Endothelin-1 receptor antagonists protect the kidney against the nephrotoxicity induced by cyclosporine-A in normotensive and hypertensive rats

Cyclosporin-A (CsA) is an immunosuppressant associated with acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. Nephrotoxicity associated with CsA involves the increase in afferent and efferent arteriole resistance, decreased renal blood flow (RBF) and glomerular filtration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptor blockade with bosentan (BOS) and macitentan (MAC) antagonists on altered renal function induced by CsA in normotensive and hypertensive animals. Wistar and genetically hypertensive rats (SHR) were separated into control group, CsA group that received intraperitoneal injections of CsA (40 mg/kg) for 15 days, CsA+BOS and CsA+MAC that received CsA and BOS (5 mg/kg) or MAC (25 mg/kg) by gavage for 15 days. Plasma creatinine and urea, mean arterial pressure (MAP), RBF and renal vascular resistance (RVR), and immunohistochemistry for ET-1 in the kidney cortex were measured. CsA decreased renal function, as shown by increased creatinine and urea. There was a decrease in RBF and an increase in MAP and RVR in normotensive and hypertensive animals. These effects were partially reversed by ET-1 antagonists, especially in SHR where increased ET-1 production was observed in the kidney. Most MAC effects were similar to BOS, but BOS seemed to be better at reversing cyclosporine-induced changes in renal function in hypertensive animals. The results of this work suggested the direct participation of ET-1 in renal hemodynamics changes induced by cyclosporin in normotensive and hypertensive rats. The antagonists of ET-1 MAC and BOS reversed part of these effects.Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Disciplina Nefrol, Dept Med, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Cruzeiro Sul, Programa Interdisciplinar Ciencias Saude, Inst Ciencias Atividade Fis & Esporte, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, LEMA, Escola Enfermagem, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Enfermagem Clin & Cirurg, Escola Paulista Enfermagem, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Disciplina Nefrol, Dept Med, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Enfermagem Clin & Cirurg, Escola Paulista Enfermagem, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Impact of amendments on the physical properties of soil under tropical long-term no till conditions

Tropical regions have been considered the world's primary agricultural frontier; however, some physico-chemical deficiencies, such as low soil organic matter content, poor soil structure, high erodibility, soil acidity, and aluminum toxicity, have affected their productive capacity. Lime and gypsum are commonly used to improve soil chemical fertility, but no information exists about the long-term effects of these products on the physical attributes and C protection mechanisms of highly weathered Oxisols. A field trial was conducted in a sandy clay loam (kaolinitic, thermic Typic Haplorthox) under a no-tillage system for 12 years. The trial consisted of four treatments: a control with no soil amendment application, the application of 2.1 Mg ha-1 phosphogypsum, the application of 2.0 Mg ha-1 lime, and the application of lime + phosphogypsum (2.0 + 2.1 Mg ha-1, respectively). Since the experiment was established in 2002, the rates have been applied three times (2002, 2004, and 2010). Surface liming effectively increased water-stable aggregates > 2.0 mm at a depth of up to 0.2 m; however, the association with phosphogypsum was considered a good strategy to improve the macroaggregate stability in subsoil layers (0.20 to 0.40 m). Consequently, both soil amendments applied together increased the mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) in all soil layers, with increases of up to 118 and 89%, respectively, according to the soil layer. The formation and stabilization of larger aggregates contributed to a higher accumulation of total organic carbon (TOC) on these structures. In addition to TOC, the MWD and aggregate stability index were positively correlated with Ca2+ and Mg2+ levels and base saturation. Consequently, the increase observed in the aggregate size class resulted in a better organization of soil particles, increasing the macroporosity and reducing the soil bulk density and penetration resistance. Therefore, adequate soil chemical management plays a fundamental role in improving the soil's physical attributes in tropical areas under conservative management and highly affected by compaction caused by intensive farming

Porphyrin–nanodiamond hybrid materials—active, stable and reusable cyclohexene oxidation catalysts

funded by FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under projects UIDB/00313/2020; PTDC/QUI-OUT/27996/2017 (DUALPI); POCI-01-0145-FEDER-027996; POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016387; UIDB/50006/2020 (Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry-LAQV); MATIS (CENTRO-010145-FEDER-00014); Base Funding-UIDB/50020/2020 of the Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM-funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); and 5625-DRI-DAAD-2020/21. SACC also acknowledges FCT Investigador FCT program (IF/01381/2013/CP1160/CT0007) and Scientific Employment Stimulus -Institutional Call (CEECINST/00102/2018). The authors also thank Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) for CEPOF 2013/07276-1, and INCT "Basic Optics and Applied to Life Sciences" (FAPESP 2014/50857-8, CNPq 465360/2014-9). A.R.L. Caires acknowledges CAPES-PrInt funding program (grant number 88887.353061/2019-00 and 88881.311921/2018-01). J.G.B. thanks the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for funding as a part of the Open Technology Programme (project number 16361). L.D. Dias thanks FAPESP for the Post-doc grant 2019/13569-8. F.M.S.R. thanks FCT for the PhD grant (PD/BD/114340/2016).The quest for active, yet “green” non-toxic catalysts is a continuous challenge. In this work, covalently linked hybrid porphyrin–nanodiamonds were prepared via ipso nitro substitution reaction and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy (IR) and thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC). The amine-functionalized nanodiamonds (ND@NH2 ) and 2-nitro-5,10,15,20-tetra(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)porphyrin covalently linked to nanodiamonds (ND@βNH-TPPpCF3 ) were tested using Allium cepa as a plant model, and showed neither phytotoxicity nor cytotoxicity. The hybrid nanodiamond–copper(II)–porphyrin material ND@βNH-TPPpCF3-Cu(II) was also evaluated as a reusable catalyst in cyclohexene allylic oxidation, and displayed a remarkable turnover number (TON) value of ≈265,000, using O2 as green oxidant, in the total absence of sacrificial additives, which is the highest activity ever reported for said allylic oxidation. Additionally, ND@βNH-TPPpCF3-Cu(II) could be easily separated from the reaction mixture by centrifugation, and reused in three consecutive catalytic cycles without major loss of activity.publishersversionpublishe

Advanced mechanisms for service combination and transactions

Languages and models for service-oriented applications usually include primitives and constructs for exception and compensation handling. Exception handling is used to react to unexpected events while compensation handling is used to undo previously completed activities. In this chapter we investigate the impact of exception and compensation handling in message-based process calculi and the related theories developed within Sensoria

Influência do biochar e da adubação nitrogenada na capacidade de Rhizobium tropici em promover o crescimento do feijão.

O biochar é um material rico em carbono, a sua aplicação tem potencial de alterar as propriedades físicas, químicas e microbiológicas do solo. Nesse estudo foi avaliado o efeito do biochar produzido a partir de resíduos da colheita de eucalipto e da adubação nitrogenada na capacidade do Rhizobium tropici em promover o desenvolvimento, a produtividade da cultura do feijão e influenciar a comunidade microbiana envolvida no ciclo do nitrogênio. O experimento foi realizado em casa de vegetação em blocos aleatorizados, com doses de biochar (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 Mg/ha), presença ou ausência de adubação nitrogenada, com ou sem inoculação de R. tropici. Dentre as variáveis analisadas, a altura de planta e o peso de 100 grãos, foram as que melhor diferenciaram os tratamentos. Sendo nas menores doses de biochar (0 e 5 Mg/ha) foram alcançados os maiores valores de produtividade do feijoeiro e o maior número de microrganismos fixadores biológicos de nitrogênio. Já na presença das maiores doses de biochar obteve-se um aumento na quantificação de bactérias amonificadoras