Ageing perception in seniors’ formal caregivers

This paper explores the ageing perception of a group of seniors’ caregiver workers, particularly those who have direct contact with the elderly while performing their tasks. Therefore, we analyze the variables that influence this perception and the ones that can be good predictors. One hundred and forty-eight individuals took part in this study (a hundred and thirty- five females and twelve males) with ages between twentyone and sixty-five years old. It was applied the Portuguese versions of the tests Ageing Perception Questionnaire, the Self-Concept Scale (TSCS:2) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The results showed that the ageing perception is more negative as age advances. On the other hand, individuals with higher education, training in the health field or with a stronger self-concept have a more positive ageing perception. The studied variables that best predict the emotional representation for ageing are the academic qualifications and the academic self-concept.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bioremediation on anthropogenic affected areas: Ectomycorrhizal and plant growth bacteria as promoters of pine establishment

The recovery of damaged areas due to inadequate farming policies and increased industrial sediment deposition, have contaminated not only soil and surrounding areas but also other natural resources. The potential use of disturbed sites for agriculture and forestry is jeopardised and their remediation is critical and expensive. The utilization of biotechnological tools, such as plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) and ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM) could help remediation of such soils as they can be used as plant facilitators for land recovery. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of PGPB and ECM to enhance the growth of Pinus pinaster in antropogenic sediments and forest soil. Pine seedlings were inoculated with Suillus bovinus, Pisolithus tinctorius and Paxillus involutus, and co-inocualted with Bacillus spp. and Mesorhizobium spp. Plants were harvested after 6 month growth and parametric and nutritional data determined. Results show that P. involutus increased seedling growth(height) in industrial sediments soil, whereas in forest soil, plant performance was higher with S. bovinus. The effect of inoculation on the fungal communityin seedling roots and bacterial rhizosphere was also analysed by PCR-DGGE and differences arose between inoculated and uninoculated soil, indicating that PGPB and ECM may significantly influence the plant growth performance over a period of time. The study shows that PGPB and ECM fungi may be used as a biotechnology tool contributing to the successful plant establishment in disturbed environments

Mirandesa breed calves: growth performance and carcass characterization affected by sex and livestock production system

12 páginas, 8 tablas, 2 figuras.-- Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicenseThe effect of sex and livestock production system (LPS) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of Mirandesa breed calves was studied. A total of 2,263 and 60 animals for growth performance and carcass characteristics, respectively were used. Initially, the suitability of several equations to describe the growth of cattle from the Mirandesa variety was studied. In all situations, mathematical models were formulated with parameters of clear biological meaning. Bertalanffy and Gompertz equations were the most satisfactory equations to model the growth of males and females, respectively. Calves from traditional system were 68.61 kg heavier than animals from extensive system. On the other hand, calves from traditional systems showed (P<0.01) higher dressing percentage compared to animals from extensive system. There were significant differences for all morphometric parameters by LPS effect with the exception of internal depth pf chest, whereas sex effect had less importance. The LPS had statistically significant effect in all individual joints in the front quarter and hind quarter with the exception of sirloin and eye of round for front quarter and shoulder and the sum of chuck plus neck in the hind quarter. Finally, the LPS had statistically significant effect in all components of fifth quarter, with the exception of intestines, liver, tail and spleen, whereas sex effect only affected heart proportionPeer reviewe

Tree breeding and mycorrhizal symbiosis as important tools in forestation processes

Higher growth rate and morphological traits have been the major criteria for selecting trees classified as improved in breeding programs. The symbiotic associations between P. pinaster and ectomycorrhizal fungi can be an effective approach to enhance plant development. The aim of this work was to assess whether the establishment of mycorrhizal symbiosis at nursery stage was affected by tree breeding. P. pinaster improved and non-improved seedlings were inoculated with compatible ectomycorrhizal fungi: Suillus bovinus, Pisolithus tinctorius or Rhizopogon roseolus, and grown in individual cells containing forest soil, in a commercial forest nursery. Growth and nutritional traits, colonisation parameters and the fungal community established were assessed. R. roseolus and P. tinctorius were the most efficient isolates in promoting plant development. Inoculated improved saplings had an overall superior development than their non-improved counterparts, with up to a 4.9-fold in root dry weight and a 13.6-fold increase in the total number of ectomycorrhizal root tips. Differences in fungal community were revealed through the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profile of each treatment. The results from our study suggest that improved seedlings benefit more from the mycorrhizal association and therefore this could be a valuable biotechnological tool for the nursery production of improved P. pinaster

Microalgae biomass interaction in byopolymer gelled systems

Microalgae are an enormous biological resource, representing one of the most promising sources for the development of new food products and applications. Pea protein/k-carrageenan/starch gels, interesting vegetarian alternatives to dairy desserts, served as model systems to study the addition of microalgal biomass, its effect, and subsequent rheological behaviour. Spirulina and Haematococcus gels presented a markedly different rheological behaviour compared to the control mixed biopolymer gelled system. The present goal is to clarify how these microalgae affect the gelation and interact with each biopolymer present in the complex mixed gel system. Hence, the aim of the present work is to study the effect of Spirulina and Haematococcus microalgal biomass addition on the rheological behaviour of pea protein, k- carrageenan and starch simple gels, as well as in pea protein/k-carrageenan and pea protein/starch systems. The gelation process was monitored in-situ through dynamic oscillatory measurements (temperature, time and frequency sweep tests) for a 24 h maturation period, and rheological results were supported with uorescence optical microscopy observations. The addition of Spirulina and Haematococcus to biopolymer gelled systems induced signi cant changes in the gels’ rheological behaviour and microstructure. In general, it was observed that the gelling mechanism is ruled by the biopolymers, while microalgae seem to be embedded in the gel network acting as active particle llers. The addition of Haematococcus resulted in more structured gels in comparison to the control and Spirulina systems. In the case of k-carrageenan gels, both microalgae induced a large increase in the rheological parameters, which should be related to the high ionic content of microalgal biomass. Spirulina addition on starch systems promoted a decrease in the gels’ rheological parameters. This should be related to the starch gelatinization process, probably by competing for water binding zones during the granules’ hydration proces

Microfluidics-based automated genotyping of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae strain by interdelta sequence typing : an interlaboratory comparasion

High-throughput molecular characterization of microbial isolates requires the application of automated microfluidic electrophoresis. We herein evaluate the factors that affect interlaboratory reproducibility of interdelta sequence typing for Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain delimitation, using microfluidic electrophoresis (Caliper Lab Chip ® ). This approach is necessary for the constitution of bio-databanks, equitable sharing of genotypic data among laboratories, for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of genetic resources. Delta sequences are 300 bp regions flanking retrotransposons Ty1 and Ty2 of S. cerevisiae, occurring also as separate elements dispersed throughout the genome. PCRbased interdelta sequence typing has a high discriminatory power [1], generating polymorphic banding patterns. Our approach included 12 genetically diverse S. cerevisiae strains, two different Taq polymerases (commercial and in-house cloned/prepared) and two different thermal cyclers. PCR amplifications were performed in two laboratories, resulting in a total of 384 electrophoretic banding patterns (32 replicates for each strain). From the combinations between strains, Taq polymerase, thermal cycler and laboratory, a total of 60 different groups was obtained. Data were analyzed in terms of the fragment sizes (bp), absolute and relative concentrations of each band. Due to the lack of normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests) and the homogeneity of variances (Levene's test), the ANOVA test was not applied. The nonparametric alternative, Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used to test the equality of the medians among the different groups. By rejecting the null hypotheses with a p-value < 0.001, we performed multiple pairwise comparisons using the method proposed by Conover and Iman [2], based on a t-Student distribution to search for the origins of the differences. The data obtained revealed that both the performance of experiments in two independent laboratories and the use of different Taq polymerases introduced significant variability between the respective replicates. The use of in-house cloned/prepared Taq polymerase was associated with highest variability, pointing to the need for careful experimental standardization of PCRbased interdelta sequence analysis.Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (PTDC/AGR-ALI/103392/2008)European Community´s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) - grant agreement nº 23245

O psicólogo nos centros de saúde: dos conteúdos semânticos aos problemas de identidade

Neste artigo é apresentado um estudo monogrhfico sobre o Psicólogo Clínico e o seu papel no contexto dos Centros de Saúde. Mais do que chegar a conclusões, tomam-se sobretudo relevantes as sérias questões evidenciadas pelos resultados, no que respeita à identidade Socio-Profissional do psicólogos, à sua formação e às relações que estabelecem com outros profissionais.ABSTRACT: A monographic study concerning Clinic Psychologist’s professional identity is presented. Results showed impact of contact with Health Centers on the mental representations of Psychology for psychologists but not for other professional groups such as physiciens and psychiatrists. Further, it was found a very similar perspective of psychiatrists and psychologists for what concerns psychologist’s image

Succession dynamics of ectomycorrhizal fungi in inoculated Quercus rubra seedlings – a field study

Selected ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi may have a beneficial effect on the establishment of nursery grown seedlings and may influence their survival on the first years. By increasing seedling capacity to capture nutrients, ECM fungi often contribute to a successful plant establishment. We investigated the performance of pre-inoculated Quercus rubra seedlings on a reforestation site and monitored ECM fungal persistence and succession dynamics between selected ECM fungi and native fungal community. Nursery grown Q. rubra seedlings inoculated with a mixture of ECM fungi (Cenococcum geophilum, Hebeloma crustuliniforme, H. mesophaeum, H. velutipes, Paxillus involutus, Scleroderma citrinum) and non-inoculated control oak seedlings, were transplanted to Serra da Cabreira in Northern Portugal. Two years after planting, the subsistence of the inoculated ECM fungi was assessed using ITS-DGGE. Results demonstrated that inoculation with selected ECM fungi at nursery stage promoted the establishment and improved the growth performance of out planted oak seedlings. C. geophilum was significantly associated with inoculated saplings but other ECM fungi species were also found. Moreover, ECM fungal communities of inoculated and non-inoculated samples are significantly different. Further monitoring is required to increase knowledge on the persistence of ECM fungal communities and their succession dynamics