Trophic relationships of the long-finned squid loligo Sanpaulensis on the southern Brazilian shelf

The diet and predators of Loligo sanpaulensis (Cephalopoda: Loliginidae) on the southern Brazilian shelf were studied by examining the stomach contents of 668 long-finned squid (12–184 mm mantle length) caught by bottom trawl and the stomach contents of 47 potential predators, including stranded penguins and marine mammals as well as fish and cephalopods caught with diverse fishing gears in the region. Of 313 long-finned squid stomachs containing food, fish occurred in 36.4% of stomachs, crustaceans in 23.3% and cephalopods in 6.4%. Identified prey included demersal fish, shrimps and conspecifics. Loligo sanpaulensis was preyed on by 31 of the 47 potential predatory species examined. The frequency of occurrence (FO) was high (>20%) in the stomach contents of La Plata dolphins Pontoporia blainvillei, penguins Spheniscus magellanicus, fur seals Arctocephalus spp., the benthic shark Mustelus canis and the benthic finfish Astroscopus sexpinosus and Percophis brasiliensis. It was less important (5–20% FO) for the benthic and demersal fish Helicolenus lahillei, Paralichthys isosceles, P. patagonicus, Merluccius hubbsi and Urophycis mystacea, and of minor importance (2–5% FO) in the diet of the finfish Trichiurus lepturus, Cynoscion guatucupa, Macrodon ancylodon, Pagrus pagrus and Pomatomus saltatrix. Loligo sanpaulensis seems to be a link in the pelagic and benthic foodwebs of the southern Brazilian shelf, because it is preyed on by such high-level predators as marine mammals and penguins, and by several of the most abundant fish found in the region

Sustainable Microalgal Harvesting Process Applying Opuntia cochenillifera: Process Parameters Optimization

Microalgae harvesting by coagulation can use coagulant agents such as alum, synthetic polymers or biocoagulants. Biocoagulants have attracted the attention of researchers because they are natural, biodegradable, and promote high microalgal harvesting efficiencies. This study aims to optimize the harvesting of Chlorella vulgaris based on the dosage of the Opuntia cochenillifera extract and the choice of eluent for biopolymer extraction. The outdoor cultivation of C. vulgaris achieved a specific growth rate of 0.455 d(-1) and a maximum biomass concentration of 1.28 g(DW) L-1. In order to harvest the microalgal biomass, the polymer present in the mucilage of O. cochenillifera was extracted using NaOH and HCl. Coagulation and sedimentation assays were performed with different coagulant dosages: 3.5, 5.9, and 8.2 g L-1. The maximum harvesting efficiencies using the acid and alkaline extract coagulant solutions were 80.8% and 99.5%, respectively, with a dosage of 3.5 g L-1. According to the results, the C. vulgaris biomass can be harvested with the mucilage from O. cochenillifera in acid and alkaline eluents. The application of this biocoagulant constitutes a sustainable solution for microalgal harvesting

Studies towards the construction of alkylidene quinolizidines. The total synthesis of homopumiliotoxin 223G

The addition of 5-methyl-2-triisopropylsilyloxyfuran (5) to N-carbobenzyloxy-2-methoxypiperidine (6a) afforded a mixture of the corresponding erythro and threo isomers 7a and 8a, respectively, in moderate to good yields (42-85%) and diastereoisomeric ratio ( 7a : 8a) ranging from 1.1: 1 -6:1 depending on the solvent system and the Lewis acid employed. The threo isomer 8a was eventually converted to (+/-)-homopumiliotoxin 223G ( 1) which was prepared in 5 steps and 13% overall yield from 6a.14698299

Insulin resistance:Impact on therapeutic developments in diabetes

Insulin resistance has a broad pathogenic impact affecting metabolic, cardio-renal and other disease areas. Extensive studies to dissect the mechanisms of insulin resistance have provided valuable insights to shape current clinical awareness and advance therapeutic practice. However, the development of direct interventions against insulin resistance has been hindered by its complex and highly variable presentations, especially in type 2 diabetes. Among glucose-lowering agents, metformin and thiazolidinediones provide cellular actions that counter some effects of insulin resistance: reduced glucotoxicity and weight-lowering with antidiabetic therapies also improve insulin action, except that endogenously- or exogenously-created hyperinsulinaemia may partially compromise these benefits. Increasing awareness of the pervasiveness and damaging ramifications of insulin resistance heightens the need for more specifically targeted and more effective therapies

A hybrid intelligent agent for notification of users distracted by mobile phones in an urban environment

Mobile devices are now ubiquitous in daily life and the number of activities that can be performed using them is continually growing. This implies increased attention being placed on the device and diverted away from events taking place in the surrounding environment. The impact of using a smartphone on pedestrians in the vicinity of urban traffic has been investigated in a multimodal, fully immersive, virtual reality environment. Based on experimental data collected, an agent to improve the attention of users in such situations has been developed. The proposed agent uses explicit, contextual data from experimental conditions to feed a statistical learning model. The agent’s decision process is aimed at notifying users when they become unaware of critical events in their surroundings

Clinical Association of White Matter Hyperintensities Localization in a Mexican Family with Spastic Paraparesis Carrying the PSEN1 A431E Mutation

Presenilin 1 gene (PSEN1) mutations are the most common cause of familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD). One of the most abundant FAD mutations, PSEN1 A431E, has been reported to be associated with spastic paraparesis in about half of its carriers, but the determining mechanisms of this phenotype are still unknown. In our study we characterized three A431E mutation carriers, one symptomatic and two asymptomatic, from a Mexican family with a history of spastic paraparesis in all of its affected members. At cognitive assessment and MRI, the symptomatic subject showed an atypical non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment with visuospatial deficits, olfactory dysfunction and significant parieto-occipital brain atrophy. Furthermore, we found several periventricular white matter hyperintensities whose progression pattern and localization correlated with their motor impairment, cognitive profile, and non-motor symptoms. Together, our data suggests that in this family the A431E mutation leads to a divergent neurological disorder in which cognitive deterioration was clinically exceeded by motor impairment and that it involves early glial and vascular pathological changes

Effects of 8-week online, supervised high-intensity interval training on the parameters related to the anaerobic threshold, body weight, and body composition during pregnancy: a randomized controlled trial

We aimed to assess the effects of an 8-week, online high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program on the parameters related to the anaerobic threshold (AT), body weight, and body compo sition in pregnant women. A total of 69 Caucasian women with an uncomplicated singleton preg nancy (age: 31 ± 4 years; gestational age: 22 ± 5 weeks; mean ± standard deviation) were randomly allocated to either an 8-week HIIT program (HIIT group) or to a comparative 8-week educational program (EDU group). Our most important finding was that even with the 8-week progression of pregnancy and physiological weight gain, the HIIT group maintained the same level of parameters related to AT: volume of oxygen at the AT (VO2/AT), percentage of maximal oxygen uptake at the AT (%VO2max/AT), and heart rate at the AT (HR/AT). In contrast, in the EDU group we observed a substantial deterioration of parameters related to the AT. The HIIT intervention substantially re duced the fat mass percentage (median: 30 to 28%; p < 0.01) and improved the total fat-free mass percentage (median: 70% to 72%; p < 0.01). In the EDU group, the body composition did not change significantly. An online, supervised HIIT program may be used to prevent the pregnancy-related risk of excessive weight gain and reduction in exercise capacity without yielding adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio