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Forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP) technology represents a set of techniques that aim to predict physical features of criminal suspects, such as eye, skin and hair colour, and also ethnicity through the inference of biogeographic ancestry from their biological samples. In contrast to other forensic technologies, FDP is not used for identifi- cation purposes but valued for its potential intelligence value. Since features predicted by FDP relate to common traits shared by different population groups, critical voices highlight that this technology may (re)create dy- namics of collectivisation of suspect populations. Looking at the criminal justice system, this paper aims to explore the diverse understandings of FDP by professionals working in forensic laboratories and by the members of police forces, alongside the automatic exchange of genetic profiles to fight cross-border crime. Their perceptions are explored according to the per- ceived potential investigative value and potential threats of FDP. Furthermore, we discuss how racial issues are implicitly and explicitly present in these narratives. Results show that FDP may be ushering in a new assemblage of racial issues along three entangled dimensions: the differentiating power of externally visible characteristics, the comparison between genetic and eyewitness testimonies, and the collectivisation of suspicion., EXCHANGE – Forensic geneticists and the transnational exchange of DNA data in the EU: Engaging science with social control, citizenship and democracy (grant agreement N°. [648608]); UID/CCI/00736/2019

Effects of repeated sprayings expected to affect phenolic, anthocyanin, carotenoid and ascorbic acid content in ‘Skeena’ and ‘Sweetheart’ cherries were observed during two years (without addition of calcium (Ca) in 2015, and with Ca in 2016). A shift in phytonutrients, with higher phenolic and carotenoid- and lower ascorbic acid content was observed when comparing Ca and the control (water) treatments in 2016 compared to 2015. Higher radiation, higher temperatures and less precipitation in 2015 compared to 2016 likely contributed to this shift. Gibberellic acid (GA3), abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and glycine betaine (GB) sprays increased anthocyanin content in 2015 and for ‘Skeena’ cherries in 2016. GA3 and GB induced lower carotenoid content for ‘Skeena’- in 2015 and for ‘Sweetheart’ cherries in 2016 and lowered ascorbic acid content for ‘Sweetheart’ cherries. GA3 sprays induced the largest changes, increasing anthocyanin- (42 %), lowering carotenoid (19 %) and ascorbic acid content (53 %) compared to control. Ascophyllum nodosum, one of the novel spray treatments next to GB, appears to induce an effect opposite to GB, increasing carotenoid and ascorbic acid, but lowering phenolic content. Whether these phytonutrient shifts, due to climate conditions or to spray treatments, are beneficial to consumer health is unclear.

Clinical encounters are the most widely shared form of engagement of citizens with health care and medical knowledge and a major setting for the constitution of the health-aware, somatic citizen and are included in the repertoire of participation in the field of health. Following Joelle Zask's notion of participation, we propose to look at clinical encounters as an instances of “taking part” in the field of health through the mutual engagement of diverse forms of knowledge and experience. Through interviews with health professionals and patients diagnosed with asthma, we explore clinical encounters as settings where physicians and patients mutually engage in a process of contesting, sharing and appropriating medical knowledge and information, while recognizing the normative authority of medical knowledge and expertise and the status of biomedicine as a form of veridiction. Clinical encounters are described as processes where citizens qua patients appropriate biomedical knowledge and health information for coping with health problems and the disruptions they generate in their lives, even if their outcomes are uncertain concerning the binding power of medical authority. Patients' engagements with health care services and health professionals and their use of biomedical knowledge for the (self) management of their condition offers a privileged entry point into a neglected dimension of citizen participation in the field of health.

Agricultural productivity is severely affected by soil salinity. It is estimated that >6% of the world’s land and 30% of the world’s irrigated area already suffer from salinity problems. Expansion of agriculture to semi-arid regions with the use of intensive irrigation will increase the salinity-affected areas. Like most horticultural crops, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) has low to moderate tolerance to salinity. Attempts to enhance the salt tolerance in potato and other crops through conventional breeding methods have had limited success, warranting the use of alternative biotechnology-based strategies as a rapid means for the production of salt-tolerant genotypes. Plant tissue cultures may be an effective tool to improve salt tolerance through in vitro selection of salt-tolerant cell lines and subsequent regeneration of whole-plants. Previously, a stable potato calli line adapted to grow on 150 mM NaCl was selected and it has been used as a model to study cellular mechanisms of salinity tolerance. The macroscopic appearance of the NaCl-adapted line was similar to that of the control. Although salinity negatively affected the calli growth rate and antioxidant enzyme activities in the salt-adapted cells, an increase in the levels of antioxidant compounds and proline assured survival. In this work, we used the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting technique to detect the occurrence of genetic polymorphism in response to salt condition and obtain DNA-based markers. After DNA extraction, a total of 40 arbitrary primers were screened, but only eight were found to generate polymorphic band patterns. A total of sixteen well-resolved and reproducible bands were chosen as RAPD markers, which differentiated geno¬typically NaCl-adapted line from the control. RAPD analysis showed that potato cell line grown under salinity is a somaclonal variant that can be used to regenerate plants with improved salt tolerance, which would be very useful in potato breeding programmes.

Cell lines able to grow on media containing 50, 100, 150 or 200 mM NaCl were established from potato callus cultures by direct recurrent selection or gradual selection. In callus subjected to direct selection only small clusters of cells survived on medium with 150 or 200 mM NaCl, whereas on 100 mM small cell portions appear necrotic. When cell lines were obtained by successive subcultures on media with increased concentrations of NaCl, salt-tolerant calli were more compact and developed a greenish colour free from necrotic areas. The response of calli lines grown on media with NaCl was compared to control line. The NaCl-tolerant calli showed a decrease in relative growth rate and water content, with higher reductions in the 150 mM tolerant callus. Lipid peroxidation was increased in 50 mM and 100 mM NaCl-tolerant calli, while in 150 mM tolerant callus remained similar to 100 mM values. There was a significant increase in ascorbic acid content in 100 mM and 150 mM NaCl-tolerant calli as compared to the 50 mM, that was two-fold the value found in the control. Also, the contents of soluble and insoluble proteins increased in salt-tolerant lines. SDS-PAGE of soluble proteins showed the synthesis of specific polypeptides in the presence of NaCl in culture medium and the synthesis of a new polypeptide.

Soil salinity is an important determinant to crop distribution and productivity. Proline accumulates in response to salt stress. Glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) present in the phloem plays a major role in regulating proline content. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) plants appear to have three nuclear GS-encoding genes: one codes for plastidial (GS2) and the other two code for cytosolic (GS1) isoenzymes. Potato plants possess a low to moderate tolerance to salinity. Three callus tissue lines tolerant to increasing levels of salinity were grown under different salt concentrations (0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl) and proline and GS activity levels were determined and transcript and polypeptide accumulation patterns were analysed. The data obtained suggests a differential involvement of each potato GS isoenzyme in the tissue response to salt stress, as a result of a differential GS isogene expression, with one GS1 gene product becoming the main responsible for the GS activity detected in high salt concentrations.

The efficient exclusion of excess Na from the cytoplasm and vacuolar Na + accumulation are the main mechanisms for the adaptation of plants to salt stress. This is typically carried out by transmembrane transport proteins that exclude Na + from the cytosol in exchange for H +, a secondary transport process which is energy-dependent and driven by the proton-motive force generated by plasma-membrane and tonoplast proton pumps. Tonoplast enriched-vesicles from control and 150 mM NaCl-tolerant calli lines were used as a model system to study the activity of V-H +-PPase and V-H +-ATPase and the involvement of Na + compartmentalization into the vacuole as a mechanism of salt tolerance in Solanum tuberosum. Both ATP- and pyrophosphate (PPi)-dependent H +-transport were higher in tonoplast vesicles from the salt-tolerant line than in vesicles from control cells. Western blotting of tonoplast proteins confirmed that changes in V-H +-PPase activity are correlated with increased protein amount. Conversely, immunodetection of the A-subunit of V-H +-ATPase revealed that a mechanism of post-translational regulation is probably involved. Na +-dependent dissipation of a pre-established pH gradient was used to measure Na +/H + exchange in tonoplast vesicles. The initial rates of proton efflux followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics and the Vmax of proton dissipation was 2-fold higher in NaCl-tolerant calli when compared to the control. H +-coupled exchange was specific for Na + and Li + and not for K +. The increase of both the pH gradient across the tonoplast and the Na +/H + antiport activity in response to salt strongly suggests that Na + sequestration into the vacuole contributes to salt tolerance in potato.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Arte e Educação apresentada à Universidade Aberta Submitted by Cristina Teixeira Alves (cta@univ-ab.pt) on 2013-01-25T16:12:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Marta.pdf: 923793 bytes, checksum: 0dd790e10317a752afea37fe9d628aa1 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-01-25T16:12:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Marta.pdf: 923793 bytes, checksum: 0dd790e10317a752afea37fe9d628aa1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012