Insights into the antimicrobial potential of acorn extracts (Quercus ilex and Quercus suber)

Acorns, frequently left uncollected in the fields, have been a part of the traditional medicine of different cultures. Among the different properties associated with them, their antimicrobial potential is of particular importance. However, this characterization has long been superficial and has not ventured into other topics such as biofilm inhibition. Thus, the current work aimed to characterize the antimicrobial and antibiofilm potential of an array of phenolic rich extracts attained from acorns, two different acorn varieties Q. ilex and Q. suber, considering the fruit and shell separately, fresh and after heat-treating the acorns to aid in the shelling process. To accomplish this, the extracts’ capacity to inhibit an array of different microorganisms was evaluated, the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was determined, time-death curves were drawn whenever an MBC was found and the antibiofilm potential of the most effective extracts was drawn. The overall results showed that Gram-positive microorganisms were the most susceptible out of all the microorganisms tested, with the shell extracts being the most effective overall, exhibiting bactericidal effect against S. aureus, B. cereus and L. monocytogenes as well as being capable of inhibiting biofilm formation via the two S. aureus strains. The attained results demonstrated that acorn extracts, particularly shell extracts, pose an interesting antimicrobial activity which could be exploited in an array of food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Werner's syndrome associated with scleroderma-like syndrome: case report and literature revision

Werner's syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disease associated with premature ageing. Skin alteration must be distinguished from cutaneous manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc). We describe a case of a 39 years old patient with Werner's syndrome admitted with an initial diagnostic hypothesis of SSc. The patient had many characteristic features associated with Werner's syndrome including gray hair, hoarseness, short stature, scleroderma-like skin changes, diabetes mellitus, cataracts, hypogonadism, hypothyroidism, and hyperlipidemia. There was no Raynaud's phenomenon, other typical visceral manifestation of SSc, nailfold capillary alterations or autoantibodies. Werner's syndrome diagnosis notwithstanding rare, should be remember in the differential diagnosis of SSc, mainly in the presence of atypical manifestations and in the absence of typical features of SSc.A síndrome de Werner é uma doença autossômica recessiva rara associada a envelhecimento precoce, cujo quadro cutâneo deve ser distinguido daquele encontrado na esclerose sistêmica (ES). Descrevemos aqui o caso de uma paciente de 39 anos de idade, portadora de síndrome de Werner, encaminhada ao nosso serviço com hipótese diagnóstica inicial de ES. A paciente apresentava várias manifestações associadas à síndrome de Werner, incluindo cabelos precocemente grisalhos, voz estridente, baixa estatura, alterações cutâneas esclerodermiformes, diabetes melito, catarata, hipogonadismo, hipotireoidismo e hiperlipidemia. Não apresentava fenômeno de Raynaud, manifestações viscerais típicas da ES, alterações capilaroscópicas periungueais ou auto-anticorpos. O diagnóstico de síndrome de Werner, apesar de raro, deve ser lembrado no diagnóstico diferencial de ES, principalmente na presença de manifestações atípicas e na ausência de alterações típicas da ES.UNIFESP-EPMAmbulatório de Doenças do Espectro da Esclerose SistêmicaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

África e o turismo colonizador – neoliberalismo ambiental e luxo excludente: o exemplo da Tanzânia.

O continente africano possui vasta e rica história, bem como uma imensidão territorial que abriga uma enorme variedade de paisagens e culturas. O processo de colonização da África pelas potências europeias estabeleceu uma série de entraves ao seu desenvolvimento, além de impor diversas limitações que seguem evidentes nos Estados pós-coloniais. Uma das atividades econômicas com grande potencial para o continente é o turismo, em especial aquele ligado à cultura e à natureza. Este trabalho busca apresentar alguns aspectos do desenvolvimento turístico, no período contemporâneo, que demonstram continuidades com dinâmicas de colonização dos espaços e dos corpos. Vasta bibliografia sobre o tema é apreciada e analisada em conjunto com experiências de campo que sugerem a interpretação de que, na África, o turismo é colonizador. Em especial, é analisado o caso da Tanzânia, onde situações vivenciadas em duas localidades de alto interesse turístico – Zanzibar e Ngorongoro – permitiram traçar paralelos entre o período colonial e as atuais formas de gestão do território para aproveitamento turístico

A Graph Neural Network Approach to Nanosatellite Task Scheduling: Insights into Learning Mixed-Integer Models

This study investigates how to schedule nanosatellite tasks more efficiently using Graph Neural Networks (GNN). In the Offline Nanosatellite Task Scheduling (ONTS) problem, the goal is to find the optimal schedule for tasks to be carried out in orbit while taking into account Quality-of-Service (QoS) considerations such as priority, minimum and maximum activation events, execution time-frames, periods, and execution windows, as well as constraints on the satellite's power resources and the complexity of energy harvesting and management. The ONTS problem has been approached using conventional mathematical formulations and precise methods, but their applicability to challenging cases of the problem is limited. This study examines the use of GNNs in this context, which has been effectively applied to many optimization problems, including traveling salesman problems, scheduling problems, and facility placement problems. Here, we fully represent MILP instances of the ONTS problem in bipartite graphs. We apply a feature aggregation and message-passing methodology allied to a ReLU activation function to learn using a classic deep learning model, obtaining an optimal set of parameters. Furthermore, we apply Explainable AI (XAI), another emerging field of research, to determine which features -- nodes, constraints -- had the most significant impact on learning performance, shedding light on the inner workings and decision process of such models. We also explored an early fixing approach by obtaining an accuracy above 80\% both in predicting the feasibility of a solution and the probability of a decision variable value being in the optimal solution. Our results point to GNNs as a potentially effective method for scheduling nanosatellite tasks and shed light on the advantages of explainable machine learning models for challenging combinatorial optimization problems

CARACTERIZAÇÃO TECNOLÓGICA E PROTÉICA DE GENÓTIPOS DE FEIJÃO COMUM CULTIVADOS NA REGIÃO OESTE DO PARANÁ – BRASIL

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic parameters, technological and protein quality, correlating these variables in twelve genotypes of common bean, black and carioca classes. Recent harvest (control) and stored grains were analyzed for their number of pods per plant and seeds per pod, plant height and first insertion height. The technological attributes of genotypes as cooking time, water absorption capacity, percentage of whole grain, protein content, pH and conductivity were evaluated and the results subsequently subjected to analysis of variance, F test and correlation analysis. All agronomic parameters indicate significant differences at 5% (F test) between genotypes. Technological attributes showed significant (<5%) for interaction between factors (genotype and storage). The storage of all bean genotypes evaluated in this study under ambient conditions for a period of six months is not recommended due to contribute to hardening of the grains and whole grains reduce the rate after cooking.Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os parâmetros agronômicos, a qualidade tecnológica e protéica, correlacionando estas variáveis em doze genótipos de feijoeiro comum, classes preto e carioca. Grãos controle e armazenados (seis meses) foram analisados quanto, número de vagens por planta e grãos por vagem, altura das plantas e altura da primeira inserção. Os atributos tecnológicos, como tempo de cocção, capacidade de absorção de água, percentual de grãos inteiros, teor de proteína, pH e condutividade elétrica foram avaliados e os resultados submetidos à análise de variância, teste F e análise de correlação. Todos os parâmetros agronômicos apontaram diferenças significativas ao nível de 5% (teste F), entre os genótipos. Os atributos tecnológicos demonstraram significância (< 5%) para a interação entre os fatores (genótipo e armazenamento). O armazenamento de todos os genótipos de feijão sob condições ambientais pelo período de seis meses não é recomendado devido contribuir para o endurecimento dos grãos e reduzir o índice de grãos inteiros após a cocção

Effect of inhibition of prostaglandin E2 production on pancreatic infection in experimental acute pancreatitis

AbstractObjective. Acute pancreatitis is one the important causes of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). SIRS results in gut barrier dysfunction that allows bacterial translocation and pancreatic infection to occur. Indomethacin has been used to reduce inflammatory process and bacterial translocation in experimental models. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production on pancreatic infection. Materials and methods. An experimental model of severe acute pancreatitis (AP) was utilized. The animals were divided into three groups: sham (surgical procedure without AP induction); pancreatitis (AP induction); and indomethacin (AP induction plus administration of 3 mg/kg of indomethacin). Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10, PGE2, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured 2h after the induction of AP. We analyzed the occurrence of pancreatic infection with bacterial cultures performed 24h after the induction of AP. The occurrence of pancreatic infection (considered positive when the CFU/g was >105), pancreatic histologic analysis, and mortality rate were studied. Results. In spite of the reduction of IL-6, IL-10, and PGE2 levels in the indomethacin group, TNF-α level, bacterial translocation, and pancreatic infection were not influenced by administration of indomethacin. The inhibition of PGE2 production did not reduce pancreatic infection, histologic score, or mortality rate. Conclusion. The inhibition of PGE2 production was not able to reduce the occurrence of pancreatic infection and does not have any beneficial effect in this experimental model. Further investigations will be necessary to discover a specific inhibitor that would make it possible to develop an anti-inflammatory therapy

Multi-agent system for multimodal machine learning object detection

Multi-agent systems have shown great promise in addressing complex problems that traditional single-agent approaches are not be able to handle. In this article, we propose a multi-agent system for the conception of a multimodal machine learning problem on edge devices. Our architecture leverages docker containers to encapsulate knowledge in the form of models and processes, enabling easy management of the system. Communication between agents is facilitated by Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, a lightweight messaging protocol ideal for Internet of Things and edge computing environments. Additionally, we highlight the significance of object detection in our proposed system, which is a crucial component of many multimodal machine learning tasks, by enabling the identification and localization of objects within diverse data modalities. In this manuscript an overall architecture description is performed, discussing the role of each agent and the communication protocol between them. The proposed system offers a general approach to multimodal machine learning problems on edge devices, demonstrating the advantages of multi-agent systems in handling complex and dynamic environments.This work has been supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 in experimental severe acute pancreatitis

BACKGROUND: The standard treatment for acute pancreatitis (AP) is still based on supportive care. The search for a new drug that could change the natural history of the disease is a continuing challenge for many researchers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor on experimental AP in rats. METHODS: The animals were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 (n = 30)-animals with taurocholate-induced AP treated with parecoxib (40 mg/kg). Group 2 (n = 30)-animals with taurocholate-induced AP that received saline. The COX-2 inhibitor (parecoxib) was injected immediately after AP induction, through the penis dorsal vein. The parameters evaluated were histology, serum levels of amylase, IL-6 and IL-10, and mortality rate. RESULTS: The serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10 in the parecoxib-treated group were lower than the control group. The amylase serum levels and the mortality rate remained unchanged in the treated animals. Histologic morphology also was unaltered, except for fat necrosis, which was higher in parecoxib-treated rats. CONCLUSION: Inhibition of Cox-2 decreases the systemic release of inflammatory cytokines, but has a poor effect on the direct pancreas injury caused by taurocholate.INTRODUÇÃO: O tratamento padrão para a pancreatite aguda permanece baseado em medidas de suporte. A busca por uma droga que altere a história natural da doença ainda é um desafio para muitos pesquisadores. O objetivo deste estudo é avaliar o efeito de um inibidor da COX-2 na pancreatite aguda grave experimental (PA) em ratos. MÉTODO: Os animais foram divididos em dois Grupos: Grupo 1 (n=30) - animais com PA induzida por taurocolato e tratados com parecoxib (40mg/Kg). Grupo 2 (n=30) - animais com PA induzida por taurocolato que receberam solução salina. O inibidor de COX-2 (parecoxib) foi injetado imediatamente após a indução, através da veia dorsal do pênis. Os parâmetros avaliados foram histologia, níveis séricos de amilase, IL-6 e IL-10 e taxa de mortalidade. RESULTADOS: Os níveis séricos de IL-6 e IL-10 foram menores do que no grupo controle. Os níveis séricos de amilase e a taxa de mortalidade permaneceram inalteradas. A análise histológica também não mostraram alterações, exceto pela necrose gordurosa, que foi maior nos animais controle. CONCLUSÃO: A inibição da COX-2 pode reduzir a liberação sistêmica de pelo menos duas citocinas, mas tem pouco efeito na lesão pancreática direta causada pelo taurocolato