Gold loaded textile fibres as substrates for SERS detection

Spectroscopic methods based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) are among the analytical tools most exploited in recent years for the detection of vestigial amounts of compounds with environmental and health relevance. In the last decades, SERS methods have been largely improved with the unprecedented progress in instrumentation and materials development in the scope of nanoscale science. The current developments in Raman instruments, in particular for Raman imaging, brought a new look on composites and its applications. The use of confocal microscopes allows high resolution Raman mapping with short measurement times, creating strongly improved Raman images in two and three dimensions. In this manuscript, we will present an overview of our own research on the development of malleable and easy-handled SERS substrates based on textile fibres for analytical detection. The strategies employed for the coating of the textile fibres with gold nanoparticles (NPs) will be described in detail. A final section will focus on the combination of Raman imaging and SERS for the development of substrates based on textile fibres and their application on the detection of water pollutants and biomolecules. A case study on the development of cotton swab fibres coated with Au NPs for SERS detection of L-lactate will be illustrated in more detail.publishe

Fetal axillary lymphangioma

Lymphangioma is a rare congenital malformation of the lymphatic system that occur in 1 per 6000 live births. The most common site of lymphangioma is the neck (also named cystic hygroma), accounting for 75% of the cases, and it is strongly related to aneuploidies. Axillary location is very rare and appears not to be associated with chromosomal abnormalities. Tumor growth, fetal anemia secondary to intralesional bleeding, hydrops fetalis and shoulder dystocia are possible obstetric complications of this condition. The prognosis is generally good in the absence of abnormal karyotype, fetal hydrops or extension of the lymphangioma to adjacent tissues. Surgical excision or sclerotherapy are the main treatment choices. The authors present a case of a right fetal axillary lymphangioma and review the literature

An integrated approach for trace detection of pollutants in water using polyelectrolyte functionalized magneto-plasmonic nanosorbents

Resistance of pathogenic micro-organisms to conventional antibiotics is an essential issue for public health. The presence of such pharmaceuticals in aquatic ecosystems has been of major concern for which remediation and ultra-sensitive monitoring methods have been proposed. A less explored strategy involves the application of multifunctional nanosorbents for the uptake and subsequent detection of vestigial contaminants. In this study, colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) of iron oxide and gold were encapsulated in multi-layers of a charged polyelectrolyte (PEI: polyethyleneimine), envisaging the effective capture of tetracycline (TC) and its subsequent detection by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Adsorption studies were performed by varying operational parameters, such as the solution pH and contact time, in order to evaluate the performance of the nanosorbents for the uptake of TC from water. While the magnetic nanosorbents with an external PEI layer (Fe3O4@PEI and Fe3O4@PEI-Au@PEI particles) have shown better uptake efficiency for TC, these materials showed less SERS sensitivity than the Fe3O4@PEI- Au nanosorbents, whose SERS sensitivity for TC in water has reached the limit of detection of 10 nM. Thus, this study highlights the potential of such magneto-plasmonic nanosorbents as multi-functional platforms for targeting specific contaminants in water, by taking into consideration both functionalities investigated: the removal by adsorption and the SERS detection across the nanosorbents' surfaces.publishe

Ciliocytophthoria in cervical cytology

The Ciliocytophthoria occurs in the glandular epithelium/cylindrical ciliated cells, which are found in the respiratory and gynaecological systems. Although this phenomenon is considered rare in both systems, it is more unusual in the gynaecological system. Of the 5781 cases analysed at the centre in 2006, only one case was diagnosed as Ciliocytophthoria. In 1975, Kobold-Wolterbeek and Beyer-Boon observed the cervical smears of 18 000 women during a period of a year and a half, during which time a total of 32 cases of Ciliocytophthoria were found. This phenomenon consists of the separation of the cylindrical cells resulting in the formation of a non-nucleus portion – terminal plate with cilia – and a nucleus portion with granular cytoplasm containing eosinophilia inclusions. The relationship between Ciliocytophthoria and any disease or tumour in the female genital tract is unknown.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development and characterization of b-carotene microcapsules composed of starch and protein extract from Amaranth

