Modulatory antimicrobial activity of Piper arboretum extracts (Zingiberaceae)

The side effects of certain antibiotics have been a recent dilemma in the medical arena. Due this fact, the necessity of natural product discovery could provide important indications against several pharmacological targets and combat many infectious agents. Piper arboreum Aub. (Piperaceae) has been used by Brazilian traditional communities against several illnesses including rheumatism, bronchitis, sexually transmitted diseases and complaints of the urinary tract. Medicinal plants are a source of several remedies used in clinical practice to combat microbial infections. In this study, ethanol extract and fractions of Piper arboreum leaves were used to assay antimicrobial and modulatory activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using microdilution method of ethanol extract and fractions from the leaves of P. arboreum ranging between 8 and 1024 mgmL–1. The capacity of these natural products to enhance the activity of antibiotic and antifungal drugs was also assayed. In these tests, natural products were combined with drugs. The natural products assayed did not demonstrate any clinically relevant antimicrobial activity (MIC ³ 1024 mg mL–1). However, the modulation of antibiotic activity assay observed a synergistic activity of natural products combined with antifungal (such as nystatin and amphotericin B) and antibiotic drugs (such as amikacin, gentamicin and kanamycin). According to these results, these natural products can be an interesting alternative not only to combat infectious diseases caused by bacteria or fungi, but also to combat enhanced resistance of microorganisms to antibiotic and antifungal drugs

Image processing techniques applied to concrete’s porosity determination / Técnicas de processamento de imagem aplicadas à determinação da porosidade do concreto

A porosidade é uma das propriedades dos concretos que está associada à sua qualidade por influenciar diretamente na sua resistência. A microtomografia é uma técnica não destrutiva para caracterização de materiais que permite a obtenção de imagens da sua estrutura interna. Informações sobre esta estrutura interna podem ser extraídas e analisadas utilizando técnicas de processamento e análise de imagens. O objetivo deste trabalho é implementar uma metodologia que, usando técnicas de processamento de imagens, permita analisar imagens geradas por microtomografia computadorizada com o intuito de determinar a porosidade em concretos

In vitro induced pluripotency from urine-derived cells in porcine.

Methods: The UDCs were reprogrammed in vitro using human or murine octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4), SRY-box2 (SOX2), Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), and C-MYC, and cultured with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) supplementation. To characterize the putative porcine iPSCs three clonal lineages were submitted to immunocytochemistry for alkaline phosphatase (AP), OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, TRA1 81 and SSEA 1 detection. Endogenous transcripts related to the pluripotency (OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG) were analyzed via reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in different time points during the culture, and all three lineages formed embryoid bodies (EBs) when cultured in suspension without bFGF supplementation. Results: The UDCs were isolated from swine urine samples and when at passage 2 submitted to in vitro reprogramming. Colonies of putative iPSCs were obtained only from UDCs transduced with the murine factors (mOSKM), but not from human factors (hOSKM). Three clonal lineages were isolated and further cultured for at least 28 passages, all the lineages were positive for AP detection, the OCT4, SOX2, NANOG markers, albeit the immunocytochemical analysis also revealed heterogeneous phenotypic profiles among lineages and passages for NANOG and SSEA1, similar results were observed in the abundance of the endogenous transcripts related to pluripotent state. All the clonal lineages when cultured in suspension without bFGF were able to form EBs expressing ectoderm and mesoderm layers transcripts. Conclusion: For the first time UDCs were isolated in the swine model and reprogrammed into a pluripotent-like state, enabling new numerous applications in both human or veterinary regenerative medicine

An alert systemfor Seasonal Fire probability forecast for South American Protected Areas.

Timely spatially explicit warning of areas with high fire occurrence probability is an important component of strategic plans to prevent andmonitor fires within South American (SA) Protected Areas (PAs). In this study, we present a five-level alert system,which combines both climatological and anthropogenic factors, the two main drivers of fires in SA. The alert levels are: High Alert, Alert, Attention, Observation and Low Probability. The trend in the number of active fires over the past three years and the accumulated number of active fires over the same period were used as indicators of intensification of human use of fire in that region, possibly associated with ongoing land use/land cover change (LULCC). An ensemble of temperature and precipitation gridded output from the GloSea5 Seasonal Forecast System was used to indicate an enhanced probability of hot and dry weather conditions that combined with LULCC favour fire occurrences. Alerts from this system were first issued in August 2020, for the period ranging from August to October (ASO) 2020. Overall, 50% of all fires observed during the ASO 2017?2019 period and 40% of the ASO 2020 fires occurred in only 29 PAs were all categorized in the top two alert levels. In categories mapped as High Alert level, 34% of the PAs experienced an increase in fires compared with the 2017?2019 reference period, and 81% of the High Alert false alarm registered fire occurrence above the median. Initial feedback from stakeholders indicates that these alerts were used to inform resource management in some PAs. We expect that these forecasts can provide continuous information aiming at changing societal perceptions of fire use and consequently subsidize strategic planning andmitigatory actions, focusing on timely responses to a disaster risk management strategy. Further research must focus on the model improvement and knowledge translation to stakeholders