Plants used by chimpanzees and humans in Cantanhez, Guinea-Bissau. Field guide

This is the final version. Available from LAE/CRIA via the link in this recordThe Portuguese version of this field guide is available in ORE: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/121034FC

COMPARISON OF FLOW PATTERNS IN THE RADIOCEPHALIC ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULA THROUG IN VITRO AND IN SILICO STUDY

The vascular accesses to hemodialysis patients usually are through arteriovenous fistula (AVF) or synthetic grafts. The analyses of recirculation zones, stagnation points, secondary flow and low and high shear stress are very important points to study for understand the hemodynamic local in arteriovenous fistula. In this work, it was analyzed through computational fluid dynamics the streamlines in AVF and it was compared with the literature results. The flow patterns were visualized under steady and unsteady condition with Reynolds number ranging from 100 up 600. The results obtained from CFD were very similar with the literature results. The flow becomes more chaotic when the Reynolds number increases. Vortex can be seen in anastomosis region, occupying all transversal section of the artery. Thus, the results obtained using CFD look like the results obtained experimentally

Plants used by chimpanzees and humans in Cantanhez, Guinea-Bissau. Field guide

This is the final version. Available from LAE/CRIA via the link in this recordThe Portuguese version of this field guide is available in ORE: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/121034FC

Seasonal Changes in Chemical Composition, Preference and In Sacco Degradation of Eight Different Fodder Tree leaves

Livestock farmers in the Coastal Savannah of Ghana cut and feed leaves of various naturally occurring fodder tree species to supplement livestock diets, especially in the dry season. The aim of this study was to determine the seasonal changes in chemical composition, rumen degradation characteristics and preference of sheep for eight common indigenous fodder tree leaves, and ascertain their contribution to livestock production. Fodder leaves from Albizzia lebbek (AL), Baphia nitida (BN), Blighia sapida (BS), Ficus exasperata (FE), Ficus polita (FP), Morinda lucida (ML), Moringa oleifera (MO) and Spondias mombin (SM) were used. Fresh leaves were sampled in the wet and dry seasons to determine changes in seasonal chemical composition. Four Djallonke sheep (two males and two females) of average weight of 27.3 kg ±0.22 were offered fresh fodder leaves in a cafeteria system to determine preference. In sacco dry matter (DM) degradation was determined using four fistulated sheep in a repeated atin suare design. Seasonal D crude protein C acid detergent fire D neutral detergent fire D and lignin content of the fodder leaves ranged fro 319.7 to 862.7 g kg-1, 150.0 to 359.2 g kg -1 D . to . g g -1 DM , 277.5 to 718.3 g kg -1 DM and . to . g g-1 DM respectively. Crude protein content of, AL and FP were higher for the wet season than dry season but BS had similar trend for both seasons. The soluble and potentially degradable fractions of D ranged from 113.3-216.8 and 142.9-627.7 g kg-1. It is concluded that the four most preferred fodder species were AL, FE, SM and MO. Their CP contents regardless of the season were higher than the minimum level considered as adeuate for oderate ruinant production. t is epected that these fodder leaves ill contriute to ypass protein and nitrogen retention and suseuently lead to eight gain hen fed to sheep

Plantas usadas por chimpanzés e humanos no Cantanhez, Guiné-Bissau. Guia de campo

This is the final version. Available from LAE/CRIA via the link in this recordThe English version of this field guide is available in ORE at: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/121033FC

Plantas usadas por chimpanzés e humanos no Cantanhez, Guiné-Bissau. Guia de campo

This is the final version. Available from LAE/CRIA via the link in this recordThe English version of this field guide is available in ORE at: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/121033FC

2-Fluorophenol degradation by aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor

Aerobic granular sludge is extremely promising for the treatment of effluents containing toxic compounds, and it can economically compete with conventional activated sludge systems. A laboratory scale granular sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was established and operated during 444 days for the treatment of an aqueous stream containing a toxic compound, 2-fluorophenol (2-FP), in successive phases. Initially during ca. 3 months, the SBR was intermittently fed with 0.22 mM of 2-FP added to an acetate containing medium. No biodegradation of the target compound was observed. Bioaugmentation with a specialized bacterial strain able to degrade 2-FP was subsequently performed. The reactor was thereafter continuously fed with 0.22 and 0.44 mM of 2-FP and with 5.9 mM of acetate (used as co-substrate), for 15 months. Full degradation of the compound was reached with a stoichiometric fluoride release. The 2-FP degrading strain was successfully retained by aerobic granules, as shown through the recovering of the strain from the granular sludge at the end of the experiment. Overall, the granular SBR has shown to be robust, exhibiting a high performance after bioaugmentation with the 2-FP degrading strain. This study corroborates the fact that bioaugmentation is often needed in cases where biodegradation of highly recalcitrant compounds is targeted.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Adult hippocampal neuroplasticity triggers susceptibility to recurrent depression

Depression is a highly prevalent and recurrent neuropsychiatric disorder associated with alterations in emotional and cognitive domains. Neuroplastic phenomena are increasingly considered central to the etiopathogenesis of and recovery from depression. Nevertheless, a high number of remitted patients experience recurrent episodes of depression, remaining unclear how previous episodes impact on behavior and neuroplasticity and/or whether modulation of neuroplasticity is important to prevent recurrent depression. Through re-exposure to an unpredictable chronic mild stress protocol in rats, we observed the re-appearance of emotional and cognitive deficits. Furthermore, treatment with the antidepressants fluoxetine and imipramine was effective to promote sustained reversion of a depressive-like phenotype; however, their differential impact on adult hippocampal neuroplasticity triggered a distinct response to stress re-exposure: while imipramine re-established hippocampal neurogenesis and neuronal dendritic arborization contributing to resilience to recurrent depressive-like behavior, stress re-exposure in fluoxetine-treated animals resulted in an overproduction of adult-born neurons along with neuronal atrophy of granule neurons, accounting for an increased susceptibility to recurrent behavioral changes typical of depression. Strikingly, cell proliferation arrest compromised the behavior resilience induced by imipramine and buffered the susceptibility to recurrent behavioral changes promoted by fluoxetine. This study shows that previous exposure to a depressive-like episode impacts on the behavioral and neuroanatomical changes triggered by subsequent re-exposure to similar experimental conditions and reveals that the proper control of adult hippocampal neuroplasticity triggered by antidepressants is essential to counteract recurrent depressive-like episodes.FCT (IF/01079/2014). This article has been developed under the scope of the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). This work has been funded by FEDER funds, through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE), and by National funds, through the FCT, under the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Incorporation of tetanus-epitope into virus-like particles achieves vaccine responses even in older recipients in models of psoriasis, Alzheimer’s and cat allergy

Monoclonal antibodies are widely used to treat non-infectious conditions but are costly. Vaccines could offer a cost-effective alternative but have been limited by sub-optimal T-cell stimulation and/or weak vaccine responses in recipients, for example, in elderly patients. We have previously shown that the repetitive structure of virus-like-particles (VLPs) can effectively bypass self-tolerance in therapeutic vaccines. Their efficacy could be increased even further by the incorporation of an epitope stimulating T cell help. However, the self-assembly and stability of VLPs from envelope monomer proteins is sensitive to geometry, rendering the incorporation of foreign epitopes difficult. We here show that it is possible to engineer VLPs derived from a non human-pathogenic plant virus to incorporate a powerful T-cell-stimulatory epitope derived from Tetanus toxoid. These VLPs (termed CMVTT) retain self-assembly as well as long-term stability. Since Th cell memory to Tetanus is near universal in humans, CMVTT-based vaccines can deliver robust antibody-responses even under limiting conditions. By way of proof of concept, we tested a range of such vaccines against chronic inflammatory conditions (model: psoriasis, antigen: interleukin-17), neurodegenerative (Alzheimer’s, β-amyloid), and allergic disease (cat allergy, Fel-d1), respectively. Vaccine responses were uniformly strong, selective, efficient in vivo, observed even in old mice, and employing low vaccine doses. In addition, randomly ascertained human blood cells were reactive to CMVTT-VLPs, confirming recognition of the incorporated Tetanus epitope. The CMVTT-VLP platform is adaptable to almost any antigen and its features and performance are ideally suited for the design of vaccines delivering enhanced responsiveness in aging populations