Aromatic Plants in Eurasian Blue Tit Nests: The ‘Nest

The ‘Nest Protection Hypothesis’ suggests that some birds add aromatic plants to their nests to repel or kill ectoparasites. This behavior has been described for several species, including the Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). We studied the reproductive performance, based on 26 nests (in nest boxes), of this species in mixed forested areas of Quercus spp. and Pinus pinea in the Parque Florestal de Monsanto, the largest park of Lisbon, Portugal. The frequency of aromatic plants in nests was compared with frequency of these plants in the study area. The three most frequent aromatic plants (Dittrichia viscosa, Lavandula dentata, Calamintha baetica) in nests were used more than expected from their availability in the study area. We could not reject the null hypothesis that nest survival rate is independent of the presence of aromatic plants in the nest

Comparative characterization of skeletal muscle phenotype in mice during aging and in MANF loss of function conditions

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2023O músculo esquelético sofre uma perda progressiva de massa, função e força com a idade, um processo conhecido como Sarcopénia. O estado de inflamação crónica que acompanha este processo de envelhecimento é um condutor potencial mas subexplorado do envelhecimento do músculo. Num estudo recente, o laboratório Neves/Sousa-Victor descobriu que a MANF, uma proteína da resposta de resistência ao stress e expressa pela maioria dos tecidos do corpo humano, tem uma função imunomoduladora autócrina, promovendo a ativação anti-inflamatória e a resolução dos danos dos tecidos, comprovada em estudos no tecido hepático. Desta forma, com este trabalho, testámos a hipótese de que a inflamação causada pela perda de função da proteína MANF poderá levar a um fenótipo de envelhecimento muscular acelerado. Para isso, analisámos tecidos musculares esqueléticos de diferentes modelos de rato: ratos WT em diferentes idades e ratos LysMCre-MANF de meia-idade, que representam um knockout de um alelo de MANF em células mieloides. Para além disso, estudámos ainda o impacto da suplementação da proteína MANF ao nível do envelhecimento muscular e a sua possível reversão fenotípica. Para efetuar estas análises recorremos à sua caracterização histológica e bioquímica. Desta forma, concluímos que a perda de função do MANF nas células mieloides conduz a um fenótipo de envelhecimento muscular acelerado. Foi ainda possível identificar uma citocina, a Osteopontina, comum ao processo de envelhecimento e à perda de MANF. Estatisticamente, a injeção direta de MANF não demonstrou relevância contudo, fenotipicamente, é possível observar alterações inflamatórias locais.The skeletal muscle suffers a progressive loss of mass and function/strength with age, a process known as Sarcopenia. The state of chronic inflammation that accompanies this aging process is a potential but underexplored driver of muscle aging. In a recent study, the Neves/Sousa-Victor lab discovered that MANF, a stress responsive protein expressed by most tissues of the human body, has an autocrine immunomodulatory function, promoting anti-inflammatory activation and resolution of tissue damage, proved in studies in the liver tissue. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that inflammation driven by MANF loss of function could lead to a phenotype of accelerated muscle aging. We analyzed skeletal muscle tissue from different mouse models including WT mice at different ages and Middle-aged LysMCre-MANF fl mice, representing a tissue-specific conditional knockout allele of MANF in myeloid cells. In addition, we also studied the impact of MANF protein supplementation on muscle aging and its possible phenotypic reversal. To perform these analyses, we resorted to histological and biochemical characterization. In this way, we conclude that the loss of function of MANF in myeloid cells leads to some features of muscle aging, including increased macrophage infiltrates, fibrosis and increased markers of oxidative stress. It was also possible to identify a cytokine, Osteopontin, up regulated both in aging process and in the loss of MANF condition. The analysis of MANF supplementation in aged muscles did not result in significant differences in the parameters analyzed, however, the injury effects produced by the repeated injections precludes a more rigorous analysis of the results

The Coparenting Relationship Scale—Father’s Prenatal Version

"Published online: 27 June 2018"This study aimed to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Coparenting Relationship Scale when administered in fathers during pregnancy. During the first trimester of a partner’s pregnancy, 91 primiparous fathers completed the Coparenting Relationship Scale—Father’s Prenatal Version (CRS-FPV), and self-report measures of depressive and anxious symptoms, adult attachment, and partner’s relationship quality. The CRS-FPV revealed good internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: lack of coparenting support, coparenting conflict, coparenting disagreement, and coparenting undermining. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good model fit. Significant associations between the CRSFPV and the original CRS subscales were found. Hypothesized associations between the CRS-FPV subscales and individual (depressive and anxious symptoms and adult attachment) and dyadic (partner’s relationship quality) constructs were also significant. The present study suggested that the CRS-FPV is a reliable multidimensional measure to assess coparenting in fathers during pregnancy.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). This study was also supported by FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade - COMPETE and by National Funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under the project PTDC/SAU/SAP/116738/2010.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An intact signal peptide on dengue virus E protein enhances immunogenicity for CD8+ T cells and antibody when expressed from modified vaccinia Ankara

Dengue is a global public health concern and this is aggravated by a lack of vaccines or antiviral therapies. Despite the well-known role of CD8(+) T cells in the immunopathogenesis of Dengue virus (DENV), only recent studies have highlighted the importance of this arm of the immune response in protection against the disease. Thus, the majority of DENV vaccine candidates are designed to achieve protective titers of neutralizing antibodies, with less regard for cellular responses. Here, we used a mouse model to investigate CD8(+) T cell and humoral responses to a set of potential DENV vaccines based on recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA). To enable this study, we identified two CD8(+) T cell epitopes in the DENV-3 E protein in C57BL/6 mice. Using these we found that all the rMVA vaccines elicited DENV-specific CD8(+) T cells that were cytotoxic in vivo and polyfunctional in vitro. Moreover, vaccines expressing the E protein with an intact signal peptide sequence elicited more DENV-specific CD8(+) T cells than those expressing E proteins in the cytoplasm. Significantly, it was these same ER-targeted E protein vaccines that elicited antibody responses. Our results support the further development of rMVA vaccines expressing DENV E proteins and add to the tools available for dengue vaccine development.Parts of this work were supported by the InstitutoNacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Vacinas–INCTV (National Insti-tute of Science and Technology of Vaccines) and by a FAPEMIGPPM grant (CBB, PPM-00461-11). BRQ was a CAPES/PDSE fellow-ship recipient (8815-11-9). FGF is a CNPq fellowship recipient. DCTis an ARC Future Fellow (FT110100310)

Integrating hydraulic modelling and GIS for wastewater systems management: a case study

The increasing costs related to operation and maintenance of urban wastewater systems has led to a special attention of utilities in promoting studies to address the key problem of water infiltration, inflow and improper connections entering the separate drainage networks. This is a common and hard to predict operational situation that needs to be identified and minimized as it negatively affects the managerial conditions of the network and the downstream wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) efficiency. Management difficulties in separate drainage networks seldom occur when unexpected groundwater inflow, stormwater infiltration, and flows from improper connections enter into the dedicated sanitary sewer systems. Although the consequences that improper flows may have on wastewater systems are known, the problem is difficult to locate and quantify. The use of modelling tools is of special relevance to the planning, management and rehabilitation of these types of systems, which can be very useful for: (i) evaluating the capacity of existing systems in real time; (ii) testing alternative solutions to solve problems detected; or testing different procedures to operate the systems in extreme events scenarios. The implementation of mathematical models for determining the hydrodynamics behaviour of dry-weather and wet-weather flows in sewers was applied in a small urban wastewater network of the city of Braga in Portugal (Figure 1). The free user program US EPA SWMM was applied with the integration of GIS InterAqua information related to the wastewater collection system

Integrating hydraulic modelling and GIS for wastewater systems management: a case study

The increasing costs related to operation and maintenance of urban wastewater systems has led to a special attention of utilities in promoting studies to address the key problem of water infiltration, inflow and improper connections entering the separate drainage networks. This is a common and hard to predict operational situation that needs to be identified and minimized as it negatively affects the managerial conditions of the network and the downstream wastewater treatment plant efficiency. The implementation of mathematical models for determining the hydrodynamics behaviour of dry weather and wet weather flows in sewers appears to be a sound methodology to identify the causes for those adverse management conditions. This methodology was applied in a small urban wastewater network of the city of Braga (Portugal). The free user program USEPA SWMM was applied with the integration of GIS information related to the wastewater collection system

Four-year monthly sediment deposition on turbid southwestern Atlantic coral reefs, with a comparison of benthic assemblages

A sedimentação é freqüentemente relacionada a estresse em recifes de coral. Os recifes do Atlântico sul ocidental possuem grande sedimentação, entretanto carecem de séries temporais das taxas de deposição de sedimento. Foram avaliadas estas taxas e a composição carbonática do sedimento, além da cobertura de corais e zoantídeos em seis recifes brasileiros durante quatro anos consecutivos. A deposição variou de zero a 233 mg cm-2 dia-1, com picos entre agosto e dezembro e médias anuais variando de nove a 104 mg cm-2 dia-1. As taxas de deposição apresentaram correlação com o vento, indicando que a ressuspensão deve ser o fator preponderante. A contribuição do carbonato variou de 38% a 90%, com dois locais apresentando diferenciação sazonal. As comunidades bênticas foram similares entre locais, entretanto as análises sugerem freqüencias diferenciadas para cada local. Não houve correlação significativa entre sedimentação e a comunidade bêntica. Entretanto, maior cobertura de Palythoa caribaeorum normalmente ocorreu em áreas de maior sedimentação. Nossos resultados não corroboraram resultados prévios sugerindo que 10 mg cm-2 dia-1 seria "limite crítico para sobrevivência" dos corais. Recifes brasileiros podem estar associados a ambientes de alta deposição de sedimento com elevadas frações carbonáticas, o que não impede o desenvolvimento das comunidades recifais do Atlântico sul ocidental.High sedimentation is often related to stress in coral reef communities. Most southwestern Atlantic reefs are characterized by high sedimentation. However, there are no temporal series of sediment deposition rates. We evaluated sediment deposition, the sediment carbonate composition and coral and zoanthid covers on six reefs in Brazil over four-years. Sediment deposition rates varied from near zero to 233 mg cm-2 day-1, with peaks between August and December, and yearly averages ranging from nine to 104 mg cm-2 day-1. Deposition rates presented site-specific correlations with wind, indicating that resuspension must be a major factor. The presence of carbonates varied from 38% to 90%, with two sites showing seasonal differences. Benthic communities were fairly similar among sites, but the analyses suggested particular frequencies at each site. There was no significant correlation between sediment and benthic communities. However, Palythoa caribaeorum usually occur in high sediment deposition areas. Our results did not corroborate previous data that suggested that a 10 mg cm-2 day-1 would be a "critical limit for coral survival". Some coral reefs may be associated with high sedimentation environments including carbonatic fractions, but which does not per se hinder the development of southwestern Atlantic coral reef communities