Building Bio-Districts or Eco-Regions: Participative Processes Supported by Focal Groups

Over the years, rural areas have faced a number of problems and difficulties, such as an increase in the average age of the population, desertification, loss of employment and the abandon‐ ment of rural and agricultural activities, which have led to the emergence of new initiatives aimed at revitalizing these territories from a social, economic and environmental perspective, such as the successful Bio‐districts or Eco‐regions (e.g., Bio‐district of Cilento). Understanding and establishing a proper framework for each territory based on agroecology and participatory methodologies is still a challenge. In this sense, based on the analysis of two European examples—Cilento, Italy and São Pedro do Sul, Portugal—we described each of the building processes and defined a set of drivers that might constitute guiding principles to serve as a basis for the creation of Bio‐districts or Eco‐ regions. The drivers’ matrix identified was discussed in three focus groups carried out in Portugal in 2020. Such drivers included a technical and environmental component (the quality of the envi‐ ronment and landscape, the food system and the implementation of organic farming and agroeco‐ logical practices), a social and economic component (valorization of the farmers, products and ter‐ ritories and a set of different stakeholders—farmers, consumers, schools, tourism entities and res‐ taurants, local authorities) and a political component (the governance model). Most participants agreed that the recognition of a Bio‐district or Eco‐region should be informal, bottom‐up, with farm‐ ers as the main pillar, with a fair and representative participation, namely family farmers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Otimização de uma metodologia para a determinação da composição em ácidos gordos da membrana de eritrócitos por GC-FID

Atualmente é consensual a ideia de que a composição lipídica tem influência determinante no risco de algumas doenças crónicas. A ingestão de grandes quantidades de ácidos gordos saturados e ácidos gordos trans tem sido associado a dislipidémias e aumento do risco de doenças cardiovasculares, enquanto que o consumo de ácidos gordos polinsaturados, especialmente ómega-3, tem sido associado a diversos benefícios para a saúde. Pelo facto de os eritrócitos apresentarem um elevado tempo de vida, tem sido sugerido por diversos autores que o perfil em ácidos gordos das membranas destas células poderá ser usado não apenas como um biomarcador que reflita a ingestão de macronutrientes da dieta, mas também como um biomarcador associado a diferentes patologias como diabetes, cancro e doenças cardiovasculares. Por este motivo, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um método simples e rápido para a identificação e quantificação de ácidos gordos presentes na membrana de eritrócitos utilizando cromatografia gasosa com detetor de ionização em chama (GC-FID). Para tal, foram obtidas amostras de sangue, a partir das quais se procedeu ao isolamento da fração contendo eritrócitos. Seguidamente foram testados diferentes protocolos para a preparação da amostra a ser analisada por GC-FID, incluindo um método clássico modificado (método de Folch) e quatro métodos rápidos, para os quais a realização da extração lipídica e reação de derivatização decorrem num passo único. No que concerne aos métodos rápidos, foi avaliada a influência de diferentes parâmetros, nomeadamente diferentes tempos de metilação e a realização, ou não, de reação de saponificação. Com base nos resultados obtidos, selecionou-se o método rápido com saponificação e com tempo de metilação de 60 minutos como sendo o mais adequado para o objetivo pretendido, permitindo obter um maior número de ácidos gordos identificados. Agradecimentos: Ao apoio financeiro concedido pela FCT no âmbito dos projetos PTDC/SAU-ENB/116929/2010 e EXPL/EMS-SIS/2215/2013, COMPETE, QREN e União Europeia (FEDER).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a methodology using GC-FID for the quantitativo analysis of fatty acids from red blood cells

In the last years, there has been an increasing interest in evaluating possible relations between fatty acid patterns and the risk for chronic diseases. Currently, it is generally accepted that higher intakes of saturated and trans fatty acids are related with dyslipidemia and increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, while the consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially omega-3, has been positively associated with several health benefits. So far, most studies concerning the analysis of blood fatty acids (FA) composition have been performed using plasma or serum, with red blood cells (RBCs) usually being discarded [l]. However, because of the long half-life (120 days) of these cells, the FA profile of RBCs membrane may reflect longer-term markers of nutritional intake compared with plasma or urine [l].This work received financiai support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project projetos PTDC/SAU-ENB/116929/2010 andEXPL/EMS-SIS/2215/2013info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of sediment contamination in an impacted estuary: differential effects and adaptations of sentinel organisms and implications for biomonitoring

