Adsorption of Fluoxetine and Venlafaxine onto the Marine Seaweed Bifurcaria bifurcata

Marine macroalga Bifurcaria bifurcata was investigated as sorbent for two environmental emerging pollutants, the pharmaceuticals venlafaxine (VLF) and fluoxetine (FLX), from aqueous solutions, both in mono and bicomponent batch systems. The alga was characterized by means of IR spectroscopy, allowing to identify the most important groups for biosorption, carboxylic, sulfonic and hidroxile. The point of zero charge was determined, being 6.4. Adsorption of FLX follows a pseudo first order kinetics and kinetic constants are higher for FLX than for VLF. Its adsorption better represented by the pseudo second order model. For both pharmaceuticals, the equilibrium was reached within *100 min. Adsorption studies reveal that the process was more efficient at lower pH range and followed the Langmuir–Freundlich’s model for VLF and Langmuir’s model for FLX. Maximum adsorption capacities reached a level of 12 – 3 and 22 – 4 lmol/g for VLF and FLX, respectively, in the mono-component system. The difference was attributed to the presence of various functional groups of varying polarity within the adsorbates’ molecules that affected their interactions with the adsorbent surface. The Langmuir–Freundlich’s extended model was applied to the adsorption data of the bicomponent system and no changes in the maximum adsorption capacities were found (14 – 2 and 20 – 3 lmol/g for VLF and FLX, respectively), there is no evidence of competition between the adsorbates.Acknowledgments are due to Fundac¸a˜o para a Cieˆncia e a Tecnologia (FCT), FEDER under Programme PT2020 (Project UID/QUI/50006/2013—POCI/01/0145/FEDER/ 007265) and Programme FCT–UT Austin, Emerging Technologies (Project UTAP-ICDT/CTM-NAN/0025/2014) for the financial funding. The authors would like to thank the EU and FCT/UEFISCDI/FORMAS for funding, in the frame of the collaborative international consortium REWATER financed under the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015 Call. This ERA-NET is an integral part of the 2016 Joint Activities developed by the Water Challenges for a Changing World Joint Programme Initiative (Water JPI).W.S. also thanks FCT/ MEC for his grant (Laborato´rio Associado para Quı´mica Verde–Tecnologia e Processos Limpos–UID/QUI/50006, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007265).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influência do material da ferramenta de corte sobre a usinabilidade do aço ABNT 4340 no torneamento

No presente trabalho procurou-se compreender os fenômenos associados à usinagem do aço ABNT 4340utilizando ferramentas de corte de metal duro e cermet, ambas com geometria do quebra-cavaco para usinagemleve (LP) e média (MP). Nesse sentido, analisou-se a influência da variação do avanço, quebracavacoe o material da ferramenta de corte nos parâmetros de resposta do processo, força de corte, rugosidade,forma do cavaco e análise das superfícies de saída e de folga dos insertos durante a operação de torneamento.Inicialmente, um planejamento fatorial completo 2³ foi empregado para análise da força de cortee rugosidade. Em relação à análise da força de corte, a análise de variância (ANOVA) indicou que o materialda ferramenta de corte e o avanço afetaram significativamente a força de corte, sendo os menores valoresalcançados com a ferramenta de corte cermet e o menor nível de avanço. Quanto à rugosidade Rq, diferentesníveis de materiais de ferramenta ou quebra-cavacos não foram suficientes para alterar significativamenteo valor de Rq. Em relação ao cavaco, o avanço e o tipo de quebra-cavaco influenciaram na sua forma.Como última análise, para os parâmetros de corte estabelecidos e percurso de corte, não foi possível identificardesgaste nas ferramentas de corte, no entanto, a análise por EDS apontou a adesão de material nassuperfícies de folga e de saída para ambas ferramentas avaliadas.Palavras-chave: aço ABNT 4340; torneamento; metal duro; cermet

Floristic inventory of three hectares of "Terra firme" forest in the petroleum drilling region of the Urucu River in the Amazon state, Brazil

The aim of this paper is to characterize forest vegetation in the Urucu River region, a petroleum drilling area of PETROBRAS. This information may contribute to the organized and productive use of the forest, based on scientific knowledge, so that economic returns can be obtained while conserving the environment. All tree, vine and palm stems over 10 cm DBH were inventoried in three hectares. A total of 2241 individuals were found in 60 families, 225 genera and 577 species or morphospecies. Three measures of ecological importance - abundance, dominance and frequency - expressed as three separate percentages were summed to give an Importance Value Index (IVIE). The two highest IVI were for Eschweilera coracea (DC.) S. A. Mori, with 15% in hectare 2, and E. wachenheimii (Benoist) Sandwith, with 14% in hectare 3. The highest Family Importance Indices averaged across the three hectares were for Lecythidaceae (51.62%), Sapotaceae (40.24%) and Chrysobalanacaeae (24.56%).O presente trabalho teve por objetivo principal caracterizar a vegetação da área de exploração de petróleo da PETROBRAS, no rio Urucu, bem como dar subsídios para a utilização da floresta de forma organizada e produtiva, baseada em conhecimentos científicos, de modo não somente a produzir resultados econômicos mas principalmente conservar o ambiente. Os três hectares de floresta inventariada sustentam 2.241 indivíduos, abrangendo árvores, palmeiras e cipós com DAP> 10 cm, distribuídos em 577 espécies, 225 gêneros e 60 famílias. Três medidas de importância ecológica - abundância, dominância e frequência - expressas como três porcentagens, foram somadas para obter um índice de Valor de Importância (IVI). As duas espécies com os maiores IV1E, em toda a área pesquisada, foram Eschweilera coriacea (DC.) S. A. Mori, com 15% no hectare 2 e E. wachenheimii (Benoist) Sandwith, com 14% no hectare 3. As famílias que obtiveram os maiores índices de Valor de Importância (IVIF), em média, nos 3 hectares, foram Lecythidaceae (51,6%), Sapotaceae (40,2%) e Chrysobalanaceae (24,6%)

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e. at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in Amazonia. Over large areas across Amazonia, residuals of this relationship are small and poorly spatially structured, suggesting that much of the residual variation may be local. The Guyana Shield area has consistently negative residuals, showing that this area has lower tree species-richness than expected by our models. We provide extensive plot meta-data, including tree density, tree alpha-diversity and tree species-richness results and gridded maps at 0.1-degree resolution

Tetralogia de Fallot no Brasil: compreendendo a existência

Introduction: Tetralogy of Fallot involves four specific heart problems. Firstly, there is pulmonary stenosis, characterized by the narrowing of the pathway that carries blood from the heart to the lungs, hindering blood flow. Right ventricular hypertrophy is another characteristic, where the muscle of the right ventricle of the heart becomes thicker due to increased workload caused by pulmonary stenosis. Methodology: The present study adopted a descriptive epidemiological approach with the aim of analyzing cases of Tetralogy of Fallot among live births in Brazil from 2012 to 2021. Data collection utilized the Live Birth Information System (SINASC), made available by DATASUS. Results: In the group of individuals born with Tetralogy of Fallot, the analysis of variables reveals valuable information about demographic characteristics and perinatal conditions. Regarding the "Race/Ethnicity" variable, out of the 943 cases registered, 588 (62.35%) were classified as white, 51 (5.41%) as black, 10 (1.06%) as yellow, 267 (28.31%) as brown, and 27 (2.86%) had race/ethnicity recorded as unknown. Conclusion: A profound understanding of congenital heart diseases not only saves lives but also significantly improves the quality of life for affected individuals.Introdução: A Tetralogia de Fallot envolve quatro problemas cardíacos específicos. Em primeiro lugar, há a estenose pulmonar, caracterizada pelo estreitamento da via que conduz o sangue do coração para os pulmões, dificultando o fluxo sanguíneo. A hipertrofia ventricular direita é outra característica, onde o músculo do ventrículo direito do coração torna-se mais espesso devido ao aumento da carga de trabalho provocado pela estenose pulmonar. Metodologia: O presente estudo adotou uma abordagem epidemiológica descritiva com o objetivo de analisar os casos de Tetralogia de Fallot entre os nascidos vivos no Brasil no período de 2012 a 2021. Para a coleta de dados, utilizou-se o Sistema de Informações sobre Nascidos Vivos (SINASC), disponibilizado pelo DATASUS Resultado: No grupo de nascidos com Tetralogia de Fallot, a análise das variáveis revela informações valiosas sobre características demográficas e condições perinatais. Em relação à variável "Cor/Raça", dos 943 casos registrados, 588 (62,35%) eram classificados como brancos, 51 (5,41%) como pretos, 10 (1,06%) como amarelos, 267 (28,31%) como pardos, e 27 (2,86%) tiveram a cor/raça registrada como ignorada Conclusão: A compreensão profunda das cardiopatias congênitas não apenas salva vidas, mas também melhora significativamente a qualidade de vida dos indivíduos afetados

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good