Microbiological and rheological studies on Portuguese kefir grains

Part of the data presented in this paper was included in a poster entitled Studies on kefir grains: microbiological characterization, biomass increase rate, and rheology of the polysaccharide produced, which was presented at the Prof. Nicolau van Uden Portuguese Symposium of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology – First Symposium on Yeasts, February 1993, Luso, Portugal.The native bacteria and yeasts present in Portuguese kefir grains stored under four distinct sets of environmental conditions have been isolated and identified on the basis of morphology and biochemical tests. The microbial population of the kefir grains as a whole has been characterized in terms of rates of biomass production and formation of lactic acid and ethanol. The rheological properties of the purified polysaccharide (kefiran) produced by the microflora of the grains and accumulated therein were studied in a low water activity solvent and as a component of a binary gel containing either k-carrageenan or xanthan gum

Plasmonic/magnetic liposomes based on nanoparticles with multicore-shell architecture for chemo/thermotherapy

In this work, multicore magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) of manganese ferrite were prepared using carboxymethyl-dextran and melamine as agglutinating agents.Magnetoliposome-like structures containing the multicore NPs exhibit sizes in the range 250 – 400 nm, being suitable for biomedical applications.FCT under Strategic funding of CF-UM-UP (UIDB/04650/2020

Sealing Capability and SEM Observation of the Implant-Abutment Interface

To evaluate the sealing capability of external hexagon implant systems and assess the marginal fit, two groups (n = 10 each) were employed: SIN (Sistema de Implantes Nacional, Brazil) and Osseotite, (Biomet 3i, USA). Sealing capability was determined by placing 0.7 μL of 1% acid-red solution in the implant wells before the torque of their respective abutments. Specimens were then placed into 2.5 mL vials filled with 1.3 mL of distilled water with the implant-abutment interface submerged. Three samples of 100 μL water were collected at previously determinate times. The absorbance was measured with a spectrophotometer, and the data were analyzed by Two-way ANOVA (P < .05) and Tukey's test. Marginal fit was determined using SEM. Leakage was observed for both groups at all times and was significantly higher at 144 hrs. SEM analysis depicted gaps in the implant-abutment interface of both groups. Gaps in the implant-abutment interface were observed along with leakage increased at the 144 hrs evaluation period

Heart rate variability analysis for the identification of the preictal interval in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy

Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, lasting hours before epileptic seizures, have been studied in the search for evidence of the existence of a preictal interval that follows a normal ECG trace and precedes the seizure's clinical manifestation. The preictal interval has not yet been clinically parametrized. Furthermore, the duration of this interval varies for seizures both among patients and from the same patient. In this study, we performed a heart rate variability (HRV) analysis to investigate the discriminative power of the features of HRV in the identification of the preictal interval. HRV information extracted from the linear time and frequency domains as well as from nonlinear dynamics were analysed. We inspected data from 238 temporal lobe seizures recorded from 41 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy from the EPILEPSIAE database. Unsupervised methods were applied to the HRV feature dataset, thus leading to a new perspective in preictal interval characterization. Distinguishable preictal behaviour was exhibited by 41% of the seizures and 90% of the patients. Half of the preictal intervals were identified in the 40 min before seizure onset. The results demonstrate the potential of applying clustering methods to HRV features to deepen the current understanding of the preictal state.FCT: CISUC -UID/CEC/00326/2020/ SFRH/BD/147862/2019info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Will ultrathin CIGS solar cells overtake the champion thin-film cells? Updated SCAPS baseline models reveal main differences between ultrathin and standard CIGS

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells are amongst the best performing thin-film technologies, with the latest performance gains being mainly due to recent years improvements obtained with post-deposition treatments (PDT). Moreover, thinning of the absorber layer down to sub-micrometre values (ultrathin absorbers) is of extreme importance for CIGS to be even more cost-effective and sustainable. However, electrical and optical limitations, such as rear interface recombination and insufficient light absorption, prevent the widespread implementation of ultrathin CIGS devices. The recent electrical CIGS simulation baseline models have failed to keep up with the experimental developments. Here an updated and experimentally based baseline model for electrical simulations in the Solar Cell Capacitor Simulator (SCAPS) software is presented and discussed with the incorporation of the PDT effects and increased optical accuracy with the support from Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulation results. Furthermore, a champion solar cell with an equivalent architecture validates the developed thin-film model. The baseline model is also applied to ultrathin CIGS solar cell devices, validated with the ultrathin champion cell. Ultimately, these ultrathin models pave the way for an ultrathin baseline model. Simulations results reveal that addressing these absorbers' inherent limitations makes it possible to achieve an ultrathin solar cell with at least 21.0% power conversion efficiency, with open-circuit voltage values even higher than the recent thin-film champion cells.This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecno-logia (FCT) grant numbers DFA/BD/7073/2020, DFA/BD/4564/2020, SFRH/BD/146776/2019, IF/00133/2015, UIDB/50025/2020, UIDP/50025/2020, UIDB/04730/2020, and UIDP/04730/2020. The authors want to acknowledge the funding from the project NovaCell (PTDC/ CTM-CTM/28075/2017). The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the project Baterias 2030, with the reference POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046109, co-funded by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDFinfo:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Influence of feeding graded levels of canned sardines on the inflammatory markers and tissue fatty acid composition of Wistar rats

