Application of Nanofiltration to the Treatment of Acid mine Drainage Waters

This study investigated the separation of uranium and other elements in high concentrations from acid mine waters at Caldas Uranium Mining, in the southeast of Brazil, using nanofiltration membranes. Nanofiltrarion is widely used in water treatment due to the lower energy requirements and higher yields than reverse osmosis. Separation characteristics are dependent on both the molecular size and charge of the dissolved species in the feed solution as well as membrane properties. In this investigation the potential of nanofiltration to removed dissolved species like uranium from acid mine water drainage was measured. Two composite aromatic polyamide commercially membranes of FilmTec/Dow were tested and it found that uranium rejections of greater than 90% and also showed potential for the separation of aluminum and manganese

Data identification of drug use in medical prescriptions of a private hospital at Campo Grande, Mato Grosso Do Sul, Brazil

Rational prescription occurs when patients receive the appropriate drug in adequate dose for the necessary period of time and it represents the safest and cheaper pharmacotherapy. The aim of this study was to identify the information about drug use in medical prescriptions at a private hospital. It was prescribed 2100 medicines between March 2006 and February 2007 and 44.48 % of these were prescribed by Generic medication name. The average number of drugs per prescription was 7.42. Prescriptions of at least one injectable drug or antibiotic were found in 58,00 % and 80,20 % of prescriptions, respectively. Half of prescribed drugs were part of the National List of Essential Drugs (50,33 %) and the Municipal List of Essential Drugs (55,24 %), both version 2006. The prevailing therapeutic classes were the analgesics (8.09 %) and anti-emetics (4.61 %). Incomplete medical prescriptions difficult drug use and hinder the service efficiency, putting at risk the quality of user assistance.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) polymorphisms are associated with high relapse risk in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

Background: Angiogenesis has been shown as an important process in hematological malignancies. It consists in endothelial proliferation, migration, and tube formation following pro-angiogenic factors releasing, specially the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which angiogenic effect seems to be dependent on nitric oxide (NO). We examined the association among functional polymorphism in these two angiogenesis related genes: VEGF (-2578C>A, -1154G>A, and -634G>C) and NOS3 (-786T>C, intron 4 b>a, and Glu298Asp) with prognosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods: The genotypes were determined and haplotypes estimated in 105 ALL patients that were divided in 2 groups: high risk (HR) and low risk of relapse (LR) patients. In addition, event-free survival curves according to genotypes were assessed. Results: The group HR compared to the LR showed a higher frequency of the alleles -2578C and -634C and the haplotype CGC for VEGF (0.72 vs. 0.51, p<0.008; 0.47 vs. 0.26, p<0.008; and 42.1 vs. 14.5, p<0.006; respectively) and a lower frequency of the haplotype CbGlu (0.4 vs. 8.8, p<0.006), for NOS3. Conclusion: Polymorphisms of VEGF and NOS3 genes are associated with high risk of relapse, therefore may have a prognostic impact in childhood ALL. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq

Systems Nutrology of Adolescents with Divergence between Measured and Perceived Weight Uncovers a Distinctive Profile Defined by Inverse Relationships of Food Consumption

Changes in food consumption, physical inactivity, and other lifestyle habits are potential causes of the obesity epidemic. Paradoxically, the media promotes idealization of a leaner body appearance. Under these circumstances, self-perception of weight by adolescents may be affected. Here, we performed a cross-sectional study, between June and December 2009, to evaluate the interaction between anthropometric status, perceived body weight, and food consumption profiles in 1496 adolescents from public schools in Salvador, Brazil. Data on socio-epidemiological information, anthropometric status, and dietary patterns were analyzed using multidimensional statistical approaches adapted from systems biology. There were dissimilarities between anthropometric status and perception of body weight related to sex. Four dietary patterns were identified based on the food intake profile in the study participants. The distinct dietary patterns were not influenced by divergence between measured and perceived weight. Moreover, network analysis revealed that overestimation of body weight was characterized by a selectivity in ingestion of food groups that resulted in appearance of inverse correlations of consumption. Thus, misperception of body weight is associated with inverse correlations of consumption of certain food groups. These findings may aid individualized nutritional interventions in adolescents who overestimate body weight

Desempenho de estratégias de aeração de milho armazenado: Fungos e condutividade elétrica Performance of aeration strategies for stored corn: Molds and electrical conductivity

Objetivou-se, com o presente trabalho, avaliar e comparar o desempenho de três estratégias de aeração de milho armazenado quanto à ocorrência de fungos e à condutividade elétrica dos grãos. As estratégias avaliadas foram: aeração contínua; aeração noturna e aeração em condições de umidade de equilíbrio entre os grãos e o ar ambiente. Realizaram-se dois ensaios de aeração com grãos de milho secos (11% b.u.) e úmidos (17% b.u.). Amostras de grãos foram retiradas durante os ensaios para contagem de fungos e medida da condutividade elétrica dos grãos. Grãos armazenados úmidos apresentaram maior ocorrência de fungos do que grãos armazenados secos. Observou-se que o Fusarium spp. apresentou contagens mais elevadas, o Penicillium spp. manifestou desenvolvimento e o Aspergillus spp. ocorreu com menor frequência. As estratégias de aeração empregadas não interferiram na condutividade elétrica dos grãos de milho armazenados, visto que não houve diferença significativa dos valores de condutividade elétrica entre os grãos submetidos a aeração e os grãos armazenados sem aeração.<br>The aim of this study was to evaluate and to compare the performance of three aeration strategies for stored corn as for occurrence of molds and electrical conductivity of grain: continuous aeration; night aeration and aeration under equilibrium moisture content conditions between the grains and the ambient air. Two tests of aeration with dry corn grain (11% w.b.) and wet corn (17% w.b.) were done. Grain samples were taken during testing for counting of molds and measuring of electrical conductivity of grains. Wet corn stored had increased incidence of molds more than dry corn stored. It was observed that the Fusarium spp. showed higher scores, Penicillium spp. showed development and Aspergillus spp. occurred with lesser frequency. Aeration strategies employed did not affect the electrical conductivity of corn stored because there was no significant difference in electrical conductivity values between the aerated grain and non-aerated grains