Social cues in the expression of sequential alternative reproductive tactics in young males of the peacock blenny, Solaria pavo

Phenotypic change in response to variation in environmental cues has been widely documented in fish. Transitions in social dominance, in particular, have been shown to induce a rapid switch in reproductive phenotypes in many species. However, this effect has been mainly studied in adults and focused on behavioural transitions. The way social cues constraint the phenotypic development of juveniles remains poorly studied in fish. We tested the importance of social dominance and density in the phenotypic development of juveniles of the peacock blenny Solaria pavo. This species shows sequential male alternative reproductive tactics. In the first breeding season males can reproduce as nest-holders or as parasitic males (female-mimicking), or postpone reproduction; from the following season afterwards all males reproduce as nest-holders. Parasitic males have relatively larger testes that lack a testicular gland, present in the testes of nest-holders. The testicular gland is the main source of androgens in the testes and accordingly nest-holders have higher circulating androgen levels. In addition, exogenous androgen administration to parasitic males promotes the development of secondary sexual characters (SSC) only present in nest-holders such as a head crest and an anal gland. We raised juveniles under a high or low-density treatment and monitored social interactions for 1 month. No significant effect of density on the development of juvenile males was detected. However, within each replicate, the relative body size of juvenile males at the beginning of the experiment determined their dominance status, with dominant males developing towards the nest-holder morphotype. Dominant males engaged in more nest defence behaviour, showed larger testicular glands, had higher levels of 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) and testosterone (T) and developed more SSC, as compared to subordinate males. However, these effects of social dominance were moderated by body condition as only dominant males in good body condition developed SSC. The effect of social dominance and of the area of the testicular gland on the development of SSC was mediated by 11-KT and on the expression of nest defence behaviour by T. Interestingly, in spite of the higher androgen levels and more pronounced morphologic development of SSC in dominant individuals, gonadal development was independent of social dominance and most fish still had underdeveloped testis at the end of the experiment. In conclusion, social dominance promoted the development of the testicular gland, an increase in circulating androgen levels and the development of SSC, but did not promote testicular development. This suggests a dissociation of mechanisms underlying sexual maturation and the expression of male reproductive traits. This dissociation seems to be the key for the occurrence of female-mimicking males in this species, which are sexually mature despite lacking the SSC typical of nest-holdets. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.R&D Units Plurianual Program (R&D unit) from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [331/2001]; FCT [SFRH/BD/6502/2001]; [POCTI/BSE/38395/2001]; [PTDC/MAR/71351/2006]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Visualization and measurements of blood cells flowing in microfluidic systems and blood rheology: a personalized medicine perspective

Hemorheological alterations in the majority of metabolic diseases are always connected with blood rheology disturbances, such as the increase of blood and plasma viscosity, cell aggregation enhancement, and reduction of the red blood cells (RBCs) deformability. Thus, the visualizations and measurements of blood cells deformability flowing in microfluidic devices (point-of-care devices) can provide vital information to diagnose early symptoms of blood diseases and consequently to be used as a fast clinical tool for early detection of biomarkers. For instance, RBCs rigidity has been correlated with myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, among other blood diseases. In order to better understand the blood cells behavior in microfluidic devices, rheological properties analysis is gaining interest by the biomedical committee, since it is strongly dependent on the interactions and mechanical cells proprieties. In addition, the development of blood analogue fluids capable of reproducing the rheological properties of blood and mimic the RBCs behavior at in vitro conditions is crucial for the design, performance and optimization of the microfluidic devices frequently used for personalized medicine. By combining the unique features of the hemorheology and microfluidic technology for single-cell analysis, valuable advances in personalized medicine for new treatments and diagnosis approach can be achieved.This project has been funded by Portuguese national funds of FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) through the base funding from the following research unit: UIDB/04077/2020, UIDB/00319/2020 and UIDB/00532/2020. The authors are also grateful for the partial funding of FCT through the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-029394, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030171, funded by COMPETE2020, NORTE2020, PORTUGAL2020, and FEDER.Diana Pinho acknowledges the PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/89077/2012 attributed by FCT

COMFORT SEAT MODULE - FIRST CLASS COMFORT FOR ALL

The Comfort Seat Module (CSM) is a project developed in the scope of the EDAM focus area of the MIT – Portugal program, within the Product Design and Development course. The team members involved in the project come from several Engineering backgrounds and includes research students and engineering professionals, from different geographical origins. In this project the team had the purpose of designing and developing a solution, from idea into concept and then onto a valid product that could potentially be produced and even marketed. In parallel, the objective was to train the product development competences and team’s working skills as much as possible, considering the physical distance between the team members.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monitorização in continuum da Lagoa das Sete Cidades

Nas últimas décadas, a Lagoa das Sete Cidades (Ilha de São Miguel, Açores) tem sido afectada por um lento processo de eutrofização que, recentemente, conduziu a um agravamento da sua qualidade química e ecológica. Para avaliar o estado actual da Lagoa e monitorizar a sua evolução foi implementado um sistema de monitorização in continuum, baseado numa estação remota multiparamétrica e em análises periódicas do fitoplâncton. A monitorização in continuum permitiu caracterizar a evolução sazonal dos parâmetros físico-químicos, verificando-se uma rápida transição entre os períodos de mistura e estratificação da massa de água. O desenvolvimento da estratificação térmica foi determinante na evolução da comunidade fitoplanctónica

Intra-sexual variation in male reproduction in teleost fish: A comparative approach

The occurrence of intra-sexual variation in reproduction is a widespread phenomenon in teleosts. One such form of variation consists in the occurrence of alternative male types: males that invest resources in mate attraction and males that exploit the investment of the former males, by trying to sneak fertilizations during spawning. These alternative reproductive tactics can be classified according to their plasticity during the life span of the individuals (i.e., fixed vs. sequential vs. reversible). Furthermore, the differences between morphs within a given species may involve a set of different traits, including reproductive behavior, the differentiation of male morphological traits, and the patterns of gonad tissue allocation and the differentiation of gonadal accessory glands. In this paper, we review the available data on four species exhibiting different types of intra-sexual plasticity in reproduction that have been studied in our lab. The data on the proximate mechanisms, androgens and forebrain arginine-vasotocin (AVT), underlying these alternative tactics suggest that between-morph differences in androgen levels, especially in 11-ketotestosterone, are especially present in species where the alternative male types have evolved morphological traits that are tactic-specific (i.e., sexual polymorphisms) and that differences in AVT appear to be related to between-morph differences in the expression of courtship behavior. Therefore, this comparative approach leads us to propose that the different endocrine systems are involved in the differentiation of different sets of traits that make up alternative phenotypes, and that the differentiation of alternative tactics is not controlled by a single endocrine system (e.g., androgens)

Callous-unemotional traits moderate anticipated guilt and wrongness judgments to everyday moral transgressions in adolescents

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.625328/full#supplementary-materialCallous-unemotional (CU) traits observed during childhood and adolescence are thought to be precursors of psychopathic traits in adulthood. Adults with high levels of psychopathic traits typically present antisocial behavior. Such behavior can be indicative of atypical moral processing. Evidence suggests that moral dysfunction in these individuals may stem from a disruption of affective components of moral processing rather than from an inability to compute moral judgments per se. No study to date has tested if the dissociation between affective and cognitive dimensions of moral processing linked to psychopathic traits in adulthood is also linked to CU traits during development. Here, 47 typically developing adolescents with varying levels of CU traits completed a novel, animated cartoon task depicting everyday moral transgressions and indicated how they would feel in such situations and how morally wrong the situations were. Adolescents with higher CU traits reported reduced anticipated guilt and wrongness appraisals of the transgressions. However, our key finding was a significant interaction between CU traits and anticipated guilt in predicting wrongness judgments. The strength of the association between anticipated guilt and wrongness judgement was significantly weaker for those with higher levels of CU traits. This evidence extends our knowledge on the cognitive-affective processing deficits that may underlie moral dysfunction in youth who are at heightened risk for antisocial behavior and psychopathy in adulthood. Future longitudinal research is required to elucidate whether there is an increased dissociation between different components of moral processing from adolescence to adulthood for those with high psychopathic traits.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) research grant awarded to AS-C (PTDC/MHC-PCN/2296/2014), co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016747). The study was conducted at the Psychology Research Center (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by FCT through the Portuguese State Budget (Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020)

New Nile blue derivatives as NIR fluorescent probes and antifungal agents

The synthesis of four new Nile Blue derivatives with hydrogen, propyl and/or aminopropyl groups as substituents of the amines of 5- and 9-positions is described. Photophysical properties were evaluated in acidified ethanol and aqueous solution at physiological pH. Antifungal activity is also studied through the obtention of MIC values.Thanks are due to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development)-COMPETE-QRENEU for financial support through the Chemistry Research Centre of the University of Minho (Ref. UID/QUI/00686/2013 and UID/QUI/0686/2016), CBMA (PEst OE/BIA/UI4050/2014) and a PhD grant to J.C.F. (SFRH/BD/133207/2017). The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 is part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are partially supported by Infrastructure Project No 022161 (co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC)

Hydrolysis of α-lactalbumin by cardosin A immobilized on highly activated supports

In the present research effort, production of derivatives of cardosin A (a plant protease) encompassing full stabilization of its dimeric structure has been achieved, via covalent, multi-subunit immobilization onto highly activated agarose-glutaraldehyde supports. Boiling such enzyme derivatives in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and β-mercaptoethanol did not lead to leaching of enzyme, thus providing evidence for the effectiveness of the attachment procedure. Furthermore, the cardosin A derivatives prepared under optimal conditions presented ca. half the specific activity of the enzyme in soluble form, and were successfully employed at laboratory-scale trials to perform (selective) hydrolysis of α-lactalbumin (α-La), one of the major proteins in bovine whey. Hydrolysates of α-La were assayed for by the OPA method, as well as by FPLC, SDS–PAGE and HPLC. Thermal inactivation of the immobilized cardosin A was also assessed at 40, 50 and 55 °C; at these temperatures, no thermal denaturation took place during incubation for 48 h. The highest degree of hydrolysis was attained by 5 h reaction, at 55 °C and pH 5.2. SDS–PAGE of α-La hydrolysates displayed bands corresponding to low molecular weight peptides. Our results suggest that cardosin A in immobilized form is a good candidate to bring about proteolysis in the dairy industry, namely in whey processing

A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of wildland fire behavior modeling

Wildland fires have become a major research subject among the national and international research community. Different simulation models have been developed to prevent this phenomenon. Nevertheless, fire propagation models are, until now, challenging due to the complexity of physics and chemistry, high computational requirements to solve physical models, and the difficulty defining the input parameters. Nevertheless, researchers have made immense progress in understanding wildland fire spread. This work reviews the state-of-the-art and lessons learned from the relevant literature to drive further advancement and provide the scientific community with a comprehensive summary of the main developments. The major findings or general research-based trends were related to the advancement of technology and computational resources, as well as advances in the physical interpretation of the acceleration of wildfires. Although wildfires result from the interaction between fundamental processes that govern the combustion at the solid- and gas-phase, the subsequent heat transfer and ignition of adjacent fuels are still not fully resolved at a large scale. However, there are some research gaps and emerging trends within this issue that should be given more attention in future investigations. Hence, in view of further improvements in wildfire modeling, increases in computational resources will allow upscaling of physical models, and technological advancements are being developed to provide near real-time predictive fire behavior modeling. Thus, the development of two-way coupled models with weather prediction and fire propagation models is the main direction of future work.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) within the R&D Units Project Scope UIDB/00319/2020 (ALGORITMI) and R&D Units Project Scope UIDP/04077/2020 (METRICS) and through project: PCIF/GRF/0141/2019: “O3F—An Optimization Framework to reduce Forest Fire