Reactive power management of a wind farm to prevent voltage collapse of an electric power system

Nowadays, the large penetration of wind power generation poses new challenges for dynamic voltage stability analysis of an electric power system. The practical importance of dynamic voltage stability analysis is to help in designing and selecting counter-measures in order to avoid voltage collapse and enhance system stability. The impact of wind integration on reactive reserve requirements is a current area of interest for renewable integration studies and power system operators. In this paper is studied a new wind power plant model with reactive power management. The active power and the frequency management are taken into account too. The developed model can be used to represent, in a simplified way, an entire wind farm in order to simulate the dynamic voltage stability of the system, whatever the technology involved in the wind turbine. The system is completely modelled by a single dynamic converter model with appropriate control loops intended to reproduce the overall response of a wind farm for different grid events, such as faults or voltage and reactive power management at the point of common coupling. Â(c) 2015 IEEE

An explanation for another familial case of Rett syndrome: maternal germline mosaicism

Rett syndrome (RTT; OMIM#312750) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that affects mainly girls. It has an estimated incidence of 1:10,000-15,000 females. Mutations in the X-linked gene methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) have been found in most patients. The most accepted explanation for the sex bias is that the Rett mutation in sporadic cases has its origin in the paternal germline X chromosome and can thus only be transmitted to females. The majority of cases are sporadic (99.5%) but some familial cases have been described. These cases can either be explained by germline mosaicism or by asymptomatic carrier mothers with skewing of X-inactivation towards the wild-type MECP2 allele. We describe one of the few familial cases of RTT in which a maternal germline mosaicism is the most likely explanation. The mutation p.Arg270fs (c.808delC) was identified in both a girl with classical RTT and her brother who had the severe neurological phenotype usually described in males. The mutation was absent in DNA extracted from blood of both parents. These type of events must be taken into consideration in the genetic counselling of families after the diagnosis of a first case of RTT in a female or a MECP2 mutation in a male

The C677T polymorphism in MTHFR is not associated with migraine in Portugal

Migraine is a debilitating disorder affecting a large proportion of the population. The effect of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (GeneID: 4524) polymorphisms in migraine etiology and development has been a theme of great interest. Several populations were evaluated with contradictory results. In this case-control study, we investigated the effect of the C677T polymorphism in MTHFR, as a genetic risk factor for migraine, in the Portuguese population. We observed that, overall, there was no significant difference in the frequencies of MTHFR C677T genotypes or of the T-allele among the Portuguese migraineurs when compared to controls. There was also no association of migraine with aura with MTHFR genotypes or with the T-allele, in contrast with previous studies. Regarding the risk of the T-allele homozygote carriers, there was an equal probability to develop migraine with aura over migraine without aura in our patients. Thus, we conclude that the C677T MTHFR polymorphism, responsible for a reduction of the MTHFR activity in folate metabolism, is not a major genetic susceptibility factor for migraine in the Portuguese population.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (POCTI-034390/99/FCT) and A.F. (SFRH/BD/ 1288/2000), M.-J.C. (POCTI-034390-PR332009-BTI), M.S. (SFRH/BD/9111/2002), C.L. (SFRH/BD/17761/ 2004

Infecções por acantocéfalos: um problema para a produção de peixes.

Os peixes podem apresentar enfermidades de diversas origens em sistemas de criação intensiva, com destaque para as doenças parasitárias . Entre os principais grupos de parasitos que causam doenças em pisciculturas brasileiras estão os protozoários, mixosporídeos, crustáceos e helmintos, que ao encontrarem condições favoráveis, proliferam‐se causando doenças Dentre os helmintos, os acantocéfalos vêm chamando a atenção dos piscicultores em razão das altas infestações registradas na região Norte do Brasil

Procedimentos analíticos para avaliação de doenças de peixes.

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Learning the biochemical basis of axonal guidance: using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model

Aim: Experimental models are a powerful aid in visualizing molecular phenomena. This work reports how the worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) can be effectively explored for students to learn how molecular cues dramatically condition axonal guidance and define nervous system structure and behavior at the organism level. Summary of work: A loosely oriented observational activity preceded detailed discussions on molecules implied in axonal migration. C. elegans mutants were used to introduce second-year medical students to the deleterious effects of gene malfunctioning in neuron response to extracellular biochemical cues and to establish links between molecular function, nervous system structure, and animal behavior. Students observed C. elegans cultures and associated animal behavior alterations with the lack of function of specific axon guidance molecules (the soluble cue netrin/UNC-6 or two receptors, DCC/UNC-40 and UNC-5H). Microscopical observations of these strains, in combination with pan-neuronal GFP expression, allowed optimal visualization of severely affected neurons. Once the list of mutated genes in each strain was displayed, students could also relate abnormal patterns in axon migration/ventral and dorsal nerve cord neuron formation in C. elegans with mutated molecular components homologous to those in humans. Summary of results: Students rated the importance and effectiveness of the activity very highly. Ninety-three percent found it helpful to grasp human axonal migration, and all students were surprised with the power of the model in helping to visualize the phenomenon.This work has been funded by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 and by the projects, NORTE01-0145-FEDER-000039 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-085468, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work has been also funded by ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI—Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122). Additionally, C.V. and D.V.C. were supported by the FCT individual fellowships 2022.11176.BD and SFRH/BD/147826/2019, respectively

Pyricularia graminis-tritici, a new Pyricularia species causing wheat blast.

Pyricularia oryzae is a species complex that causes blast disease on more than 50 species of poaceous plants. Pyricularia oryzae has a worldwide distribution as a rice pathogen and in the last 30 years emerged as an important wheat pathogen in southern Brazil. We conducted phylogenetic analyses using 10 housekeeping loci for 128 isolates of P. oryzae sampled from sympatric populations of wheat, rice, and grasses growing in or near wheat fields. Phylogenetic analyses grouped the isolates into three major clades. Clade 1 comprised isolates associated only with rice and corresponds to the previously described rice blast pathogen P. oryzae pathotype Oryza (PoO). Clade 2 comprised isolates associated almost exclusively with wheat and corresponds to the previously described wheat blast pathogen P. oryzae pathotype Triticum (PoT). Clade 3 contained isolates obtained from wheat as well as other Poaceae hosts. We found that Clade 3 is distinct from P. oryzae and represents a new species, Pyricularia graminis-tritici (Pgt). No morphological differences were observed among these species, but a distinctive pathogenicity spectrum was observed. Pgt and PoT were pathogenic and highly aggressive on Triticum aestivum (wheat), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Urochloa brizantha (signal grass), and Avena sativa (oats). PoO was highly virulent on the original rice host (Oryza sativa), and also on wheat, barley, and oats, but not on signal grass. We conclude that blast disease on wheat and its associated Poaceae hosts in Brazil is caused by multiple Pyricularia species. Pyricularia graminis-tritici was recently found causing wheat blast in Bangladesh. This indicates that P. graminis-tritici represents a serious threat to wheat cultivation globally