Evaluación de la capacidad de auto-depuración de un arroyo urbano y el uso de macrófitas nativas como estrategia de restauración

Environmental degradation is one of the most serious problems in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, especially water pollution. The main aim of this work was to study mechanisms of self-purifying of a segment of San Francisco stream (located in Almirante Brown district), evaluating it in situ capacity of self-purifying downstream of a tubing and, in addition, by static bioassays in a greenhouse with native macrophytes. A stream section of 1500m was sampled twice during autumn 2013. The stream was generally hypoxic throughout the section (DO<2 mg/l), presenting low velocity (0.084 ± 0.008 m/s), moderate organic load (COD=72 ± 3 mg/l), high dissolved inorganic nitrogen (9.2 ± 0.9 mg/l) mostly as ammonium, and high levels of coliforms (7600 ± 700 cfu/ml). There was no increase in the dissolved oxigen and no decrese in the nutrients and COD along the section, suggesting that the self-purifying process for this parameters, along this section and this time of this year was negligible. Almost complete removal of ammonium (90-95%) and nitrites was observed in the bioassays. Based on our results, the present condition of the stream may be modified by increasing water oxygenation and macrophytes biomass, among others strategies. It is planned to incorporate the analysis of seasonal effects and complementary bioassays with macrophytes minimizing the algal growth.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Interacción del herbicida Picloram con minerales arcillosos naturales y minerales arcillosos pilareados

El drenaje y la velocidad de permeación de los plaguicidas a través de los suelos después de ser dispersados, dependen de la interacción de los mismos con los componentes del suelo, lo que determina la contaminación de las aguas subterráneas y/o superficiales. El herbicida picloram (PCM) es usado ampliamente para eliminar malezas en sembradíos de trigo, y plantas leñosas en países como Chile, Brasil, Australia y Argentina. El PCM se encuentra en su forma aniónica (deprotonado) a los valores de pH de la mayoría de los suelos (pKₐ ≈ 2,3), por lo que su movilidad es muy alta. Los minerales de arcilla pilareados (PILCs) resultan interesantes para ser utilizados como adsorbentes para la remoción de contaminantes y formulados de liberación lenta, debido a sus múltiples centros cargados, amplia superficie, gran espacio interlaminar y estabilidad térmica. En este sentido se estudió la interacción del PCM con minerales arcillosos naturales del tipo montmorillonita, illita, nontronita y caolinita así como también con PILCs basados en una montmorillonita pilareada con óxidos de hierro.Centro de Tecnología de Recursos Minerales y Cerámic

Evaluación de la capacidad de auto-depuración de un arroyo urbano y el uso de macrófitas nativas como estrategia de restauración

Environmental degradation is one of the most serious problems in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, especially water pollution. The main aim of this work was to study mechanisms of self-purifying of a segment of San Francisco stream (located in Almirante Brown district), evaluating it in situ capacity of self-purifying downstream of a tubing and, in addition, by static bioassays in a greenhouse with native macrophytes. A stream section of 1500m was sampled twice during autumn 2013. The stream was generally hypoxic throughout the section (DO<2 mg/l), presenting low velocity (0.084 ± 0.008 m/s), moderate organic load (COD=72 ± 3 mg/l), high dissolved inorganic nitrogen (9.2 ± 0.9 mg/l) mostly as ammonium, and high levels of coliforms (7600 ± 700 cfu/ml). There was no increase in the dissolved oxigen and no decrese in the nutrients and COD along the section, suggesting that the self-purifying process for this parameters, along this section and this time of this year was negligible. Almost complete removal of ammonium (90-95%) and nitrites was observed in the bioassays. Based on our results, the present condition of the stream may be modified by increasing water oxygenation and macrophytes biomass, among others strategies. It is planned to incorporate the analysis of seasonal effects and complementary bioassays with macrophytes minimizing the algal growth.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Minerales arcillosos pilareados con óxidos de hierro y aluminio como formulados de liberación lenta del herbicida Picloram

Generalmente, los plaguicidas se pulverizan como partículas muy finas suspendidas en medios acuosos, en presencia de surfactantes ó disueltos en compuestos orgánicos formando emulsiones con agua. La velocidad de permeación a través de los suelos y el drenaje de los plaguicidas es determinante en la contaminación de las aguas subterráneas y/o superficiales. Los minerales de arcilla pilareados (PILCs) resultan interesantes para ser utilizados como catalizadores, adsorbentes para la remoción de contaminantes y formulados de liberación lenta, debido a sus múltiples centros cargados, amplia superficie, gran espacio interlaminar y estabilidad térmica. En este trabajo se realiza un estudio de los procesos de adsorción del herbicida Picloram (PCM) sobre PILCs y se evalúa su utilización para la preparación de formulados de liberación lenta del herbicida. En este sentido, se sintetizaron PILCs a partir de la incorporación de óxidos mixtos de hierro y aluminio a la estructura de un mineral arcilloso del tipo montmorillonita. La relación Fe/Al en la solución pilareante se varió con la finalidad de estudiar la relación de la adsorción de PCM con el contenido de hierro en la estructura de la PILC.Centro de Tecnología de Recursos Minerales y Cerámic

Redes de Sensores sem Fio Aplicadas à Fisioterapia: Implementação e Validação de um Sistema de Monitoramento de Amplitude de Movimento

A amplitude de movimento é um parâmetro importante utilizado na avaliação e durante o tratamento fisioterapêutico. Sistemas disponíveis e utilizados atualmente possuem atuação limitada. A principal contribuição deste trabalho é a especificação, implementação e validação de um sistema de monitoramento, em tempo real, de ângulos articulares baseado em redes de sensores sem fio: FlexMeter. Os nós sensores utilizam acelerômetros para obter as informações de ângulos articulares, e a rede sem fio dá mobilidade ao paciente e ao fisioterapeuta. A validação do sistema incluiu três etapas: validação das medidas com os sensores, validação de usabilidade, e validação de medidas em articulação de joelho. Os resultados da validação demonstraram como o uso do sistema pode facilitar o trabalho do fisioterapeuta

Age effects on EEG correlates of the Wisconsin card sorting test

Body and brain undergo several changes with aging. One of the domains in which these changes are more remarkable relates with cognitive performance. In the present work, electroencephalogram (EEG) markers (power spectral density and spectral coherence) of age-related cognitive decline were sought whilst the subjects performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Considering the expected age-related cognitive deficits, WCST was applied to young, mid-age and elderly participants, and the theta and alpha frequency bands were analyzed. From the results herein presented, higher theta and alpha power were found to be associated with a good performance in the WCST of younger subjects. Additionally, higher theta and alpha coherence were also associated with good performance and were shown to decline with age and a decrease in alpha peak frequency seems to be associated with aging. Additionally, inter-hemispheric long-range coherences and parietal theta power were identified as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance. In summary, these data reveals age-dependent as well as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance that contribute to the understanding of brain aging and related cognitive deficits.The work was partially funded by the European Commission (FP7): “SwitchBox” (Contract HEALTH‐F2‐2010‐259772) and co‐financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 – O Novo Norte) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). This work was also co‐sponsored by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and Compete Program with the project reference FCOMP‐01‐0124‐FEDER‐021145 (PTDC/SAU‐ENB/118383/2010) and Agência De Inovação “DoIT ‐ Desenvolvimento e Operacionalização da Investigação de Translação” (project no. 13853, PPS4‐MyHealth), funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC)

The risk of non-AIDS defining events is lower in ART-naive HIV controllers than in normal progressors on suppressive ART