Conferência realizada em Lisboa, de 6-9 November de 2013Estuarine pollution is reflected in the concentration of toxicants in sediments, depending on their geochemical properties, since sediments trap substances from the water column, either dissolved or bound to suspended matter. However, determining risk of sediment contaminants to biota has many constraints. For such reason, integrative approaches are keystone. Taking the Sado estuary (SW Portugal) as a case study, contrasted to a reference estuary (the Mira) within the same geographical location, the present study aimed at integrating sediment contamination with the effects and responses to pollutants in distinct benthic organisms with commercial and ecological value

pH dependence of structural and functional properties of oxidized cytochrome c" from Methylophilus methylotrophus.

Cytochrome c" from Methylophilus methylotrophus is an unusual monoheme protein that undergoes a major redox-linked change in the heme arrangement: one of the two axial histidines bound to the iron in the oxidized form is detached upon reduction and a proton is taken up. The kinetics of reduction by sodium dithionite and the spectroscopic properties of the oxidized cytochrome c" have been investigated over the pH range between 1.4 and 10.0. The rate of reduction displays proton-linked transitions of pKa congruent with 5.5 and 2.4, and a spectroscopic transition with a pKa congruent with 2.4 is also observed. The protein displays a complete reversibility after exposure to low pH, and both electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopic properties suggest that the transition at lower pH brings about a drastic change in the heme coordination geometry. Circular dichroism spectra indicate that over the same proton-linked transition, the protein undergoes a marked decrease (approximately 60%) of the alpha-helical content toward a random coil arrangement, which is recovered upon increasing the ionic strength. The structural change at low pH is linked to a concerted two-proton transition, suggesting the detachment and protonation of axial histidine(s). Such kinetic and spectroscopic features along with the remarkable capacity of this protein to recover its native structure after exposure to extremely low pH values makes it a promising model for studying folding processes and stability in heme proteins

Toxicity ranking of estuarine sediments on the basis of Sparus aurata biomarkers

Sparus aurata biomarkers were used to rank sediments from the Sado River estuary (Portugal) according to their toxicity. Initially, the activities of liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, liver and gill glutathione S-transferases, muscle lactate dehydrogenase, and brain acetylcholinesterase were tested in a laboratory bioassay with the reference compound benzo[a]pyrene. Enzymatic activities were determined in different tissues of fish exposed for 48, 96, or 240 h to three concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene (25, 50, and 100 g/L). Induction of liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase was observed at all the exposure periods and concentrations, suggesting a continuous response of this system to toxicant exposure. Induction of liver glutathione S-transferases activity was only observed after 240 h of exposure, whereas gill glutathione S-transferases activity was significantly inhibited at all the exposure periods, suggesting a direct or indirect effect of the toxicant on these enzymes. Inhibition of lactate dehydrogenases activity was only observed after 96 h of exposure to 25 g/L of benzo[a]pyrene. No significant effects were observed on acetylcholinesterase activity, suggesting that cholinergic function of S. aurata is not affected by benzo[a]pyrene. In a second phase, fish were exposed for 240 h to sediments collected at five sites of the Sado River estuary, and the same biomarkers were analyzed. For all the enzymes assayed, significant differences among sites were found. In this study, the battery of biomarkers used allowed to discrimination among sites with different types of contamination, levels of contamination, or both, after multivariate data analysis. Discrimination of sites was similar to the ranking provided by a more complex and parallel study (including chemical analysis of sediments, macrobenthic community analysis, amphipod mortality toxicity tests, and sea urchin abnormality embryo assays), suggesting its suitability to evaluate the toxicity of estuarine sediments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Canine and feline oral pathology

The aim of this work was to present a brief review of the main conditions affecting the oral cavity of dogs and cats. In recent years there has been increased attention with regard to veterinary dentistry, being several and frequent the pathologies located in the oral cavity of our pets. These diseases mainly affect the teeth and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, and may, in chronic cases, also affect vital organs. This condition could have different causes, including hereditary, congenital, infectious, tumoural and even traumatic, requiring specific therapeutic approaches (Bellows, 2010; Holmstrom et al., 2007).FCT&DETS (PEest-OE/CED/UI4016/2011