Editorial: The fiber profile of skeletal muscles as a fingerprint of muscle quality

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Sistema para controle de turbidez na etapa de captação em uma estação de tratamento de água de porto alegre

A água,além de ser essencial a todas as formas de vida, é considerada um patrimôniodo planeta e direito universal de todos. Diversas operações unitárias são empregadas para garantir a potabilidade da água captada no manancial e o controle do processo é determinante para a produção de água segura à população. Com o avanço da tecnologia, sistemas automatizados ganharam maior visibilidade e importância, já que representam um avanço para a gestão dos recursos hídricos, bem como redução de custos da operação a longo prazo. Este trabalho apresenta o diagnóstico de automação da etapa de adução e clarificação em uma Estação de Tratamento de Água (ETA) e tem como objetivo propor melhorias em Instrumentação e Controle, a fim de otimizar a operação da ETA e fornecer dados em tempo real aos operadores para auxiliar nas ações de forma antecipativa. O projeto inclui a instalação de instrumentos como sensor analítico de turbidez nas duas captações de água bruta com envio dasi nformações a um controlador, que por sua vez computa os sinais de entrada em um supervisório desenvolvido para a ETA, através de conexão por Ethernet. Na mesma ferramenta de visualização dos dados de processo é apresentada a dosagem de coagulante aplicada e possibilidade de alteração da mesma apartir do emprego de um inversor de frequência para alterar a rotação do motor acoplado a bomba dosadora. Afim de garantir a quantidade ideal de coagulante para a turbidez da água bruta visualizada e vazão empregada, é proposto o uso de um analisador de cargas, instrumento que me de a carga elétrica residual da água-diferença entre a carga positiva do coagulante e a carga negativa das partículas coloidais. A aplicação do projeto visa qualificar a operação da Estação de Tratamento de Água responsável pelo abastecimento de 16% da população porto-alegrense e localizada e muma região compotencial de expansão imobiliária

Habitat creation for animals by teredinid bivalves in Indonesian mangrove ecosystems

A better understanding of the fundamental role large woody debris (LWD) plays within mangrove ecosystems may provide further insights into important ecological processes, such as wood degradation and biodiversity maintenance within mangrove forests.Though the volume of fallen wood in mangrove forests can be huge, little is known of the breakdown pathways and biodiversity maintenance of LWD in mangrove ecosystems. The degree of mangrove fauna dependent upon LWD and the need for such substratum in mangrove ecosystems may provide further insights in to the important role of woody biomass in these otherwise globally shrinking habitats due to forest harvesting. The breakdown, recycling and flux of nutrients from LWD within mangrove forests is maintained by biodegrading organisms in areas from terrestrial to marine habitats. The tidal inundation sets limits on the wood degrading communities within the mangrove forests of Sulawesi. This study presents details of the environmental and biological association of biodegrading organisms within the forests in the Wakatobi Marine Park (WMP), Sulawesi. Wood boring animals belonging to the family Teredinidae are the dominant biodegraders of LWD in the mid- to low intertidal areas of the mangrove forests. Teredinid attack greatly reduces the volume of LWD in the mid- to low intertidal areas of the forests. Within the forests, emersion time was the greatest influence of the distribution of the biodegrading organisms spanning from the supra-tidal down to the low intertidal. The response of Rhizophora stylosa prop-roots to physical damage and the activity of teredinids upon damaged prop-roots were investigated. With severe levels of root damage, the level of teredinid activity increases, resulting in root death and detrital input. However, when the roots were exposed to a superficial and moderate level of damage, an over-compensation of tissue re-growth was observed. LWD in the intertidal zone is often tunnelled by teredinids. The tunnels are blind-ending cylinders that taper to a small opening at the wood surface. However, larger openings appear when wood is heavily tunnelled and the surface is broken open. Teredinid death then leaves niches for cryptofauna. The greater the number of teredinid tunnels within LWD, the more diversity was found. Animals of particular interest were the dartfish, Parioglossus interruptus and the intertidal spider, Desis martensi found in the vacant teredinid tunnels. Desid spiders were abundant within the LWD and dartfish collected from within teredinid-attacked LWD were smaller than dartfish populations not within LWD. Desids and dartfish residing within the wood may benefit from the significantly lower temperatures within teredinid-attacked detritus compared to external air temperatures. Desis martensi has a life-history strategy centred on strong parental care, with lots of energy invested in to its young. Vulnerable stages of dartfish exploit the vacant teredinid tunnels. If it were not for the tunnels created by the teredinids the unusual behaviour adopted by dartfish and spiders would not be possible. Thus, many animals in mangrove forests of the WMP rely on LWD as a predation refuge enhanced by the teredinid tunnels within the LWD. A variety of different species were found inside teredinid attacked LWD, and the cryptic behaviour of the fauna ranged from breeding to predator avoidance. These findings indicate that in forests where wood is harvested, reduced availability of LWD will result in reduced biodiversity.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Single Muscle Fiber Proteomics Reveals Fiber-Type-Specific Features of Human Muscle Aging

Skeletal muscle is a key tissue in human aging, which affects different muscle fiber types unequally. We developed a highly sensitive single muscle fiber proteomics workflow to study human aging and show that the senescence of slow and fast muscle fibers is characterized by diverging metabolic and protein quality control adaptations. Whereas mitochondrial content declines with aging in both fiber types, glycolysis and glycogen metabolism are upregulated in slow but downregulated in fast muscle fibers. Aging mitochondria decrease expression of the redox enzyme monoamine oxidase A. Slow fibers upregulate a subset of actin and myosin chaperones, whereas an opposite change happens in fast fibers. These changes in metabolism and sarcomere quality control may be related to the ability of slow, but not fast, muscle fibers to maintain their mass during aging. We conclude that single muscle fiber analysis by proteomics can elucidate pathophysiology in a sub-type-specific manner

Functional characterization of muscle fibres from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: case-control study

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disabling condition characterized by unexplained chronic fatigue that impairs normal activities. Although immunological and psychological aspects are present, symptoms related to skeletal muscles, such as muscle soreness, fatigability and increased lactate accumulation, are prominent in CFS patients. In this case-control study, the phenotype of the same biopsy samples was analyzed by determining i) fibre-type proportion using myosin isoforms as fibre type molecular marker and gel electrophoresis as a tool to separate and quantify myosin isoforms, and ii) contractile properties of manually dissected, chemically made permeable and calcium-activated single muscle fibres. The results showed that fibre-type proportion was significantly altered in CSF samples, which showed a shift from the slow- to the fast-twitch phenotype. Cross sectional area, force, maximum shortening velocity and calcium sensitivity were not significantly changed in single muscle fibres from CSF samples. Thus, the contractile properties of muscle fibres were preserved but their proportion was changed, with an increase in the more fatigue-prone, energetically expensive fast fibre type. Taken together, these results support the view that muscle tissue is directly involved in the pathogenesis of CSF and it might contribute to the early onset of fatigue typical of the skeletal muscles of CFS patients

Transcription profile analysis of vastus lateralis muscle from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disabling condition characterized by unexplained chronic fatigue that impairs normal activities. Many body systems are affected and etiology has not yet been identified. In addition to immunological and psychological aspects, skeletal muscle symptoms are prominent in CFS patients. In an effort to establish which pathways might be involved in the onset and development of muscle symptoms, we used global transcriptome analysis to identify genes that were differentially expressed in vastus lateralis muscle of female and male CFS patients. We found that the expression of genes that play key roles in mitochondrial function and oxidative balance, including superoxide dismutase 2, were altered, as were genes involved in energy production, muscular trophism and fiber phenotype determination. Importantly, the expression of a gene encoding a component of the nicotinic cholinergic receptor binding site was reduced, suggesting impaired neuromuscular transmission. We argue that these major biological processes could be involved in and/or responsible for the muscle symptoms of CFS

Resveratrol treatment reduces the appearance of tubular aggregates and improves the resistance to fatigue in aging mice skeletal muscles

Resveratrol (RES) is a polyphenolic compound found in grapes, peanuts, and in some berries. RES has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative properties, and to target mitochondrial- related pathways in mammalian cells and animal models. Therefore, RES is currently advised as supplement in the diet of elderly individuals. Although it is hypothesized that some of RES beneficial actions likely arise from its action on the skeletal muscle, the investigation of RES effects on this tissue remains still elusive. This study reports the effects of a 0,04% RES-supplemented diet for six months, on the skeletal muscle properties of C57/ BL6 aging mice. The analysis of the morphology, protein expression, and functional-mechanical properties of selected skeletal muscles in treated compared to control mice, revealed that treated animals presented less tubular aggregates and a better resistance to fatigue in an ex-vivo contraction test, suggesting RES as a good candidate to reduce age-related alterations in muscle