The influence of indol butyric-acid in Prunus laurocerasus L. vegetative propagation

Cherry laurel is very common as an ornamental plant, due to the large glossy leaves, fast growth, and shade and hedging tolerance. The influence of different indol-3- butiric acid (IBA) concentrations (1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 7,500 ppm) was evaluated in early spring 2007. The data was gathered one month after bench cutting plantation. The parameters measured and analyzed were the number of rooted cuttings, the number of cuttings with callus formation and mortality, the mean number of roots (NR) and the mean main root length (MRL), per rooted cutting. The IBA application influenced the rooting percentage, the NR and the MRL, but the results were IBA concentration independent. In P. laurocerasus rooting ranged from 67% and 80%, when IBA was applied, values significantly superior to 37% of rooted cuttings in the control. The highest NR and MRL values were found in the treatment with 7,500 ppm IBA (27.2 of roots per cutting) and with 1,000 ppm IBA (MRL was 24.76 mm), respectively. Significantly lower values were obtained in the control: 5.56 NR and 9.4 mm of MRL. The IBA application significantly increased rooting, the NR and the MRL, with cuttings planted early in Spring, but the parameters were IBA concentration independent

Friction of human skin against different hospital fabrics for different contact conditions

Knowledge on tribology of human skin is essential to improve and optimise surfaces and materials in contact with the skin, as well in the design process of consumer products. Besides that, friction between the human skin and textiles are critical factors in the formation of skin injuries (irritations, abrasions, decubitus and blisters), which are caused if the loads and shear forces are high enough and/or over long periods of time. This factor is of particular importance in bedridden patients since they are not moving about or are confined to wheelchairs (and may be aggravated by incontinence or perspiration). Decubitus ulcers are one of the most frequently reported iatrogenic injuries in developed countries. The risk of developing decubitus ulcers can be predicted by using the “Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Ulcer Risk” that was developed in 1987 [1], and contains 6 areas of risk (cognitiveperceptual, immobility, inactivity, moisture, nutrition, friction/shear), although there are limitations to the use of such tools. The coefficient of friction of textiles against skin is mainly influenced by: the nature of the textile, skin moisture content and ambient humidity. This study will investigate how skin friction (different anatomical regions) varies, rubbing against different type of contacting materials (i.e. synthetic and natural fabrics) under different contact conditions and their relation with the decubitus ulcers formation. The results will be compared with a reference hospital fabric

Effect of crack propagation on crack tip fields

Crack closure influences fatigue crack growth rate and must be included in the design ofcomponents. Plasticity induced crack closure is intimately linked with the crack tip plastic deformation, whichbecomes residual as the crack propagates. The objective here is to study numerically the effect of crackpropagation on crack tip fields. The transient effect observed at the beginning of crack propagation is linked tothe hardening behavior of material. The effect of mesh refinement is studied, and a singular behavior is evident,which is explained by the sharp crack associated with mesh topology, composed of a regular pattern of squareelements. The plastic zone size measured perpendicularly to crack flank in the residual plastic wake is quantifiedand compared with literature models. Finally, the removal of material at the first node behind crack tip withload cycling was observed for plane strain state and some hardening models in plane stress state

Analysis of pancreas histological images for glucose intolerance identificationusing ImageJ-preliminary results

The observation in microscopy of histological sections allows us to evaluate structural differences, in pancreatic cells, between rats with normal glucose tolerance and with glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic) situation. Nevertheless, this pre-diabetic condition implies subtle changes in islets of Langerhans structure. This and the normal variability among sampled cells makes difficult the task of identifying glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic situation) with a low level of error. This paper presents preliminary results in the processing of histological pancreas images with the goal of identifying pre-diabetic situation in Wistar rats. The immediate goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of a classifier based in a morphometric measurement of the histological images and to assess the potential for image based automatic processing and classification. A set of 90 images, were used (58 from rats with normal glucose tolerance, and 32 from pre-diabetic ones). These images were segmented manually using ImageJ. This segmentation and area measurements have been speedup by the application of ImageJ macros which were defined for this purpose. The ratio, between the area of -cells and the islets of Langerhans , was used has the indicator of the prediabetic situation. Considering this feature, a receiver operating characteristic analysis has been performed. True positive rate, vs. false positive rate shows the predicted performance of a binary classifier as its discrimination threshold is varied

II Ciclo de Conferências : Conselho Técnico-Científico: temas atuais em investigação

