Terapia aquática promove a melhora da força muscular respiratória em idosas portadoras de baixa densidade mineral óssea / Aquatic therapy promotes improved respiratory muscular strength in older people with low bone mineral density

Ao longo do envelhecimento é comum ocorrerem alterações fisiológicas, como a diminuição da capacidade respiratória e a redução de massa óssea (osteoporose). A perda de massa óssea nas vertebras acarreta alterações posturais e essas geram mudanças na posição de repouso dos músculos respiratórios e diminuição na mobilidade torácica. Para o tratamento e aumento da densidade óssea, a terapia aquática é um meio seguro de tratamento, pois permite o desenvolvimento de exercícios de maneira segura aos pacientes. Objetivo: verificar se exercícios no meio aquático influenciam na capacidade respiratória de mulheres com osteoporose. Metodologia: Pesquisa quantitativa, quase experimental com pré e pós teste, sem grupo controle. Amostra: 17 mulheres, idade entre 60 a 80 anos. As participantes realizaram 2 sessões semanais, durante 50 minutos, totalizando 18 semanas. A análise estatística foi realizada no programa SPSS versão 15.0. Resultados: PImax: pré e pós intervenção respectivamente: 34,63cmH2O; 48,72cmH2O e PEmax: pré e pós intervenção de: 51,22cmH2O; 68,27cmH2O. Conclusão: Foi verificada que a terapia aquática influencia significativamente na melhora da capacidade respiratória em idosas com baixa DMO

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits

BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits (BacHBerry) was a 3-year project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union that ran between November 2013 and October 2016. The overall aim of the project was to establish a sustainable and economically-feasible strategy for the production of novel high-value phenolic compounds isolated from berry fruits using bacterial platforms. The project aimed at covering all stages of the discovery and pre-commercialization process, including berry collection, screening and characterization of their bioactive components, identification and functional characterization of the corresponding biosynthetic pathways, and construction of Gram-positive bacterial cell factories producing phenolic compounds. Further activities included optimization of polyphenol extraction methods from bacterial cultures, scale-up of production by fermentation up to pilot scale, as well as societal and economic analyses of the processes. This review article summarizes some of the key findings obtained throughout the duration of the project