Thermoelectric power and electric conductivity of the (Ag,Na)Cl and (Ag,Na)Br solid solutions

The electric conductivity and the initial thermoelectric power are determined for the solid solutions (Ag,Na)X (X=Cl,Br) over the whole composition range. Data drawn from both kinds of measurements allow to approximately estimate the contributions of cation vacancies and interstitial Ag + to the transport process. Two composition regions are distinguished: 0les NNaXles0.6 and 0.7< NNaX<1 where interstitial Ag + and cation vacancies, respectively, are prevailin

Resistivity and Carrier Mobility of the SmBa2 Cu3 O6+x Superconductor with Different Oxygen Doping Levels

Abstract DC conductivity measurements between 15 and 300 K are reported for SmBa2 Cu3O6+x samples with different oxygen doping amounts (x) produced by annealing under appropriate high temperature and oxygen pressure conditions and quenching. Samples with x≥0.5 are superconductors: Tc ~60 K at x=0.7, Tc >80 K at ; x=0.9. The transition from superconduction to non-superconduction corresponds to the tetragonal to orthorhombic structural tran-sition and to the transition from semiconducting to metallic temperature dependence of the resistivity. Oxygen doping causes a sudden increase of hole mobility near x=0.5. Below this threshold, the be-havior of the carrier mobility is in agreement with an Anderson localization

Caracterização da qualidade comercial da soja colhida na safra 2011-2012 no Estado do Paraná e Mato Grosso do Sul.

A soja tem se consolidado como um dos principais produtos de exportação do Brasil e uma das principais commodities do mundo. A produção brasileira atingiu 75 milhões de toneladas na safra 2010/11. A qualidade da soja colhida e comercializada é fundamental para garantir mercados interno e externo, por isto a necessidade de se conhecer os detalhes que afetam a qualidade da soja colhida a cada safra é vital. O objetivo deste trabalho foi de caracterizar a qualidade comercial da soja colhida na safra 2011/2012, no estado do Paraná e do Mato Grosso do Sul, considerando a classificação comercial, o teor de óleo e proteína, e a presença de fungos contaminantes. Amostras de soja colhidas nestas regiões foram coletadas de diversos pontos representados por coleta direto do produtor no momento da colheita, bem como na recepção de unidades armazenadoras de grãos. Após acondicionadas, as mesmas foram encaminhadas a Embrapa Soja, onde foi realizada a classificação comercial, determinação do teor de óleo, de proteína, e da sanidade pela presença de fungos contaminantes. Os resultados mostraram que houve amostras com teor de impurezas, grãos esverdeados e grãos avariados acima dos limites tolerados pela legislação brasileira. O teor de óleo e proteína não sofreram alterações significativas nestas amostras em função dos defeitos de campo. A presença de fungos importantes como Aspergilus sp e Fusarium sp encontrados nas amostras, demonstraram um grau de contaminação da soja a campo

Desempenho de clones de Eucalyptus no oeste do Estado do Paraná.

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Nanoscale effects on the ionic conductivity of highly doped bulk nanometric cerium oxide

Nanometric ceria powders doped with 30 mol % samaria are consolidated by a high-pressure spark plasma sintering (HP-SPS) method to form > 99 % dense samples with a crystallite size as small as 16.5 nm. A conductivity dependence on grain size was noted: when the grain size was less than 20 nm, only one semicircle in the AC impedance spectra was observed and was attributed to bulk conductivity. In contrast to previous observations on pure ceria, the disappearance of the grain-boundary blocking effect is not associated with mixed conductivity. With annealing and concomitant grain growth, the samples show the presence of a grain-boundary effect

Canakinumab as treatment for COVID-19-related pneumonia: A prospective case-control study

Objectives: Canakinumab is an IL-1? antibody that neutralises the activity of IL-1?. This study examined the efficacy and safety of canakinumab in patients with moderate COVID-19-related pneumonia. Design: This study aimed to evaluate the reduction in duration of hospitalisation with adequate oxygen status. Forty-eight patients with moderate COVID-19-related pneumonia were asked to participate in the prospective case-control study: 33 patients (cases) signed informed consent and received canakinumab (Cohort 1) and 15 patients (Controls) refused to receive the experimental drug and received institutional standard of care (Cohort 2). Results: Hospital discharge within 21 days was seen in 63% of patients in Cohort 1 vs. 0% in Cohort 2 (median 14 vs. 26 days, respectively; p < 0.001). There was significant clinical improvement in ventilation regimes following administration of canakinumab compared with Cohort 2 (Stuart-Maxwell test for paired data, p < 0.001). Patients treated with canakinumab experienced a significant increase in PaO2: FiO2 (p < 0.001) and reduction in lung damage by CT (p = 0.01), along with significant decreases in immune/inflammation markers that were not observed in Cohort 2. Only mild side-effects were seen in patients treated with canakinumab; survival at 60 days was 90.0% (95% CI 71.9?96.7) in patients treated with canakinumab and 73.3% (95% CI 43.6?89.1) for Cohort 2. Conclusions: Treatment with canakinumab in patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia rapidly restored normal oxygen status, decreased the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, and was associated with earlier hospital discharge and favourable prognosis versus standard of care. ? 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-n

N-tert-butyloxycarbonyl-Phe-Leu-Phe-Leu-Phe (BOC2) inhibits the angiogenic activity of heparin-binding growth factors.

The peptides N-tert-butyloxycarbonyl-Phe-Leu-Phe-Leu-Phe (BOC2) and BOC-Met-Leu-Phe (BOC1) are widely used antagonists of formyl peptide receptors (FPRs), BOC2 acting as an FPR1/FPR2 antagonist whereas BOC1 inhibits FPR1 only. Extensive investigations have been performed by using these FPR antagonists as a tool to assess the role of FPRs in physiological and pathological conditions. Based on previous observations from our laboratory, we assessed the possibility that BOC2 may exert also a direct inhibitory effect on the angiogenic activity of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). Our data demonstrate that BOC2, but not BOC1, inhibits the angiogenic activity of heparin-binding VEGF-A165 with no effect on the activity of the non-heparin-binding VEGF-A121 isoform. Endothelial cell-based bioassays, surface plasmon resonance analysis, and computer modeling indicate that BOC2 may interact with the heparin-binding domain of VEGF-A165, thus competing for heparin interaction and preventing the binding of VEGF-A165 to tyrosine kinase receptor VEGFR2, its phosphorylation and downstream signaling. In addition, BOC2 inhibits the interaction of a variety of heparin-binding angiogenic growth factors with heparin, including fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) whose angiogenic activity is blocked by the compound. Accordingly, BOC2 suppresses the angiogenic potential of human tumor cell lines that co-express VEGF-A and FGF2. Thus, BOC2 appears to act as a novel multi-heparin-binding growth factor antagonist. These findings caution about the interpretation of FPR-focusing experimental data obtained with this compound and set the basis for the design of novel BOC2-derived, FPR independent multi-target angiogenesis inhibitors

Projeto Bioeste Florestas: desenvolvimento de tecnologias para florestas energéticas no oeste do Paraná.

A região da Bacia do Paraná 3 apresenta grande produção de grãos, associada a um grande consumo de biomassa fl orestal para secagem de grãose outras atividades doagronegócio que demandam energia térmica. Para trabalhar essa questão, o projeto Bioeste Florestas foi desenhado através de uma parceria da Itaipu, CIBiogase Embrapa Florestas, objetivando aumentara competitividadeda cadeia produtiva fl orestal no oeste do Paraná através do teste e da validação de tecnologias, com o intuito de garantir a oferta de biomassa florestal necessária as demandas regionais