Unlocking the potential of novel taxa : a study on Actinoallomurus

The discovery of antibiotics has played a significant role in raising public health standards and improving the outcomes for patients with bacterial infections. Unfortunately, drug discovery efforts have not kept pace with emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. This project is part of a discovery programme designed to assess the metabolic potential of Actinoallomurus, a recently described genus within the Actinobacteria. The schedule of work included small-scale fermentations (from 200 strains) followed by bioactivity testing. The most promising positive samples were then subjected to a combination of bioassays with chemical analyses to determine the chemical identity of the active compounds, with the objective of finding novel antibiotics. The Results section is organized in four different but closely related chapters. These present Actinoallomurus as a potential new source for active metabolites. Firstly, by showing, in a sample of around 200 strains, over 40% inhibited antimicrobial growth in the conditions tested but also by adding to the elevated quantity of positive hits a high degree of diversity, with the major biosynthetic pathways being identified whether in the molecules screened or also in the genomes analysed. To illustrate not only the type of metabolites produced by Actinoallomurus, but also the multidisciplinary of Drug Discovery expeditions three chapters characterizing new compounds are presented followed by a genomic characterization of four Actinoallomurus Strains. These three chapters show how the delivery of new potential drug candidates demands an always broader set of diverse tools to be applied. While the three new molecules support not only the ability of Actinoallomurus to produce interesting active metabolites, but also the importance that a proper strain library plays in drug discovery, the genomic analyses predict, as for many other actinomycetes, an even brighter future, since the genetic potential for producing bioactive molecules surpasses the compounds that can be detected under routine cultivation conditions

Scapular dynamic muscular stiffness assessed through myotonometry: a narrative review

Several tools have been used to assess muscular stiffness. Myotonometry stands out as an accessible, handheld, and easy to use tool. The purpose of this review was to summarize the psychometric properties and methodological considerations of myotonometry and its applicability in assessing scapular muscles. Myotonometry seems to be a reliable method to assess several muscles stiffness, as trapezius. This method has been demonstrated fair to moderate correlation with passive stiffness measured by shear wave elastography for several muscles, as well as with level of muscle contraction, pinch and muscle strength, Action Research Arm Test score and muscle or subcutaneous thickness. Myotonometry can detect scapular muscles stiffness differences between pre- and post-intervention in painful conditions and, sometimes, between symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application to the recovery of residual agroforestry biomass in Portugal

This research was funded by the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/MCTES, through national funds and, when applicable, co-financed by the FEDER, under the new partnership agreement PT2020, P. Espadinha-Cruz and Radu Godina acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT-MCTES) . Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The AuthorsRural fires are currently one of the main global disasters, and Portugal is among the countries that have suffered from them for decades. These fires pose economic, environmental, and social threats to the country. A primary cause of rural fires is the burning of biomass to clear agroforestry residues. Thus, combating rural fires requires more effective forest management, particularly the removal of forest residues that serve as fuel. These residues, also known as biomass, have significant potential for energy production and biofuel use. This paper proposes a model that integrates the PROMETHEE decision-making method with the roadmapping. This proposed model includes 7 steps, including the planning of the roadmap, the definition of the decision problem, gathering information and building the roadmap. The proposed model was applied to develop a roadmap proposal for the recovery of surplus agroforestry biomass in Portugal, identifying the most emerging conversion technologies in the national context. With the roadmap developed, it was possible to understand that the recovery of surplus agroforestry biomass in Portugal involves several sectors. The energy sector is one of those that can benefit from the recovery of leftover agroforestry biomass, both from the point of view of carbon neutrality and energy independence. Forestry management is another of the great advantages of recovering leftover forestry biomass and, consequently, reducing the number of fires. In the context of recovery, combustion is the most widely used technology for producing energy or heat. The technology identified as most emerging in the upcoming years is gasification. Investment in scientific research is essential for the success of this sector, as is the development of public incentive policies and more engagement from all stakeholders. This paper conclude that valorizing agroforestry residues can reduce rural fire risks while promoting energy independence, sustainable regional development, and innovation in Portugal.publishersversionpublishe

Synthesis of fluorescent tetracyclic lactams by a “one pot” three steps palladium-catalyzed borylation, Suzuki coupling (BSC) and lactamization. DNA and polynucleotides binding studies

Tetracyclic lactams (benzothieno[2,3-c]quinolones) were prepared by “one pot” three steps palladium-catalyzed borylation, Suzuki coupling (BSC) and lactamization, starting from ortho-haloanilines and alkyl 3-bromobenzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxylates. The former were used as the components to be borylated with pinacolborane, and the latter as the brominated component in the Suzuki coupling. The amidation occurred with loss of the alkyl alcohol, presumably in the Suzuki coupling product, giving the corresponding tetracyclic lactam. This constitutes a novel application of the BSC reaction using sterically hindered substrates. In this work studies of absorption and fluorescence in several solvents and in presence of salmon sperm DNA or synthetic double stranded (ds) heteropolynucleotides, poly(dA-dT)•(dA-dT) and poly(dG-dC)•(dG-dC), were performed. The binding constants values (Ki = 2.6x10^5- 4.5x10^5 M^-1) point to a high affinity of the lactams to DNA. It was shown that the intercalation is the prefered mode of binding and that the substituted new lactams (with F or OMe) exhibit a higher affinity for A-T regions. Quenching experiments with iodide show that the methoxylated lactam is the more intercalative in DNA. The same type of experiments using this compound bound to heteropolynucleotides show a very low accessibility (fa = 0.07) of the lactam in poly(dG-dC)•(dG-dC) to the quencher showing a large majority of intercalative binding while the high affinity for A-T regions together with a higher accessiblity (fa = 0.25) point to the possiblity of intercalative and groove binding.Foundation for the Science and Technology (Portugal) and FEDER for financial support through a research project POCI/QUI/59407/2004 and through Centro de Química and Centro de Física of Univ. Minho

Effect of Iodide-Based Organic Salts and Ionic Liquid Additives in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

Funding Information: This work was performed under the project PTDC/QUI-QOR/7450/2020 “Organic Redox Mediators For Energy Conversion” through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I. P.-FCT. Additional support includes the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry–LAQV, financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020). FCT/MCTES is also acknowledged for the National NMR Facility (RECI/BBB-BQB/0230/2012 and RECI/BBB-BEP/0124/2012,) and Ph.D. grants 2020.09047.BD (J.S.), PD/BD/135087/2017 (A.L.P.) and PD/BD/145324/2019/ (G.M.). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.The use of ionic liquid and organic salts as additives for electrolyte systems in dye-sensitized solar cells have been widely described in recent years. The tunability of their physical-chemical properties according to the cation–anion selection contributes toward their high efficiencies. For this purpose, several iodide-based organic salts including imidazolium, picolinium, guanidinium and alkylammonium cations were tested using acetonitrile/valeronitrile electrolytes and their photovoltaic parameters were compared. A best efficiency of 4.48% (4.15% for the reference) was found for 1-ethyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium iodide ([C2DMIM]I) containing electrolyte, reaffirming the effectiveness of these additives. 4-tertbutylpyridine was included into the formulation to further improve the performance while determining which iodide salts demonstrate the highest synergy with this additive. [C2DMIM]I once again proved to be the superior additive, achieving an efficiency of 6.48% (6% for the reference). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was employed to elucidate the effects of the various additives, demonstrating the relevance of the counter electrode resistance on device performance. Finally, several computational descriptors for the cationic structures were calculated and correlated with the photovoltaic and resistance parameters, showing that properties related to polarity, namely relative positive charge, molecular polarizability and partition coefficient are in good agreement with the counter-electrode resistance.publishersversionpublishe

A Nationwide Seroepidemiologic Study on Q Fever Antibodies in Sheep of Portugal

Introduction: Q fever is an almost global zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii. Human infections can produce acute and chronic disease that can lead to abortions and stillbirths in pregnant women, usually infected by the inhalation of C. burnetii-contaminated aerosols or through consumption of contaminated products. Sheep are one of the primary animal reservoirs with disease being associated with vast shedding of bacteria in placentas, feces, milk, and birth fluids. Although almost neglected in the past, recent outbreaks of sheep origin have alerted the public and the scientific community. Materials and Methods: An epidemiologic survey to estimate the seroprevalence of Q fever antibodies was performed in a representative number of sheep of all regions of continental Portugal (n = 1068), using a commercial ELISA (ID Screen Q Fever Indirect Multi-species Kit; IDvet, Montpellier, France). Results and Discussion: An anti-C. burnetii seroprevalence of 11.4% (95% confidence interval 9.6–13.5) was found, with a clear distinction between the Center region with highest seroprevalence, and the rest of the territory. Sheep traditional farming is widely present in Portugal and is part of the cultural and gastronomical background of the country. This close proximity to small ruminants may contribute to the zoonotic transfer to humans.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ambipolar Pentacyclic Diamides with Interesting Electrochemical and Optoelectronic Properties

Developing organic semiconductors (OSCs) for organic thin film transistors (OTFT) and optoelectronic applications is a challenge. We developed highly crystalline pentacyclic diamides (3) and (4) which showed good OTFT and OLED potential and energy gaps of 2.60 eV and 2.54 eV. They exhibited interesting photo and eletroluminescence activity. Both compounds showed good quantum yields (0.56 for (3) and 0.6 for (4))

Design procedures for sustainable structural concretes using wastes and industrial by-products

The protection of the environment must be a priority in our society, and the construction sector can contribute significantly to this goal. Construction, being one of the industrial sectors that is more demanding in terms of raw materials, must reinforce its effort to implement, in a more profound and systematic way, the paradigm of the circular economy. In this sense, in recent years several studies have been trying to contribute solutions aimed at reintroducing industrial by-products or residues in new products for the construction industry. It should be noted that nowadays it is increasingly important to introduce a higher percentage of recycled materials in concrete. In this context, the present work addresses the appropriateness of a design procedure proposed to maximize the content of electric arc furnace slag (EAFS) and include recycled tire steel fibers (RTSF) in the production of more sustainable structural concretes. For this, the properties of various concrete mixtures at the fresh and hardened state, obtained by the substantial substitution of coarse and fine natural aggregates by EAFS and fly ash (FA), were investigated. The design of EAFS mixtures was based on two conventional reference mixtures (REF1 and REF2), and by using the modified Andreasen and Andersen particle packing model, these were optimized to achieve maximum packing density. Compressive strength, modulus of elasticity behavior, and fresh and physical properties were assessed in order to define the best mix proportions with respect to the predefined requirements of ordinary mixtures. Untreated recycled tire steel fibers (RTSF) were included in the developed sustainable concrete to perform a comparison of the physical properties with unreinforced concretes developed with natural aggregates (REF2) and with EAFS aggregates (EAFS8D1). This incorporation was intended to improve the physical behavior of unreinforced concretes with EAFS aggregates. Mixtures with high percentages of waste aggregates up to 70% (in weight), and 10% (in weight) of FA were obtained, showing competitive mechanical behavior compared to REF1 and REF2. These concrete compositions showed minimum and maximum compressive strengths between 9 MPa and 37 MPa, respectively. This study coverd the two major classes of concrete used as structural material, namely structural concrete and fiber reinforced concrete.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia grant number SFRH/BD/135790/2018) and projects with references POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033834, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000032.The first author would also like to thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) for the funding through the PhD grant SFRH/BD/135790/2018. The authors would like to thank DST company, the project RENEw, POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033834, funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalização do Portugal 2020 (COMPETE 2020), “Next generation monitoring of coastal ecosystems in a scenario of global change”, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000032, funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), and “CirMat: CIRcular aggregates for sustainable road and building MATerials” is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and Norway Grants, operationalized by the Portuguese Office of the Secretary of State for the Environment. They are also very grateful to the companies SECIL and SIKA for the material provided that contributed to the realization of this study

Amentadione from the Alga Cystoseira usneoides as a Novel Osteoarthritis Protective Agent in an Ex Vivo Co-Culture OA Model

Osteoarthritis (OA) remains a prevalent chronic disease without effective prevention and treatment. Amentadione (YP), a meroditerpenoid purified from the alga Cystoseira usneoides, has demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity. Here, we investigated the YP anti-osteoarthritic potential, by using a novel OA preclinical drug development pipeline designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-mineralizing activities of potential OA-protective compounds. The workflow was based on in vitro primary cell cultures followed by human cartilage explants assays and a new OA co-culture model, combining cartilage explants with synoviocytes under interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) or hydroxyapatite (HAP) stimulation. A combination of gene expression analysis and measurement of inflammatory mediators showed that the proposed model mimicked early disease stages, while YP counteracted inflammatory responses by downregulation of COX-2 and IL-6, improved cartilage homeostasis by downregulation of MMP3 and the chondrocytes hypertrophic differentiation factors Col10 and Runx2. Importantly, YP downregulated NF-kappa B gene expression and decreased phosphorylated IkB alpha/total IkB alpha ratio in chondrocytes. These results indicate the co-culture as a relevant pre-clinical OA model, and strongly suggest YP as a cartilage protective factor by inhibiting inflammatory, mineralizing, catabolic and differentiation processes during OA development, through inhibition of NF-kappa B signaling pathways, with high therapeutic potential