abstract: Introduction: Weight cycling is defined as happening when an individual intentionally loses weight and then subsequently regaining the weight over time. Weight cycling has been associated with a number of adverse health consequences and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The large majority of behaviorally based weight loss interventions typically result in full weight regain often with additional weight gained over time with each repeated bout of weight cycling. Mindful eating, which is defined as a non-judgmental awareness of meal related factors, has been found to influence negative behaviors related to weight cycling. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between mindful eating and weight cycling in middle aged women. Methods: This study used an observational design to explore the relationships and characterize responses to the Mindfulness Eating Questionnaire (MEQ) in 75 overweight women (BMI > 25) who self-reported a history of weight cycling using a weight cycling index (WCI). The participants were divided into three groups: non-cyclers (NC) less than three cycles of 10 lbs; moderate cyclers (MC) at least three weight cycles of 10lbs; and severe cyclers (SC) at least three weight cycles of at least 20lbs. Results: NC were significantly (p < 0.05) younger and had lower BMI than the MC and SC groups. There were no significant differences in any of the MEQ subscores based on WCI groups. There were no significant relationships between WCI and any of the MEQ subscores. Conclusion: The Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), was an insufficient discriminatory measure for use in an observational study on a complex behavior such as weight cycling. Further research to understand eating behavior domains, mindful awareness skills, and risk of weight cycling is needed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Exercise and Wellness 2016

Le Gallid Herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2) est un herpesvirus responsable de lymphomes T chez le poulet qui encode 25 miARN matures regroupés en deux clusters localisés au sein des régions TRL/IRL et TR/IR. Mes travaux ont consisté en l’étude de la régulation transcriptionnelle du cluster mdvl-miR-M8-M10 situé au sein de la région IR5/TR. Le promoteur est constitué d’au moins 2 séquences répétées de 60 pb contenant des éléments de réponse à la protéine p53. Nous avons montré que cette protéine classiquement suppresseur de tumeur était détournée de sa fonction par le virus au profit de l’expression du cluster de miR viraux. D’autre part, le promoteur de l’oncomiR-21 cellulaire, surexprimé au cours de la lymphomagenèse induite par GaHV-2 et localisé au niveau d’une région hyper conservée chez les vertébrés est piloté en partie par les protéines de la famille AP-1. Nous avons montré que l’oncoprotéine virale Meq surexprimée au cours de l’infection transactivait le promoteur de miR-21. Enfin, l’étude des cibles potentielles virale ou cellulaire du miR-21 semble indiquer que ce dernier pourrait être impliqué dans les mécanismes de latence virale et de lymphomagenèse / Gallid herpes virus 2 (GaHV-2) is an alphaherpesvirus involved in lymphomas on chickens that encodes 25 matures miRNA grouped in 2 clusters localized on IRL and TRL regions. In the first hand, I studied the transcriptional regulation of the mdvl-miR-M8-M10 cluster localized on IRS/TRS region. A promoter constituted of at last 2 repeats of 60 bp harbouring p53 responsive element was identified. We showed that tumour suppressive protein p53 was diverted from its function to permit viral miRNA expression. On the second hand, the promoter of the cellular oncomiR-21, over expressed during GaHV-2 lymphomagenesis localized in a region highly conserved on vertebrate and was piloted by AP-1 proteins. We have shown that viral oncoprotein Meq overexpressed during infection transactivated gga-miR-21 promoter. At last, study ofpotential viral and cellular targets for gga-mir-21 seemed to indicate that gga-miR-21could be involved in viral latency establishment and lymphomageneSis.

BACKGROUND:Marek's Disease (MD) is a hyperproliferative, lymphomatous, neoplastic disease of chickens caused by the oncogenic Gallid herpesvirus type 2 (GaHV-2 / MDV). Like several human lymphomas the neoplastic MD lymphoma cells overexpress the CD30 antigen (CD30hi) and are in minority, while the non-neoplastic cells (CD30lo) form the majority of population. MD is a unique natural in-vivo model of human CD30hi lymphomas with both natural CD30hi lymphomagenesis and spontaneous regression. The exact mechanism of neoplastic transformation from CD30lo expressing phenotype to CD30hi expressing neoplastic phenotype is unknown. Here, using microarray, proteomics and Systems Biology modeling / we compare the global gene expression of CD30lo and CD30hi cells to identify key pathways of neoplastic transformation. We propose and test a specific mechanism of neoplastic transformation, and genetic resistance, involving the MDV oncogene Meq, host gene products of the Nuclear Factor Kappa B (NF-kappaB) family and CD30 / we also identify a novel Meq protein interactome.RESULTS:Our results show that a) CD30lo lymphocytes are pre-neoplastic precursors and not merely reactive lymphocytes / b) multiple transformation mechanisms exist and are potentially controlled by Meq / c) Meq can drive a feed-forward cycle that induces CD30 transcription, increases CD30 signaling which activates NF-kappaB, and, in turn, increases Meq transcription / d) Meq transcriptional repression or activation of the CD30 promoter generally correlates with polymorphisms in the CD30 promoter distinguishing MD-lymphoma resistant and susceptible chicken genotypes e) MDV oncoprotein Meq interacts with proteins involved in physiological processes central to lymphomagenesis.CONCLUSIONS:In the context of the MD lymphoma microenvironment (and potentially in other CD30hi lymphomas as well), our results show that the neoplastic transformation is a continuum and the non-neoplastic cells are actually pre-neoplastic precursor cells and not merely immune bystanders. We also show that NF-kappaB is a central player in MDV induced neoplastic transformation of CD30-expressing lymphocytes in vivo. Our results provide insights into molecular mechanisms of neoplastic transformation in MD specifically and also herpesvirus induced lymphoma in general.

Intelligens handlar om förmågan att förstå, lösa problem, planera, tänka abstrakt, bearbeta information, tillgodogöra sig ny kunskap, samt förmågan att anpassa sig till sin miljö. Tidigare studier visar att kvällsmänniskor har högre IQ än morgonmänniskor. En orsak är att intelligenta personer är mer progressiva. Studier visar också att det inte finns könsskillnader i IQ. I denna studie undersöks om det finns ett samband mellan intelligens och dygnsrytm, samt mellan intelligens och faktiska sovtider. Ett annat syfte med denna undersökning var att undersöka om det finns skillnader i intelligens mellan män och kvinnor. Experimentet bistod av 250 deltagare, varav 151 kvinnor och 99 män i åldrarna 15-60. Ravens Standard Progressive Matrices användes för att mäta deltagarnas IQ. Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) användes för att ta reda på deltagarnas dygnsrytm, och deltagarnas faktiska sovtider skrevs i timme och minut. Resultaten visade att kvällsmänniskor har i genomsnitt högre IQ än morgonmänniskor. Ett samband mellan deltagarnas faktiska sovtider och IQ fanns inte. Vidare visade resultaten att det inte finns någon skillnad i IQ mellan män och kvinnor.

Marek?s disease virus serotype-1 (MDV-1) causes T cell lymphomas in chickens. Vaccines prepared from attenuated CVI988/Rispens MDV-1 strain currently offer the best protection. Although attenuated CVI988 is non-oncogenic, it codes for two forms of the MDV-1 oncoprotein Meq (CVI-Meq and CVI-L Meq). In this study, both CVI-Meq proteins, like the Meq protein of Md5 (a very virulent oncogenic strain), transformed Rat-2 and NIH3T3 cells. Both CVI-Meq and CVI-L Meq proteins activated the meq promoter only in the presence of chicken c-Jun (CK-Jun) whereas Md5-Meq activated the same promoter irrespective of CK-Jun co-expression. However, all three Meq proteins bound the meq promoter regardless of whether CK-Jun was co-expressed. We constructed three chimeric Meq proteins, namely, Md5-CVI-Meq, CVI-Md5-Meq, and Md5-CVI-L by exchanging domains between Md5 meq and CVI meq genes. Although these chimeric Meq proteins transactivated the meq promoter, the activation was significantly less than Md5-Meq. The current study indicated amino acid residues at positions 71 and 320 were important for Md5-Meq increase transcription of its own promoter. All three Meq proteins activated the MDV gB, MMP-3 and Bcl-2 promoters and suppressed transcription from the MDV pp38/pp14 bidirectional promoter. CVI-Meq protein in the context of other Md5 genes caused tumors only in 6% of chickens when compared to parental rMd5 (a very virulent strain), which induced lymphomas in 100% of chickens, (Reddy and Lupiani, unpublished data). Taking advantage of these two different phenotypes, we constructed two chimeric Meq proteins, Md5/CVI-Meq and CVI/Md5-Meq, by exchanging DNA binding and transactivation domains between Md5-Meq and CVI-Meq to understand the role of the DNA binding and the transactivation domains of Meq in transformation. rMd5-Md5/CVI-Meq virus caused 100% mortality in chickens and T lymphomas were found at high frequency in the peripheral nerves and various organs such as the heart, spleen, kidney, and gonads. On the other hand, rMd5-CVI/Md5-Meq induced disease in 36% of chickens on average and lesions were primarily in the nerves. Very rarely, lesions were present in the spleen and heart and no tumors were present in the kidney or gonads. Our results suggest that both the DNA binding domain and transactivation domain of Meq could cooperatively determine the nature of lymphomas in chickens.

