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Summary: The breadth‐first search procedure is an algorithm that traverses the vertices of a graph, determining the distance from each vertex to the initial vertex. The distance is infinite for a non‐reachable vertex from the starting vertex. Despite having an efficient serial version, this important algorithm is irregular, making its effective parallel implementation a daunting task. This paper shows the results of an OpenMP‐based implementation of the breadth‐first search procedure using the bag data structure. Furthermore, the code relied on the C++ programming language. This paper reimplements an existing proposal coded using the Cilk++ programming language. The experiments relied on 32 strongly connected graphs and 31 disconnected graphs in executions performed on two machines. The first machine contained 28 cores and two threads per core. The second machine comprised 48 processing cores, with hyperthreading disabled. Regarding the serial version, the parallel implementation yielded a speedup of up to 20× when using 28 processing cores and up to 25× when using 56 threads in tests performed on a machine with the first generation of Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. Furthermore, the new parallel implementation yielded speedups of up to 45× when using 48 cores in experiments performed on a machine with the second generation of Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking to understand the defense mechanisms of tilapia to assist in the health management of fish farms, associated with the lack of information on the use of COX-2 inhibitors in teleost fish, this study aimed to identify important aspects involved in the pathophysiology of the chronic inflammatory reaction in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, by evaluating the antiinflammatory activity of celecoxib on the kinetics of migration and formation of gigantocytes in the foreign body response. For this purpose, 72 tilapia were used (Oreochromis niloticus), placed in 9 aquariums (n=8), with a capacity of 100 L of water each, consisting of the following treatments: Control - subjected to inflammatory stimulus without treatment with Celecoxib; TC - Conventional treatment with oral administration of 3mg/kg of Celecoxib after inflammatory stimulus; TP - Prolonged treatment with oral administration of 3mg/kg of Celecoxib for one week before and continuously after the inflammatory stimulus. 8 animals were evaluated per treatment in three periods, that is: 2, 4 and 8 days post-implantation (DPI) of the coverslips, with blood samples being collected to perform the differential leukocyte count in blood extensions, as well as collecting the coverslips. for cytological study. In the later phase of the inflammatory process (8DPI), a decrease in the cellular accumulation of macrophages and formation of polykaryotes was observed on the coverslips of tilapia treated with celecoxib, demonstrating the anti-inflammatory effect of this COX-2 inhibitor, associated with a significant decrease in the number of circulating monocytes in animals receiving conventional treatment. Tilapia treated with celecoxib (TC and TP) showed a significant decrease in total leukocyte count in the initial phase of the inflammatory process (2DPI), characterized by neutropenia and lymphopenia. Therefore, both treatment protocols (TC and TP) with 3mg/kg of celecoxib modulated the foreign body-type inflammatory response of tilapia by acting on the kinetics of macrophage accumulation and formation of polykaryotes on glass coverslips implanted in the subcutaneous tissue, demonstrating a correlation to the dynamics of circulating leukocytes. These results help to understand the role of prostanoids during the chronic inflammatory reaction of tilapia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to report an unusual case of equine colic associated with cecal lesions induced by parasite compatible with strongyles. A ten-year-old mare, Mangalarga Marchador breed, was attended with history of severe abdominal pain. Upon admission to the Veterinary Hospital, altered circulatory status and blackened feces were observed, in addition to the presence of cylindrical, reddish parasites less than 1 cm in length, consistent with cyathostomins. The patient had no history of deworming, and fecal egg count (FEC) resulted in 1,500 eggs per gram. Due to pain unresponsive to analgesia, the mare underwent exploratory celiotomy, revealing diffuse areas of infarction in the cecum and small colon, leading to euthanasia due to the severity and extent of the lesions. Histopathological analysis of tissue samples collected from the affected segments revealed multifocal tissue necrosis associated with hemorrhage, congestion, and inflammation, along with tubular filamentous structures compatible with cylindrical parasites in the cecum, leading to the diagnosis of parasitic necrohemorrhagic typhlitis. Studies suggest various possibilities regarding the pathogenesis of non-strangulating cecal infarction associated with strongyle parasitism, considered the main gastrointestinal endoparasites of horses and potential agents associated with colic, thus underscoring the need for effective strategies for parasite control in horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than half of the global population lives in areas where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is present. Efforts have been made to deal with the population of this mosquito in the larval and adult stages to prevent outbreaks of diseases (Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and Yellow Fever). In this scenario, photodynamic inactivation may be an effective alternative method to control this vector population. To evaluate the efficacy of the riboflavin - B2 vitamin - as photosensitizer (PS) in