Composition of the Montezuma Quail’s Diet in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas

The Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) is a popular game bird and an indicator species of oak-pine savannas in the northern part of its range. In Arizona and New Mexico, USA, robust populations allow for a hunting season from mid-November through mid-February. However, there is no open hunting season for this quail in Texas, USA. Data on the Montezuma quail’s diet can provide new information and improve management of the species. Our objective was to analyze the diet composition of the Montezuma quail in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Specimens were collected by hunters in Arizona and New Mexico during 2016–2020 seasons and by researchers during 2018–2020 winter and spring seasons in Texas. We estimated the diet composition by macrohistological analysis of the collected quail crops. We found a high variety of food items: 178 items or morphospecies in crops (n = 175), from which 110 and 66 items were of plant and animal origin, respectively, and 2 unidentified items. We found an average (± standard error) of 5.89 ± 0.42 items/crop (range = 0–22) in Arizona (n = 107) samples, 4.15 ± 0.99 items/crop (range = 1–13) in New Mexico (n = 13), and 4.38 ± 0.40 items/crop (range = 1–12) in Texas (n = 55). Winter diet of Montezuma quail in Arizona was mainly represented by bulbs of Oxalis spp. (35.22% of dry weight), bulbs and rhizomes of Cyperus spp. (30.92%), acorns (Quercus spp.; 7.17%), and tepari beans (Phaseolus acutifolius; 6.50%). Winter diet in New Mexico consisted mainly of bulbs of Cyperus spp. (64.13%), beans of Macroptilium spp. (15.82%), and Panicum hallii grains (10.11%). In Texas, winter diet consisted mostly of rhizomes and bulbs of Cyperus spp. (28.17%), Rhynchosia senna beans (22.49%), P. hallii grains (19.54%), Allium wild onions (8.58%), and Cylindropuntia imbricata seeds (4.16%). The Montezuma quail’s spring diet in Texas consisted mainly of rhizomes and bulbs of Cyperus spp. (61.64%) and bulbs of Oxalis spp. (19.46%). The Montezuma quail diet changes in composition and proportion according to the site and season, but bulbs and rhizomes of Cyperus spp. are the predominant food items in all 3 states. This work provides novel information about the winter and spring diet of Montezuma quail in Texas. Information about Montezuma quail diet at several temporal and geographic scales will prove to be highly relevant to implement better management and conservation strategies in the northern edge of the species’ range

Synthesis, Bioavailability, and Cytotoxicity Studies

Funding Information: This work was supported by Portuguese funds from FCT/MCTES through the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry—LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020) and the project numbers PTDC/QUI-QOR/32406/2017 and PTDC/EAM-AMB/2023/2021. Ana R. Jesus and Ana Rita C. Duarte acknowledge the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No ERC-2016-CoG 725034. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Thyroid diseases affect a considerable portion of the population, with hypothyroidism being one of the most commonly reported thyroid diseases. Levothyroxine (T4) is clinically used to treat hypothyroidism and suppress thyroid stimulating hormone secretion in other thyroid diseases. In this work, an attempt to improve T4 solubility is made through the synthesis of ionic liquids (ILs) based on this drug. In this context, [Na][T4] was combined with choline [Ch]+ and 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium [C2OHMiM]+ cations in order to prepare the desired T4-ILs. All compounds were characterized by NMR, ATR-FTIR, elemental analysis, and DSC, aiming to check their chemical structure, purities, and thermal properties. The serum, water, and PBS solubilities of the T4-ILs were compared to [Na][T4], as well as the permeability assays. It is important to note an improved adsorption capacity, in which no significant cytotoxicity was observed against L929 cells. [C2OHMiM][T4] seems to be a good alternative to the commercial levothyroxine sodium salt with promising bioavailability.publishersversionpublishe

Constituents and antiproliferative activity of extracts from leaves of Croton macrobothrys