Marek’s disease (MD) of chickens is an economically important, contagious, neoplastic disease caused by Gallid herpesvirus type 2. All chicken are susceptible to MDV infection and neoplastic transformation, but, only susceptible genotypes develop gross lymphomas. Lymphomas regress in resistant genotypes from 21 days post infection (dpi). The central aims of this study were to understand the mechanisms of non-MHC associated genetic resistance and the molecular pathways of neoplastic transformation. We hypothesized that, a) in resistant chickens at 21 dpi the tissue microenvironment is compatible with cell mediated immunity but in susceptible lines antagonistic to cell mediated immunity, b) resistant genotypes present immunogenic peptides on their MHC class I which while the peptides presented by susceptible genotypes do not induce CTL immunity resulting in tumor progression. We used inbred, MHC homozygous MD resistant (L6) and susceptible (L7) chickens and reductionist methods to test our hypotheses. Our results indicated that the tumor microenvironment is pro T-regulatory in both resistant and susceptible genotypes, and, the host immune response (pro Th-1 in resistant and pro Th-2/T-reg in susceptible) influences the tumor regression or progression. Statistical analysis of MHC class I bound peptides from resistant and susceptible genotypes confirmed that they present the same peptides and perhaps genes outside the MHC locus play an important role in determining resistance. Next, using Systems Biology tools like genomics, proteomics, Gene Ontology modeling and pathway analysis we compared the transcriptome and proteome of neoplastically transformed cells (CD30hi) and non-neoplastically transformed cells (CD30lo) which are the two components of tumor microenvironment. We demonstrated that: a) in situ, CD30lo cells are pre-neoplastic and the proteome involved in transformation and potential mechanisms that may be controlled by MDV oncogene Meq; b) Meq can drive a feed forward loop that induces CD30 transcription and overexpression, increased CD30 signaling, which then activates NFêB and, in turn, increases Meq transcription; c) Meq transcriptional repression or activation from the CD30 promoter generally correlates with a polymorphism in the CD30 promoter between MD-resistant and -susceptible chicken genotypes and so a herpesvirus has evolved to utilize NFêB as a direct transcriptional activator for its oncogene.

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Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2017-11-03T20:50:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JessicaDeAndradePessoa_DISSERT.pdf: 10020769 bytes, checksum: daeec5fd94bc7d6846a49b3d22ead059 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-11-17T19:54:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 JessicaDeAndradePessoa_DISSERT.pdf: 10020769 bytes, checksum: daeec5fd94bc7d6846a49b3d22ead059 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-17T19:54:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JessicaDeAndradePessoa_DISSERT.pdf: 10020769 bytes, checksum: daeec5fd94bc7d6846a49b3d22ead059 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-27 / A ayahuasca ? uma bebida com propriedades psicod?licas amplamente utilizada por popula??es ind?genas da regi?o amaz?nica. Esse preparo cont?m a triptamina psicod?lica N,N-dimetiltriptamina (DMT), e inibidores da monoamina oxidase (iMAO), como harmina e harmalina. A ayahuasca ? considerada um psicod?lico seroton?rgico, e que pode levar a um estado alterado de consci?ncia com semelhan?as a uma experi?ncia on?rica, com intensas altera??es na percep??o, pensamentos, humor, emo??o, e experi?ncias tidas como m?sticas. Correlatos neurais dos efeitos agudos da ayahuasca t?m sido investigados por diferentes t?cnicas de neuroimagem funcional, incluindo a eletroencefalografia (EEG). Neste trabalho exploramos mudan?as espectrais de EEG em 50 volunt?rios saud?veis, utilizando desenho randomizado duplo-cego placebo-controlado. Metade recebeu uma sess?o com a ayahuasca, a outra metade com placebo. Ap?s a administra??o da subst?ncia, os volunt?rios foram monitorados durante 4 horas por um equipamento de EEG. A fim de melhorar a qualidade dos dados, os volunt?rios foram solicitados a realizar 2 tarefas simples em tr?s instantes espec?ficos: antes da ingest?o, 2h e 4 horas ap?s a ingest?o. Na primeira tarefa, deveriam tentar permanecer acordados, e intercalar per?odos de 20 segundos de olhos abertos, e 40 segundos de olhos fechados, durante 5 minutos. Na segunda tarefa, eles deveriam permanecer de olhos fechados, tentando se manter acordados, por outros 5 minutos. A an?lise espectral (2h) revelou que a pot?ncia de alfa ? significativamente menor no grupo ayahuasca que no placebo nas regi?es occipital e temporoparietal ? direita. Encontramos, ainda, aumento significativo em 2h na pot?ncia de teta na regi?o temporoparietal ? direita. A an?lise de correla??o revelou correspond?ncias entre a pot?ncia de alfa (2h) e a pontua??o obtida em duas escalas sens?veis aos efeitos de psicod?licos - a Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS) e o Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). Apresentamos, ainda, achados de tra?ados curiosos, encontrados na inspe??o visual dos tra?ados de EEG. De modo geral, nossos resultados sugerem que a inibi??o das oscila??es alfa em regi?es posteriores do c?rebro desempenha papel importante na experi?ncia psicod?lica, talvez compartilhando mecanismos presentes durante a experi?ncia on?rica. / Ayahuasca is a brew with psychedelic properties largely used by indigenous populations from the Amazon basin. It contains the psychedelic tryptamine N,N-dimethyltriptamine (DMT), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (iMAO), such as harmine and harmaline. Ayahuasca is consid-ered to be a serotonergic psychedelic, capable of inducing an altered state of consciousness with similarities to an oneiric experience, with intense alterations in perception, though, humor, emo-tion, and mystical-type experiences. The neural correlates of its acute effects have been inves-tigated by different neuroimaging techniques, including electroencephalography (EEG). In this study, we explored EEG spectral changes in 48 healthy volunteers using a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Half of the volunteers received ayahuasca, half received placebo. We used an EEG system to monitor all volunteers throughout the dosing session, which lasted approximately 4-hours. Aiming to improve data quality, the volunteers were asked to perform two controlled tasks at three specific moments: before intake, 2h and 4h after intake. For the first task, they alternated moments of eyes open (20 seconds) with eyes closed (40 seconds) for 5 minutes, avoiding falling asleep. During the second task they should keep their eyes closed for another 5 minutes, again avoiding falling asleep. Spectral analysis at 2h after intake shows reduced alpha power, and increased theta and beta in the ayahuasca group with respect to the placebo, mainly in occipital and right temporoparietal regions. Correlation analysis revealed correspondences between the alpha power (2h) and individual scores on two scales used to measure psychedelic effects ? the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS) and the Mystical Experi-ence Questionnaire (MEQ). Additionally, we also present EEG traces with electrophysiological events that might be of importance for the representation of the psychedelic experience. Over-all, our results suggest that the inhibition of alpha oscillations, increased theta and beta in right posterior brain regions play an important role on the psychedelic experience, maybe sharing mechanisms present during the oneiric experience.

The west coast of Taiwan is densely populated with frequently activities for industrial and economic developments. The area is also the site with the existence of Chinese White Dolphin (CWD). Because the arising of ecosystem conservation, the government has attempted to promote the west coast as the marine protected areas (MPAs) for the CWD. Nevertheless, it is required to assess changes of environmental condition and marine environmental quality around the area before the establishment of marine protected areas to the site. If ineffective monitoring is implemented, then the establishment of marine protected areas will be no use. This study was initiated to assess the marine environmental condition by collecting and surveying the long term monitoring data that were published under the government reports and documents to assess the temporal and spatial trends of environmental factors. The data consists of rivers, trench, and marine water or sediments. The study areas covered Taichung County to Yunlin County. The methods for assessing the environmental quality included the use of geographic information system (GIS) for the biological distribution, regression analysis for the trend monitoring of chemical contaminants and physical environmental factors between 2001 ¡V 2010 year surveys. The overall environmental quality within the studied sites were further evaluated for the river pollution index (RPI) and the habitat suitability index (HSI). The survey results of 10 years river monitoring from Taichung to Yunlin showed that Hsin-Huu-Wei River belong to serious pollution with RPI 6.67 value. Yuanlin drainage, one of the six drainages of Chang Hua Coast Industrial Park, belongs to serious pollution with RPI 6.08 value. The RPI results of Six trenches around the Chang-Hua Coast Industrial Park showed that Tien-Wei trench 2, Lun-Wei trench 1, and Ji-An trench belong to mid level of pollution (RPI 3.7~3.975). In the marine water survey, the results showed that the pH values were found lower at southern-ward monitoring station nearby the Formosa Petrochemical Corporation No. 6 Naphtha Cracking Industry site. The nitrogen-NH3 concentrations were found high in Jhuo-Shuei River and No. 6 Naphtha Cracking industry. The concentration of Chlorophyll-a was high in Chang-Hua Coast Industrial Park. In the survey of sediment, Hsin-Huu-Wei River arsenic concentration (As) was over the EPA guidelines, but the concentrations of Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn were within the level of required limits. In the biological survey, the results showed that abundance and species were not evenly distributed with non-comprehensive trends related to the environmental condition or changes. These indicated that biological monitoring survey displayed less important than physical and chemical monitoring for the assessment of man-made pollution or environmental impact from the industrial activities. Overall the monitor sites of river, drainage and trench were differed without a consistent sampling scheme. The offshore sites were sampled greatly in distance, i.e. the farthermost point at four sea miles that had caused difficulties for the comparison of data results collected in different time. It is very uneasy to evaluate the pollution monitoring results. Thus, it is required to develop a long-term environmental quality monitoring plan for the assessment of water quality and sediment of river and marine water with appropriate / consistency sampling method, monitor time and site scheme. Finally, the relevant authorities should implement river remediation to improve the pollution and thereby to maintain the sustainability of marine environment. It is required to establish an integral monitoring program consisting of water and sediment and bio-monitoring in rivers, estuary, and marine to better predict the marine environmental quality. Also the integral and long-term monitoring program should ensure to predict the changes of west coastal and to achieve the effectiveness of marine environment.

The west coast of Taiwan is enriched with biological resources. The areas are the economic development sites with highly industrialized activities and densely population. The government attempts to promote the sites for the establishment of marine protected areas (MPA) because of the existence of Chinese White Dolphin (Sousa Chinensis) which is the most important issues against the sustainable development of economy. Thus, the present study was initiated to assess the marine environmental quality (MEQ) in the west coast of Taiwan. The research consists of the integral monitoring assessments of rivers, estuaries and the marine areas. This work collected, reviewed and analyzed the environmental monitoring data from industrial environmental impact assessment reports and governmental documents for the evaluation of spatial and temporal trends of the west coast areas over the last ten year. The assessment is required to understand the possible interactive problems between the marine protected areas and the marine environmental quality prior to the establishment of MPA acts. The present work consists of the subsection of coastal areas ranging from Hsinchu Country to Taichung Harbour. Ten annual monitoring data including the water quality or sediments of rivers, estuaries, and marine were assessed for the spatial and temporal trends of physical, chemical and biological changes over the years. The approaches for assessing the sites included the geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis method and linear regression of monitoring data. The levels of pollution were also evaluated by using the river pollution index (RPI). The effect of habitat suitability index (HSI) was also calculated. The results of river water quality assessment showed that the Ke-ya-si, Jhong-gang river, and Nan-gan river were seriously polluted with RPI¡Ö6. The river seiment contaminants (Cu¡BNi) were significantly increased in the Ke-ya-si and Jhong-gang river. The water quality of Taichung Port drainage showed serious pollution with low dissolved oxygen (DO), high concentrations of ammonia nitrogen, and high counts of coli-forms. The Taichung Port drainage sediment contaminants (As¡BCu¡BHg¡BZn) had higher than the average of EPA guidelines. This could be resulting from the significant point source of industries pollutants discharged into the river. The significant amounts of waste water discharged into ocean could cause the impacts to the marine environment. The present study demonstrated the impacts to the river monitoring site although the ocean water quality monitoring contaminants were found without signicant changes in all time. This suggests that the ocean water quality monitoring sites were inconsistently sampled at 4 nm away from the coast which caused the dilution of contaminant concentrations and affecting the monitoring effectiveness. The sediment contaminants in Taichung Port monitoring site showed with the exception of appearing unusual change. The results also showed that there is lack of bio-monitoring program carried out in rivers, estuary, and marine that are imperatively needed to resolve the ineffective sampling protocol implemented in the current coastal environmental monitoring. This is owing to the non unified for authorization between the municipality and environmental bureau. The Canada Ocean Acts on assessing the water and sediment and bio-monitoring in rivers, estuary, and marine as a whole concept were compared with the present study. Finally, the relevant authorities should implement river remediation to improve the pollution and thereby to maintain the sustainability of marine environment. It is needed to establish an integral monitoring program consisting of water and sediment and bio-monitoring in rivers, estuary, and marine to better predict the marine environmental quality. Also the integral and long-term monitoring program should ensure to predict the changes of west coastal and to achieve the effectiveness of marine management.