Padrões fenológicos de cultivares de soja avaliadas em função do regime térmico-hídrico na safra 2011 em Paragominas, PA.

O trabalho tem como finalidade avaliar condições térmico-hídrico e comparar os padrões fenológicos e de rendimento das diferentes cultivares de soja indicadas pela EMBRAPA para o município de Paragominas, PA a partir do dia 10/02/2011 data da semeadura há colheita no decorrer do mês de Junho. Foram analisados dados metereológicos diários, a contagem do ciclo fenológico foi expressa em graus-dia acumulados, contabilizados a partir da data de emergência (VE) dos cultivares dia 17/02/2011, onde a temperatura média desse dia foi de 25,8oC e oferta pluvial de 6,8 mm. As cultivares até o inicio do estádio fenológico (R1) obtiveram variados graus-dia acumulados, no transcorrer desse período a temperatura média foi de 25,7oC e a precipitação media de 15,9 mm. Os meses de março e abril, as médias de chuva foram de 10 mm, e a menor temperatura média foi de 24,0oC, a mais elevada foi de 26,0oC. No final do ciclo (R8) os cultivares apresentaram diferentes valores em graus-dias acumulados e rendimentos médios que variam entre 3.231 kg ha-1 e 3.975 kg ha-1.PIBIC-2011

Panorama da cadeia produtiva de grãos e do regime pluvial em Paragominas, Pará.

Em 2008 com o lançamento do Projeto Município Verde as autoridades do município de Paragominas visavam construir e monitorar paisagens agroflorestais sustentáveis. Este trabalho teve como objetivo traçar um panorama da cadeia produtiva de grãos comparando com o regime pluvial para subsidiar o planejamento de ações agropecuárias na região. Foram utilizados dados da cadeia produtiva de grãos e de precipitação pluvial disponibilizados por órgãos federais, estaduais e municipais. Ao comparar a variabilidade do regime pluvial com o rendimento de grãos constatou-se que em 2003 houve anomalia negativa, reduzindo a água precipitada, refletindo nos baixos rendimentos do milho (5.000kg ha-1), associados aos efeitos do El Niño. Em 2009 houve anomalia positiva e o rendimento atingiu 5.880 kg ha-1, permitindo que em ano de La Niña, a alta oferta pluvial favorecesse a expressão genética da cultura. Em 2003 a área cultivada com milho e soja era de 10.655 ha e 3.000 ha e em 2009 passou para 21.350 ha e 11.720 ha, respectivamente, sendo estes valores fortes indicativos da expansão da cadeia produtiva de grãos no município. Conclui-se a cadeia produtiva de grãos é diretamente influenciada pelo regime pluvial em Paragominas.PIBIC-2011

Mitochondrial targeting adaptation of the hominoid-specific glutamate dehydrogenase driven by positive Darwinian selection

Many new gene copies emerged by gene duplication in hominoids, but little is known with respect to their functional evolution. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD) is an enzyme central to the glutamate and energy metabolism of the cell. In addition to the single, GLUD-encoding gene present in all mammals (GLUD1), humans and apes acquired a second GLUD gene (GLUD2) through retroduplication of GLUD1, which codes for an enzyme with unique, potentially brain-adapted properties. Here we show that whereas the GLUD1 parental protein localizes to mitochondria and the cytoplasm, GLUD2 is specifically targeted to mitochondria. Using evolutionary analysis and resurrected ancestral protein variants, we demonstrate that the enhanced mitochondrial targeting specificity of GLUD2 is due to a single positively selected glutamic acid-to-lysine substitution, which was fixed in the N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) of GLUD2 soon after the duplication event in the hominoid ancestor ~18–25 million years ago. This MTS substitution arose in parallel with two crucial adaptive amino acid changes in the enzyme and likely contributed to the functional adaptation of GLUD2 to the glutamate metabolism of the hominoid brain and other tissues. We suggest that rapid, selectively driven subcellular adaptation, as exemplified by GLUD2, represents a common route underlying the emergence of new gene functions

Passivation and dissolution mechanisms in ordered anodic tantalum oxide nanostructures

Tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) nanostructures exhibit outstanding electrical and optical properties, as well as, high chemical resistance and stability. These materials have great potential for biomedical, catalysis, semiconductors and energy applications due to their large surface area and high specific charge, when arranged in nanoporous or nanotubular morphologies. In order to obtain these structures, an anodization process, which is inexpensive, reproducible and easy to scale up, is used. Yet, depending on the anodization conditions, the formation of a nanoporous or nanotubular layer is difficult to stabilize during the anodization process. In this regard, anodized tantalum oxide nanostructures were produced to understand the effect of the anodization conditions, including electrolyte concentration, potential and time. The nanopores or nanotubes morphologies, their chemical composition and structure were investigated by FIB-SEM, double-corrected TEM-STEM and EDS. We found that it is necessary to have high acid concentrations (mixture of H2SO4 with HF) to be able to form nanoporous or nanotubular structures. Despite the capacity of HF to dissolve and create anodic oxide nanostructures, the amount of H2SO4 concentration in the mixture is very important, leading to a dimple morphology. Furthermore, the increase of the anodization potential/electrical field clearly leads to an increase in the dimples diameter.This research is sponsored by FEDER funds through the program COMPETE -Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020, and UID/EMS/00285/2020 and with a PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/98199/2013.The authors thank the financial support in the framework of HEALTHYDENT -POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030708 and PTDC/CTM-NAN/4242/2014 projects.This work was supported by FCT, through IDMEC, under LAETA, project UIDB/50022/2020.The authors would like to acknowledge that this project has received funding from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020, scheme COFUND -Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes, under Grant Agreement 713640

Estudio descriptivo de variables recogidas en la consulta dietética prestada en una farmacia

La atención nutricional en la farmacia es una actividad que va aumentando en los últimos años. Actualmente, existen muchos Dietistas-Nutricionistas en España que realizan el asesoramiento dietético en la farmacia. La farmacia es un local sanitario donde acude la mayoría de las personas, con el fin de comprar medicamentos recetados por el médico o para comprar otros productos, como suplementos alimenticios, productos dietéticos, etc.El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar un estudio descriptivo sobre variables relacionadas con el atendimiento dietético en una oficina de farmacia. Para ello, se va a recolectar datos de 70 pacientes que hayan sido atendidos por un Dietista-Nutricionista durante los últimos 2 años. En la recogida de datos, se obtendrán variables cuantitativas (edad, sexo, talla, peso, IMC, masa grasa, masa magra, agua corporal, masa ósea, etc.) y variables cualitativas (motivo de consulta, duración de seguimiento, evolución favorable, enfermedades actuales, suplementos, productos de uso dietéticos, sistema de planificación dietética, frecuencia de visita, visita de seguimiento, etc.). Se observa que el peso de las mujeres difiere significativamente de los varones. Además, se contempla que no es necesario la prescripción de los productos dietéticos, si se lleva a cabo una personalización de la dieta. Sin embargo, es necesario realizar más investigaciones, porque se trata de un estudio observacional de un profesional.<br /

Glioblastoma stem cells induce quiescence in surrounding neural stem cells via Notch signalling.

There is increasing evidence demonstrating that adult neural stem cells (NSCs) are a cell of origin of glioblastoma. Here we analyzed the interaction between transformed and wild-type NSCs isolated from the adult mouse subventricular zone niche. We found that transformed NSCs are refractory to quiescence-inducing signals. Unexpectedly, we also demonstrated that these cells induce quiescence in surrounding wild-type NSCs in a cell–cell contact and Notch signaling-dependent manner. Our findings therefore suggest that oncogenic mutations are propagated in the stem cell niche not just through cell-intrinsic advantages, but also by outcompeting neighboring stem cells through repression of their proliferation

Rumo à modelação eficiente de parâmetros geotécnicos em BIM

A mudança em curso na indústria de Arquitetura, Engenharia e Construção (AEC) caracterizada pelo abandono do uso de métodos tradicionais, rumo ao uso de processos colaborativos baseados no Building Information Modelling (BIM), tem trazido um conjunto de benefícios à construção. Dentro destes benefícios pode destacar-se a maior sustentabilidade, com menos riscos, melhor gestão e melhor desempenho nas construções. A mudança para o BIM teve início no contexto de edifícios, mas rapidamente se estendeu também ao setor de infraestruturas. Neste estudo, pretendeu-se fazer uso de tecnologias de programação em BIM e metodologias de partilha de dados, para melhorar a forma como os dados geotécnicos são usados e preservados. Será dada especial atenção à definição adequada de ‘Product Data Templates’ (PDT) específicos. As propostas a apresentar compreenderão também cuidados específicos no que diz respeito à interoperabilidade IFC. De forma mais específica, este trabalho tem como objetivo a proposta de metodologia para uso das informações extraídas de sondagens e relatórios geotécnicos em contexto BIM. Nesse sentido, propõe-se um PDT como padrão para armazenamento de dados de sondagens. A metodologia inclui um programa especificamente desenvolvido em plataforma BIM que utilizará dados coerentes com o PDT para gerar representação visual de sondagens e das camadas subterrâneas, anexando automaticamente dados das sondagens modeladas

Interplay between the Chd4/NuRD Complex and the Transcription Factor Znf219 Controls Cardiac Cell Identity

The sarcomere regulates striated muscle contraction. This structure is composed of several myofibril proteins, isoforms of which are encoded by genes specific to either the heart or skeletal muscle. The chromatin remodeler complex Chd4/NuRD regulates the transcriptional expression of these specific sarcomeric programs by repressing genes of the skeletal muscle sarcomere in the heart. Aberrant expression of skeletal muscle genes induced by the loss of Chd4 in the heart leads to sudden death due to defects in cardiomyocyte contraction that progress to arrhythmia and fibrosis. Identifying the transcription factors (TFs) that recruit Chd4/NuRD to repress skeletal muscle genes in the myocardium will provide important information for understanding numerous cardiac pathologies and, ultimately, pinpointing new therapeutic targets for arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies. Here, we sought to find Chd4 interactors and their function in cardiac homeostasis. We therefore describe a physical interaction between Chd4 and the TF Znf219 in cardiac tissue. Znf219 represses the skeletal-muscle sarcomeric program in cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo, similarly to Chd4. Aberrant expression of skeletal-muscle sarcomere proteins in mouse hearts with knocked down Znf219 translates into arrhythmias, accompanied by an increase in PR interval. These data strongly suggest that the physical and genetic interaction of Znf219 and Chd4 in the mammalian heart regulates cardiomyocyte identity and myocardial contraction.J.V. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PGC2018-097019-B-I00 and PID2021-122348NB-I00), UE Funds and Micinn-Inst Carlos III (PMP21_00057) and “la Caixa” Banking Foundation (project codes HR17-00247 and HR22-00253). J.M.R. was supported by the La Caixa Banking Foundation (project code HR18-00068), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation grant RTI2018-099246-B-I00 (MICIU/AEI/FEDER, UE); the Comunidad de Madrid and European Social Fund (ESF) grant AORTASANA-CM (B2017/BMD-3676); and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (CIBER-CVCB16/11/00264). PG-A was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grants SAF2016-77816-P and PID2020-114773GB-I00). The CNIC is supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Pro CNIC Foundation and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (grant CEX2020-001041-S funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation AEI/10.13039/501100011033). FAS is supported by a Science and Innovation Fellowship (BES-2017-080629).S

Synthesis and evaluation of novel bioactive composite starch/bioactive glass microparticles

The aim of the development of composite materials is to combine the most desired properties of two or more materials. In this work, the biodegradable character, good controlled-release properties, and natural origin of starch-based biomaterials are combined with the bioactive and bone-bonding properties of bioactive glass (BG). Novel, bioactive composite starch-BG microparticles were synthesized starting from a blend of starch and polylactic acid (50%/50% wt) with BG 45S5 powder using a simple emulsion method. Morphological and chemical characterization showed that these particles exhibited a spherical morphology with sizes up to 350 m and that BG 45S5 was incorporated successfully into the composite particles. Upon immersion in a solution simulating body fluids, for periods up to 3 weeks, their bioactive nature was confirmed, as a calcium-phosphate layer resembling biological apatite was formed onto their surface. The short-term cytotoxicity of these materials was also tested by placing 24-h leachables of the materials extracted in culture medium in contact with a fibroblastic cell line (L929) up to 72 h. At this time period, two biochemical tests - MTT and total protein quantification - were performed. The results showed that these materials are not cytotoxic. These results constitute the basis of future encapsulation studies using bone-acting therapeutic agents such as bone morphogenetic proteins or other bone-relevant factors. The particles developed here may be very useful for applications in which controlled release, degradability, and bone-bonding ability are the main requirements.FCT Foundation for Science and Technology, through funds from the POCTI and/or FEDER programmes