Comemoração Solene do Nascimento de Martins Sarmento. Discurso de homenagem a M. Sarmento, pronunciado pelo Prf. Dr. Francisco Miranda da Costa Lobo, Presidente do "Instituto" e director do Observatório Astronómico da Universidade de Coimbra.

43 Jan.-Dez. 1933, p. 76-80

MELANOMA? OBSERVE MAIS PERTO

Pigmented skin lesions are sometimes misdiagnosed due to clinical similarities between melanocytic and non-melanocytic lesions. We report the case of a patient with a pigmented lesion that clinically resembles melanoma. With dermoscopy, observed features, namely leaf-like areas, allowed us to make the diagnosis of pigmented basal cell carcinoma. This case represents a clinical setting in which clinical examination alone could lead to a misdiagnosis, but with the use of dermoscopy an accurate diagnosis was possible.Lesões cutâneas pigmentadas por vezes são mal diagnosticadas devido às semelhanças entre as lesões melanocíticas e não-melanocíticas. Relatamos o caso de um doente com uma lesão pigmentada, clinicamente sugestiva de melanoma. Quando analisada com dermatoscopia, é possível observar características, nomeadamente áreas “leaf-like”, que nos permitem fazer o diagnóstico de carcinoma basocelular pigmentado. Este caso representa uma situação clínica em que o exame clinico isoladamente pode levar a um diagnóstico incorreto, mas que com o apoio da dermatoscopia foi feito corretamente

Antidepressants detection and quantification in whole blood samples by GC–MS/MS, for forensic purposes

Depression is among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders of our society, leading to an increase in antidepressant drug consumption that needs to be accurately determined in whole blood samples in Forensic Toxicology Laboratories. For this purpose, this work presents a new gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) method targeting the simultaneous and rapid determination of 14 common Antidepressants in whole blood: 13 Antidepressants (amitriptyline, citalopram, clomipramine, dothiepin, fluoxetine, imipramine, mianserin, mirtazapine, nortryptiline, paroxetine, sertraline, trimipramine and venlafaxine) and 1 Metabolite (N-desmethylclomipramine). Solid-phase extraction was used prior to chromatographic separation. Chromatographic and MS/MS parameters were selected to improve sensitivity, peak resolution and unequivocal identification of the eluted analyte. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode in tandem, using electronic impact ionization. Clomipramine-D3 and trimipramine-D3 were used as deutered internal standards. The validation parameters included linearity, limits of detection, lower limit of quantification, selectivity/ specificity, extraction efficiency, carry-over, precision and robustness, and followed internationally accepted guidelines. Limits of quantification and detection were lower than therapeutic and subtherapeutic concentration ranges. Overall, the method offered good selectivity, robustness and quick response (<16 min) for typical concentration ranges, both for therapeutic and lethal levels.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Fluorescence in nanostructured fulleride films

Applied Physics Letters, 89Nanostructuring of fullerene C60 beam deposited films is achieved by electrochemical reduction in a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. Alkali fulleride clusters are formed at the electrode, as it is illustrated by cyclic voltammetry, x-ray diffraction, and scanning tunneling microscopy. Fluorescence emission from fluorophore doped fullerene reduced films was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and scanning near-field optical microscopy. These techniques lead to results which also fit such nanometer-sized fulleride cluster interpretation. In particular, the fluorophore fluorescence lifetime decreases as long as aggregation in the film is more effective,which occurs with the increase of film thickness

Interactions of vanadates with carbohydrates in aqueous solutions

The interaction between the vanadate ion (VO3-, i.e. vanadium (V)) and the carbohydrates sucrose, glucose and fructose has been studied in aqueous solutions (pH [approximate]6, 298.15 K) using measurements of diffusion coefficients, electrical conductivity, Raman and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. With sucrose and glucose, indications of hydrolysis of the anion in the absence of the sugars came from a decrease in the diffusion coefficient with increasing concentration. Significant effects on the diffusion coefficients were observed in the presence of sucrose and glucose, suggesting interactions between the carbohydrates and vanadate ion. Support for this came from electrical conductivity measurements, where there were indications of formation of oligomeric species. These were found to depend on the carbohydrate used: confirmation of oligomer formation came from Raman spectroscopy, where it was possible to identify these species, and see their dependence on the particular carbohydrate used. Information on the interactions between the carbohydrates glucose or sucrose and vanadate came from 51V and 1H NMR spectroscopy, where the dominant species appeared to be a 2:2 complex with glucose, possessing trigonal bipyramidal centres, whereas with sucrose it is suggested that octahedral species are formed. Studies with fructose were complicated by competing oxidation of this carbohydrate and reduction of vanadium (V).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGS-4CTN53R-3/1/7da9099617b4eef5113ec0db3254629

