Rare earth elements, iron and manganese in ochre-precipitates and wetland soils of a passive treatment system for acid mine drainage

The rare earth elements (REE) along with iron and manganese distribution in ochre-precipitates and wetland soils in a passive system for acid mine drainage treatment (Jales, Portugal) was studied. The results obtained by instrumental neutron activation analysis showed a higher incorporation of the light REE (particularly La and Ce) by the ochre-precipitates resulting from the mine water-limestone interaction. These fluffy materials influence the entrance of the first wetland where a correlation between Fe and La and Ce was found. Then Mn phases appear to play a more important role controlling REE distribution in the remaining area of the wetland soils.Thanks to EDM (Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, S.A.) for providing access to the water treatment plant, and to the staff of the Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI) of CTN/IST. C2TN authors gratefully acknowledge the FCT (the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation) support through the UID/Multi/04349/2013. This work is co-funded by European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalização), project ICT (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 and national funds provided by FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Endovascular Treatment of Pediatric Ischemic Stroke: a Single Center Experience and Review of the Literature

Introduction: Mechanical thrombectomy is standard treatment for large vessel occlusion (LVO) in adults. There are no randomized controlled trials for the pediatric population. We report our single-center experience with thrombectomy of LVO in a series of pediatric patients, and perform a review of the literature. Methods: Retrospective review of consecutive pediatric thrombectomy cases between 2011 and 2018. Demographic variables, imaging data, technical aspects and clinical outcome were recorded. Results: In a period of 7 years, 7 children were treated for LVO at our center. Median age was 13 (2-17), and median Ped-NIHSS was 15 (3-24), and the median ASPECTS was 8 (2-10). Five patients had cardiac disease, and 2 of them were under external cardiac assistance. Median time from onset of symptoms to beginning of treatment was 7h06m (2h58m-21h38m). Five patients had middle cerebral artery occlusions. Thrombectomy was performed using a stentriever in 3 patients, aspiration in 3 patients, and combined technique in 1 patient. Six patients had good recanalization (TICI 2 b/3). There were no immediate periprocedural complications. At 3 months, 4 patients (57%) were independent (mRS score <3). Two patients died, one after haemorrhagic transformation of an extensive MCA infarct, and one due to extensive brainstem ischemia in the setting of varicella vasculitis. Discussion: Selected pediatric patients with LVO may be treated with mechanical thrombectomy safely. In patients under external cardiac assistance and under anticoagulation, thrombectomy is the only alternative for treatment of LVO. A multidisciplinary approach in specialized pediatric stroke centers with trained neurointerventionalists are essential for good results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ocorrência da lesma Omalonyx matheroni (Gastropoda: Succineidae), como praga do capim-elefante (Pennisetum purpureum) em Manaus, Amazonas.

Neste trabalho descreve-se a ocorrência atípica da lesma Omalonyx matheroni Pontiez & Michaud, como praga em capim-elefante. em habitat de terra firme, em Manaus, Amazonas e sugere-se uma alternativa para o seu controle.bitstream/item/63841/1/ComTec-74-2009.pd

Let there be light...

“Let there be light...” is a project in the scope of the International Year of Light 2015 (IYL 2015) targeted at children of the first school grade. Basically, it comprises nine recreational - scientific workshops that last for approximately 90 minutes. Each workshop is dedicated to a different topic, namely: bioluminescence, mineral observation, the rainbow, light-shadow contrast, battery production, just to name a few, and is designed, in differ- ent approaches, by a distinct team of scientists familiar to the scientific area focused. The activity starts with the dramatized storytelling of a children’s story related to the scientific subject and performed by the team of the public library expert in this area. This moment takes place in an almost magical environment opening the door to the science topic light-related that would be focused later on. In the third part of the workshop, the children are invited to produce plastic works (e.g. drawings, constructions and models) inspired in what they have learned, and that are to be collected in a public exhibition held at the same institution at the end of the project. In the present work, besides the description of the experience, you can find the critical analysis of the activity and the evaluation of the action by all the actors involved (project team and children/teachers that attended the workshops).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Feeding into old age: long-term effects of dietary fatty acid supplementation on tissue composition and life span in mice

Smaller mammals, such as mice, possess tissues containing more polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) than larger mammals, while at the same time live shorter lives. These relationships have been combined in the ‘membrane pacemaker hypothesis of aging’. It suggests that membrane PUFA content might determine an animal’s life span. PUFAs in general and certain long-chain PUFAs in particular, are highly prone to lipid peroxidation which brings about a high rate of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. We hypothesized that dietary supplementation of either n-3 or n-6 PUFAs might affect (1) membrane phospholipid composition of heart and liver tissues and (2) life span of the animals due to the altered membrane composition, and subsequent effects on lipid peroxidation. Therefore, we kept female laboratory mice from the C57BL/6 strain on three diets (n-3 PUFA rich, n-6 PUFA rich, control) and assessed body weights, life span, heart, and liver phospholipid composition after the animals had died. We found that while membrane phospholipid composition clearly differed between feeding groups, life span was not directly affected. However, we were able to observe a positive correlation between monounsaturated fatty acids in cardiac muscle and life span

VEGF Promotes Malaria-Associated Acute Lung Injury in Mice

The spectrum of the clinical presentation and severity of malaria infections is broad, ranging from uncomplicated febrile illness to severe forms of disease such as cerebral malaria (CM), acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) or severe anemia (SA). Rodent models that mimic human CM, PAM and SA syndromes have been established. Here, we show that DBA/2 mice infected with P. berghei ANKA constitute a new model for malaria-associated ALI. Up to 60% of the mice showed dyspnea, airway obstruction and hypoxemia and died between days 7 and 12 post-infection. The most common pathological findings were pleural effusion, pulmonary hemorrhage and edema, consistent with increased lung vessel permeability, while the blood-brain barrier was intact. Malaria-associated ALI correlated with high levels of circulating VEGF, produced de novo in the spleen, and its blockage led to protection of mice from this syndrome. In addition, either splenectomization or administration of the anti-inflammatory molecule carbon monoxide led to a significant reduction in the levels of sera VEGF and to protection from ALI. The similarities between the physiopathological lesions described here and the ones occurring in humans, as well as the demonstration that VEGF is a critical host factor in the onset of malaria-associated ALI in mice, not only offers important mechanistic insights into the processes underlying the pathology related with malaria but may also pave the way for interventional studies

Can we predict real-time fMRI neurofeedback learning success from pretraining brain activity?

Neurofeedback training has been shown to influence behavior in healthy participants as well as to alleviate clinical symptoms in neurological, psychosomatic, and psychiatric patient populations. However, many real-time fMRI neurofeedback studies report large inter-individual differences in learning success. The factors that cause this vast variability between participants remain unknown and their identification could enhance treatment success. Thus, here we employed a meta-analytic approach including data from 24 different neurofeedback studies with a total of 401 participants, including 140 patients, to determine whether levels of activity in target brain regions during pretraining functional localizer or no-feedback runs (i.e., self-regulation in the absence of neurofeedback) could predict neurofeedback learning success. We observed a slightly positive correlation between pretraining activity levels during a functional localizer run and neurofeedback learning success, but we were not able to identify common brain-based success predictors across our diverse cohort of studies. Therefore, advances need to be made in finding robust models and measures of general neurofeedback learning, and in increasing the current study database to allow for investigating further factors that might influence neurofeedback learning