Continuous, high-resolution biospeckle imaging reveals a discrete zone of activity at the root apex that responds to contact with obstacles.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Shining a laser onto biological material produces light speckles termed biospeckles. Patterns of biospeckle activity reflect changes in cell biochemistry, developmental processes and responses to the environment. The aim of this work was to develop methods to investigate the biospeckle activity in roots and to characterize the distribution of its intensity and response to thigmostimuli. METHODS: Biospeckle activity in roots of Zea mays, and also Jatropha curcas and Citrus limonia, was imaged live and in situ using a portable laser and a digital microscope with a spatial resolution of 10 µm per pixel and the ability to capture images every 0.080 s. A procedure incorporating a Fujii algorithm, image restoration using median and Gaussian filters, image segmentation using maximum-entropy threshold methods and the extraction of features using a tracing algorithm followed by spline fitting were developed to obtain quantitative information from images of biospeckle activity. A wavelet transform algorithm was used for spectral decomposition of biospeckle activity and generalized additive models were used to attribute statistical significance to changes in patterns of biospeckle activity. KEY RESULTS: The intensity of biospeckle activity was greatest close to the root apex. Higher frequencies (3-6 Hz) contributed most to the total intensity of biospeckle activity. When a root encountered an obstacle, the intensity of biospeckle activity decreased abruptly throughout the root system. The response became attenuated with repeated thigmostimuli. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that at least one component of root biospeckle activity resulted from a biological process, which is located in the zone of cell division and responds to thigmostimuli. However, neither individual cell division events nor root elongation is likely to be responsible for the patterns of biospeckle activity.

Anorexia nervosa ou doença celíaca? / Anorexia nervosa or celiac disease

Os sintomas gastrointestinais säo comuns nos transtornos alimentares, o que faz com que se torne difícil o diagnóstico de uma ou de outra entidade clínica. Os autores fazem o relato de caso de uma adolescente de 17 anos de idade, que após um ano de acompanhamento com gastroenterologista foi encaminhada para internaçäo em hospital psiquiátrico com suspeita diagnóstica de anorexia nervosa purgativa. Curiosamente, sua sintomatologia clínica sugeria tratar-se desse diagnóstico: perdeu 25 kg desde o início até a procura de ajuda psiquiátrica; o seu índice de massa corpórea de Quetelet (IMC) era de 12,98 kg/m2, tinha vômitos pós-alimentares. No entanto, tudo sem as manifestaçöes psicopatológicas pertinentes a este transtorno. A observaçäo clínica e os exames complementares realizados (anticorpo antiendomísio e endoscopia digestiva alta com biópsia de segunda porçäo do duodeno) levaram a estabelecer o diagnóstico de doença celíaca (DC), com a paciente recebendo alta hospitalar e sendo encaminhada para acompanhamento em serviço de gastroenterologia. Isso nos adverte para a necessidade de uma investigaçäo minuciosa diante de um quadro de apresentaçäo atípica de transtorno alimentar, para que outras patologias näo sejam negligenciadas e o paciente seja beneficiado com diagnóstico e intervençäo precoces