Experimental Study of the Effects of Three Types of Meat on Endothelial Function in a Group of Healthy Volunteers

Background: There is a relationship between atherosclerotic risk factors and increased vascular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidized LDL and ROS may directly cause endothelial dysfunction by reducing endothelial nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. The semi-essential amino acid L-arginine is the only substrate for NO synthesis in vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, this amino acid improves endothelial function and plays a role in the prevention and/or treatment of multiple cardiovascular diseases: atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes and so on. To determine the effects of three different protein matrices (250 g Fillet of Beef, FB; Chicken Raised on the Ground, CRG; Free-Range Chicken, FRC) with a known content of arginine on the cardiovascular workload, vascular compliance and urinary excretion of some parameters of endothelial function as TGF–Beta, NO (nitrate e nitrite) in a group of healthy volunteers. Materials and methods: We enrolled 10 men to study the behavior of Systolic, Diastolic, Mean, and Pulse Blood Pressure, of Vascular Resistances, of Macro and Micro Vascular Elasticity, of urinary excretion of TGF-β and Nitric Oxide as ratio of creatinine before and after two hours of each meal. The cardiovascular parameters are determined by HDI/Pulse Wave CR 2000 (Hypertension Diagnostic Inc, Eagan, MN); TGF-β is analysed by Elisa method (R&D Systems) and NO by colorimetric method (Cayman). Results and Conclusion: The protein meal packed with CRG causes a significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure mean pressure and vascular resistance in urinary excretion of TGF. FB resulted in a significant decrease in vascular resistance and urinary excretion of NO, while significantly increasing the Pulse Pressure, heart rate and urinary excretion of TGF-β. FRC resulted in a significant reduction of macrovascular elasticity; increase the urinary excretion of TGF and Pulse Pressure. We can conclude that CRG meat looks better both in terms of metabolic and cardiovascular load especially at endothelial level

Leaf area reduction by trimming, a growing technique to restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio decoupled by the warming climate

The aim of this work is the evaluation of the leaf area reduction by trimming, as a growing technique to restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio decoupled by the warming climate. A 3-year period (2010-2012) severe shoot trimming treatment was done after berryset (berry diameter 3-4 mm) and the veraison date was delayed around 20 days. The grapes were picked at the same level of soluble solids in all the treatments. However, for every year, the trim treatment significatively increased the total anthocyanin content between 8 % and 21 % compared to control. Therefore, delaying the berry ripening process trough the decrease of the leaf area to fruit ratio, could partially restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio disrupted by elevated temperatures. Although it is necessary to study other trimmings intensities as well as other times of intervention, the shoot trimming treatment could be a very simple technique to delay berry ripening and compensate the effects of climate warming.

FeEDDHA-facilitated Fe uptake in relation to the behaviour of FeEDDHA components in the soil-plant system as a function of time and dosage.

FeEDDHA products are widely used to prevent and remedy Fe chlorosis in crops grown on calcareous soils. These products consist of a mixture of FeEDDHA components: racemic o,o-FeEDDHA, meso o,o-FeEDDHA, o,p-FeEDDHA and rest-FeEDDHA. The FeEDDHA components differ in physical and chemical properties, and as a consequence also in effectiveness as Fe fertilizer. In order to efficiently match dose, frequency and moment of FeEDDHA application with the Fe requirements of plants, it is important to understand the behaviour of the FeEDDHA components in the soil-plant system as a function of time and dosage, and to relate this behaviour to Fe uptake by plants. These issues have been examined in a pot trial study with soybean plants (Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv Mycogen 5072) grown on calcareous soil from Santomera, Spain. Four FeEDDHA treatments (two compositions, two dosages) were applied prior to the set in of chlorosis. Leaching of FeEDDHA components was prevented. Plant and soil were sampled every week, for six weeks. From one week onward the Fe concentration in the pore water was largely gouverned by racemic and meso o,o-FeEDDHA. The concentration behaviour of the o,o-FeEDDHA isomers underwent two stages: a strong decline within the first week resulting from linear adsorption, and a gradual decline from one week onward. For meso o,o-FeEDDHA, unlike racemic o,o-FeDDHA, the gradual decline could be mathematically well described with an exponential decay function. Soybean plants mainly took up Fe in the progressed vegetative stage (3rd and 4th week) and in the reproductive stage, when the pods were being filled with seeds (6th week). Fe uptake and removal of racemic o,o-FeEDDHA from the soil system display a similar time-trend, whereas the removal of meso o,o-FeEDDHA had a plant-independent character. This indicates the removal of racemic o,o-FeEDDHA is to a larger extent plant-relate

Conversion of Pyrolysis Products into Volatile Fatty Acids with a Biochar-Packed Anaerobic Bioreactor

The coupling of pyrolysis and acidogenic fermentation was here proposed as a new hybrid thermochemical-biological method to circumvent the hydrolysis bottleneck within lignocellulose valorization schemes. Pyrolysis products of fir sawdust, that is, the water-soluble (WS) fraction together with CO-rich syngas, were tested as feedstock for volatile fatty acid (VFA) production. WS/syngas conversion to VFA was particularly challenging due to the combined effect of the substrate (WS/syngas) and product (VFA) inhibition. To solve such an issue, a new type of bioreactor, based on packed biochar and a new acclimatization/bioaugmentation procedure consisting of co-feeding WS/syngas and glucose were developed and tested. The gradual switch from glucose to WS was monitored through various analytical techniques, observing the transition toward a “pyrotrophic” microbial mixed culture able to convert WS/syngas into VFA. Even without selective inhibition of methanogens, the main fermentation products were VFA (mainly acetic, butyric, and caproic acid), whose profile was a function of the WS/glucose ratio. Although the achieved volumetric productivity was lower (<0.6 gCOD L–1 d–1) than that observed in sugar fermentation, bioaugmented pyrotrophs could convert headspace CO, most of GC–MS detectable compounds (e.g., anhydrosugars), and a significant portion of non-GC–MS detectable compounds of WS (e.g., oligomers with MW < 1.45 kDa)

FeEDDHA-facilitated Fe uptake in relation to the behaviour of FeEDDHA components in the soil-plant system as a function of time and dosage.

FeEDDHA products are widely used to prevent and remedy Fe chlorosis in crops grown on calcareous soils. These products consist of a mixture of FeEDDHA components: racemic o,o-FeEDDHA, meso o,o-FeEDDHA, o,p-FeEDDHA and rest-FeEDDHA. The FeEDDHA components differ in physical and chemical properties, and as a consequence also in effectiveness as Fe fertilizer. In order to efficiently match dose, frequency and moment of FeEDDHA application with the Fe requirements of plants, it is important to understand the behaviour of the FeEDDHA components in the soil-plant system as a function of time and dosage, and to relate this behaviour to Fe uptake by plants. These issues have been examined in a pot trial study with soybean plants (Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv Mycogen 5072) grown on calcareous soil from Santomera, Spain. Four FeEDDHA treatments (two compositions, two dosages) were applied prior to the set in of chlorosis. Leaching of FeEDDHA components was prevented. Plant and soil were sampled every week, for six weeks. From one week onward the Fe concentration in the pore water was largely gouverned by racemic and meso o,o-FeEDDHA. The concentration behaviour of the o,o-FeEDDHA isomers underwent two stages: a strong decline within the first week resulting from linear adsorption, and a gradual decline from one week onward. For meso o,o-FeEDDHA, unlike racemic o,o-FeDDHA, the gradual decline could be mathematically well described with an exponential decay function. Soybean plants mainly took up Fe in the progressed vegetative stage (3rd and 4th week) and in the reproductive stage, when the pods were being filled with seeds (6th week). Fe uptake and removal of racemic o,o-FeEDDHA from the soil system display a similar time-trend, whereas the removal of meso o,o-FeEDDHA had a plant-independent character. This indicates the removal of racemic o,o-FeEDDHA is to a larger extent plant-relate