A obra é constituída pelos resumos das comunicações apresentadas pelos docentes da Escola Superior Agrária do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco e são referentes aos projetos de investigação nos quais estão envolvidos.O atual Conselho Técnico-Científico (CTC) da Escola Superior Agrária de Castelo Branco (ESACB) tomou posse em fevereiro de 2012, tendo decidido dar continuidade ao ciclo de conferências iniciado pelo CTC anterior. Os trabalhos de Investigação, Inovação e Experimentação que foram apresentados demonstram não só o dinamismo e a ligação com a comunidade, como também a preocupação na identificação e resolução de problemas, que acrescentem valor aos produtos e processos que se situam no âmbito das competências desta Escola. Sendo este um objetivo prioritário da missão do IPCB/ESA, a divulgação destas conferências permite chegar a um público mais alargado e abrir caminhos para a concretização de novos projetos, que contribuam de forma efetiva para o desenvolvimento e aumento da competitividade da região e do país

Determinação de canabinóides em amostras de urina por microextração em seringa empacotada e cromatografia gasosa-espetrometria de massa

Poster apresentado em: 12º Encontro Nacional de Cromatografia, Aveiro, 6 a 8 de dezembro de 2022A canábis é a substância ilícita mais frequentemente consumida a nível mundial. Em laboratórios de análise de drogas. A urina é uma das amostras mais utilizadas para a deteção de canabinóides. Nesta matriz biológica é possí -tretahidrocanabinol (THC), principal composto psicoativo presente na cannabis, o ácido 11-nor-9-carboxi- -tretahidrocanabinol (THC-COOH) e ainda o 11-hidroxi- -tetrahydrocannabiol (11-OH-TCH) que são utilizados como marcadores de consumo desta droga de abuso. Este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento e validação de um método para a determinação de cannabidiol (CBD), canabinol (CBN), THC, 11-OH-THC e THC-COOH em urina com recurso à MEPS e à cromatografia gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massas. Após otimização, a metodologia foi validada seguindo normas internacionais de validação para bioanálise. Foi obtida uma linearidade de 1-400 ng/mL para o THC e CBD, de 5-400 ng/mL para CBN e 11-OH-THC e de 10-400 ng/mL para THC-COOH, com um coeficiente de correlação em todos os casos superior a 0,99. As precisões e exatidão inter-dia, intra-dia e intermedia obtidas tiveram coeficientes de variação abaixo dos 15% e uma exatidão inferior ou igual a 15% para todos os compostos em estudo. As recuperações obtidas variaram entre 26% a 85%. Os resultados obtidos permitem afirmar que a técnica proposta apresenta uma excelente sensibilidade (1-10 ng/mL). O método desenvolvido foi ainda aplicado a amostras de indivíduos com suspeita de consumo de canábis. É necessário destacar que o procedimento descrito é o primeiro trabalho que recorre à MEPS combinada com a GC-MS para quantificação de canabinóides em amostras de urina.Apoio financeiro do Laboratório de Fármaco-Toxicologia, projetos CICS-UBI.N/

Laurus nobilis (laurel) aqueous leaf extract's toxicological and anti-tumor activities in HPV16-transgenic mice

Cancers induced by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection remain a significant public health threat, fueling the study of new therapies. Laurel (Laurus nobilis) compounds and extracts recently showed in vitro activity against HPV-transformed cell lines. This work aims to evaluate the in vivo efficacy and hepatic toxicity of a laurel extract in a transgenic mouse model of HPV16-induced cancer. The extract was administered in drinking water (20 mg per animal per day) for three consecutive weeks, using four experimental groups (n = 10) (group I: HPV16−/− without treatment, group II: treated HPV16−/−, group III: HPV16+/− without treatment and group IV: treated HPV16+/−). Following the treatment period, animals were sacrificed and skin samples were used to classify skin lesions histologically. Toxicological parameters included hematological and biochemical blood markers, splenic and hepatic histology and hepatic oxidative stress. The extract did not prevent the progression of HPV16-induced cutaneous lesions in this model. The treated wildtype animals showed mild hepatitis, while transgenic animals suffered weight loss. However, there were no changes concerning hematological, biochemical and hepatic oxidative stress markers.This work was supported by: Integrative Research in Environment, Agro-Chains and Technology no. NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000017, in its line of research entitled ISAC, cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through NORTE 2020 (North Regional Operational Program 2014/2020). European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/ POCI– Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013. This study was also funded by Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro, by the Research Center of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto (CI-IPOP 37-2016), by project POCI-01-0145- FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE), project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and UID/AGR/04033/2013, funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; Rui M. Gil da Costa was funded by grant number SFRH/BPD/85462/2012 from FCT, funded by the Portuguese Government and the Social European Fund. The authors are also grateful to FCT, Portugal and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/ 00690/2013), and to the Interreg España-Portugal for financial support through the project 0377_Iberphenol_6_E.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe