On the taxonomic identity and nomenclature of Cyperus megapotamicus (Cyperaceae)

Cyperus megapotamicus (A. Spreng.) Kunth is a nomenclatural synonym of Rhynchospora megapotamica (A. Spreng.) H. Pfeiff. but was originally misapplied to a species of Cyperus. Contrary to the rules, both species names are in current use in different genera. We here clarify the perpetuated taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion regarding the identity of C. megapotamicus sensu Kunth and related names and conclude that Cyperus jaeggii Boeckeler is the correct name to be adopted. We provide an amended circumscription of this species, with Cyperus mauryi Kuntze and Pycreus nematodes Schrad. ex C. B. Clarke as its newly proposed heterotypic synonyms. Additionally, lectotypes are designated for the names Scirpus megapotamicus A. Spreng., Rhynchospora maculata Maury, Rhynchospora luzuliformis var. elongata Kuntze, Rhynchospora luzuliformis var. subcapitata Kuntze, Cyperus jaeggii, Cyperus mauryi and Pycreus nematodes.Peer reviewe

Essential oils from leaves of cryptocarya spp from the atlantic rain forest

The essential oils from leaves of four Cryptocarya spp endemic in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest were obtained by hydrodistillation and shown by GC-MS analysis to contain mono and sesquiterpenes. The major components of the oil of Cryptocarya moschata were linalool (34.3%), a-terpinene (17.0%), g-terpinene (10.4%), 1,8-cineole (5.8%) and trans-ocimene (4.8%), whilst those of C. botelhensis were a-pinene (22.7%), b-pinene (9.2%), trans-verbenol (8.4%), trans-pinocarveol (5.5%) and myrtenal (5.4%). The principal compounds of C. mandioccana oil were b-caryophyllene (13.8%), spathulenol (10.2%), caryophyllene oxide (7.8%), d-cadinene (6.9%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.4%), whilst those of C. saligna were germacrene D (15.5%), bicyclogermacrene (13.8%), spathulenol (11.8%) and germacrene B (5.7%)

Essential oils from leaves of cryptocarya spp from the atlantic rain forest

The essential oils from leaves of four Cryptocarya spp endemic in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest were obtained by hydrodistillation and shown by GC-MS analysis to contain mono and sesquiterpenes. The major components of the oil of Cryptocarya moschata were linalool (34.3%), a-terpinene (17.0%), g-terpinene (10.4%), 1,8-cineole (5.8%) and trans-ocimene (4.8%), whilst those of C. botelhensis were a-pinene (22.7%), b-pinene (9.2%), trans-verbenol (8.4%), trans-pinocarveol (5.5%) and myrtenal (5.4%). The principal compounds of C. mandioccana oil were b-caryophyllene (13.8%), spathulenol (10.2%), caryophyllene oxide (7.8%), d-cadinene (6.9%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.4%), whilst those of C. saligna were germacrene D (15.5%), bicyclogermacrene (13.8%), spathulenol (11.8%) and germacrene B (5.7%).503507Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Metabolic screening for PKS and NRPS in endophytic actinobacteria from citrus reticulata

Polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides are natural products widely found in bacteria, fungi and plants. The biological activities associated with these metabolites have attracted special attention in biopharmaceutical studies. Polyketide synthases act similarly to fatty acids synthetases and the whole multi-enzymatic set coordinating precursor and extending unit selection and reduction levels during chain growth. Acting in a similarly orchestrated model, non-ribosomal peptide synthetases biosynthesize NRPs. PKSs-I and NRPSs enzymatic modules and domains are collinearly organized with the parent gene sequence. This arrangement allows the use of degenerated PCR primers to amplify targeted regions in the genes corresponding to specific enzymatic domains such as ketosynthases and acyltransferases in PKSs and adenilation domains in NRPSs. Careful analysis of these short regions allows the classifying of a set of organisms according to their potential to biosynthesize PKs and NRPs. In this work, the biosynthetic potential of a set of 13 endophytic actinobacteria from Citrus reticulata for producing PKs and NRP metabolites was evaluated. The biosynthetic profile was compared to antimicrobial activity. Based on the inhibition promoted, 4 strains were considered for cluster analysis. A PKS/NRPS phylogeny was generated in order to classify some of the representative sequences throughout comparison with homologous genes. Using this approach, a molecular fingerprint was generated to help guide future studies on the most promising strains.v. 38n.333334

Metabolic screening for PKS and NRPS in endophytic actinobacteria from citrus reticulata

Polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides are natural products widely found in bacteria, fungi and plants. The biological activities associated with these metabolites have attracted special attention in biopharmaceutical studies. Polyketide synthases act similarly to fatty acids synthetases and the whole multi-enzymatic set coordinating precursor and extending unit selection and reduction levels during chain growth. Acting in a similarly orchestrated model, non-ribosomal peptide synthetases biosynthesize NRPs. PKSs-I and NRPSs enzymatic modules and domains are collinearly organized with the parent gene sequence. This arrangement allows the use of degenerated PCR primers to amplify targeted regions in the genes corresponding to specific enzymatic domains such as ketosynthases and acyltransferases in PKSs and adenilation domains in NRPSs. Careful analysis of these short regions allows the classifying of a set of organisms according to their potential to biosynthesize PKs and NRPs. In this work, the biosynthetic potential of a set of 13 endophytic actinobacteria from Citrus reticulata for producing PKs and NRP metabolites was evaluated. The biosynthetic profile was compared to antimicrobial activity. Based on the inhibition promoted, 4 strains were considered for cluster analysis. A PKS/NRPS phylogeny was generated in order to classify some of the representative sequences throughout comparison with homologous genes. Using this approach, a molecular fingerprint was generated to help guide future studies on the most promising strains383333341CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPPQ 306932/2009-12008/00605-1; 2008/06097-8; 2009/03793- 6; 2010/16798-

Effect of 6-months of physical exercise on the nitrate/nitrite levels in hypertensive postmenopausal women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidences have showed that the incidence of arterial hypertension is greater in postmenopausal women as compared to premenopausal. Physical inactivity has been implicated as a major contributor to weight gain and abdominal obesity in postmenopausal women and the incidence of cardiovascular disease increases dramatically after menopause. Additionally, more women than men die each year of coronary heart disease and are twice as likely as men to die within the first year after a heart attack. A healthy lifestyle has been strongly associated with the regular physical activity and evidences have shown that physically active subjects have more longevity with reduction of morbidity and mortality. Nitric oxide (NO) produced by endothelial cells has been implicated in this beneficial effect with improvement of vascular relaxing and reduction in blood pressure in both laboratory animals and human. Although the effect of exercise training in the human cardiovascular system has been largely studied, the majority of these studies were predominantly conducted in men or young volunteers. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the effects of 6 months of dynamic exercise training (ET) on blood pressure and plasma nitrate/nitrite concentration (NOx^-) in hypertensive postmenopausal women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eleven volunteers were submitted to the ET consisting in 3 days a week, each session of 60 minutes during 6 months at moderate intensity (50% of heart rate reserve). Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, NOx^-concentration were measured at initial time and after ET.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure values was seen after ET which was accompanied by markedly increase of NOx^-levels (basal: 10 ± 0.9; ET: 16 ± 2 μM). Total cholesterol was significantly reduced (basal: 220 ± 38 and ET: 178 ± 22 mg/dl), whereas triglycerides levels were not modified after ET (basal: 141 ± 89 and ET: 147 ± 8 mg/dl).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study shows that changing in lifestyle promotes reduction of arterial pressure which was accompanied by increase in nitrite/nitrate concentration. Therefore, 6-months of exercise training are an important approach in management arterial hypertension and play a protective effect in postmenopausal women.</p

Glycerol/PEDOT:PSS coated woven fabric as flexible heating element on textiles

A polyamide 6,6 (PA66) fabric pre-treated with a double barrier dielectric (DBD) atmospheric plasma in air was coated with 1 and 5 layers of an intrinsically conducting glycerol-doped PEDOT:PSS polymer (PEDOT:PSS + GLY) with the final objective of developing a cost-competitive and temperature controllable flexible-heating element to be used in clothing encapsulated between an outer and an inner separator layer in order to provide heat-reflecting properties and uniform temperature distribution, respectively. FTIR, DSC, TGA, SEM, EDS, XRD and DMA analyses show significant changes in morphology, chemistry, enthalpy, crystallinity and glass transition temperature confirming that PEDOT:PSS and glycerol are not only spread over the PA66 yarn surfaces but are dispersed in the bulk facilitating relaxation and increasing structure and chain flexibility. Electrochemical and electrical resistivity (r) measurements confirm that the plasma treated PA66 coated with 5 layers of PEDOT:PSS + GLY presents the highest stability, resistance and capacitive behaviour, and the best capability of storing electrical energy. This configuration needs only 7.5 V to induce a temperature change up to 38 1C at a current density of 0.3 A g1 . The desired temperature is easily adjustable as a function of the applied voltage and by the number of coated layers of PEDOT:PSS + GLY. Despite the need to improve the uniformity of the coating thickness on the fabric for uniform heat generation, the observed results are quite impressive since they can be compared to the temperature obtained in carbon nanotube composites using similar voltages. This cost-competitive, safe, highly flexible and stable thermoelectric fabric has potential for use in large area textiles as a heating element in a wide range of applications such as garments, carpets, blankets and automotive seats.The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funding from the projects UID/EEA/04436/2013 and UID/CTM/00264/2013 and FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) with the reference projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941. EMFV is grateful for financial support through the FCT grant SFRH/BPD/95905/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured