FRESHWATER RUNOFF FROM PACIFIC-DRAINING CONTINENTAL AND COASTAL BASINS IN PATAGONIA: CHARACTERIZING REGIONAL INPUTS TO CHILEAN FJORDS ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN LAND USE/COVER

The region of west-southern Patagonia (WSP), characterized by its wild and remote landscapes, represents one of the last bastions of pristine natural environments on Earth. With recent colonization and limited human intervention, a significant portion of this territory retains its natural state. WSP boasts mighty rivers, expansive lakes, and the world's largest temperate icefields, making it a geographically distinct area. Unlike the northern Andes, it lacks a central valley, resulting in relatively short linear distances and steep gradients from source to sea. This topography shapes an intricate system of channels and fjords, contributing to one of the world's most extensive coastlines. The freshwater discharges into channels and fjords create a two-layer vertical structure, impacting various environmental parameters such as salinity, temperature, biogeochemistry, light availability, and biological communities. However, the variability of these discharges, influenced by factors like precipitation, temperature, landforms, vegetation, and land use, adds complexity to the system. While the importance of freshwater discharges in Patagonia's coastal ecosystems is recognized, understanding their magnitude, nutrient content, seasonal variations, and responses to climate change remains incomplete. Monitoring is limited to major rivers, with substantial gaps in the archipelago area, which receives higher precipitation. Besides, headwater streams, sensitive to land use and climate changes, have received less attention than larger rivers. This research aims to quantify freshwater coastal discharges in WSP and assess the impacts of land use and cover changes on runoff. Specific objectives include characterizing runoff in terrestrial basins, identifying bioindicators of land use change effects, and exploring relationships between hydrology indicators, land use, and climate variables. The study employs macro-scale and regional approaches across coastal basins and intensive micro-scale investigations in headwater streams. Chapter 1 focuses on estimating freshwater discharges in the entire study area using a hydrological model, considering factors such as soil, geology, land use, and climate. Chapter 2 investigates freshwater inputs into inner fjords, analyzing sources like precipitation, coastal runoff, and glacial ablation. Chapter 3 conducts a micro-scale analysis of headwater streams to detect early effects of land use changes and assess the impact of different hydrological regimes. Additional regional studies in appendices examine the influence of land use change on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and identify bioindicators for forest degradation in Patagonia's evergreen forests. This research contributes essential insights into the hydrological and ecological dynamics of WSP, a region of global significance for its pristine nature and ongoing environmental changes

Pilocarpus spp.: revisão sobre sua constituição química e atividades biológicas

Pilocarpus species have been exploited as the only source of the imidazole alkaloid pilocarpine (used in glaucoma treatment), since its isolation up to the present. Almost all Pilocarpusspecies are native from Brazil. Because of the medicinal importance of pilocarpine, several of them are in the path of extinction. Other secondary metabolites, such as coumarins, flavonoids and terpenes, were described for Pilocarpusspecies. In this review the secondary metabolites, other than pilocarpine, isolated from Pilocarpusspecies and their biological activities were compiled. Although the variety of structures and the importance of the biological activities described in literature for Pilocarpusspecies this is an unexploited field of research in Natural Products and Pharmacology.Espécies de Pilocarpus têm sido exploradas como única fonte do alcalóide imidazólico pilocarpina (utilizado no tratamento do glaucoma) desde o isolamento dessa substância até os dias atuais. A maioria das espécies de Pilocarpus conhecida é nativa do Brasil e, devido à importância medicinal que a pilocarpina possui e ao desmatamento, várias se encontram em risco de extinção. Outros metabólitos secundários entre os quais cumarinas, flavonóides e terpenos foram descritos em espécies desse gênero. Nesta revisão foram relacionados os metabólitos secundários isolados em diversas espécies de Pilocarpus bem como suas atividades biológicas. Apesar da variedade de estruturas e as importantes atividades biológicas já descritas na literatura para as outras classes de metabólitos secundários, ainda há um vasto campo de estudo para as espécies de Pilocarpus

Depressão e demência de origem cerebrovascular

Relatamos o caso de um paciente que apresentou diversas síndromes psiquiátricas ao longo do tempo - crises epilépticas parciais complexas, alteração de personalidade e depressão grave que finalmente progrediu para demência - resultantes de múltiplos infartos cerebrais de provável origem neuroangiopática cuja etiologia permaneceu indeterminada. São discutidos aspectos relacionados a depressões secundárias a acidentes cerebrovasculares, assim como estes podem resultar em diferentes transtornos de acordo com algumas variáveis que são discutidas com base nos dados da literatura atual.We report the case of a patient who presented various psychiatric syndromes at the time of evaluation - partial complex epileptic seizures, personality change, and severe depression, which eventually progressed to dementia - resulting from multiple cerebral infarctions of probable neuro-angiopathic origin, of unknown etiology. Aspects related to depression following cerebrovascular accidents, as well as how cerebrovascular accidents can result in different disorders depending on the variables, are discussed based on the data from current literature

DIS3L2: Unveiling a New Player in Tumorigenesis, with a Key Role in Colorectal Cancer

DIS3L2 is a 3’-5’ exoribonuclease that recognizes and degrades uridylated transcripts in an exosome-independent manner and participates in several RNA degradation pathways, such as the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, or the surveillance of aberrant structured non-coding RNAs. Although some studies have linked DIS3L2 to tumorigenesis and cancer-related processes, its exact role in the development and progression of cancer has remained unclear since the discovery of DIS3L2's ribonuclease activity a decade ago. While some authors have reported evidence of a tumor suppressor role for this exoribonuclease, other studies have shown DIS3L2 as a driver of tumorigenesis. Although differences in tissue type and methodologic approaches may somewhat account for the opposing findings, a recent study from our group further supports a pro-tumorigenic role for DIS3L2, this time in promoting colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. Indeed, proper DIS3L2 expression was proven essential to maintain key tumorigenic properties in CRC cells, including cell proliferation and invasion. Here, we summarize the current state of knowledge regarding the impact of DIS3L2 in cancer, namely in colorectal cancer. The collected data unveils DIS3L2 as a novel putative therapeutic target in cancer that warrants further investigation.This work was supported by Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) [UID/MULTI/04046/2019 Research Unit Grant (to BioISI)]. Juan F. García-Moreno was recipient of a fellowship from BioSys PhD programme (PD/BD/142898/2018)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of time scale in the spreading of asymmetrically interacting diseases

Diseases and other contagion phenomena in nature and society can interact asymmetrically, such that one can benefit from the other, which in turn impairs the first, in analogy with predator-prey systems. Here, we consider two models for interacting disease-like dynamics with asymmetric interactions and different associated time scales. Using rate equations for homogeneously mixed populations, we show that the stationary prevalences and phase diagrams of each model behave differently with respect to variations of the relative time scales. We also characterize in detail the regime where transient oscillations are observed, a pattern that is inherent to asymmetrical interactions but often ignored in the literature. Our results contribute to a better understanding of disease dynamics in particular, and interacting processes in general, and could provide interesting insights for real-world applications, most notably, the interplay between the dynamics of fact-checked and fake news.Comment: 11 pages and 8 figure

Adaptive real-time tool for human gait event detection using a wearable gyroscope

The development of robust algorithms for human gait analysis are essential to evaluate the gait performance, and in many cases, crucial for diagnosing gait pathologies. This work proposes a new adaptive tool for human gait event detection in real-time, based on the angular velocity recorded from one gyroscope placed on the instep of the foot and in a finite state machine with adaptive decision rules. The signal was segmented to detect 6 events: Heel Strike (HS), Foot Flat (FF), Middle Mid-Stance (MMST), Heel-Off (HO), Toe-Off (TO), and Middle Mid-Swing (MMSW). The tool was validated with healthy subjects in ground-level walking using a treadmill, for different speeds (1.5 to 4.5 km/h) and slopes (0 to 10%). The results show that the tool is highly accurate and versatile for the detection of all events, as indicated by the values of accuracy, average delays and advances (HS: 99.96%,-7.95 ms, and 9.85 ms; FF: 99.48%,-4.95 ms, and 9.35 ms; MMST: 98.26%, 36.54 ms, and 16.38 ms; HO: 98.87%,-22.71 ms, and 18.62 ms; TO: 95.95%,-6.80 ms, 14.38 ms; MMSW: 96.06%,-3.45 ms; 0.15 ms, respectively). These findings suggest that the proposed tool is suitable for the real-time gait analysis in real-life activities.- (POCI

Towards human-knee orthosis interaction based on adaptive impedance control through stiffness adjustment

Rehabilitation interventions involving powered, wearable lower limb orthoses that can provide high-challenging locomotor tasks for repetitive training sessions, mainly when assist-as-needed strategies, such as adaptive impedance control, are designed. In this study, the adaptive behavior was ensured by software control of the robotic stiffness involved in the human-knee orthosis interaction in function of the gait cycle and speed. To estimate the stiffness, we analyzed the interaction torque-angle characteristics with experimental data. The speed-stiffness dependency was more evident when high stiffness values are demanded by the user's effort. Experimental evidence from five healthy subjects highlight that the adaptive control strategy provides a more comfortable, natural motion, and kinematic freedom as compared to the trajectory tracking control, allowing the user to contribute to the gait training. Future insights cover the implementation of gravitational compensation and real-time estimation and control of all inner dynamic properties of the impedance control law.This work has been supported by the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia - with the reference scholarship SFRH/BD/108309/2015, with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, and by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) - with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941, and partially supported with grant RYC-2014-16613 by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Powered knee orthosis for human gait rehabilitation: first advances

This paper presents a new system for a powered knee orthosis, that was designed to assist and improve the gait function of patients with gait pathologies. The system contains the orthotic device (embedded with sensors for angle and user-orthosis interaction torque measurements, and an electric actuator) and wearable sensors (inertial measurement unit, force sensitive resistors, and electromyography sensors), which allows the generation of smart rehabilitation tools and several motion assistive techniques. The main goal is to present a conceptual overview and functional description of the system and use scenarios of each component. The attachment mechanism of the orthosis to the limb is also highlighted, being composed of a straps system fixed in the mechanical links of the joint. It was noticed that users with distinct lower-limb morphologies can presents difficulties wearing the orthosis, since the device needs constant adjust to align the mechanical and human joints. The system was validated in ground-level walking on healthy subjects, with emphasis on the impact of the device in the user. The subjects reported that the orthosis is comfortable to use, easy to wear, and no issues were raised regarding the aesthetics of the device. Only the weight was assimilated as a possible hindrance (compensated in the future). Future challenges involve the inclusion of an ankle joint in the system and the use of the proposed tool in rehabilitation.This work is supported by the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia - with the reference scholarship SFRH/BD/108309/2015, with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, and by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) - with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941, and partially supported with grant RYC-2014-16613 by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness