Valorisation strategies and sustainable business opportunities for the sheep production in North Portugal

The paper discusses the importance of sheep farming in low-density Mediterranean rural areas, specifically in the northeast of Portugal, where the traditional extensive sheep production system is prevalent. The authors provide examples of valorisation strategies around sheep pyric herbivory practice, which may increase the benefits of sheep farming systems in Portugal. The study employed qualitative research methodology, mainly based on interviews and focus groups involving stakeholders in the sector. The findings target the commercial viability of local breeds' products by creating new food/wool products and developing tourism around the autochthonous breeds and their use, which may promote natural and cultural heritage, foster entrepreneurship and job creation, and reduce the risk of depopulation. The economic feasibility analysis shows that all the strategies under study are economically viable.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influência da disponibilidade de alimento na área de vida de Bradypus variegatus (Xenarthra: Bradypodidae) em floresta alagada de Igapó

Use of space by animals is influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors. For herbivorous mammals seasonality in forage production is considered to be the main driver of movement patterns, home range size and consequently, the use of space. While such effects are well-researched in temperate regions and the Paleotropics, little is known about the bottom up effect of productivity on herbivorous mammals in the neotropics. One of the most abundant herbivores in the Americas is Brown-throated sloth, Bradypus variagatus. The species’ wide distribution includes populations with a great variety of activity patterns and habitat types. In the Amazon basin the species can be found in a strongly seasonal environment, the igapó’’ – a seasonally-flooded riverine forests with strongly-pulsed leaf-production phenology. Using a combination of telemetry and phenological analysis, this study recorded patterns in sloth moviment, and relate these to seasonal and within-forest differences in food availability. Mean home range size was 1.29ha mean daily moviment was 32m, and did not vary seasonally. Diet was entirely of leaves and Hevea spruceana was a important resource and used in all seasons.O uso do espaço por animais é influenciado por fatores bióticos e abióticos. Para animais herbívoros a sazonalidade na produção vegetal é considerada o principal preditor da movimentação, migração, área de vida e consequentemente, uso do espaço. Enquanto os efeitos da sazonalidade da produção vegetal são bem descritos para regiões temperadas e para os Paleotrópicos, pouco é conhecido sobre o efeito bottom-up em mamíferos herbívoros do Neotrópico. Um dos mais abundantes herbívoros das Américas são as preguiças-comum, Bradypus variegatus. A vasta distribuição da espécie inclui populações com grande variedade no padrão de atividade e tipos de habitat. Na bacia Amazônica a espécie pode ser encontrada em um ambiente fortemente sazonal, o igapó – uma floresta alagada sazonal com fenologia demarcada por pulsos de produção foliar. Utilizando uma combinação de telemetria e analises fenológicas, este estudo apresente padrões na movimentação das preguiças relacionando com consequentes estações e diferenças na disponibilidade de alimento. As preguiças ocuparam em média 1.29ha da floresta alagada como área de vida e se deslocaram em média 32m por dia. A dieta foi integralmente constituída de folhas e Hevea spruceana demonstrou ser um recurso importante e consumida em todas as estações

Electronic Liquid Crystal Phases of a Doped Mott Insulator

The character of the ground state of an antiferromagnetic insulator is fundamentally altered upon addition of even a small amount of charge. The added charges agglomerate along domain walls at which the spin correlations, which may or may not remain long-ranged, suffer a $\pi$ phase shift. In two dimensions, these domain walls are ``stripes'' which are either insulating, or conducting, i.e. metallic rivers with their own low energy degrees of freedom. However, quasi one-dimensional metals typically undergo a transition to an insulating ordered charge density wave (CDW) state at low temperatures. Here it is shown that such a transition is eliminated if the zero-point energy of transverse stripe fluctuations is sufficiently large in comparison to the CDW coupling between stripes. As a consequence, there exist novel, liquid-crystalline low-temperature phases -- an electron smectic, with crystalline order in one direction, but liquid-like correlations in the other, and an electron nematic with orientational order but no long-range positional order. These phases, which constitute new states of matter, can be either high temperature supeconductors or two-dimensional anisotropic ``metallic'' non-Fermi liquids. Evidence for the new phases may already have been obtained by neutron scattering experiments in the cuprate superconductor, La_{1.6-x}Nd_{0.4}Sr_xCuO_{4}.Comment: 5 pages in RevTex with two figures in ep

Instruções técnicas para o cultivo da gravioleira.

A graviola (Annona muricata L.) e uma fruteira tropical, ... Exigências edafoclimáticas ...Instalação do pomar.bitstream/CNPAT-2010/5378/1/It-002.pd

Oral tolerance to cancer can be abrogated by T regulatory cell inhibition

Oral administration of tumour cells induces an immune hypo-responsiveness known as oral tolerance. We have previously shown that oral tolerance to a cancer is tumour antigen specific, non-cross-reactive and confers a tumour growth advantage. We investigated the utilisation of regulatory T cell (Treg) depletion on oral tolerance to a cancer and its ability to control tumour growth. Balb/C mice were gavage fed homogenised tumour tissue – JBS fibrosarcoma (to induce oral tolerance to a cancer), or PBS as control. Growth of subcutaneous JBS tumours were measured; splenic tissue excised and flow cytometry used to quantify and compare systemic Tregs and T effector (Teff) cell populations. Prior to and/or following tumour feeding, mice were intraperitoneally administered anti-CD25, to inactivate systemic Tregs, or given isotype antibody as a control. Mice which were orally tolerised prior to subcutaneous tumour induction, displayed significantly higher systemic Treg levels (14% vs 6%) and faster tumour growth rates than controls (p<0.05). Complete regression of tumours were only seen after Treg inactivation and occurred in all groups - this was not inhibited by tumour feeding. The cure rates for Treg inactivation were 60% during tolerisation, 75% during tumour growth and 100% during inactivation for both tolerisation and tumour growth. Depletion of Tregs gave rise to an increased number of Teff cells. Treg depletion post-tolerisation and post-tumour induction led to the complete regression of all tumours on tumour bearing mice. Oral administration of tumour tissue, confers a tumour growth advantage and is accompanied by an increase in systemic Treg levels. The administration of anti-CD25 Ab decreased Treg numbers and caused an increase in Teffs. Most notably Treg cell inhibition overcame established oral tolerance with consequent tumor regression, especially relevant to foregut cancers where oral tolerance is likely to be induced by the shedding of tumour tissue into the gut

Ovinicultura em Territórios de Montanha de Elevado Valor Ambiental: Estratégias de Valorização e Oportunidades de Negócio Sustentáveis

Nesta comunicação é apresentado um estudo sobre a viabilidade econômica de estratégias singulares de valorização da pastorícia extensiva na região nordeste de Portugal, com o objetivo de garantir o uso sustentável das raças locais de ovinos na gestão da paisagem. O estudo adotou uma metodologia de pesquisa mista e analisou a criação de novos produtos alimentares/lã e o desenvolvimento do turismo em torno das raças autóctones como possíveis modelos de negócio sustentáveis. Os resultados indicam que as estratégias em estudo são economicamente viáveis e podem promover o patrimônio natural e cultural da região, fomentando o empreendedorismo e a criação de emprego, além de reduzir o risco de despovoamento.Os autores agradecem à Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) pelo apoio financeiro ao CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) através de fundos nacionais FCT/MCTES.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustentabilidade do Setor Ovino em Áreas de Montanha de Elevado Valor Ambiental: Factores Críticos e Desafios

Esta comunicação apresenta um estudo de caso da região de Trás-os-Montes sobre a sustentabilidade da atividade pastoril ovina. O estudo utilizou análise SWOT e incluiu uma pesquisa quantitativa e descritiva, bem como um estudo qualitativo baseado em entrevistas pessoais com vários atores da fileira produtiva e observação de campo. Os principais obstáculos identificados incluem canais de comercialização limitados, baixa rentabilidade da carne de borrego e falta de interesse econômico na lã, entre outros. Por outro lado, a qualidade intrínseca dos produtos com origem nas diversas raças autóctones locais foi considerada o principal ponto forte da atividade.Os autores agradecem à Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) pelo apoio financeiro ao CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) através de fundos nacionais FCT/MCTES.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gauss-Bonnet Black Holes and Heavy Fermion Metals

We consider charged black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity with Lifshitz boundary conditions. We find that this class of models can reproduce the anomalous specific heat of condensed matter systems exhibiting non-Fermi-liquid behaviour at low temperatures. We find that the temperature dependence of the Sommerfeld ratio is sensitive to the choice of Gauss-Bonnet coupling parameter for a given value of the Lifshitz scaling parameter. We propose that this class of models is dual to a class of models of non-Fermi-liquid systems proposed by Castro-Neto et.al.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, pdfLatex; small corrections to figure 10 in this versio

Cytochrome P450 from Plants: Platforms for Valuable Phytopharmaceuticals

Cytochrome P450 enzymes are important for biotechnology due to their capacity to modify diverse secondary metabolites that may produce chemicals with pharmacological properties. Most terpenes, flavonoids and alkaloids require P450 catalytic functions to reach their biological activity. In the last ten years, several efforts have focused on the expression and production of these three main types of secondary metabolites in engineered microorganisms and plants using P450 of ethnobotanical origin. Despite this, several P450 coding sequences from plant sources are discovered yearly but only a few have been screened by functional genomics. Amongst them, only a few have shown potentials for use in sustainable production of novel drugs and highly valuable products. Cytochrome P450 involvement in the biosynthesis of these products is discussed in this work.Keywords: Biotechnological platforms, Cytochrome P450, Phytopharmaceuticals, Yield improvement, Terpenes, Flavonoids, Alkaloids, Microbial expressio