Altering an extended phenotype reduces intraspecific male aggression and can maintain diversity in cichlid fish

Reduced male aggression towards different phenotypes generating negative frequency-dependent intrasexual selection has been suggested as a mechanism to facilitate the invasion and maintenance of novel phenotypes in a population. To date, the best empirical evidence for the phenomenon has been provided by laboratory studies on cichlid fish with different colour polymorphisms. Here we experimentally tested the hypothesis in a natural population of Lake Malawi cichlid fish, in which males build sand-castles (bowers) to attract females during seasonal leks. We predicted that if bower shape plays an important role in male aggressive interactions, aggression among conspecific males should decrease when their bower shape is altered. Accordingly, we allocated randomly chosen bowers in a Nyassachromis cf. microcephalus lek into three treatments: control, manipulated to a different shape, and simulated manipulation. We then measured male behaviours and bower shape before and after these treatments. We found that once bower shape was altered, males were involved in significantly fewer aggressive interactions with conspecific males than before manipulation. Mating success was not affected. Our results support the idea that an extended phenotype, such as bower shape, can be important in maintaining polymorphic populations. Specifically, reduced male conspecific aggression towards males with different extended phenotypes (here, bower shapes) may cause negative frequency-dependent selection, allowing the invasion and establishment of a new phenotype (bower builder). This could help our understanding of mechanisms of diversification within populations, and in particular, the overall diversification of bower shapes within Lake Malawi cichlids

Anaerobic Digestion of Microalga Chlorella protothecoides and Metagenomic Analysis of Reddish-Colored Digestate

ABSTRACT: Microalga Chlorella protothecoides materials were assessed as substrates for anaerobic digestion (AD) aiming at the simultaneous production of biogas/methane and pigments: whole autotrophic (AA) and heterotrophic algae (H); extracted heterotrophic microalgae from lipid production (HExt); and pretreated heterotrophic microalgae through enzymatic (HPEnz), autoclave (HPA), and ultrasound (HPU) processes. AA was more suitable for AD than H, as it was more efficiently converted into methane (279 vs. 180 L CH4/kg VSin). In comparison, the pretreatment of heterotrophic microalgae had a positive effect on AD, with registered methane yield increases from 263 to 290 L CH4/kg VSin (HPU, HPA, HExt). Reddish pigmentation developed in H and HPU units due to the presence of purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB). This phenomenon and the changes in microbiota structure during AD were confirmed by metagenomic analysis. At the end of the process, the relative abundance of Clostridiales and Bacillales increased, enhancing the hydrolysis of compounds in acetate. Consistently, Methanosaeta became the comparatively dominant methanogen, meaning that methane was produced through the acetoclastic methanogenesis pathway. The obtained results indicate for AD biorefinery feasibility-regarding the simultaneous production of biogas/methane-a digestate flow and pigments (bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tomada de decisão de profissionais sobre a retirada de menores à família em situações de maus-tratos físicos

O presente estudo tem como objetivo compreender de que forma grupos de profissionais (psicólogos, professores, educadores sociais e assistentes sociais) ponderam uma eventual retirada de crianças e jovens em risco à família. A amostra é constituída por 68 participantes que responderam a um questionário online. Após a apresentação de casos de maus-tratos físicos em formato de vinheta, foi solicitado que respondessem a um conjunto de questões sobre: (a) os profissionais que envolveriam na tomada de decisão, (b) os serviços que recomendariam e (c) a importância atribuída a um conjunto de características específicas de situações de maus-tratos. Foram ainda desenvolvidas análises para compreender o papel preditivo da profissão e local de trabalho dos participantes nas tomadas de decisão. Os resultados mostraram associações significativas entre diversas variáveis em estudo. Características como a gravidade, duração e recorrência do abuso foram consideradas muito importantes pelos participantes, ao contrário do nível socioeconómico das famílias.This study focused on understanding how groups of professionals (psychologists, teachers, social educators and social workers) think about a possible removal of children from their families. A sample of 68 participants answered an online questionnaire. A number of physical abuse cases were presented in a vignette format and then participants were asked a set of questions about: i) professionals they think should be involved in decision making, ii) services they would recommend and iii) the importance they attribute to a set of characteristics specific to abuse situations. A study about the predictive power of professionals’ affiliation and professionals’ was also conducted. Results showed significant associations between several variables in study. Features such as severity, duration and recurrence of abuse were considered very important by participants, unlike families SES.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Curso clínico e prognóstico do transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo

The long-term course and prognosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is insufficiently known. To identify predictors of OCD course, follow-up studies of patients with OCD were reviewed and their findings summarized. According to these studies, the following variables were correlated with poor outcome: early onset, severity of OCD symptoms, chronic course, poor social functioning at baseline, lifetime history of comorbid psychiatric and personality disorders, presence of parental Axis I psychiatric diagnosis, and delayed response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the beginning of the treatment. Due to the availability of new treatments, most patients with OCD can expect significant improvement, but not complete remission of the disorder. The reviewed follow-up studies support previous reports on the chronicity of OCD.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de PsiquiatriaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Grupo Inter-Departamental de Epidemiologia ClínicaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de PsiquiatriaUNIFESP, EPM, Grupo Inter-Departamental de Epidemiologia ClínicaSciEL

Morphological aspects of injection-molded polypropylene with metallic pigments

Publicado em "ANTEC 2013 - Proceedings of the 71st Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition"Innovation, design freedom, cost and weight reduction are some factors for the replacement of metals by plastics. Plastics continue to offer attractive solutions for design engineers. The metallic effect obtained by incorporation of metal particles in polymers by injection molding has the advantage of eliminating post-processing techniques such as painting or metallization. Moreover, it reduces production costs and time to get a superior part quality. Nevertheless, undesired defects in the final appearance of parts are common, such as flow lines and weld lines. These defects occur due to inhomogeneous orientation and anisotropy of the metal particles. Very few studies are reporting the influence of metallic particles on the morphology development of PP parts. Therefore, this study is focused on the production of parts made of PP/metallic pigments (aluminum, bronze and copper) by injection molding in order to understand the influence of metallic particles on the aesthetic and morphological properties of the parts.ADI -American Dysautonomia Institut

Novel and simple test plating for screening relative transfructosylation activity of fungi

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) have received particular attention recently because of their excellent biological and functional properties, namely, as prebiotic compounds that promote the growth of intestinal microflora. They are also low calorie non-carcinogenic sweeteners with numerous suggested health benefits. These include immune system activation, resistance to infections, synthesis of Bcomplex vitamins, calcium absorption. They can be used as a treatment for breast cancer, diarrhoea, and constipation. Although FOS are present in trace amounts in fruits, vegetables and honey as natural products, its mass production is limited by seasonal restrictions and the inherent inefficiencies of these systems. Hence, microbial FOS production by fungi in bioreactors is more realistic. Several microorganisms are reported to have transfructosylation activity due to fructosyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.9) and/or fructofuranosidase (EC 3.2.1.26) activities. However, the search for other fungi with higher transfructosylation activity is still a challenge. So, a presumptive and indirect colorimetric plate assay for the evaluation of transfructosylation activity in fungi was developed by the simultaneous determination in the same plate of glucose and fructose released from sucrose. The method entailed the coupling of two dye systems, namely the glucose oxidase-peroxidase coupled reaction using phenol and 4-aminoantipyrine for determination of glucose; and the fructose dehydrogenase oxidation in the presence of a tetrazolium salt for determination of fructose. In order to have a standard assay, the fungi were grown on Czapek Dox (CD) agar. 1 disc of mycelium (8 mm diameter) was cut from the edge of each colony and then put in contact with CD agar plates. After incubation at 25 ºC for 72 h each assay plate was overlaid with soft agar containing the reagents. The presence of enzymes with transfructosylation activity was identified by the formation of pink (presence of glucose) and blue (presence of fructose) halos around the discs. In conclusion, the results showed that the method is suitable for screening a large number of fungi due to its simplicity, reproducibility and rapidity.Agência de Inovação (AdI) - project BIOLIFE ref. PRIME 03/347

Fenton-type heterogeneous catalysts based in zeolites for water treatment

Water pollution is one of the most important environmental problems in the world. Large amounts of synthetic organic contaminants are released daily into different types of wastewaters and ultimately enter into natural water bodies. It is well known the vast majority of these compounds are persistent organic pollutants, owing to their high stability to sunlight irradiation and resistance to microbial attack. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been demonstrated to achieve good results for the elimination of organic pollutants from wastewater with very short treatment times. Fenton-type heterogeneous processes have received much attention for their low cost, high efficiency, and moderate conditions among these AOPs.1 In heterogeneous Fenton-type catalysis, iron (or other transition metals) is stabilized on/in the catalysts structure and thus can reduce hydroxide precipitation over a wider pH range.2 This work report the preparation of bimetallic heterogeneous catalysts based in NaY zeolite with Fe, Cu and Mn by ion-exchange method using different routes (Figure 1). Different characterization techniques show that the metals are cationic and show higher oxidation efficiency against the azo dyes, tartrazine and procion yellow, and the order of metal ion exchanging are important to improve their catalytic activity. The prepared bimetallic catalysts can be used at least three times without a significant loss of catalytic activity, proving to have a very high stability.We thank the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for financial support through Centre of Chemistry (UID/QUI/00686/2013 and UID/QUI/0686/2016) and BioTecNorte (operation NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), and the INAGBE (Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Bolsas de Estudo, Angola) for the PhD grant of BLCS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The association between 25(OH)D levels, frailty status and obesity indices in older adults

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common in older adults and has been linked with frailty and obesity, but it remains to be studied whether frail obese older adults are at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the association between frailty, obesity indices and serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Methods: 1447 individuals with 65 years or older, participating in a cross-sectional study (Nutrition UP 65) were included. Frailty, according to Fried et al., body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), body roundness index (BRI) and body shape index (ABSI) were evaluated. A stepwise multinomial logistic regression was carried out to quantify the association between 25(OH)D quartiles and independent variables. Results: Median 25(OH)D levels were lower in individuals presenting both frailty and obesity (p<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, pre-frailty (OR: 2.65; 95% CI: 1.63-4.33) and frailty (OR: 3.77; 95% CI: 2.08-6.83) were associated with increased odds of lower 25(OH)D serum levels (first quartile). Regarding obesity indices, the highest categories of BMI (OR: 1.74; 95% CI: 1.06-2.86), WC (OR: 3.46; 95% CI: 1.95-6.15), BRI (OR: 4.35; 95% CI: 2.60-7.29) and ABSI (OR: 3.17 95% CI: 1.86-5.38) were directly associated with lower 25(OH)D serum levels (first quartile). Conclusions: A positive association between frailty or obesity and lower vitamin D levels was found. Moreover, besides BMI and WC, other indicators of body adiposity, such as BRI and ABSI, were associated with lower 25(OH)D serum concentrations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bioactive compounds through anaerobic digestion of heterotrophic microalgae residues

Several important biomolecules are available into anaerobically digested effluents that were obtained from the biodiesel production process using heterotrophically grown microalga Chlorella protothecoides. Defatted microalgae residues and crude glycerol may undergo anaerobic digestion, separately and in admixture, providing methane/hydrogen and a digestate exploitable for agriculture applications. Furthermore, industrial interesting bioactive compounds such as polyphenols provided with antioxidant activity can be obtained. Anaerobic process offers a promising chance and can be advantageously combined with algae lipid-extraction techniques in order to make it more sustainable