Allergenic Airborne Pollen in Portugal 2002-2004

Os calendários polínicos constituem instrumentos fundamentais para a orientação clínica de doentes alérgicos. Em Portugal, a sua elaboração de forma sistematizada teve início em 2002. Para tal foram colocados polinómetros volumétricos Burkard em cinco cidades do país: Porto, Coimbra, Lisboa, Évora e Portimão. O registo das contagens foi efectuado por método estandardizado. As contagens polínicas diárias expressam a concentração média por m3. Estas contagens foram objecto de análise descritiva e comparativa. O período de incidência polínica máxima decorre entre Março e Julho, sendo o pólen de Poaceae e de ervas silvestres os mais frequentemente identificados. Em Janeiro, Fevereiro e Dezembro existem níveis elevados de pólen de árvores em todo o território nacional. O Sul do país apresenta indicadores de polinização mais intensa

Pré-tratamento termoquímico do bagaço da cana-de-açúcar para a produção de açúcares fermentescíveis.

Submitted by Marlene Sousa ([email protected]) on 2014-07-11T12:41:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_eve_absantos.pdf: 132239 bytes, checksum: 296e2563c41de35d47e210a8567fdabc (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Marlene Sousa([email protected]) on 2014-10-03T18:06:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_eve_absantos.pdf: 132239 bytes, checksum: 296e2563c41de35d47e210a8567fdabc (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-03T18:06:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_eve_absantos.pdf: 132239 bytes, checksum: 296e2563c41de35d47e210a8567fdabc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011Sugar cane bagasse is an agro industrial waste that can be converted to fermentable sugars by using a thermochemical pretreatment. In this work, sugar cane of bagasse was hydrolyzed using sulfuric acid (concentrations of 0.2, 0.5, 1.1, 1.7 and 2.0 M), in an autoclave temperature of 120oC, with a mass of bagasse equivalent to 2.5 g (1:20 w/v), and reaction times of 5, 13.1, 32.5, 51.9 and 60 min. The acid concentrations and times were determined by factorial design and response surface methodology. The colorimetric method DNS (3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid) was used to determine the concentration of fermentable sugars. After statistical analysis, it was found that the linear interaction of time of reaction and acid concentration were significant (p=0.05) and that the values of reaction time and concentration of sulfuric acid that maximize the production of sugars are 1 minute and 0.5 M, respectively. It was also found that with increasing reaction time and acid concentration there is a decrease in the concentration of sugars.O bagaço da cana-de-açúcar é um resíduo agroindustrial lignocelulósico, o qual pode ser convertido a açúcares fermentescíveis por meio de um pré-tratamento termoquímico. Neste trabalho foi realizada hidrólise ácida do bagaço, utilizando ácido sulfúrico. A hidrolise foi realizada com ácido sulfúrico de concentrações 0,2; 0,5; 1,1; 1,7 e 2,0M em autoclave de temperatura 120 ºC com uma massa de bagaço equivalente a 2,5g (1:20 p/v) e tempos de 5; 13,1; 32,5; 51,9 e 60 min. As concentrações do ácido e os tempos foram determinados por planejamento fatorial e metodologia de superfície de resposta. O método colorimétrico DNS (ácido 3,5-dinitrossalicílico) foi utilizado para a determinação da concentração de açúcares fermentescíveis (GRT). Após análise estatística dos resultados foi possível constatar que as interações lineares do tempo e da concentração do ácido foram significativas a um nível de significância de 95% e que existem valores ótimos de tempo de reação e concentração de ácido, 1 minuto e 0,5 M, respectivamente que maximizam a produção de GRT. Verificou-se ainda que conforme aumenta o tempo de reação e a concentração do ácido há uma diminuição da concentração GRT

A glimpse of climate change impact on C. Arabica L. and C. Canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner physiology: the combined effects of enhanced growth CO2 and temperature.

Summary: The effective impact of climate changes on the coffee plant physiology, promoted by enhanced air [CO2] and global warming remain to be fully elucidated through biological studies. Therefore, this work aims at linking important coffee physiological responses to environmental changes of enhanced growth [CO2] and temperature on genotypes from the two major producing species. Potted plants from C. arabica cv. IPR 108 and of C. canephora cv. Conilon Clone 153 were grown under environmental controlled conditions, either at 380 or 700 ?L CO2 L-1 air, for 1 year, without water, nutrient or root development restrictions. After that the temperature was gradually increased from 25/20 ºC (day/night) up to 42/34 ºC. The long-term impacts of enhanced growth [CO2] and enhanced temperature on the photosynthetic functioning were assessed at 25/20 ºC, 31/25 ºC, 37/30 ºC and 42/34 ºC, through leaf gas exchanges (rates of net photosynthesis, Pn, stomatal conductance, gs, transpiration, Tr, and photosynthetic capacity, Amax), instantaneous water use efficiency (iWUE), fluorescence parameters (photochemical efficiency of the photosystem II under dark, Fv/Fm, and light, Fv?/Fm?, conditions, as well as the photochemical, qP, and non-photochemical, NPQ, quenchings, and quantum yield of the linear electron transport, ?e), photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids) and some molecules with antioxidant role (ascorbate and ?-tocopherol). The results showed that enhanced [CO2] stimulates photosynthetic functioning, without negative down-regulation. Minor impacts were found in the photochemical performance until 37 ºC, but extensive impacts were shown at 42 ºC, especially in IPR108. Remarkable was the finding that enhanced [CO2] preserved a higher functional status (Pn, Amax, Fo, Fv/Fm) at high temperatures (37 and 42 ºC), what seems quite relevant under the predicted climate changes and global warming scenarios

Thylakoid lipids changes may account for photosynthetic acclimation ability of two coffea species subjected to heat.

Summary: Coffee is one of the world?s most traded agricultural products, and its production could be threatened by global warming. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of heat on photosynthetic activity and thylakoid membrane lipid dynamics, on genotypes of the two major coffee producing species. Potted plants from C. arabica L. cv. IPR108 and C. canephora Pierre Ex A. Froehner cv. Conilon Clone 153 were grown for 1 year under controlled conditions of temperature (25/20ºC, day/night), irradiance (650-800 ?mol m-2 s-1), RH (75%), photoperiod (12 h), and 380 ?L CO2 L-1. Thereafter, temperature was gradually raised to 42/34ºC (0.5ºC/ day), with a 7 days stabilization step at 31, 37 and 42ºC. Studies focused modifications of thylakoid lipid composition and photosynthetic performance. In CL153 photosynthetic capacity (Amax) was not affected until 42ºC (40% reduction). In IPR108 it was reduced 35 and 57% at 37ºC at 42ºC, respectively. Thylakoid electron transport rate for photosystems (PS) I and II increased (ca. 10-25%) up to 37ºC in both genotypes. At 42ºC only IPR108 presented depressed activities on PSII (15%) and PSI (18%). Under 37 and 42ºC, CL153 plants presented digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) (ca. 42%) and monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) (28-34%) increases, while IPR108 showed higher MGDG at all temperatures. In CL153 less unsaturated DGDG and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) along with stable or increased DGDG/MGDG ratio, may have contributed to sustain thylakoid electron flow at 37ºC and even 42ºC. IPR108 displayed a strong PG rise at all temperatures, in accordance with enhanced PSs activity

A comprehensive assessment of the transcriptome of cork oak (Quercus suber) through EST sequencing

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber) is one of the rare trees with the ability to produce cork, a material widely used to make wine bottle stoppers, flooring and insulation materials, among many other uses. The molecular mechanisms of cork formation are still poorly understood, in great part due to the difficulty in studying a species with a long life-cycle and for which there is scarce molecular/genomic information. Cork oak forests are of great ecological importance and represent a major economic and social resource in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. However, global warming is threatening the cork oak forests by imposing thermal, hydric and many types of novel biotic stresses. Despite the economic and social value of the Q. suber species, few genomic resources have been developed, useful for biotechnological applications and improved forest management. Results: We generated in excess of 7 million sequence reads, by pyrosequencing 21 normalized cDNA libraries derived from multiple Q. suber tissues and organs, developmental stages and physiological conditions. We deployed a stringent sequence processing and assembly pipeline that resulted in the identification of ~159,000 unigenes. These were annotated according to their similarity to known plant genes, to known Interpro domains, GO classes and E.C. numbers. The phylogenetic extent of this ESTs set was investigated, and we found that cork oak revealed a significant new gene space that is not covered by other model species or EST sequencing projects. The raw data, as well as the full annotated assembly, are now available to the community in a dedicated web portal at http://www.corkoakdb.org. Conclusions: This genomic resource represents the first trancriptome study in a cork producing species. It can be explored to develop new tools and approaches to understand stress responses and developmental processes in forest trees, as well as the molecular cascades underlying cork differentiation and disease response.Peer Reviewe

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio