Temporal patterns in acoustic presence and foraging activity of oceanic dolphins at seamounts in the Azores

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Cascao, I., Lammers, M. O., Prieto, R., Santos, R. S., & Silva, M. A. Temporal patterns in acoustic presence and foraging activity of oceanic dolphins at seamounts in the Azores. Scientific Reports, 10(1), (2020): 3610, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60441-4.Several seamounts have been identified as hotspots of marine life in the Azores, acting as feeding stations for top predators, including cetaceans. Passive acoustic monitoring is an efficient tool to study temporal variations in the occurrence and behaviour of vocalizing cetacean species. We deployed bottom-moored Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs) to investigate the temporal patterns in acoustic presence and foraging activity of oceanic dolphins at two seamounts (Condor and Gigante) in the Azores. Data were collected in March–May 2008 and April 2010–February 2011. Dolphins were present year round and nearly every day at both seamounts. Foraging signals (buzzes and bray calls) were recorded in >87% of the days dolphin were present. There was a strong diel pattern in dolphin acoustic occurrence and behaviour, with higher detections of foraging and echolocation vocalizations during the night and of social signals during daylight hours. Acoustic data demonstrate that small dolphins consistently use Condor and Gigante seamounts to forage at night. These results suggest that these seamounts likely are important feeding areas for dolphins. This study contributes to a better understanding of the feeding ecology of oceanic dolphins and provides new insights into the role of seamount habitats for top predators.This research was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Azores 2020 Operational Programme and the Fundo Regional da Ciência e Tecnologia (FRCT), through research projects TRACE (PTDC/MAR/74071/2006), MAPCET (M2.1.2/F/012/2011), FCT-Exploratory (IF/00943/2013/CP1199/CT0001), WATCH IT (Acores-01-0145-FEDER-000057) and MISTIC SEAS II (GA11.0661/2017/750679/SUB/ENV.C2), co-funded by FEDER, COMPETE, QREN, POPH, European Social Fund (ESF), the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, and EU-DG/ENV. The Azores 2020 Operational Programme is funded by the community structural funds ERDF and ESF. Funds were also provided by FCT to MARE, through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013. MAS was supported through a FCT Investigator contract funded by POPH, QREN, ESF and the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education (IF/00943/2013). IC was supported by a FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/41192/2007) and RP by a FCT postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/108007/2015). We thank the field and crew teams for assisting with the many deployments and recoveries of the EARs. Special thanks to Norberto Serpa for helping with mooring design, Ken Sexton and Michael Richlen for their roles in manufacturing the EARs, Sergio Gomes for building the battery packs, and Lisa Munger for adapting Triton for EAR data analysis

Logistic Strategy and Organizational Structure in Brazilian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Smes)

This study evaluates the logistic strategies developed in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as a response to their organizational structures and planning processes. A multiple case study was carried out in the second largest furniture cluster in Brazil. Based on theoretical models, it was found that the characteristics of a company’s organizational structure had an impact on planning. In the case of companies with a low level of family participation, this impact was intentional, whereas in the case of companies with strongly centralized owner control over decision-making, the impact was unplanned. However, the formal nature of planning does not guarantee that logistics will have strategic aims and, in all cases, it has a strictly reactive nature

Towards the Development of Delivery Systems of Bioactive Compounds With Eyes Set on Pharmacokinetics

Delivery systems carrying natural bioactive compounds for enhanced targeting and controlled release are capturing increasing attention. High loadings and sustained release are common design goals. However, in the case of compounds naturally present in human nutrition and physiology, further efforts are justified to optimize their bioactivity and promote clinical success. In this work, it is proposed a specific attention to the regulation of drug temporal presentation as important factor to obtain novel multifunctional delivery systems meeting higher therapeutic efficiencies. Case studies on the relation between drug release dynamics and biological responses are presented for some major delivery strategies and different bioactive molecules. Pharmacokinetic essential concepts and issues concerning the multi-target mode of action typical of the pharmacological properties of natural compounds are discussed in the perspective of improving the development of efficient drug formulations. Several classes of controlled release systems are considered through the chapter, and laboratory setups for testing films and particulate delivery systems are detailed, as well as the application of models for kinetic analysis. Descriptions are illustrated with experimental results obtained with caffeine and epicatechin in our laboratory. Future investigations will benefit from preclinical and clinical evaluation of the new formulations developed by emerging approaches and tools that are being suggested by diverse authors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Citizens in the making: a contribution to children's environmental health education

As ações educativas têm especial papel na conformação do cidadão e na mudança da qualidade de vida e saúde. Apresenta-se o relato de experiência de educação em saúde, realizada no Programa de Saúde da Família por Agentes Comunitários de Saúde, tendo como alvo crianças e como tema o meio ambiente. Os objetivos são: despertar para o sentido do que é ser um cidadão, partindo da noção de direitos e deveres das crianças; convidar as crianças, de forma lúdica e prazerosa, a refletirem sobre a necessidade do cuidado com a saúde do corpo e do meio ambiente; possibilitar o conhecimento e a visualização de alguns agentes causadores de doenças comuns nas crianças da comunidade. A proposta é desenvolvida em três encontros básicos, por meio da apresentação de duas peças de teatro infantil, de um passeio à comunidade com crianças e professores e da improvisação de um laboratório para visualização de animais comuns. Os resultados apontam que pais e professores relatam mudanças de comportamento das crianças com relação ao cuidado com a higiene pessoal e com o meio ambiente, cobrando também dos adultos o mesmo cuidado. O passeio na comunidade com professores e crianças propicia um novo olhar das crianças sobre o seu entorno e, para os novos professores, muitas vezes um primeiro olhar sobre a comunidade. Recomendação: por meio da ação educativa pautada no diálogo, é possível ter uma criança capaz de modificar o meio em que vive, conhecedora de seus direitos e deveres e, sobretudo, um cidadão em formação.Educational activities have a special role in the consolidation of citizenship as well as in promoting changes in the quality of life and health. This paper presents a report on community-based health agents' experiences of environmental health education directed towards children within a Primary Health Care Center's Family Health Strategy. The objectives of this activity are to: develop a notion of children's rights and duties thus fostering awareness of citizenship; invite children, in a pleasant and playful manner, to reflect upon the need to take care of their bodies and the environment; familiarize them with and help them to visualize some of the agents that frequently cause diseases among children in their community. Description: this proposal is undertaken in three encounters, through the presentation of two children's plays, a walk with children and teachers in the community and the improvisation of a laboratory, set up so that the children can visualize small animals. As a result, parents and teachers report modifications in children's behavior concerning personal hygiene and environmental care, and the children start to demand that adults adopt similar attitudes. The walk in the community provides the children with a new perspective on their surroundings and helps new teachers to gain a perspective on the school's community. Recommendation: through educational action based on dialogue, it is possible for children to gain the capacity to modify their environment and become familiar with their rights and duties. Above all, it contributes towards their sense of citizenship

Assessment of reliability in isokinetic testing among adolescent basketball players

