loci with an average expected heterocygocity (H_e) of 0.797 and a total heterocygocity (H_t) value of 0.502. Populations had high inbreeding values, suggesting a heterocigotes deficiency as observed by the heterocigocity (H₀), perhaps as result of the great distance and isolation among populations, which limits gene flow and favors inbreeding. A high genetic differentiation value (F_ST) of 0.21, indicates high variability among populations. Measures based on the alleles frequency, showed a larger variability within populations (80.3%) than among populations (19.7%). Genetic distances between populations showed high differences within accessions coming from Rondonia (Jaru) and those from Amazonas (and Pirarucu Tarumã) and Roraima (Urubu). The dendogram made by the UPGMA method, showed two major groups and five subgroups related geographically. Results proved EST-SSR marker's utility in genetic diversity studies among BAG of camu-camu. These results will be useful in planning new collections, germplasm conservation and population variability analysis, as well as directional crossover using divergent genotypes; which will contribute to camu-camu breeding in Amazonian countries. </p>

Exposure to high levels of ionizing γ-radiation leads to irreversible DNA damage and cell death. Here, we establish that exogenous application of electric stimulation enables cellular plasticity to reestablish stem cell activity in tissues damaged by ionizing radiation. We show that sub-threshold direct current stimulation (DCS) rapidly restores pluripotent stem cell populations previously eliminated by lethally γ-irradiated tissues of the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. Our findings reveal that DCS enhances DNA repair, transcriptional activity, and cell cycle entry in post-mitotic cells. These responses involve rapid increases in cytosolic [Ca2+] through the activation of L-type Cav channels and intracellular Ca2+ stores leading to the activation of immediate early genes and ectopic expression of stem cell markers in postmitotic cells. Overall, we show the potential of electric current stimulation to reverse the damaging effects of high dose γ-radiation in adult tissues. Furthermore, our results provide mechanistic insights describing how electric stimulation effectively translates into molecular responses capable of regulating fundamental cellular functions without the need for genetic or pharmacological intervention.

RESUMENCon el objetivo de estimar la diversidad genética de la colección colombiana de germoplasma de Jatropha curcas L., con un total de 246 accesiones colectadas en estado silvestre en distintas regiones del país, se llevó a cabo una caracterización morfológica y agronómica mediante la medición de 27 características genéticas de tipo cualitativo y cuantitativo. El estudio se basó en métodos de estadística multivariada para hallar la variabilidad genética entre las accesiones. Las distancias obtenidas en el dendograma posibilitaron formar 18 grupos al estimar el coeficiente de disimilaridad DICE entre los caracteres asociados a componentes de producción, características agronómicas y descriptores de interés específico, asociados a 10 componentes principales que logran explicar el 78,25 % de la variación. La caracterización morfológica permitió determinar la variabilidad genética dentro de las accesiones en especial los descriptores de disposición de arquitectura de planta, porte de las plantas, longitud de la parte de la rama no lignificada y color del látex. La importancia del estudio radica en el manejo y uso de estas accesiones en programas de mejoramiento genético tradicional o asistido por marcadores moleculares conforme al aprovechamiento de la especie en la agroindustria con fines energéticos en la producción de agrocombustibles.

Comet assay provides the opportunity to detect and characterize DNA strand breaks. Cellular lysing followed by embedding in agarose slide is used to visualize under an electrical current migration patterns corresponding to DNA fragments of different sizes. Here we describe the process of detecting and characterizing DNA damage by Comet assay on planarians, which is a model organism commonly used to understand the process of whole-body regeneration, stem cell regulation, and adult tissue maintenance.