The Influence of Rheological and Wetting Properties of Hydrogel-based Bio-Inks on Extrusion-based Bioprinting

The wall slip and flow behavior of alginate as well as gelatin based hydrogels with respect to the impact of these rheological and wetting properties on extrusion-based bioprinting (EBB) was investigated. Capillary rheometry and printing tests indicate that slip is negligible at high stresses relevant for EBB, i.e., well above the hydrogels yield stress. On the contrary, rotational rheometry performed at low shear stresses revealed that alginate hydrogels present much stronger slip than gelatin gels, irrespective of crosslinker and polymer concentration. This result is presumably due to the formation of a heterogeneous microstructure for alginate gels and has an unfavorable impact on the printing quality with the production of large fluctuations in line width and higher line spread ratio

Nutrient intake, digestibility, performance, carcass traits and sensory analysis of meat from lambs fed with co-products of Amazon oilseeds

Introduction:The increase in availability and nutritional composition of oilseed co-products has made it essential to study the use of this biomass.Methods:The objective of this work was to investigate the effects of including oilseed cakes on intake and digestibility, performance, carcass characteristics and meat sensory in feedlot lambs. Twenty-four crossbred Dorper × Santa Inês lambs, with initial body weight of 30 ± 1.3 kg, male, castrated, aged 4–5 months, were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with four treatments (diets) and six replications (animals), confined in individual stalls for 70 days.Results:The inclusion of tucuma cake (Tuc) reduced dry matter intake (p < 0.01) and diets with cupuassu cake (Cup) and palm kernel cake (Palm) reduced dry matter digestibility (p < 0.05). The Tuc diet also provided the lowest final body weight (p = 0.02); lower average daily gain (p = 0.03); lower feed efficiency (p = 0.03) and lower carcass weight (p < 0.01). However, diets did not influence carcass yield (%), fat thickness (mm) and loin eye area (cm2; p > 0.05). Meat from lambs on the control diet was rated as less fibrous and more tender (p < 0.05).Conclusion:The inclusion of tucuma cake does not influence digestibility, but reduces intake, performance and influences carcass characteristics and meat texture. Diets with cupuassu cake or palmiste cake reduced digestibility, however, intake, performance and carcass characteristics were similar to the control diet

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Educomunicação em Tempos de Pandemia:

Os textos que compõem esta obra são oriundos do VIII Colóquio Ibero-americano de Educomunicação (VIII CIEducom) e IX Colóquio Catarinense de Educomunicação (IX CCEducom), realizados em março de 2021. Em um ano no qual o vírus SARS-CoV-2 e variantes circularam por diversos territórios, Educomunicação em tempos de pandemia: práticas e desafios foi o tema discutido nos eventos. Este livro colocado à disposição do público é um modo de compartilhar caminhos e convidar pessoas curiosas a percorrerem, por meio das palavras e recursos gráficos, desafios identificados e estratégias para o enfrentamento deste inesperado período de pandemia

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

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

Desarrollo Sostenible y Coordinación Internacional en la Gestión del Riesgo

Este artículo de reflexión intenta identificar de qué manera el concepto de desarrollo sostenible ha sido abordado dentro de los tratados internaciones para la gestión del riesgo de desastres y la generación de resiliencia. Esto partiendo del hecho donde se reconoce que los desastres son producto de los problemas no resueltos del desarrollo. El artículo inicia con la identificación y evolución del concepto de desarrollo sostenible, por parte de la comunidad académica internacional, el cual se convierte en un concepto transversal a cualquier política pública como la gestión del riesgo de desastres. Al final del artículo se concluye que la resiliencia como proceso de adaptación abarca indiscutiblemente el concepto de desarrollo sostenible y el papel de la comunidad internacional en promover un ambiente político adecuado que reconozca incluir en la agenda pública la relación desarrollo y riesgo. Sustainable Development and International Coordination in Risk Management This article of reflection attempts to identify how the concept of sustainable development has been addressed within international treaties for disaster risk management and the generation of resilience. This is based on the fact that disasters are recognized as the product of unresolved development problems. The article begins with the identification and evolution of the concept of sustainable development, by the international academic community, which becomes a cross-cutting concept of any public policy such as disaster risk management. At the end of the article, it is concluded that resilience as a process of adaptation unquestionably embraces the concept of sustainable development and the role of the international community in promoting an adequate political environment that recognizes the relation between development and risk in the public agenda. Desenvolvimento Sustentável e Coordenação Internacional na Gestão de Riscos O presente artigo de reflexão pretende identificar como o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável esta inserido nos tratados internacionais de gestão de riscos de desastreis e a geração da resiliência. Isto a partir do fato onde se reconhece que os desastreis são produto dos problemas não resolvidos do desenvolvimento. O artigo inicia com a identificação e descrição da evolução do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável, por parte da comunidade acadêmica internacional, o qual se converte num conceito transversal a qualquer política pública como a gestão de riscos de desastreis. No final do artigo conclui-se que a resiliência como processo de adaptação envolve indiscutivelmente o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável e o papel da comunidade internacional em promover um ambiente político que reconheça dentro da agenda pública a relação desenvolvimento e risco