47 research outputs found
(Board)ing Schools: Rudyard Kipling’s young heroes
Rudyard Kipling’s young male characters, namely Stalky (Stalky & Co. ) and
Harvey Cheyne Junior (Captains Courageous), whom he portrays with noticeable
admiration, exhibit, on the one hand, circumspection, stoicism, leadership, and
stalkiness, on the other hand, the absence of scruples in manipulating those acting
in loco parentis to achieve their desired ends. This article aims to examine how
these characters can shed light on one another, allowing for a better comprehension
of them both. Furthermore, it will explore how the religious archetype of the
trinity permeates Stalky & Co.’s composition of characters, and how muscular
Christianity shapes Captains Courageous. Stalky and Harvey thrive in a masculine
world, access to which requires leaving women behind, substituting them with
brotherhoods or identification with the father. The perfect man, Kipling postulates,
is the resourceful and courageous rule-bending Christian who is able to keep
women and natives in a state of obedience.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Spondylodiscitis in pediatric age – a diagnostic challenge
Spondylodiscitis is an inflammatory process of the intervertebral disc and the adjacent vertebral endplates and mainly involves the lumbar spine. Clinical suspicion is not raised in most instances, often resulting in difficult and delayed diagnosis. The onset may be insidious and clinical signs can be mild and unspecific. This is also true with laboratory tests, which often remain within the normal range. Refusal to walk and back pain are the main symptoms, and magnetic resonance imaging of the spine is the gold standard for the diagnosis. The duration and type of treatment are controversial, but the use of antimicrobial therapy together with rest and immobilization showed good results in specific cases, leading to a progressive recovery.
We describe a previously healthy two-year old boy with spondylodiscitis, in whom no direct infectious pathogen was identified. We discuss the clinical features, laboratory findings, as well as the outcome of this clinical entity based on a review of the reported case
In Vitro Hepatotoxic and Neurotoxic Effects of Titanium and Cerium Dioxide Nanoparticles, Arsenic and Mercury Co-Exposure
This article belongs to the Special Issue Toxicity of Nanomaterials and Legacy Contaminants: Risks to the Environment and Human Health.Considering the increasing emergence of new contaminants, such as nanomaterials, mixing with legacy contaminants, including metal(loid)s, it becomes imperative to understand the toxic profile resulting from these interactions. This work aimed at assessing and comparing the individual and combined hepatotoxic and neurotoxic potential of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs 0.75-75 mg/L), cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2NPs 0.075-10 μg/L), arsenic (As 0.01-2.5 mg/L), and mercury (Hg 0.5-100 mg/L) on human hepatoma (HepG2) and neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells. Viability was assessed through WST-1 (24 h) and clonogenic (7 days) assays and it was affected in a dose-, time- and cell-dependent manner. Higher concentrations caused greater toxicity, while prolonged exposure caused inhibition of cell proliferation, even at low concentrations, for both cell lines. Cell cycle progression, explored by flow cytometry 24 h post-exposure, revealed that TiO2NPs, As and Hg but not CeO2NPs, changed the profiles of SH-SY5Y and HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and that the cell cycle was, overall, more affected by exposure to mixtures. Exposure to binary mixtures revealed either potentiation or antagonistic effects depending on the composition, cell type and time of exposure. These findings prove that joint toxicity of contaminants cannot be disregarded and must be further explored.This research was funded by FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029651. This work was also financed by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of projects UIDB/04750/2020 and LA/P/0064/2020. This work was also developed within the scope of the project CICECO- Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & LA/P/0006/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC (PIDDAC). A.T. Reis thanks the financial support of FCT through individual Grant SFRH/BPD/122112/2016. C.B. Lopes and A.C. Estrada acknowledge their research position funded by national funds (OE), through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Antioxidant capacity of Macaronesian traditional medicinal plants
The use of many traditional medicinal plants is often hampered by the absence
of a proper biochemical characterization, essential to identify the bioactive compounds present. The leaves from five species endemic to the Macaronesian islands with recognized
ethnobotanical applications were analysed: Apollonias barbujana (Cav.) Bornm., Ocotea
foetens (Ainton) Baill, Prunus azorica (Mouill.) Rivas-Mart., Lousã, Fern. Prieto, E. Días,
J.C. Costa & C. Aguiar, Rumex maderensis Lowe and Plantago arborescens Poir. subsp.
maderensis (Dcne.) A. Hans. et Kunk.. Since oxidative stress is a common feature of most
diseases traditionally treated by these plants, it is important to assess their antioxidant
capacity and determine the molecules responsible for this capacity. In this study, the
antioxidant capacity of these plants against two of the most important reactive species in
human body (hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals) was determined. To trace the antioxidant
origin total phenol and flavonoid contents as well as the polyphenolic profile and the
amount of trace elements were determined. There was a wide variation among the species
analysed in what concerns their total leaf phenol and flavonoid contents. From the High
Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) electrochemically detected peaks it was
possible to attribute to flavonoids the antioxidant capacity detected in A. barbujana, O.
foetens, R. maderensis and P. azorica extracts. These potential reactive flavonoids were
identified for A. barbujana, R. maderensis and P. azorica. For R. maderensis a high
content (7 mg g-1 dry weight) of L-ascorbic acid, an already described antioxidant
phytomolecule, was found. A high content in selenomethionine (414.35 μg g-1 dry weight)
was obtained for P. arborescens subsp. maderensis extract. This selenocompound is
already described as a hydroxyl radical scavenger is reported in this work as also
possessing peroxyl radical scavenging capacity. This work is a good illustration of
different phytomolecules (flavonoids, organic acids and selenocompounds), presents in
leaves of the five traditional medicinal plants endemic to Macaronesia, all exhibiting
antioxidant propertiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Estudos Artísticos
Os quinze artigos que aqui se reúnem, nesta edição da Revista Croma, são também as propostas para uma nova política, esclarecida, crítica, e mais exigente. Podem observar-se padrões de intervenção, que partem de algumas dimensões comuns: a interpelação do observador, a criação de novos públicos, a proposta de contribuir para uma mudança alargada, partindo de questões a que não são alheias as problemáticas contemporâneas. As questões de género, a emancipação pós-colonial, a sustentabilidade, as migrações, a massificação, a globalização, o fim das ideologias e a ascensão do populismo, entre outras, constituem os contextos da atualidadeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A comprehensive assessment of the transcriptome of cork oak (Quercus suber) through EST sequencing
Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber) is one of the rare trees with the ability to produce cork, a material widely used to make wine bottle stoppers, flooring and insulation materials, among many other uses. The molecular mechanisms of cork formation are still poorly understood, in great part due to the difficulty in studying a species with a long life-cycle and for which there is scarce molecular/genomic information. Cork oak forests are of great ecological importance and represent a major economic and social resource in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. However, global warming is threatening the cork oak forests by imposing thermal, hydric and many types of novel biotic stresses. Despite the economic and social value of the Q. suber species, few genomic resources have been developed, useful for biotechnological applications and improved forest management.
Results: We generated in excess of 7 million sequence reads, by pyrosequencing 21 normalized cDNA libraries derived from multiple Q. suber tissues and organs, developmental stages and physiological conditions. We deployed a stringent sequence processing and assembly pipeline that resulted in the identification of ~159,000 unigenes. These were annotated according to their similarity to known plant genes, to known Interpro domains, GO classes and E.C. numbers. The phylogenetic extent of this ESTs set was investigated, and we found that cork oak revealed a significant new gene space that is not covered by other model species or EST sequencing projects. The raw data, as well as the full annotated assembly, are now available to the community in a dedicated web portal at http://www.corkoakdb.org.
Conclusions: This genomic resource represents the first trancriptome study in a cork producing species. It can be explored to develop new tools and approaches to understand stress responses and developmental processes in forest trees, as well as the molecular cascades underlying cork differentiation and disease response.Peer Reviewe
Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal
Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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