Background. We aimed to compare the non-AIDS event (nADE) risk between normal progressors using antiretroviral therapy (NP-ART) and people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PWH) who naturally control HIV infection (HIV controllers), as well as the risk of nADE following ART in HIV controllers. Methods. The primary end point was the composite of cardiovascular disease, non-AIDS malignancy, or all-cause mortality, whichever came first. The role of ART in HIV controllers was assessed as a time-varying covariate. Results. We included 1007 ART-naive HIV controllers (60 of them were elite controllers), 1510 early-ART (&lt;6 months after negative HIV test), and 15437 NP-ART (reference group), contributing 3813, 11 060, and 160 050 years of follow-up, respectively. HIV controllers had lower risk of the primary end point (hazard ratio [HR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]: .38-.81; P = .0023), all-cause mortality (adjusted HR [aHR], 0.45; 95% CI: .25-.79; P = .0054), and cardiovascular disease (aHR, 0.47; 95% CI: .22-.99; P = .046), but not non-AIDS malignancy (aHR, 0.74; 95% CI: .41-1.35; P = .33), compared with NP-ART. Among HIV controllers, each log(10 )lower baseline viral load further decreased the risk of a nADE (aHR, 0.54; 95% CI: .29-.99; P = .045). ART in HIV controllers did not reduce the risk of any nADE (aHR, 1.22; 95% CI: .66-2.29; P = .53). Conclusions. HIV controllers had a lower n ADE risk than NP-ART, especially in those with low plasma viral loads. ART did not alter the nADE risk in HIV controllers. Our findings help clinicians to decide on prescribing ART in HIV controllers

Perfil sensorial do requeijão cremoso condimentado elaborado com leite de búfala, em Belém, Pará.

Este trabalho visa elaborar três formulações de requeijão cremoso condimentado, com leite de búfala: A ? orégano; B ? manjericão; e C - pimenta calabresa, com intuito de adicionar novos sabores ao derivado e caracterizá-los sensorialmente. Os derivados foram elaborados a partir da massa dessorada, obtida pela acidificação do leite de búfala, com adição de manjericão, orégano e pimenta calabresa, 0,7% em cada formulação. Foi realizado o teste de aceitação com 60 julgadores, dentre os quais, 53,8% do sexo feminino e 46,2% do masculino, entre os quais 87,2% com idade entre 16 e 25 anos e 35,9% raramente consumiam o derivado. Na interação Sexo vs. Idade vs. Na intenção de compra, 79,5% dos provadores comprariam requeijão cremoso de leite de búfala condimentado e 20,5% não comprariam. O derivado A foi diferente de B e C (p<0,05), nos atributos aroma, sabor e avaliação global. No derivado B foi observada diferença estatística (p<0,05) entre sabor, aparência e avaliação global, enquanto que a amostra C diferiu apenas no atributo aparência. Nos atributos avaliados, as notas estiveram entre "gostei ligeiramente" e "gostei muito", com base na escala hedônica de nove pontos, o que indica boa aceitação e viabilidade para inovar a cadeia produtiva de derivados de leite búfala

Activity to Breast Cancer Cell Lines of Different Malignancy and Predicted Interaction with Protein Kinase C Isoforms of Royleanones

Plants have been used for centuries to treat several illnesses. The Plectranthus genus has a vast variety of species that has allowed the isolation of cytotoxic compounds with notable activities. The abietane diterpenes 6, 7-dehydroroyleanone (DeRoy, 1), 7α-acetoxy-6β-hydroxyroyleanone (Roy, 2), and Parvifloron D (ParvD, 3) were obtained from Plectranthus spp. and showed promising biological activities, such as cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effects of the different natural abietanes (1-3) were compared in MFC7, SkBr3, and SUM159 cell lines, as well as SUM159 grown in cancer stem cell-inducing conditions. Based on the royleanones’ bioactivity, the derivatives RoyBz (4), RoyBzCl (5), RoyPr2 (6), and DihydroxyRoy (7), previously obtained from 2, were selected for further studies. Protein kinases C (PKCs) are involved in several carcinogenic processes. Thus, PKCs are potential targets for cancer therapy. To date, the portfolio of available PKC modulators remains very limited due to the difficulty of designing isozyme-selective PKC modulators. As such, molecular docking was used to evaluate royleanones 1-6 as predicted isozyme-selective PKC binders. Subtle changes in the binding site of each PKC isoform change the predicted interaction profiles of the ligands. Subtle changes in royleanone substitution patterns, such as a double substitution only with non-substituted phenyls, or hydroxybenzoate at position four that flips the binding mode of ParvD (3), can increase the predicted interactions in certain PKC subtype