Combination of degradation pathways for naphthalene utilization in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB is a metabolic versatile bacterium able to grow on naphthalene as the only carbon and energy source. Applying proteomic, genetic and biochemical approaches, we propose in this paper that, at least, three coordinated but independently regulated set of genes are combined to degrade naphthalene in TFB. First, proteins involved in tetralin degradation are also induced by naphthalene and may carry out its conversion to salicylaldehyde. This is the only part of the naphthalene degradation pathway showing glucose catabolite repression. Second, a salicylaldehyde dehydrogenase activity that converts salicylaldehyde to salicylate is detected in naphthalene-grown cells but not in tetralin- or salicylate-grown cells. Finally, we describe the chromosomally located nag genes, encoding the gentisate pathway for salicylate conversion into fumarate and pyruvate, which are only induced by salicylate and not by naphthalene. This work shows how biodegradation pathways in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB could be assembled using elements from different pathways mainly because of the laxity of the regulatory systems and the broad specificity of the catabolic enzymes.Work in the authors laboratory was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, grants BIO2011-24003 and CSD2007-00005, and by the Andalusian Government, grants P05-CVI-131 and P07-CVI-2518.Peer Reviewe

Determination of seventeen endocrine disruptor compounds and their spatial and seasonal distribution in Ria Formosa Lagoon (Portugal)

In spite of its outstanding ecological and touristic importance the Ria Formosa Lagoon shows signs of anthropogenic pollution. Nonetheless, until the present survey no studies had ever documented the measurement of natural and pharmaceutical estrogens (17β-estradiol, estrone, and 17α-ethynylestradiol), xenoestrogenic industrial pollutants (4-octylphenol, 4- nonylphenol, and their mono and diethoxylates and bisphenol A), phytoestrogens (formononetin, biochanin A, daidzein, genistein), and sitosterol in this area. The 17 compounds measured herein are known as endocrine disrupters (EDCs) and act over the endocrine system even in few amounts (ng L−1–μg L−1). Thus to conclude about the influx of EDCs in the lagoon, water samples were taken every 2 months, during 1 year (2010), in low tide at nine sites distributed along the coastline. Water samples (1 L) were preconcentrated in the Oasis HLB cartridges and cleaned in silica cartridges before their analysis by GC-MS. Data showed the ubiquitous presence of potentially hazardous amounts of estrogens (particularly of ethynylestradiol, up to 24.3 ng L−1), nonylphenol (up to 547 ng L−1), and sitosterol (up to 12,300 ng L−1), mainly in summer, suggesting that the increase of the local number of inhabitants (tourists), the rise of the water temperature (up to 26 °C), and the blooming of local flora may interfere with the water quality parameters. This makes the lagoon a potential model to study. Taking into account the data, it was concluded that there are conditions for the occurrence of endocrine disruption in aquatic animals, even in areas included in the natural park of the Formosa. Besides, both the high amounts of un-ionized ammonia (up to 0.3 mg L−1) and phosphates (up to 1.6 mg L−1) my pose risks for local fauna and humans.This work was financially supported by FEDER funds through the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program—COMPETE and by National Funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), via the project PTDC/MAR/70436/2006

Monitoring and prediction of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) around the IPBeja Campus

Nowadays, most of the world’s population lives in urban centers, where air quality stand- 12 ards are not strictly observed; citizens are exposed to air quality levels over the limits of the World 13 Health Organization. The interaction between the issuing and atmospheric sources influences the 14 air quality or level. The local climatic conditions (temperature, humidity, winds, rainfall) determine 15 a greater or less dispersion of the pollutants present. In this sense, this work aimed to build a math 16 modelling prediction to monitor the air quality around the campus of IPBeja, which is in the vicinity 17 of a car traffic zone. The study analyzed the data from the last months, particulate matter (PM10 18 and PM2.5), and meteorological parameters for prediction using NARX. The device contains a par- 19 ticle sensor (NOVA SDS011), a microcontroller ESP8266 NodeMCU v3, a temperature sensor, hu- 20 midity, pressure BME280, and a suction tube. The results show a considerable increase in particles 21 in occasional periods, reaching average values of 135 μg/m3 for PM10 and 52 μg/m3 for PM2.5. 22 Thus, the monitoring and prediction serve as a warning to perceive these changes and be able to 23 relate them to natural phenomena or issuing sources in specific cases

Frequency of micronuclei and of other nuclear abnormalities in erythrocytes of the grey mullet from the Mondego, Douro and Ave estuaries—Portugal

Fish are bioindicators of water pollution, and an increased rate of their erythrocyte nuclear morphological abnormalities (ENMAs)—and particularly of erythrocyte micronuclei (EMN)—is used as a genotoxicity biomarker. Despite the potential value of ENMAs andMN, there is scarce information about fish captured in Iberian estuaries. This is the case of the Portuguese estuaries of the Mondego, Douro and Ave, suffering from different levels of environmental stress and where chemical surveys have been disclosing significant amounts of certain pollutants. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate genotoxicants impacts and infer about the exposure at those ecosystems, using the greymullet (Mugil cephalus) as bioindicator and considering the type and frequency of nuclear abnormalities of erythrocytes as proxies of genotoxicity. Sampling of mullets was done throughout the year in the important Mondego, Douro and Ave River estuaries (centre and north-western Portugal). The fish (total n=242) were caught in campaigns made in spring–summer and autumn– winter, using nets or fishing rods. The sampled mullets were comparable between locations in terms of the basic biometric parameters. Blood smears were stained with Diff-Quik to assess the frequencies of six types of ENMAs and MN (given per 1,000 erythrocytes). Some basic water physicochemical parameters were recorded to search for fluctuations matching the ENMAs. Overall, the most frequent nucleus abnormality was the polymorphic type, sequentially followed by the blebbed/ lobed/notched, segmented, kidney shaped, vacuolated,MNand binucleated. The total average frequency of the ENMAs ranged from 73‰in the Mondego to 108‰in the Ave. The polymorphic type was typically ≥50 % of the total ENMAs, averaging about 51‰, when considering all three estuaries. The most serious lesion—the MN—in fish from Mondego and Douro had a similar frequency (≈0.38‰), which was significantly lower than that in the Ave (0.75‰). No significant seasonal differences existed as to the MN rates and seasonal differences existed almost only in the Douro, with the higher values in AW. In general, the pattern of ENMAs frequencies was unrelated with the water physicochemical parameters. Considering the data for both the total ENMAs and for each specific abnormality, and bearing in mind that values of MN in fish erythrocytes >0.3‰ usually reflect pollution by genotoxicants, it is suggested that mullets were likely being chronically exposed to such compounds, even in the allegedly less polluted ecosystem (Mondego). Moreover, data supported the following pollution exposure gradient: Mondego<Douro<Ave. The scenario and inferences nicely agree with the published data from chemical monitoring.This work was partially supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funds through the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program (COMPETE), and by National Funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), via the research projects PTDC/MAR/70436/2006, PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/ 2011, PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/2013, and also by the PhD grant SFRH/BD/25746/2005

DETECTION OF FRACTURE PLANES BY GEORADAR IN A GRANITE QUARRY

No sector da extração de pedra natural, em particular no granito, mármore e calcário, vive-se um bom momento económico. Contudo, face às novas exigências técnicas, ambientais e de segurança, é necessário que sejam disponibilizadas informações úteis e em tempo útil, de modo a responder às necessidades dos profissionais do sector. Neste sentido, é fundamental o desenvolvimento de métodos e metodologias científicas que permitam a monitorização constante do recurso natural sem colocar em causa a operacionalidade da atividade extrativa. O georadar é uma técnica não invasiva e não destrutiva que permite detetar diferenças na composição geológica das estruturas soterradas. Este método tem sido aplicado com sucesso em diferentes áreas, nomeadamente, geotecnia, arqueologia, ou monitorização ambiental. O objetivo deste trabalho visa a aplicação do método de georadar em detetar descontinuidades, como fraturas, falhas, diaclases e veios de quartzo na frente de uma pedreira de granito, localizada em Évora, e representar essas descontinuidades num modelo digital 3D. Este trabalho foi complementado com mapeamento 3D com recurso a drone

Nuevas vías de publicación para revistas biomédicas. El proyecto de Revista ORL de Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca

[ES] Revista ORL es una publicación de Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca de acceso abierto para autores y lectores, multidisciplinar que incluye información sobre documentación y metodología de investigación en sus contenidos y cumple los requisitos formales, éticos y legales exigibles a las publicaciones científicas. Objetivos: Mostrar las características, posición actual y objetivos de Revista ORL. Metodología: Análisis estratégico DAFO y revisión sobre las características y posición de Revista ORL en internet, repositorios y buscadores analizando: formato, accesibilidad y visibilidad, actividad y contenidos, calidad (criterios Latindex, proceso editorial derechos de autor y licencias de uso, política de autoarchivo) y métricas. Conclusiones: Las líneas de trabajo actuales de Revista ORL se centran en la traducción de artículos a inglés, aceptar artículos en lengua inglesa que serán traducidos al español, fomentar el uso del español como lengua científica, conseguir la acreditación del sello de calidad FECYT y progresivamente incluir la publicación en bases de datos especializadas. [EN] Introduction: Revista ORL is an open access publication for authors and readers, multidisciplinary that includes information on documentation and research methodology and meets the formal, ethical and legal requirements of scientific publications. Objectives: To show the characteristics, current position and objectives of Revista ORL. Methodology: SWOT strategic analysis and review on the characteristics and position of Revista ORL in the internet, repositories and searchers analyzing: format, accessibility and visibility, activity and contents, quality (Latindex criteria, editorial process, intellectual property, self-archiving policy) and metrics. Conclusions: The current lines of work of Revista ORL focus on translating articles into English, accepting articles in English that will be translated into Spanish, encouraging the use of Spanish as a scientific language, obtaining FECYT quality seal accreditation and progressively Include publication in specialized databases

Prevalence of Fabry Disease in Young Patients with Stroke in Argentina.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) is an underdiagnosed cause of stroke in youngadults, but the frequency of this association is largely unknown. We estimatedthe prevalence of FD in a nationwide cohort of young adults who had stroke andtransient ischemic attack (TIA) in Argentina. Methods: This was a prospective, multicenterstudy of stroke and FD in young adults (18-55 years) conducted in Argentinabetween 2011 and 2015. Patients were enrolled if they had had a TIA or an ischemicor hemorrhagic stroke within the previous 180 days. FD was diagnosed bymeasuring α-galactosidase A activity (males) and through genetic studies (females).Results: We enrolled 311 patients (54% men, mean age: 41 years). Ischemic eventsoccurred in 89% of patients (80% infarcts, 9% TIA) and hemorrhagic strokes in11%. One female (.3% of the total group, 1% of the cryptogenic ischemic strokes)had the pathogenic mutation c.888G>A/p.Met296Ile /Exon 6 on the GAL gene.Her only other manifestation of FD was angiokeratoma. Eighteen females hadnonpathogenic intronic variations: c.-10C>T, c.-12G>A, or both. Two patients hadthe nonpathogenic mutation D313Y, while a third had the likely benign mutationS126G. Conclusions: FD was identified in 1 patient (.3%) in this first LatinAmerican study. The patient presented with a late-onset oligo-symptomatic formof the disease. A large number of nonpathogenic mutations were present in ourcohort, and it is essential that they not be mistaken for pathogenic mutations to avoid unnecessary enzyme replacement treatment.Fil: Reisin, Ricardo C.. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mazziotti, Julieta. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: León Cejas, Luciana. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Zinnerman, Alberto. Hospital Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Bonardo, Pablo. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez Pardal, M.. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, A.. Hospital Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Riccio, Patricia. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Ameriso, Sebastián. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Bendersky, Eduardo. INAREPS; ArgentinaFil: Nofal, Pedro. Sanatorio Parque Tucumán; ArgentinaFil: Cairola, Patricia. CEMIC; ArgentinaFil: Jure, Lorena. Sanatorio Parque Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Sotelo, Andrea. Sanatorio Adventista del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Rozenfeld, Paula Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológicos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológicos; ArgentinaFil: Ceci, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológicos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológicos; ArgentinaFil: Casas Parera, Ignacio Faustino. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Oncología "Ángel H. Roffo"; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez Luceros, Analía Gabriela. Academia de Medicina; Argentin