Adrenaline and Noradrenaline: Partners and Actors in the Same Play"

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Water-rock interaction and potential contamination risk in a U-enriched area

The Picoto mining area is in the village of Vilar Seco (Viseu), central Portugal. Mineralization occurs mainly in quartz veins with meta-torbernite and uranophane and some U-bearing minerals, cutting a Variscan granite. Exploitation took place in two phases, between 1917 and 1953, and since the closure, the area has never been remediated. Water–rock interaction processes, including the mobility of potentially toxic elements through soil and water (surface and groundwater), were identified with the determination in situ of physicochemical parameters and selected anions and cations, by ICP-OES. The soils are contaminated with As (>44 mg/kg), Cu (>23 mg/kg), and U (>40 mg/kg) and cannot be used for agricultural or domestic purposes. The waters are generally weakly mineralized and have pH values ranging from acidic to neutral. However, some of them are contaminated with NO2 (up to 2.3 mg/L), Fe (up to 1849 mg/L), Mn (up to 777 mg/L), Cu (up to 5.4 µg/L), As (up to 14.7 µg/L), and U (up to 66.2 µg/L) and cannot be used for human consumption or agricultural activities. The soil and water contamination are mainly related to the old mine activities and the subsequent human activities that have developed in the area.This research was funded by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through projects UIDB/04683/2020 UIDB/00073/2020, UIDP/00073/2020 and Nano-MINENV 029259 (PTDC/ CTA-AMB/29259/2017).The authors thank FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., through the project’s reference UIDB/04683/2020, UIDP/04683/2020 and Nano-MINENV 029259 and UIDB/ MAR/04292/2020 (MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre)

Report on a Collection of Lutzomyia Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from the Middle Solimões (Amazonas, Brazil)

Fifty-two species of Lutzomyia sand flies were identified in contemporaneous samples totalling only 1875 individuals, collected at the same site in tall primary terra-firme rainforest, near the south bank of the Solimões River. The most abundant species belonged to the subgenera Trichophoromyia and Nyssomyia. The subgenera Psathyromyia, Nyssomyia and Psychodopygus represented the greatest number of species. A new, aberrant species of the subgenus Psathyromyia (L. cultellata) and the female of Lu. souzacastroi are described. The Phlebotominae are proposed as a suitable indicator group for biogeographic and diversity studies

2º relatório - vacinação para a COVID-19: intenção e seus preditores. Estudo na população portuguesa, em diferentes etapas do ciclo de vida

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Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

13C Isotopomer Analysis of Tissue Metabolism by direct and indirect NMR Detection

Tese de doutoramento em Bioquímica (física Molecular) apresentada à Fac. de Ciências e Tecnologia da Univ. de CoimbraA análise de isotopómeros por RMN constitui actualmente uma das metodologias mais promissoras para o diagnóstico clínico de disfunções metabólicas. Uma das principais vantagens desta técnica assenta no facto de fazer uso de isótopos estáveis como 13C e 2H, em vez dos marcadores radioactivos tradicionalmente usados. No entanto, a baixa sensibilidade da espectroscopia RMN e o elevado custo dos marcadores isotópicos estáveis constituem duas desvantagens significativas que têm impossibilitado a aplicação da técnica em análises clínicas de rotina. O objectivo desta investigação foi a exploração e desenvolvimento de novos métodos de detecção de 13C com sensibilidade acrescida. A estratégia geral seguida consistiu no desenvolvimento de métodos bidimensionais de correlação heteronuclear capazes de providenciar informação sobre isotopómeros a fim de poder ser utilizada em modelos metabólicos. A técnica encontrada mais adequada consiste na combinação da correlação heteronuclear HM(S)QC com a correlação homonuclear TOCSY HM(S)QCTOCSY. Esta sequência permite em cada protão uma leitura directa das populações de 13C, tanto relativas ao carbono directamente ligado como a carbonos alifáticos afastados. Foi possível o estabelecimento de correlações entre os volumes de picos cruzados da experiência HM(S)QCTOCSY e fluxos relativos de vias metabólicas associadas com o ciclo de Krebs, obtendose os mesmos fluxos que os determinados a partir de uma análise de espectros RMN de 13C unidimensionais. Este método foi aplicado a amostras de glucose obtidas do sangue após infusão de marcadores de 13C, permitindo quantificar fluxos hepáticos. Tal aplicação demonstra as possibilidades da técnica HM(S)QCTOCSY para o desenvolvimento de um método clínico automatizado de quantificação de gluconeogenese em humanos. O aumento em sensibilidade providenciado pela técnica foi demonstrado através da obtenção de importantes fluxos metabólicos a partir de um pequeno músculo soleus de ratinho de aproximadamente 10 mg, que representa uma amostra do tamanho típico de uma biópsia de tecido humano. Em conclusão, este trabalho estabeleceu as bases para a futura aplicação da análise de isotopómeros por RMN a uma variedade de doenças humanas usando amostras suficientemente pequenas e que vulgarmente se encontram disponíveis.NMR isotopomer analysis is currently developing tnto one of the most promising tools for clinical diagnosis of metabolic dysfunctions. A major advantage of this technique resides in the use of stable isotopes like 13C and 2H, instead of the conventionally used radiotracers. Nevertheless, two major disadvantages, the inherent insensitivity of the NMR technique and the high cost of stable tracers, have circumvented routine applications of the technique in clinical settings. The goal of this research was to explore new NMR methods of 13C detection with increased sensitivity. The general approach followed consisted in the development of indirect 2D [13C,1H] heteronuclear correlation methods capable of providing 13C isotopomer information to be used in mathematical metabolic models. The most successful technique proved to be a combination of the HM(S)QC sequence with a 1H-TOCSY relay HM(S)QCTOCSY. This sequence provided a direct readout of 13C populations, both nearest neighbour and multiple bonds, from every proton in a molecule. Relationships between HM(S)QCTOCSY crosspeak volumes and relative flux through pathways associated with the Krebs cycle were simple and provided equivalent results to those derived from conventional 1D 13C NMR spectra. This method was applied to derive hepatic metabolic fluxes from glucose samples obtained from blood after infusion of 13C tracers, demonstrating the feasibility of an automated clinical method to evaluate gluconeogenesis in humans by HM(S)QCTOCSY. The enhanced sensitivity of the technique was demonstrated by deriving relevant metabolic flux information from a small mouse soleus muscle of approximately 10 mg, a sample size typical of a human tissue biopsy. In summary, this work has laid the groundwork for extending 13C isotopomer analysis to a variety of human diseases by using modest sized samples that are readily available clinically