Estudo da diversidade genética de Arbutus unedo L. utilizando marcadores ISSR e RAPD

O Arbutus unedo L., espécie mediterrânico-atlântica da família Ericaceae, é popularmente conhecido em Portugal como medronheiro. Classificado como uma planta perene de porte mediano que cresce em forma de arbusto ou árvore. A. unedo possui importância ornamental, medicinal e económica, residida principalmente na produção de aguardente de medronho. Em Portugal, a área ocupada pelo medronheiro tem diminuído sobretudo devido a incêndios e à substituição deste por espécies florestais. Uma vez que não se conhece qualquer estudo no âmbito da avaliação da variabilidade genética do medronheiro, esta reveste-se assim de grande importância para o delineamento de programas de manejo e conservação da espécie. O objetivo desse trabalho foi estudar a diversidade genética de A. unedo no interior norte e centro de Portugal utilizando marcadores ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeats) e RAPD (Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA). Para tal foi extraído DNA de folhas de 38 indivíduos distribuídos em 9 populações (Bragança, Vinhais, Mirandela, Vila Real, Régua, Viseu, Braga, Lamego e Fundão). As reações de amplificação foram efetuadas com 9 sequências iniciadoras de RAPD e 12 de ISSR. Os dendogramas foram construídos pelo algoritmo UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages) utilizando o coeficiente de Jaccard, no programa computacional FreeTree. A correlação entre as distâncias genéticas obtidas pelos RAPD e ISSR foi calculada pelo teste de Mantel. Do total de iniciadores utilizados na análise RAPD e ISSR, seis e doze mostraram ser polimórficos, respectivamente. O elevado polimorfismo observado, com um número pequeno de marcadores, pode resultar do fato desta planta não ser domesticada. Os dendrogramas obtidos mostraram que existem indivíduos geneticamente distintos, não sendo possível contudo agrupá-los de acordo com a sua origem geográfica. Este aspecto foi sobretudo notório na análise RAPD. Verificou-se ainda que a correlação entre os dados RAPD e ISSR foram relativamente baixos. Os resultados obtidos serão úteis, visando a conservação e preservação da espécie

The twin paradox in compact spaces

Twins travelling at constant relative velocity will each see the other's time dilate leading to the apparent paradox that each twin believes the other ages more slowly. In a finite space, the twins can both be on inertial, periodic orbits so that they have the opportunity to compare their ages when their paths cross. As we show, they will agree on their respective ages and avoid the paradox. The resolution relies on the selection of a preferred frame singled out by the topology of the space.Comment: to be published in PRA, 3 page

Analysis of molecular and morphological diversity of Arbutus unedo in the interior North and Center of Portugal.

In the Mediterranean Basin, the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) has medicinal, ornamental, economical, and environmental importance. During the last decades, several occurrences have caused the decline of the strawberry tree in Portugal being replaced by other species. In this context, the knowledge of genetic variability in the wild populations is essential for a proper conservation. This work aimed to characterize genetically and morphological 38 A. unedo genotypes, 30 of which located in Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro region, and the remaining 8 genotypes in Beira Interior region, to assess their biodiversity. The genetic diversity was assessing by RAPD (Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA) markers. The dendrogram was obtained from the matrix of pairwise distances through the Nei and Li coefficient using the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) grouping method. Morphological characterization was performed through the evaluation of several quantitative traits measured on 40 fresh leaves per plant. The quantitative traits analysed were leave length and width, leave length/width ratio, peduncle length and leave fresh and dry weigh. Distance matrix of morphologic data was assessed using Euclidean distance. A Mantel test was used to analyze correlations between genetic, morphological, and geographical distances. Among a total of 20 arbitrary 10-mer primers, seven produced polymorphic RAPD profile. The highest number of polymorphic loci was exhibited in the Trás-os-Montes samples and the lowest in the Beira Interior samples. The distance UPGMA tree grouped together the genotypes according to their geographical origin, showing that each sample is genetically structured. Morphological differences were also found between genotypes. However, the clustering obtained from the morphological data was different from the obtained in the RAPD analysis. In this work we discuss also the significance of the findings for the genetic variability of A. unedo

Food By-Product Valorization by Using Plant-Based Coagulants Combined with AOPs for Agro-Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Re-using and adding value to by-products is one of the current focuses of the agri-food industry, following the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. In this work, the byproducts of four plants, namely chestnut burr, acorn peel, olive leaf, and grape stem were used as coagulants to treat elderberry wastewater (EW), a problematic liquid effluent. EW pre-treatment using these natural coagulants showed promising results after pH and coagulant dosage optimization. However, the decrease in total organic carbon (TOC) was not significant, due to the addition of the plant-based natural coagulants which contain carbon content. After this pre-treatment, the photo-Fenton advanced oxidation process was selected, after preliminary assays, to improve the global performance of the EW treatment. Photo-Fenton was also optimized for the parameters of pH, H2O2, Fe2+, and irradiance power, and the best conditions were applied to the EW treatment. Under the best operational conditions defined in the parametric study, the combined results of coagulation–flocculation–decantation (CFD) and photo-Fenton for chestnut burr, acorn peel, olive leaf, and grape stem were, respectively, 90.2, 89.5, 91.5, and 88.7% for TOC removal; 88.7, 82.0, 90.2 and 93.1%, respectively, for turbidity removal; and finally, 40.6, 42.2, 45.3, and 39.1%, respectively, for TSS removal. As a final remark, it is possible to suggest that plant-based coagulants, combined with photo-Fenton, can be a promising strategy for EW treatment that simultaneously enables valorization by adding value back to food by-productsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Return to Sender: The need to re-address patient antibiotic allergy labels in Australia and New Zealand

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic allergies are frequently reported and have significant impacts upon appropriate prescribing and clinical outcomes. We surveyed infectious diseases physicians, allergists, clinical immunologists and hospital pharmacists to evaluate antibiotic allergy knowledge and service delivery in Australia and New Zealand. METHODS: An online multi-choice questionnaire was developed and endorsed by representatives of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA), Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases (ASID) and Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia (SHPA). The 37-item survey was distributed in April 2015 to members of ASCIA, ASID, SHPA and Royal Australasian College of Physicians. RESULTS: Of 277 respondents, 94% currently use or would utilise antibiotic allergy testing (AAT) and reported seeing up to 10 patients/week labelled as antibiotic-allergic. Forty-two per cent were not aware of or did not have AAT available. Most felt that AAT would aid antibiotic selection, antibiotic appropriateness and antimicrobial stewardship (79%, 69% and 61%, respectively). Patients with histories of immediate hypersensitivity were more likely to be referred than those with delayed hypersensitivities (76% vs. 41%, p=0.0001). Lack of specialist physicians (20%) and personal experience (17%) were barriers to service delivery. A multidisciplinary approach was the preferred AAT model (53%). Knowledge gaps were identified, with the majority over-estimating rates of penicillin/cephalosporin (78%), penicillin/carbapenem (57%) and penicillin/monobactam (39%) cross-reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: A high burden of antibiotic allergy labelling and demand for AAT is complicated by a relative lack availability or awareness of AAT services in Australia and New Zealand. Antibiotic allergy education and deployment of AAT, accessible to community and hospital-based clinicians, may improve clinical decisions and reduce antibiotic allergy impacts. A collaborative approach involving ID physicians, pharmacists and allergists/immunologists is required

Insecticide Reproductive Toxicity Profile: Organophosphate, Carbamate and Pyrethroids

Exposure to pesticides is very common world-wide, and is broadly known the acute toxic effects to humans of pesticides following a high dose exposure; however, knowledge about chronic low-dose adverse effects to specific pesticides is more limited. Reproductive functions can be affected, with birth defects, impaired fecund ability, infertility and altered growth. This paper will focus on the deleterious effects that may appear in the offspring, during early and later stages of life, after prenatal exposure to insecticides, not only on women with direct exposure but also on subjects with indirect exposure such as consumers or residents of rural communities. Prenatal exposure to pesticides could alter normal fetal development and could threaten future welfare. The main changes observed in prenatal exposure to organophosphates are alterations in the central nervous system, in the metabolic and hormonal system as endocrine disruptor and over the birth outcomes. Carbamates may cause developmental delay when the applications of carbamates during pregnancy were nearby the home. Pyrethroids are among the most frequently used pesticides and account for more than one-third of the insecticides currently marketed in the world. For this reason the prenatal exposition used to be for long periods causing clinical, biochemical and neurological changes

