1st Natural products application: health, cosmetic and food: book of abstracts

The Mountain Research Center is one of the research groups working within the Polytechnic Institute of Braganza, in Braganza Portugal. Since the foundation of this center in 2003, more than a thousand research items have been published throughout more than 40 international public funding’s, allowing the center to interact internationally with many research groups from the academy and also with the private sector. In all these years, we have had the commitment of disseminating science around the world, creating solid and robust bonds and partnerships with both, academia and industrial innovator, and we are always looking for more challenging collaborations. In this sense, the mountain research center gathers di erent ways to keep evolving our main mission of Science dissemination. In the present moment, where we all are involved in ghting against the current problem the world is facing, we have decided to join the scienti c community adopting the available resources in order to keep the owing communication of our works. Therefore, one of our responses was the creation of the rst edition of the Natural Product Applications Online Congress, which focuses on the dissemination of works involved in the cosmetic, food, and health industries. Thanks to all of you in less than a month the congress reached more than 450 registration from universities and important companies from di erent parts of the world. The NPA congress received and processed more than 200 communications, from which the scienti c committee has selected and referred each of them to their appropriate type for communication considering the limited time we will have ahead. All the submitted works were divided into three main categories, Oral, Pitch, and Poster communications which add them up to our 9 Keynote lectures, and one special oral communication. We could not thank you more for your participations, and we hope to see you next year on the second edition of the Natural Product Applications Congress.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Residência em Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS) : habitat, agroecologia, economia solidária e saúde ecossistêmica : integrando pós-graduação e extensão

Este livro tem como objetivo apresentar os fundamentos e a base do curso multiprofissional em CTS-Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade na modalidade Residência (Pós-Graduação Lato Sensu + Extensão), caracterizado poruma prática pedagógica e de planejamento educacional do tipo PEX–pesquisa associada com ensino e integrada com extensão. A proposta articula social e territorialmente três temáticas interdisciplinares: Habitat (Habitação, Arquitetura, Urbanismo, Ambiente no Campo e na Cidade); Agroecologia (Soberania Alimentar, Agricultura Familiar, Integração Campo e Cidade); Saúde (Vigilância Epidemiológica, Saúde Coletiva, Saúde da Família, Saneamento, Ecossaneamento e Infraestrutura Ecológica) e uma quarta temática transdisciplinar: Trabalho Associado (Economia Solidária, Formação e Educação, Ocupação, Renda e Tecnociência Solidária). Os conteúdos dos capítulos foram desenvolvidos na disciplina de Estudos Especiais em Tecnologia, Ambiente e Sustentabilidade do Programa de Pós-Graduação da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de Brasília (PPG-FAU/UnB), ofertada em 2021, integrada ao Curso de Extensão Fundamentos em Ciência Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS) – Habitat, Agroecologia, Economia Solidária e Saúde Ecossistêmica, uma parceria do Núcleo de Política de Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade(NPCTS/CEAM/UnB) e professores da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (PPG-FAU), da Faculdade de Planaltina (FUP), da Faculdade de Agricultura e Medicina Veterinária (FAV) e CDS/UnB, do curso de Saúde Coletiva da Faculdade de Ceilândia (FCE), da Faculdade de Educação (FE) e do Instituto de Humanas (IH)

Enhanced greenhouse gas emission from exposed sediments along a hydroelectric reservoir during an extreme drought event

An active debate has been underway on the magnitude and duration of carbon (C) emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs, yet little attention has been paid to stochastic C emissions from reservoir sediments during extreme climatic events. A rare opportunity for field measurements of CO2 efflux from a hydroelectric reservoir in Korea during an extreme drought event was used to examine how prolonged droughts can affect microbial organic matter processing and the release of CO2, CH4 and N2O from exposed sediments. Chamber measurements of CO2 efflux along an exposed sediment transect, combined with high-frequency continuous sensor measurements of the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO(2)) in the reservoir surface water, exhibited extraordinary pulses of CO2 from exposed sediments and the turbulent inflowing water in contrast to a small CO2 sink in the main water body of the reservoir and a low efflux of CO2 from the flooded sediment. Significant increases in the production of CO2, CH4 and N2O observed in a laboratory incubation of sediments, together with enhanced activities of phenol oxidase and three hydrolases, indicate a temporary activation of microbial organic matter processing in the drying sediment. The results suggest that drought-triggered pulses of greenhouse gas emission from exposed sediments can offset the C accumulation in reservoir sediments over time scales of years to decades, reversing the trend of declining C emissions from aging reservoirsope