Background. The reproducibility of day-to-day testing of isokinetic concentric and eccentric muscular actions among adolescent basketball players aged 14 to 16 years and relationships of mean within-subject variation in two isokinetic testing sessions with chronological age, biological maturation (estimated age at peak height velocity), training experience, body size, lower-body morphology, and initial strength performance were evaluated. Material and Methods. The sample included 27 basketball players who completed replicate test sessions of 5 repetitions of reciprocal concentric and eccentric knee extensions and flexions at 60 degrees s(-1). A randomly selected subsample of 8 players completed a third testing session to confirm reliability estimates. Results. Coefficients of variation (CV) between sessions 1 and 2 ranged from 8.1% to 17.4%, and intraclass coefficients (ICCs) ranged from 0.72 to 0.89. For sessions 1 and 3, CVs ranged from 3.9% to 6.0%, and ICCs ranged from 0.95 to 0.99. The initial level of strength of eccentric knee flexion (r=-0.43) and eccentric knee extension (r=-0.42) were correlated (P<0.05) with eccentric knee extension within-variation between two sessions. Training experience (r=-0.37, P<0.05) and initial values of concentric knee flexion (r=-0.62, P<0.01) were correlated with concentric knee flexion within-subject differences. Within-subject variation of eccentric knee extension was correlated (P<0.05) with chronologic age (r=0.41), estimated age at peak height velocity (r=-0.38), body size (r=0.41 to 0.47), and leg volume (r=0.39). Conclusions. Familiarization sessions may improve the reliability of concentric and eccentric knee isokinetic strength testing at 60 s(-1) in adolescent basketball players. Age, maturity status, and training experience of young athletes should be considered when testing knee isokinetic strength at 60 degrees s(-1)

Mathematical model of brain tumour with glia-neuron interactions and chemotherapy treatment

Acknowledgements This study was possible by partial financial support from the following Brazilian government agencies: Fundação Araucária, EPSRC-EP/I032606/1 and CNPq, CAPES and Science Without Borders Program Process nos. 17656125, 99999.010583/2013-00 and 245377/2012-3.Peer reviewedPreprin

Advances in bioprocessing, analytics and formulation of influenza HA-VLP vaccine candidates produced by insect cells

The emergence of new influenza strains demands the continued development of novel, flexible, and scalable platforms for vaccine production. In this study, we describe advancements in the manufacturing process of influenza hemagglutinin (HA)-displaying virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines produced by insect cells, from upstream and downstream processing to analytics and formulation. Aiming to improve influenza HA-VLPs production, evolutionary engineering and process intensification have been applied. Adaptation of stable Sf-9 cells producing HA-VLPs to hypothermic growth resulted in up to 12-fold higher expression. Likewise, adaptation of parental High Five cells to neutral pH induced a 3-fold higher specific HA-VLPs production rate following infection with baculovirus. In both case studies, the adaptation process had no impact on VLPs activity and morphology. Noteworthy, stable adapted Sf-9 cells could be cultured in perfusion (up to 100x106 cell/mL) and continuous (~20x106 cell/mL) operation modes with cell-specific productivity similar to batch mode. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

Removal of Hydrophobic Organic Pollutants and Copper by Alginate-Based and Polycaprolactone Materials

Funding Information: This research was funded by the FUNDAÇÃO PARA A CIÊNCIA e TECNOLOGIA (FCT—Portugal), grant number PTDC/BIA-MIB/31864/2017 and by LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/50020/2020 and UIDP/50020/2020 (LSRE-LCM), funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and by FEDER funding CENTRO-01-0246-FEDER-000044. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.Organic pollutants (OPs) and heavy metals are environmental toxicants associated with great concerns. Decontamination processes are urgent for both, and the possibility to achieve their simultaneous removal from polluted waters is highly interesting. Additionally, in many cases, the effect of organic matter in the removal process is overlooked and must be considered. This work aimed to study the potential of alginate-based and polycaprolactone (PCL) materials to remove OPs and copper ions in the absence and presence of organic matter. The OPs investigated were the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene, and the pesticide chlorpyrifos, both hydrophobic compounds. Copper (II) ions were used as a model of heavy metals. Alginate-based spheres were prepared by gelation, and PCL microparticles were obtained by oil/water emulsion solvent evaporation. The materials with the highest efficiencies for OP removal from aqueous solutions were those with activated carbon and PCL. Furthermore, the spheres with activated carbon could remove anthracene and copper simultaneously, even in the presence of humic acid. This work points to activated carbon–alginate spheres as a multifunctional adsorbent able to remove different pollutants and to PCL for potential applications in OP decontamination processes.publishersversionpublishe