Organic-Rich facies in the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal : Total organic carbon distribution and relation to transgressive-regressive facies cycles

The upper Sinemurian to Pliensbachian series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) correspond to marly limestone sediments rich in benthic and nektonic macrofauna. This sedimentary record includes several intervals of organicrich facies, which are particularly well developed in the western sectors of the basin. They correspond to grey and dark marls locally showing strong lamination (black shale type) and are recognized as one of the most important potential oil source rocks. This study shows the vertical and lateral distribution of these organic-rich intervals, supported by over 550 total organic carbon (TOC) determinations. The results presented reveal two important intervals, with several black shale occurrences, in the Oxynotum(?)-Raricostatum (Polvoeira Member of Água de Madeiros Formation) and at the top of the Ibex-upper part of Margaritatus zones (top of the Vale das Fontes Formation), showing in the distal (western) sectors up to 22% and 15% TOC, respectively. TOC values decrease progressively towards the proximal sectors, the youngest organic-rich interval being the most expressive at the basin scale. This lateral TOC distribution, the facies stacking patterns and the decrease observed in benthic macrofauna confirm that these intervals are related to 2nd-order transgressive phases. 2nd-order regressive phases, developed during the uppermost Raricostatum and Spinatum zones respectively, show lower TOC values. TOC distribution combined with other stratigraphic and sedimentological parameters enabled seven facies maps to be created for the time interval studied. At the regional scale, this study shows for the first time the good similarity between the upper Sinemurian-Pliensbachian sedimentary successions of the Lusitanian and Basque- Cantabrian basins

Organic-Rich facies in the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal: Total organic carbon distribution and relation to transgressive-regressive facies cycles

The upper Sinemurian to Pliensbachian series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) correspond to marly limestone sediments rich in benthic and nektonic macrofauna. This sedimentary record includes several intervals of organicrich facies, which are particularly well developed in the western sectors of the basin. They correspond to grey and dark marls locally showing strong lamination (black shale type) and are recognized as one of the most important potential oil source rocks. This study shows the vertical and lateral distribution of these organic-rich intervals, supported by over 550 total organic carbon (TOC) determinations. The results presented reveal two important intervals, with several black shale occurrences, in the Oxynotum(?)–Raricostatum (Polvoeira Member of Água de Madeiros Formation) and at the top of the Ibex-upper part of Margaritatus zones (top of the Vale das Fontes Formation), showing in the distal (western) sectors up to 22% and 15% TOC, respectively. TOC values decrease progressively towards the proximal sectors, the youngest organic-rich interval being the most expressive at the basin scale. This lateral TOC distribution, the facies stacking patterns and the decrease observed in benthic macrofauna confirm that these intervals are related to 2nd-order transgressive phases. 2nd-order regressive phases, developed during the uppermost Raricostatum and Spinatum zones respectively, show lower TOC values. TOC distribution combined with other stratigraphic and sedimentological parameters enabled seven facies maps to be created for the time interval studied. At the regional scale, this study shows for the first time the good similarity between the upper Sinemurian-Pliensbachian sedimentary successions of the Lusitanian and Basque- Cantabrian basins

Kinin B1 and B2 receptor deficiency protects against obesity induced by a high-fat diet and improves glucose tolerance in mice

The kallikrein-kinin system is well known for its role in pain and inflammation, and has been shown recently by our group to have a role also in the regulation of energy expenditure. We have demonstrated that B1 receptor knockout (B1KO) mice are resistant to obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) and that B1 receptor expression in adipocytes regulates glucose tolerance and predisposition to obesity. However, it is also known that in the absence of B1 receptor, the B2 receptor is overexpressed and can take over the function of its B1 counterpart, rendering uncertain the role of each kinin receptor in these metabolic effects. Therefore, we investigated the impact of ablation of each kinin receptor on energy metabolism using double kinin receptor knockout (B1B2KO) mice. Our data show that B1B2KO mice were resistant to HFD-induced obesity, with lower food intake and feed efficiency when compared with wild-type mice. They also had lower blood insulin and leptin levels and higher glucose tolerance after treatment with an HFD. Gene expression for tumor necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein, which are important genes for insulin resistance, was reduced in white adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and the liver in B1B2KO mice after the HFD. In summary, our data show that disruption of kinin B1 and B2 receptors has a profound impact on metabolic homeostasis in mice, by improving glucose tolerance and preventing HFD-induced obesity. These novel findings could pave the way for development of new pharmacological strategies to treat metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and obesity

In vitro and in vivo ocular biocompatibility of electrospun poly(ɛ-caprolactone) nanofibers.

Biocompatibility is a requirement for the development of nanofibers for ophthalmic applications. In this study, nanofibers were elaborated using poly(ε-caprolactone) via electrospinning. The ocular biocompatibility of this material was investigated. MIO-M1 and ARPE-19 cell cultures were incubated with nanofibers and cellular responses were monitored by viability and morphology. The in vitro biocompatibility revealed that the nanofibers were not cytotoxic to the ocular cells. These cells exposed to the nanofibers proliferated and formed an organized monolayer. ARPE-19 and MIO-M1 cells were capable of expressing GFAP, respectively, demonstrating their functionality. Nanofibers were inserted into the vitreous cavity of the rat's eye for 10days and the in vivo biocompatibility was investigated using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), histology and measuring the expression of pro-inflammatory genes (IL-1β, TNF-α, VEGF and iNOS) (real-time PCR). The OCT and the histological analyzes exhibited the preserved architecture of the tissues of the eye. The biomaterial did not elicit an inflammatory reaction and pro-inflammatory cytokines were not expressed by the retinal cells, and the other posterior tissues of the eye. Results from the biocompatibility studies indicated that the nanofibers exhibited a high degree of cellular biocompatibility and short-term intraocular tolerance, indicating that they might be applied as drug carrier for ophthalmic use

Rheology of supersaturated sucrose solutions

Sucrose solutions, with concentrations near or superior to saturation, present high potentialities for the candy and pastry industries. Creep measurements under small stresses were done to obtain the rheological properties of highly concentrated sucrose solutions, since such solutions could be in a metastable state and tend to crystallise. The viscosities of these solutions, from 70.0% to 85.2% (w/w), were determined experimentally at different temperatures, from 0 to 90 C. The temperature dependence of viscosity was studied using experimental and published data for, respectively, high and low concentrations (<70% (w/w)). Results showed that the Arrhenius model describes better the temperature dependence of viscosity for concentrations under saturation and in the high concentration regime the WLF model had a better predicting ability. The effect of concentration on viscosity was observed and included in the Arrhenius and WLF models parameters. The proposed models were able to successfully describe the data in the corresponding concentration range. These results can be used in predicting the viscosities of syrups for either process design or new products formulation

Eficacia y seguridad del adhesivo tisular Tisuacryl en el cierre de la piel de la episiotomía

Se realizó un ensayo clínico fase III, en el Hospital Docente Materno Infantil 10 de Octubre, de Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba, entre julio de 1999 y marzo del 2000, con el objetivo de evaluar la eficacia y seguridad del adhesivo tisular Tisuacryl en el cierre de la piel de la episiotomía. Cada grupo constó de 300 pacientes, de acuerdo a los criterios de inclusión establecidos para el ensayo. En el grupo estudio se presentaron menos molestias en la episiorrafia (95.6 %) que en el grupo control (56.3 %) a los 30 minutos post parto, así como al tercer día posterior al nacimiento (97.6 % vs. 61.3 %). Al séptimo día, los resultados en el afrontamiento, estética y molestias en la herida fueron significativamente mejores con el adhesivo tisular evaluado. Los riesgos relativos de resultados adversos al séptimo día posterior al parto fueron 3.2 veces mayores en relación con afrontamiento y 2.9 veces con la estética no satisfactorias cuando se utilizó catgut cromado al comparar con el Tisuacryl. Para las molestias en la episiorrafia, el riesgo relativo se elevó a 24.2, todos con diferencias estadísticas significativas. Se concluye que el uso del adhesivo tisular Tisuacryl para el cierre de la piel en la episiotomía tiene menor probabilidad de afrontamiento y estética de la herida no satisfactoria y de menor sensación dolorosa en la herida quirúrgica que el catgut cromado.Peer Reviewe

