Short- and medium-term effects of manual therapy on cervical active range of motion and pressure pain sensitivity in latent myofascial pain of the upper trapezius muscle: a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of different manual techniques on cervical ranges of 17 motion and pressure pain sensitivity in subjects with latent trigger point of the upper trapezius muscle. 18 Methods: One hundred seventeen volunteers, with a unilateral latent trigger point on upper trapezius due to computer 19 work, were randomly divided into 5 groups: ischemic compression (IC) group (n = 24); passive stretching group (n = 20 23); muscle energy technique group (n = 23); and 2 control groups, wait-and-see group (n = 25) and placebo group 21 (n = 22). Cervical spine range of movement was measured using a cervical range of motion instrument as well as 22 pressure pain sensitivity by means of an algometer and a visual analog scale. Outcomes were assessed pretreatment, 23 immediately, and 24 hours after the intervention and 1 week later by a blind researcher. A 4 × 5 mixed repeated- 24 measures analysis of variance was used to examine the effects of the intervention and Cohen d coefficient was used. 25 Results: A group-by-time interaction was detected in all variables (P b .01), except contralateral rotation. The 26 immediate effect sizes of the contralateral flexion, ipsilateral rotation, and pressure pain threshold were large for 3 27 experimental groups. Nevertheless, after 24 hours and 1 week, only IC group maintained the effect size. 28 Conclusions: Manual techniques on upper trapezius with latent trigger point seemed to improve the cervical range of 29 motion and the pressure pain sensitivity. These effects persist after 1 week in the IC group. (J Manipulative Physiol 301 Ther 2013;xx:1-10

Chemical characterization of the cultivar ‘Vinhão’ (vitis vinifera L.) grape pomace towards its circular valorisation and its health benefits

Among the most significant and productive agroindustries worldwide is the wine business. This agroindustry generates millions of tons of biological residues, carrying huge negative impacts related to the disposal of these materials into the environment. Nevertheless, these byproducts present a high potential for developing new products, contributing to the circularity of this economic sector. In this study, the chemical composition of the grape pomace (GP) obtained from the vinification process (2018 campaign).) of red grapes of the Portuguese cultivar ‘Vinhão’ was determined. The analyses of the pH, proximate composition (moisture content, proteins, lipids, ashes, fibers, and carbohydrates), the total phenolic compounds (Folin Ciocalteau method), and the mineral and fatty acid composition were carried out in triplicate, and the results expressed on a dry matter basis. After dehydration of ‘Vinhão’ GP, this very acidic by-product showed the following proximate composition (%): moisture, 3.43 ± 0.86; ash, 8.20 ± 0.017; lipids, 3.38 ± 0.11; proteins, 9.85 ± 0.51 and 3.28 ± 0.04; dietary fiber, 49.37 ± 1.75; carbohydrates, 35.47 ± 2.35. The content of total phenolic compounds was 35.35 ± 3.61 mg GAE/g. GP also revealed to be an excellent source of K, Ca, Fe, Mn, as well as of arachidic acid. The results obtained in this study suggest that GP from the Portuguese cultivar ‘Vinhão’ is feasible to enrich the nutritional value of food and feed. Moreover, the integration of pomace flour in food and feed is a viable option for reducing the environmental impact and adding value to the by-product, responding to the circular economy challenges.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Planes de acción de reducción del rudio: consideración del coste beneficio de superficies de bajo ruido y del impacto de medidas de gestión de la velocidad

A elaboração de Planos de Ação para gestão do ruído, de acordo com a diretiva Europeia nº 2002/49/CE é uma tarefa com a qual os municípios de elevada densidade populacional têm que lidar e coordenar com outros planos. Neste contexto a Agência Portuguesa para o Ambiente identifica o uso de pavimentos de baixo ruído como a melhor medida custo/benefício para redução do ruído. Não obstante o imenso esforço para desenvolver superfícies rodoviárias de baixo ruído na Europa, este assunto é ainda muitas vezes tratado de forma incorreta e breve, assim como os aspetos relacionados com a incomodidade provocada pelo ruído rodoviário e de algumas medidas de gestão de velocidade. Assim, este trabalho pretende contribuir para o desenvolvimento de Planos de Ação para reduzir o ruído de duas formas. Em primeiro lugar, através da análise custo/benefício de várias superfícies de pavimentos, tais como superfícies delgadas com ou sem betume modificado com borracha, e outros materiais inovadores. Seguidamente, serão discutidos os aspetos relativos incomodidade causada por algumas destas superfícies e o impacto das medidas de gestão da velocidade, tais como a implementação de lombas redutoras de velocidade e bandas sonoras. A seleção da melhor solução para redução do ruído não deve ser somente baseada na análise custo/benefício, que se apoia em indicadores de ruído objetivos, mas deve também integrar a perceção da população, com base em indicadores de ruído subjetivos, e nos efeitos dos elementos das estradas que podem perturbar os indivíduos em locais específicos.La elaboración de los Planos de Acción para la gestión del ruido, de acuerdo con la Directiva Europea N º 2002/49/CE es una tarea con la que los municipios densamente poblados tienen que tratar y coordinar con otros planos o proyectos existentes o en elaboración. En este contexto, la Agencia Portuguesa de Medio Ambiente identifica el uso de pavimentos de bajo ruido como la mejor medida de costo-beneficio para la reducción del ruido. A pesar del enorme esfuerzo para desarrollar superficies de bajo ruido en Europa, este tema, muchas veces ha sido abordado de una forma incorrecta y pequeña, así como los aspectos relacionados con la incomodidad generada por el ruido causado por los vehículos que circulan en la vía pública y de algunas medidas de control de la velocidad. Así, este trabajo tiene como principal objetivo contribuir para el desarrollo de los planes de acción para reducir el ruido de dos maneras. En primer lugar, por análisis del coste / beneficio de las diversas superficies de pavimento, tales como, las superficies delgadas de asfalto con o sin betún modificado y con granulado de caucho, y otros materiales innovadores. A continuación, se discutirá los aspectos relativos a la incomodidad proporcionada por algunas de estas superficies y el impacto de las medidas de control de la velocidad, tales como, la implementación de reductores de velocidad y bandas sonoras o resaltos. Por eso, la escoja de la mejor solución para la reducción del ruido no debe tener en cuenta solamente la análisis costobeneficio, que se apoya en indicadores objetivos de ruido, sino que, también debe integrar la percepción de la población, sobre la base de los indicadores subjetivos del ruido, y los efectos de elementos de caminos que pueden perturbar los individuos en lugares específicos

An electronic tongue for juice level evaluation in non-alcoholic beverages

An electronic tongue with 36 cross-sensibility polymeric membranes was built and used for semi-quantitative analysis of beverages. The objective was to differentiate 4 non-alcoholic beverage groups with different added fruit juice contents: higher than 30%, between 14%-30%, 5%-10% and 0.1%-2%. A set of 16 Portuguese beverages (4 for each group), purchased in commercial supermarkets, was analyzed and the respective signal profiles recorded by the electronic tongue device. The data obtained were treated by stepwise linear discriminant analysis, allowing a 100% overall correct classification for the original grouped cases and a 93.8% for the “leaving one-out” cross-validation procedur

Influência do pericarpo na germinação de sementes de Nó-de-cachorro em meio de cultura.

O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a influência do pericarpo na germinação de sementes e vigor de plântulas em meio de cultura.bitstream/CPAP-2009-09/56794/1/BP80.pd

An electronic tongue for beer differentiation

In this work an electronic tongue, based on a potentiometric solid-state mufti-sensor array, with 36 polymeric membranes, was built for developing an analytical tool to apply in process monitoring and quality control. As a first approach, this tool was applied together with a supervised pattern recognition tool to semi-quantitatively differentiate beers with different alcoholic levels

Legionella pneumophila strain associated with the first evidence of person-to-person transmission of Legionnaires’ disease: a unique mosaic genetic backbone

A first strong evidence of person-to-person transmission of Legionnaires' Disease (LD) was recently reported. Here, we characterize the genetic backbone of this case-related Legionella pneumophila strain ("PtVFX/2014"), which also caused a large outbreak of LD. PtVFX/2014 is phylogenetically divergent from the most worldwide studied outbreak-associated L. pneumophila subspecies pneumophila serogroup 1 strains. In fact, this strain is also from serogroup 1, but belongs to the L. pneumophila subspecies fraseri. Its genomic mosaic backbone reveals eight horizontally transferred regions encompassing genes, for instance, involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis or encoding virulence-associated Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system (T4BSS) substrates. PtVFX/2014 also inherited a rare ~65 kb pathogenicity island carrying virulence factors and detoxifying enzymes believed to contribute to the emergence of best-fitted strains in water reservoirs and in human macrophages, as well as a inter-species transferred (from L. oakridgensis) ~37.5 kb genomic island (harboring a lvh/lvr T4ASS cluster) that had never been found intact within L. pneumophila species. PtVFX/2014 encodes another lvh/lvr cluster near to CRISPR-associated genes, which may boost L. pneumophila transition from an environmental bacterium to a human pathogen. Overall, this unique genomic make-up may impact PtVFX/2014 ability to adapt to diverse environments, and, ultimately, to be transmitted and cause human disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fundamental parameters related to selenium kα and kβ emission x-ray spectra

This research was funded in part by FCT (Portugal) under research center grants UID/FIS/04559/2020 (LIBPhys) and UID/MULTI/04046/2020 (BioISI). This work was also funded through the project PTDC/FIS-AQM/31969/2017, "Ultra-high-accuracy x-ray spectroscopy of transition metal oxides and rare earths." J.M. and J.P.S acknowledge the support of EMPIR, under Contract No. 17FUN02MetroMMC. The EMPIR initiative is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR participating States.We present relativistic ab initio calculations of fundamental parameters for atomic selenium, based on the Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock method. In detail, fluorescence yields and subshell linewidths, both of K shell, as well as Kβ to Kα intensity ratio are provided, showing overall agreement with previous theoretical calculations and experimental values. Relative intensities were evaluated assuming the same ionization cross-section for the K-shell hole states, leading to a statistical distribution of these initial states. A method for estimating theoretical linewidths of X-ray lines, where the lines are composed by a multiplet of fine-structure levels that are spread in energy, is proposed. This method provides results that are closer to Kα1,2 experimental width values than the usual method, although slightly higher discrepancies occur for the Kβ1,3 lines. This indicates some inaccuracies in the calculation of Auger rates that have a higher contribution for partial linewidths of the subshells involved in the Kβ1,3 profile. Apart from this, the calculated value of Kβ to Kα intensity ratio, which is less sensitive to Auger rates issues, is in excellent agreement with recommended values.publishersversionpublishe

Relationship between land use and spatial variability of atmospheric brown carbon and black carbon aerosols in Amazonia

The aerosol radiative effect is an important source of uncertainty in estimating the anthropogenic impact of global climate change. One of the main open questions is the role of radiation absorption by aerosols and its relation to land use worldwide, particularly in the Amazon Rainforest. Using AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) long-term measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) at a wavelength of 500 nm and absorption AOD (AAOD) at wavelengths of 440, 675, and 870 nm, we estimated the fraction and seasonality of the black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) contributions to absorption at 440 nm. This was conducted at six Amazonian sites, from central Amazon (Manaus and the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory—ATTO) to the deforestation arc (Rio Branco, Cuiabá, Ji-Paraná, and Alta Floresta). In addition, land use and cover data from the MapBiomas collection 6.0 was used to access the land transformation from forest to agricultural areas on each site. The results showed, for the first time, important geographical and seasonal variability in the aerosol optical properties, particularly the BC and BrC contributions. We observed a clear separation between dry and wet seasons, with BrC consistently accounting for an average of approximately 12% of the aerosol AAOD at 440 nm in the deforestation arc. In central Amazon, the contribution of BrC was approximately 25%. A direct relationship between the reduction in forests and the increase in the area dedicated to agriculture was detected. Moreover, places with lower fractions of forest had a smaller fraction of BrC, and regions with higher fractions of agricultural areas presented higher fractions of BC. Therefore, significant changes in AOD and AAOD are likely related to land-use transformations and biomass burning emissions, mainly during the dry season. The effects of land use change could introduce differences in the radiative balance in the different Amazonian regions. The analyses presented in this study allow a better understanding of the role of aerosol emissions from the Amazon Rainforest that could have global impacts

Avances en la investigación de la relación patogeno-hospedante y de la resistencia genética a enfermedades de la caña de azúcar en Argentina

Esta contribución presenta avances en la investigación de la variabilidad y resistencia genética con relación a “Roya marrón” y “Estría roja” de la caña de azúcar en Argentina. Resultados experimentales de la inoculación con roya en condiciones controladas permitieron postular que tanto la actividad peroxidasa basal como la tasa de su crecimiento con posterioridad a la infección serían mecanismos complementarios que favorecen la expresión de la resistencia a la enfermedad. También se investigó la diversidad molecular en poblaciones de roya con base en 538 marcadores AFLP a partir de muestreos en diferentes variedades y en una amplia faja de distribución de la enfermedad en el NOA. No se detectaron estructuras genéticas diferenciadas según orígenes, comportándose las diferentes poblaciones como una única gran población indiferenciada de uredosporos con alto grado de variabilidad genética intrínseca. Con relación a Estría roja se logró optimizar una técnica efectiva para el aislamiento, identificación y caracterización genética del agente responsable de la enfermedad. Los resultados obtenidos permitieron confirmar que Acidovorax avenae es el agente responsable de estría roja de la caña de azúcar en Argentina, siendo ésta la primera caracterización realizada en la región cañera para esta patología. Por otra parte el análisis de perfiles de REP-PCR y RAPD confirmó la presencia de al menos cuatro biotipos de la enfermedad en aislados de Salta y Tucumán. La existencia de diversidad genética entre aislamientos permite diseñar estrategias de control mediante el uso de variedades resistentes.The paper presents recent progress in the investigation of variability and genetic resistance in relation to Rust and Red stripe diseases of sugar cane in Argentina. Experimental results for rust innoculation under controlled conditions served to postulate that both basal peroxidase activity and its rate of increase after innoculation with the disease could be complementary mechanisms in the expression of resistance in different cultivars. Molecular diversity of rust populations collected in the field in North West Argentina were also investigated based on 538 AFLP markers. Samples collected in different varieties and sites indicated that rust uredospores populations correspond with a single mixed undifferentiated population with a high degree of intrinsic genetic variability. In regard to Red stripe it was possible to optimize an effective procedure for the isolation, identification and genetic characterization of the disease agent. Results permitted for the first time the identification of Acidovorax avenae as the agent responsible for the disease in Argentina. The profile analysis for REP-PC and RAPD indicated the presence of at least four different biotypes of the disease in Salta and Tucumán. The occurrence of genetic diversity among isolates permits the design of strategies for the control of the disease by means of resistant varieties.Fil: Mariotti, Jorge Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Machado Assefh, Cristina Renata. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; ArgentinaFil: Rech, G.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Fontana, P. D.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Collavino, N. G.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Pocoví, M. I.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Rago, A. M.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Daz, Mirta Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; Argentin