Rosmarinus officinalis reduces the ochratoxin A production by Aspergillus westerdijkiae in a dry-cured fermented sausage-based medium

Aspergillus westerdijkiae is an ochratoxin A (OTA) producer mould in dry-cured meat products. To prevent the presence of ochratoxigenic moulds in dry-cured fermented sausages, natural strategies based on the use of herbs and their derivatives are in the spotlight. The aim of this study was to test the potential antiochratoxigenic effects of rosemary leaves (R) and rosemary essential oil (REO) as biocontrol agents (BCAs) in a dry-cured fermented sausage-based medium. The mechanisms involved in their effects were also analysed by Proteomics. A control without BCAs and three treatments (R, REO and the combination of R + REO) were carried out. No significant differences were detected when BCAs were individually applied, whilst a significant reduction up to 73.87% in OTA was provoked by R + REO. This combination showed a synergistic effect, in which proteins from PKS ER domain and cell wall integrity pathway seem to be involved. REO alone exerted similar effect on the mould proteome than R + REO, but in a lesser extent. The impact of R in this synergy has not been completely elucidated. The combination of R + REO together with other strategies could minimise the hazard posed by A. westerdijkiae in dry-cured fermented sausages.This research was funded by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) through financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). Junta de Extremadura-Consejería de Economía, Ciencia y Agenda Digital-, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-“Una manera de hacer Europa” (grant number GR18056), and grant PID2019-104260GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033. M. ́Alvarez is recipient of the grant BES-2017-081340 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future”. Q-Exactive mass spectrometer to proteomic research was acquired by the grant UNEX-AE-3394 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nearby supernova host galaxies from the CALIFA Survey: II. SN environmental metallicity

The metallicity of a supernova (SN) progenitor, together with its mass, is one of the main parameters that rules their outcome. We present a metallicity study of 115 nearby SN host galaxies (0.005<z<0.03) which hosted 142 SNe using Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) from the CALIFA survey. Using O3N2 we found no statistically significant differences between the gas-phase metallicities at the locations of the three main SN types (Ia, Ib/c and II) all having ~8.50$\pm$0.02 dex. The total galaxy metallicities are also very similar and we argue that this is because our sample consists only of SNe discovered in massive galaxies (log(M/Msun)>10 dex) by targeted searches. We also found no evidence that the metallicity at the SN location differs from the average metallicity at the GCD of the SNe. By extending our SN sample with published metallicities at the SN location, we studied the metallicity distributions for all SN subtypes split into SN discovered in targeted and untargeted searches. We confirm a bias toward higher host masses and metallicities in the targeted searches. Combining data from targeted and untargeted searches we found a sequence from higher to lower local metallicity: SN Ia, Ic, and II show the highest metallicity, which is significantly higher than SN Ib, IIb, and Ic-BL. Our results support the picture of SN Ib resulting from binary progenitors and, at least part of, SN Ic being the result of single massive stars stripped of their outer layers by metallicity driven winds. We studied several proxies of the local metallicity frequently used in the literature and found that the total host metallicity allows for the estimation of the metallicity at the SN location with an accuracy better than 0.08 dex and very small bias. In addition, weak AGNs not seen in total spectra may only weakly bias (by 0.04 dex) the metallicity estimate from integrated spectra. (abridged)Comment: 24 pages, 16 Figures, 13 Tables, Accepted in A&

Deployment and performance of a Low-Energy-Threshold Skipper-CCD inside a nuclear reactor

Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) are used for reactor neutrino experiments and already shown their potential in constraining new physics models. The prospect of a Skipper-CCD experiment looking for standard and beyond standard model physics (BSM) in a nuclear reactor has been recently evaluated for different benchmark scenarios. Here we report the installation of the first 2 g Skipper-CCD inside the containment building of a 2 GW$_{th}$ nuclear power plant, positioned 12 meters from the center of the reactor core. We discuss the challenges involved in the commissioning of the detector and present data acquired during reactor ON and reactor OFF periods, with the detector operating with a sub-electron readout noise of 0.17 e-. The ongoing efforts to improve sensitivities to CEvNS and BSM interaction are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Stone consolidation: a critical discussion of theoretical insights and field practice

Stone consolidants have been extensively used for the preservation of historical structures since the 19th century. However, their true effectiveness in practice is often a source of debate, largely because of known cases where badly chosen treatments were unsuccessful, or even caused an accelerated degradation of the substrate. Researchers have therefore strived to better understand, and possibly predict, the behavior of consolidants on-site, in order to assist practitioners in their decision making. Despite the large number of publications available on the subject, however, the contribution of scientific research for practical applications remains scarce. Reasons for this include the limited accessibility of scientific publications and the lack of documentation or preparatory studies from the field. This unfortunately compromises the knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners, which we consider to be a main challenge that this field must overcome. The target of this letter is to reconnect the critical problems identified on-site through practical experience with the conceptual research outcomes that could help solve them. For this, we present an informed evaluation of the most needed research, along with a synthetic overview of the insights that scientific research can offer in terms of consolidant selection, application and monitoring

Extreme Starbursts in the Local Universe

The "Extreme starbursts in the local universe" workshop was held at the Insituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia in Granada, Spain on 21-25 June 2010. Bearing in mind the advent of a new generation of facilities such as JWST, Herschel, ALMA, eVLA and eMerlin, the aim of the workshop was to bring together observers and theorists to review the latest results. The purpose of the workshop was to address the following issues: what are the main modes of triggering extreme starbursts in the local Universe? How efficiently are stars formed in extreme starbursts? What are the star formation histories of local starburst galaxies? How well do the theoretical simulations model the observations? What can we learn about starbursts in the distant Universe through studies of their local counterparts? How important is the role of extreme starbursts in the hierarchical assembly of galaxies? How are extreme starbursts related to the triggering of AGN in the nuclei of galaxies? Overall, 41 talks and 4 posters with their corresponding 10 minutes short talks were presented during the workshop. In addition, the workshop was designed with emphasis on discussions, and therefore, there were 6 discussion sessions of up to one hour during the workshop. Here is presented a summary of the purposes of the workshop as well as a compilation of the abstracts corresponding to each of the presentations. The summary and conclusions of the workshop along with a description of the future prospects by Sylvain Veilleux can be found in the last section of this document. A photo of the assistants is included.Comment: worksho

Avaliação da silagem do híbrido de sorgo BR 601 com aditivos: alterações nos teores de matéria seca, frações fibrosas e digestibilidade "in vitro" da matéria seca.

Avaliou-se o padrão de fermentação de silagens do híbrido de sorgo forrageiro BR 601 com ou sem aditivos. Foram adotados os tratamentos: silagem sem aditivo (testemunha) e silagens adicionadas com 0,5% de uréia, 0,5% de carbonato de cálcio, 0,5% de uréia mais 0,5% de carbonato de cálcio e com inoculante bacteriano. Os materiais foram ensilados em silos de “PVC” e abertos com um, três, cinco, sete, 14, 28 e 56 dias de ensilagem. Determinaram-se as variações nos teores de matéria seca (MS), os teores de fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), hemicelulose, celulose, fibra em detergente ácido (FDA), lignina e a digestibilidade “in vitro” da MS (DIVMS). Adotou-se o delineamento inteiramente casualizado, em um esquema fatorial 5 x 7, sendo as médias comparadas pelo teste SNK a 5%. As silagens tratadas com a associação entre uréia e carbonato de cálcio apresentaram as maiores perdas de MS. Os aditivos não promoveram alterações nos teores de FDN, hemicelulose e celulose e na DIVMS. Ocorreu diferença entre a silagem testemunha e as silagens com aditivo, com a evolução do processo fermentativo, quanto aos teores de FDA e lignina

Tolerância de plantas jovens de Euterpe precatoria ao déficit hídrico.

O cultivo do açaizeiro (Euterpe precatoria) está em expansão, contudo, não existe sistema de produção recomendado para a espécie. A mortalidade de mudas pós-plantio é um dos problemas encontrado pelos produtores para o cultivo da espécie. O conhecimento sobre mecanismos de tolerância a fatores abióticos em condições de viveiro pode contribuir para recomendações de produção de mudas mais tolerantes a condições adversas e para redução da mortalidade pós-plantio. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar o período de tolerância de plantas jovens de E. precatoria ao estresse hídrico

População de plantas e taxa de rebrota de seis cruzamentos interespecíficos de "Sorghum bicolor" e "Sorghum sudanense".

Foram avaliados o número de plantas e a taxa de rebrota de quatro híbridos experimentais e dois híbridos comerciais de sorgo com capim Sudão. Nos primeiros cortes de ambas as épocas ocorreram diferenças significativas (p<0,05) entre os híbridos quanto ao número de plantas, sendo que no primeiro corte da época 1, o híbrido ATF 54 x CMSXS 912 foi semelhante aos híbridos BRS 800 e CMSXS 156 x CMSXS 912, sendo superior aos demais híbridos. No primeiro corte da segunda época, o híbrido ATF54 x CMSXS 912 apresentou número de plantas semelhantes aos híbridos AG2501C, BRS 800 e CMSXS 157 x CMSXS 912, porém superiores aos híbridos CMSXS 156 x CMSXS 912 e CMSXS 210 x CMSXS 912. Já na segunda época de plantio, os híbridos AG2501C, BRS 800 e ATF 54 x CMSXS 912 tiveram seu número de plantas reduzido a partir do segundo corte, enquanto os híbridos CMSXS 156 X CMSXS 912, CMSXS 157 x CMSXS 912, CMSXS 210 x CMSXS 912 mantiveram o número de plantas até o segundo corte, a partir do qual também houve redução. A média do número de plantas/ha foi significativamente (p<0,05) maior na época 1, com média de 841,66 mil plantas/ha. As taxas médias de rebrota foram inferiores a 1,00, não havendo diferença entre híbridos. Não houve diferença significativa (p<0,05) para as médias de rebrota entre híbridos, com exceção do híbrido AG2501C (testemunha) que, na rebrota 1, apresentou valor superior na época 1. O híbridos analisados apresentam uma boa quantidade de plantas por hectare e ótima taxa de rebrota

Dados agronômicos de seis genótipos de sorgo (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) para a produção de silagem.

Foram utilizados seis genótipos de sorgo (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) de porte alto e colmo seco, colhidos no estádio de grão leitoso/pastoso, com o objetivo de avaliar a altura média das plantas, número de plantas por hectare, proporção panícula/folha/ colmo, dados de produção de matéria verde, matéria seca e matéria seca digestível por hectare. Os híbridos 1 e 2 são as testemunhas comerciais (BRS610 e VOLUMAX, respectivamente), enquanto que os outros quatro são novos materiais desenvolvidos pela EMBRAPA Milho e Sorgo. Utilizou-se o teste SNK para comparação entre médias, com um delineamento experimental inteiramente ao acaso. Houve grande variação no número de plantas por hectare nos genótipos avaliados. Eles não apresentaram diferença estatística na produção de Matéria Verde/hectare. Os híbridos apresentaram correlação positiva entre produção de MS/ha e altura das plantas [r= 0,52 (p= 0,05)]. O híbrido 2 apresentou maior produção de Matéria Seca e Matéria Seca Digestível/ha. Não houve diferença estatística nas proporções de panícula/folha/colmo, com valores que oscilaram de 42,61 a 55,14; 20,75 a 25.73 e 22,85 a 32,75% na MS, respectivamente