Characterization of the striatal extracellular matrix in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease’s etiology is unknown, although evidence suggests the involvement of oxidative modifications of intracellular components in disease pathobiology. Despite the known involvement of the extracellular matrix in physiology and disease, the influence of oxidative stress on the matrix has been neglected. The chemical modifications that might accumulate in matrix components due to their long half-live and the low amount of extracellular antioxidants could also contribute to the disease and explain ineffective cellular therapies. The enriched striatal extracellular matrix from a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease was characterized by Raman spectroscopy. We found a matrix fingerprint of increased oxalate content and oxidative modifications. To uncover the effects of these changes on brain cells, we morphologically characterized the primary microglia used to repopulate this matrix and further quantified the effects on cellular mechanical stress by an intracellular fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-mechanosensor using the U-2 OS cell line. Our data suggest changes in microglia survival and morphology, and a decrease in cytoskeletal tension in response to the modified matrix from both hemispheres of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned animals. Collectively, these data suggest that the extracellular matrix is modified, and underscore the need for its thorough investigation, which may reveal new ways to improve therapies or may even reveal new therapies.This research was funded by FEDER (Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional) funds through the COMPETE 2020 Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, and Portuguese funds through FCT (ID/BIM/04293/2020), UnIC (UID/IC/00051/2019), iBiMED (UID/BIM/04501/2020 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007628), and LAQV/REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020) research units as well as RV’s Fellowship Grant (IF/00286/2015). Ana Freitas acknowledges FCT for her PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/111423/2015), Miguel Aroso is hired through the Scientific Employment Stimulus from FCT (CEECIND/03415/2017), and M.L. has an FCT RJEC Id 3762 contract.The authors thank Eduardo D Martín Montiel for his support, fruitful discussions, suggestions, and technical and scientific help. The authors also thank Sofia Lamas and all the i3S Animal facility personnel for their support with the animals throughout the study. Raman spectroscopy, together with wide field and confocal microscopy, were performed at the i3S Scientific Platform Bioimaging, member of the PPBI (Plataforma Portuguesa de Bioimagem, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122)

Source apportionment of CO2, PM10 and VOCs levels and health risk assessment in naturally ventilated primary schools in Porto, Portugal

Children are by far more susceptible to the negative effects of air pollutants than adults. Building-level characteristics are structural factors largely beyond the control of those who live in them. Yet, there are gaps in understanding of the relationship of school building characteristics and/or occupant behaviour and indoor air parameters with implications for health and well-being. The aims of the study were to investigate the potential sources of CO2, PM10 and volatile organic compound (VOCs) in naturally ventilated primary schools and to assess the potential health hazards of PM10 on schoolchildren. CO2 and PM10 levels were determined in seventy three classrooms located in Porto city over a period of 8 h using low-drift NDIR sensors and light-scattering laser photometers, respectively. The VOCs samples were collected over 5-days in Tenax TA tubes and then analysed by gas chromatography coupled mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis revealed the influence of activities or building features as major sources of indoor CO2, PM10 and VOCs associated to the reduced airing of the classrooms which underlines the influence of indoor sources, occupant behaviour and maintenance/cleaning activities in schools and the high density of occupants. The hazard quotient calculated based on the formula suggested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency is higher than the acceptable level of 1; being for children almost twelve times higher than the safe level. This indicates that the inhalation exposure to PM10 by children and adults occupying the school environment is not negligible

The development and application of a new tool to assess the adequacy of the content and timing of antenatal care

Abstract Background: Current measures of antenatal care use are limited to initiation of care and number of visits. This study aimed to describe the development and application of a tool to assess the adequacy of the content and timing of antenatal care. Methods: The Content and Timing of care in Pregnancy (CTP) tool was developed based on clinical relevance for ongoing antenatal care and recommendations in national and international guidelines. The tool reflects minimal care recommended in every pregnancy, regardless of parity or risk status. CTP measures timing of initiation of care, content of care (number of blood pressure readings, blood tests and ultrasound scans) and whether the interventions were received at an appropriate time. Antenatal care trajectories for 333 pregnant women were then described using a standard tool (the APNCU index), that measures the quantity of care only, and the new CTP tool. Both tools categorise care into 4 categories, from ‘Inadequate’ (both tools) to ‘Adequate plus’ (APNCU) or ‘Appropriate’ (CTP). Participants recorded the timing and content of their antenatal care prospectively using diaries. Analysis included an examination of similarities and differences in categorisation of care episodes between the tools. Results: According to the CTP tool, the care trajectory of 10,2% of the women was classified as inadequate, 8,4% as intermediate, 36% as sufficient and 45,3% as appropriate. The assessment of quality of care differed significantly between the two tools. Seventeen care trajectories classified as ‘Adequate’ or ‘Adequate plus’ by the APNCU were deemed ‘Inadequate’ by the CTP. This suggests that, despite a high number of visits, these women did not receive the minimal recommended content and timing of care. Conclusions: The CTP tool provides a more detailed assessment of the adequacy of antenatal care than the current standard index. However, guidelines for the content of antenatal care vary, and the tool does not at the moment grade over-use of interventions as ‘Inappropriate’. Further work needs to be done to refine the content items prior to larger scale testing of the impact of the new measure

Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB

MALACOPLAQUIA VESICAL, UM RELATO DE CASO

Introdução: A Malacoplaquia é uma doença rara de característica inflamatória crônica, de diagnóstico histológico por achado de corpos de Michaelis-Gutmann. A apresentação macroscópica é de placas de consistência amolecida, coloração amarelada, com importante hiperemia na base da lesão. Relato de caso:  Paciente portadora de doença renal crônica, com enxerto renal recebido de doador falecido, realizando terapia imunossupressora. Durante consulta no terceiro ano após o transplante realizou ultrassonografia de vias urinárias com achado de bexiga de moderada repleção, com formações nodulares sólidas lobuladas de aspecto vegetante em assoalho e parede lateral direita, medindo 2,1 x 0,6 e 1,3 x 0,4 cm, respectivamente, acompanhado de debris na cavidade vesical. A paciente foi submetida a cistoscopia transuretral com biópsia das lesões que tiveram diagnóstico histopatológico de Malacoplaquia. Foi realizada nova cistoscopia transuretral para remoção das lesões após tratamento de cistite bacteriana com Meropenem. A paciente encontra-se atualmente sem queixas e aguarda nova cistoscopia para avaliar se houve retorno das lesões. Conclusão: Existem poucos casos relatados de Malacoplaquia em pacientes que realizaram transplante renal. Com este relato, os autores pretendem descrever um caso em que foi adotada a conduta cirúrgica como abordagem terapêutica e delinear algumas considerações urológicas sobre esta patologia. Palavras-Chave: Malacoplaquia; transplante renal; imunossupressão; infecção urinári

Consequence of one-electron oxidation and one-electron reduction for aniline

Quantum-chemical calculations were performed for all possible isomers of neutral aniline and its redox forms, and intramolecular proton-transfer (prototropy) accompanied by π-electron delocalization was analyzed. One-electron oxidation (PhNH2 – e → [PhNH2]+•) has no important effect on tautomeric preferences. The enamine tautomer is preferred for oxidized aniline similarly as for the neutral molecule. Dramatical changes take place when proceeding from neutral to reduced aniline. One-electron reduction (PhNH2 + e → [PhNH2]-•) favors the imine tautomer. Independently on the state of oxidation, π- and n-electrons are more delocalized for the enamine than imine tautomers. The change of the tautomeric preferences for reduced aniline may partially explain the origin of the CH tautomers for reduced nucleobases (cytosine, adenine, and guanine)