Traumatic Neuroma Following Sagittal Split Osteotomy of the Mandible

A 16-year-old male underwent bilateral sagittal split osteotomy of the mandible to correct a mandibular deficiency. Twenty-one years later, a routine panoramic radiograph revealed a radiolucent lesion on the left side of the mandible. The lesion was biopsied. As the patient did not have symptoms and the lesion was connected to the inferior alveolar nerve, the lesion was not totally excised in order to preserve nerve function. The histological features were consistent with traumatic neuroma, and no further surgical procedure was planned

Análise comparativa do sistema solar termodinâmico vs. sistema solar térmico

Mestrado em Sistemas Energéticos SustentáveisCom este trabalho pretende-se comparar energética e financeiramente o sistema solar térmico e o sistema solar termodinâmico aplicados para captura de energia solar em sistema de água quente sanitária. Para isso comparou-se, a partir do software Retscreen e EcoREN, o desempenho e performance de cada sistema, que depende em muito da temperatura do ar e da radiação incidente local, para três cidades portuguesas: Bragança, Coimbra e Faro. Daí foi possível percecionar o fluxo de caixa anual de cada sistema solar em relação a um sistema de referência (termoacumulador elétrico), e obtiveram-se os dados financeiros que demonstram a viabilidade de cada projeto e auxiliam na escolha do sistema solar mais adequado a implementar em cada uma das cidades referenciadas. Os resultados obtidos indicam que o sistema solar térmico está mais dependente da radiação, e, portanto, tem maior oscilação da fração solar ao longo do ano, e do local (Bragança 55 %, Coimbra 61 % e Faro 68 %). Já no sistema solar termodinâmico, a fração solar obtida é relativamente constante, mantendo-se a cerca de 65%, independentemente da localização, sendo compensado por um maior trabalho e consumo elétrico por parte do compressor em períodos de menor eficiência térmica. Em termos financeiros o sistema solar térmico apresentou payback inferior para Coimbra e Faro, tal como um maior fluxo de caixa, pois o sistema solar termodinâmico tem custos extra associados ao compressor.The aim of this work is to make an energy and financial comparison between a solar thermal system and a thermodynamic solar system, when applied as a domestic hot water heater. With the support of Retscreen and EcoREN software, was modeled the performance of each system, which are mainly affected by air temperature and incident solar radiation. The study was conducted for three portuguese cities: Bragança, Coimbra and Faro. Therefore, it was possible to compare the cashflow of different systems relative to a reference technology (electric thermal accumulator). The financial data in particular was key in determining the viability of each solar system and may work as a support in the decision making for the most suitable solar system which should be implemented in each of the studied cities. The obtained results show that the solar thermal system is more dependent of the radiation, therefore there is a major swing of the solar fraction throughout the year, and the location (Bragança 55 %, Coimbra, 61 % and Faro 68 %). As for the thermodynamic solar system, the solar fraction is relatively constant, around 65 %, no matter the location, although more work is required from the compressor. As for the financial aspect, with the solar thermal system the payback is lower for Coimbra and Faro, and also have higher cashflow, because the thermodynamic solar system has extra costs with the compresso

Draft genome sequence of the antimycin-producing bacterium Streptomyces sp. strain SM8, isolated from the marine sponge Haliclona simulans

Streptomyces sp. strain SM8, isolated from Haliclona simulans, possesses antifungal and antibacterial activities and inhibits the calcineurin pathway in yeast. The draft genome sequence is 7,145,211 bp, containing 5,929 predicted coding sequences. Several secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters are present, encoding known and novel metabolites, including antimycin

Draft genome sequence of Pseudomonas putida CA-3, a bacterium capable of styrene degradation and medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis

Pseudomonas putida strain CA-3 is an industrial bioreactor isolate capable of synthesizing biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers via the metabolism of styrene and other unrelated carbon sources. The pathways involved are subject to regulation by global cellular processes. The draft genome sequence is 6,177,154 bp long and contains 5,608 predicted coding sequences

BIRD ENTANGLEMENT AND MORTALITY BY FRUITS OF THE ZAPALLO CASPI TREE PISONIA ZAPALLO IN THE DRY CHACO, ARGENTINA

Abstract ∙ Bird entanglement by plants may be globally widespread, but it is not a frequently studied phenomenon, and records in different regions of the world are still scarce. During a short visit to the El Impenetrable National Park, Chaco province, Argentina, in October–November 2022, we recorded 15 incidental cases of birds entangled or trapped by fruits of the tree Pisonia zapallo. Our report involves 12 bird species from eight families, with a wide range of body sizes and masses. To our knowledge, this is the first documented report on this phenomenon in continental South America

Background

Estimates of adherence to treatment of vivax malari

HIPE: HMC Instruction Predication Extension Applied on Database Processing

The recent Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) is a smart memory which includes functional units inside one logic layer of the 3D stacked memory design. In order to execute instructions inside the Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC), the processor needs to send instructions to be executed near data, keeping most of the pipeline complexity inside the processor. Thus, control-flow and data-flow dependencies are all managed inside the processor, in such way that only update instructions are supported by the HMC. In order to solve data-flow dependencies inside the memory, previous work proposed HMC Instruction Vector Extensions (HIVE), which embeds a high number of functional units with a interlock register bank. In this work we propose HMC Instruction Prediction Extensions (HIPE), that supports predicated execution inside the memory, in order to transform control-flow dependencies into data-flow dependencies. Our mechanism focus on removing the high latency iteration between the processor and the smart memory during the execution of branches that depends on data processed inside the memory. In this paper we evaluate a balanced design of HIVE comparing to x86 and HMC executions. After we show the HIPE mechanism results when executing a database workload, which is a strong candidate to use smart memories. We show interesting trade-offs of performance when comparing our mechanism to previous work

In silico screening and heterologous expression of a Polyethylene Terephthalate hydrolase (PETase)- like enzyme (SM14est) with Polycaprolactone (PCL)-degrading activity, from the marine sponge-derived strain Streptomyces sp. SM14.

Plastics, such as the polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are widely used for various industrial applications, due to their physicochemical properties which are particularly useful in the packaging industry. However, due to improper plastic waste management and difficulties in recycling, post-consumer plastic waste has become a pressing issue for both the environment and for human health. Hence, novel technologies and methods of processing plastic waste are required to address these issues. Enzymatic-assisted hydrolysis of synthetic polymers has been proposed as a potentially more efficient and environment-friendly alternative to the currently employed methods. Recently, a number of PET hydrolases have been described, and in particular a PETase derived from Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 (IsPETase), which appears to be the most efficient and substrate-specific bacterial PET hydrolase enzyme discovered to date. In order to further investigate this class of PETase-like enzymes, we employed an in silico-based screening approach on the biotechnologically relevant genus Streptomyces, including terrestrial and marine isolates; in a search for potential PETase homologs. From a total of 52 genomes analyzed, we were able to identify three potential PETase-like enzymes, all of which were derived from marine-sponge associated Streptomyces isolates. A candidate PETase-like gene (SM14est) was identified in Streptomyces sp. SM14. Further in silico characterization of the SM14est protein sequence and its predicted three-dimensional structure were performed and compared to the well-characterized IsPETase. Both the serine hydrolase motif Gly-x1-Ser-x2-Gly and the catalytic triad Ser, Asp, His are conserved in both sequences. Molecular docking experiments indicated that the SM14est enzyme possessed the capacity to bind plastics as substrates. Finally, polyesterase activity was confirmed using a polycaprolactone (PCL) plate clearing assay which is a model substrate for the degradation of plastics; following heterologous expression of SM14est in Escherichia coli, with secretion being facilitated by the native Streptomyces signal peptide. These findings provide further insights into this important class of PETase-like enzymes

Comparative genomics of marine sponge-derived Streptomyces spp. isolates SM17 and SM18 with their closest terrestrial relatives provides novel insights into environmental niche adaptations and secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential

The emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms has led to an increased need for the discovery and development of novel antimicrobial compounds. Frequent rediscovery of the same natural products (NPs) continues to decrease the likelihood of the discovery of new compounds from soil bacteria. Thus, efforts have shifted toward investigating microorganisms and their secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential, from diverse niche environments, such as those isolated from marine sponges. Here we investigated at the genomic level two Streptomyces spp. strains, namely SM17 and SM18, isolated from the marine sponge Haliclona simulans, with previously reported antimicrobial activity against clinically relevant pathogens; using single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing. We performed a series of comparative genomic analyses on SM17 and SM18 with their closest terrestrial relatives, namely S. albus J1074 and S. pratensis ATCC 33331 respectively; in an effort to provide further insights into potential environmental niche adaptations (ENAs) of marine sponge-associated Streptomyces, and on how these adaptations might be linked to their secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential. Prediction of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (smBGCs) indicated that, even though the marine isolates are closely related to their terrestrial counterparts at a genomic level; they potentially produce different compounds. SM17 and SM18 displayed a better ability to grow in high salinity medium when compared to their terrestrial counterparts, and further analysis of their genomes indicated that they possess a pool of 29 potential ENA genes that are absent in S. albus J1074 and S. pratensis ATCC 33331. This ENA gene pool included functional categories of genes that are likely to be related to niche adaptations and which could be grouped based on potential biological functions such as osmotic stress, defense; transcriptional regulation; symbiotic interactions; antimicrobial compound production and resistance; ABC transporters; together with horizontal gene transfer and defense-related features