Differential expression of genes related to the immune response of anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi in the brazilian amazon basin

Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi is the primary vector of human malaria in South America. Immune responses in mosquito vectors of malaria are mainly regulated by genes of the Toll and IMD pathways through the transcription factors NF-kappa-β, Rel1 and Rel2, which are controlled by the negative regulatory genes Cactus and Caspar. We measured the expression levels of Rel1, Rel2, Caspar and Cactus genes, which are related to the immune system, in adult females of A. darlingi after blood feeding compared to adult females without blood feeding (controls) due to their possible effects on the ability of becoming infected with species of Plasmodium and spreading malaria. Quantitative expression was determined by real-time PCR, using the reference genes GAPDH and β-actin. The expression levels of Rel1, Rel2, Caspar and Cactus varied significantly at 4, 8, 14 and 24 h in mosquitoes that had fed on blood compared to control insects (0 h), with significantly greater expression at 24 h after blood feeding. Relative expression levels among these genes varied at the different post blood feeding times. This information adds to our understanding of the insect immune response system and related questions involved in understanding the biology and control of this mosquito. © FUNPEC-RP

Multi-score Learning for Affect Recognition: the Case of Body Postures

An important challenge in building automatic affective state recognition systems is establishing the ground truth. When the groundtruth is not available, observers are often used to label training and testing sets. Unfortunately, inter-rater reliability between observers tends to vary from fair to moderate when dealing with naturalistic expressions. Nevertheless, the most common approach used is to label each expression with the most frequent label assigned by the observers to that expression. In this paper, we propose a general pattern recognition framework that takes into account the variability between observers for automatic affect recognition. This leads to what we term a multi-score learning problem in which a single expression is associated with multiple values representing the scores of each available emotion label. We also propose several performance measurements and pattern recognition methods for this framework, and report the experimental results obtained when testing and comparing these methods on two affective posture datasets

Epidermis recreation in spongy-like hydrogels: New opportunities to explore epidermis-like analogues

[Excerpt] On the road to successfully achieving skin regeneration, 3D matrices/scaffolds that provide the adequate physico-chemical and biological cues to recreate the ideal healing environment are believed to be a key element [1], [2] and [3]. Numerous polymeric matrices derived from both natural [4] and [5] and synthetic [6], [7] and [8] sources have been used as cellular supports; nowadays, fewer matrices are simple carriers, and more and more are ECM analogues that can actively participate in the healing process. Therefore, the attractive characteristics of hydrogels, such as high water content, tunable elasticity and facilitated mass transportation, have made them excellent materials to mimic cells’ native environment [9]. Moreover, their hygroscopic nature [10] and possibility of attaining soft tissues-like mechanical properties mean they have potential for exploitation as wound healing promoters [11], [12], [13] and [14]. Nonetheless, hydrogels lack natural cell adhesion sites [15], which limits the maximization of their potential in the recreation of the cell niche. This issue has been tackled through the use of a range of sophisticated approaches to decorate the hydrogels with adhesion sequences such as arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) derived from fibronectin [16], [17] and [18], and tyrosine-isoleucine-glycine-serine-arginine (YIGSR) derived from laminin [18] and [19], which not only aim to modulate cell adhesion, but also influencing cell fate and survival [18]. Nonetheless, its widespread use is still limited by significant costs associated with the use of recombinant bioactive molecules