Croton macrobothrys Baill, Euphorbiaceae, is a tree from the Atlantic Forest in Southern Brazil, used in traditional medicine and popularly known as "dragon's blood" and "pau-sangue". Leaf n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts were analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity on cell lines 786-0 (kidney), HT-29 (colon), K562 (leukemia), NCI-ADR/RES (drug resistant ovary), NCI-H460 (lung), MCF-7 (mammary), PC-3 (prostate), OVCAR-3 (ovary), U251 (glioma) and UACC-62 (melanoma). The dicloromethane extract exhibited activity against all cell lines at the concentration 25 µg/mL, in particular on cell lines NCI-H460 (GI50 0.33 μg/mL) and K5662 (GI50 0.91 μg/mL). Relevant constituents in dichloromethane extract are the alkaloids corydine and salutaridine, as well as the diterpenes geranylgeraniol and crotonin-derived clerodanes

Constituents and antiproliferative activity of extracts from leaves of croton macrobothrys

Croton macrobothrys Baill, Euphorbiaceae, is a tree from the Atlantic Forest in Southern Brazil, used in traditional medicine and popularly known as "dragon's blood" and "pau-sangue". Leaf n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts were analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity on cell lines 786-0 (kidney), HT-29 (colon), K562 (leukemia), NCI-ADR/RES (drug resistant ovary), NCI-H460 (lung), MCF-7 (mammary), PC-3 (prostate), OVCAR-3 (ovary), U251 (glioma) and UACC-62 (melanoma). The dicloromethane extract exhibited activity against all cell lines at the concentration 25 µg/mL, in particular on cell lines NCI-H460 (GI50 0.33 μg/mL) and K5662 (GI50 0.91 μg/mL). Relevant constituents in dichloromethane extract are the alkaloids corydine and salutaridine, as well as the diterpenes geranylgeraniol and crotonin-derived clerodanes216972977CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPSem informaçãoSem informação08/10595-3; 08/09942-

Constituents and antiproliferative activity of extracts from leaves of Croton macrobothrys

Croton macrobothrys Baill, Euphorbiaceae, is a tree from the Atlantic Forest in Southern Brazil, used in traditional medicine and popularly known as "dragon's blood" and "pau-sangue". Leaf n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts were analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity on cell lines 786-0 (kidney), HT-29 (colon), K562 (leukemia), NCI-ADR/RES (drug resistant ovary), NCI-H460 (lung), MCF-7 (mammary), PC-3 (prostate), OVCAR-3 (ovary), U251 (glioma) and UACC-62 (melanoma). The dicloromethane extract exhibited activity against all cell lines at the concentration 25 µg/mL, in particular on cell lines NCI-H460 (GI50 0.33 μg/mL) and K5662 (GI50 0.91 μg/mL). Relevant constituents in dichloromethane extract are the alkaloids corydine and salutaridine, as well as the diterpenes geranylgeraniol and crotonin-derived clerodanes.21697297

Study about eating habits of higher education students

Introduction: The transition from secondary school to university is associated with many changes, at the social and surrounding influences’ levels, which may be a risk factor for unhealthy lifestyles. It is known that the years spent at the university may be associated with poor eating habits, with levels of fast-food consumption higher than desirable, possibly low intake of fruits and vegetables and breakfast skipping, among others. Objective: This study investigated some eating habits in a sample of students frequenting higher education establishments in the Centre of Portugal. Methods: It was carried out a questionnaire survey of self-response to investigate some of the eating habits of the participants. The questionnaire was applied after all ethical issues were guaranteed and after approval by the ethical committee. The number of valid questionnaires obtained was 670. Results: In the sample evaluated, most of the students revealed satisfactory eating habits, with significant differences between age groups, the area of studies and the practice of high competition sport. A considerable percentage of the participants, 40.8%, ate 5 meals per day and only 0.6% ate less than 3 meals per day. Only 6.6% of the participants indicated that usually do not eat breakfast. In general, the participants’ breakfast included milk (54.0% of positive answers), bread (45.8% of positive answers), cereals (32.7% of positive answers) and coffee (23.9% of positive answers). Regarding lunch, 30.1% of the participants ate soup, 28.4% consumed vegetables, 28.2% ate pasta, 21.6% fish, 16.0% potatoes, 2.5% yoghurt, 15.5% soft juices, 4.3% juices, 23.6% salad, 10.4% chips, 58.2% meat, 38.5% rice, 27.8% fruit, 9.4% a sweet desert and 44.9% drank water. Conclusions: The results pointed to the necessity of improving educational programs which can contribute to improve university students’ eating habits.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metabolic Signatures of Lung Cancer in Biofluids: NMR-Based Metabonomics of Blood Plasma

In this work, the variations in the metabolic profile of blood plasma from lung cancer patients and healthy controls were investigated through NMR-based metabonomics, to assess the potential of this approach for lung cancer screening and diagnosis. PLS-DA modeling of CPMG spectra from plasma, subjected to Monte Carlo Cross Validation, allowed cancer patients to be discriminated from controls with sensitivity and specificity levels of about 90%. Relatively lower HDL and higher VLDL + LDL in the patients' plasma, together with increased lactate and pyruvate and decreased levels of glucose, citrate, formate, acetate, several amino acids (alanine, glutamine, histidine, tyrosine, valine), and methanol, could be detected. These changes were found to be present at initial disease stages and could be related to known cancer biochemical hallmarks, such as enhanced glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and gluconeogenesis, together with suppressed Krebs cycle and reduced lipid catabolism, thus supporting the hypothesis of a systemic metabolic signature for lung cancer. Despite the possible confounding influence of age, smoking habits, and other uncontrolled factors, these results indicate that NMR-based metabonomics of blood plasma can be useful as a screening tool to identify suspicious cases for subsequent, more specific radiological tests, thus contributing to improved disease management.ERDF - Competitive Factors Thematic Operational ProgrammeFCT/PTDC/ QUI/68017/2006FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007439SFRH/BD/ 63430/2009National UNESCO Committee - L'Oréal Medals of Honor for Women in Science 200Portuguese National NMR Network - RNRM

Predicting volleyball serve-reception at group level

In a group-serve-reception task, how does serve-reception become effective? We addressed "who" receives/passes the ball, what task-related variables predict action mode selection and whether the action mode selected was associated with reception efficacy. In 182 serve-receptions we tracked the ball and the receivers' heads with two video-cameras to generate 3D world-coordinates reconstructions. We defined receivers' reception-areas based on Voronoi diagrams (VD). Our analyses of the data showed that this approach was accurate in describing "who" receives the serve in 95.05% of the times. To predict action mode selection, we used variables related to: serve kinematics, receiver's movement and on-court positioning, the relation between receiver and his closest partner, and interactions between receiver-ball and receiver-target. Serve's higher initial velocities together with higher maximum height, as well as smaller longitudinal distances between receiver and target increased the chances for the use of the overhand pass. Conversely, decreasing alignment of the receiver with the ball and the target increased the chances of using the underhand-lateral pass. Finally, the use of the underhand-lateral pass was associated with lower quality receptions. Behavioural variability's relevance for serve-reception training is discussed

Favouritism: exploring the 'uncontrolled' spaces of the leadership experience

In this paper, we argue that a focus on favouritism magnifies a central ethical ambiguity in leadership, both conceptually and in practice. The social process of favouritism can even go unnoticed, or misrecognised if it does not manifest in a form in which it can be either included or excluded from what is (collectively interpreted as) leadership. The leadership literature presents a tension between what is an embodied and relational account of the ethical, on the one hand, and a more dispassionate organisational ‘justice’ emphasis, on the other hand. We conducted 23 semi-structured interviews in eight consultancy companies, four multinationals and four internationals. There were ethical issues at play in the way interviewees thought about favouritism in leadership episodes. This emerged in the fact that they were concerned with visibility and conduct before engaging in favouritism. Our findings illustrate a bricolage of ethical justifications for favouritism, namely utilitarian, justice, and relational. Such findings suggest the ethical ambiguity that lies at the heart of leadership as a concept and a practice