Niobium pentoxide shows an interesting reactivity that allows the control of different aspects of its morphology and chemistry. In this study, Nb2O5 nanoparticles were modified with protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) and tris(ethynylphenyl) pyrene derivative (PyPh3) by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as linkage group and used as photosensitizers against lung cancer. The antitumor photoactivity against the A549 tumor cell line as a model of in vitro study showed half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) ca. 15 μmol L-1 for both materials and the absence of dark activity, indicating the viability of dye-modified Nb2O5 as a photodynamic therapy (PDT) agent. chemistry NbO Nb O Nb2O PPIX (PPIX trisethynylphenyl tris ethynylphenyl tris(ethynylphenyl PyPh3 PyPh (PyPh3 3aminopropyltriethoxysilane aminopropyltriethoxysilane 3 cancer A A54 IC50 IC (IC50 ca 1 L1 L L- activity dyemodified dye PDT (PDT agent (PyPh A5 IC5 (IC5 (IC

Low-cost adsorbents promote the valorization of locally sourced waste materials and are still a significant challenge for removing toxic metal ions from industrial effluents. In this sense, Castor (Ricinus communis L.) stalks (CS) were activated with an alkaline solution and tested as an adsorbent to remove nickel, copper, cadmium, and lead ions. A 24-1 factorial design was carried out and showed a correlation and influence of the variables, such as pH, adsorbent mass, agitation rate, and initial concentration in the adsorption process. The adsorbents in their natural, activated, and saturated states were characterized. After activation, X-ray diffraction results revealed a change from cellulose I to cellulose II. The X-ray fluorescence showed that the ion exchange adsorption mechanism occurred. For the kinetic adsorption studies, the equilibrium time was reached up to 15 min. Different isotherm models described the adsorption process, with the Sips model providing the best fit to the experimental data. Five cycles of sorption/desorption using 0.1 mol L-1 HCl elution were carried out with a minimal loss in sorption capacity and physical degradation. Nickel and copper ions exhibited the lowest desorption rates. Due to their efficiency, CS can be a promising and low-cost alternative for removing metal ions. Lowcost Low cost effluents sense Ricinus L. L (CS nickel cadmium 241 24 1 24- variables pH mass rate process natural characterized activation Xray X ray II occurred studies min data sorptiondesorption 01 0 0. L1 L- degradation rates efficiency lowcost low 2

Polymers are options as antimicrobials for skin protection, antifouling surfaces, and fabrics. Here we analyzed the interaction of polymers based on poly(methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly((dimethylamino ethyl) methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) with model membranes and bacteria. We used the homopolymers PMMA, PDMAEMA, and the diblock copolymer(s) prepared with different PMMAm:PDMAEMAn ratios (m/n). The interactions of PDMAEMA and PMMAm-b-PDMAEMAn with large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) prepared with phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol at different pHs, were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential. These polymers promoted LUVs leakage of a fluorescent probe (5,6-carboxyfluorescein) localized exclusively in the internal aqueous compartment. Interestingly, all copolymers exhibit a bell-shaped pH dependence for the polymer-induced LUVs leakage. The interaction of the positively charged polymers and the pH effect was also demonstrated using giant unilamellar vesicles. These copolymers inhibited bacterial growth in the micromolar range and can be used to prevent bacterial growth on surfaces. protection surfaces fabrics polymethacrylate poly methacrylate poly(methacrylate PMMA (PMMA polydimethylamino dimethylamino ethyl (PDMAEMA bacteria copolymer s copolymer(s PMMAmPDMAEMAn PMMAm PDMAEMAn m/n. mn m/n . m n (m/n) PMMAmbPDMAEMAn b (LUVs pHs NMR, NMR , (NMR) scattering potential 5,6carboxyfluorescein 56carboxyfluorescein carboxyfluorescein 5,6 5 6 (5,6-carboxyfluorescein compartment Interestingly bellshaped bell shaped polymerinduced polymer induced (m/n (NMR 6carboxyfluorescein 56 5,

Resumen Se planteó la hipótesis de que es posible que el inóculo de diferentes especies de rumiantes con capacidades digestivas diferentes que se alimentan de un determinado forraje puede mostrar diferentes utilizaciones de alimento en comparación con otras especies de rumiantes. Se evaluaron cinco gramíneas Brachiaria: B. decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. decumbens acceso D70, B. humidicola cv. Tupi, B. humidicola cv. Común, y B. ruziziensis acceso R124, en dos edades de rebrote (21 y 42 d). Se analizó la producción, el contenido bromatológico, la digestibilidad de materia seca in vitro (DMSiv) y la digestibilidad de la fibra detergente neutro in vitro (DFDNiv) utilizando inóculos bovinos u ovinos. El experimento utilizó un diseño factorial de 5 × 2 × 2 y encontró efectos significativos para la variedad de gramínea y la edad de rebrote. Además, se encontraron interacciones significativas de gramínea × edad en la materia seca, la proteína cruda, la fibra detergente neutro y la fibra detergente ácido de la muestra total y lamina de la hoja. Hubo un efecto significativo de la variedad de gramínea y la edad de la gramínea en la masa del forraje, la relación lámina de la hoja/tallo, lámina de la hoja, tallo, material senescente y crecimiento. En los ensayos de la digestibilidad in vitro, el origen del inóculo mostró un efecto significativo en algunas variedades. Debido a las diferencias en los ensayos in vitro, se recomendó el uso de inóculos específicos de las especies para las evaluaciones de alimentos según el animal al que se destina. Asimismo, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk presentó la mejor digestibilidad in vitro (DMSiv y DFDNiv) en inóculo bovino, mientras que B. humidicola cv. Tupi tuvo mejor digestibilidad in vitro (DMSiv y DFDNiv) en inóculo ovino.

Abstract It was hypothesized that it is possible that inoculum from different ruminant species with different digestive abilities feeding from a certain forage may show different feed utilizations comparing to other ruminant species. Five Brachiaria grasses were evaluated: B. decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. decumbens access D70, B. humidicola cv. Tupi, B. humidicola cv. Common, and B. ruziziensis access R124, at two regrowth ages (21 and 42 d). Production, bromatological content, in vitro dry matter digestibility (ivDMD) and in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility (ivNDFD) were analyzed using bovine or ovine inoculums. The experiment used a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design and found significant effects for grass variety and regrowth age. In addition, significant interactions from grass × age on dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber of total sample and leaf blade were found. There were significant effect of grass variety and grass age on forage mass, leaf blade/stem ratio, leaf blade, stem, senescent material and growth. In vitro digestibility assays of inoculum source showed significant effect in some varieties. Due to differences in in vitro assays, it was recommended the use of species-specific inoculums for feed evaluations according to the animal it is intended for. Also, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk presented the best in vitro digestibility (ivDMD and ivNDFD) in bovine inoculum, whereas B. humidicola cv. Tupi had better in vitro digestibility (ivDMD and ivNDFD) in ovine inoculum.

ABSTRACT Approximately 240 million people worldwide are infected by Schistosoma. In Brazil, one of the main intermediate hosts of this parasite is Biomphalaria glabrata snails. The early detection of larval stages in intermediate hosts is an important challenge to public health, but it also represents an opportunity as a new alternative to indicate earlier natural infections before cercariae differentiation and emergence. In this context, we demonstrated that PCR amplification of a 28S gene fragment from the parasite does demonstrate S. mansoni infection in snails 14 days post infection. This conventional polymerase chain reaction amplified clear bands and was able to detect parasitic infection in the intermediate host B. glabrata under experimental conditions. However, we reinforce that this approach requires deeper investigations and further comparisons to confirm its specificity and sensitivity in earlier time points after miracidia infection. This approach has relevant potential as an effective molecular-based strategy for the monitoring of schistosomiasis transmission.

Coprecipitation is one of the most practical methods used to synthesize ferrite nanoparticles. Fine characteristics of these materials can be improved by means of a series of modifications in the synthesis method. In this paper we present a study of influence of glycerol as structure directing and stabilizing agent in the synthesis of zinc ferrite nanoparticle, exploring its chelating capacity and oxidation. The studied materials include two series of zinc ferrite samples and its precursors obtained with or without glycerol throughout different stages during the synthesis process. The structural and morphological characteristics were evaluated by means of different techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and thermal analysis. The oxidation of glycerol was determined by high-performance liquid chromatograph. The obtained results demonstrate that zinc ferrite crystals synthesized in the presence of glycerol are initially bigger than those synthesized in absence of it, but according to the oxidation process they tend to decrease giving rise to intermediate phases. Interestingly, these samples grow back during more advanced stages and become structurally better organized, compared to the series of samples produced in absence of glycerol. These results indicate that glycerol is capable to modify the synthesis route of zinc ferrite nanoparticles via coprecipitation, acting directly over the size and morphology of the crystals.

Os insetos galhadores são herbívoros sedentários sofisticados que apresentam alto nível de especialização com sua planta hospedeira, mas sua performance pode ser afetada por fatores bióticos e abióticos. Neste estudo nós testamos duas hipóteses: a) plantas que possuem maior número de vizinhos coespecíficos apresentam maior riqueza e abundância de insetos galhadores, e b) a competição interespecífica é uma força capaz de molda a organização das comunidades de insetos herbívoros associados com uma planta super-hospedeira. O sistema Copaifera oblongifolia (Fabaceae)/ insetos galhadores associados foi usado para testar estas hipóteses. Os trabalhos de campo foram desenvolvidos em áreas de Cerrado do norte de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Para testar a primeira hipótese, nós avaliamos, com modelos lineares generalizados de efeitos mistos, os efeitos do número de vizinhos coespecíficos na riqueza e abundância de galhas associadas com 67 arbustos de C. oblongifolia pertencentes a duas populações. Para testar a segunda hipótese, nós usamos modelos nulos para avaliar se um arbusto de C. oblongifolia colonizado por uma espécie de inseto galhador é preferido ou evitado por uma outra espécie de inseto galhador. Um total de 2901 insetos galhadores pertencentes a 15 diferentes espécies foi coletado nos 67 arbustos de C. oblongifolia. Nós observamos uma relação negativa entre o número de vizinhos coespecíficos e a riqueza e a abundância de insetos galhadores associados com C. oblongifolia. Assim, nossos resultados não corroboraram a hipótese da concentração do recuro e nós usamos a teoria da diluição do recurso para explicar este resultado. Nossos resultados também mostraram que o padrão de co-ocorrência dos insetos galhadores na planta hospedeira não diferiu daquele esperado pelo acaso. Portanto, a estrutura da comunidade de insetos galhadores associada com C. oblongifolia não pode ser atribuída a eventos determinísticos com a competição interespecífica.

Gall-forming insects are sophisticated sedentary herbivores that present high level of specificity with host plant, but their performance can be affected by biotic and abiotic factors. In this study we have tested two predictions: a) plants that have a greater number of conspecific neighbors have greater richness and abundance of gall-forming insects, and b) interspecific competition is a force capable of shaping the organization of gall-forming insect communities in super-host plants. We used the Copaifera oblongifolia (Fabaceae)/galling insects' system to test these predictions. Fieldwork was carried out in areas of Cerrado (Brazilian Savanna) in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. To test the first hypothesis, we evaluated with generalized linear mixed models, the effects of the number of conspecific neighbors on the richness and abundance of galls associated with 67 C. oblongifolia individual plants belonging to two populations. To test the second hypothesis, we used null models to evaluate whether a plant of C. oblongifolia colonized by a species of gall is preferred or avoided by another species of gall. A total of 2901 gall-forming insects belonging to 15 species were collected from the host plant C. oblongifolia. We observed negative relationships between the number of conspecific neighbors and the abundance and richness of gall-forming insects associated C. oblongifolia. Thus, our data did not support the resource concentration hypothesis. Instead, we used the resource dilution theory to explain the negative relation between resource concentration and frequency of attack by galling insects. Our results also showed that the co-occurrence pattern of gall-forming insects in the host plant did not differ from those expected by chance. Therefore, the structure of the gall-forming insect community associated to single C. oblongifolia plants cannot be attributed to deterministic factors such as interspecific competition.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of the percolate in soil columns cultivated with Tiffon-grass 85 under different wastewater rates from swine slaughterhouse and dairy. The experiment was conducted at the Department of Engineering at the Federal University of Lavras, in PVC columns with 0.30 m of diameter and 1.2 m deep, filled with Dark Red Latosol cultivated with Tifton-grass 85. The treatments consisted of a (AQT0) control with recommended chemical fertilization for Tifton-grass 85 (300 kg ha-1 year-1 of N), and four doses of SSW and DPW (100, 200, 300 and 400% of the recommendation) in a CRD with 3 replications. The samples of percolated were collected and characterized weekly. The treatments of highest dosage have obtained COD, after 120 days, of 47.7 mg L-1 (AAT3) and 38.6 mg L-1 (AAT4). Although nitrate concentrations were elevated on the earlier months, the greater assimilation of nutrients by the Tifton-grass 85 and the reduction of the mineralization of organic material resulted in lower nitrate concentrations of 10 mg L-1.

Abstract Partial discharge (PD) monitoring is widely used in rotating machines to evaluate the condition of stator winding insulation, but its practice on a large scale requires the development of intelligent systems that automatically process these measurement data. In this paper, it is proposed a methodology of automatic PD classification in hydro-generator stator windings using neural networks. The database is formed from online PD measurements in hydro-generators in a real setting. Noise filtering techniques are applied to these data. Then, based on the concept of image projection, novel features are extracted from the filtered samples. These features are used as inputs for training several neural networks. The best performance network, obtained using statistical procedures, presents a recognition rate of 98%.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Tifton 85 grass cultivated in soil columns and fertilized with different wastewater doses of swine slaughterhouse. The experiment was conducted in the Environmental Engineering Center and Sanitary of UFLA/MG in PVC columns filled with Dark Red Latosol (Oxisol) and randomly distributed. The treatments applied with nitrogen based load (300 kg ha de N years−1) consisted of four doses of SW and AQT0 control at random. Three cuts were performed, at 60, 90 and 120 days after planting. The highest yields were 10.06, 16.82 and 20.39 t ha−1 in AQT0, AAT4 and AAT3 treatments, respectively. With the increase of nutrients by N rates and root development of Tifton 85 grass, we observed higher extractions of N, P and K in the second and third cut, with maximum extraction of 384 and 10.3 kg ha−1 of N and P in the higher dose treatments (AAT4), while the maximum extraction of the potassium was 117.7 kg ha−1 in the AAT3 treatment. There was productivity restriction in the third cut due to the reduction of availability of essential nutrients and losses by leaching.

AbstractSome publications have described the pharmacological properties of latices proteins. Thus, in the present study proteins from Plumeria pudica Jacq., Apocynaceae, latex were evaluated for anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities. Obtained data showed that an intraperitoneal administration of different doses of latex was able to reduce the paw edema induced by carrageenan in a dose-dependent manner (better dose 40 mg/kg; 72.7% inhibition at 3rd and 78.7% at 4th hour) and the edema induced by dextran (40 mg/kg; 51.5% inhibition at 30 min and 93.0% at 1st hour). Inhibition of edema induced by carrageenan was accompanied by a reduction of myeloperoxidase activity. Pre-treating animals with latex (40 mg/kg) also inhibited the paw edema induced by histamine, serotonin, bradykinin, prostaglandin E2, compound 48/80. Additionally, the latex (40 mg/kg) reduced the leukocyte peritoneal migration induced by carrageenan and this event was followed by reduction of IL-1β and TNF-α in peritoneal fluid. The latex-treatment (40 mg/kg) reduced the animal abdominal constrictions induced by acetic acid and the first phase on paw licking model induced by formalin. When latex was treated with heat (at 100 °C for 30 min), anti-edematogenic and myeloperoxidase activities were significantly reduced, indicating the involvement of heat-sensitive proteins on anti-inflammatory effect. Our results evidence that latex fluids are a source of proteins with pharmacological properties.

<p>Pesticides are used mostly in rural areas for agriculture, but urban pest control, public health campaigns, and household and veterinary products can also be important sources of these contaminants. This aim of this study was to estimate household pesticide contamination in sediments of two urban estuaries due to pest control: Cocó and Ceará rivers located in the metropolitan area of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Cypermethrin and malathion were found in both rivers. Cypermethrin levels had the same magnitudes as other studied urban areas and were highest in the estuary, while malathion was similar in both fluvial and estuarine zones.</p>