Ehrharta longiflora Sm. y Pennisetum setaceum (Forsk.) Chiov., dos nuevas gramíneas exóticas para la isla de Madeira

El número de taxones introducidos y posiblemente introducidos en los archipiélagos de Madeira y Salvajes supone aproximadamente un 36% de su flora total, incluyendo 53 taxa de poáceas (sobre un total de 141 taxa de poáceas), constituyendo, de esta manera, la familia botánica con mayor número de taxa introducidos (38,4%). El género Ehrharta Thunb. comprende unas 35 especies, con una especie, E. longiflora Sm., registrada como introducida en Gran Canaria. El género Pennisetum Rich. incluye cerca de 80 especies, de las cuales un total de nueve especies están presentes en Macaronesia, de las que tres (P. clandestinum Hochst. & Chiov., P. purpureum Schum. y P. villosum R. Br. ex Fresen), se encuentran en el archipiélago de Madeira. Ehrharta longiflora Sm. y Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov. se citan en este trabajo por primera vez para la isla de Madeira, donde han sido encontradas en áreas perturbadas a bajas y medias altitudes. El hallazgo de varios individuos maduros en estado de flor/fruto de ambas especies sugiere que están totalmente naturalizadas. El trabajo discute la naturalización, la capacidad invasora y los impactos ecológicos generados por las mismas.The number of introduced, and possible introduced, taxa in the Madeira and Selvagens islands currently accounts for nearly 36% of the total flora of these archipelagos, including 53 Poaceae taxa (out of 141 Poaceae taxa), therefore constituting the family with the higher proportion of introduced taxa (38.4%). The genus Ehrharta Thunb. comprises about 35 species, with one species, E. longiflora Sm., recorded as introduced in Gran Canaria. The genus Pennisetum Rich. includes ca. 80 species of which a total of nine species are present in Macaronesia, with three: P. clandestinum Hochst. & Chiov., P. purpureum Schum. and P. villosum R. Br. ex Fresen, occurring in the Madeira archipelago. Ehrharta longiflora Sm. and Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov., are here recorded for the first time for the Madeira island, found in disturbed areas at low and medium altitudes. The finding of several mature and flowering/fructifying individuals of both species suggests a fully naturalized status. Naturalization, invasiveness and ecological impacts are discussed

Use of graphene as an additive to improve the mechanical properties of gypsum plaster

This work aimed to investigate the effects of graphene nanoparticles on the mechanical and morphological properties of gypsum plaster paste. In order to do so, samples of pure gypsum plaster paste with multilayer graphene were produced. These samples were prepared with a water/plaster factor (w/p) of approximately 0.5 with different graphene dosages. The mechanical analysis results showed that the graphene dosage of 0.02% increased the compressive and tensile strength values in the order of 120%. The increase in these properties is most likely due to the heat dissipation promoted by graphene, the greater production of crystalline nuclei and the reactivity of graphene with Ca2+ ions. Regarding the plaster setting times, a reduction in the values was observed for most samples, indicating an increase in the production of crystalline nuclei. FTIR analyzes indicate that there were no changes in terms of chemical properties

Dietary supplementation with chestnut (Castanea sativa) reduces abdominal adiposity in FVB/n mice: a preliminary study

The production of chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) is mostly concentrated in Europe. Chestnut is recognized by its high content of antioxidants and phytosterols. This work aimed to evaluate the e ects of dietary chestnut consumption over physiological variables of FVB/n mice. Eighteen FVB/n male 7-month-old mice were randomly divided into three experimental groups (n = 6): 1 (control group) fed a standard diet; 2 fed a diet supplemented with 0.55% (w/w) chestnut; and 3 supplemented with 1.1% (w/w) chestnut. Body weight, water, and food intake were recorded weekly. Following 35 days of supplementation, the mice were sacrificed for the collection of biological samples. Chestnut supplementation at 1.1% reduced abdominal adipose tissue. Lower serum cholesterol was also observed in animals supplemented with chestnut. There were no significant di erences concerning the incidence of histological lesions nor in biochemical markers of hepatic damage and oxidative stress. These results suggest that chestnut supplementation may contribute to regulate adipose tissue deposition.This work is supported by National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UIDB/04033/2020, CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and UIDB/CVT/00772/2020 Interreg Program for the financial support of the Project IBERPHENOL, Project Number 0377_IBERPHENOL_6_E; co-financed by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through POCTEP 2014-2020. This work was also supported by VALORIZEBYPRODUCTS Project, reference n.º 029152, funded by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through COMPETE 2020 - Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (POCI). This work was also financially supported by Project UID/EQU/00511/2019 - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” – NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), by the Research Centre of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto (CI-IPOP 37-2016) and by the Interact R&D project, operation number NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, in its ISAC research line, co-financed by the ERDF through NORTE 2020. This work was also supported by PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/136747/2018.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A linguagem literária do New Journalism em The Duke in His Domain

O presente artigo possui o intuito de esclarecer como a linguagem literária foi atrelada à linguagem jornalística na categoria New Journalism (Novo Jornalismo, no português). Para isso, utilizamos trechos do artigo The Duke in His Domain, de Truman Capote, que se trata de um perfil-reportagem do ator hollywoodiano Marlon Brando, escrito em 1957 e publicado na famosa revista nova-iorquina, The New Yorker. A relevância para análise deste objeto de pesquisa não é somente em relação ao toque literário, mas também devido a sua importância histórica e jornalística, pois é sabido que tal texto é um precursor do New Journalism. O referencial teórico da pesquisa é embasado em um artigo de Cyntia Belgini Andretta, estudiosa da obra de Truman Capote, e em autores que se dedicam ao estudo do jornalismo-literário, como Eduardo Belo e Marcelo Bulhões. Com o resultado da pesquisa, a análise de trechos do artigo de Capote ajudará a esclarecer dúvidas em relação ao uso dos recursos literários dentro do jornalismo

What else in times of COVID-19? The role of minimally invasive autopsy for the differential diagnosis of acute respiratory failure in a case of kala-azar

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a chronic vector-borne zoonotic disease caused by trypanosomatids, considered endemic in 98 countries, mainly associated with poverty. About 50,000–90,000 cases of VL occur annually worldwide, and Brazil has the second largest number of cases in the world. The clinical picture of VL is fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and pancytopenia, progressing to death in 90% of cases due to secondary infections and multi-organ failure, if left untreated. We describe the case of a 25-year-old female who lived in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, who had recently taken touristic trips to several rural areas in Southeastern Brazil and was diagnosed post-mortem. During the hospitalization in a hospital reference for the treatment of COVID-19, the patient developed acute respiratory failure, with chest radiographic changes, and died due to refractory shock. The ultrasound-guided minimally invasive autopsy diagnosed VL (macrophages containing amastigote forms of Leishmania in the spleen, liver and bone marrow), as well as pneumonia and bloodstream infection by gram-negative bacilli

Análise do efeito imunomodulador da prática de atividade física frente ao COVID-19 / Analysis of the immunomodulatory effect of physical activity against COVID-19

A pandemia originada com o surgimento de uma doença respiratória viral denominada Doença do Novo Coronavírus em 2019 (COVID-19) tornou claro que, apesar das medidas de higiene em saúde coletiva e isolamento social impostas pelos órgãos de saúde, fatores como a capacidade de defesa imunológica do hospedeiro são de suma importância na análise da eficácia de medidas para o controle da contaminação popular. Assim sendo, a prática regular de atividade física de moderada intensidade se mostra crucial no aprimoramento do sistema imune em defesa ao Coronavírus. Sua capacidade de estimular uma resposta celular de padrão predominantemente anti-inflamatório (com predomínio essencialmente da interleucina 6 e 10) e modular a distribuição, fenótipo e atuação dos macrófagos e leucócitos no combate do patógeno está diretamente relacionada com a menor chance de contaminação não somente pelo coronavírus, mas também por infecções virais como influenza. Desta forma, a recomendação da prática de pelo menos 150 minutos por semana de atividade física moderada se torna uma das medidas de auxílio na prevenção da contaminação pelo COVID-19 ao promover bom padrão global de saúde e aprimorar a defesa imunológica do indivíduo

Human-umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal cells improved left ventricular contractility independently of infarct size in swine myocardial infarction with reperfusion

Funding Information: This work was funded by: i) national funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the scope of the Cardiovascular R&D Center - UnIC (UIDB/00051/2020 and UIDP/00051/2020); ii) “la Caixa” Banking Foundation and FCT under the project code LCF/PR/HP17/52190002”; iii) the QREN project 2013/30196; and iv) the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), under the Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Program and National Funds through FCT [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030985]. RNG and TLL were funded by the FCT individual fellowships [SFRH/BD/144490/2019] and [PD/BD/127997/2016], respectively. Funding sources had no interference in the design of the study, study governance, data collection and analysis, nor in manuscript writing or its scientific and intellectual content. Publisher Copyright: 2023 Raposo, Cerqueira, Leite, Moreira-Costa, Laundos, Miranda, Mendes-Ferreira, Coelho, Gomes, Pinto-do-Ó, Nascimento, Lourenço, Cardim and Leite-Moreira.Background: Human umbilical cord matrix-mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCM-MSC) have demonstrated beneficial effects in experimental acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Reperfusion injury hampers myocardial recovery in a clinical setting and its management is an unmet need. We investigated the efficacy of intracoronary (IC) delivery of xenogeneic hUCM-MSC as reperfusion-adjuvant therapy in a translational model of AMI in swine. Methods: In a placebo-controlled trial, pot-belied pigs were randomly assigned to a sham-control group (vehicle-injection; n = 8), AMI + vehicle (n = 12) or AMI + IC-injection (n = 11) of 5 × 105 hUCM-MSC/Kg, within 30 min of reperfusion. AMI was created percutaneously by balloon occlusion of the mid-LAD. Left-ventricular function was blindly evaluated at 8-weeks by invasive pressure-volume loop analysis (primary endpoint). Mechanistic readouts included histology, strength-length relationship in skinned cardiomyocytes and gene expression analysis by RNA-sequencing. Results: As compared to vehicle, hUCM-MSC enhanced systolic function as shown by higher ejection fraction (65 ± 6% vs. 43 ± 4%; p = 0.0048), cardiac index (4.1 ± 0.4 vs. 3.1 ± 0.2 L/min/m2; p = 0.0378), preload recruitable stroke work (75 ± 13 vs. 36 ± 4 mmHg; p = 0.0256) and end-systolic elastance (2.8 ± 0.7 vs. 2.1 ± 0.4 mmHg*m2/ml; p = 0.0663). Infarct size was non-significantly lower in cell-treated animals (13.7 ± 2.2% vs. 15.9 ± 2.7%; Δ = −2.2%; p = 0.23), as was interstitial fibrosis and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in the remote myocardium. Sarcomere active tension improved, and genes related to extracellular matrix remodelling (including MMP9, TIMP1 and PAI1), collagen fibril organization and glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis were downregulated in animals treated with hUCM-MSC. Conclusion: Intracoronary transfer of xenogeneic hUCM-MSC shortly after reperfusion improved left-ventricular systolic function, which could not be explained by the observed extent of infarct size reduction alone. Combined contributions of favourable modification of myocardial interstitial fibrosis, matrix remodelling and enhanced cardiomyocyte contractility in the remote myocardium may provide mechanistic insight for the biological effect.publishersversionpublishe