Passive solar system applied in trombe walls

Publicado em "Proceedings of the 7 th International Conference on Safety and Durability of Structures: ICOSADOS 2016"A phase-change material (PCM) is a substance with a high heat of fusion which, melting and solidifying at a certain temperature, is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy. Heat is absorbed or released when the material changes from solid to liquid and vice versa; thus, PCMs are classified as latent heat storage (LHS) units. The work presented in this paper is related to the study of a passive solar system applied in facades with Trombe wall. In particular it was evaluated the effect of the incorporation of phase changing materials (PCM's) was assessed using namely PCM based on paraffin and another one based on octadecane. For this purpose, firstly an experimental campaign conducted at Bragança Polytechnic Institute was performed in order to evaluate the blending mode of all the constituents of the mortar, the content of PCM to incorporate in the mortar as well as the involved water quantity, including mechanical characterization of the mortar with and without PCM. The second part was devoted to the study of tests models using cement mortar and an appropriate geometry, by exposure to atmospheric thermal action. With data acquisition equipment it was possible to obtain temperature records and thermal conductivity of the main facade elements in 10 to 10 minutes intervals and so it was possible to establish a comparison between the tested models. Main conclusions of this work are that the incorporation of PCM's into thermal mortars can bring benefits in terms of thermal comfort, greater efficiency and sustainability to buildings, as well as improve the efficiency of Trombe wall building system

Regionalizing eco-toxicity characterization factors for copper soil emissions considering edaphic information for Northern Spain and Portuguese vineyards

The management of vineyards depends on the use of plant protection agents. Regardless of the numerous environmental impacts that these pesticides generate during their production, their dosage as pest control agents in vineyards causes an important toxic effect that must be monitored. Copper-based inorganic pesticides are the most widely used agents to control fungal diseases in humid wine-growing regions. It is, however, significant that the environmental analysis of their use through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology does not provide detailed information on the potential toxicity of this type of pesticides. Hence, most studies report average values for copper characterization factors (CFs), excluding local soil characteristics. The objective of the study was the spatial characterization of the ecotoxicity factors of copper soil emissions as a function of the chemical characteristics of vineyard soils located in Portugal and Galicia (NW Spain). A multiple linear regression model was applied to calculate the comparative toxic potential. Subsequently, CFs for copper were calculated based on spatial differentiation considering the variable properties of the soil within each wine appellation. The CFs obtained for the area evaluated ranged from 141 to 5937 PAF·m3·day/kgCu emitted, for fibric histosols (HSf) and dystic cambisols (CMd), respectively. Moreover, the average values obtained for Galician and Portuguese soils were 1145 and 2274 PAF·m3·day/kgCu emitted, respectively. The results obtained illustrate the high variability of CF values as a function of the chemical characteristics of each type of soil. For example, Cu soil mobility was linked to organic carbon content and pH. Finally, to validate the representativeness of the calculated CFs, these were applied to the results of 12 literature life cycle inventories of grape production in the area evaluated, revealing that impact scores associated with Cu emissions can considerably vary when spatially-differentiated CFs are implemented.publishe

Efeito da infecção pelos vírus das hepatite B e C na sobrevida de pacientes transplantados renais

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of HCV (hepatitis C virus) and HBV (hepatitis B virus) infection on the survival of kidney transplant patients and allografts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and nine renal allograft recipients were evaluated according to the presence of anti-HCV antibodies and HBV surface antigen. Patients were divided into four groups according to serology results and followed-up for 5 years for evaluation of survival. The differences in age, sex, etiology of renal failure, duration of dialysis, and post-transplantation period were evaluated. RESULTS: The only difference observed was in duration of dialysis prior to renal transplant, which was longer in the anti-HCV positive group of patients. We also observed a higher number of retransplantations in the anti-HCV and HBs Ag groups. There were no significant differences in patient and allograft survival, though there was a trend towards a shorter survival of patients in the anti-HCV positive group (5-year patient survival: 77.8%; relative risk: 1.65; CI: 0.66 - 4.15) and of patients in the co-infection by B and C viruses group (5-year patient survival: 75.0%; relative risk: 1.86; CI: 0.47 - 7.41) compared to the 5-year survival of the index group (5-year patient survival: 86.5%). CONCLUSIONS: We did not find any differences in the survival of kidney transplant patients infected with HCV and/or HBV. A more prolonged follow-up, however, could indicate significant differences among these groups. OBJETIVO: avaliar o impacto da infecção pelo vírus da hepatite B (HBV) e pelo vírus da hepatite C (HCV) na sobrevida de pacientes transplantados renais e seus enxertos. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Cento e nove pacientes transplantados renais foram avaliados quanto à presença de anticorpos contra o HCV e presença do antígeno de superfície do HBV. Os pacientes foram divididos em 4 grupos de acordo com os resultados das sorologias e seguidos pelo período de 5 anos para avaliação das sobrevidas. As diferenças de idade, sexo, etiologia da insuficiência renal, tempo de diálise e tempo pós- ransplante renal foram avaliados nos grupos. RESULTADOS: Os grupos diferiram apenas nos parâmetros de tempo de diálise prévio ao transplante renal, sendo este significativamente maior nos pacientes anti-HCV positivos. Houve maior número de pacientes retransplantados nos grupos dos antiHCV e HbsAg positivos. Não houve diferenças significativas nas sobrevidas de pacientes e enxertos, embora tenha havido tendência a menores sobrevidas dos pacientes no grupo anti-HCV positivo (sobrevida de 5 anos: 77,8%; risco relativo: 1,65; IC: 0,66 - 4,15) e no grupo com co- nfecção pelos vírus B e C (sobrevida de 5 anos: 75%; risco relativo: 1,86; IC: 0,47 - 7,41), comparado à sobrevida de 5 anos no grupo índice, que foi de 86,5% CONCLUSÃO: No presente estudo não se evidenciou  diferença significativa nas sobrevidas de pacientes transplantados renais infectados pelos vírus das hepatites B e C. É possível que, com maior seguimento, constate-se diferenças significativas entre os grupos.

TNF Superfamily: A Growing Saga of Kidney Injury Modulators

Members of the TNF superfamily participate in kidney disease. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and Fas ligand regulate renal cell survival and inflammation, and therapeutic targeting improves the outcome of experimental renal injury. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL and its potential decoy receptor osteoprotegerin are the two most upregulated death-related genes in human diabetic nephropathy. TRAIL activates NF-kappaB in tubular cells and promotes apoptosis in tubular cells and podocytes, especially in a high-glucose environment. By contrast, osteoprotegerin plays a protective role against TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Another family member, TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK induces inflammation and tubular cell death or proliferation, depending on the microenvironment. While TNF only activates canonical NF-kappaB signaling, TWEAK promotes both canonical and noncanonical NF-kappaB activation in tubular cells, regulating different inflammatory responses. TWEAK promotes the secretion of MCP-1 and RANTES through NF-kappaB RelA-containing complexes and upregulates CCl21 and CCL19 expression through NF-kappaB inducing kinase (NIK-) dependent RelB/NF-kappaB2 complexes. In vivo TWEAK promotes postnephrectomy compensatory renal cell proliferation in a noninflammatory milieu. However, in the inflammatory milieu of acute kidney injury, TWEAK promotes tubular cell death and inflammation. Therapeutic targeting of TNF superfamily cytokines, including multipronged approaches targeting several cytokines should be further explored

Nanodispersions of beta-carotene: effects on antioxidant enzymes and cytotoxic properties

Beta-carotene is a carotenoid precursor of vitamin A, known for its biological activities. Due to its high hydrophobicity, nanonization processes, i.e. the transformation into nanoparticles, can improve its water affinity, and therefore the activity in aqueous systems. The objective of this study was to produce beta-carotene nanoparticles by the solid dispersion method and to evaluate their effects on the activity of glutathione-S-transferase and acetylcholinesterase enzymes using Drosophila melanogaster (DM) homogenate, the superoxide dismutase- and catalase-like activities under in vitro conditions, and their cytotoxic properties against tumor and non-tumor cells. The formed nanometric beta-carotene particles resulted in stable colloids, readily dispersed in water, able to modulate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and presenting high potential to control the cholinergic system. Beta-carotene nanoparticles, at concentrations much lower than the pure pristine beta-carotene, presented in vitro mimetic activity to superoxide dismutase and altered glutathione-S-transferase activity in DM tissue. The content of hydrogen peroxide was neither affected by the nanoparticles (in aqueous solution) nor by pristine beta-carotene (in DMSO). In the cytotoxic assays, beta-carotene nanoparticles dispersed in water showed activity against four different tumor cell lines. Overall, beta-carotene nanoparticles presented significant bioactivity in aqueous medium surpassing their high hydrophobicity constraint.The authors thank CNPq, CAPES and Fundação Araucária for the support. The authors are also grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to CIMO (strategic project UID/AGR/00690/2013) and R. Calhelha contract, and to the project POCI-01-0145- FEDER-006984 – Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM funded by the FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT. This work was also funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (FEEI) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-023289: DeCodE and Project Mobilizador ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spectroscopic characterization of schiff base-copper complexes immobilized in smectite clays

Herein, the immobilization of some Schiff base-copper(II) complexes in smectite clays is described as a strategy for the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts. The obtained materials were characterized by spectroscopic techniques, mostly UV/Vis, EPR, XANES and luminescence spectroscopy. SWy-2 and synthetic Laponite clays were used for the immobilization of two different complexes that have previously shown catalytic activity in the dismutation of superoxide radicals, and disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide. The obtained results indicated the occurrence of an intriguing intramolecular redox process involving copper and the imine ligand at the surface of the clays. These studies are supported by computational calculations

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of enzymatic and antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of curcumin-loaded solid dispersions

Curcumin, the main bioactive polyphenolic compound in Curcuma longa L. rhizomes has a wide range of bioactive properties. Curcumin presents low solubility in water and thus limited bioavailability, which decreases its applicability. In this study, cytotoxic effects of curcumin solid dispersions (CurSD) were evaluated against tumor (breast adenocarcinoma and lung, cervical and hepatocellular carcinoma) and non-tumor (PLP2) cells, while cytotoxic and genotoxic effects were evaluated in Allium cepa. The effect of the CurSD on the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), glutathione S-transferase (GST), andmonoamine oxidase (MAO A-B) enzymes was determined, as well as its capacity to inhibit the oxidative hemolysis (OxHLIA) and the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). CurSD are constituted by nanoparticles that are readily dispersible in water, and inhibited 24% and 64% of the AChE and BChE activity at 100μM, respectively. GST activity was inhibited at 30μM while MAO-A and B activity were inhibited at 100μM. CurSD showed cytotoxicity against all the tested tumor cell lines without toxic effects for non-tumor cells. No cytotoxic and genotoxic potential was detected with the Allium cepa test.CurSD maintained the characteristics of free curcumin on the in vitro modulation of important enzymes without appreciable toxicity.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (strategic project UID/AGR/00690/2013) and the research contracts of J. Pinela (Project AllNatt, POCI-01-0145- FEDER-030463) and R. Calhelha. To the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 006984 – Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT. This work was also funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-023289: DeCodE and Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cold atmospheric plasma, a novel approach against bladder cancer, with higher sensitivity for the high-grade cell line

Antitumor therapies based on Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) are an emerging medical field. In this work, we evaluated CAP effects on bladder cancer. Two bladder cancer cell lines were used, HT-1376 (stage III) and TCCSUP (stage IV). Cell proliferation assays were performed evaluating metabolic activity (MTT assay) and protein content (SRB assay). Cell viability, cell cycle, and mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) were assessed using flow cytometry. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were evaluated by fluorescence. The assays were carried out with different CAP exposure times. For both cell lines, we obtained a significant reduction in metabolic activity and protein content. There was a decrease in cell viability, as well as a cell cycle arrest in S phase. The Δψm was significantly reduced. There was an increase in superoxide and nitric oxide and a decrease in peroxide contents, while GSH content did not change. These results were dependent on the exposure time, with small differences for both cell lines, but overall, they were more pronounced in the TCCSUP cell line. CAP showed to have a promising antitumor effect on bladder cancer, with higher sensitivity for the high-grade cell line.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Magnetic nanosystem for cancer therapy using oncocalyxone A, an antitomour secondary metabolite isolated from a Brazilian plant

none14siThis paper describes the investigation and development of a novel magnetic drug delivery nanosystem (labeled as MO-20) for cancer therapy. The drug employed was oncocalyxone A (onco A), which was isolated from Auxemma oncocalyx, an endemic Brazilian plant. It has a series of pharmacological properties: antioxidant, cytotoxic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antiplatelet. Onco A was associated with magnetite nanoparticles in order to obtain magnetic properties. The components of MO-20 were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TGA, TEM and Magnetization curves. The MO-20 presented a size of about 30 nm and globular morphology. In addition, drug releasing experiments were performed, where it was observed the presence of the anomalous transport. The results found in this work showed the potential of onco A for future applications of the MO-20 as a new magnetic drug release nanosystem for cancer treatment.openBarreto, Antônio C.H.; Santiago, Vivian R.; Freire, Rafael M.; Mazzetto, Selma E.; Denardin, Juliano C.; Mele, Giuseppe; Cavalcante, Igor M.; Ribeiro, Maria E.N.P.; Ricardo, Nágila M.P.S.; Gonçalves, Tamara; Carbone, Luigi; Lemos, Telma L.G.; Pessoa, Otília D.L.; Fechine, Pierre B.A.*Barreto, Antônio C. H.; Santiago, Vivian R.; Freire, Rafael M.; Mazzetto, Selma E.; Denardin, Juliano C.; Mele, Giuseppe; Cavalcante, Igor M.; Ribeiro, Maria E. N. P.; Ricardo, Nágila M. P. S.; Gonçalves, Tamara; Carbone, Luigi; Lemos, Telma L. G.; Pessoa, Otília D. L.; Fechine, Pierre B. A