Comparing water relations and stomatal regulation of Touriga Nacional and Syrah under mild water stress

Proceedings - IX International Terroir Congress, 2012Aiming to compare the physiological responses of the Portuguese red variety Touriga Nacional (TN) with Syrah (SY), we studied during the 2007 growing season five-year-old grapevines growing in a commercial non-irrigated vineyard located at the Lisbon winegrowing region. Predawn (Ypd) and midday (YM) leaf water potential, leaf stomatal conductance (gs) and photosynthetic rate (A) were periodically measured between fruit set and harvest. Ypd displayed a decreasing pattern throughout the growing cycle from -0.10 MPa at flowering to -0.44 MPa at harvest. Both varieties showed similar values except during the two measurements made in August when TN presented significantly higher values than SY. Ymid also showed a decreasing pattern from the end of June towards harvest date, with significant differences between varieties being observed during the ripening period, with SY showing lower values than TN. A measured either at mid-morning and midday presented, for most part of the cases, lower values in SY than in TN, although the differences were only significant during the ripening period. gs pattern was parallel to A and, in general, the relative differences between varieties mirrored those reported for A. No significant effect of the variety was detected on the relationships between A or gs measured at mid-morning and Ypd. However, when analyzing the set of data collected at midday it was observed that the regression lines of the relationships between A or gs (dependent variables) and Ypd (independent variable) presented a significantly higher slope in SY as compared to those showed by TN. These results show that the rate of decrease of A and gs with the decrease of Ypd was lower in TN than in SY suggesting that the two varieties have different stomatal regulation, with a more “optimistic” behavior in TN

Increase in ghrelin levels after weight loss in obese Zucker rats is prevented by gastric banding.

Obes Surg. 2007 Dec;17(12):1599-607. Epub 2007 Nov 30. Increase in ghrelin levels after weight loss in obese Zucker rats is prevented by gastric banding. Monteiro MP, Ribeiro AH, Nunes AF, Sousa MM, Monteiro JD, Aguas AP, Cardoso MH. Department of Anatomy and UMIB (Unit for Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research) of ICBAS (Abel Salazar Institute for the Biomedical Sciences), University of Porto, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal. [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND: Gastric banding is thought to decrease appetite in addition to the mechanical effects of food restriction, although this has been difficult to demonstrate in human studies. Our aim was to investigate the changes in orexigenic signals in the obese Zucker rat after gastric banding. METHODS: Obese Zucker rats (fa/fa) were submitted to gastric banding (GBP), sham gastric banding fed ad libitum (sham), or sham operation with food restriction, pair-fed to the gastric banding group (sham-PF). Lean Zucker rats (fa/+) were used as additional controls. Body weight and food intake were daily recorded for 21 days after surgery when epididymal fat was weighed and fasting ghrelin and hypothalamic NPY mRNA expression were measured. RESULTS: Gastric banding in obese Zucker rats resulted in a significant decrease of cumulative body weight gain and food intake. Furthermore, gastric banded rats were leaner than Sham-PF, as expressed by a significantly lower epididymal fat weight. Ghrelin levels of gastric banded rats were not increased when compared to sham-operated animals fed ad libitum and were significantly lower than the levels of weight matched sham-PF rats (1116.9 +/- 103.3 g GBP vs 963.2 +/- 54.3 g sham, 3,079.5 +/- 221.6 sham-PF and 2,969.9 +/- 150.9 g lean rats, p < 0.001); hypothalamic NPY mRNA expression was not increased in GBP when compared to sham-operated rats. CONCLUSION: In obese Zucker rats, GBP prevents the increase in orexigenic signals that occur during caloric deprivation. Our data support the hypothesis that sustained weight loss observed after gastric banding does not depend solely on food restriction

A simple method to measure sulfonation in man using paracetamol as probe drug

Sulfotransferase enzymes (SULT) catalyse sulfoconjugation of drugs, as well as endogenous mediators, gut microbiota metabolites and environmental xenobiotics. To address the limited evidence on sulfonation activity from clinical research, we developed a clinical metabolic phenotyping method using paracetamol as a probe substrate. Our aim was to estimate sulfonation capability of phenolic compounds and study its intraindividual variability in man. A total of 36 healthy adult volunteers (12 men, 12 women and 12 women on oral contraceptives) received paracetamol in a 1 g-tablet formulation on three separate occasions. Paracetamol and its metabolites were measured in plasma and spot urine samples using liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. A metabolic ratio (Paracetamol Sulfonation Index-PSI) was used to estimate phenol SULT activity. PSI showed low intraindividual variability, with a good correlation between values in plasma and spot urine samples. Urinary PSI was independent of factors not related to SULT activity, such as urine pH or eGFR. Gender and oral contraceptive intake had no impact on PSI. Our SULT phenotyping method is a simple non-invasive procedure requiring urine spot samples, using the safe and convenient drug paracetamol as a probe substrate, and with low intraindividual coefficient of variation. Although it will not give us mechanistic information, it will provide us an empirical measure of an individual's sulfonator status. To the best of our knowledge, our method provides the first standardised in vivo empirical measure of an individual's phenol sulfonation capability and of its intraindividual variability. EUDRA-CT 2016-001395-29, NCT03182595 June 9, 2017.publishersversionpublishe

Reactivation of wild-type and mutant p53 by tryptophanolderived oxazoloisoindolinone SLMP53-1:a novel anticancer small-molecule

Restoration of the p53 pathway, namely by reactivation of mutant (mut) p53, represents a valuable anticancer strategy. Herein, we report the identification of the enantiopure tryptophanol-derived oxazoloisoindolinone SLMP53-1 as a novel reactivator of wild-type (wt) and mut p53, using a yeast-based screening strategy. SLMP53-1 has a p53-dependent anti-proliferative activity in human wt and mut p53R280K-expressing tumor cells. Additionally, SLMP53-1 enhances p53 transcriptional activity and restores wt-like DNA binding ability to mut p53R280K. In wt/mut p53-expressing tumor cells, SLMP53-1 triggers p53 transcription-dependent and mitochondrial apoptotic pathways involving BAX, and wt/mut p53 mitochondrial translocation. SLMP53-1 inhibits the migration of wt/mut p53-expressing tumor cells, and it shows promising p53-dependent synergistic effects with conventional chemotherapeutics. In xenograft mice models, SLMP53-1 inhibits the growth of wt/mut p53-expressing tumors, but not of p53-null tumors, without apparent toxicity. Collectively, besides the potential use of SLMP53-1 as anticancer drug, the tryptophanol-derived oxazoloisoindolinone scaffold represents a promissing starting point for the development of effective p53-reactivating drugs

Técnicas para manipulação do vigor da videira e da qualidade da uva: rega deficitária e enrelvamento da vinha

Em regiões de clima mediterrânico, como é o caso de várias regiões vitícolas portuguesas, as estratégias de rega deficitária têm sido utilizadas com sucesso como técnicas culturais para controlo do crescimento vegetativo da videira e melhoria da qualidade da uva. O enrelvamento da vinha tem sido também uma técnica de manutenção do solo muito utilizada no mundo vitícola, sobretudo em regiões com precipitação no verão ou com possibilidades de rega. As vantagens da utilização do enrelvamento, natural ou semeado, são várias, indo desde os benefícios para o ambiente até à gestão da vinha, designadamente através do controlo do vigor e consequente melhoria da qualidade da uva através da redução da densidade da sebe e da competição vegetação/frutificação. Apesar destas vantagens potenciais, a utilização dos relvados em vinhas de sequeiro de regiões mediterrânicas tem sido limitada sobretudo devido ao receio de uma excessiva competição hídrica entre a vegetação dos relvados e a videira. Com o objectivo de discutir as implicações destas técnicas culturais no vigor da videira e na composição da uva, serão apresentados resultados de ensaios realizados pelo nosso grupo em duas regiões vitícolas nacionais e com duas castas tintas. Serão abordados os principais efeitos das estratégias de rega deficitária (rega deficitária controlada e rega parcial das raízes) e das técnicas de manutenção do solo (mobilização vs enrelvamento) no uso da água, no crescimento vegetativo e suas consequências no microclima dos cachos, rendimento e qualidade da uva. Os potenciais benefícios e desvantagens das várias estratégias serão discutidosinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study of Heparin in Intestinal Ischemia and Reperfusion in Rats: Morphologic and Functional Evaluation

AbstractTo study whether treatment with heparin (HEP) attenuates intestinal dysfunction caused by ischemia (I) and reperfusion (R), rats were treated with HEP (100 U/kg intravenously) or saline solution (SS) before I (60 min), which was produced by occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery, and R (120 min). After I or I/R, we mounted 2-cm jejunal segment in an organ bath to study neurogenic contractions stimulated by electrical pulses or KCl, using a digital recording system. Thin jejunal slices were stained with hematoxylin and eosin for optical microscopy. Compared with the sham group, jejunal contractions were similar in the I + HEP and the I/R + HEP groups, but reduced in the I + SS and the I/R + SS groups. The jejunal enteric nerves were damaged in the I + SS and the I/R + SS, but not in the I + HEP and the I/R + HEP cohorts. These results suggested that HEP attenuated intestinal dysfunction caused by I and I/R

Cysteine as a Multifaceted Player in Kidney, the Cysteine-Related Thiolome and Its Implications for Precision Medicine

Funding Information: This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/MED-TOX/30418/2017) and iNOVA4Health (UID/Multi/04462/2013). M.J.C., D.G.F.F. and J.M. were supported by FCT (PhD grant SFRH/BD/131331/2017, PhD grant PD/BD/135484/2018 and postdoctoral contract PTDC/MED-TOX/30418/2017, respectively).In this review encouraged by original data, we first provided in vivo evidence that the kidney, comparative to the liver or brain, is an organ particularly rich in cysteine. In the kidney, the total availability of cysteine was higher in cortex tissue than in the medulla and distributed in free reduced, free oxidized and protein-bound fractions (in descending order). Next, we provided a comprehensive integrated review on the evidence that supports the reliance on cysteine of the kidney beyond cysteine antioxidant properties, highlighting the relevance of cysteine and its renal metabolism in the control of cysteine excess in the body as a pivotal source of metabolites to kidney biomass and bioenergetics and a promoter of adaptive responses to stressors. This view might translate into novel perspectives on the mechanisms of kidney function and blood pressure regulation and on clinical implications of the cysteine-related thiolome as a tool in precision medicine.publishersversionpublishe

Green manure in coffee systems in the region of Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais: characteristics and kinetics of carbon and nitrogen mineralization.

The use of green manure may contribute to reduce soil erosion and increase the soil organic matter content and N availability in coffee plantations in the Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais, in Southeastern Brazil. The potential of four legumes (A. pintoi, C. mucunoides, S. aterrimum and S. guianensis)to produce above-ground biomass, accumulate nutrients and mineralize N was studied in two coffee plantations of subsistence farmers under different climate conditions. The biomass production of C. mucunoides was influenced by the shade of the coffee plantation.C. mucunoides tended to mineralize more N than the other legumes due to the low polyphenol content and polyphenol/N ratio. In the first year, the crop establishment of A. pintoi in the area took longer than of the other legumes, resulting in lower biomass production and N2 fixation. In the long term, cellulose was the main factor controlling N mineralization. The biochemical characteristics, nutrient accumulation and biomass production of the legumes were greatly influenced by the altitude and position of the area relative to the sun