Effect of storage conditions on stability of free and encapsulated in plain- or cysteine-supplemented alginate, Bifidobacterium animalis BB-12®

The main objective of this research work was to study the viability of Bifidobacterium animalis BB-12® as free and calcium alginate-encapsulated cells, with or without cysteine, throughout storage, at four different temperatures. Extrusion by aerodynamically assisted flow was used to produce alginate and calcium alginate supplemented with L-cysteine·HCl microcapsules, containing B. animalis BB-12®. The microcapsules were suspended in Ringer solution in a 1:9 (g/mL) ratio, and stored at 21, 4, -20 and -80 ºC throughout six months, respectively. In parallel, the viability of free cells in cell suspension, was subjected to the same storage conditions and the corresponding viability assessed. Results showed that at 21, 4 and -20 ºC, the encapsulation did not have a protective effect—free cells maintained their viability throughout longer periods than encapsulated counterparts. At -80 ºC, encapsulation protected B. animalis BB-12® in comparison to the behavior of free cells. However, this effect was only observed in calcium alginate microcapsules supplemented with L-cysteine.HCl. After 180 days storage at -80 ºC, a 2 log cycle difference, in viable cells was observed between microcapsules with or without cysteine. The viable numbers of B. animalis BB-12® in microcapsules without cysteine was similar to that of free cells. In conclusion, alginate encapsulation revealed a protective effect on viability of B. animalis BB-12® stored at -80 ºC when supplemented with L-cysteine.HCl.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic association between growth and maternal ability traits in Nelore cattle.

Although body weight traits have been widely used in animal breeding programs due to their importance to beef cattle systems, the use of maternal ability traits, which highly affect the profitability in livestock, is still incipient. As the knowledge of genetic parameters of economic important traits may aid genetic gains, this study was carried out to estimate genetic parameters for weight at 120 and 210 days of age (W120 and W210), pre-weaning average daily gain (PreDG), real fertility (RF), accumulated productivity (AP) and weaning rate (WR). The data set was obtained from Vera Cruz Ranch, a cattle ranch that participates in the Brazilian National Association of Breeders and Researchers (ANCP). Heritabilities and correlations were estimated using univariate and bivariate linear mixed model. The model included contemporary groups (year and season of birth, sex and management group), cow age at calving (in classes and as linear and quadratic covariate) as fixed effects, and genetic and residual components as random effects. Estimates of heritability for between growth and maternal ability traits ranged from 0.22 to 0.32, indicating that they could be improved by direct selection. Estimates of genetic correlation between W120-W210, W120-PreDG, W120-RF, W120-AP, W120-WR were 0.90, 0.54, 0.16, 0.45 and 0.24, respectively. Estimates of genetic correlation between W210-PreDG, W210-RF, W210-AP, W210-WR were 0.63, 0.27, 0.53 and 0.21, respectively. Estimates of genetic correlation between PreDG-RF, PreDG-AP, PreDG-WR were 0.23, 0.16 and 0.28, respectively. Positive genetic correlations were observed between RF, CAP and RD (0.28 to 0.78). Therefore, genetic selection having one of these characteristics as the criterion of selection will lead to an indirect response in the same direction in the others. These results indicate that the use of animals with high breeding values for weights and pre-weaning gain may lead to increase maternal ability traits due to correlated responses. Such responses tend to be bigger when using weight compared to the pre-weaning gain

Impactos da precipitação mensal sobre a severidade da mancha angular e a produtividade do feijoeiro comum.

O objetivo deste estudo foi estimar perdas de rendimento causadas pela mancha angular, e os impactos da precipitação mensal sobre a doença e a produtividade no feijoeiro comum