The 19th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference: Hydrocolloid multifunctionalityStudies that have explored the use of biopolymers of Amaranth as encapsulating materials for bioactive compounds1,2,3 demonstrate that it is possible to isolate and encapsulate bioactive compounds with Amaranth biopolymers. Therefore, the added value of Amaranth can be increased, evidenced and studied through the extraction of its compounds and the formation of microcapsules. The objective of this study was the evaluation of the ability of Amaranth biopolymers to microencapsulate a bioactive compound - -carotene. The microencapsulation was performed by spray drying4, and -carotene was added to the Amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus) starch or protein through a solution prepared at the ratio of 1:10 (polymer:-carotene) in corn oil (1 %). The microcapsules were characterized by mean diameter (volume%), particle size distribution, microcapsules morphology by epifluorescence microscopy, microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and by measuring encapsulation efficiency. Microcapsules exhibited an average size of 2.22 ± 1.84 m and 1.55 ± 1.12 m for microcapsules composed of Amaranth protein and Amaranth starch, respectively. The microscopy images of both microcapsules showed good sphericity and presence of fluorescence, which indicates good encapsulation capacity of -carotene. FT-IR results showed no differences between spectra of all samples, which indicates that there was no chemical bonding between the capsules and -carotene, but rather an entrapment of -carotene into starch and protein microparticles. The encapsulation efficiency was 71.29 % and 69.32 % for Amaranth starch and protein microcapsules, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the biopolymers extracted from Amaranth can be considered good encapsulating agents for bioactive compounds, thus valorising their use in food formulations.This study was funded by the CNPQ-Brazil; FCT – Portugal (SFRH/BPD/89992/2012, SFRH/BPD/101181/2014, SFRH/BPD/104712/2014 and IF/00300/2015 fellowships); Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER- 027462); Project UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 006684) and Project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT UID/CTM/50011/2013).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Perfil clínico e andrológico de bodes Moxotó e Canindé infectados experimentalmente com lentivírus de pequenos ruminantes (LVPR).

Clinical and andrological profile of Canindé and Moxotó bucks experimentally infected with small ruminants lentivirus (LVPR). Abstract: The aim in this work was to evaluate the clinical, hematologic and andrologic characteristics of native bucks experimentally infected by CAEV. Ten native bucks from Canindé and Moxotó breeds were used, divided in a group experimentally infected and a group control non infected. The hematologic evaluation was accomplished monthly, clinical evaluation biweekly and andrologic evaluation weekly. Before the experimental infection, all the bucks presented normal at clinical and andrologic evaluation. The hematologic evaluation did not differ significantly between the experimental groups. The animals presented values below the normal for bucks for the hematocrit, hemoglobin and CHCM in some months of evaluation. The seminal volume was significantly superior in the infected animals before the infection and the sperm concentration superior only in the third month of evaluation. The caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus does not alter the clinical, hematologic and andrologic parameters from native bucks recently infected in the period that precedes the seroconversion.Trabalho apresentado no 6o. Congresso Norte Nordeste de Reprodução animal, 2012, Fortaleza

Characterization of organic matter at different stages of a composting process

The characterization of the organic matter from raw organic wastes, unmatured compost and maturated compost was performed by different techniques: gravimetric, FTIR-ATR, TGA and from the ability of their extracts to bind Cd2+ (evaluating the free cadmium ion by AGNES). Although the amount of humic-like and fulvic-like acids did not change significantly, the structure and properties of the organic matter changed with composting and maturation. These changes resulted in an increase of the stability of the organic material toward thermal decomposition and in an increase of the capacity to bind cadmium.0366_RES2VALHUM_1_P - Valorização de resíduos orgânicos: produção de substâncias húmicas, cofinanciada pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento regional (FEDER) através do Programa INTERREG V-A Espanha-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020

