Some aspects of the venom proteome of the Colubridae snake Philodryas olfersii revealed from a Duvernoy’s (venom) gland transcriptome

AbstractWe investigated the putative toxins of Philodryas olfersii (Colubridae), a representative of a family of snakes neglected in venom studies despite their growing medical importance. Transcriptomic data of the venom gland complemented by proteomic analysis of the gland secretion revealed the presence of major toxin classes from the Viperidae family, including serine proteases, metalloproteases, C-type lectins, Crisps, and a C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP). Interestingly, the phylogenetic analysis of the CNP precursor showed it as a linker between two related precursors found in Viperidae and Elapidae snakes. We suggest that these precursors constitute a monophyletic group derived from the vertebrate CNPs

Niobium and niobium-iron coatings on API 5LX 70 steel applied with HVOF

The present study aimed to create and characterize niobium and niobium-iron60% coatings applied to steel API 5L X70 using the hypersonic thermal spray process (HVOF). The morphologies of the coatings were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and profilometry, while the coatings’ hardnesses was evaluated using the Vickers hardness test. The coatings’ corrosion resistance was evaluated by monitoring their open circuit potential and potentiodynamic polarization and performing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a 0.05 M NaCl solution. The results showed that the niobium-iron coating contained minor porosity regions, while such defects occurred over large regions of the niobium coating. In terms of corrosion resistance, the coatings obtained in this work promoted a reduction in the substrate’s corrosion rate, but the presence of discontinuities such as porosity compromised the barrier effects of these coatings

Censo psicossocial dos moradores em hospitais psiquiátricos do estado de São Paulo: um olhar sob a perspectiva racial

Este estudo objetivou verificar o perfil dos moradores dos hospitais psiquiátricos do Estado de São Paulo segundo raça/cor. Para isso, foi realizado um levantamento do Censo Psicossocial de moradores em hospitais psiquiátricos próprios e conveniados pelo SUS do Estado de São Paulo que estavam com tempo de internação igual ou superior a um ano, a partir de 30/11/2007. Ao caracterizar o perfil dessa população, foi identificado que a população branca é predominante nesses hospitais, totalizando 60,29% do total de moradores. No entanto, os dados de raça/cor do censo demográfico do ano 2000 informam que 27,4% da população do estado de São Paulo é preta e parda e na população moradora de hospitais psiquiátricos, esse número alcançou 38,36%. Como resultados, constatou-se uma maior proporção de negros que estão internados porque não têm renda e/ou lugar para morar. Essa população possui uma rede social frágil, recebe menos visitas, - precariedade social - associada ao transtorno mental ou doenças clínicas. Apesar de existir a Portaria GM 106/2000 que instituiu os Serviços de Residenciais Terapêuticos (SRTs) para egressos de internações psiquiátricas de longa permanência com ausência e/ou fragilidade de redes sociais de suporte, supõe-se que os negros não são contemplados por esta resolução. Os efeitos psicossociais do racismo e o impacto dos processos de preconceito, exclusão e apartamento social na saúde mental são evidenciados neste artigo

Search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in the 2b+2l+ETmiss final state in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair (HH) production is presented, in which one of the Higgs bosons decays to a b-quark pair (bb ̄) and the other decays to WW*, ZZ*, or τ+τ−, with in each case a final state with l+l−+ neutrinos (l = e, μ). The analysis targets separately the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production modes. Data recorded by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1, are used in this analysis. Events are selected to have exactly two b-tagged jets and two leptons with opposite electric charge and missing transverse momentum in the final state. These events are classified using multivariate analysis algorithms to separate the HH events from other Standard Model processes. No evidence of the signal is found. The observed (expected) upper limit on the cross-section for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is determined to be 9.7 (16.2) times the Standard Model prediction at 95% confidence level. The Higgs boson self-interaction coupling parameter κλ and the quadrilinear coupling parameter κ2V are each separately constrained by this analysis to be within the ranges [−6.2, 13.3] and [−0.17, 2.4], respectively, at 95% confidence level, when all other parameters are fixed