Corpus cavernosum from men with vasculogenic impotence is partially resistant to adenosine relaxation due to endothelial A(2B) receptor dysfunction

ABSTRACT Although adenosine has been implicated in penile erection in human males, the receptor subtype responsible for adenosine regulation of human corpus cavernosum (HCC) smooth muscle tone is still a matter of debate. Using selective adenosine agonists and antagonists, we aimed at characterizing the adenosine receptors mediating relaxation of precontracted (with 1 M phenylephrine) HCC strips. HCC specimens were collected from control subjects (organ donors) and from patients with severe vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). In control subjects, adenosine and 5 -N-ethyl-carboxamide adenosine (NECA) fully relaxed HCC. The selective A2A receptor agonist 2-[4-(2-p-carboxy ethyl)phenylamino]-5 -N-ethylcarboxamido adenosine (CGS21680C) produced only a partial relaxation (30–50%) of HCC, which could be further enhanced by simultaneous application of 100 M NECA. The selective A2B receptor antagonist N-(4-acetylphenyl)-2-[4-(2,3,6,7-tetrahydro- 2,6-dioxo-1,3-dipropyl-1H-purin-8-il)phenoxy] acetamida (MRS1706) (10 nM) attenuated NECA-induced relaxation without affecting CGS21680C action. The A2A receptor antagonist 4-{2-[7-amino-2-(2-furyl)[1,2,4]triazolo-[2,3-a][1,3,5]triazin-5- ylamino]ethyl}phenol (ZM241385) (50 nM) consistently reduced the actions of both agonists. In contrast to CGS21680C, NECAinduced relaxation was attenuated when endothelial production of NO and prostanoids was reduced by 100 M NG-nitro-Larginine and 10 M indomethacin, respectively. HCC strips from patients with vasculogenic ED were partially resistant to NECA but kept relaxation to CGS21680C; the remaining effect was sensitive to blockade of A2A receptors with 50 nM ZM241385. Data suggest that adenosine regulates HCC smooth muscle tone through the activation of two receptor populations, CGS21680C-sensitive (A2A) and -insensitive (A2B) receptors, located on smooth muscle fibers and on endothelial cells, respectively. Endothelial dysfunction may be correlated with a loss of adenosine A2B receptor activity in penile vessels from men with vasculogenic ED

Rota de Arte Rupestre do Noroeste Português. Um projeto para o desenvolvimento de uma prática turística sustentável

A Rota de Arte Rupestre do Noroeste é um projeto que pretende explorar as potencialidades da arte rupestre do NW de Portugal enquanto recurso passível de desenvolvimento de uma prática turística sustentável. O NW português é uma área rica em arte rupestre de ar livre de cronologia pós-paleolítica, em especial do estilo designado de Arte Atlântica, específico da área. Além do seu inegável valor científico, o caráter estratégico deste recurso patrimonial deveria integrar programas de desenvolvimento e de organização do território. Para que tal se concretize há que colmatar carências ao nível da investigação, tais como a compilação e sistematização dos dados que promovam o avanço do conhecimento científico e, simultaneamente, propiciem discursos atrativos para o público em geral. O projeto tenciona aprofundar a investigação da arte rupestre segundo perspetivas arqueológicas e antropológicas, contribuir para salvaguardar este património arqueológico e promover a sua valorização na fachada ocidental no NW de Portugal, por forma a que se possa criar o produto turístico sustentável “Rota de Arte Rupestre do Noroeste”. Visa, ainda, rentabilizar o património “intangível” ligado a estes recursos, os recursos humanos das parcerias envolvidas no projeto – e incrementar o desenvolvimento sustentável do território abordado. Serão divulgadas as ações já materializadas e/ou em vias de materialização, bem como os resultados atingidos para diferentes áreas do NW.The!project!“ Northwest%Rock%Art%Route”!aims!to!explore! Portuguese! NW rock! art! resource! potentialities! as! capable!of!increase!sustainable!development!of!touristic! practices. The!Portuguese!NW is! rich!in!openSair!postSPalaeolithic! rock! art,! especially! from! the! designated! Atlantic! Art,! specific!from!the!area.!Along!with!its!scientific!value,!its strategic! character should! integrate! programs! of! territory!development!and!organization. In! order! to! achieve! that,! some! scientific! needs! have! to! be!overcome,!like data!compilation!and!systematization,! promoting scientific! knowledge! and! allowing attractive! discourses!to!general!public. The! project! intends! to! deepen! rock! art! research! according! to! archaeological! and! anthropological! perspectives,! to! contribute! to! its! protection,! and! to! promote! its! valorisation! in! the! western! façade! of! Portuguese! NW.! Ultimately,! it! pretends! to! create! the! sustainable! touristic! product! “Northwest% Rock% Art% Route”.!It!also!aims!to!transform!its!related “intangible”! heritage! in! something! profitable,! so! as! the! involved! project!partnerships!human!resources,!and!increase!the! sustainable!development!of!the!addressed!area. The! materialized! and/or! in! process! of! materialization! actions! will! be! presented,! so! as! the! different! achieved! results!from!each!NW area.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Estimating the potential water reuse based on fuzzy reasoning

Studies worldwide suggest that the risk of water shortage in regions affected by climate change is growing. Decision support tools can help governments to identify future water supply problems in order to plan mitigation measures. Treated wastewater is considered a suitable alternative water resource and it is used for non-potable applications in many dry regions around the world. This work describes a decision support system (DSS) that was developed to identify current water reuse potential and the variables that determine the reclamation level. The DSS uses fuzzy inference system (FIS) as a tool and multi-criteria decision making is the conceptual approach behind the DSS. It was observed that water reuse level seems to be related to environmental factors such as drought, water exploitation index, water use, population density and the wastewater treatment rate, among others. A dataset was built to analyze these features through water reuse potential with a FIS that considered 155 regions and 183 cities. Despite some inexact fit between the classification and simulation data for agricultural and urban water reuse potential it was found that the FIS was suitable to identify the water reuse trend. Information on the water reuse potential is important because it issues a warning about future water supply needs based on climate change scenarios, which helps to support decision making with a view to tackling water shortage.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under PhD grant SFRH/BD/66277/200

Disseminação e controle da resinose em troncos de cajueiro decepados para substituição de copa.

Ocorrencia e disseminacao da resinose em troncos de cajueiro e a acao protetora de dois fungicidas na reducao do processo de disseminacao.bitstream/CNPAT-2010/11953/1/Ct-017.pd

Alteração do comprimento do passo durante a transposição de obstáculos em tarefas de movimentação de cargas na construção civil

A Construção Civil tem sido o sector que regista maior incidência de acidentes fatais a nível mundial. Diversos estudos têm sido efectuados no sentido de compreender as causas que contribuem para a ocorrência de elevados índices de sinistralidade neste sector. Todavia, o contributo da movimentação manual de cargas, para a ocorrência de quedas na Construção Civil, tem sido descurado. No presente artigo procedeu-se, através de simulação laboratorial, ao estudo da influência da movimentação manual de cargas para a ocorrência de acidentes em operações envolvendo a transposição de obstáculos em obra. Verificou-se que o comprimento de passo e a passada do pé de avanço são alterados com o transporte de carga, aumentando a probabilidade de ocorrência de acidentes envolvendo quedas

Physical Interactions With Bacteria and Protozoan Parasites Establish the Scavenger Receptor SSC4D as a Broad-Spectrum Pattern Recognition Receptor

Since the pioneering discoveries, by the Nobel laureates Jules Hoffmann and Bruce Beutler, that Toll and Toll-like receptors can sense pathogenic microorganisms and initiate, in vertebrates and invertebrates, innate immune responses against microbial infections, many other families of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) have been described. One of such receptor clusters is composed by, if not all, at least several members of the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) superfamily. Many SRCR proteins are plasma membrane receptors of immune cells; however, a small subset consists of secreted receptors that are therefore in circulation. We here describe the first characterization of biological and functional roles of the circulating human protein SSC4D, one of the least scrutinized members of the family. Within leukocyte populations, SSC4D was found to be expressed by monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils, and B cells, but its production was particularly evident in epithelial cells of several organs and tissues, namely, in the kidney, thyroid, lung, placenta, intestinal tract, and liver. Similar to other SRCR proteins, SSC4D shows the capacity of physically binding to different species of bacteria, and this opsonization can increase the phagocytic capacity of monocytes. Importantly, we have uncovered the capacity of SSC4D of binding to several protozoan parasites, a singular feature seldom described for PRRs in general and here demonstrated for the first time for an SRCR family member. Overall, our study is pioneer in assigning a PRR role to SSC4D.This work was funded by National Funds through FCT– Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects SRecognite Infect-ERA/0003/2015 and UIDB/04293/ 2020. Individual funding to JT was provided by FCT through CEECIND/02362/2017. MC, RS, and MS were recipients of studentships from FCT, respectively, SFRH/BD/116791/2016, SFRH/BD/110691/2015, and SFRH/BD/133485/2017. This paper is dedicated to our colleague and friend Rui Appelberg (1960-2020). The authors acknowledge the support of the i3S Scientific Platform BioSciences Screening, member of the national infrastructure PPBI–Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122) and PT-OPENSCREEN. Tissue sections were kindly provided by Amaro Frutuoso, Department of Complementary Means of Diagnosis and Therapy, Service of Pathology, Hospital Pedro Hispano, Matosinhos

COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness against symptomatic disease and severe outcomes, 2021-2022: a test-negative case-control study

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing symptomatic and severe disease.Study design: This was an observational test-negative case-control study.Methods: Study participants were adults with at least one symptom included in the World Health Or-ganization COVID-19 definition who sought health care in a public emergency department between 1 November 2021 and 2 March 2022 (corresponding with the fifth pandemic wave in Portugal dominated by the Omicron variant). This study used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate and compare the odds ratio of vaccination between test-positive cases and test-negative controls to calculate the absolute and relative vaccine effectiveness.Results: The study included 1059 individuals (522 cases and 537 controls) with a median age of 56 years and 58% were women. Compared with the effectiveness of the primary vaccination scheme that had been completed >= 180 days earlier, the relative effectiveness against symptomatic infection of a booster administered between 14 and 132 days earlier was 71% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 57%, 81%; P = 180 days.Conclusions: Despite the known immunological evasion characteristics of the Omicron variant, results from this study show that vaccine effectiveness increases after booster administration. COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness decreases to less than 50% between 3 and 6 months after completion of the primary cycle; therefore, this would be an appropriate time to administer a booster to restore immunity.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Ana Aguiar holds a PhD grant (Reference: 2020.09390.BD) , co-funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) Program

Data on inflammasome gene polymorphisms of patients with sporadic malignant melanoma in a Brazilian cohort

AbstractThis article presents data related to our another article entitled, Genotyping and differential expression analysis of inflammasome genes in sporadic malignant melanoma reveal novel contribution of CARD8, IL1B and IL18 in melanoma susceptibility and progression (W.C. Silva, T.M. Oshiro, D.C. Sá, D.D.G.S. Franco, C. Festa Neto, A. Pontillo, 2016) [2]. Data presented here refers to the distribution of selected inflammasome SNPs in a Brazilian case/control cohort. We have identified 4 inflammasome related Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) for CARD8 (rs6509365); IL1B (rs1143643) and IL18 (rs5744256 and rs1834481) related to melanoma susceptibility/protection. This data can serve as a potential prognostic marker in sporadic malignant melanoma

maternal colonization and neonatal infection with group B Streptococcus

Aim and Objective: During the past three decades, group B Streptococcus (GBS) neonatal infection has been the subject of little research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between maternal risk factors, as established by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and maternal colonization. We also analysed the association between risk factors present in newborns and early-onset GBS disease. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Population: All pregnant women admitted for delivery in our institution and their newborns, between 1st February and 31st July 2005. Methods: Maternal and neonatal characteristics were collected from hospital clinical data, including information on risk factors established by the CDC. Descriptive statistics was used to characterize the study sample. Qui-square and Mantel-haenszel tests were applied to compare proportions and to measure the strength of associations, respectively, setting significance at p < 0,05. Results: In this sample only 47% of women were screened for GBS colonization in suitable time and 34,9% of these women were colonized. The incidence of early neonatal infection by SGB was 9/1000 neonates. Significant associations between GBS maternal colonization ant the following parameters were observed: maternal age [p=0,012; OR=1,659 (IC a 95%, 1,218-2,260)], gestational age at labour [p=0,001; OR= 2,621 (IC a 95%, 1,641- 4,188)], and urinary GBS infection during pregnancy (p<0,001). Maternal colonization occurred in women without CDC defined risk factors. Early neonatal infection by SGB was strongly associated with unscreened women (p=0,014). Conclusion: In this study, maternal GBS colonization occurred in the absence of CDC defined risk factors and varied according to maternal age and gestational week. Neonatal GBS infection was more frequent in unscreened women