Maine Archaeology : Winter 2021

https://digitalmaine.com/mainearchsociety_newsletters/1004/thumbnail.jp

Pró – Infância: projeto de estudo sobre a infância e juventude

Trabalho apresentado no 31º SEURS - Seminário de Extensão Universitária da Região Sul, realizado em Florianópolis, SC, no período de 04 a 07 de agosto de 2013 - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.O projeto tem como objetivo geral desenvolver ações para contribuir com os organismos, nas três esferas de governo (nacional, estadual e municipais), que atuam na garantia dos direitos da criança e do adolescente prevista na Constituição Federal e no Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente. Busca contribuir para as ações de efetivação de direitos sociais, por meio das ações desenvolvidas pelos Conselhos Tutelares e Conselhos Municipais de Direitos das Crianças e Adolescentes, por meio de suporte aos conselheiros, sujeitos desta ação, no processo de planejamento, execução e avaliação de políticas públicas voltadas para à área da infância e adolescência. Este se realiza por meio de pesquisas e metodologias voltadas a capacitar estes trabalhadores acima citados. Além de assessorar os municípios na realização das Conferências Municipais das referidas áreas, visando fomentar a realização de estudos e diagnósticos nos quinze municípios que compõem a região do Vale do Ivaí. Atualmente, o projeto está desenvolvendo ações de capacitação continuada, módulo introdutório, a Conselheiros Tutelares e dos Direitos, semanalmente, com carga horário total de 56 horas. Até o presente momento, as ações tem sido muito bem aceitas, com total adesão. Já foram realizados 8 encontros de capacitação, cada um com carga horário de 4 horas, sobre as temáticas: Os marcos regulatórios da Proteção Integral à Infância, a Juventude e o Eca; ECA e o Sistema de Garantia dos Direitos; Políticas Públicas e a Proteção Integral para a Infância e a Juventude no Brasil; Desafios para a Intervenção interdisciplinar e intersetorial na Garantia dos Direitos. Percebemos uma grande defasagem desses profissionais sobre a legislação que ampara suas ações, bem como competências e ações dos mesmos. Concluímos que as capacitações se fazem pertinentes e necessárias, a fim de melhorar o trabalho desempenhado pelo Sistema de Garantia de Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente

Oggetti Spaesati, Unhomely Belongings: Objects, Migrations and Cultural Apocalypses

This article analyses first person memories in relation to objects as documented in Belongings, an online exhibition curated through the NSW Migration Heritage Centre. It explores the role of objects in recreating domestic geographies in the process of migration, using the Italian anthropologist Ernesto De Martinos notion of `crisis of presence as the moment when familiar objects become unfamiliar or uncanny by losing their relation with the web of domestic uses, habits, sense of belonging, and cultural memories. In this crisis, objects acquire new layers of meaning entangled in the loss and re-creation of entire life-worlds, relational universes, senses of place, `homes. Taking Belongings as its case study, this article argues that objects enable the telling and performance of displacement from one place and regrounding in another one as a continuum of affective, embodied and political experiences that question the separation between being at home and being a migrant

Population size and decadal trends of three penguin species nesting at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands

We report long-term changes in population size of three species of sympatrically breeding pygoscelid penguins: Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae), chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii) over a 38 year period at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, based on annual counts from selected colonies and decadal all-island systematic counts of occupied nests. Comparing total numbers of breeding pairs over the whole island from 1978/79 to 2015/16 revealed varying fortunes: gentoo penguin pairs increased by 255%, (3.5% per annum), chinstrap penguins declined by 68% (-3.6% per annum) and Adélie penguins declined by 42% (-1.5% per annum). The chinstrap population has declined steadily over the last four decades. In contrast, Adélie and gentoo penguins have experienced phases of population increase and decline. Annual surveys of selected chinstrap and Adélie colonies produced similar trends from those revealed by island-wide surveys, allowing total island population trends to be inferred relatively well. However, while the annual colony counts of chinstrap and Adélie penguins showed a trend consistent in direction with the results from all-island surveys, the magnitude of estimated population change was markedly different between colony wide and all island counts. Annual population patterns suggest that pair numbers in the study areas partly reflect immigration and emigration of nesting birds between different parts of the island. Breeding success for all three species remained broadly stable over time in the annually monitored colonies. Breeding success rates in gentoo and chinstrap penguins were strongly correlated, despite the differing trends in population size. This study shows the importance of effective, standardised monitoring to accurately determine long-term population trajectories. Our results indicate significant declines in the Adélie and chinstrap penguin populations at Signy Island over the last five decades, and a gradual increase in gentoo breeding pairs