The production of ethanol from lignocellulosic sources presents increasingly difficult issues for the global biofuel scenario, leading to increased production costs of current second-generation (2G) ...ethanol when compared to first-generation (1G) plants. Among the setbacks encountered in industrial processes, the presence of chemical inhibitors from pre-treatment processes severely hinders the potential of yeasts in producing ethanol at peak efficiency. However, some industrial yeast strains have, either naturally or artificially, higher tolerance levels to these compounds. Such is the case of S. cerevisiae SA-1, a Brazilian fuel ethanol industrial strain that has shown high resistance to inhibitors produced by the pre-treatment of cellulosic complexes. Our study focuses on the characterization of the transcriptomic and physiological impact of an inhibitor of this type, p-coumaric acid (pCA), on this strain under chemostat cultivation via RNAseq and quantitative physiological data. It was found that strain SA-1 tend to increase ethanol yield and production rate while decreasing biomass yield when exposed to pCA, in contrast to pCA-susceptible strains, which tend to decrease their ethanol yield and fermentation efficiency when exposed to this substance. This suggests increased metabolic activity linked to mitochondrial and peroxisomal processes. The transcriptomic analysis also revealed a plethora of differentially expressed genes located in co-expressed clusters that are associated with changes in biological pathways linked to biosynthetic and energetical processes. Furthermore, it was also identified 20 genes that act as interaction hubs for these clusters, while also having association with altered pathways and changes in metabolic outputs, potentially leading to the discovery of novel targets for metabolic engineering toward a more robust industrial yeast strain.
CubeSats have become an interesting innovation in the space sector. Such platforms are being used for several space applications, such as education, Earth remote sensing, science, and defense. As of ...May 31st, 2018, 855 CubeSats had been launched. Remote sensing application is the main sector in which CubeSats are being used, corresponding to about 45% of all applications. This fact indicates the commercial potential of such a platform. Fifty eight countries have already been involved with developing CubeSats. The most used CubeSat configuration is 3U (about 64%), followed by 1U (18%), while 6U platforms account for about 4%. In this paper, we present an analysis of the current situation regarding CubeSats worldwide, through the use of a dataset built to encompass information about these satellites. The overall success rate of the CubeSat missions is increasing over time. Moreover, considering CubeSat missions as a Bernoulli experiment, and excluding launch failures, the current success rate was estimated, as a parameter of a binomial distribution, to be about 75%. By using a logistic model and considering that the launchings keep following the current tendency, one can expect that one thousand CubeSats will be launched in 2021, within 95% certainty.
Bioimprinting is an easy, sustainable and low‐cost technique that promotes a printing of potential substrates on enzyme structure, inducing a more selective and stable conformation. Bioimprinting ...promotes conformational changes in enzymes, resulting in better catalytic performance. In this work, the effect of bioimprinting of Burkholderia cepacia lipase (BCL) and porcine pancreatic extracts (PPE) with four different fatty acids (lauric acid (C12:0), myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), and stearic acid (C18:0)) was investigated. The results demonstrated that the better bioimprinting effect was in BCL with lauric acid in esterification reaction, promoting BCL activation in which relative enzyme activity was 70 times greater than nonimprinted BCL. Bioimprinting results were influenced by the carbon chain length of fatty acids imprinted in the BCL, in which the effects were weaker with the chain increase. Molecular docking was performed to better understand the bioimprinting method. The results of these simulations showed that indeed all fatty acids were imprinted in the active site of BCL. However, lauric acid presented the highest imprinting preference in the active site of BCL, resulting in the highest relative activity. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis confirmed important variations in secondary structure of bioimprinting BCL with lauric acid, in which there was a reduction in the α‐helix content and an increase in the β‐sheet content that facilitated substrate access to the active site of BCL and led higher rigidity, resulting in high activity. Bioimprinted BCL with lauric acid showed excellent operational stability in esterification reaction, maintaining its original relative activity after five successive cycles. Thus, the results show that bioimprinting of BCL with lauric acid is a successful strategy due to its high catalytic activity and reusability.
Mortality prediction after cardiac procedures is an essential tool in clinical decision making. Although rheumatic cardiac disease remains a major cause of heart surgery in the world no previous ...study validated risk scores in a sample exclusively with this condition.
Develop a novel predictive model focused on mortality prediction among patients undergoing cardiac surgery secondary to rheumatic valve conditions.
We conducted prospective consecutive all-comers patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) referred for surgical treatment of valve disease between May 2010 and July of 2015. Risk scores for hospital mortality were calculated using the 2000 Bernstein-Parsonnet, EuroSCORE II, InsCor, AmblerSCORE, GuaragnaSCORE, and the New York SCORE. In addition, we developed the rheumatic heart valve surgery score (RheSCORE).
A total of 2,919 RHD patients underwent heart valve surgery. After evaluating 13 different models, the top performing areas under the curve were achieved using Random Forest (0.982) and Neural Network (0.952). Most influential predictors across all models included left atrium size, high creatinine values, a tricuspid procedure, reoperation and pulmonary hypertension. Areas under the curve for previously developed scores were all below the performance for the RheSCORE model: 2000 Bernstein-Parsonnet (0.876), EuroSCORE II (0.857), InsCor (0.835), Ambler (0.831), Guaragna (0.816) and the New York score (0.834). A web application is presented where researchers and providers can calculate predicted mortality based on the RheSCORE.
The RheSCORE model outperformed pre-existing scores in a sample of patients with rheumatic cardiac disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Piper is one of two large genera in the Piperaceae, and with ca. 2600 species, is one of the largest plant genera in the world. Species delimitation and evaluation of genetic diversity among ...populations are important requisites for conservation and adequate exploitation of economically important species. DNA barcoding has been used as a powerful tool and a practical method for species characterization and delimitation. The present work aims to evaluate molecular markers for barcoding three Piper species native to Brazil: P. gaudichaudianum ("jaborandi" or "pariparoba"), P. malacophyllum ("pariparoba-murta") and P. regnellii ("caapeba" or "pariparoba"). A reference DNA barcode library was developed using sequences of three candidate regions: ITS2, trnH-psbA and rbcL. Transferability of the microsatellite (SSR) primers Psol 3, Psol 6 and Psol 10, designed originally for Piper solmsianum, to the three Piper species was also evaluated. The discriminatory power of the markers was based on the determination of inter- and intraspecific distances, phylogenetic reconstruction, and clustering analysis, as well as BLASTn comparison. Sequences of ITS2 enabled efficient species identification by means of the BLASTn procedure. Based on these sequences, intraspecific divergence was lower than interspecific variation. Maximum Parsimony analyses based on ITS2 sequences provided three resolved clades, each corresponding to one of the three analysed species. Sequences of trnH-psbA and rbcL had lower discriminatory value. Analyses combining sequences of these regions were less effective toward the attainment of resolved and strongly supported clades of all species. In summary, robustly supported clades of P. regnellii were obtained in most of the analyses, based either on isolated or combined sequences. The SSRs primers Psol 3, Psol 6 and Psol 10 were shown to be transferable to P. gaudichaudianum and P. regnellii, but not to P. malacophyllum. Preliminary cluster analyses based on the polymorphism of the amplified products suggested that Psol 3 has lower potential than Psol 6 and Psol 10 for discrimination of Piper species.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Alcohol consumption is highly prevalent in the general population and among HIV-infected population. This study aimed to compare the pattern of alcohol consumption and to describe characteristics ...associated with heavy alcohol consumption in individuals from the general population with patients infected with HIV.
Participants for this analysis came from a population-based cross-sectional study and from a consecutive sampling of patients infected with HIV. Participants aged 18 years or older were interviewed using similar questionnaires with questions pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, and HIV-related characteristics, among others. Blood pressure and anthropometric measures were measured using standardized procedures.
Weekly alcohol consumption was more prevalent among individuals from the general population than HIV-infected patients: 57.0 vs. 31.1%, P<0.001. The prevalence of heavy episodic drinking was higher in the population sample as well: 46.1 vs. 17.0%, P<0.001. In the general population, heavy alcohol consumption was more prevalent in men. Cigarette smoking was independently associated with heavy alcohol consumption among HIV infected (Prevalence Ratio; PR = 5.9; 95%CI 2.6-13.9; P<0,001) and general population (PR = 2.6; 95%CI 1.9-3.0; P<0.001). Years at school were inversely associated with heavy alcohol consumption among HIV-infected patients and directly associated among participants from the general population, even after controlling for sex, age, skin color, and smoking.
Heavy alcohol consumption is more prevalent in the general population than among HIV-infected patients. Individuals aware about their disease may reduce the amount of alcoholic beverages consumption comparatively to healthy individuals from the general population.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
VISION SYSTEM FOR MONITORING SEISMIC TESTS IN CONCRETE SHELLS Brandão, M.; Valença, J.; Júlio, E.
International archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences.,
01/2023, Letnik:
XLVIII-1/W2-2023
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Structural monitoring plays a crucial role in assessing damage and detecting potential faults. Vision systems provide real-time information about the behaviour and state of conservation of ...structures, enabling precise and efficient analysis. Computer vision algorithms are employed to analyse images and extract relevant structural information. This information may encompass key points' displacement and deformation within the structure.This paper introduces a methodology for monitoring dynamic tests using computer vision. The approach employs a camera to track artificial targets placed on the structure. The camera captures multiple images during the tests and detects the coordinates of the target centres. Subsequently, displacements are calculated based on the differences in coordinates among the aforementioned targets.To validate the methodology, an experimental study was conducted using dynamic tests on a reduced-scale model of a thin concrete shell tested on a seismic table. Five dynamic tests were carried out, involving varied amplitude and frequency values to test the proposed approach. The results substantiate the efficacy of computer vision in monitoring dynamic tests. In conclusion, the developed methodology facilitates dynamic test monitoring through computer vision by continuously tracking artificial targets throughout the tests and computing their displacements.
Ticks vector diverse pathogenic bacteria that are important to identify in public health and veterinary contexts. Technological advances in high throughput sequencing have given an unprecedented ...opportunity to comprehensively characterize bacterial associates of ticks, but recent studies have used different 16S rRNA variable regions and sequence read lengths with little consideration of whether they reveal the same bacterial diversity. We compare the effectiveness of bacterial surveys using three library preparations across nine 16S variable regions and a set of 12 tick specimens (Acari: Ixodidae). We identify the bacterial assemblages present in extractions from wild-collected Ixodes scapularis from two regions of Canada, and provide the first microbiome survey for Ixodes angustus. Four bacterial families accounted for most diversity, with Rickettsiaceae being replaced as most common by Enterobacteriaceae or Pseudomonadaceae in some I. scapularis, and Francisellaceae being most abundant in I. angustus. The commercially available Ion 16S kit, based on 6 amplicons representing 16S regions V2, V3, V4, V67, V8 and V9, gave the most comprehensive estimates of bacterial families, with the Ion V4 amplicon generally giving the highest estimated diversity. Sequencing of the V4 amplicon by the MR DNA commercial service also provided cost effective assays of tick microbiomes that were within the range of results from the Ion 16S kit. Subtraction of the number of reads found in an extraction control sample lowered estimates of the number of bacterial families by approximately half. Our study shows that diversity patterns obtained from 16S microbiome surveys depend on the amplicon and protocol used, demonstrating that more than one marker region is needed to provide reliable inferences.
Update on trabecular bone score Palomo, Telma; Muszkat, Patricia; Weiler, Fernanda G ...
Archives of Endocrinology and Metabolism,
2022-Nov-11, Letnik:
66, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
Trabecular bone score (TBS) is an indirect and noninvasive measure of bone quality. A low TBS indicates degraded bone microarchitecture, predicts osteoporotic fracture, and is partially independent ...of clinical risk factors and bone mineral density (BMD). There is substantial evidence supporting the use of TBS to assess vertebral, hip, and major osteoporotic fracture risk in postmenopausal women, as well as to assess hip and major osteoporotic fracture risk in men aged > 50 years. TBS complements BMD information and can be used to adjust the FRAX (Fracture Risk Assessment) score to improve risk stratification. While TBS should not be used to monitor antiresorptive therapy, it may be potentially useful for monitoring anabolic therapy. There is also a growing body of evidence indicating that TBS is particularly useful as an adjunct to BMD for fracture risk assessment in conditions associated with increased fracture risk, such as type-2 diabetes, chronic corticosteroid excess, and other conditions wherein BMD readings are often misleading. The interference of abdominal soft tissue thickness (STT) on TBS should also be considered when interpreting these findings because image noise can impact TBS evaluation. A new TBS software version based on an algorithm that accounts for STT rather than BMI seems to correct this technical limitation and is under development. In this paper, we review the current state of TBS, its technical aspects, and its evolving role in the assessment and management of several clinical conditions.
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