Fermion masses in SO(10) with a single adjoint Higgs field

It has recently been shown how to break SO(10) down to the Standard Model in a realistic way with only one adjoint Higgs. The expectation value of this adjoint must point in the B-L direction. This has consequences for the possible form of the quark and lepton mass matrices. These consequences are explored in this paper, and it is found that one is naturally led to consider a particular form for the masses of the heavier generations. This form implies typically that there should be large (nearly maximal) mixing of the mu- and tau-neutrinos. An explanation that does not involve large tan beta also emerges for the fact that b and tau are light compared to the top quark.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, clarification of statements about multiple adjoint Higgs fields in the context of superstring theor

ISPIDER Central: an integrated database web-server for proteomics

Despite the growing volumes of proteomic data, integration of the underlying results remains problematic owing to differences in formats, data captured, protein accessions and services available from the individual repositories. To address this, we present the ISPIDER Central Proteomic Database search (http://www.ispider.manchester.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ProteomicSearch.pl), an integration service offering novel search capabilities over leading, mature, proteomic repositories including PRoteomics IDEntifications database (PRIDE), PepSeeker, PeptideAtlas and the Global Proteome Machine. It enables users to search for proteins and peptides that have been characterised in mass spectrometry-based proteomics experiments from different groups, stored in different databases, and view the collated results with specialist viewers/clients. In order to overcome limitations imposed by the great variability in protein accessions used by individual laboratories, the European Bioinformatics Institute's Protein Identifier Cross-Reference (PICR) service is used to resolve accessions from different sequence repositories. Custom-built clients allow users to view peptide/protein identifications in different contexts from multiple experiments and repositories, as well as integration with the Dasty2 client supporting any annotations available from Distributed Annotation System servers. Further information on the protein hits may also be added via external web services able to take a protein as input. This web server offers the first truly integrated access to proteomics repositories and provides a unique service to biologists interested in mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Scenario-guided policy planning in Uganda

Using socio-economic scenarios in policy formulation allows for an anticipatory approach to governance processes and the formulation of policies/plans that take into account future uncertainty To fully benefit from the dividends of scenario planning in the Ugandan context, there is need to build the scenario-guided planning capacity of both public and private sectors. There is need for follow up and continuous engagement with government officials responsible after the review process to enable inclusion of recommendations generated into the final policy documents. In some cases, the abstract nature of national policy statements limits the level of detail, hence detailed scenario guided recommendations and information may not easily fit in the existing policy formats. The approach is new and requires extra awareness creation not only for the government officers who draft policies but also for other major policy actors such as the political leadership who approve the policies

Classification of olive oils according to sensory defects using a potentiometric electronic tongue

Olive oil is a highly appreciated food product being very prone to frauds. Olive oils may be graded as extra-virgin, virgin or lampante. This classification is attributed according to legal requirements, including chemical parameters and sensorial analysis. Among the organoleptic sensations, the capability of perceiving the presence or absence of sensory defects plays a key role for olive oils grade classification. This task is time-consuming and quite expensive, requiring the use of an official taste panel, which can only evaluate a low number of samples per day. In this work, an electronic tongue is proposed to discriminate olive oils according to the defect predominantly perceived (winey-vinegary, wet-wood, rancid and fusty/muddy sediment), by a trained sensory panel. Sub-sets of potentiometric signal profiles obtained from the lipid sensor membranes of the taste electrochemical device were selected using a simulated annealing meta-heuristic algorithm, allowing establishing classification linear discriminant model, which showed a predictive success classification rate of 81% for leave-one-out or cross-validation procedure. The satisfactory predictive performance achieved pointed out the practical potential of using this artificial taste sensor as a complementary methodology for olive oil sensory analysis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio