Estímulo no crescimento e na hidrólise de atp em raízes de alface tratadas com humatos de vermicomposto: ii - efeito da fonte de vermicomposto.

Um dos fatores mais limitantes para a produção de vermicomposto é a disponibilidade de esterco. Neste trabalho, foi avaliado o efeito da substituição parcial do esterco por bagaço de cana e por resíduos de leguminosa (Gliricidia sepium) na vermicompostagem sobre a qualidade do vermicomposto e sobre a bioatividade dos humatos, avaliadas por meio da análise do crescimento radicular e da atividade das bombas de H+ isoladas de raízes de alface. A substituição do esterco por bagaço de cana e por resíduos de leguminosas não acarretou prejuízo às características químicas dos vermicompostos. No entanto, os humatos isolados dos diferentes vermicompostos apresentaram características químicas distintas,tais como: acidez e propriedades óticas distintas. Os humatos produzidos a partir de esterco de bovino e da mistura esterco bovino + bagaço proporcionaram maiores estímulos no crescimento radicular das plantas de alface, sendo os mais indicados para uso na forma solúvel. A inclusão de resíduos de leguminosas no processo de vermicompostagem produziu humatos sem efeito sobre o desenvolvimento das raízes de alface

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Ageing assets at major hazard chemical sites – The Dutch experience

Operators of major hazard chemical sites increasingly face the problem that their assets are ageing. This paper highlights the major hazard aspects of ageing, particularly in the Netherlands where there are around 400 major hazard chemical sites, many coming to the end of or exceeding their design lifetime. Targeted inspections find failures in the safety management of ageing and every year there are ageing related accidents. Dutch investigated major accidents are analysed in a bow-tie structured database called Storybuilder, which contains 83 major accidents resulting from material degradation, this being 25% of all accidents in the database. The paper provides unique details on the accident causes and the difficulties operators have in foreseeing the outcomes. It explains the reasons for taking a holistic approach to modelling, which considers management, human and technical aspects. The analysis results provide information on the safety barrier, barrier task and barrier management failures. A detailed ageing accident scenario is also illustrated within the holistic model. Two prevention approaches are suggested. One uses scenarios as a basis for identifying the necessary prevention measures. The other results from a Dutch multi-disciplinary maintenance programme concerning smart maintenance, a shared initiative approach of companies looking for innovative solutions. The conclusion is that a scenario-based approach is needed for identifying currently unanticipated material degradation causal events and that, given the condition of ageing assets, a shift to condition-based maintenance, combined with technical, organisational and cultural changes, underpins the future approach to physical ageing

Ageing assets at major hazard chemical sites – The Dutch experience

Operators of major hazard chemical sites increasingly face the problem that their assets are ageing. This paper highlights the major hazard aspects of ageing, particularly in the Netherlands where there are around 400 major hazard chemical sites, many coming to the end of or exceeding their design lifetime. Targeted inspections find failures in the safety management of ageing and every year there are ageing related accidents. Dutch investigated major accidents are analysed in a bow-tie structured database called Storybuilder, which contains 83 major accidents resulting from material degradation, this being 25% of all accidents in the database. The paper provides unique details on the accident causes and the difficulties operators have in foreseeing the outcomes. It explains the reasons for taking a holistic approach to modelling, which considers management, human and technical aspects. The analysis results provide information on the safety barrier, barrier task and barrier management failures. A detailed ageing accident scenario is also illustrated within the holistic model. Two prevention approaches are suggested. One uses scenarios as a basis for identifying the necessary prevention measures. The other results from a Dutch multi-disciplinary maintenance programme concerning smart maintenance, a shared initiative approach of companies looking for innovative solutions. The conclusion is that a scenario-based approach is needed for identifying currently unanticipated material degradation causal events and that, given the condition of ageing assets, a shift to condition-based maintenance, combined with technical, organisational and cultural changes, underpins the future approach to physical ageing

Monitoring of a heterogeneous reaction by acoustic emission

The feasibility of monitoring the reaction of itaconic acid and 1-butanol by non-invasive acoustic emission measurements has been assessed. A piezoelectric transducer with a resonant mode at 90 kHz was attached to the external wall of a 1 L jacketed glass reactor. Acoustic emission from the oil jacket, stirrer and toluene was insignificant in comparison to that produced by the itaconic acid particles, which was transmitted through the glass walls and heating oil to the transducer. The transducer responded to acoustic emission from itaconic acid up to 300 kHz, with the region around 90 kHz having the highest sensitivity. The effect of particle concentration and size on the acoustic emission generated has also been investigated, with higher concentrations and larger particles giving the greater signals. The detection limit for itaconic acid particles was 14 g dm−3 of toluene. The effect of 1-butanol concentration and temperature on the progression of reactions was monitored using acoustic emission. It was possible to detect differences in the rate and extent of the reaction under different conditions, and also to identify when a combination of the concentration and/or size of itaconic acid particles had reached a steady state. However, it was not possible to differentiate between changes in particle size and concentration using the resonant transducer