the photodynamic inactivation of Ae. aegypti larvae, different concentrations (0; 0.005; 0.010; 0.025; 0.050; 0.075 and 0.100 mg mL -1 ) were evaluated under white light from RGB LEDs at a light dose of 495.2  J cm -2 . The results reveal that riboflavin can be successfully applied as a PS agent to photoinactivate Ae. aegypti larvae, showing its potential to deal with the larvae population., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This work evaluated the photosensitizing activity of isomeric tetra-cationic porphyrins with peripheral [Pt(bpy)Cl] + to control the larval population of Aedes aegypti by photodynamic action. The photolarvicidal activity of the tetra-platinated porphyrins at meta and para position (3-PtTPyP and 4-PtTPyP) was evaluated under blue (450 nm), green (525 nm), and red (625 nm) light illumination at 55.0 J cm -2 . The meta isomer presented an efficient photolarvicidal activity even at a low concentration (1.2 ppm) in the presence of light, while the para counterpart was inactive regardless of the concentration and illumination. The different responses were related to the improved optical features and higher water solubility of 3-PtTPyP compared to 4-PtTPyP. Additionally, the potential environmental toxicity of 3-PtTPyP was tested in a plant model (Allium cepa test), with no toxicity detected for all used concentrations (1.2 to 12 ppm). Hence, this work reveals that 3-PtTPyP has a great potential to be employed to photodynamically control the insect vector population in an environmentally safe way., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sleep deprivation is known to affect memory formation, but how it interacts with different memory systems is not completely understood. Adenosine, a homeostatic regulator of sleep that has an increased extracellular concentration during sleep deprivation, is one of the neuromodulators that may be involved in this interaction. The A 1 adenosine receptor is involved in both sleep regulation and memory formation. Among other pathways, the A 1 receptor decreases cAMP levels in the cytosol and thus also regulates protein kinase A (PKA) and exchange protein activated by cAMP (EPAC) activity. To verify the role of the A 1 receptor in the memory impairment caused by sleep deprivation, we tested the effect of 96 h of sleep deprivation (SD) and the administration of DPCPX, an A 1 receptor antagonist on male Wistar rats prior to the training sessions for two memory tasks that relies on the hippocampal function: the multiple trial inhibitory avoidance (MTIA) task, which also requires the striatum, and the contextual fear conditioning (CFC) task, which does not. We also evaluated the effect of SD, DPCPX and the MTIA training session on the protein expression levels of the A1 receptor, PKA phosphorylation and EPAC activity in both the hippocampus and the striatum. Sleep deprivation impaired the performance in the test sessions of both tasks; DPCPX was able to prevent the impairment in the MTIA test but not in the CFC test. SD increased A 1 receptor protein expression levels in the striatum but not in the hippocampus and also decreased PKA phosphorylation in both structures; DPCPX prevented this decrease in the striatum, but not in the hippocampus. Finally, SD had no effect on EPAC activity in either of the structures. These results indicate that the A 1 adenosine receptors play a role in the memory impairment caused by sleep deprivation in tasks that involve the striatum through modulation of the cAMP/PKA pathway., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Sleep deprivation impairs performance in emotional memory tasks, however this effect on memory is not completely understood. Possible mechanisms may involve an alteration in neurotransmission systems, as shown by the fact that many drugs that modulate neural pathways can prevent memory impairment by sleep loss. Gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) is a neuropeptide that emerged as a regulatory molecule of emotional memory through the modulation of other neurotransmission systems. Thus, the present study addressed the effect of intraperitoneal (IP) administration of bombesin (BB) (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0μg/kg), a GRP agonist, on the performance of Wistar rats in a multiple trail inhibitory avoidance (MTIA) task, after sleep deprivation, using the modified multiple platforms method (MMPM). Sleep deprived animals exhibited acquisition and retention impairment that was not prevented by BB injection. In addition, non-sleep deprived animals treated with BB before and after the training session, but not before the test, have shown a retention deficit. In summary, BB did not improve the memory impairment by sleep loss and, under normal conditions, produced a memory consolidation deficit., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The interaction between chlorophyll (Chl) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was evaluated by analyzing the optical behavior of Chl molecules surrounded by different concentrations of AgNPs (10, 60, and 100nm of diameter). UV-Vis absorption, steady state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements were performed for Chl in the presence and absence of these nanoparticles. AgNPs strongly suppressed the Chl fluorescence intensity at 678nm. The Stern-Volmer constant (KSV) showed that fluorescence suppression is driven by the dynamic quenching process. In particular, KSV was nanoparticle size-dependent with an exponential decrease as a function of the nanoparticle diameter. Finally, changes in the Chl fluorescence lifetime in the presence of nanoparticles demonstrated that the fluorescence quenching may be induced by the excited electron transfer from the Chl molecules to the metal nanoparticles., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)