The present study was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the grant PTDC-SAU/OSM/2006/70560 (principal investigator: P. O. R). S. V. M. is the recipient of a FCT individual fellowship SFRH/BPD/2009/63019 and P. A. L. is a researcher involved in the FCT programme 'Ciencia 2008'.Canned sardines are a ready-to-use fish product with excellent nutritional properties owing to its high n-3 long-chain PUFA content, mainly EPA (20 : 5n-3) and DHA (22 : 6n-3). The present study aimed to assess the effect of two dosages of canned sardines, recommended for the primary and secondary prevention of human CVD, on the inflammatory marker concentrations and fatty acid composition of erythrocytes and key metabolic tissues (liver, muscle, adipose tissue and brain) in the rat model. Wistar rats were fed a diet containing 11\% (w/w) of canned sardines (low-sardine (LS) diet) and a diet containing 22\% (w/w) of canned sardines (high-sardine (HS) diet) for 10 weeks. Daily food intake, weight gain, and organ and final body weights were not affected by the dietary treatments. The concentrations of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol decreased in both the LS and HS groups, while those of alanine aminotransferase and adiponectin increased. The concentrations of IL-1 beta increased only with the highest dosage of sardine. The dose-dependent influence of the graded levels of EPA+DHA was tissue specific. Compared with that of other tissues and erythrocytes, the fatty acid composition of the brain was less affected by the canned sardine-supplemented diets. In contrast, the retroperitoneal adipose tissue was highly responsive. The deposition ratios of EPA and DHA indicated that the LS diet was optimal for DHA deposition across the tissues, except in the retroperitoneal adipose tissue. Taken together, our findings indicate that a LS diet positively affects plasma lipid profiles and inflammatory mediators, whereas a HS diet has contradictory effects on IL-1 beta, which, in turn, is not associated with variations in the concentrations of other pro-inflammatory cytokines. This finding requires further investigation and pathophysiological understanding.publishersversionpublishe

Monitorização dos problemas fitossanitários e fauna auxiliar presentes em pomares de macieiras da ilha Terceira

I Congresso de Fruticultura e Viticultura. Angra do Heroísmo 17-19 Abril 2008.Trabalho de investigação desenvolvido no projecto INTERFRUTA II, financiado pelo programa INTERREG III-B (05/MAC/3.1/A4).Nos objectivos do Projecto INTERFRUTA II, projecto desenvolvido nas Ilhas da Madeira, Tenerife (Canárias) e Terceira (Açores) destinado a contribuir para a promoção da fruticultura e viticultura nestas três regiões insulares, procurou-se atingir uma melhoria dos conhecimentos sobre diversas culturas abrangidas nos diversos trabalhos de investigação e de entre as quais a das macieiras, onde através deste trabalho, nas duas zonas de maior produtividade da Ilha Terceira (Biscoitos e São Sebastião), se procurou conhecer os seus problemas fitossanitários, de forma a determinar os períodos de maior actividade e risco principalmente das pragas que afectam a macieira e assim tentar encontrar a melhor forma de as poder combater através da aplicação prática dos conceitos da Protecção Integrada, o que contribuiu, decisivamente, para o conhecimento e procura de soluções inovadoras que conduziram ao acréscimo do rendimento dos produtores e a uma menor utilização e aplicação de pesticidas. Para além disso, pretendeuse identificar toda a fauna auxiliar presente nos pomares de macieira estudados. Nas macieiras, os principais problemas fitossanitários decorrem da presença de aranhiço vermelho (Panonychus ulmi Koch), traça-oriental (Cydia molesta) e bichado (Cydia pomonella L.). Nos fungos foram encontrados Alternaria mali Roberts, Aspergillium sp., Botryosphaeria lutea, Botryosphaeria ribis Gross.& Dungar, Phoma glomerata (Corda) Wolll. Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn, Verticillium sp. Nos vírus o único encontrado nas folhas de macieira foi o ACLSV – Apple chlorotic leafspot vírus. Da totalidade dos espécimes da fauna auxiliar encontrados nos pomares de macieira estudados foi elaborada uma tabela