Effects of desloratadine on activated sludge: behaviour of EPS and sludge properties

"Available online 8 August 2022"Desloratadine (DESL), a second generation of antihistamines, is an important anti-allergic pharmaceutical used to treat allergic rhinitis, hay fever and urticaria. In this study, the overall performance, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production, and sludge properties were assessed in a sequencing batch reactor wastewater treatment process with activated sludge during 139 days, under the presence of DESL (1, 5, and 10mgL-1). DESL at 10mgL-1 impacted biomass activity decreasing the chemical oxygen demand removal (78%) and the ammonium removal (71%). The removal of DESL was of 63%. Tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) was significantly higher (149.5mg gMLVSS-1) at the end of operation. Peaks attributed to protein-like fluorophores clearly predominated along the experimental phases using three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM) fluorescence. The peak locations and intensities in the EPS fluorescence revealed the difference in the chemical structures of the EPS caused by DESL exposure. Quantitative image analysis results clearly demonstrated the formation of large aggregates. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a positive relationship between TB-EPS components, and large aggregates. Moreover, the results allowed to distinguish the different operational phases, emphasizing the effect of DESL on EPS and aggregates.The authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/ 04469/2020 unit, and by LABBELS – Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems, LA/P/ 0029/2020. The authors also acknowledge the financial support to Antonio Melo through the grant number 240-20170220 provided by Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (IFPE). Daniela P. Mesquita and Cristina Quintelas thank FCT for funding through program DL 57/2016 – Norma transitoria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

EPS and aggregates changes on activated sludge under atrazine exposure

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play a vital role in biological wastewater treatment systems, affecting their performance in aggregates settling, structure and arrangement, and interacting with micropollutants present in wastewater. In this study, the effects of herbicide atrazine (ATZ) on the EPS yield and composition and aggregates structure were investigated on activated sludge (AS) in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The results demonstrated that TB-EPS and LB-EPS increased under ATZ exposure, indicating that microorganisms release EPS as a self-mechanism of defense against environmental changes. Above 5.5 mg L-1 of ATZ aggregates become larger. Principal component analysis (PCA) was useful in highlighting biomass changes during the experimental phases, and Pearson correlation revealed that TB-EPS content correlate well with large aggregates (0.996).The authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, and by LABBELS – Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems, LA/P/0029/2020. The authors also acknowledge the financial support to A. Melo through the grant 240-20170220 provided by Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (IFPE). D.P. Mesquita and C. Quintelas acknowledge FCT funding under DL57/2016 Transitory Norm Programme.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Upconverting nanoparticles as primary thermometers and power sensors

Luminescence thermometry is a spectroscopic technique for remote temperature detection based on the thermal dependence of the luminescence of phosphors, presenting numerous applications ranging from biosciences to engineering. In this work, we use the Er3+ emission of the NaGdF4/NaGdF4:Yb3+,Er3+/NaGdF4 upconverting nanoparticles upon 980 nm laser excitation to determine simultaneously the absolute temperature and the excitation power density. The Er3+ 2H11/2→4 I15/2 and 4 S3/2→4 I15/2 emission bands, which are commonly used for thermometric purposes, overlap with the 2 H9/2 →4 I13/2 emission band, which can lead to erroneous temperature readout. Applying the concept of luminescent primary thermometry to resolve the overlapping Er3+ transitions, a dual nanosensor synchronously measuring the temperature and the delivered laser pump power is successfully realized holding promising applications in laser-supported thermal therapies.publishe

Marine forests of the Mediterranean-Atlantic Cystoseira tamariscifolia complex show a southern Iberian genetic hotspot and no reproductive isolation in parapatry

Climate-driven range-shifts create evolutionary opportunities for allopatric divergence and subsequent contact, leading to genetic structuration and hybrid zones. We investigate how these processes influenced the evolution of a complex of three closely related Cystoseira spp., which are a key component of the Mediterranean-Atlantic seaweed forests that are undergoing population declines. The C. tamariscifolia complex, composed of C. tamariscifolia s.s., C. amentacea and C. mediterranea, have indistinct boundaries and natural hybridization is suspected. Our aims are to (1) infer the genetic structure and diversity of these species throughout their distribution ranges using microsatellite markers to identify ancient versus recent geographical populations, contact zones and reproductive barriers, and (2) hindcast past distributions using niche models to investigate the influence of past range shifts on genetic divergence at multiple spatial scales. Results supported a single, morphologically plastic species the genetic structure of which was incongruent with a priori species assignments. The low diversity and low singularity in northern European populations suggest recent colonization after the LGM. The southern Iberian genetic hotspot most likely results from the role of this area as a climatic refugium or a secondary contact zone between differentiated populations or both. We hypothesize that life-history traits (selfing, low dispersal) and prior colonization effects, rather than reproductive barriers, might explain the observed genetic discontinuities.Pew Charitable Trusts (USA); MARINERA, Spain [CTM2008-04183-E/MAR]; FCT (Portugal) [FCT-BIODIVERSA/004/2015, CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013, SFRH/BPD/107878/2015, SFRH/BPD/85040/2012]; FPU fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Education; European Community ASSEMBLE visiting grant [00399/2012]; University of Cadi

Human-AI Co-Creation Approach to Find Forever Chemicals Replacements

Generative models are a powerful tool in AI for material discovery. We are designing a software framework that supports a human-AI co-creation process to accelerate finding replacements for the ``forever chemicals''-- chemicals that enable our modern lives, but are harmful to the environment and the human health. Our approach combines AI capabilities with the domain-specific tacit knowledge of subject matter experts to accelerate the material discovery. Our co-creation process starts with the interaction between the subject matter experts and a generative model that can generate new molecule designs. In this position paper, we discuss our hypothesis that these subject matter experts can benefit from a more iterative interaction with the generative model, asking for smaller samples and ``guiding'' the exploration of the discovery space with their knowledge.Comment: 5 pages, Generative AI and HCI (GenAICHI) Workshop at CHI 23 (ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Synbiobacther: engineering “therapeutic” bacteria

SYNBIOBACTHER – Engineering “therapeutic” bacteria Rodrigues LR, Rodrigues JL, Machado CD, Kluskens L, Mota M, Rocha I, Ferreira EC IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal Statistics show that over 1.3 million persons will be diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide this year, hence this is an enormously important health risk, and progress leading to enhanced survival is a global priority. Several strategies have been pursued over the years, whether searching new biomarkers, drugs or treatments. Ultrasound is often used to treat solid tumours. However, this technique is not always successful, as sometimes it just heats the tumour without destroying it. If it would be possible to link this treatment with the expression/release of a therapeutic agent, the joint effect could be more effective. Some efforts have been made in this direction, although to date the results have not been very encouraging; potential reasons include lack of precise control over administration of the drug. Therefore, the idea is to overcome this barrier through the use of synthetic and systems biology strategies to engineer a model bacterium to trigger release of a therapeutic agent concurrent with ultrasound treatment. The search for new cancer-fighting drugs has traditionally driven research efforts in this field. Curcumin, due to its attractive properties as a novel drug has recently attracted increased attention. Nevertheless, it is well known that it has a poor bioavailability. Cellular uptake is slow, and it is quickly metabolised once inside cells, requiring repetitive oral doses to achieve sufficient concentration inside the cells for therapeutic activity. Hence, the possibility of synthesizing curcumin in situ in a controlled way, as proposed in this project, provides a powerful alternative. References [1] Katsuyama Y, Matsuzawa M, Funa N, Horinouchi S, “Production of curcuminoids by Escherichia coli carrying an artificial biosynthesis pathway”, Microbiology (2008) 154:2620-2628. [2] Forbes NS, “Engineering the perfect (bacterial) cancer therapy”, Nat, Rev. Cancer (2010) 10:785-794

Lipocalin-2 is involved in emotional behaviors and cognitive function

Lipocalin-2 is involved in emotional behaviors and cognitive functionLipocalin-2 (LCN2), an iron-related protein well described to participate in the innate immune response, has been shown to modulate spine morphology and to regulate neuronal excitability. In accordance, LCN2-null mice are reported to have stress-induced anxiety. Here we show that, under standard housing conditions, LCN2-null mice display anxious and depressive-like behaviors, as well as cognitive impairment in spatial learning tasks. These behavioral alterations were associated with a hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and with an altered brain cytoarchitecture in the hippocampus. More specifically, we found that the granular and pyramidal neurons of the ventral hippocampus, a region described to be associated with emotion, were hypertrophic, while neurons from the dorsal hippocampus, a region implicated in memory and cognition, were atrophic. In addition, LCN2-null mice presented synaptic impairment in hippocampal long-term potentiation. Whether the LCN2 effects are mediated through modulation of the level of corticosteroids or through a novel mechanism, the present observations bring further into light this immune-related protein as a player in the fine-tuning of behavior and of synaptic activity.We are grateful to Professor Shizuo Akira and Professor Cevayir Coban for the LCN2-null mice in the BALB/c background and to Professor Trude Flo for the LCN2-null mice in C57BL/6J background. Ana C. Ferreira, Sandro D. Mesquita, and Ashley Novais are recipients of Ph.D. and Fernanda Marques and Vitor Pinto are recipients of postdoctoral fellowships from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (Portugal)

High carbon load in food processing industrial wastewater is a driver for metabolic competition in aerobic granular sludge

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.735607/ full#supplementary-materialAerobic granular sludge (AGS) processes are among the most robust wastewater treatments. One of their greatest advantages is related to the granules multi-layered structure, which creates a protective barrier against organic shock loads and variable wastewater composition, particularly attractive for the treatment of industrial wastewater. However, when treating a wastewater with variable and complex composition, the difficulty in identifying factors that most affect a specific biological process increases. In this study, the effect of organic loading rate (OLR), namely carbon content, on nitrification in an AGS process treating fish canning wastewater was investigated. Besides process performance, also biomass structural changes, and microbial community composition were analysed. Reactor operation lasted for 107 days and was divided in three phases during which different OLR and C/N ratios were applied. A higher OLR was applied during the first two phases (ca. 1.1 and 1.5 kg COD m3 day1, respectively) compared to the third phase (between 0.12 and 0.78 kg COD m3 day1) and the C/N ratios also varied (ca. 4.4, 7.8, and 2.9, respectively). Throughout the operation, COD concentration in the outlet was lower than 100 mg O2 L1. Nitrification was inhibited during the second phase and recovered afterwards. Principal component analysis (PCA) of quantitative image analysis (QIA) and performance data allowed to distinguish process changes over the three operational phases. During the first two phases, the decrease in the biomass robustness occurred, but recovered during the last phase, indicating that the high content of organic matter had possibly an effect on the aerobic granules structural characteristics. The composition of the AGS microbiome did not change substantially after the end of the higher OLR periods. The main microbial diversity shifts were mostly associated to adaptation to higher or lower carbon availability. Bacteria and inferred enzymes associated to nitrogen and phosphorous removal were identified. Chryseobacterium, a bacterium with high metabolic versatility, was able to adapt to the organic shock load, becoming dominant over operation. Despite the variable composition of the fish canning wastewater, carbon was identified as the main driver for nitrification inhibition, while promoting changes in the physical characteristics and on the microbial community of granules.This work was supported by National Funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through the project GReAT-PTDC/BTA-BTA/29970/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029970).We would like to thank the scientific collaboration of CBQF under the FCT project UIDB/50016/2020 and of CEB under the FCT project UIDB/04469/2020. We would like also to thank “A Poveira S.A.” (Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal) for providing the fish canning wastewater.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The mood-improving actions of antidepressants do not depend on neurogenesis but are associated with neuronal remodeling

The mechanisms underlying the initiation/onset of, and the recovery from, depression are still largely unknown; views that neurogenesis in the hippocampus may be important for the pathogenesis and amelioration of depressive symptoms have gained currency over the years although the original evidence has been challenged. In this study, an unpredictable chronic mild stress protocol was used to induce a depressive-like phenotype in rats. In the last 2 weeks of stress exposure, animals were treated with the antidepressants fluoxetine, imipramine, CP 156,526 or SSR 1494515, alone or combined with methylazoxymethanol, a cytostatic agent used to arrest neurogenesis. We found that antidepressants retain their therapeutic efficacy in reducing both measured indices of depression-like behavior (learned helplessness and anhedonia), even when neurogenesis is blocked. Instead, our experiments suggest re-establishment of neuronal plasticity (dendritic remodeling and synaptic contacts) in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, rather than neurogenesis, as the basis for the restoration of behavioral homeostasis by antidepressants.This project used compound(s) provided by the National Cancer Institute’s Chemical Carcinogen Reference Standards Repository (operated under contract N02-CB-07008 by Midwest Research Institute; MAM), Sanofi-Synthelabo (SSR 149415) and Pfizer (CP 156,526). The authors’ work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (PTDC/SAU-NEU/72699/2006)

Fabrication of a MEMS micromirror based on bulk silicon micromachining combined with grayscale lithography

A 1D MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) mirror for LiDAR applications, based on vertically asymmetric comb-drive electrostatic actuators, is presented in this work employing a novel fabrication process. This novel micromachining process combines typical SOI-based bulk micromachining and grayscale lithography, enabling the fabrication of combs actuators with asymmetric heights using a single lithography step in the active layer. With this technique, the fabrication process is simplified, and the overall costs are reduced since the number of required lithography steps decrease. The fabricated mirrors present self-aligned electrodes with a 2.8 mu m gap and asymmetric heights of the movable and the fixed electrodes of 20 mu m and 50 mu m, respectively. These asymmetric actuators are an essential feature for the operation mode of this device, enabling both in resonant and static mode operation. A mirror field of view (FOV) of 54 degrees at 838 Hz was achieved under low-pressure, when resonantly operated, and a FOV of 0.8 degrees in the static mode.This work was supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER Component through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) under Project 037902 (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-037902). The work of Carlos Ferreira was supported by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) under Grant PD/BDE/135102/2017. Subject Editor M. Rais-Zadeh