The future of bioethanol

Yeasts have been domesticated by mankind before horses. After the mastering of alcoholic fermentation for centuries, yeasts have become the protagonist of one of the most important biotechnological industries worldwide: the production of bioethanol. This chapter will initially present some important challenges to be overcome in this industry, both in first and second generation biofuel production. Then, it will briefly revisit some advances obtained in recent years. Finally, it will present and discuss some opportunities, in the scope of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, that will likely be present in the future of bioethanol

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy associated with severe left ventricular involvement in a cat.

An 8-year-old, 4 kg, intact female, domestic shorthaired cat was referred for tachypnea and pleural effusion. A 24-h Holter recording showed numerous polymorphic ventricular premature complexes with left and right bundle branch block morphology. Echocardiographic examination revealed right atrial and ventricular dilation. The right ventricular free wall was thin and aneurysmal. The cat died 10 days after initiation of antiarrhythmic therapy. Gross and histopathological findings were consistent with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) associated with severe left ventricular involvement

Direct calorimetric measurements of isothermal entropy change on single crystal W-type hexaferrites at the spin reorientation transition

We report on the magnetic field induced isothermal entropy change, \Delta s(Ha, T), of W-type ferrite with CoZn substitution. Entropy measurements are performed by direct calorimetry. Single crystals of the composition BaCo$_0.62$Zn$_1.38$Fe$_16$O$_27$, prepared by the flux method, are measured at different fixed temperatures under an applied field perpendicular and parallel to the c axis. At 296 K one deduces a value of K$_1$ = 8.7 \times 10^{4} J m$^-3$ for the first anisotropy constant, which is in good agreement with the literature. The spin reorientation transition temperature is estimated to take place between 200 and 220 K

Quality of Life and psychopathology in adults who underwent Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) in childhood: a qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Background: Patients who undergo pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) may experience long-term psychological sequelae and poor Quality of Life (QoL) in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate subjective illness experience, QoL, and psychopathology in young adults who have survived pediatric HSCT. Method: The study involved patients treated with HSCT in the Hematology-Oncology Department between 1984 and 2007. Psychopathology and QoL were investigated using the SCL-90-R and SF-36. Socio-demographic and medical information was also collected. Finally, participants were asked to write a brief composition about their experiences of illness and care. Qualitative analysis of the texts was performed using T-LAB, an instrument for text analysis that allows the user to highlight the occurrences and co-occurrences of lemma. Quantitative analyses were performed using non-parametric tests (Spearman correlations, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests). Results: Twenty-one patients (9 males) participated in the study. No significant distress was found on the SCL-90 Global Severity Index, but it was found on specific scales. On the SF-36, lower scores were reported on scales referring to bodily pain, general health, and physical and social functioning. All the measures were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with specific socio-demographic and medical variables (gender, type of pathology, type of HSCT, time elapsed between communication of the need to transplant and effective transplantation, and days of hospitalization). With regard to the narrative analyses, males focused on expressions related to the body and medical therapies, while females focused on people they met during treatment, family members, and donors. Low general health and treatment with autologous HSCT were associated with memories about chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and the body parts involved, while high general health was associated with expressions focused on gratitude (V-Test \ub1 1.96). Conclusion: Pediatric HSCT survivors are more likely to experience psychological distress and low QoL in adulthood compared with the general population. These aspects, along with survivors' subjective illness experience, show differences according to specific medical and socio-demographic variables. Studies are needed in order to improve the care and long-term follow-up of these families

Phenomenology of the minimal B-L extension of the Standard Model

We present the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) discovery potential in the $Z'$ and heavy neutrino sectors of a $U(1)_{B-L}$ enlarged Standard Model also encompassing three heavy Majorana neutrinos. This model exhibits novel signatures at the LHC, the most interesting arising from a $Z'$ decay chain involving heavy neutrinos, eventually decaying into leptons and jets. In particular, this signature allows one to measure the $Z'$ and heavy neutrino masses involved. In addition, over a large region of parameter space, the heavy neutrinos are rather long-lived particles producing distinctive displaced vertices that can be seen in the detectors. Lastly, the simultaneous measurement of both the heavy neutrino mass and decay length enables an estimate of the absolute mass of the parent light neutrino. For completeness, we will also compare the LHC and a future Linear Collider (LC) discovery potentials.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. LaTeX. Talk given at "The 2009 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics", Krakow, Poland, July 16-22, 200

Unified model of voltage/current mode control to predict saddle-node bifurcation

A unified model of voltage mode control (VMC) and current mode control (CMC) is proposed to predict the saddle-node bifurcation (SNB). Exact SNB boundary conditions are derived, and can be further simplified in various forms for design purpose. Many approaches, including steady-state, sampled-data, average, harmonic balance, and loop gain analyses are applied to predict SNB. Each approach has its own merits and complement the other approaches.Comment: Submitted to International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications on December 23, 2010; Manuscript ID: CTA-10-025

REPRESENTAÇÕES SOCIAIS DOS ADOLESCENTES ACERCA DA VIOLÊNCIA DOMÉSTICA

Com o objetivo de analisar as representações sociais dos adolescentes sobre a violência doméstica realizou-se esta pesquisa qualitativa junto a 18 alunos de escolas de ensino médio em Passo Fundo - RS, com técnicas projetivas e entrevistas semi-estruturadas, evidenciando-se a representação da violência como um fenômeno presente na sociedade, ancorada no consumo de drogas, na defesa pessoal com porte de armas e na conduta anti-social. A violência doméstica é representada como uma atitude de fuga e defesa, maléfica, intencional e impune e como uma banalização legitimada. Essas representações ancoram-se na sensação de abandono e rejeição, cuja superação deverá ser buscada de forma multidimensional para a internalização de novas práticas e condutas socialmente aceitas

Effect of different diets on the development, mortality, survival, food uptake and fecundity of Tupiocoris cucurbitaceus (Hemiptera: Miridae)

Several Miridae (Hemiptera) species have been identified as useful predators for biological control of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). There is interest in determining the effects of different diets on Tupiocoris cucurbitaceus (Spinola) (Hemiptera: Miridae) in order to facilitate their breeding and use in biological control. Given that mirids can be both phytophagous and zoophytophagous, the developmental time, mortality, survival, feeding and fecundity of this species on tomato and tobacco leaves with and without the addition of T. vaporariorum or Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs were studied. To determine embryonic duration, T. cucurbitaceus was allowed to oviposit on tobacco plants for 24 h at 26 °C, 83% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 h L:D. The time of onset of the first instar nymphs was recorded. Subsequently, these nymphs fed on different diets on 9 cm × 1.5 cm plates under the same environmental conditions. Results showed that diet influences the duration of development in T. cucurbitaceus, with nymphal stadia being shorter and the adult stadium being longer when fed prey than when not fed prey. With the addition of prey, nymphal mortality was generally lower and adult survival was higher. The high consumption of T. vaporariorum eggs by T. cucurbitaceus suggests the need for subsequent studies on the latter for inclusion of this species in biological control programs in greenhouses

Drug resistance in B and non-B subtypes amongst subjects recently diagnosed as primary/recent or chronic HIV-infected over the period 2013–2016: Impact on susceptibility to first-line strategies including integrase strand-transfer inhibitors

Objectives To characterize the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) by plasma analysis of 750 patients at the time of HIV diagnosis from January 1, 2013 to November 16, 2016 in the Veneto region (Italy), where all drugs included in the recommended first line therapies were prescribed, included integrase strand transfer inhibitors (InNSTI). Methods TDRMs were defined according to the Stanford HIV database algorithm. Results Subtype B was the most prevalent HIV clade (67.3%). A total of 92 patients (12.3%) were expected to be resistant to one drug at least, most with a single class mutation (60/68–88.2% in subtype B infected subjectsand 23/24–95.8% in non-B subjects) and affecting mainly NNRTIs. No significant differences were observed between the prevalence rates of TDRMs involving one or more drugs, except for the presence of E138A quite only in patients with B subtype and other NNRTI in subjects with non-B infection. The diagnosis of primary/recent infection was made in 73 patients (9.7%): they had almost only TDRMs involving a single class. Resistance to InSTI was studied in 484 subjects (53 with primary-recent infection), one patient had 143C in 2016, a total of thirteen 157Q mutations were detected (only one in primary/recent infection). Conclusions Only one major InSTI-TDRM was identified but monitoring of TDRMs should continue in the light of continuing presence of NNRTI-related mutation amongst newly diagnosed subjects, sometime impacting also to modern NNRTI drugs recommended in first-line therapy