Isolamento e identificação de microorganismos endofíticos de Campomanesia adamantium (Cambess) O. Berg (Myrtaceae) e seus metabólitos

Campomanesia adamantium (Cambess.) O. Berg (Myrtaceae) is a shrub used in folk medicine for stomach disorders and urinary tract infections. The aim of this study was isolate and identify endophytic microorganisms from C. adamantium leaves and their metabolites. The botanical material composed of C. adamantium leaves was collected near Bela Vista, Goiás. Four actinobacteria, 10 bacteria and 60 fungi were isolated. Three fungi were able to maintain the feasibility of experimentation in the laboratory: Cercospora zebrina, Agaricales sp, and Passarola daleae. Crude ethyl acetate extract was obtained from strains cultured in Czapek broth, and the produced metabolites were analyzed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS). 36 metabolites were identified. This work represents the first isolation of endophytic fungi and their metabolites from C. adamantium leaves, opening future perspectives of researches with biotechnological interest in medicine, industry or agriculture.Campomanesia adamantium (Cambess.) O. Berg (Myrtaceae) é um arbusto usado na medicina popular para distúrbios do estômago e infecções do trato urinário.. O objetivo deste estudo foi isolar e identificar microorganismos endofíticos das folhas de  C. Adamantium e seus metabolitos. O material botânico composto por folhas de C. adamantium foi coletado próximo a Bela Vista, Goiás. Foram isoladas quatro actinobactérias, 10 bactérias e 60 fungos. Três fungos foram capazes de manter a viabilidade da experimentação em laboratório: Cercospora zebrina, Agaricales sp e Passarola daleae. O extrato acetato de etila foi obtido a partir de linhagens cultivadas em caldo Czapek, e os metabólitos produzidos foram analisados ​​por espectrometria de massa por ionização por electropulverização (ESI MS). 36 metabolitos foram identificados. Este trabalho representa o primeiro isolamento de fungos endofíticos e seus metabólitos das folhas de C. adamantium, abrindo perspectivas futuras de pesquisas com interesse biotecnológico na medicina, indústria ou agricultur

How long is long enough? Decreasing effects in Aedes aegypti larval mortality by plant extracts over time

Aedes aegypti superou todos os tipos de tentativas de controle do mosquito pelo homem no último século. Estratégias para controle populacional recorrem ao uso de inseticidas sintéticos, que podem levar a problemas como intoxicação humana e contaminação ambiental. Foram avaliados os efeitos de Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti), extratos de Ilex paraguariensis (erva-mate) e Ilex theezans (erva-caúna) contra a mortalidade de larvas de A. aegypti. Os bioensaios foram conduzidos sob condições laboratoriais controladas de temperatura (27 ± 3°C) e fotoperíodo (12 h). O extrato hidroalcoólico de folhas de I. theezans apresentou melhor efeito residual quando comparado ao extrato aquoso de frutos de I. paraguariensis. O efeito residual mais forte de I. theezans provavelmente ocorreu devido à presença de substâncias químicas em suas folhas, tais como cumarinas, saponinas hemolíticas e glicosídeos cianogênicos, ausentes em I. paraguariensis. Nossos resultados contribuíram para a prospecção de inseticidas naturais e abriram a possibilidade de estudos subsequentes sobre o uso de extratos vegetais em situações de campo em um curto espaço de tempo.Aedes aegypti has overcome all kinds of mosquito control attempts over the last century. Strategies for population control resorts to the use of synthetic insecticides, which can lead to problems like human intoxication and environmental contamination. The effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti), Ilex paraguariensis (yerba mate), and Ilex theezans (caúna herb) extracts against A. aegypti larvae were evaluated. The bioassays were conducted under controlled laboratory conditions of temperature (27 ± 3°C) and photoperiod (12 h). Hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of I. theezans displayed better residual effect compared to the aqueous extract of I. paraguariensis fruits. The strongest residual effect of I. theezans was probably due to the presence of certain chemicals in its leaves, such as coumarins, hemolytic saponins, and cyanogenic glucosides, which were absent in I. paraguariensis. The results herein contributed to the prospection of natural insecticides and opened the possibility for subsequent studies on the use of plant extracts in field situations in a short-time scale

Enhancing Energy Production with Exascale HPC Methods

High Performance Computing (HPC) resources have become the key actor for achieving more ambitious challenges in many disciplines. In this step beyond, an explosion on the available parallelism and the use of special purpose processors are crucial. With such a goal, the HPC4E project applies new exascale HPC techniques to energy industry simulations, customizing them if necessary, and going beyond the state-of-the-art in the required HPC exascale simulations for different energy sources. In this paper, a general overview of these methods is presented as well as some specific preliminary results.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020) under the HPC4E Project (www.hpc4e.eu), grant agreement n° 689772, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the CODEC2 project (TIN2015-63562-R), and from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP). Computer time on Endeavour cluster is provided by the Intel Corporation, which enabled us to obtain the presented experimental results in uncertainty quantification in seismic imagingPostprint (author's final draft

Inorganic and organic geochemistry of the shales from Pimenteiras Formation: implications for an unconventional petroleum system

The Pimenteiras Formation records the marine ingression in the Meso/Neo-Devonian of the Parnaíba Basin, and it shales are the main source rock interval for its conventional petroleum system. The aim of this paper is to integrate geological and geochemical data in order to provide the potential on shale gas production of the Pimenteiras Formation, based on the outcrop sampling. Nine depositional facies were identified: shale with ostracods (Fo), micaceous silty-shale (Fm), tabular shale (F), massive fine or very fine sandstones (Af), sandstones with hummocky cross lamination (Ah), interbedded clay-silt couplets with linsen (Hl) and wavy (Hw) hetherolitics, dark siltstone with sulfide levels (S) and clast-supported breccias (Bc), observed on top of the outcrops. Clay minerals dominate the mineralogy, followed by quartz. Weathering processes are evidenced by the high contents of lateritic iron and kaolinite. The scanning electron microscopy allowed to classify the pores into macropores (> 50 μm), and also clusters of organic matter and clay minerals with various habits were seen, highlighting the massive and the vermicular ones. The total organic carbon (TOC) values range from 0.02 to 1.31%. Pyrite crystals occur in the rock with the highest TOC value in response to the anoxic behaviour of the S facies. Additionally, the composition of the clay minerals is dominated by smectites and mixed-layer clay minerals. The preliminary results indicate a prospective difficulty for the hydraulic fracturing due to the major presence of clay minerals. The primary porosity has favourable dimension, but unfavourable geometry. The low thermal maturity and inexpressive TOC values points out to the low potential production. Thus, the rocks of this study are unfavourable for the shale gas production under the current conditions required by the economic market.A Formação Pimenteiras registra a ingressão marinha Meso/Neodevoniano da Bacia do Parnaíba. Seus folhelhos representam o principal intervalo gerador para seu sistema petrolífero convencional. O objetivo deste trabalho é, baseando-se em amostragem de afloramento, integrar dados geológicos e geoquímicos para compreender e avaliar o potencial produtor de gás de folhelho da Formação Pimenteiras. Assim, nove fácies foram identificadas: folhelho com ostracodes (Fo), folhelho siltoso micáceo (Fm), folhelho tabular (F), arenito fino e muito fino maciço (Af), arenito com laminação hummocky (Ah), pares silte-argila com laminações heterolíticas linsen (Hl) e wavy (Hw), siltito escuro com níveis sulfetados (S) e brecha clasto sustentada (Bc), observada no topo dos afloramentos. Os argilominerais dominam a mineralogia, seguidos de quartzo. Os processos intempéricos pós-deposicionais são evidenciados pelos altos teores de ferro laterítico e presença de caulinita. A microscopia eletrônica de varredura permitiu classificar os poros como macroporos (> 50 μm). Foram imageadas, também, feições como agregados de matéria orgânica e argilominerais com diferentes hábitos, destacando-se o maciço e o vermicular. Os valores de carbono orgânico total (COT) variam entre 0,02 e 1,31%. Cristais de pirita ocorrem associados à rocha com maior valor de COT e refletem o caráter anóxico da fácies S. Os argilominerais são predominantemente esmectitas e argilominerais interestratificados. Os resultados indicam uma provável dificuldade para o faturamento hidráulico devido à grande presença de argilominerais. A porosidade primária possui dimensão favorável, mas geometria desfavorável. A baixa maturidade térmica e os valores de COT pouco expressivos apontam para um baixo potencial produtor. Assim, as rochas deste estudo possuem um potencial de produção de gás não convencional pouco favorável, diante das atuais condições exigidas pelo mercado

New Materials to Solve Energy Issues through Photochemical and Photophysical Processes: The Kinetics Involved

Kinetic rates of energy production are extremely controlled by the competing processes that occur in systems capable of energy transfer. Besides organic and inorganic compounds already known as electronically actives, supramolecular systems can be thought to form energy transfer complexes to efficiently convert, for instance, light into electricity and the mechanisms for that can be of any kind. Photophysical and photochemical processes can simultaneously occur in such systems to provide energy conversion, by competing mechanisms or collaborative ones. Thus, to investigate the kinetic rates of each process and to understand the dynamics of the electronic excited states population and depopulation in strategically structured materials, can offer important tools to efficiently make use of this not always so evident power of supramolecular materials. In this chapter, we present the state-of-the-art of the use of photophysical processes and photochemical changes, presented by new materials and devices to provide a control of energy transfer processes and enable distinct applications, since energy conversion to sensing and imaging techniques to material characterization

Applying future Exascale HPC methodologies in the energy sector

The appliance of new exascale HPC techniques to energy industry simulations is absolutely needed nowadays. In this sense, the common procedure is to customize these techniques to the specific energy sector they are of interest in order to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the required HPC exascale simulations. With this aim, the HPC4E project is developing new exascale methodologies to three different energy sources that are the present and the future of energy: wind energy production and design, efficient combustion systems for biomass-derived fuels (biogas), and exploration geophysics for hydrocarbon reservoirs. In this work, the general exascale advances proposed as part of HPC4E and its outcome to specific results in different domains are presented.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020) under the HPC4E Project (www.hpc4e.eu), grant agreement n° 689772, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the CODEC2 project (TIN2015-63562-R), and from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP). Computer time on Endeavour cluster is provided by the Intel Corporation, which enabled us to obtain the presented experimental results in uncertainty quantification in seismic imaging.Postprint (author's final draft

Antimicrobial high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/ZnO nanocomposites obtained by in situ polymerization

Nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) prepared by combustion in solution was used to obtain nanocomposites. The ZnO particles were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), showing crystallite size of 32 nm and a superficial area of 32.6 m2 g–1. Nanocomposites with 1, 3, and 5 wt.% of ZnO in the polymeric matrix were obtained using the in situ polymerization of ethylene with catalytic activities between 1500-1700 kg (molZr h PE)–1. The high-density polyethylene nanocomposites (PEZnO) were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), SEM, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The nanocomposites with 1 wt.% ZnO gave excellent mechanical properties, and all were active against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria

Manifestações da Síndrome de Gorlin-Goltz: uma revisão de literatura

A Síndrome de Gorlin Goltz, também conhecida como Síndrome do carcinoma nevóide basocelular é uma desordem autossômica dominante hereditária de alta penetrância e expressividade variável, resultante da mutação do gene protein patched homólogo 1 (PTCH1). No presente trabalho, foi realizada uma revisão de literatura com a comparação de 13 artigos filtrados na plataforma PubMed, em que os relatos de casos envolvem métodos de diagnóstico, manifestações mais e menos comuns e prevalentes em pacientes com diferentes fenótipos. Os resultados obtidos se mostraram como sintomas mais comuns são: múltiplos carcinomas basocelulares na pele, ceratocistos odontogênicos, calcificações intracranianas na foice cerebral e anomalias nas costelas e vértebras (costela bífida, chanfrada, fusionadas e parcialmente ausentes) e as menos frequentes podem ser descritas por meduloblastoma, fibroma cardíaco, fissura palatina e/ou labial, entre outras. O diagnóstico e tratamento deve ser realizado de maneira multidisciplinar a fim de englobar o paciente como um todo para se possível, um melhor prognóstico e posterior qualidade de vida

Extreme rainfall and landslides as a response to human-induced climate change: a case study at Baixada Santista, Brazil, 2020

In March 2020, an extreme rainfall in Baixada Santista, Brazil, led to a series of landslides affecting more than 2,800 people and resulting losses exceeding USD 43 million. This attribution study compared extreme rainfall in two large ensembles of the UK Met Office Hadley Centre HadGEM3-GA6 model that represented the event with and without the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Antecedent rainfall conditions on two different timescales are considered, namely extreme 60- day rainfall (Rx60day) which relates to the soil moisture conditions and extreme 3-day rainfall (Rx3day) which represents landslide triggering heavy rainfall. In the scenario including both natural and human-induced factors the antecedent 60 day rainfall became 74% more likely, while the short-term trigger was 46% more likely. The anthropogenic contribution to changes in rainfall accounted for 20-42% of the total losses and damages. The greatest economic losses occurred in Guarujá (42%), followed by São Vicente (30%) and Santos (28%). Landslides were responsible for 47% of the homes damaged, 85% of the homes destroyed, all reported injuries, and 51% of the deaths associated with heavy rainfall. Changes in land cover and urbanization showed a pronounced increase in urbanized area in Guarujá (107%), São Vicente (61.7%) and Santos (36.9%) and a reduction in farming area. In recent years, the region has experienced an increase in population growth and a rise in the proportion of irregular and/or precarious housing in high-risk areas. Guarujá has the highest number of such dwellings, accounting for 34.8%. Our estimates suggest that extreme precipitation events are having shorter return periods due to climate change and increased urbanization and population growth is exposing more people to these events. These findings are especially important for decision-makers in the context of disaster risk reduction and mitigation and adaptation to climate change