Potential use of Erica andevalensis and Erica australis in phytoremediation of sulphide mine environments: São Domingos, Portugal

The area around the São Domingos copper mine (Iberian Pyrite Belt) is subject of great environmental concern as acid mine water occurs several kilometres downstream of the mine. In addition thousands of tons of mine waste are present. Erica australis and Erica andevalensis, which are two spontaneous plant species of this area, have been studied with regard to their potential for phytostabilization. Soils and plants from São Domingos and from a reference site (Moreanes) were analysed for soil characteristics, chemical element content in soils (total and AB-DTPA bioavailable fraction) and in plants. Superficial and seepage water as well as waste material leachates were also analysed. Seepage water showed high redox potential (mean 481 mV), high conductivity (mean 4337 μS cm−1) and low pH values (mean 2.6), being classified as mining water. Leachate solutions possessed mainly high levels of Fe, Al and SO42−. Soils in the mining area were highly contaminated in Pb, As and Sb. Locally also high values of Cu and Zn were encountered and the soil available fraction of the majority of the elements showed also quite high values. E. andevalensis grows in soils with pH between 3 and 4, whereas E. australis was only found in soils with pH above 3.5. Both species grow spontaneously in soils, highly contaminated with Pb, As and Sb. These plants, even in the non contaminated soils, are Al-tolerant and Mn-accumulators. In contaminated soils these species are also As-tolerant. Considering the tolerant behaviour in extreme environmental conditions, these Erica species may be of major importance for the recovery of the sulphide mining areas, with climate conditions compatible with its breeding and growing, by physical and chemical stabilization of contaminated soils and even waste material

Chronic Q fever with no elevation of inflammatory markers: a case report

Chronic q Fever with no elevation of inflammatory markers: a case report. Boattini M, Almeida A, Moura RB, Abreu J, Santos AS, Toscano Rico M. SourceDepartment of Internal Medicine, St. Marta's Hospital, 1169-024 Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract We describe the case of a 55-year-old man with a biological prosthetic aortic valve who suffered from epigastrium and right hypochondrium pain associated with intermittent night sweats. Liver biopsy showed infectious hepatitis pattern without pathognomonic features. Coxiella burnetii serology was suggestive of chronic Q fever, and modified Duke's criteria for endocarditis were also fulfilled. The authors present a brief literature review concerning chronic Q fever, emphasizing absent previous reports of chronic Q fever with hepatitis and endocarditis and no increase in inflammatory markers

Geochemical behavior of trace elements in the surroundings of Mina de S. Domingos, Alentejo: Tapada and Telheiro sites

Even thought the mining activity in S Domingos finished more than forty years ago, the mining site is still a source of polluting trace elements for soils and sediments downstream the open pit. The present work aims to evaluate the contamination of these soils and sediments. Therefore two sampling areas were selected: one, assumed as non-contaminated (Tapada), is used to access the reference values of the chemical variables for this region, and the other, downstream from the mining site, is affected by the mining activity (Telheiro). The soils and sediments were characterised on the <2 mm fraction, by pH (H2O), organic carbon and free iron oxides content. A total multi element analysis was done on the same fraction. Univariate and multivariate statistics were performed, as well as geochemical mapping using geostatistical interpolation methods. In Telheiro some samples had high levels of trace elements (mainly As, Pb, Sb, and Hg) and very low pH values (minimum 2.66), this is particularly obvious in the samples collected close to the acid mine drainage. In Tapada no contaminated soils were found. The multivariate analysis showed an association between As, Pb and Sb and between Cu and Z

Synthetic Protein Biotechnology approaches for the creation of antimicrobial biopolymers

[Excerpt] The spread of antimicrobials resistant microorganisms has triggered the search for new ways to treat infections. In the present work we explored the ABP-CM4 peptide properties from Bombyx mori for the creation of biopolymers with broad antimicrobial activity. An antimicrobial recombinant protein-based polymer (rPBP) was designed by cloning the DNA sequence coding for ABP-CM4 in frame with the N-terminus of the elastin-like recombinamer consisting of 200 repetitions of the pentamer VPAVG, here named A200. [...]This work was supported by FEDER through POFC – COMPETE by FCT through the project PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014. By the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness (MAT2012-38043-C02-01) and Junta de Castilla y León-JCyL (VA152A12-2 and VA155A12-2), Spain. AC and RM, acknowledge FCT for SFRH/BD/75882/2011 and SFRH-BPD/86470/2012 grants, respectively

Antioxidant properties of diarylamines derivatives of benzo[b]thiophenes and amino acids

Free radical formation is associated with the normal natural metabolism of aerobic cells. The oxygen consumption inherent to cell growth leads to the generation of a series of oxygen free radicals. The interaction of these species with lipid molecules produces new radicals that may interact with biological systems in a cytotoxic manner. Free radicals and their uncontrolled production are responsible for several pathological processes, such as certain tumours (prostate and colon cancers) the reducing properties of diarylamines make them very important as antioxidants, especially as radical scavengers

Severe feed restriction increases permeability of mammary gland cell tight junctions and reduces ethanol stability of milk.

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Search for R-parity Violating Decays of Supersymmetric Particles in e+e- Collisions at LEP

A search, in e^+e^- collisions, for chargino, neutralino, scalar lepton and scalar quark pair-production is performed, without assuming R-parity conservation in decays, in the case that only one of the coupling constants lambda_ijk or lambda''_ijk is non-negligible. No signal is found in data up to a centre-of-mass energy of 208GeV. Limits on the production cross sections and on the masses of supersymmetric particles are derived

Measurement of Bose-Einstein Correlations in e+e- -> W+W- at root(s)=189GeV

We investigate Bose-Einstein correlations (BEC) in W-pair production at root(s)=189GeV using the L3 detector at LEP. We observe BEC between particles from a single W decay in good agreement with those from a light-quark Z decay sample. We investigate their possible existence between particles coming from different W's. No evidence for such inter-W BEC is found

Study of the e+e- -> Ze+e- process at LEP

The cross section of the process e+e- -> Ze+e is measured with 0.7fb^-1 of data collected with the L3 detector at LEP. Decays of the Z boson into quarks and muons are considered at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 183GeV up to 209GeV. The measurements are found to agree with Standard Model predictions, achieving a precision of about 10% for the hadronic channel