CO-mediated cytoprotection is dependent on cell metabolism modulation

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) grant UID/Multi/04462/2013, I&D 2015–2020 iNOVA4Health - Programme in Translacional Medicine. FCT provided individual financial support to CFP (SFRH/BD/106057/2015), DDP (PD/BD/128338/2017), NLS (PD/BD/127819/2016) and HLAV (IF/00185/2012).Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gasotransmitter endogenously produced by the activity of heme oxygenase, which is a stress-response enzyme. Endogenous CO or low concentrations of exogenous CO have been described to present several cytoprotective functions: anti-apoptosis, anti-inflammatory, vasomodulation, maintenance of homeostasis, stimulation of preconditioning and modulation of cell differentiation. The present review revises and discuss how CO regulates cell metabolism and how it is involved in the distinct cytoprotective roles of CO. The first found metabolic effect of CO was its increase on cellular ATP production, and since then much data have been generated. Mitochondria are the most described and studied cellular targets of CO. Mitochondria exposure to this gasotransmitter leads several consequences: ROS generation, stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, increased oxidative phosphorylation or mild uncoupling effect. Likewise, CO negatively regulates glycolysis and improves pentose phosphate pathway. More recently, CO has also been disclosed as a regulating molecule for metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes with promising results.publishersversionpublishe

Epidemiological status of bovine brucellosis in the Federal District, Brazil

Realizou-se um estudo para caracterizar a situação epidemiológica da brucelose bovina no Distrito Federal (DF). No total foram amostrados 2.019 animais, provenientes de 278 propriedades. Em cada propriedade visitada aplicou-se um questionário epidemiológico para verificar o tipo de exploração e as práticas de criação e sanitárias que poderiam estar associadas ao risco de infecção pela doença. O protocolo utilizado foi o da triagem com o teste do antígeno acidificado tamponado e a confirmação dos positivos com o teste do 2-mercaptoetanol. O rebanho foi considerado positivo quando pelo menos um animal foi reagente às duas provas sorológicas. A prevalência no DF foi de 2,5% [1,0-5,1%] para propriedades e de 0,16% [0,04-0,28%] para animais. Em razão dos resultados encontrados, que permitem pensar em estratégias de erradicação, recomenda-se que o DF intensifique o diagnóstico de brucelose, tanto na forma de testes sorológicos sistemáticos como pela introdução de mecanismos de detecção rápida em laticínios, em ambos os casos a fim de aumentar o número de propriedades certificadas como livres da doença e melhorar a sensibilidade do sistema de vigilância ativa.A study to characterize the epidemiological status of brucellosis was carried out in the Federal District of Brazil. A total of 2,019 serum samples from 278 herds were collected. In each herd, it was applied an epidemiological questionnaire focused on herd traits as well as husbandry and sanitary practices that could be associated with the risk of infection. The serum samples were screened for antibodies against Brucella spp. by the Rose-Bengal Test (RBT), and all positive sera were re-tested by the 2-mercaptoethanol test (2-ME). The herd was considered positive if at least one animal was positive on both RBT and 2-ME tests. Herd prevalence was estimated as 2.5% [1.0-5.1%] whereas animal prevalence was 0.16% [0.04-0.28%]. Given these results, that may warrant the implementation of eradication strategies, there is a case for intensifying the serological testing in the Federal District, coupled with the introduction of rapid detection methods by the dairy industries, with a view to increasing the number of accredited free herds and improving the sensitivity of the surveillance system..FAPESPCNPqSEAP-DFMAPA Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abasteciment

The Presence of Flavonoids in Some Products and Fruits of the Genus Eugenia: An Integrative Review

ReviewThe Myrtaceae family, one of the most prominent botanical families, is represented in Brazil with different fruit species, rich in bioactive compounds and gastronomically appreciated. This study aimed to carry out an integrative review on the genus Eugenia, highlighting the pitangueira (E. uniflora L.), cagaiteira (E. dysenterica), grumixameira (E. brasiliensis), pereira (E. klotzschiana O. Berg), and uvaieira (E. pyriformis Cambess) and which flavonoids are present in these fruits. Articles published between 2016 and 2021 were selected from the following databases: Google Scholar, Periódicos CAPES, Scielo, and Science Direct. According to each database, the descriptors used as a search strategy addressed the popular and scientific names of the five selected species, associated or not with the term “flavonoid,” according to each database. The results showed that quercetin was the main flavonoid identified in the fruits, and the principal extraction method used was HPLC. Other interesting compounds, such as catechin, epicatechin, rutin, myricetin, and kaempferol, were also found. However, the amount and type of flavonoids detected varied according to the applied methodology. Hence, these studies highlight the importance of species of the genus Eugenia, which promotes beneficial health effects and possible applicability to the food and pharmaceutical industryinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Análisis del efecto de materiales de cambio de fase sobre la demanda de calefacción en una casa fotovoltaica

CIES2020 - XVII Congresso Ibérico e XIII Congresso Ibero-americano de Energia SolarRESUMEN: Este trabajo evalúa el efecto que tiene la integración de materiales de cambio de fase (MCF) en la envolvente de los edificios, sobre la operación de un sistema de generación solar fotovoltaica acoplado con bomba de calor para cubrir las necesidades térmicas de dicho edificio. A partir de una instalación a escala real, se han realizado modelos en EnergyPlus de diferentes escenarios de estudio intermedios, teniendo en cuenta que la aplicación de los MCF microencapsulados como revestimiento de paredes interiores, requiere de un material de sustrato y un mortero para que se incorpore, evaluando de esta forma el efecto que tiene cada uno de los elementos. Se ha simulado y evaluado el efecto en cada escenario de estudio sobre la demanda energética del demostrador, desde la solución constructiva del fabricante hasta la solución con el mortero aditivado con MCF aplicado como recubrimiento interior de las paredes. En paralelo se ha realizado la simulación mediante TRNSYS de una instalación fotovoltaica de 50, 100, 200 y 300 W conectadas a una bomba de calor sobre la que se ha considerado que tiene un rendimiento en calefacción de 3 y un rendimiento de refrigeración de 2. Los resultados muestran que hay una gran cantidad de energía de calefacción que se pierde en los momentos en los que la demanda de calefacción es reducida y la disponibilidad de energía solar es alta. También se ha podido comprobar que el dimensionado para refrigeración es más crítico que para calefacción. Finalmente cabe indicar que el presente trabajo se ha realizado dentro del marco del proyecto SUDOKET financiado por la convocatoria Interreg SUDOE.ABSTRACT: The present work evaluates the effect that the incorporation of Phase Change Materials (PCM) in the building envelope has in the operation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) generation system coupled with a heat pump for covering the thermal demand of a building. Based on data from a real scale facility, the EnergyPlus models of different case scenarios have been performed, taking into account that the application of microencapsulated PCM as an interior wall coating requires a substrate material and a mortar matrix to be embedded into. The effect on each case scenario on the buildings energy demand, from the manufacturer constructive walls solution until the PCM enhanced mortar applied as the interior wall coating, has been simulated and evaluated. In parallel, the TRNSYS simulation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system has been performed, considering 50, 100, 200 and 300 W connected to a heat pump with a heating performance of 3 and a cooling performance of 2. The obtained results show that there is a large amount of heating energy that is wasted when the demand for heating is low and the availability of solar energy is high. It has also been demonstrated that sizing for cooling is more critical than for heating. Finally, it should be indicated that this work has been carried out within the SUDOKET project financed by the Interreg SUDOE programme.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reconstruction Activities And First Results From The Thomson Scattering Diagnostic On The Tcabr Tokamak

An incoherent and infrared Thomson scattering diagnostic (ITS) was transferred from ISTTOK (Lisboa) and reconstructed on TCABR (S. Paulo). In the first phase of this international collaboration, the diagnostic uses a Neodymium:Glass laser with up to 10 Joules per laser pulse and a first generation polychromator with three pairs of interference filters and avalanche photodiodes. It measures 90° scattered radiation in a single volume of observation with a single laser pulse to obtain the instant plasma electron temperature. This paper reports the reconstruction activities already carried out and presents the first experimental results. These activities include: new data model performance, laser refurbishing, new laser delivery system, stray-light reduction in the vacuum vessel, new collection lens and relative diagnostic calibration. A long run of experiments with this diagnostic shows consistency and coherence with the other TCABR diagnostics and gives indications to be able to contribute effectively to the Alfven heating program of this tokamak. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.227Alonso, M.P., Wilcock, P.D., Varandas, C.A.F., (1999) Rev. Sci. Inst., 70 (1), p. 783Alonso, M.P., Berni, L., Severo, J.H., Borges, F.O., Elizondo, J.I., MacHida, M., Varandas, C.A.F., Galvo, R.M.O., (2008) Plasma Fusion. Sci., 996, p. 192Alonso, M.P., Figueiredo, A.C.A., Berni, L.A., Varandas, C.A.F., (2008) Plas. Sci. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., 36 (4), p. 11094Bellintani, J.V., Elfimov, A.G., Elizondo, J.I., Fagundes, A.N., Fonseca, A.M.M., Galvo, R.M.O., Guidolin, L., MacHida, M., (2006), 875, p. 350Berni, L.A., Alonso, M.P., Oliveira, R.M., (2004) Rev. Sci. Inst., 75 (10), p. 388

The Mw 5.1, 9 August 2020, Sparta Earthquake, North Carolina: The First Documented Seismic Surface Rupture in the Eastern United States

At 8:07 a.m. EDT on 9 Aug. 2020 a Mw 5.1 earthquake located ~3 km south of Sparta, North Carolina, USA, shook much of the eastern United States, producing the first documented surface rupture due to faulting east of the New Madrid seismic zone. The co-seismic surface rupture was identified along a 2-km-long traceable zone of predominantly reverse displacement, with folding and flexure generating a scarp averaging 8–10-cm-high with a maximum observed height of ~25 cm. Widespread deformation south of the main surface rupture includes cm-dm–long and mm-cm–wide fissures. Two trenches excavated across the surface rupture reveal that this earthquake propagated to the surface along a preexisting structure in the shallow bedrock, which had not been previously identified as an active fault. Surface ruptures by faulting are rarely reported for M <6 earthquakes, and hence the Sparta earthquake provides an opportunity to improve seismic hazard knowledge associated with these moderate events. Furthermore, this earthquake occurred in a very low strain rate intraplate setting, where earthquake surface deformation, regardless of magnitude, is sparse in time and rare to observe and characterize

Naturalized alien flora of the world: species diversity, taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns, geographic distribution and global hotspots of plant invasion

Using the recently built Global Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF) database, containing data on the distribution of naturalized alien plants in 483 mainland and 361 island regions of the world, we describe patterns in diversity and geographic distribution of naturalized and invasive plant species, taxonomic, phylogenetic and life-history structure of the global naturalized flora as well as levels of naturalization and their determinants. The mainland regions with the highest numbers of naturalized aliens are some Australian states (with New South Wales being the richest on this continent) and several North American regions (of which California with 1753 naturalized plant species represents the world's richest region in terms of naturalized alien vascular plants). England, Japan, New Zealand and the Hawaiian archipelago harbour most naturalized plants among islands or island groups. These regions also form the main hotspots of the regional levels of naturalization, measured as the percentage of naturalized aliens in the total flora of the region. Such hotspots of relative naturalized species richness appear on both the western and eastern coasts of North America, in north-western Europe, South Africa, south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and India. High levels of island invasions by naturalized plants are concentrated in the Pacific, but also occur on individual islands across all oceans. The numbers of naturalized species are closely correlated with those of native species, with a stronger correlation and steeper increase for islands than mainland regions, indicating a greater vulnerability of islands to invasion by species that become successfully naturalized. South Africa, India, California, Cuba, Florida, Queensland and Japan have the highest numbers of invasive species. Regions in temperate and tropical zonobiomes harbour in total 9036 and 6774 naturalized species, respectively, followed by 3280 species naturalized in the Mediterranean zonobiome, 3057 in the subtropical zonobiome and 321 in the Arctic. The New World is richer in naturalized alien plants, with 9905 species compared to 7923 recorded in the Old World. While isolation is the key factor driving the level of naturalization on islands, zonobiomes differing in climatic regimes, and socioeconomy represented by per capita GDP, are central for mainland regions. The 11 most widely distributed species each occur in regions covering about one third of the globe or more in terms of the number of regions where they are naturalized and at least 35% of the Earth's land surface in terms of those regions' areas, with the most widely distributed species Sonchus oleraceus occuring in 48% of the regions that cover 42% of the world area. Other widely distributed species are Ricinus communis, Oxalis corniculata, Portulaca oleracea, Eleusine indica, Chenopodium album, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Stellaria media, Bidens pilosa, Datura stramonium and Echinochloa crus-galli. Using the occurrence as invasive rather than only naturalized yields a different ranking, with Lantana camara (120 regions out of 349 for which data on invasive status are known), Calotropis procera (118), Eichhornia crassipes (113), Sonchus oleraceus (108) and Leucaena leucocephala (103) on top. As to the life-history spectra, islands harbour more naturalized woody species (34.4%) than mainland regions (29.5%), and fewer annual herbs (18.7% compared to 22.3%). Ranking families by their absolute numbers of naturalized species reveals that Compositae (1343 species), Poaceae (1267) and Leguminosae (1189) contribute most to the global naturalized alien flora. Some families are disproportionally represented by naturalized aliens on islands (Arecaceae, Araceae, Acanthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, Convolvulaceae, Rubiaceae, Malvaceae), and much fewer so on mainland (e.g. Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Boraginaceae). Relating the numbers of naturalized species in a family to its total global richness shows that some of the large species-rich families are over-represented among naturalized aliens (e.g. Poaceae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae, Amaranthaceae, Pinaceae), some under-represented (e.g. Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae), whereas the one richest in naturalized species, Compositae, reaches a value expected from its global species richness. Significant phylogenetic signal indicates that families with an increased potential of their species to naturalize are not distributed randomly on the evolutionary tree. Solanum (112 species), Euphorbia (108) and Carex (106) are the genera richest in terms of naturalized species; over-represented on islands are Cotoneaster, Juncus, Eucalyptus, Salix, Hypericum, Geranium and Persicaria, while those relatively richer in naturalized species on the mainland are Atriplex, Opuntia, Oenothera, Artemisia, Vicia, Galium and Rosa. The data presented in this paper also point to where information is lacking and set priorities for future data collection. The GloNAF database has potential for designing concerted action to fill such data gaps, and provide a basis for allocating resources most efficiently towards better understanding and management of plant invasions worldwide