Antimicrobial properties of membrane-active dodecapeptides derived from MSI-78

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics known by their ability to disrupt bacterial membranes and their low tendency to induce bacterial resistance, arising as excellent candidates to fight bacterial infections. In this study we aimed at designing short 12-mer AMPs, derived from a highly effective and broad spectrum synthetic AMP, MSI-78 (22 residues), by truncating this peptide at the N- and/or C-termini while spanning its entire sequence with 1 amino add (aa) shifts. These designed peptides were evaluated regarding antimicrobial activity against selected gram-positive Staphylococcus strains and the gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). The short 12-mer peptide CEM1 (GIGMFLKKAKICF) was identified as an excellent candidate to fight P. aeruginosa infections as it displays antimicrobial activity against this strain and selectivity, with negligible toxicity to mammalian cells even at high concentrations. However, in general most of the short 12-mer peptides tested showed a reduction in antimicrobial activity, an effect that was more pronounced for gram-positive Staphylococcus strains. Interestingly, CEM1 and a highly similar peptide differing by only one aa-shift (CEM2: IGKFLKKAKICFG), showed a remarkably contrasting AMP activity. These two peptides were chosen for a more detailed study regarding their mechanism of action, using several biophysical assays and simple membrane models that mimic the mammalian and bacterial lipid composition. We confirmed the correlation between peptide helicity and antimicrobial activity and propose a mechanism of action based on the disruption of the bacterial membrane permeability barrier

Caprinos nativos infectados experimentalmente com o vírus da Artrite Encefalite Caprina (CAEV): avaliação do índice articular clínico durante o período de 18 meses no estado do Ceará.

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar, por um período de 18 meses, o índice articular de caprinos nativos, infectados experimentalmente com o vírus da Artrite Encefalite Caprina (CAEV) no Estado do Ceará. Foram utilizados dez reprodutores subdivididos em dois grupos (Inoculados I e Controle C). Cinco animais foram inoculados com 106 TCID50/mL do lentivírus caprino por via intravenosa e cinco permaneceram como grupo controle. O experimento foi realizado de acordo com os princípios éticos da experimentação animal. Foram realizadas mensurações mensais nos animais para obtenção do Índice Articular Clínico (IAC), que ainda foram verificados quanto à presença de sinais clínicos indicativos de problemas articulares, como claudicação e dor, e foi coletado sangue mensalmente para diagnóstico do CAEV. Os animais inoculados com o CAEV apresentaram aumento gradativo e significativo do IAC (p<0,05) após o aparecimento de anticorpos detectáveis pelo IDGA, que ocorreu entre 106 a 135 dias após a inoculação. Comparando-se os grupos inoculados e controle observou-se um aumento do IAC estatisticamente significativo (p<0,05) no período após a soroconversão. Concluiu-se que os animais nativos são susceptíveis a Artrite Encefalite Caprina (CAE) e desenvolvem problemas articulares

A multivalent chimeric vaccine composed of Schistosoma mansoni SmTSP-2 and Sm29 was able to induce protection against infection in mice

Schistosoma mansoni is a blood fluke parasite responsible for schistosomiasis. The best long-term strategy to control schistosomiasis is through immunization combined with drug treatment. In this study, we cloned, expressed and purified SmTSP-2 fused to the N- and C-terminal halves of Sm29 and tested these chimeras as vaccine candidates using an adjuvant approved to be used in humans. The results demonstrated that vaccination with SmTSP-2 fused to N- or C-terminus of Sm29-induced reduction in worm burden and liver pathology when compared to control animals. Additionally, we detected high levels of mouse-specific IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a against both chimeras and significant amounts of IFN-γ and TNF-α and no IL-4. Finally, studies with sera from patients resistant to infection and living in schistosomiasis endemic areas revealed high levels of specific IgG to both chimeras when compared to healthy individuals. In conclusion, SmTSP-2/Sm29 chimeras tested here induced partial protection against infection and might be a potential vaccine candidate