A groundwater vulnerability and risk mapping assessment, based on a source–pathway–receptor approach, is presented for an urban coastal aquifer in northeastern Brazil. A modified version of the ...DRASTIC methodology was used to map the intrinsic and specific groundwater vulnerability of a 292 km
2 study area. A fuzzy hierarchy methodology was adopted to evaluate the potential contaminant source index, including diffuse and point sources. Numerical modeling was performed for delineation of well capture zones, using MODFLOW and MODPATH. The integration of these elements provided the mechanism to assess groundwater pollution risks and identify areas that must be prioritized in terms of groundwater monitoring and restriction on use. A groundwater quality index based on nitrate and chloride concentrations was calculated, which had a positive correlation with the specific vulnerability index.
After psychological trauma, recurrent intrusive visual memories may be distressing and disruptive. Preventive interventions post trauma are lacking. Here we test a behavioural intervention after ...real-life trauma derived from cognitive neuroscience. We hypothesized that intrusive memories would be significantly reduced in number by an intervention involving a computer game with high visuospatial demands (Tetris), via disrupting consolidation of sensory elements of trauma memory. The Tetris-based intervention (trauma memory reminder cue plus c. 20 min game play) vs attention-placebo control (written activity log for same duration) were both delivered in an emergency department within 6 h of a motor vehicle accident. The randomized controlled trial compared the impact on the number of intrusive trauma memories in the subsequent week (primary outcome). Results vindicated the efficacy of the Tetris-based intervention compared with the control condition: there were fewer intrusive memories overall, and time-series analyses showed that intrusion incidence declined more quickly. There were convergent findings on a measure of clinical post-trauma intrusion symptoms at 1 week, but not on other symptom clusters or at 1 month. Results of this proof-of-concept study suggest that a larger trial, powered to detect differences at 1 month, is warranted. Participants found the intervention easy, helpful and minimally distressing. By translating emerging neuroscientific insights and experimental research into the real world, we offer a promising new low-intensity psychiatric intervention that could prevent debilitating intrusive memories following trauma.
Explicit timing is engaged whenever subjects make a deliberate estimate of discrete duration in order to compare it with a previously memorised standard. Conversely, implicit timing is engaged, even ...without a specific instruction to time, whenever sensorimotor information is temporally structured and can be used to predict the duration of future events. Both emergent timing (motor) and temporal expectation (perceptual) are forms of implicit timing. Recent fMRI studies demonstrate discrete neural substrates for explicit and implicit timing. Specifically, basal ganglia are activated almost invariably by explicit timing, with co-activation of prefrontal, premotor and cerebellar areas being more context-dependent. Conversely, implicit perceptual timing (or “temporal expectation”) recruits cortical action circuits, comprising inferior parietal and premotor areas, highlighting its role in the optimisation of prospective behaviour.
Today microalgae represent a viable alternative source for high-value products. The specie
Chlorella protothecoides
(
Cp
), heterotrophically grown, has been widely studied and provides a high amount ...of lutein and fatty acids (FA) and has a good profile for biodiesel production. This work studies carotenoid and FA production by autotrophic grown
Cp
.
Cp
was grown until the medium’s nitrogen was depleted, then diluted in NaCl solution, resulting in nutritional, luminosity, and salinity stresses. Different NaCl concentrations were tested (10, 20, 30 g/L) at two different dilutions. After dilution, a color shifting from green to orange-red was noticed, showing carotenoid production. The best production of both carotenoids and FA was attained with a 20 g/L NaCl solution. The total carotenoid content was 0.8 %
w
/
w
(canthaxanthin (23.3 %), echinenone (14.7 %), free astaxanthin (7.1 %), and lutein/zeaxanthin (4.1 %)). Furthermore, the total lipid content reached 43.4 %
w
/
w
, with a FA composition of C18:1 (33.64 %), C16:0 (23.30 %), C18:2 (11.53 %), and less than 12 % of C18:3, which is needed to fulfill the biodiesel quality specifications (EN 14214).
It is increasingly clear that we extract patterns of temporal regularity between events to optimize information processing. Whereas some of the mechanisms for facilitating action preparation and ...execution have been well documented, much less is understood about whether and how temporal expectations influence visual perception. We used a psychophysical paradigm and computational modeling to investigate the mechanisms by which temporal expectation can modulate visual perception. Visual targets appeared in a stream of noise-patches separated by a fixed (400 ms regular condition) or jittered (200/300/400/500/600 ms irregular condition) intervals. Targets were visual gratings tilted 45° clockwise or counter-clockwise, presented at one of seven contrast levels. Human observers were required to perform an orientation discrimination (i.e., left or right). Psychometric functions for contrast sensitivity fitted for the regular and irregular conditions indicated that temporal expectation modulates perceptual processing by enhancing the contrast sensitivity of visual targets. This increase in the signal strength was accompanied by a reduction in reaction times. A diffusion model indicated that rhythmic temporal expectation enhanced the signal-to-noise gain of the sensory evidence upon which decisions were made. These effects support the idea that temporal structure of external events can entrain the attentional focus and psychophysical data, optimizing the processing of relevant sensory information.
We investigated the role of object-based attention in modulating the maintenance of faces and scenes held online in working memory (WM). Participants had to remember a face and a scene, while cues ...presented during the delay instructed them to orient their attention to one or the other item. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that orienting attention in WM modulated the activity in fusiform and parahippocampal gyri, involved in maintaining representations of faces and scenes respectively. Measures from complementary behavioral studies indicated that this increase in activity corresponded to improved WM performance. The results show that directed attention can modulate maintenance of specific representations in WM, and help define the interplay between the domains of attention and WM.
•Vegetation can still develop even with low rainfall if the previous year was wet.•VSWI index was efficient in identifying affected areas by the drought.•During the 2012–2013 drought around 85% of ...the Brazilian semiarid was affected.•Areas outside the semiarid boundary also experienced drought.
Drought is a complex natural phenomenon that can lead to reduced water supplies and can consequently have substantial effects on agriculture and socioeconomic activities that cause social crises and political problems. Different drought indicators are used for identifying droughts. This work explored the applicability of a near-real time drought monitoring methodology using Terra-MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) products. This approach is called the Vegetation Supply Water Index (VSWI), which integrates land surface reflectance and thermal properties. The results indicate that during a major drought event from 2012 to 2013, approximately 85% of the Brazilian semiarid region was affected. The number of days of soil moisture deficit, which was derived from a simple water balance model and the daily interpolated precipitation, were used to verify the results. A correlation analysis of VSWI, precipitation and soil moisture deficit shows that VSWI is closely related to rainfall and soil water content, especially under dry conditions, and indicates that the use of VSWI can be a suitable near-real time drought monitoring approach. The evaluation of the 2012–2014 drought considering the VSWI index highlighted two major characteristics of vegetation response to drought conditions, i.e., the recovery and memory effects of vegetation.
► Nannochloropsis sp. was studied as a biorefinery context. ► Production of fatty acids for biodiesel, high added-value compounds and biohydrogen. ► Extracts fractionation by SFE (oils for biodiesel ...and pigments for food). ► Fermentation of biomass leftover by E. aerogenes yielded maximum 60.6mLH2/gdry biomass alga. ► Best SFE conditions extracted 45glipids/100gdry biomass (40°C, 300bar, CO2+ethanol).
The microalga Nannochloropsis sp. was used in this study, in a biorefinery context, as biomass feedstock for the production of fatty acids for biodiesel, biohydrogen and high added-value compounds. The microalgal biomass, which has a high lipid and pigment content (mainly carotenoids), was submitted to supercritical CO2 extraction. The temperature, pressure and solvent flow-rate were evaluated to check their effect on the extraction yield. The best operational conditions to extract 33glipids/100gdrybiomass were found to be at 40°C, 300bar and a CO2 flow-rate of 0.62g/min. The effect of adding a co-solvent (ethanol) was also studied. When supercritical CO2 doped with 20% (w/w) ethanol was used, it was possible to extract 45glipids/100gdrybiomass of lipids and recover 70% of the pigments. Furthermore, the remaining biomass after extraction was effectively used as feedstock to produce biohydrogen through dark fermentation by Enterobacter aerogenes resulting in a hydrogen production yield of 60.6mL/gdrybiomass.
Neglected parasitic diseases are a group of infections currently considered as a worldwide concern. This fact can be attributed to the migration of these diseases to developed and developing ...countries, associated with therapeutic insufficiency resulted from the low investment in the research and development of new drugs. In order to overcome this situation, bioprospecting supports medicinal chemistry in the identification of new scaffolds with therapeutically appropriate physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. Among them, we highlight the nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds, as they are secondary metabolites of many natural products with potential biological activity. The objective of this work was to review studies within a 10-year timeframe (2009- 2019), focusing on the pharmacological application of nitrogen bioprospectives (pyrrole, pyridine, indole, quinoline, acridine, and their respective derivatives) against neglected parasitic infections (malaria, leishmania, trypanosomiases, and schistosomiasis), and their application as a template for semi-synthesis or total synthesis of potential antiparasitic agents. In our studies, it was observed that among the selected articles, there was a higher focus on the attempt to identify and obtain novel antimalarial compounds, in a way that an extensive amount of studies involving all heterocyclic nitrogen nuclei were found. On the other hand, the parasites with the lowest number of publications up until the present date have been trypanosomiasis, especially those caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, and schistosomiasis, where some heterocyclics have not even been cited in recent years. Thus, we conclude that despite the great biodiversity on the planet, little attention has been given to certain neglected tropical diseases, especially those that reach countries with a high poverty rate.
The meaning of a sentence differs from the sum of the meanings of its constituents. Left anterior temporal cortex responds to sentences more strongly than to unconnected words. We hypothesized that ...the anterior temporal response to sentences is due to this difference in meaning (compositional semantics). Using positron emission tomography (PET), we studied four experimental conditions (2 × 2 factorial design): In one condition, subjects read normal sentences. In a second condition, they read grammatically correct sentences containing numerous semantic violations (semantically random sentences). In a third condition, we scrambled the word order within the normal sentences, and, in a fourth condition, the word order was scrambled within the semantically random sentences. The left anterior temporal pole responded strongly to sentences compared to scrambled versions of sentences. A similar although weaker response occurred in the left anterior superior temporal sulcus and the left posterior middle temporal gyrus. A subset of voxels within the left anterior temporal pole responded more to semantically random sentences and their scrambled versions than to normal sentences and the corresponding scrambled versions (main effect of semantic randomness). Finally, the grammatical and the semantic factor interacted in a subset of voxels within the anterior temporal pole: Activity was higher when subjects read normal sentences compared to their scrambled versions but not for semantically random sentences compared to their corresponding scrambled versions. The effects of grammar and meaning and, most importantly, the interaction between grammatical and semantic factors are compatible with the hypothesis that the left anterior temporal pole contributes to the composition of sentence meaning.
PDF
